Our Five Ring Circus: A Week In The Life Of A Mom Of Four

Monday, May 7, 2018

A Week In The Life Of A Mom Of Four

A Week in the life of a Mom of Four

Several years ago, I used to recap my life with my kids every week on this little blog of mine! I love looking back at those posts, but as my kids grew, life got even busier, so that became a thing of the past. Instead, I switched to recapping each month by sharing my favorite pictures. What ended up missing from my blog each week were the personal posts: the reason I started blogging in the first place! My new game plan is to share a "week in the life of a mom" post each Monday, and kick off the week on a personal note!

Needless to say, this past week was a busy one! May is easily going to be the busiest month of the year with two family weddings, all the end of the school year events, the Spring soccer season, dance, and everything in between. We are eagerly counting down to the end of the school year, and already planning on taking a break from almost all of our sports and activities so we can actually enjoy Summer for once!

So, without further ado, here is a glimpse of a week in the life of a mom of four...

Monday April 30th


Back to school for Dylan, Lexie and Lily and back to the office for Grant. Monday morning is always tough after a weekend off! Dylan and I wake up at 6 so he can get on the bus at 6:45, Grant wakes up at 7, and Lexie and Lily wake up at 7:20 and catch the bus at 7:53. 

After everybody left for the day, I got some work done (photo editing, sponsored posts, blog reading, social media shares) until Liam woke up. Thankfully my tiny tornado likes to sleep in, so I managed to accomplish quite a bit!

After Liam woke up, we ate breakfast, got ready, and headed out for the day. Our first stop was at a local park for a quick run on the walking path!

The Lucky Few

Down syndrome

After our run, we did our weekly grocery shopping at Aldi.

mom life

Liam wasn't feeling like himself that day, so he ended up falling asleep on the way home, which rarely happens!

Down syndrome blogs

We arrived home just as the girls were getting off the bus. Liam stayed asleep, and both Dylan and Lily ended up falling asleep, too. When Grant got home from work, the house was silent, but we had to wake everyone up for homework and dinner. It was such a beautiful Spring day, that we all ended up in the backyard after dinner!

Childhood

We stayed outside until dark, before reluctantly coming in to get everything ready for the following day. That night, the girls and the (65 lb) puppy ended up in our bed. Lily had napped earlier, and everyone else was asleep. She said she was scared, which never happens, so we let her sleep with us. Five minutes later, Lexie came in whining about her legs aching, and crawled into bed, too. The puppy didn't want to be left out, so she climbed on top of me. Our kids very rarely sleep with us, so we didn't mind much. Even though we have a king size bed, it was a crowded night!

 Life with kids

Tuesday May 1st


Tuesday morning was a repeat of Monday morning, with the exception of an overly lazy puppy who refused to get out of bed until almost noon!

English Mastiff

After brunch, we dropped Liam off at preschool, then Ella and I headed to another local park for a run on the trail. I'm still training her on the leash, but we're making a lot of progress! We just have to move past her trying to greet every single person and dog that passes us!

English Mastiff puppy

After all the kids got home from school, we played outdoors for several hours. It was hot and beautiful outside!

Motherhood

That's when I took this gem while adjusting my camera settings...

Real mom life

It's tough when mom says no to something, but we compromised by putting the sprinkler near the trampoline!

Life with Kids

That evening, Lexie had soccer practice. Grant stayed home with the rest of our kids, while I did some blog post writing in the car for the hour and a half that Lexie practiced.  After she was done, we rushed home for a really late dinner, which pushed back our bedtime routine quite a bit!

Wednesday May 2nd


Wednesday morning was a repeat of Monday and Tuesday, but Liam had to miss preschool that day due to Dylan having a doctor appointment that overlapped with preschool pickup. On our way to pick up Dylan, we managed to squeeze in a very quick run at the park. It was a rough one, thanks to the nearly 90 degree weather!

The Lucky Few

We picked Dylan up early from school and went to his orthopedic appointment. Dylan hurt his knee during the past basketball season, and it's still bothering him every day.  It was quite a bit of a wait, but we finally made it to the ortho, who determined that he injured the growth plate in his knee. As if our schedule wasn't already busy enough, we now have to add physical therapy twice a week for the next 4-6 weeks. 

The Lucky Few

After we got home, the kids did their homework, and after Grant arrived home from work, we ate dinner. We ended up playing in the backyard until dark again. Can you tell we have Spring fever?!?

