Today I’m excited to announce a continuation of my partnership with Allstate, an insurance company dedicated to keeping families in good hands. Last year, Allstate made it possible for me to continue my Monday Morning series, documenting moms across the country to show their unique morning routines. We met Anna in LA, Shaneka in Chicago, Diane in DC and Kristen in Houston among many others.
Now, we’re taking it to the evenings! Wednesday Evenings is a brand new series that aims to show the beauty in every family’s evening routine. From dinnertime to bedtime, we’ll capture a typical night for 12 featured families.
The goal of Monday Mornings was always to show that no matter how chaotic or stressful your mornings feel, there is beauty to be found as well. I’m betting the same holds true for Wednesday Evenings.
This is the time when most parents come home from work, have dinner, play and then put the kids to bed. Right in the middle of the week when no one is still adjusting from the weekend or looking forward to the next one.
Just a regular night with the kids.
As different as everyone’s morning was last year, I think evenings have the potential for even more variation. Bedtime is open-ended. Instead of seeing people head out the door by a pre-determined time, evenings give opportunity to see different bedtime routines and parenting styles.
We are looking for parents who put their kids to bed early, parents who put their kids to bed late, parents who work an evening shift, parents who stagger bedtimes, parents who deal with tons of homework, parents who make sure their family all sits down for dinner together, parents who let their kids fend for themselves, moms who do it alone, dads who do it alone, etc.
Before I tell you how to enter, I’d like to show you a bit of my Wednesday Evening, documented as always by lifestyle photographer Raquel Langworthy. When the shoot was originally planned, I wanted to capture Mike and I both coming home from work, because the kids run to greet us with kisses and hugs and it’s always one of my favorite moments of the day. I also wanted to show our nanny Ruth who I always felt was missing from my family’s Monday Morning shoot. Unfortunately, Ruth got sick in the middle of the day, meaning I had to come home unexpectedly to watch Harlow.
Mike picked up Mazzy from school and because of the change in schedule, he decided to take her for a slice of pizza. Pizza is the NYC version of fast food, after all. He brought back a slice for Harlow as well.
By the time Raquel arrived, the kids were already home and fed. Not exactly a typical evening. Such is life.
Mazzy and Harlow spent the first twenty minutes of the shoot running around the house doing Mazzy and Harlow things— like putting on jewelry, playing musical instruments and jumping on the couch.
The plan was to take the girls for ice cream as we often do if they have had a good dinner. But then we learned the elevator was broken, which put a kink in our plan. We live on the 12th floor.
Mazzy did not take the news well.
I guess you can’t introduce an ice cream trip and then take it away.
We took the stairs.
Then we had an ice cream shop debate which I lost. I like Davey’s which has real ice cream homemade in the back, but Mazzy wanted 16 Handles which has pink spoons and a toppings bar.
I’m glad Mike is “keeping it real” and looking at his phone during our family moment.
Here he is trying to negotiate a spoonful.
Also true to form was Harlow putting on a show outside the yogurt shop. I should just set up a cup for money and maybe she could pay her own way through college.
Then we headed home.
Harlow dropped her ice cream on the way back. Obviously, I had to snap a picture. I’m sure you’ll see it on @insta2yearold one day soon.
Harlow handled it remarkably well. I was proud.
Then we headed back up twelve long flights of stairs. There was no whining which was a nice change.
When we got back, it was time for PJs and tooth brushing. Even with ice cream in their bellies, this never goes over well.
Mazzy is fully capable of putting on her pajamas herself, but unless I want her to go to bed at midnight, I usually give her a hand.
Harlow is the tougher of the two because she’s quick and squirmy.
“Where’s Mike this whole time?” you might be wondering. He’s making dinner for the two of us to eat after the kids are in bed.
This is something he does to be helpful and also because he prefers it to wrangling the children.
Notice Harlow’s half-eaten banana on the table. Not a night goes by where she doesn’t request one right before bed.
Once the girls ate their last minute snacks, they went to the bathroom to brush their teeth.
Where’s Mazzy? Oh, still in the living room, deciding what jewelry she wants to wear to bed.
MAZZY!!!!!!!!!
Then they picked books for bed time stories, while I checked something on my computer. It wouldn’t be a real portrayal of our evening if I wasn’t standing by my laptop at least once.
Mazzy picked the Official Guide to Frozen, which is the longest book ever written and definitely a present from one of the Grandmas.
Harlow picked “Iggy Peck Architect” because she likes to scream “GET OFF MY LAWN!!!” when the neighbor is standing there in his underwear, even though it does not say that in the book. I think Mike must have taught her that.
