So this happened. Last week I was a stay-at-home mom doing my best to homeschool four of our six children while chasing two toddlers around. Between grabbing the curtain-crawlers from climbing every few minutes, we were getting by and learning about American history, our times tables, and fascinating creatures God made.

Our mornings were unrushed and we started our schoolwork a little later in the morning after Grace (our calf) was bottle-fed and the house was quick-cleaned. Teeth were brushed and beds were made. If laundry was piled high and I needed to catch up on it, we stayed in our pjs that day. Snacks were homemade granola and yogurt or strawberries and fresh whipped cream. 

  Afternoons looked like lunch followed by naps. Everyone, including me, rested for 2 hours before finishing any schoolwork and beginning dinner preparations and evening chores.

And then everything changed. 

Things changed at the big barn and suddenly I found myself in an office, still trying to homeschool but also working full-time for my husband and father-in-law. 

  Everything that was so difficult last week looks gloriously simple and easy this week. 

Now our days look completely different. Mornings are rushed and kids grab whatever clothes happen to be clean, not necessarily their own like yesterday when one of the twins ended up wearing a 4T shirt that dragged on the ground instead of his usual 2T onesie with shorts. Teeth may or may not be brushed. Twice this week, we have arrived at the big barn before I noticed nappy, sleepy-looking hair-dos. One day, someone even left their pajamas on and I didn’t even notice! 

  Snacks this week look like a giant bag of snack-sized chips and store-bought granola bars, which I’m never buying again after my kids are 48 of them in two days!!! I’ve learned it’s quicker and easier to throw a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and jelly and a butter knife in a bag and feed the kids in the office than it is to close up shop, run home and feed them and be back within an hour. (I’m convinced that’s actually impossible to accomplish.) 

 Laundry is….well, the laundry pile reaches halfway up the wall because who has time for that now? Hope the kids don’t mind a week of wearing the same crusty clothes that are 3″ thick of corn dust and dirt.

Naps are…a thing of the past. 

  Bless my mother-in-laws heart. She bought us Pizza Hut Monday evening (and it was enough to feed a small army) so we have eaten that every night for dinner since then and there’s still more leftover. I may start calling it manna because it’s seriously there every time we need to eat. A miracle. I’ll try not to complain like the Israelites did.

 
  It’s an adjustment but I hope to figure out a routine soon! 

Until next time,

The Farm Wyfe