Just another day

My sister ran the St. George marathon last Saturday!  Woo hoo!  I was talking to her about it a few weeks ago and she related to me that another running friend of hers had said that she wouldn't run another marathon until her kids were all in school.  I get that.  Besides my knee issues, the time commitment required to train for a marathon is one of my biggest obstacles.  Time, time, time!!  We all have the same 24 hours in a day, right?

Here is my day today:
5:10--wake up
5:30-6:30--swim conditioning class
hurry home, assemble and feed kids breakfast (homemade yogurt with granola and honey)
7:15--take Isaac to school (he normally walks, but today he had a huge project to turn in.)

Isaac's project--a 3D map of the "Isle of Potter"

7:30--Get home, help girls with extra daily math homework from tutor--a daily WAR (still with wet swimming hair, BTW)
8:25--Walk the girls to school
8:45--Get home, start making my breakfast, realize there isn't time, take Lincoln to school
 and drop off girls' field trip money that I forgot to elementary school
9:10--eat breakfast, bundle up and
9:30--leave the house in a state of complete chaos to go on a 17 mile ride in the cold

This is how I left my kitchen--avert your eyes, Kayla!

A view from my ride today

Oh, I am glad I had this fancy hat thingy to keep my head/ears warm today!  It was COLD!!!!

11:00--Get home, take a quick shower to warm up and get ready for the day

11:30--pick up Lincoln with half-done hair, rush home to finish doing hair (my flat iron broke, so I don't know why I bothered) snuggle up and read books to Lincoln for a few minutes before

Kirby wanted to hear the story too.

12:00--pick up Ella (the little girl I watch 3 days a week) from school
Read more stories to the kids
12:30--Make lunch, eat lunch, start to tackle the neglected kitchen--just getting to the breakfast dishes.
1:30--the kids want a snack?!  Didn't we just eat??  Sit down to blog while they eat
1:30-3:30--Clean, clean, clean--upstairs: make beds (finally!), general clean up, clean all bathrooms in the house, start folding the 5 loads of clean, unfolded laundry, while starting 2 more loads...
3:15--Pick up Isaac from school, toting his project (which he got 100% on, thank you very much.) Drop him off at home.
3:30--Pick up the girls, serve after-school snack and start on homework (second daily WAR of the day)
4:30--girls go to tutoring (another fight)
5:15--dinner (just soup and sandwiches, but when am I going to make it??)
6:00--PTO meeting (at the Elem. school--last week was the middle school) AND open house at a friend's house
7:00--pick up/drop off boy scout carpool
Get younger kids bathed, brushed, read to and into bed by myself, because Tuesdays are Ryan's night at the church. Yay.
8:15--Isaac gets home from Scouts.
8:16--I'm ready to go to bed, but I have a feeling I will still have a big mess to clean up in the kitchen...and laundry still to fold.

I'm sure that many of you have similar days.  This is pretty typical of every single weekday in my life. The only thing out of the ordinary was the bike ride--but Tuesday mornings are the ONLY free  time I have during the week. And sadly enough there is so much on my to-do list that I will NOT get to today!!  Weekends are hard because it is so important to me that we spend quality time together as a family--so I usually put myself on the back burner.

 I know I revisit this topic of finding balance a lot, but it is because it is so hard for me!  How do I put my family first, run a household, be a productive member of my church and community and still fit in time for me?  The only way to do it all is to sacrifice something--like my house.  I'd like to think that things will get easier when all my kids are in school, but I doubt it will be that different.  It seems to me that the older my kids get, the crazier my life gets!

I guess the conclusion I have come to, and need to keep reminding myself of, is that we all just do the best we can with what we have.  I need to remember that and not compare myself to other people!  I may not be as fit as some, or have as clean of a house as some, or whatever, but I am definitely doing what I can with what I have.  And I know that the time I spend with my kids--even if it is in our daily homework battles--is way more important than any time I spend cleaning my house or riding my bike.  I just have to keep telling myself that!

Maybe I will figure out how to balance it all someday.  Probably about the time Lincoln graduates from high school...