Mazzy asked to sleep in Harlow’s bed which I will sometimes allow. I told her “okay” but if they weren’t asleep in 15 minutes, she would have to move to the top bunk.
Then I hugged and kissed everyone goodnight. Their new request is “as tightly as possible”.
After I left the room, I quickly posted a photo to Instagram (because that’s what I do).
And then Mike and I sat down to dinner, just the two of us.
Except it wasn’t really just the two of us. Not quite yet.
I wish I could say that was the end of our evening, but Harlow got up and out of bed about 15 more times after Raquel left. That will be the subject of a future post, I am sure.
If you’d like to be featured in Wednesday Evenings, please leave a comment below starting with your city and the ages of your kids. Then give me a brief description of your evening with any details you think might set you apart from everybody else— even if that detail is feeding the kids frozen fish sticks 365 days a year.
We’ll be scouring the comments to find 12 families from four different cities, so if you know anyone in your town who might want to participate too, it will definitely up your chances to have them enter!
A HUGE thanks to Allstate for coming back for round two. I can’t tell you how much continuing this series means to me. You are in good hands, I promise!
—————————
This post was sponsored by Allstate, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Photos by Raquel Langworthy.
I live in Lexington, KY and my boys are 6 and 2 1/2. Our Wednesday evenings start with me leaving my school, driving to the babysitter to get my 2 year old, then driving across town to get my 6 year old from his after school program. When we get home, we quickly try to multitask- the little one gets a snack and a cartoon while the older one gets a snack and does homework (just kidding, he cries about it and tries to watch cartoons too.). I frantically try to whip up a quick (yet healthy and kid friendly- HA! an oxymoron!!) meal. At 6:30 I head to church because I volunteer with our student ministry. Here’s why I need to be selected- I have NO IDEA what my husband does with the kids for 2 hours, but when I come home, the kitchen is cleaned up, the kids are bathed and in bed, and he is lounging on the couch with a beer. When I fly solo with the kids, he comes home to a mess and mommy hiding in the corner with a beer, kids still awake, and obviously unbathed, un-pajama-ed, and obviously unruly. I suspect he either a) bribes them (in which case I need to know what the stakes are so I can do the same) or b) hires Supernanny to come in and work her magic. I refuse to believe that they just listen to him better than they listen to me, and quite frankly I need the photographic proof that he enlists outside help to make them behave!
I’m Lizzy and I’m a mom to Maggie, age 3 and Caroline, 4 months and we live with our lab Macie and my husband Matt in Alexandria, VA (outside DC). Wednesdays are one of my favorite nights because I get to leave work a little early to spend more time with them. Maggie and Caroline are at an on-site daycare where I work, so we commute home together, after a brief playtime on the hill with the other kids. We get home, change, Maggie feeds Macie while Caroline and I go up to change and then we take Macie for a walk. We usually have to stop at a playground–especially if friends are there. Getting home around 6 is when Matt arrives from work, Maggie eats dinner and then Caroline gets to start her bedtime bottle/routine at 6:30 (6:15 if she is fussy) with Matt and is asleep by 7. Sometimes we bathe the girls together if we are able to make it work and if not, Maggie takes her bath later with Matt while I start dinner. As I read Maggie her three books before bed, Matt makes Maggie’s lunch for the next day, and then I come downstairs to finish up dinner, and then we collapse on the couch to eat dinner and watch trashy TV.
Hi my name is Breanna lane and my family is a combined family. There are 8 of us who live in the house on a daily basis and then one of my younger sisters goes back fourth every week and then my two youngest step-siblings are over here every other weekend. Even when it is just a normal day our house is crazy! In a good way! My parents both work, my dad is a sheriff deputy and my mom is a school bus driver as her main job although she does have many other side jobs such as being a limo driver, driving a charter bus, and volunteering with search and rescue! We had to custom make our dinner table to be able to fit everyone! We don’t always eat dinner together since both parents do tend to work late or sometimes have weird shifts but we like to try and eat together. The ages of kids in my household range. My youngest sibling who lives with me is my 4 year old little brother, 13 year old brother, 14 year old brother, 17 year old brother, 18 year old female(me), and my 22 year old sister. Other sibling that don’t live with us are 7 year old sister and 13 year old sister who come every other weekend and 15 year old sister who comes every other week and then we have a 21 year old sister who lives with her fiancé and child a town away and she’s over almost every weekend because she works close by and we babysit for her so it’s easier then just going home. Then we have another 21 year old who lives a couple mins away and has a baby on the way but her fiancé is deployed and then our oldest sibling who is 23 lives in Texas. Our family is crazy but I think it makes us unique. We live in Victorville CA
So….I REALLY would love to be the source on a Wednesday evening (im in prior lake, MN with a 4yo son, Macalister!) But really…id like to recommend my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, shauna and dan. They’re in savage, MN. they have 3 kiddos, Liam is 8, Roman is 4, and Caitlin is about 18mos. Part of why I think they would be a great feature is because of the care Caitlin requires. She has a genetic disorder called Alpha-1 Anti-trypsin deficiency (A1AD). So…she’s had a rough go in her short life. (Her caringbridge site is above) I’m not sure how they always manage things….school, sports, Caitlin feedings and doctors appointments. I’d imagine their evenings are lovely through the looking Glass.
