A Day In the Life With 5 Little Children

Since I created my last Day In the Life post, a lot has changed. Another little princess was added into our family. We moved locations a year and a half ago. Our children are older and have more responsibility in the home. Plus, homeschooling has become more consistent.

In general, we still follow the same routine, however, the dynamics are different and the days are filled with much more activity. And lots of little hands that have been helping more around the house. (one reason why it keeps getting easier!)

Here is an overview of what our household consists of in a day…

Wake Up/Breakfast

Sometimes I will wake up before my children. However, most times, I’m woken up by my 8 month old. If my older ones wake up before me, they will go downstairs and watch Netflix shows.

My husband runs our business from home, so because of that, he makes breakfast for us almost every morning! That gives me time and flexibility then to get ready for the day, nurse my baby, and get the younger two ready for the day as well (change their diapers and get them dressed).

By then, my husband has breakfast ready for us. Every morning we eat eggs (we are now moving on to 10 eggs a day!).

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This particular morning, my husband also made us pancakes with a few drops of food coloring in the batter (which added some excitement for the children).

After breakfast, the three older ones help clear the table and sweep the floor while I wash the pans and put the rest of the dishes in the dishwasher and make two batches of veggie juice.

Homeschool

Homeschooling is done with my two older children usually three or four days a week. We dive into it right after breakfast and get finished before lunch. About a total of two hours is spent in reading, writing, spelling, math, and some geography and Bible time.

My four year old (third to oldest) also takes time in there learning her letters. Most times my two year old girl is playing with play dough or just sitting on my lap. And then I’ve been blessed with a very content eight month old baby. She is either sitting in her booster seat munching on cheerios or crawls around and occupies herself with toys.

After homeschool time, it’s play outside time, so mom can get some reading in or dive into her to do list.

This book from Sarah Mae, Having a Martha Home the Mary Way, has been transforming my perspective on the balance of having a home of peace physically and spiritually.

Play-Doh has been a highlight in our home lately. This is what our children are consumed doing if it’s rainy out (all four of my children from ages 2 – 7!)

Lunch time

My husband usually joins us for lunch. I make something that is quick and easy- sandwiches or left-overs. This happens sometime between 12 and 1pm.

Nap/Quiet time

After lunch, my older ones have quiet time. During this “quiet time,” they each take turns to entertain/occupy their baby sister (since she is in between her two naps during this time). I will set a timer for 20-30 minutes, one sits on the floor playing with their baby sister while the others lay on the couch looking at books. (My 4 year old is transitioning into no naps, so she has just started doing this quiet time routine.)

My two year old definitely gets her 2-3 hour nap every day at this time.

This then allows me to spend 2-3 hours every day working on my blog. I catch up on Facebook posts, emails, scheduling Pinterest pins, and creating blog posts.

3-5pm

This time is usually focused on finishing up projects, doing errands (this is how I grocery shop with all my kids), and spending time with my children. If I started wash in the morning, then the children help me fold it in this time frame. We also spend time cleaning up toys to prepare for the evening activities.

If no projects or errands are needed done, we go outside. Many times I will give our children a ride on the gulf cart around the complex, visiting neighbors. Other days, we go up to the pond to feed the fish.

I then come back in and make sure supper is ready by 5 or 5:30pm.

After Supper

Now that it gets darker earlier, our evenings seem super short.

Once we clean up all the supper dishes, this is usually family time.

Lately my husband and I have been going out and shooting our bows every evening.

It is also a time to get our exercise in with our children. We either go on hikes or jump on the trampoline with them.

Because of it getting darker sooner in the evening, we have started putting the children to bed by 7:30pm rather than 8pm. If you’d like to know how we get our children to bed stress-free now, read this post to hear our secret –} No More Bedtime Stress With Children.

After Kid’s Bedtime

And because of the children going to bed earlier, this leads to my husband and I spending more time together. Once the children are down, we finish up anything online or in the office that needs done. Then we either watch something on Netflix or listen to something educational (mostly personal development audios or videos, which we have been doing a lot more lately!) or we just get to bed earlier.

Many of you probably wonder if I get any sleep with a baby and two kids in the toddler stage. Yes, I do. Here is my trick in how I get all my babies to sleep through the night at two months old!

So that concludes a day in the life for Denise Renae.

What about you? What does a day in the life look like for you? Do you homeschool your children? If not, what do you accomplish while your children are in school? Do you work from home or away from home? What do your evenings consist of? I’d love to hear your day shared in the comments below!