We are finding our groove here in the Ferguson household. Life is busy but everyone seems to be fitting in just right.
Our mornings start with the blare of my alarm at 6:25am (that is really early, Kyle and I are not morning people). We quietly get up C, T, and K. They stumble down the stairs and get the clothes on that were laid out the night before. I pour three bowls of cereal and give medicine. They eat that up quickly, brush teeth, and are waiting at the corner for the bus at 6:47am. Kyle and I wave to the bus and then breathe.
Kyle usually sneaks back upstairs for a couple extra minutes of sleep. I start my 4 cups of 1/2 decaf 1/2 regular coffee. I put my water in the pan to make oatmeal. Minutes later I'm sitting all by myself with a hot cup of coffee, a yummy bowl of oatmeal, and my stack of devotionals and bible. These short moments of my morning get me going and set the tone. My favorite time of the day.
By 7:15am Elayna, Aubrey, and Mari are downstairs and Kyle is in the shower. We are working on the girls getting dressed before they come down in the morning. I wrap up my time and get their breakfast on the table. We have been diligent in getting lunches packed the night before so that mornings can go smoother.
We are out the door by 8:05 am and off to school. Mari and I walk the girls into school and then we head the gym. My other favorite time of the day:) There is a nice nursery that Amaria goes in while I get a little bit of exercising in AND a shower. That doesn't usually happen in a day if I'm not at the gym.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon are filled with errands, playdates, meetings, lunch, naps, cleaning, and school work. It has been a real blessing to have time with just Amaria. She is a special little girl and a joy to spend time with.
C, T, and K get off of the bus at about 2:45pm. Mari loves to watch for them and then run out when the bus comes around the corner. C and T usually have homework so we try to get that done as soon as they get home.
By 3:20pm we are out the door again to meet Tammy (my God send of a carpool friend) about 5 minutes from home to get Elayna and Aubrey. We usually come right back home and get Elayna's homework done and the kids just play. An unscheduled little bit of time in the day is a good time.
Kyle gets home at 5:30pm and supper is usually on the table. We have introduced family devotions to our growing family each night at supper. Kyle and I are getting really good at cleaning the kitchen...because after each meal there is quite the mess:)
Everyone under the age of 9...that's all the kids... are in bed by 7:30pm and Kyle and I breathe again. Once they are all in bed I get some homework done and then just relax. And then REPEAT!!!
This past Friday we went on our first family camping trip. It was pretty simple. 35 minutes from home at a campground where there were lots of kid activities. We bought a 10 person tent, some hot dogs, s'more ingredients and were off. The weather was lovely and mosquitoes were not an issue. We set up camp, collected some wood, and got swim suits on for some play time before supper. We hadn't gotten any pokers at the store so we just used sticks to roast our hot dogs. Lets just say, we are investing in pokers. Lots of hot dogs ended up in the fire:) S'mores were their normal messiness, but delicious. The kids went to bed good and slept great. I, on the other hand, slept terrible. I had Elayna about 2 inches from my face most of the night and I think my hips were bruised in the morning from laying on my sides. Also investing in sleeping mats. The trip was fun and a good trial run.
After our trip Kyle and I were both really bothered by the lack of thankfulness from our crew. It just didn't seem right for us to be doing fun things for them and they not reciprocating thankfulness. We do activities with our kids because we like spending time as a family and doing good things for them but it almost seems as though the kids had begun to expect the 'fun times'. Kyle and I chatted a lot about how we can change the attitude in our house from an attitude of entitlement to a attitude of gratefulness. We have started at supper time going around the table and everyone has to say five things they are thankful. It is a small thing but it is a start to change how we look at things. One of my favorite books, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, is about seeing God and being thankful in everything. Every time I read from it I am encouraged and challenged to live a grateful life. That is Kyle and my prayer for our kids, that they would see all the blessings in their lives and be thankful.
