a day in the life (part 5)

4:35: Lace up my running shoes, load Henry in to his stroller, get the kids on their bikes, put on their helmets, take off for a run around the neighborhood while pushing Henry and trying to keep up with the kids as they wobble along on their training wheels.

4:50: Everyone spots Charlie driving home. I try to keep the kids from falling off their bicycles as they tremble with excitement and/or attempt to run in to the road.

5:00: Charlie drops off his laptop and briefcase at home, grabs a helmet and my bicycle and comes with us as we do a larger neighborhood loop. I run. Everyone else rides.

5:10: Elizabeth almost causes a massive pile up when she stops suddenly to pick a dandelion.

5:30: Return home. Plug in a Baby Einstein video for the children. They want to see The Incredibles or The Emperor's Last Groove or Monsters Inc. or something OTHER than Baby Einstein, but I am so tired of hearing them repeat and act out EVERYTHING that they hear and see in movies that we've decided their only television entertainment (for the foreseeable future) will include puppet shows choreographed to Mozart music.

5:35: Talk with Charlie about his day while I check work e-mail and get caught up on correspondence. Charlie gets dinner started. I'm trying to figure out why I have the beginning of a migraine headache and then realize it's because I haven't had any chocolate within the past 20 hours. I take two Excedrin and find a candy bar buried under raisins in our pantry.

6:30: We all sit down to a dinner of chicken parmigiana. We hold hands and say a blessing and then we toast each other. Cheers!

6:35: Dinner is over. At least for the kids. Charlie starts herding everyone in to the bathroom, but Henry escapes and comes running back to sit at the table to graze.

In the nude.

6:45: Charlie gives the kids baths while I clean up the kitchen. Again. I never really realized until today, that the bulk of the work I do during the day is CLEAN THE KITCHEN.

7:15: Kids are out of the tub and tell me that they are starving. I give them each a slice of bread and tell them that TOMORROW, they need to eat WHILE THEY ARE AT THE TABLE or they are out of luck. I floss and brush everyone's teeth while Charlie tidies up the bathroom and starts a load of laundry.

7:30: Elizabeth and Carolyn are in bed. I sit down to say a prayer with the girls and Elizabeth falls asleep before I get to the end. Carolyn is asleep before I walk out of the room. I join Charlie who is reading a book to the boys. I sit down and nurse Henry. Charlie reads William a story. Then another. Then another.

7:50: I tuck William and Henry in to bed, say a prayer and kiss them goodnight. They are both asleep within seconds.

8:00: Rejoin my husband in the kitchen. We finish cleaning up. Folding and putting away miscellaneous loads of laundry. Talk about our day.

8:30: I finish getting caught up on work e-mail while Charlie fixes drawers in our kitchen.

10:30: I sit down to update the blog and am thankful that we have a DVR to record American Idol because otherwise we would have completely missed tonight. We'll watch it later tonight or perhaps tomorrow. But I'm already guessing that Danny and Adam will be our final two contestants next week. And, I'm still amazed that Paula Abdul would have lip synced on a show about singing during her performance last week.

11:15: Off to bed.