What day is it?

Yes, I'll admit it. I frequently think that as I wake up in the morning these days. And it's not impossible that I have to ask myself the question again as I travel through the day.

School has begun for me, along with some other new family ventures, including Tae Kwon Do, spring soccer (those two for Grady) and Drama Club, SEMAA (a university/elementary cooperative science-themed after-school program), a day of homeschooling, and spring dance for Fionna. All while we continue Pistoleros and the things I was already committed to doing, like leading La Leche League meetings and doing home visits and teaching the primary class in Religious Education on Sundays at our local Unitarian Universalist church. My friend Nora just blogged about what a regular week looks like for them. I was struck by the contrast between what my former weeks looked like and what my current weeks look like. Life really does evolve dramatically as your children grow and develop interests. When you throw mom's and dad's interests into the mix, it can get quite insane. For posterity's sake, here's a page out of my weekly calendar right now...(I'll exclude all the entries relating to the nine credit hours I'm taking, the ones saying read such-and-such article or do this online quiz or write this paper).

Monday: 3 hours of bliss as Nora watches Grady and Ainslie (part of our child-care exchange). Simultaneously, Fionna is home as Monday is now our home-school day (she's staying home one day of the week to home-school). Fionna and I begin our time sans younger sibs with a half-hour walk. Then I try to work either on my own school needs or organizing the house for the week (this might mean menu planning, intense laundry processing or just cleaning). Fionna is working on learning to type, and then just follows her interests... When Ainslie and Grady return home, we have one of our quieter days with nothing much to do for the rest of the afternoon until it's time for me to get supper going. Monday night I have a class from 7:20-9:50 so I'm quite focused right now on Mondays being smooth and very on-schedule, to minimize any upset for the kids (and Lenny) as I leave and he takes over bedtime. After class, I often return home to study/read more before heading to bed.

Tuesday: Playgroup, as always. An addition though is I'm taking my cousin's daughter Kat to playgroup with us and then dropping her off at daycare afterward. We have a short break between playgroup and then it's off to pick up Fionna, drop her at dance, and then race to Tae Kwon Do. After that, we race again to pick up Fionna and then it's home for homework, supper, baths, etc. Again, I'm trying to make sure Tuesdays are smooth sailing as I have a weekly one-hour chat on Tuesday evenings for one of my online classes. Once a month, a mere fifteen minutes after I finish up that chat session, I will have to be on the phone for a La Leche League of NM Area Administration Team conference call. That takes usually an hour to an hour and a half. After that, it's studying again for me.

Wednesday morning is open (thankfully), and I often use this time to grocery shop. Fionna has Drama Club on Wednesdays after school so we pick her up an hour later than usual. We have an awkward gap between that and soccer practice so we've began heading to an area park for the kids to play, while I study on the sidelines. Soccer practice (did I mention I'm newly the assistant coach) at 5:15, lasting until 6 and then we race home to have supper (if I'm lucky, I've got supper going in the slow-cooker). Once a month, we have a potluck with some friends that we try to make, if my kids aren't too exhausted.

Thursday: My kids love this day as it means that Zephyr and Jubi are headed over to our house to spend three hours with us. Sometimes I accomplish household tasks (like folding or hanging laundry) but sometimes I just play. Either scenario works well. After they head home, we have another short break and then it's off to Tae Kwon Do. After that, we do our usual hustle to get Fionna from SEMAA (a program, cooperatively taught by the local university and the local elementaries, teaching science) and then we really have to race to make it to Pistoleros (we're often a bit late). You may or may not remember that this is the basketball handling group that the kids have done for a couple of years. Not only do we have weekly hour-long practices but we have several performances at university games scattered throughout the season. One week a month, the evening La Leche League meeting (held at my house) falls on this night and we go straight from basketball to that.

Friday: Only one monthly scheduled activity, a La Leche League meeting on the first Friday of the month. Other than that, this can be a catch-up day for me and a mellow, at-home day for my kids. Once or twice a month though, Grady does have the opportunity to attend an optional Tae Kwon Do sparring practice that we try to attend.

Saturdays: Almost always, we head to the Farmer's Market. We've been going there regularly (at least the kids and I, Lenny when he can manage) for probably 5 years at least. You can't beat the atmosphere (music, good foods, local goodies) and the opportunity for two storytimes (with tokens for free books at my favorite bookstore on earth). Right now, Saturdays are about to get busy with soccer games as well. At other times of the year, it can be a more mellow. And, there's always the variable of birthday parties and other social invitations. Today, for instance, we have both a birthday to go to and a supper invite.

Sunday: For the past year and a half, I've been teaching the Primary class (kids age 2-5) in Religious Education at the Unitarian Universalist we attend. For the curious, this class isn't really about teaching religion but about teaching that people believe and honor their beliefs in a wide variety of ways, across the world. UU's aren't really religious per se but rather are more often worried about social action, equity for all, respect for our fellow humans, some are spiritual, etc. (Just in case you thought it odd that I'd be going to church, lol. You're not the first).

Recently, Lenny and I have been switching off on the weekends to try to give each other kid-free time. For me, it's about studying and working on school word; Lenny has recently started playing paint ball with friends. So, for instance, Lenny may take the kids to the river, a local duck pond or the park. When it's my turn, I usually do our usual routines (like the Farmer's Market or church or a birthday party) and don't guilt Lenny into coming.

Busy times. It makes me smile to think of the days when I only had Fionna and looked forward to a weekly grocery shopping trip, or maybe picking Lenny up from work. Although, that was just as hard, the isolation and loneliness, as the busy schedule can be.