If nothing else, perhaps this post is read, her caring bridge updates are read, and people become more aware of this genetic disorder and explore the symptoms, consider getting themselves and their family tested. Thabk you!
Downtown Miami , FL. 3 year old boy named Aaron. 2 stinky male Siamese cats and My husband Scott and I. Scott does dinner and I do bathtime and storytime. We hold fast to our rituals. When shoes come off after Aaron’s dinner, the dirty sock monsters are let loose ( one for my hand and one for his) . We chase around into our bedroom where we bounce around on mommy & papa’s bed. This lasts a while. We are reminded to clean up our toys ( usually takes coaxing ) and then bubble bath with bath toys. Then dressed with pajamas ( only likes monster or Olaf ones) and socks and fuzzy Crocs ( which he wears to bed!). Then storytime . He tries to sneak in that humongo Frozen book but gets bored of all the reading so i try to keep it simple . Love curious George and very hungry caterpillar .Then we put on band-aids ( we are down to one per leg of various themes ) then tooth brushing ( a battle!) and then kisses and then to bed with the same lullaby CD he had since infancy, his Frozen night light, and his assortment of blankets: the big fuzzy Frozen blanket, ” music blanket”, ” elephant blanket”, ” nightime blanket” and his ultimate favorite since babyhood- “school blanket” ( which he no longer chooses to take to school). Then we position talking Olaf, plush Olaf, plush Sven and his plush mouse in bed along with a Frozen wash cloth ( “small blanket”) by his head . Then we give him his Olaf figure to hold ( must be ” old small Olaf” since “new small Olaf” won’t do) then papa leaves and closes the door and I sing in a Kristoff voice ” good night.. Don’t let the frostbite bite” and I squeeze his hand 3 times for I Love You and recap the highlights of the day and then out I go. Yay dinner for mom & papa.. About 9pm.
Pittsburgh, PA
two boys ages 5 and 22 months
My husband and I both work full-time although he’s a teacher so he’s off in the summers. Depending on how soon this would be happening, our evenings could be two parent or single parent events as my husband is a football coach and starting August is gone most evenings while I get home from work, play with the kids, get dinner and feed the boys. He usually gets home just after dinnertime with enough time to play and help with bedtime. Right now our bedtimes for the boys are staggered with the youngest going first and then the 5 year old getting some one-on-one time and a show before bed.
I am Michelle and live in Dayton, Ohio. My husband usually picks up the girls, 4 and 1.5, from daycare and gets a start on dinner. I usually get home around 5:30p and take over the girls while my husband finishes getting dinner ready. We eat around 6p and, as much as I hate it, it is usually something for us and something different for the girls. After enough bribing and pleading, everyone eventually eats enough to not be starving in half an hour, we play outside if the weather is alright, or sometimes we’ll go grab desert, or go to the playground nearby, or tend to our little flower and veggie/herb gardens. At about 7:30p it’s time to get in the bath tub (which usually involves 1 or more naked children running around the house), out of there by 8p and on to picking out clothes for the next day, 3 books, hugs and kisses, and bedtime. My husband usually walks the dog somewhere between after dinner and story time. The 4 year old goes to sleep in her room while I nurse the 1.5 year old to sleep still downstairs and then put her in her crib. Then, it’s my time to do whatever I want to do until bedtime, sometimes write, sometimes, sew something, sometimes just scroll thru Facebook.
Hello,
My name is Kendra and my little family lives in Aurora, Colorado (just south of Denver and very close to the airport ;). I’d love the opportunity to share our evening with your readers because I feel it is a very special part of our day-today lives. Sure the routine can be a grind but there are so many times that it is pure joy and that is what family time is all about. When it’s all said and done even after a night of tantrums, bickering between the adults over who knows what, or picking up a pile of cat puke after you step in it with your bare foot… It all fades away when your four year old is ready to go to bed and asks for a “family hug.” We pick up our kids and squeeze together with our faces almost touching and we laugh. That is what I would love to capture and remember about our evenings.
