Have I really not done one of these in over a year? (All day in the life posts are found here). Wow. Nothing makes me feel like time goes way too quickly quite like looking back on day in the life posts and yet, I’m so grateful I have these little snippets and snapshots of life to look back on. We’ve had such a full year full of change with selling, living with mom, and then the moving in that I think I’ve been in my feelings even more than usual, or perhaps I just keep getting more mushy (is that even possible?) as I get each year older? If that’s the case, whew, buckle up David. 😉

This will be a fun peek into our days because it’s in an all-new routine and space. Our new neighborhood has been so welcoming and we already feel plugged in which is the happiest of surprises. From kids at the door each day ready to play to a consistent neighborhood text chain, the community feel is strong and I am here for it! We also start our new co-op this week, which we are nervous and excited for, and we’re easy backing into evening commitments. I have so many things I’m looking forward to sharing, but let’s start with today, a typical Monday.

Day in the Life: 13 Years Old & 10 Years Old

5:30 AM: Wake Up

I’ve been wanting to shift my 6:30 wake up time a bit earlier to give me more morning time and since David had to leave for work early this morning, it made the perfect opportunity to make it happen. I got up, started the coffee, turned on the fire, and made David breakfast- two sausages, three eggs, on a bagel. When he left I put a loaf of sourdough into the oven to bake and joined Finley on the couch to write and send my newsletter, start writing this post, and return emails.

When the sun starts to come up I closed my computer and like always, Finley jumped up as soon as she heard the click of my laptop closing. We are so fortunate to have walking trails so close to our new home, and we took off on our morning loop, which is just shy of two miles.

8:00 AM: Getting the Day Started

After our sniffari I get ready for the day. I use this term lightly since it’s mostly athleisure, but putting on a little make up and brushing my hair makes me feel more put together and productive for the day. Then I turn on the griddle and go wake up the girls. They meet me in the kitchen and we make breakfast together. It was a sourdough baking morning, so we dig into the loaf while sausage and eggs sizzle on the griddle. I have a slice of bread, toasted, with a chicken sausage patty and an egg, with a wellness shot, two Brazil nuts, vitamin D, and a PC oil, plus some of Kaitlyn’s leftover crust with butter.

The girls went to get dressed while I clean up the kitchen, feed the starter, and start the dishwasher. We opted for drawer dishwashers in this kitchen and so far, I’m loving them. They fit my lifestyle of being in the kitchen so much and one of them is almost always running, but I never have dirty dished in the sink.

At 9:00 the mattress for “Nana’s Room” (the main level guest room) was delivered, so the girls organized the playroom while I oversaw that and started some laundry, then we got started on school work by about 9:30.

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9:30 AM: Dive into Homeschool

The morning is all about school. We’re still using this same schedule and for the most part we really love the more subjects in shorter periods set up. We started yesterday with music study, where we continue to focus on Chopin. We listen to his music and I read stories about him from Music with the Masters. From there we transition into math with Nicole the Math Lady. This gives me a chance to comb through what I need for our next subjects while both girls are plugged into their lesson. I usually bounce back and forth between them to help a bit.

Then we go into handicraft and read aloud, where we are currently listening to Little Women. I’m forcing Kaitlyn and I to finish our embroidery, even though it’s October themed. Hailey has done two embroideries and is not using her time to make bracelets or wrap presents. From there, it’s language arts- Mondays are for writing so I do writing with Hailey while Kaitlyn watches Mystery Science, then switch over to Kaitlyn while Hailey works on her assignment. Memory work is now all about memorizing lines for the Julius Caesar play they are going to be in through co-op and finally we wrap things up and head down for a snack, to let Finley out, and to put on our shoes.

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12:30 PM: Out to Run Errands

Hailey needed jeans and she’s finally a great age/size for shopping and American Eagle makes it easy. We headed to the mall and found fast success. We also bounced around to Claire’s, the Lego store, a toy store, Build-A-Bear, Macy’s, and few other places Kaitlyn succeeded in dragging us into just to browse.

From there we headed to a local gem, The Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery. We grabbed a bite to eat before heading into the market to look around. It’s known for it’s selection of high quality local goods and I could have wandered around for a while but I got a call from David that I was needed at home to sign for a delivery, so we took our cart of beer, elderberry, and candy canes (lol) to the check out and rushed off. After signing for FedEx we were the proud owners of a 500+ lb Kamado Joe Smoker that David promises will smoke me the most delicious wings, brisket, and grilled pizza. Can’t wait to try it!

