Week in the life | Tuesday – Catching the Magic

A lie in of sorts – past 7am. Happily lazing in bed with Alice chattering away and nuzzling up to me.

A shower by myself – a treat – whilst Alice played with her Daddy. It wasn’t long after I’d finished my shower that she found me again – whilst I was trying to decide what to wear (my poor wardrobe needs a good clear-out – and it would help if the clothes were more on hangers than the floor – once upon a time I used to spend afternoons reorganising, colour coordinating, seasonally adjusting, matching accessories… that was before I took on the job of washing, drying, sorting and putting away five peoples clothing!).

By 8am the older girls were awake and the kitchen started to feel some action. Dan and I can’t function without a good breakfast inside us (long gone are the days of skipping breakfast, running out the door to catch the bus in time for work, grabbing a sausage roll or banana at morning tea). A healthy kick of muesli, yoghurt and fruit. Dan sat down to fuel up for the day, after kindly emptying the dishwasher to start the day with a clean slate.

Whilst Dan checked the world head-lines on the iPad (we do have a newspaper delivered – but really should cancel it – or not renew next time… most of the time it’s used for scrap, games, art, composting and put in the recycling bin), the girls did a morning workout (as with or without food they were bouncing with energy this morning!).

It’s so great to have Charlotte home still – on extended school holidays. She got Sophie and Alice pumping (the teddy bears got a good bit of arial action too!).

After working up an appetite they ate a little breakfast. Of all our girls, Charlotte is the best at breakfast – she enjoys scrambled eggs on toast or an omelet – her best feed of the day for sure. Alice will sit and sample whatever is going – mostly grazing throughout the day. Sophie doesn’t really find her appetite till mid-morning.

The family cat is never not hungry – constantly mewing for more and tripping me up in the kitchen. Silly cat shares her food with all the neighbourhood animals – even sits to one side whilst a few blackbirds have a taste!

The fish (we have a fresh water and a tropical tank) are always eye-balling me when I make my first appearance of the morning too. Most of the day they sit quite calmly, watching the action pass them by – but first thing in the morning they really perform for their breakfast.

After breakfast, and with the laundry hung up to dry (always prefer to get it out of the way first thing in the morning), I bundled my three girls in the car for a trip to the wave-pool in Porirua. Since most schools started back on Monday we were delighted to have the pool practically to ourselves. We spent an hour kicking around before stopping in at Pataka to see the ‘Money Talks’ exhibition.

Of course a stop for coffee was warranted too…

And then it was home for Alice’s nap and a chill out for us all, before a little pre-term two shopping (new school shoes for Charlotte, hair-bands, socks, pencils…) and a visit to ‘The Kids Collection‘ in Kilbirnie – where some of our pre-loved clothes have been sold and I treated the girls to a little something from the designer kids’ wear section (Charlotte’s has been tucked away for her Birthday) and Alice picked up a gorgeous pre-loved cardigan, originally from Next.

Shopping done and time to tuck up and get the dinner on. Whilst cooking up a couple of dishes (to please all) I also managed to clean the ‘play room’. There’s always something to tackle. The house is never all clean at any one time – but it makes me feel a little better to see at least a few patches tidy! After dinner Dan did the honours of washing up and then played a game of cards with the girls (Alice enjoyed an ice-cream on the couch, whilst watching Mickey Mouse club-house, hee, hee!).

Finally, decks clean, laundry put away, girls in p-jays (with some crazy games of raspberry blowing on the bed) they all got off to sleepy slumbers around 9pm. I lit the candles and counted my blessings for a healthy, happy family and a warm, cosy home.