A Day in the Life - March 26, 2018

6:45am - my alarm goes off and I pop out of bed. Yes, I'm one of those rare people who can bounce out of bed and start moving right away. I am a morning person!!

First things first: COFFEE!!

I sit down on the couch and read my Bible and drink my coffee. I love the early morning when the house is quiet and still.


7:30 - I hear Joel in the shower and I go upstairs and start waking up kids to get ready for school. Look at that sleepy face . . .

Isaiah is the hardest one to wake up in the morning. He always complains that it's still "THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!" and he just can't get out of bed. So I usually carry him down to the couch where he lays there for about 15 minutes till he can function. I just don't understand these kind of people ;)

The rest of the kids are up and getting dressed and then sleepily make their way down to the breakfast table.

8:00 - Time for breakfast!

Some mornings we have a hot breakfast, but usually because we are running late we do oatmeal, cereal, yogurt or granola.

Some of us are more awake than others :)

8:15 - I start making the kids some quesadillas for their lunch. The big kids usually make their own lunch, but I decided to be nice and do it for them this morning so they don't have to rush. 

8:30 - We sit down and have devotions as a family. This doesn't always happen every morning, but we do our best!

These two are in a very hard stage right now. They can hardly be in the same room with each other without fighting. They've only been awake for less than an hour and I can't wait to send them off to school. This too shall pass. They will one day love each other and and be the best of friends, right?

Vienna quickly feeds her bunnies before going to school. She's so responsible and takes great care of them!

8:45 - Off to school. Joel is dropping the kids off and then has some meetings in the city.

Brooks has started going to Isaiah's kindergarten class a few days a week so this is one of those morning that I have the whole morning to myself! It's amazing!! I finish cleaning up the kitchen and getting myself ready and then from 9:45 to 11:30 I hang out with these sweet kiddos so their mama can get some much needed time out of the house!

I get back from my friend's house and Joel is home earlier than expected from his meetings so we enjoy lunch ALL BY OURSELVES! It's like a day date! This never happens.

I leave at 12:00 to go get a few groceries before picking up Isaiah and Brooks from school at 12:30.

Our grocery store: Sok!

Daily bread!

Driving through the village to the school. 

The kindergarten building at school.

School's out!!

12:45 - Home again, home again. Brooks and Isaiah drink some milk they got from school.

1:00 - I put on a movie for these two.

And I make myself a second cup of coffee and enjoy it by the fire.

Since the house is quiet I start doing some dinner prep!

It isn't long before their movie ends and I have two kitchen helpers!

Love my two littlest crazies!!

A friend brings Vienna and Colson home from school at 2:45. Colson usually gets out of school with Yohanis, but he is home early today because one of his teacher's isn't there for their last period (there are no such thing as substitute teachers here - if the teacher is sick, there's no class).

After school snack of banana and peanut butter!

 Around 3:00 some friends show up to play!

These two roller blade pretty much every afternoon after school.

Meanwhile, inside Ella and Brooks are transforming the dining room into one big tent.

Vienna starts on her homework. This girl is so disciplined - I never have to remind her to do anything. She's on it!

Yohanis gets home from school (by public bus) at 3:45 and gets his afternoon chores done right away. Between the 3 big kids they have to clean bathroom sinks and toilets, vacuum and mop the dining room and sweep the steps on Mondays.

We eat dinner at 5. Homemade chicken tenders, brown sugar and buttered carrots and some noodles with plain yogurt (it's very common to put yogurt on noodles here and my kids love it - definitely a staple food in our house).

We have a few errands to run. By 5:30 we are loaded up in the van and on our way!

At the mall. I had to exchange a pair of jeans I bought Yohanis - they were way too small. This kid is growing like a weed!

Oh the irony - zero of my kids were happy in this picture! Isaiah and Brooks had just been reprimanded for running and sliding on the mall floor and Vienna was upset because we wouldn't let her climb on the top of the "H" for the picture.

At Koçtas (the Turkish equivalent of Home Depot). Joel has some things he needs to pick up for a project he's doing for a neighbor.

We get home at 7:30 and get the littles into bed right away since they are melting down left and right! Then we snuggle in around the fire and talk about our highs and lows from the day with the big 3 kids and pray together.

My favorite place to be!!

The big kids are settled in their beds by 9 and Joel and I wind down our evening with a couple episodes of Friends. Seriously, I don't know how many times we've watched all the seasons, but it never gets old or fails to make us crack up laughing!