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4:00 PM: Winding Down the Day

Once home I switched the laundry, put the bag of shrimp in water to defrost, and put on my shoes to take Finley out and let her stretch her legs. We covered about 2.5 miles on the trails and I enjoyed every minute of it. Being out in the woods in the fall is my happy place and I love that my legs have been feeling the more hilly terrain since we haven’t worked out in about two weeks. We have an exercise area at the new house that is *almost* set up and I can’t wait to get back to some strength training.

When I got back from the walk Hailey was out on her bike with two neighborhood friends and Kaitlyn, who had been tired all afternoon, was listening to her audiobook and then facetiming her cousin. The sun was heading down so I fed Finley and got out all I needed to make Greek Shrimp Pasta.

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6:15 PM: Dinner and a Movie

One thing I love about our layout is that I can see the TV from the kitchen, which I couldn’t do in our old home. The girls put on Christmas Chronicles and while I was making dinner, I got to watch, too. I love Christmas movie watching season and hearing them laugh. It’s so cozy.

In between stirring pasta, I helped David out where I could. Last night was messing with a new bed frame to get it to fit right. We have been working out tails off trying to get everything in the new house in place and while we’ve made so much solid progress, somehow we still have plenty to do. I’m so happy to be in and settling in though that it’s hard to mind very much.

We all ate dinner and watched the end of the movie together as I transferred pictures from the camera to my computer to edit for this post. It made me remember how much I love taking pictures on the real camera as it separates me from my phone and takes so much better pictures. Social media is great for so many reasons, but my heart of sharing life will always be the blog. I love long form copy and having the time to reflect on life’s happenings. I sometimes wonder if there is still a market for old school blogging style or if all that has switched to social media. Deep thoughts 😉

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8:30 PM: Calling it a Night

A tired Kaitlyn was sent off to bed around 8:15 while Hailey hung out for a bit to snuggle Finley. I cleaned the kitchen, set up the coffee, started the dishwasher, and finished putting away some laundry while chatting with her. She headed up to bed around 8:45. David and I chatted on the couch for a bit before I went to shower then we watched an episode of My Name is Earl. We always like a lighthearted show before bed and having gone through so many of the classic sitcoms (Frasier, Seinfeld, The Office, Shitt’s Creek, etc), we recently started Earl. It’s a good fit!

By the time 10:00 hits, we’re both snoozing. I think it’s neat that we don’t have to crate Finley anymore. Her cozy cave bed is in our room and when we head to bed she does, too, crawling into her bed and with a deep sigh settles in for the night.

And that’s a day! I got a few questions on IG that I wanted to include as part of this post, so here we go-

Do you ever get tired midday?

Sometimes! If I do, I usually try to take a walk or make a cup of tea. I’ve noticed green tea caffeine won’t keep me up at night the way coffee does if I drink it in the afternoon, so that’s my go-to. I’m really passionate about nighttime sleep so usually my 7-8 hours of solid sleep carries me through the day fairly well. Sometimes homeschool will drain me and make me mentally tired and that’s when getting outside works best.

Have you found a co-op and friends?

Our neighborhood community is pretty amazing and I do feel like I already have friends I could call on to walk or with a favor; we even have a girls night planned in December and did a Friendsgiving together with our families on Sunday. It’s been a wonderful transition.

As for co-op, yes! We have our first day with the this Thursday and we are a little nervous and a lot excited. We found this co-op about a year ago through local homeschool Facebook groups. The girls and I had a playdate with them back in the spring and they extended us an invitation.

How independent are your girls with homeschool right now?

We do a lot of the subjects together so I’m pretty involved. They both do math on their own (with me helping) and I’m very hands-on with Kaitlyn’s language arts, but less so with Hailey’s (once I go over her writing assignment, she’s on her own, and she does grammar on her own and I just go over it with her). It feels very manageable though because we do so much together I don’t feel like I’m constantly being pulled back and forth.

Are you feeling like the new house/community feel like home?

Yes. I kind of feel like I was always meant to live here. I really love the house and still feel like I need to pinch myself daily because in a lot of ways it doesn’t seem real. The people are really incredible and value a lot of the same things we value, like family, natural living, and community. I just wish I could scoop up some of the friends from our old area and have them here with me!

If you’re still reading this, I’m impressed. It is SO long, haha! Thank you for making my blog part of your day and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week!