So, about us…
Caiden (4) is a talker and loves sharing his day with us and basically talking non-stop from the time he gets home from preschool, to the time his head hits his pillow.
Marlow (2) is all energy all the time. She doesn’t sit still for long and she constantly has us all laughing with the expressions she makes or the things she says.
Basically, our evenings are filled with equal parts structure and chaos. With two small kids, two cats and a dog, there’s always something going on! My husband and I both work full-time. I work outside of the house and my husband, Kevin, works from home.
We make dinner every night and all gather ’round the table to eat as a family. Kevin and I rotate who cooks as we are both pretty handy in the kitchen!
After dinner we let the kids play while we do the dishes and then it’s either baths or family time. The bedtime process starts around 7:50pm and Kevin and I rotate who tucks each kid in. It’s a nice way for us to get one-on-one time with each child.
Once they’re in bed I get myself prepared for work the next day then we crash on the couch and relax until we head to bed ourselves.
It may not be the most unique evening lineup but it’s ours and I happen to love it! Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this fun series.
I’m a stay at home mom to 4 in the Seattle area. Our oldest daughter is 7 and finishing 1st grade, oldest son is 5 and just finished pre-k, little guy is 2.5 and one of the most charismatic kids I’ve met, and the baby girl is nearly 1 (sniff, sniff!) Wednesdays are actually my night off. Bigs are usually out riding bikes/scooters on the cul de sac with the neighbor kids while I keep the little ones closer to home and get things cleaned up from the day. My husband gives me a “10 minutes away” call so I know to get the baby one last nursing and prepare to head out just as quickly as possible. I’ll hand off information on naps and problems he should know about and then I head out to do WHATEVER I WANT ALL BY MYSELF. I don’t know what goes on at home precisely but my only rule is that I make sure to stay away until after bedtime. I come back and hang out with my husband or do whatever feeling more relaxed after getting time to be alone.
My name is Abigail, and I probably won’t be chosen for this because I’m not part of a typical family. Unfortunately, child-rearing really is just my job; I’m a nanny. When most parents come home to see their kids I’m leaving. 99% of the time, I don’t get to feed the precious kiddos their dinner or put them to bed. The family I work for right now has two kids, ages 3 and 1. I love them so much! It’s hard to go home to an empty apartment. After an hour or so of working on my computer or reading, my roommate comes home, and we make and eat dinner. Wednesdays during the school year, we have choir practice. On other days, we just talk, read, work, watch a movie (with ice cream), or have some friends over. I always journal about my day with the kids and read at least one chapter of a book before going to sleep.
My apologies, I forgot to say that I live in Cincinnati, Ohio.
I’m Becky, I live in Grand Rapids, Mi. I stay home with our 1 year old Mikey. My husband is currently in grad school getting his eMBA. Some nights he studies right from work. Those days and nights are long. Most nights lately he’s been home. We eat a quick dinner and go on a long family walk. This usually includes taking our dog to the park where she can run and play and letting our little guy swing on the playground. Too often we get frozen yogurt at a local place that makes everything in house. SO good. I’m usually wearing my son in our Ergo and my husband sneaks him bites of yogurt. Once home, it’s bath and bed time. Mikey jumps on his bed (a big boy bed since he never tolerated his crib) while we read stories and then I lay with him and nurse him to sleep. I love the lifestyle photography and this series. So beautiful, everyday moments.
My name is Emma and I am mum to Dominic, age 4 (in 2 weeks), as well as my princess furbaby, Juno, a boarder collie mix (age 5). We live in Watsonville, CA (Santa Cruz county). Both my husband, Tony, and I work long days, and Dominic goes to daycare. I pick Dom up about 545, which is the highlight of my evening because he is soooo happy to see me! I give him a snack in the car, and we head the few blocks to our home. As soon as we pull into the garage Dom starts asking for “noisy dangerous tools” to play with. Usually this is an electric sander, an angle grinder, a router, or some other large plug in tool (never toy tools). Juno is ecstatic to greet us as we come in. For the next 30-45 mins until Tony comes home, Dominic and I often play/garden on the patio, walk the dog/ ride his bike to the park, or stay inside and play motorcycles or pretend to vacuum (one of his favorite games). Tony comes home and starts cooking immediately (I can’t cook at all). While Dom continues to play (or sometimes watches some TV), and I usually check emails etc on my phone. We eat dinner, which is about 50-50 easy and nightmarish. After dinner we all do some combo of cleanup, playing, dishes, TV, or bathtime. Bedtime is 8pm. Tony and I take turns putting him to bed / walking the dog. Bedtime consists of a bedtime snack, going potty (which may turn into a rather long process), brushing teeth (always a trial in patience, often including lots of licking the mirror), getting in pajamas (aka playing “chase the naked toddler”), reading books in bed, turning on the nightlights (must be done by him), and then a variety of cuddles, hugs, and all kinds of kisses (lip kisses, fishy kisses, butterfly kisses, nose kisses, ear kisses, shirt kisses, stuffed animal kisses, etc)… and ending with a series of kisses on each and “footsies.” Of course there’s some negotiating to get out the door, and maybe a few check-ins after he gets scared of something. Fiiiiiinally Tony and have some private time to watch adult TV and eat some ice cream. We usually get into bed ourselves at 10. I would really really super duper love to be picked for this! I adore your Monday morning series and each time I see them I wonder what mine would look like. It’s actually made me look differently and more gently at my own mornings. And BTW, Santa Cruz is a beautiful beach town with lots of fun things to do before the shoot!
