The Monday's

I start my day at 6:00am with a forced smile, determined to get into the swing of things cheerfully. We all eat breakfast before 6:30am and wave Daddy off to work. As he backs out of the garage I notice the snow that had fallen all night long and it squeaks under the wheels of his car. Before getting dressed I put on my jacket, tell Camilla she's in charge and head out to shovel. I get the front walks done and a path down the garage for Camilla to walk to the bus. Then I head in, pack Camilla's lunch and do some piano with Hyrum. We all head downstairs where it's warm and I change bums, feed baby, read scriptures and say family prayer. We wave big sister off to school and I finish helping the little boys get dressed.

We have a lot of errands to run so I start getting everyone ready and shuffling them out the door. My nose informed me that I had to change a dirty bum (of course) just after I'd slipped Fin's Winter boots on. I load everyone up, put my mitts on, and finish shoveling half the driveway while the van warms up so that I don't leave tracks. We drove to the grocery store just as the sun was rising. We watched the big red ball over the snowy hills slowly float into view lighting the sky with a soft, pink glow. By the time we made it to the store the sun had almost completely risen into view.

Once we made it to the grocery store I un-belted the boys and put the baby in the carrier. His nose quickly turns pink as the frigid Winter air nipps his face. We all run as quick as we can into the store to grab a cart. The air hurts my hands after leaving my mitts in the van. Joseph begins whining right off the bat and I know he isn't feeling well. He jumps on the end of the cart for a bit and then decides to lay on the floor of every single aisle and slide along despite my pleas to walk. Clunk. Finley's boot slips off his little foot as they dangle from the seat of the cart. I pick it up, urge Joe come along, and make my way to the next aisle. I pause to look for something and just before I go again Finley shrieks, "my BOOOOOOT!" I look down, and sure enough there's his right boot on the floor again. Hyrum is now dragging Joe down the aisles while he whines and giggles all at the same time. The mommy passing by with one well behaved child in her cart smiles and avoids eye contact. The older gentleman in the next aisle comments how I've got my hands full as I scoot my four year old with my leg. By the end of our shopping trip his coat is filthy. The older two start fighting at the checkout with full out kicking and punching involved. I put Hyrum to work transferring groceries to the till while Joe lies on the wooden bench by the exit. While I wait to pay I have to hold Hyrum back from bugging his little brother. It was a pretty big grocery order and I'm grateful for the offer of help to the van. The kicking and fighting resume in the backseat and my patience is wearing thin with three more stops to be made!

We make our way to the town office to register our puppy and get a dog tag. Finley snuggles in the carrier on my back while the older boys do cartwheels around the lobby. Before long the squabbling resumed and as I talked to the nice lady I scoot the baby carrier around so that Hyrum will give Oliver some space while Joseph pulls on my leg whining of a tummy ache. The lady behind me in line chuckles, "You've got your hands full!" Yes, indeed.

After loading them all back into the van and belting them up with frozen fingers, we make our way to the library to drop some books off, the post office for a package, and the dry cleaners for Daddy's freshly cleaned work shirts. By the time we finish everything an hour and a half has passed and I am so ready to go home!

I follow my grumpy boys into the house with a hungry baby in tow. Before any groceries can be lugged in the baby needs to be nursed. I plop down in a chair, let out a frustrated sigh and feed the baby while chaos resumes around me. Once the baby is satisfied, I begin dragging in the groceries and listening to requests for chocolate milk and yogurt.

I get a few of the groceries unloaded, feed the boys a snack, put the baby to sleep and then finish putting away the rest of the food. After lunch I start a batch of lemon cranberry muffins and lay down with Finley. Joe begs for a nap and I spend a few extra minutes rubbing his back and comforting him. While I am in the boys room, Hyrum comes and steels the sleeping puppy from the kitchen. I pull the muffins out of the oven after the boys fall asleep and then go down stairs to discover Reese has put Hyrum to sleep too. The house is completely still and I let out a sigh of relief! I make up one last batch of cranberry orange muffins and then sit down to a book.

When they wake we have a snack and wait for Camilla to come home. It doesn't take long for the after school chaos to begin. Camilla drops her coat on the floor of the entry way alongside the boys' jackets (that they refused to pick up earlier). Puppy greets her at the door with lots of jumping and licking and they all shriek and giggle while I try to photograph Ollie.

Daddy leaves late from work and the boys boycott dinner and put themselves to bed leaving Camilla, Fin and I at the table. Finley eats his portion and Joe's. Daddy arrives home shortly at 7:00pm safe and sound on the bad roads. I make an executive decision to move FHE to Wednesday night, and we tuck the last two littles into bed.

Mr. Stannix and I are so tired we can hardly keep our eyes open and have no desire to move off the downstairs couch. Eventually we crawl into bed, but neither of us get much sleep with a teething-almost-rolling baby and the two little boys. Joseph wakes up famished at 4:30am and after a banana and a cookie he barfs all over his bed (while I'm lying in it). Before 6:00am I have bedding in the wash and we begin another day...