today we did...

So this is my attempt at capturing what happens in a somewhat typical day here. For whatever it's worth.

7:11 AM - awakened by a little voice asking if he could get in the bed with me. I mumble something affirmative in response and he happily climbs in beside me and cuddles right up.
7:30 AM - alarm goes off and Thomas pops up asking "What's that?" I tell him it's time to get up and he is glad to hear it.
7:40 AM - wake up Sophie and check to be sure Emma is awake
7:48 AM - begin making coffee
7:52 AM - encourage everyone to come downstairs to eat breakfast as soon as they're dressed
7:55 AM - finish making coffee and sit down at the table
8:02 AM - call up the stairs a little more urgently for everyone to come eat
8:05 AM - everyone finally begins eating breakfast; Emma flips the switch to turn on the outlet the toaster is plugged into and the power to the house goes off again so I run downstairs to flip the button
8:12 AM - tell Sophie to brush her hair and find some shoes before her ride gets here
8:19 AM - remind Sophie she is still barefoot and her hair needs brushing and her ride will be here in one minute
8:22 AM - the gate bell rings and the Daisy goes crazy, I try to shush her and attach her to the leash before opening the door and gate
8:24 AM - call for Claire, it's time to GO
8:27 AM - let Daisy off her chain and breathe a big sigh
8:28 AM - put away breakfast things
8:45 AM - get sidetracked checking email and facebook for the morning and IMing with Joey on how to resell my iPhone
9:15 AM - check to be sure Thomas is appropriately dressed for tennis
9:17 AM - take a shower
9:31 AM - phone rings but nobody leaves a message so I don't pick it up (I can't speak French so odds are I couldn't talk to them anyway)
9:35 AM - gate rings again, Daisy freaks out again, it's Thomas's ride a little early (25 minutes!)
9:37 AM - coax Thomas into putting on tennis shoes instead of crocs
9:39 AM - sneak pair of socks in with Twinkle & Edit in his backpack
9:42 AM - start The Event premiere while washing dishes and straightening the kitchen
10:00 AM - move to living room and fold laundry while still watching
10:23 AM - attempt to straighten the house which looks like a bomb went off, take a comb away from Daisy who is chewing furiously
11:02 AM - Thomas comes home from tennis so my straightening changes from being productive to just neutralizing mess
11:25 AM - Thomas asks me to help him with his puzzle
11:36 AM - we discuss what to have for lunch, Thomas asks to have quiche (not one of the two options I gave), I decide quiche is fine and maybe while I'm at it I'll finish those apple streusel muffins Emma has been asking for
11:45 AM - Thomas asks if he should put the rest of the cheese in the quiche? A quick glance and I assure him it has PLENTY of cheese
11:47 AM - Claire comes home from school
12:05 PM - quiche goes into oven
12:17 PM - muffins go into oven
12:20 PM - I ask Claire to set the table so that it's ready when the girls get home from school
12:30 PM - quiche comes out
12:35 PM - muffins come out
12:45 PM - Emma and Sophie home from school and lunch commences
1:10 PM - I request help with the house and haggle a ten minute clean-up in exchange for watching The Newsies
1:14 PM - I take the basket with my folded clothes down the basement and discover the rug in front of the dehumidifier is completely soaked. I call for Claire to help me investigate the source.
1:18 PM - we establish that it is the dehumidifier although we don't know why and I turn it off and empty the reservoir, Claire takes the rug outside to dry
1:20 PM - I start another load of laundry before emerging from the basement to find the kids have done an excellent job with the cleanup. We extend it by five minutes to make up for the time spent in the basement and get the last little things put away out of the living room, Claire goes back to doing lunch dishes
1:35 PM - swimming lesson things are gathered so that they are ready to go
1:55 PM - we finally start The Newsies
2:45 PM - I can tell it's finally morning in the States because Savanna, Mom and Fezz all IM me within ten minutes
3:15 PM - we pause the movie and get shoes on for swimming lessons and grab some goûter to eat on the way
3:33 PM - set off for swimming lessons!
3:47 PM - get Sophie changed into swimsuit and the rest of us settle in to wait
4:45 PM - Claire and Emma head back to change, Sophie comes out from her lesson
5:03 PM - Thomas is ready to go home
