Content!

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It's one of those quiet days, the morning started out pretty hectic, if you have school aged children then I need to say no further, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's harder to get them out the door on time than it is to give birth, for me at least....by the time they're both ready to leave and in the car, I am quite certain I could have popped out one or two babies. No kidding! LOL

But that was then, this is now and here I sit at the computer, my front door is open and I'm listening to the wind rustling outside and the cars driving by once in a while, some military clad airman on his way to or from work......and the pugs who seem to think that this whole neighborhood is THEIR turf, anything that moves or breathes gets barked at. They've yelled at the wind a couple times and I think it's the funniest thing....want to see my view from the computer desk:

I've been wanting to catch up on my reading but honestly haven't had a chance, first I was sick and now with Curt working these weird hours, it means that everything falls on me. Usually at night he will help Jasmine with her homework while I fix dinner and do the dishes etc....then he helps me overlook the kids showers and reading and bedtime routines.

From 3:30pm until 11pm I am going non stop, it's just continuous crazy hectic couple of hours until I can sleep.

I know you're all sitting there wondering why I am telling you these things, you probably don't care about it LOL But it's for my family's sake, they're the ones that do want to hear about the nitty gritty, the mundane details, what the kids are doing or what I'm doing....it's a way to keep us all connected and closer over the thousands of miles that separate us.

So anyway, as I was saying....the kids get out of school at 3:45pm and by the time we get home it's 4:15pm, right away, they ask for a snack, poor things are hungry since they had their lunch at 11am, I mean that's along time for little kids to go without eating......heck that's a long time for ME to go without food LOL

After the snacks and juices are handed out, they sit down and relax for a bit, Nicholas usually playing the Wii and Jasmine on her computer playing a game or on the phone with her best friend from Idaho. I'm already going through backpacks, sifting through the hundreds of papers they send home, honestly WHY so much paper???? UGH. I sort it all into piles, what we keep, homework and trash.

After that is done, it's usually around 4:45pm and that's when I start dinner so that we can eat around 5:30pm. Which reminds me, what time is dinner at your house? Back home in South Africa we were always running around and working, so dinner was around 7 or 8pm....which now would NEVER work for us, hubby gets home from work around 4:30pm and is usually already starving LOL

Once dinner is done, the kids again go off and play together for a little while I do the dishes and clean the kitchen....then it's bath time, everyone takes their showers and puts on pj's, settles into mommy's bed and we do homework. Nicholas doesn't have any so he's content sitting there cuddled up watching cartoons or playing with the pugs while I help Jasmine with hers. This poor child has SO much homework each night and soon they'll be expected to do book reports on top of it too....she has math, spelling, 30 minutes of reading and then social studies or anything else she didn't have time to finish in class. It's a LOT and by the time she goes to bed she's beat, heck I'M beat and I'm not even doing it.

Bedtime for the kids is 9pm and only after they're asleep do I then go around the house one last time picking up toys, turning off video games and computers, putting away any last load of laundry I have left, setting the breakfast table for the morning, getting their backpacks ready, signing homework agendas and any other notes I have to for school and removing from the freezer whatever I need for the next day's meals. I put it in the refrigerator to thaw out overnight.

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I'm beat, I'm honestly exhausted by the time my head hits the pillow, so reading is out of the question, as it is I watch all my new shows in between division, multiplication, pronouns and suffixes. Yes my life is THAT exciting, but yet each morning I wake up invigorated, restored and with a smile on my face because no matter how hard I thought I had it the day before, when I look at the smiling faces of my children and get a hug from my hubby telling me he loves me and appreciates everything I do.....THAT is all the reward I need. THAT is true contentment.

So here's my question....what is contentment for you?


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