::Daytime::

Mornings are tiring, but midday's are even more so.
8:30 a.m to 11:30 a.m. {The boys} Currently, after Elijah goes to school, I am left with the trickiest combo of children: Gabriel and Isaiah. They exert 100% energy at 100% volume. All morning. I can't comfortably push them outside, because I don't trust them to keep safe. Not even a bit. Some of their indoor activities include:

1. Making many, many, many paper airplanes and throwing them off of our upstairs balcony. (All of which end up in my kindling bucket-- because even if a dozen were left lying around, they would still pilfer the fresh paper pile.)
2. Running around and around and around the house in circles.
3. Throwing pillows off of the couches in order to provide a more comfortable landing for when they throw themselves off the couches.
4. Whining for food. Lots.
5. Obscuring the basement floor with toys.
6. Chopping things with scissors. Anything at all. Into the tiniest little pieces.
7. And any number of other loud, messy variations of the above.

8:30 a.m to 11:30 a.m. {The girls} Annorah is quite content most days to watch the madness, occasionally partaking in a minor way, but only if she has a dolly in tow. She has about six of them. She can't seem to tell them apart. Or doesn't care to. But they must be available at all times.

Caelah is off on her own at this point doing the "important subjects" like Math and English. She has a desk tucked away in the back room with all of her books and pencils. However, I can't get too comfortable with her independence yet. Today, for example, I breezed in to grab something and found her on the lap top watching "The Dog Whisperer" with the volume turned off. I can not express to you how angry this made me. I am still pondering the consequence. Ideas?

10:00 a.m. "Mommy, can we have something to eat?" Snack is usually something I baked and stored in the freezer. The past month, they have been eating the Periodic Table, for example. If I have nothing baked, marshmallows, raisins and cheese it is. They almost always eat their snacks immediately, and in the very spot I served it. So, if I left their cookies on the counter or the island, up they climb and there they stay until every scrap is done. This make guests nervous, I've noticed.

If at any point--and this is a big if--they do settle to watch a movie, I make myself a coffee and do the devotions I didn't get to do. Or, I check blogs. Or, I sit and stare into space for awhile.
11:30 a.m. Lunch. Always the same thing: Peanut Butter and honey sandwiches with sliced fruit. The exciting days are the days the bread is homemade. But, mostly, that's lost on the kids. They just want to eat. When lunch is announced, Norah claps her hands and hops up and down; "Yay!Yay! Yunch!"

12:30 p.m. Caelah escorts Gabriel to the bus, Annorah goes down for a nap, I get to work on the mess. Often, this is when I find evidence of vandalism, like the new dragon picture etched in pencil on our bathroom door, or the 50+ stickers pasted all over the television and coffee table downstairs. At these discoveries, I usually just sigh and move on. Aidan and I often remind each other that we are not entitled to anything in this life, let alone a pristine home-- or working electronics.

1:00 to 4:00 p.m. This is usually my favourite part of the day. Caelah and I sometimes work on a fun subject together, and include Isaiah, if we can. I make a coffee and curl up with her to read good books about exciting places, or we do something artistic that would never be gotten away with if Norah were awake.

This time slot offers yet another opportunity to do devotions if I haven't gotten a chance yet.

Or I dare to open a book for a bit. So very rare. And once I delve in I find it far more difficult to shift back into gears when I hear; A. Little-girl noises upstairs B. Bus-rumbles alerting me that the boys are home.

4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Chaos. Annorah has renewed energy from her nap. (Oh, to nap!) The two schoolboys are all post-school wildness. Isaiah, well, his energy level never wains, so he carries on at his usual pace-- which is crazy! And Caelah is SO done working.

Meanwhile, I have to look through school bags for notes. Hand out snacks. Get boys to complete homework. Get dinner really going. And make sure everyone and everything stays in one piece.

Nothing is sweeter than the sound of tires crunching on the driveway.
Back-up.