5:25 PM - Thomas REALLY wants to go home now, I feel like I could fall asleep right where I'm at and wonder why since I've been getting somewhere in the vicinity of seven hours of sleep but decide maybe I should try eight hours tonight
5:45 PM - Claire and Emma are done, load up the car to go home
6:10 PM - arrive at home and decide on sandwiches for dinner
6:18 PM - begin getting out food, ask for the table to be set
6:37 PM - Emma volunteers to make smoothies again to go with dinner
6:45 PM - call everyone to the table
6:56 PM - Sophie gasps and says "I just saw a cat walk past!"; she, Claire and Thomas get up to investigate
6:57 PM - there is indeed a cat randomly walking up the stairs in the house; Daisy is not happy with this, we lock her in Claire's room while we deal with the cat
7:00 PM - the cat is friendly (albeit very skinny) but knows we are onto her and she doesn't intend to leave
7:10 PM - finally get cat out of house and get everyone back to dinner table; Thomas tells me he loves me for the 342nd time but it still has the same effect as the first :)
7:15 PM - I ask Emma stay at the table and finish eating and can NOT go out to check on the cat
7:17 PM - insist that Emma WILL NOT leave her seat until she is through with dinner
7:25 PM - someone opens the front door and in darts the cat again
7:26 PM - Daisy panics and I lock her in the kitchen
7:30 PM - cat is once more out of the house and I instruct the older two to begin dishes and the younger two to get ready for bed
7:32 PM - I open my work assignments from Bazaar
7:37 PM - I discover Emma is giving the cat milk from the window
7:45 PM - check on Thomas, is playing in his room so I assist him in finding clothes for tomorrow
7:53 PM - realize Twinkle & Edit are still in Thomas's backpack and we think it's still in the van
7:55 PM - the cat rubs around my ankles while I check the van. I decide maybe she can't figure out how to leave because the gate is closed, so I open and she runs happily out
7:57 PM - Emma is very heartbroken that I let the cat go, I redirect her back to the dishes
8:00 PM - Thomas found his backpack upstairs and I tell him to put his jammies on
8:01 PM - read a book, sing, and pray with Sophie
8:10 PM - find Thomas in jammies like I asked, read a book, sing and pray with him
8:18 PM - go back to work assignments, Emma is still moaning about the cat and asks to call her parents (to ask if she can keep the cat that is already gone)
8:30 PM - I attempt to send Emma to her room for bedtime prep
8:33 PM - Emma wants to know what Claire is typing to her aunt and Claire says she'll show her for €1. Emma happily agrees and pays up only to be disappointed at the non-juiciness of the email.
8:40 PM - I insist Emma must now go up to bed since lights are to be out in five minutes and remind Claire her time is coming too
8:55 PM - Claire heads off to bed
9:01 PM - I work feverishly on Bazaar but I have over 90,000 characters in profile names to read through and my eyes really don't do well
11:02 PM - I begin writing this post interspersed with many checks of facebook and a few emails I remember I was supposed to write
11:45 PM - remember the laundry is still in the washer
11:52 PM - walk past kitchen on my way from moving the laundry to the dryer and realize a few things didn't get put away after dinner
12:02 AM - get ready for bed and my back reminds me how long it's been since I went to see Dr. Ky
12:10 AM - I am tempted for the twentieth time today to buy the iPhone 4 so it is waiting for me when I get home and resist the urge only because I'm too tired to hunt up my credit card
12:13 AM - remember that I was hoping to go to bed earlier tonight...oops; but try to assure myself that tomorrow I can take a nap while the kids are at school
12:15 AM - move undone items from my to do list to tomorrow (i.e. vacuum house, mop kitchen)
12:30 AM - send email to Amy about leaking dehumidifier

And that was pretty much our day. So crazy to think a week from now I will be home in Texas!! I will definitely miss these kiddos but I am also looking forward to being home with "my" kiddos.

Mom is off to Michigan on an all expense paid trip to a special mothers conference and we are so excited for her! It's exactly what I had been praying for, that she would get an opportunity to get away from life for a few days and take some deep breaths. I know it's been amazingly helpful for me!

Well I'd really like to get some sleep now so I'm going to close this. Love to all at home!