Down syndrome

Down syndrome blog

life with Down syndrome

Down syndrome

Down syndrome blog

Thursday May 3rd


Thursday is always a really busy day for us, but we got a bit of a break this Thursday. I kept Liam home from preschool again so I could tackle my to do list. My parents came over after Lexie and Lily got home from school to babysit while I took Lily to her evening dance classes. I got some work done while she danced for 2 1/2 hours. 

That afternoon, a "microburst" had gone through the area, and knocked down power lines near the soccer field, so Lexie's soccer practice was canceled. For the first time in months, we were all able to sit down and enjoy the dinner my mom cooked for us together! And it just so happened that a certain puppy turned 5 months old!

English Mastiff

Friday May 4th


May the fourth be with you! Lily woke up before the alarm for the first time all year, and panicked because she thought she was late for school, and she simply couldn't be. Why? It was the day of her first grade field trip to the Children's Museum! She was dressed and ready to go in record time!

first grade

Meanwhile...Lexie was dealing with a hormonal outburst (yes, this is starting) and a headache, and ended up staying home from school. She never misses, but I made her go back to bed. When she woke up, she was (thankfully) back to her normal self. That afternoon, we visited my parents and ate dinner with them, just like we do almost every Friday evening.

Home Alone

I shared the picture above on Instagram already, but does anybody else see Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone?!?

And of course we HAD to take a picture for Star Wars Day!

May the Fourth Be With You

Lexie stayed at my parent's house that night for her sleepover (after another hormonal fit), and the rest of us headed home after a game of Quiddler. Back at home, we spent the rest of the evening with friends.

Saturday May 5th


Grant and Dylan woke up early to go on their weekly Saturday morning drive together. Lily, Liam and I slept in, and enjoyed a lazy morning together. After the guys got back, Lily and I rushed to the store to do some birthday present shopping before heading home to pick up the family. We spent the evening with our family friends to celebrate Lily's best friend Charlie's 7th Birthday! It was a unicorn/cinco de mayo party!

best friends

These two have been best friends since birth, and all Charlie wanted for her birthday was matching outfits with Lily. Lily was thrilled to pick out matching clothing!

best friends

Everybody had fun at the party! Lily and Dylan ended up sleeping over, and we drove to my parent's house after the party to pick up Lexie. Lexie spent the day with my parents. My dad took her to breakfast, took her to a local petting zoo where she got to hold a baby kangaroo, and took her to a friend's farm. She had a great time!

That evening our friends came over, and we played Speak Out. I haven't laughed that hard in ages! After they left, Lexie and I camped out in my bed and watched Netflix until we passed out for the night. 

Sunday May 6th


Sundays aren't the least bit relaxing anymore! We pretty much woke up, got ready, and headed out the door to pick up Dylan and Lily, and head straight to Lexie's soccer game. It was another away game nearly an hour away. Unfortunately, our team was missing the two best offensive players, and only had one sub, and the other team beat them...badly!

youth soccer

The commute and the game took up 4 hours of our afternoon. When we arrived home, I took Liam outside to play for a little while, before he, Lily, and I headed out to do our weekly grocery shopping. 
The next few hours were a whirlwind of shopping, putting away groceries and cooking, eating, and cleaning up dinner. 

We ended our busy week with some outdoor play!

The Lucky Few

siblings

The Lucky Few

And then we had to return to reality... We prepared everything for the following day, and the kids headed to bed while Grant and I watched the newest episode of West World. Grant went to bed, and here I am, staying up way too late blogging!

Week one of our busy month is behind us, and we have a very busy week ahead of us! It's going to be an exciting one, because my brother is getting married on Saturday! Stay tuned...


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12 comments:

  1. This is fun, you are a very busy mom! Too bad about Dylan needing PT! Yes that picture of Liam does say Home Alone to me!

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  2. Im basically exhausted just reading about your week! Haha. I love the premise of this monthly look into your life ❤️

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  3. You are seriously a rockstar. So much going on!

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  4. Your Stars Wars pic was ACE - takes me back to when Caspar had an armoury of light sabres under his bed (and to all the bruises from the fighting with them - usually across my knuckles)! Sorry to hear about Dylan's knee - I hope he makes a speedy recovery! Liam's outfit is super cute. Love the pic of him asleep in his car seat - makes me broody! You literally are super Mum with all the running round you do - and all your kids look so happy! I need to religiously read your blog to soak up some tips! Joanne x

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    1. Oh, don't worry...they have their grumpy moments! And thank you so much! XOXO

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  5. Wow, you are super mom!!! I have a hard enough time juggling one! You go, mama!!!

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