Picture an Hour: June 2023

It’s been more than a month since my last “picture an hour” post so I figured I’d pop in and share a recap of our day yesterday through photos again this morning. We’re just over a week into our summer break and since I have the big kids registered for exactly two week-long camps during the entire summer, we’ll have a looot of time together! So far it’s been wonderful to have mornings that don’t feel so rushed and much-needed free time to just play.

Here’s a peek into the second Tuesday of our summer break!

June 13, 2023: One Picture Per Hour

5:50 a.m. Pepper and I wake up! It kind of blows my mind how bright it is outside before 6 a.m. already but, as a morning person, I love it! Pepper’s little furry face is often the first thing I see in the morning (Ryan is typically already up and working out when I wake up) and it’s a great way to start the day. This means most mornings begin with me telling Pepper she’s the cutest little thing in the world and that I love her so much. Ya know, just typical dog mom craziness.

6:20 a.m. I let Pepper out, empty the dishwasher and head into the garage to work out as Ryan gets back from his run. I took myself through a quick shoulder blitz and was done in about 30 minutes.

7:10 a.m. The big kids are up and chatting with Ryan in the kitchen. We say goodbye to Ryan as he heads off to work and I whip up a batch of pancakes for all of us for breakfast along with some sliced strawberries. (Our boys have loved the Simple Mills pancake mix for years. I order it through Thrive Market.) I then head upstairs to get Rhett who is talking away in his crib. He greets me by saying, “Good morning, Mom! Moon goes down. Sun comes up. It not raining today.” My little weather man.

8:00 a.m. We’re outside and immersed in lizard hunting! The big kids caught a green anole in our yard a few weeks ago (green anoles are their lizard obsession during our Florida trips) and they have been on the lookout ever since. They lucked out yesterday and caught and released another one right after breakfast!

9:15 a.m. Time to head out to a local park! We’re on a mission to hit up a lot of the parks we don’t frequent as much during the school year this summer and the boys are loving this plan!

(Oversized Tee: The $12 Target find I love! / Leggings: Lululemon / Shoes: New Balance / Hat: Nike / Bag: Lululemon — the festival bag I previously shared. I’m telling you, it is the BEST for mom life and holds all the things.) 

10:30 a.m. Play time! We first visited Rosedale Nature Park more than a year ago and I’m not sure why we haven’t returned since our initial visit because it’s a fantastic park! It has a great fenced-in playground, slides built into the hillside, short nature trails and an obstacle course.

11:30 a.m. We’re still playing at the park! Nature trails = Endless entertainment for our boys.

12:30 p.m. We’ve been limiting our outings to short excursions lately since we’re in the middle of potty training Rhett right now but Rhett went to the bathroom at the park (yay!!!) so I figured we might be able to handle running a quick errand before making our way home. We stopped by Lowe’s to pick up two large pots and plants for our front porch. I selected little lime hydrangeas which Google assured me should do well in a pot for a few years. I’m still crossing my fingers my “buy a plant and hope for the best” strategy continues to hold for the plants we’ve purchased so far this spring.

1:40 p.m. The hydrangeas are planted, the boys are all fed and Rhett is down for a nap! The big kids have some quiet time with their respective podcasts (The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian for Chase and Molly of Denali for Ryder) and I dig into my oat and chia pudding and tackle some work on the computer.

(In the mix: Chia seeds, almond milk, flax seed meal, pine nuts, frozen riced cauliflower, oats, Active Stacks chocolate protein powder, peanut butter — the natural, drippy kind!) 

2:45 p.m. I’m still working until the big kids notice our bird feeders are out of birdseed and this is deemed an emergency. We fill the bird feeders and the birds (and boys) are happy once more.

3:30 p.m. Rhett is up! On Monday Rhett “helped” me treat the stains on our kitchen Ruggable runner. We sprayed the stains with Puracy and sprinkled Branch Basics Oxygen Boost on top then used toothbrushes to rough everything up and let it sit before soaking and then washing. I promised Rhett he could help me roll out the clean runner onto the mat once it was air dried (why he really wanted to be a part of this I’ll never know), so we did just that and the rug looks as good as new! This was actually my first time washing our large runner (we’ve washed our smaller mats plenty of times) and I was really pleased with how easy it was and how everything turned out. I actually have a few thoughts on Ruggable rugs (we purchased different sizes and have them all over our house) and am happy to share more if it’s of interest.

Here’s the before (dirty — the spot on the left side killed me):

And here’s the after (all clean!):

4:30 p.m. Pool time! We sneak in some “free swimming” at the pool before Chase’s swim team practice. The pool is still freezing (summer has been unseasonably cool so far this year) but the boys are still all about splashing around until their lips turn blue… and then they’re freezing and miserable and we have to leave immediately.

5:00 p.m. Time for swim team!

6:45 p.m. We’re home, showered, in our pajamas and hungry! Dinner looks like grain bowls made with sprouted brown rice (so chewy and so good!), shredded lettuce, parsley, feta, Amylu organic chicken burgers (cooked in the air fryer and sliced) and balsamic vinaigrette. I cooked the rice earlier in the day so this meal came together quickly!

7:30 p.m. Story time before bed! (The Circus Ship was the top request again.) For those who may be curious, our bed time routine typically looks like Ryan reading books to all three boys while I do a quick cleanup downstairs. I then join the boys and Ryan right around the time Rhett is losing interest in the big kids’ books. I scoop Rhett up and we finish his nighttime routine in his room before I head back into the big kids’ room to say prayers and goodnight to Chase and Ryder.

8:20 p.m. We joke that Ryder sleeps like Ryan (aka he falls asleep 2.5 seconds after his head hits the pillow) and Chase sleeps like me (he takes a little more time to fall asleep) so, occasionally, if the kids go to bed on the early side of the evening we tell Chase that once Ryder is asleep, he can sneak back downstairs to read a chapter book with us. We read for another 20 minutes or so until Chase goes back upstairs to bed.

9:30 p.m. Ryan and I are both in bed reading. I just began reading Nora Goes Off Script which is light and breezy and just delightful so far! I read until close to 11 p.m. when my eyes could no longer stay open and then it was time for sleep!

Aaand that was our day from start to finish! Today we’ll be heading to boot camp in the morning and then we’re having a bunch of friends over to our house around lunchtime for an afternoon of lake fun. It should be a good day and I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week!