A Day in the Barney Home (Day 7)

Well, life here isn't just sitting around all day, though Rhett thinks that's all I do around here--(that's a joke), so here's an idea of what a typical day is for us . . .

My little alarm goes off at about five or six in the morning, depending on when her last feeding was. Rhett's two little alarms wake him up between six and seven each morning. On most days, he awakes to a quiet little voice from Claire saying, "Hi dad. Hi dad. Hi dad. I had nice dreams," or an energetic Summer trying to snuggle in next to him.

We start the morning with breakfast. One of our favorite breakfasts is Atole (we call it Oatmeal Soup for the girls). I had it while I was in Guatemala, and I loved it. It's super easy too--heat 1 1/4 C water with a dash of salt and 1/8 C sugar. Then add 1/2 heaping cup oats when the water is boiling. While it boils, put a cup of milk in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, just until boiling. When the milk is done, pour both milk and oatmeal mixture in blender. Blend. Then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, apple pie spice, or pumpkin pie spice. The girls eat their's like a soup, but Rhett and I drink ours in mugs. Try it!

After breakfast, we get cleaned up. Sometimes the girls bathe (if they haven't the night before or if breakfast was messy). We'll read, do our studies, play, and then get ready for school. Here's the before and after pictures for their hair:

Before

Braid from last night

A little ratty

An easy target

After

Some more braids

Natural curls

A necessary accessory

Then, at about 11:55, we load the van and are off to school. It takes us 20 minutes to get there. The girls sit in the back row of the van, and Pyper's in the middle. When we first tried this setup, I couldn't hear a thing Summer or Claire said to me. And they couldn't hear me either. All the way to school the conversation was something from me, then "What? I didn't hear you." "What Summer?" "I said I didn't hear you, Mom." And it goes back and forth. Now, however, she's learned that there can't be much conversation between us while we drive, so she looks out the window, or tries to talk with Claire. Claire on the other hand, usually falls asleep. Today, since it was Valentines Day and they got a few treats from school, all the way home they were trading. "Here Summer," from Claire, then "Thanks. Here Claire." It was so cute.

So we get to school, and the doors open at 12:15. We take Summer in first, get her signed in and sitting down participating, then Pyper and I take Claire to her room. I sign her in, say goodbye, and head over to the parent room where I study, read, or play with Pyper until 3:15 when we go get Claire, sign her out, and then get Summer.

Then we head home. I love that the girls are so content just looking out the window or talking to each other while I drive. Today, they got to snack on some of their holiday candy. I actually almost swiped some of Summer's to give it to the homeless guy on the corner. But I couldn't reach it. Summer offered me her half eaten tootsie roll, but I couldn't reach that either.

We get back to Liberty Lake, check out the lake (here is the picture from today), and then go home. The girls get some cuddle time with me, and then some tv or computer time while I fix dinner. (The white part of the lake is snow.)

Today, Summer "practiced" for a bit, (I should edit these clips down, but it's 11:53pm, and I only have seven more minutes to get these posted, or else I don't make my goal of seven posts in seven days. Then I'll have to do it all over again! Yikes!)

and Pyper had a fun bath.


After dinner, we do jammies, teeth, and then read together before putting the girls down.

On a typical day, Rhett's gone from about 8:00 until 5:30. He helps with dinner and the bedtime routine, which is always much appreciated.

So now that it's in writing, I guess it does sound like I don't do much all day, but it sure is a lot of work fun!


And there you have it--SEVEN whole days of daily blog posts. It's been fun, but . . . I doubt it will ever happen again! Hope you enjoyed it!