…weekday mom edition.
There are two versions of a weekday in my life. Neither is particularly interesting or at all glamorous, just to forewarn you. There is the normal practice day, which is approximately 73 hours long despite only having 24 hours a day. Then, there is the weekday game day, which begins with me thinking that I’ll have plenty of time to do all the things that day, and ends with me sitting in the stands at a football game at 8 pm wondering how on earth I left the house 8 hours prior with snacks, a stadium seat, and a good attitude.
So in case you’ve ever wondered what in the actual hell I do all day long, welcome to a day in the life (I’ll give you both versions). I am a glorified snack bitch, maid, chauffeur, carrier of golf clubs and football equipment, chef, and writer.
Version One: The Normal Weekday
7 am – wake up (grudgingly) to kiss the kids goodbye before my husband takes them to school. This is when I drink my coffee in peace, enjoy the quiet, and mentally prepare myself to exist that day.
8 am – walk the dog. This is one of my favorite parts of the day, because I love spending that time outside getting some fresh air and focusing on my pup. We take a good walk, though much shorter during the warm months than the cooler months. It’s just too hot on her tiny feet to walk much later than 8:30.
8:30 – water my plants. This takes an entire half hour because I’m a crazy plant lady. By now, the dog is inside lying at my husband’s feet under his desk where she’ll stalk him all day. I sweat profusely watering everything on the front porch, pool deck, and landscaping.
9 am – work out. This is when I do either a heavy incline treadmill for 30 minutes. 15 incline at 3 to 3.5 speed, or I take a yoga class. Either or. Love both, need both.
9:45 – house pick up. This does not take me long because we keep our house spotless at all times, but this is when I make sure the counters are wiped off in the bathrooms after everyone got ready for school, I start laundry, I dust if anything needs dusting, and I make our bed.
10:15 – high protein breakfast. Gotta have it. Will die without it. I usually make myself two scrambled eggs, sausage, a bowl of Greek yogurt with fruit, granola, and honey on top, and enjoy that.
10:30 – work. This is when I sit down for a few hours to write. I might sit on a lounge chair and work by the pool or on the lanai. Maybe on the front porch in one of the rockers. Either way, I write until around 1 pm three days a week.
Twice a week I only work for an hour or so, and then I make it a goal to spend a few hours doing something for me. I’ll either shower early and take myself out to lunch or shopping, or I’ll put on my bikini and grab my book and go lay by the pool until it’s time to get ready to get the kids. I need my me-time.
1 pm – shower and get ready to leave for pick-up.
1:50 – Leave for school pick-up.
2:20 – pick up Charlotte.
2:45 – pick up Ava.
3:00 – drop Ava at golf course for practice.
3:20 – home. Help with homework, do more laundry, start prepping dinner.
4:45 – leave to pick up Ava from golf and Carter from football practice.
5:30 – home to make dinner.
6 pm – eat as a family around the table.
6:30 – Craig and I clean the kitchen, vacuum rugs, mop, do more laundry, and prepare to go to bed with a clean house.
7 pm – shower again because I need all the showers
7:30 – game night or more homework or watch a show with the kids depending on their level of interest/homework/mood.
8:30 – kiss everyone good night and put them in their own rooms for the night, and head to bed myself.
See? Boring.
Version Two: The Weekday Game Day
Right now we are fully into golf and football season, so that means we often have days with both a golf match and a football game. And those days are…a bit more chaotic.
My mornings are the same because I like routine, and that’s my favorite part of the day. However, the rest of the day is dependent on two things: Whether Ava’s golf match begins at 2 pm or 3 pm and whether it’s a home match or an away match. For the sake of this post, we’ll go easy and say she has a 2 pm golf match at home.
10 am – pack the sports stuff. This means packing the golf snack bag, the cooler, my stadium seat into my car, making sure I have towels, an umbrella, my fan, sunscreen, bug spray, a hat, cooling neck towels for Ava, and extra beverages.
10:30 – make sure everything around the house is done and handled and perfectly clean because I will not come home to a messy house at 9 pm. This means making sure there is not an ounce of dirty laundry, everyone’s bathrooms are spotless, there are no dishes or dust or anything of that nature.
11:00 – shower and get myself ready for the day.
12:00 – leave the house to go get Ava from school.
12:30 – deliver Ava to golf course, purchase golf cart rental, let Craig load golf cart, remind all golfers that I have snacks and water and to please help themselves, watch Ava warm up, practice passenger princess skills, judge Craig’s inability to be aggressive as a driver.
2 pm – match begins. We now watch.
5:15 pm – if the match is not over, one of us will leave to go to football. So I’ll do this – if I stay at golf, I’ll stay until it’s over and then Ava and I will rush to the football field to catch as much of Carter’s game as we can. If I go to football and Craig stays at golf….
5:30 – arrive at football stadium to watch warm-ups.
6 – game begins
8ish – game ends
8:15 ish – leave game to follow bus back to school to wait on Carter to change his clothes and gather his belongings.
8:45-9 – home (usually stop to feed Carter a post-game dinner but sometimes he wants something from home).
9:15 – shower and get ready for bed.
It is truly not glamorous, but it is life with four kids (three of whom live at home and aren’t old enough to drive). Most days are so packed with so many errands and so many things to do around the house that it’s time to pick up the kids and spend hours in the car before I even have a chance to breathe. Yet I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Tiffany Raiford 