Documenting my Day of Gratitude.

Chocolate on my Cranium is hosting a blog hop.  She asks that each of us share a day of our choosing.  I chose yesterday, though it is by far not a typical day, it is a typical busy day.  I do have days like that about once or twice a month.  Have fun walking through yesterday with me....

6:45 a.m.  Get out of bed late, like an hour and 45 minutes late, but I am grateful for a few extra moments with my spouse, who is only awake because he has been sick and cannot sleep.

7:00 a.m.  Throw blueberry muffins in the oven for breakfast and scramble eggs.  I have discovered the best blueberry muffin recipe in the world!  I combined a couple of muffin recipe.....oh .......deliciousness!  Here is the recipe....I'll have to add it to my table talk page!

Of course, you would need a photo:

7:20 a.m. Feed the tortoise.  We are tortoise sitting.  His family is out of town for 10 days and they didn't feel like they should take him on vacation too.  Isn't he so very cute!!  He is only a few months old.  He fits in the palm of my hand!  Such a tiny little tortuga!

7:30 a.m.  The big boys miss the bus because we are running late.  I am very grateful I have 1 working car that can get them to school and still have enough time to get the little boys to school!

8:30 a.m.  Done running everyone everywhere.  Eat breakfast, check email, blogs, cnn.  Get Sun started on her school work.  Check out this beautiful morning sun!

9:30 a.m. After showering, plan the menu and grocery shopping for the week.

10:15 a.m.  Get gas and go shopping at my favorite store!  I am seriously grateful for Costco!  Today it was my one stop shop!  The time was crucial!

11:00 a.m.  Sit in Costco parking lot, eat Costco lunch, talk to my sweetheart on the phone, just touching on community drama.

11:30 a.m.  Get home and unload the groceries with these characters:

I am so grateful for the opportunity to homeschool, even if it is only one child at a time!  I love that my 12-year-old can watch the preschooler and I can still go grocery shopping without children!!

12:15 p.m.  Pick up little boys from school.  They have early out all week because of parent/teacher conferences.  I love having a couple of extra hours with them each day.

1:00 p.m.  1st parent/teacher conference.  I am grateful for very experienced teachers who love their job, even after they have done it for a long time!

1:20 p.m. 2nd parent/teacher conference.  I am grateful that I know my child well enough that when the teacher says, "This is a problem..." I know the problem isn't what she thinks it is!

1:40 p.m. Informal parent/teacher conference where I met with a former and hopefully future teacher of some of our children.  I am so happy to have a relationship with excellent teachers who know my children and appreciate their gifts and talents, where we can speak freely about the challenges and difficulties facing our school community and together we can make a difference for our children!

2:00 p.m.  Get home.  Sweep kitchen floor.  Go through the mail.  Check email.  Have an email from a favorite high school friend.  I am grateful to have amazing friends from high school who are still my friends today!  I may not hear from them often or see them hardly ever and though they do not share my faith, they are my dear, dear friends.  I know if I ever needed them, they would come!

3:00 p.m.  In the middle of my response to my HS friend, Slim calls me to talk about his life and plans and to catch up.  I am grateful that even as my children mature, they call home and want to talk to their mother.  I am sure it will not always be so, but I love it today!

3:30 p.m. I finish up email to HS friend.  Spike, Spike gets up from his nap and sits on my lap for 15 minutes while I finish typing and hit send.

he would not be still and my old camera shutter speed stuff 

is messed up!

3:45 p.m. Remind the little boys to do their jobs that I told them to complete at 2:00.  One says, "Can I just do that later?'  To which I reply, "Yes, if I can cook your dinner tomorrow."  He does his job and I clean the kitchen and begin dinner.  I am grateful for potstickers and a rice cooker on a busy day!!  And I am grateful that the third graders did not eat most of the rolls I sent for their Thanksgiving feast because now I can use them for dinner!

addictedtocostco.com

4:15 p.m.  An unexpected guest drops by.  She is substituting as the chorister in 2 weeks and has been a member for about 9 months or so.  I go over the job with her and how it works.  She is a musician, but has no children.  I am grateful she is excited and willing to help us out, and that she was thinking about it enough that she just popped by to get her instructions!

4:45 p.m.  Back to dinner.  I am grateful my children are willing to eat in shifts.  We don't usually do it that way, but today it is necessary.  Feed the baby.  Make toast for the boy who doesn't like potstickers (whose kid is that, anyway?).

5:00 p.m. Feed the little ones and the big ones.

5:15 p.m. Put together dinner for my husband and myself.

5:45 p.m.  Leave with dinner to pick up my husband for his Bishop's training meeting.  I am so grateful for children who will willingly babysit on very little notice!

6:00 p.m. pick up Drew.  Drive 20 minutes to his meeting while he eats in the car.  I am grateful for food that travels, thank you potstickers, and water bottles!

6:20 p.m.  Sit in the parking lot for 10 minutes to have just a few minutes with my sweetheart before his meetings.  Eat my salad.  I am grateful for 10 minutes!!!  (30 if you include the drive!)

6:30 p.m. Answer my texts and voice mails.  I am grateful that when I forget about a commitment I have made to a friend for tonight, she loves me enough to forgive me!  Some days life is so crazy!

6:45 p.m.  Begin writing and documenting my post on my day of gratitude.  I am grateful for just a few minutes to sit in quiet, even if it is not at my house and the building is cold.

7:45 p.m  I am so very grateful for how the day went.  It was packed!  This entire week has been packed!  But I am very grateful that after my 20 minute drive home, my baby will be in bed, and I will spend a little time with my sweetheart, probably watching Downton Abbey, before we go to bed and start tomorrow's day!

Which we did!  Got home @ 9:00 p.m.  Went to bed at 10:30 p.m.  Good night!