Week in the Life 2012: Tuesday

Today, life felt a little bit more routine.

Alarm goes off at 7am, I hit snooze about 5 times before convincing myself I can't hit snooze anymore and have to get out of bed. It is around this time that I hear Mason jump out of bed and race into our bedroom. "Daddy!" The joy on his face is just so totally awesome. Sophie calls from her bedroom moments later and we all sit on our bed catching up with Fred about his trip until the alarm on my phone goes off signaling it's time to get ready to leave for school.

"Daddy, can we play extra special video games this weekend?"

"Of course buddy."

Instead of carpool, I walk Mason into school. I think he prefers I walk him in everyday. Have a quick conversation with a fellow parent group mom in the hallway before making our way to the Bears classroom. Say good-bye to Mason with a big hug and kiss and chase Sophie down the hall.

Back home, I grab a quick shower, check emails, call Rain Salon about their raffle donation for Teacher Appreciation Week. Sophie watches Bubble Guppies.

I do finishing touches on Sophie's birthday invitations and create recipe cards for the favor boxes. Right about this time my phone alarm goes off indicating it's time to pick Mason up from school. I put it off to finish up some work and we end up being really late to carpool, last car in line, and I feel guilty.

On the way to the grocery store I realize my tank is almost empty. Unfortunately I didn't have any Giant gas points on my card and had to pay the full price of $4.05 a gallon. Ouch!

Today is the last day of Super Doubles at Harris Teeter. Coupons in hand, I am hoping to save enough money on the groceries I need to buy.

The kids love this place as they always get a free cookie and a balloon. As a result, I can usually get a few minutes of tantrum free shopping.

We arrive home by 1:30pm, starving for lunch. I put groceries away and then pop some mini pizza bagels into the oven. Mason disappears into the basement to play video games with Fred. When he asked for extra special video game time, he actually meant today after school.

It has really warmed up and become a nice day. The boys go out to mow the lawn. Sophie rushes to get her shoes on, insisting she needs to mow the lawn too.

Mason gets his first try at pushing the mower. The scene was too adorable. There was Mason, standing in front of Fred, holding onto the mower and pushing with all his might, and Sophie, pushing the bubble mower right behind them.

Our neighbors across the street come out and we chat with them a bit. This is usually about the only adult conversation I get throughout the day. He sees me taking pictures of the buds on our cherry tree and offers to let me take some photos of the beautiful flowers blooming in their backyard.

The kids follow me over and have a great time running around in our neighbors big backyard. Totally jealous of this as we have practically no yard at all. Something we really dislike about our house. Though, big yards are hard to find in Northern Virginia, unless you are able and willing to pay a premium.

I overhear Sophie singing the song from Tangled when Rapunzel leaves the tower with Flynn Ryder, "I running and jumping...." It puts a huge smile on my face.

They put on their angry faces.

We water the garden and make a trip to Home Depot to buy some flowers for our urns and flower beds out front. We ended up not finding anything we liked, but the kids regaled everyone with their rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Pat-a-Cake, and ABCs.

We finish the day with Red Robin for dinner. Ordering our usual: caesar chicken wrap for me, mac n cheese with apple slices and lemonade for the kids, and whiskey river burger for Fred. I go rogue and order a root beer float. I haven't had one of these in years. While I enjoy it, I conclude that A&W still has the best root beer floats in the world.

While I am sure most of this information is unimportant to you, I know that I will look back and read the little details (like what we ate for dinner, whether I walked Mason into school or drove in carpool, who I talked to, etc.) and be thankful that I took the time to note them. You see, these are the kinds of mundane things I like to see in pictures from my childhood. To reflect upon how we dressed, what we ate, where we shopped, how much things cost, what our daily routine consisted of, and phrases we regularly used. I realize my kids might not care about any of this when they reach their teens, their twenties or even their thirties. However, by documenting it all, at least they have the choice. Let me put it this way, what would it mean to you for a peak into your daily life as a three year old? How would it compare to the life your child has today?

For me, I am just grateful that I can go back and relive these days.