As I was on my run tonight I was thinking about what a lovely and full day I had. When I got home I decided to write it down, just for my own sake. If you happen to find it interesting, then please enjoy!

8:30 - Wake up to Ryan getting ready to leave for work. The kids seem to be sleeping late, so we're glad to get some time to hang out before he has to leave.

9:00 - Ryan leaves.

9:20 - Oliver is up. He is exceptionally cuddly, so we just hang out in bed together for about 20 minutes and catch a bit of Sesame Street.

9:40 - I leave Oliver to get breakfast started. Waffles, yogurt (full fat!), blueberries & milk.

9:50 - I call Oliver to the table and head upstairs to wake Hazel up. I find her laying quietly, just waking up slowly. She's so happy to see me and give me a big hug, then chatters her way down the stairs.

9:53 - Over breakfast I have a quick pep talk with Oliver about the day. We talk about good patterns (obedience - he thinks of this in terms of circles and stars) and bad patterns (disobedience - squares and x's). Not sure if the logic is super solid on this, but it has been working for him for days. He tells me he's planning on an all circles and stars day. I agree that's a good plan.

9:55 - Hazel is upset that Oliver gets butter and syrup on his waffles and lets the whole house know it.

9:56 - Oliver gives Hazel a square.

9:57 - Oliver sneaks her a few bites of his waffles.

10:00 - Breakfast is over. I clean up while Oliver and Hazel head up to the playroom where they play happily and I do some picking up in the downstairs.

10:15 - I head upstairs with something I ordered online last week. Oliver is geeked and I spend the next forty-five minutes installing it, it failing, and installing it better. Oliver and Hazel play with it and while they play I shoot some images for a post I'm planning to contribute for The Land of Nod's new blog, Honest to Nod next month. (Have I mentioned that yet? HUGE honor! EEE!) Stay tuned. :)

11:00 - Hazel communicates in no uncertain terms that she would like to rest. I lay her down and she's out in minutes. Oliver continues to play and I sit down to check my email and read this lovely daily devotional.

12:00 - Ryan is home for lunch! I greet him, then hop into the kitchen to make this quick Salsa Chicken recipe.

12:30 - The family sits down for lunch, sans a sleeping Hazel.

1:00 - Ryan has decided to work from home this afternoon. He and Oliver get cozy on the sofa and he tries to teach Oliver how to play Monopoly on the iPad. I put finishing touches on the Oliver's Picks post and publish it.

1:15 - Oliver has lost interest in Monopoly.

1:30 - I take a moment to pull myself together for the day (yes, up until this point I am totally in my jammies. don't judge - you have to be comfy to use power tools!)

1:55 - I decide to take advantage of having Daddy at home to monitor the kiddos, so I head out to the salon for a quick eyebrow wax.

2:45 - I have the green light to stay out (and conveniently packed my swimsuit, towel and a book just in case!), so I stop at our neighborhood pool where I read Bossypants (on loan from Keight) and snack on Sprees for an hour or so. (Lemme tell ya, all politics and whatever aside, Tina Fey is FUH-NEE!) Trying to save the rest of the book for vacation next week, but it's disappearing before my very eager eyes.

4:00 - I return home. Hazel had woken up at 3:00 (a four-hour nap!) and just finished a very late lunch. She is sitting halfway up the stairs exclaiming, "maMA! maMA!" when I come in the door. Oliver sees the towel on my shoulder and is very put out that I would even consider going to the pool without him. He feels betrayed. Shoot - definitely should have ditched the towel.

4:05 - Something smells foul. Hazel needs a new diaper, yo.

4:10 - I grab some tube yogurts (organic!) out of the fridge and sit down on the rug in the living room to help the kids with their snack. Ryan is working in his chair near us. I like it when he works at home. :)

4:20 - Quick wipe down of paws and faces and the kids and I head upstairs to play with our new apparatus some more.

4:50 - It's almost time to leave to go to dinner at church but Hazel is communicating that we will regret taking her anywhere without a quick nap. I lay her down. She shakes my hand and goes right to sleep. She might have even signed 'thank you'. Okay, maybe not.

5:30 - We start the van to get the A/C blowing, make sure Oliver's wearing underwear under his shorts (he wasn't - glad we checked!), wake up a surprisingly refreshed Hazel and load the kids up.

5:45 - Quick stop at the Chick-fil-a drive thru. Don't ask what I got. And definitely don't ask if it included a cookies and cream milkshake. Just don't.

6:00 - We join our friends and their kids at the church for a "brown bag" dinner in which about 90% of their brown bags have names of major fast food chains emblazoned on them. Ah well, it's the fellowship that counts!

6:30 - We wrap up our meals and head to the sanctuary for a screening of Babe, complete with microwave popcorn and a 1-year-old who has no interest in sitting still.

7:30 - We give up, say goodbye to our friends and to Babe, load the kids in the van and head to the library to return a stack of summer fun and give Bea a ride back to her house since she was Oliver's date.

7:45 - Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Ry takes the kids upstairs for jammies and bed and I make a quick change into running clothes in an attempt to beat both the heat and the sunset.

7:52 - I hit the pavement and run a surprisingly pleasant 6.54 miles. Kind of a nice way to wrap up the day.

8:58 - After a cool-down walk I'm home - hot and thirsty. Also, pretty stinky.

9:10 - Shower, work on some things for the Finding My Feet St. Jude team, shop online for rafts for the ocean (no luck - anyone have any good suggestions?), chat with Ryan, then think to myself what a lovely and full day I had.

10:20 - Spend 40 minutes trying to recount my day on here - just for a fun memory of a full day as a Mommy.

11:00 - Publish

(ps - Oliver made it through the day with all circles and stars! Well, there probably should have been a few squares in there, but who doesn't find themselves in need of a little grace now and then?)

Hope your day was circles and stars too! :)