And So It Begins . . .: A Day in the Life of the McClartys Summer 2016

So I tend to be very detailed with these, if you just want to scroll through and look at pictures you'll get the gest. Basically Jon works a lot in the Summer, Kieran is at the age where he gets upset frequently, Reed can be helpful when he wants, and everyone is sleeping better than we were a few months ago but we are still not a home of "good sleepers."

4:50 My alarm goes off and I get up and put on my running clothes.

5:00 Kieran is yelling for me, so I go into his room tuck him back in, and he goes back to sleep.

5:05 I leave to go running

5:30 K is awake and yelling for me again, Jon gets up and takes him to go potty. Jon forgot that his Tot Clock doesn't change colors until 6:00 and he's supposed to stay in his room until then so he makes him breakfast (whole wheat cinnamon raisin roll, strawberries, hemp milk)

6:00 I get home and Jon heads back to bed for a few minutes. Kieran hangs out with me while I do an arm workout. When I turn on the DVD he starts crying because the girl is not wearing a green top and then decides to play with some toys.

6:15 I finish the workout and Reed wakes up. The boys start playing ninja turtles while I clean out the dishwasher. I remind Reed a couple times he probably should go potty.

6:22 Reed pops up and declares that he has to go pee "so bad" and shuffles to the bathroom holding himself. I feed Dodger, water our potted plants, clean up the dining room from Sunday dinner with the Grandparents, and pull out clothes for the boys

6:40 - Jon hasn't emerged so I go back to check on him and find that he's still asleep (usually he leaves for work by now) so I wake him up. Reed says he's not hungry for breakfast yet so I make our bed, start laundry, and give Reed his nasal spray and inhaler.

6:55 Reed sits down to breakfast (he has the same thing as Kieran did). K has a fit because I won't make him his own oatmeal until he eats more of the breakfast Dad made him (I do offer to share my oatmeal but this is unacceptable). Jon says a hurried goodbye to us. Reed does some reverse psychology saying that he'll eat K's breakfast which immediately leads to K gobbling up more of his food.

7:10 I wipe Reed's hands and mouth and tell him to get dressed. I wipe K up and get him dressed. The boys play more while I do dishes and check my work email.

7:25 We head out to walk Dodger

7:55 We are back from our walk, and K pees outside

8:00 I move clothes to the dryer, start the movie Frozen for the boys, then I get in the shower

8:10 I'm out of the shower, Reed wants to play an app and K wants to watch Peppa Pig - so I hand over my phone so they can do both

8:25 I'm done getting ready so I pack our bag for the day, put clothes in washer, brush the boys teeth, Reed goes potty, and I put hair gel in his hair. I tell them we can play Ninja Turtles for 5 minutes, but then we have to leave.

8:35 I take K to go potty and Reed gets his shoes on. I load the kids into the car to take Reed to school.

8:55 K and I walk to Family Dollar to do some Fun Day shopping, on the way we run into the Rodriguez Family taking Connor to school - Kieran is very excited by this!

9:15 We walk back to the car, K requests Starbucks, I offer the park, he chooses Starbucks so I agree. I get him a breakfast sandwich and convince him we should go to the nursery to looks for some plants by telling him they have coi fish he can feed, then I immediately remember they are closed on Mondays - now Kieran is upset he doesn't get to see the fish

9:55 Instead we head to Kmart hoping their garden department might have what I need - they have some but not all of what I need, but it's not a total loss.

10:15 We get back in the car and I check my email, I call into office to help with something, and then we head home

10:30 - We are home but Kieran has fallen asleep in the car. I let him sleep while I unload plants and switch around laundry. I wake him up and take him to go potty. Then we plant flowers and work in the vegetable garden. He gets to pick and eat a strawberry as a treat.

11:15 We get water and K plays out in the side yard while I take care of some work stuff

11:40 K goes potty and then we get in the car to pickup Reed. Reed is super excited about his day and talks all the way home

12:10 We are home. I make our lunches. Reed chooses avocado and chicken with corn tortillas and hemp milk. K chooses a sun butter and jelly sandwich with broccoli and hemp milk

12:35 Kieran spills milk everywhere so I strip him down and clean up the mess. Reed is done so he and Kieran play while I finish cleaning the spill and do dishes. I text my Mom and Jon about a visit to the cabin in a few weeks, put K's laundry away, and change the sheets on Reed's bed

1:00 I tell K it's time for his nap and take him to go potty, we read a story with Reed then I lay with Kieran for a few minutes while Reed finds something for us to do.

1:15 I fix a work problem and then Reed informs me he has decided on chocolate chips and car racing, this sounds good to me.

1:30 K is yelling he has to poop, so I take him to the bathroom

1:43 Kieran is back in his bed so Reed and I finish our car racing game. He goes potty and then I set him up for his quiet time - the plan is for him to clean up his Legos today during quiet time.

1:50 I put laundry away and pick up a bit around the house.

2:05 Kieran is finally asleep (wearing his hulk hand). I keep putting laundry away and pay some bills

2:25 Reed seems awfully quiet so I check on him and find him sleeping. This rarely happens but it is usually fine if it does, however I know getting him up for swim lessons is going to be a nightmare! I take advantage of the peace and work on our annual photo album.

2:50 I wake Reed up and, as expected, he's not happy. We manage to get the crying under control and I have him go potty and put sunscreen and his swimsuit on.

3:10 Morgan arrives for swim lessons and we convince Reed to take the lesson and try to have fun even though he's still in a terrible mood.

3:35 - I come back in and wake Kieran. We do the same process - potty, swimsuit, sunscreen but on the way out to watch Reed he declares he needs to poop so I take him to the bathroom.

3:55 K and I go out to the pool to watch Reed's "grand finale" He's being a pill and not listening well so K starts his lesson and I head inside with Reed. We have a talk about behavior and come to an understanding that he will not be getting his lollipop treat today.

4:15 Reed gets an applesauce and spoon out for a snack. I chop zucchini for dinner then we work together to clean his room and living room

4:40 Reed and I go out to the pool to watch Kieran's grand finale then we all say goodbye to Morgan and Kieran gets a lollipop

4:55 I start working on dinner while the boys play with the iPad

5:10 I say iPad time is over and a fight occurs. The boys play Turtles while I keep cooking. I play with them for a few minutes between stirring and chopping, but they really have no interest in playing with me so I leave them be and clean up the pool area

5:40 They set the table together and then both go potty. Then I have them work on a craft project at the counter.

6:00 We sit down to dinner (pork loin, pilaf, and sautéed zucchini), Jon gets home a few minutes later and joins us. We talk about our days and Jon gets a few text messages because we are still packing plums for the day and the guys have questions.

6:40 The boys head back for bath time with Jon. He also gives Reed his allergy medicine and inhaler, gets them in their pajamas, and brushes their teeth. I do dishes, feed Dodger, and finally put away the rest of the laundry

7:00 Jon sets up the show Tumbleleaf, for them on the TV, turns on his work computer to check on some orders, and then the two of us play a few rounds of Tetris