Our Afternoon & Evening Routine...

Hello lovelies, I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far!  Continuing on from Thursday's post ‘Our Morning Routine’ today I am sharing what an afternoon and evening in our home looks like.

4pm  My oldest two arrive home from school

I don’t give the kids a lot to do during the week, for me their main priority is their school work.  However, they still contribute to the running of the household with little jobs that really help me out

• Empty school bags and leave any school notes on the kitchen bench
• Afternoon snack
• Bring washing in
• Feed Bella
• Shower and put uniforms in the wash
• Homework and ½ and hour of reading

5.30pm to 6pm I pick up my youngest from my parent’s house
When we arrive home

• I make a start on dinner
• My youngest will unpack her bag and put any school notes on the kitchen bench
• My youngest has a shower and puts her uniform in the wash

 
6 to 6.30pm Dinner is served
Time is dependent on when we got home, but I like to have dinner served by 6.30pm at the latest and will never cook anything during the week that will take me longer than half an hour to prepare and cook.

7pm Clean up time

After dinner the kids will help clear the table and rinse their plate, I stack the dishwasher and wipe down the benches etc.  I clean while I’m cooking so that after dinner there isn’t a massive mess to clean up. 

• Clear kitchen and stack dishwasher
• Kids are generally watching TV or reading

 7.30pm Bedtime for my youngest

• I will lay with her and read a book or we just cuddle and chat for a bit until she falls asleep, she’s usually fast asleep in 5 to 10 minutes.
• Once she is asleep I jump in the shower
• I collect any other laundry and put a load of washing on, setting the timer so the load finishes around 7am the next morning
• I will sit and watch TV or talk to the older kids for a while until they head to bed

 
8pm to 8.30pm Older kiddies head to bed
My two older kids are good with bedtimes, basically it’s bedtime at 8.30pm but if they’re tired they’ll head to bed earlier.

Once everyone is asleep I will prepare as much as I can for the next day and do a quick tidy

• Make school lunches
• Fold washing that my older kids brought in earlier and put it away
• Clean up any mess from making lunches and turn dishwasher on
• Iron uniforms and pick work clothes for the following day
• Sign any school notes, and read any school notes left on the kitchen bench
• I do a quick pick-up of any mess, 10 minutes tops
• Quick vacuum of the kitchen and main living areas (this takes me about 5minutes)

 

9.00pm  Me time

This is my time so to speak, I usually turn the TV on to watch something I’ve recorded from earlier in the week and turn my laptop on and do some studying or work on an assignment, it’s nothing too exciting but it’s quiet and peaceful and gives me to relax and unwind or get some studying done without eating into time with the kids.
 

10.30pm to Midnight Bedtime

I know that’s a bit of range…if I’m just watching TV generally I’ll head to bed around 10.30pm but if I am working on an assignment it might be closer to midnight!

So that is pretty much a normal afternoon and evening in our home, on Mondays Eva has ballet so I finish work early and will pick her up at 3.30pm to take her home and get changed before ballet at 4.25pm but we are still home at around 5.30pm.  I would love to hear what your routines look like…I love reading your comments and would love to hear from you.

I hope you all have a wonderful and happy day xx

 

 

 

Our Morning Routine...

I love reading and hearing about how other people run their homes, their routines and how they manage to keep on top of things and let's be honest I'm a little nosey and love a little glimpse into other people's homes and everyday lives.  I love a 'routines' post for ideas and inspiration and thought I would share what a typical morning in our home looks like.  I work full-time as a Financial Planner, however on Wednesdays I typically work from home, this is when I aim to get all my admin and paperwork done for the week.  So Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this is what a morning looks like in our home...

 

5am Wake up time

I like to wake before the kids, this gives me an hour of ‘me’ time in the mornings.  I always head out and start my coffee (I would seriously be lost without my Nespresso!) while I’m waiting for my coffee I make my bed.  Coffee in hand I check my work and personal emails, and the calendar (I use my outlook calendar on my phone which is synced to my work calendar also).  I go through my to-do list and add or remove anything I need to do for the day.

 

6am I wake my older kiddies

During this time they 

• Make their beds
• Have breakfast (they rinse and put their dishes straight into the dishwasher)
• Get ready for school (uniforms on, teeth, hair, pack bags etc.)
• I empty the dish washer while they’re having breakfast, it is also general chit chat time and an opportunity to see what they’ve got on for today and how they’re feeling
• I start getting ready for work, it usually takes me about half an hour to do my makeup and hair

 

6.45am My youngest usually wakes (or I'll wake her) 

We lay in her bed for about 10mins and get I lots of hugs and kisses and we both talk about how we’d much rather just stay in bed all day!  Once I've managed to coax her out of bed

• Breakfast time (I make breakfast for her)
• Get ready for school (washes her face, brushes her teeth, uniform and shoes on and packs her bag)
• I will do her hair and then she usually hangs out on the couch, draws or reads a book
• I make her bed in the mornings
• I get dressed for work
• Hang out the washing (each night I put a load on and set the machine to finish its wash at 7am)

 

7.15am The older kiddies head off to school

• I do a quick last minute pickup if needed
• Pack the car (school bag, work bags etc.)

 

7.30am We leave home

I drop off my youngest at parent’s house, I am very blessed that my parents take her to school and pick her up from school and that she hangs out with them in the afternoons until I finish work.  After the morning drop off, I head to work from my parents at around 7.45am and am in the office anywhere between 8am – 8.30am depending where I am based for the day.

 

That is pretty much us day in day out.  Tomorrow, I will post our afternoon/evening routines.  In the coming weeks I thought I would continue breaking down, in a little more detail what I do to keep our home running as smoothly as possible.  Hopefully there might be something you can take away to help you or even better maybe there is something you do that you could share…I love reading your comments and would love for you to share what your morning routine looks like!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful and happy day xx