A day in the life : mama
Prepare soft-boiled eggs on toast for everyone's breakfast...
Switch on Mozart study playlists while reviewing borrowing in subtraction with Patience and wishing Elmer a happy 37th birthday on the sibling group chat...
Work on place value and flashcards with Yali as Patience interjects with a... “Morgan taught me a new swear word yesterday"...
Review paper map of China from 1982 with Yali where Burma and the Soviet Union still exists...
Spelling lesson with Yali and Patience... “Yali get that graphite out of your mouth”... general squealing and jabbing each other with pencils and extensive giggling...
Creative writing... Yali detailing Minecraft monsters... while Patience explains that she sat on glass that morning but didn't get cut and wants to know if I know that dill pickle popsicles exist...
Listen to Yali read from “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”...
French braid Patience's thick black hair down the side and around the back into a shoulder-braid at her request while she reads aloud from “Molly Learns a Lesson” before leaving for the old school...
Sign in at the front desk while the sub looks for our name badges and lanyards and Patience chats with police officer J about his seventh kid born over the summer...
While Patience works with the tots in Spanish I spend my hour listening to First Graders haltingly read through storybooks then file word cards while one of Patience's old teachers discusses some of the life-altering circumstances of her summer...
Back home to plate chimichangas and ramen and beef and eggs and brown bread and avocado for the crew...
Eat lunch while replying to emails and rescheduling Patience's annual physical and cutting a check to the MO Dept of Revenue...
Help Yali order fabric markers from Amazon with some of his babysitting funds... he's also asking me to drive him to the store for brightly colored Tic Tacs...
Oxbear texts from the Sing! conference in Nashville where he sees some old Orthodox Presbyterian friends from Puerto Rico...
Clean kitchen while Patience practices dance for an hour in the living room simultaneously watching more Manga-inspired Japanese drama...
Start another load of laundry in the wash and fold another load...
Study Genesis chapter two with Yali and Patience and questions and discussion...
Give Patience another violin lesson while eating from a bag of trail mix... it's the same four notes over... and over... and over... while Yali asks me to help him print and cut out a set of paper stencils for his next costume project...
Put ice cubes on orchids and clear yard for the mowers in a higher-than-expected 87 degrees while Yali practices fake-punching himself in the mouth with also-fake blood involved..
Pause indoors to watch Yali reenact survival games with 3D-printed knives at his request before he asks me to trim out all the dollar bills he's currently photocopying on the printer... he runs back up the stairs to collect the first stack... “Don't worry Mom... there're more sheets coming”...
Water Oxbear's basil plants and put out recycling before driving Patience to the studio...
Journal and write in notebooks on studio parking lot for an hour with the van windows rolled down while listening to an organized street debate on the divinity of Jesus via Youtube before driving Patience back home...
Prepare spaghetti and meatballs for Yali and Patience (Puck has already left for J's place)...
Help Yali with more paper stencils for his costume project and add knitted panda house slippers to my wishlist...
Eat dinner...
Help Yali with spray paint and stencils on the back patio while getting eaten up by mosquitos...
Close down the house for the evening while mitigating conflict with Yali and Patience as they prepare for bedtime...
Prayers and readings from Matthew and “A Wrinkle in Time” for both of the kids wrapped up in blankets sliding into a colder night...
Finish typing in various documents and manage finances online while watching “King of Queens” till bedtime...
Wrapped.