I know it’s a long shot because we live in the middle of nowhere…but imagine the variety you have with a farm family!! Our Wednesday evenings are ever-evolving with a 13 month old. We try to always have dinner at the table, some days my son Isaac participates, some times he chooses to wreak havoc around my dining room table. Both my husband and I work full-time so once we get home from work: we have dinner, clean up, check on the farm animals (chickens, cows and pigs) and then start the bedtime routine. This takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Then we veg out in front of the TV before turning in ourselves. It’s a tough routine. I have trouble with how much attention my son gets from us, his parents. Because we have such a commute he is away from us for such a long time and in the evenings I really try to get in the quality family time. We only have about 2 hours to make sure everyone feels connected.
My apologies, I forgo
I’m Allison from St. Louis, MO –South Hampton to be exact. I have a 2.5 year old and almost 1 year old — girls. Wednesdays are days where I am home with the kids. My husband is in school in his clinical year, so his schedule is always different depending on where he is. He could get home at 4 and surprise us or completely miss bedtime and come home after 7.
This summer’s schedule is different for me because the kids can do so much more than they could do last year. So we are outside in the park or on the sidewalk more and I am always stalking the neighbor girls to see if there are out there for my toddler to play with. A popsicle is usually always involved in our night time, either for a reward or bribe usually. The girls share the master of our 2 family house so the baby co-sleeping with a toddler that just moved to a toddler bed and is potty training has been interesting. Sometimes it feels like a race to the bedtime finish line, so I think having a photo shoot would help put it all in perspective and let us appreciate it in stills. Thanks!
I live near Minneapolis, MN and have a 20-month old daughter, Violet and am expecting baby #2 in August.
Weeknights always seem so rushed, especially now that we try to eat dinner together every night (and are usually successful 6 out of 7 nights). Between 5:00, when I pick up Violet from daycare, to 7:30, when she’s in bed, it’s go, go, go to get dinner prepped and cooked, empty out the diaper bag and lunch boxes, give a bath, play for a while (which now involves ‘side’ (outside) almost every night), brushing teeth, reading books, etc. Violet has been particularly clingy to me lately, making it even more difficult to actually get things done, which means I rely on my husband for a lot of the meal prep while I entertain Violet.
With baby #2 coming, I can only imagine our schedule will get more hectic! I look forward to bedtime every night and am so thankful for a child that goes down so easily, but then I miss her when she’s asleep and creep on her in her crib before I can go to bed for the night. I guess that’s motherhood for you!
I loved your Monday Morning series and can’t wait for this one!
Grand Blanc, MI
Jake, 4 (almost 5)
Kiera, 3
I’m a stay-at-home mom, and my husband, Darryl, works in retail. Wednesday evenings vary depending on his work schedule. Jake doesn’t have preschool on Wednesdays, so the kids and I will often head to one of the community parks to play in the late afternoon. After the park, we usually watch TV or play at home until Darryl gets home from work at 5:30 pm, if he’s opening that day. Once he gets home, I usually try to disappear into my bedroom for some quiet time, or go out to run errands, while he wrangles the kids. He always makes dinner and does the dishes if he’s home in the evening. Sometimes we have a family dinner, and sometimes I just eat later so I can get out of the house alone. After dinner we might go for a walk or play out back as a family. I usually try to give baths on Wednesday nights while Darryl’s cleaning up from dinner, and then read stories to the kids. After stories the kids pick a book to put in bed with them and brush their teeth. After they’re in bed, Darryl and I try to catch up on shows we watch together. This usually involves lots of pausing to send kids back to their beds. While Darryl and I are watching TV together, I usually spend the time sewing felt ornaments to sell on Etsy.
If it’s a night that their dad is closing, the kids and I often take dinner to his store and eat with him in the break room. Sometimes we’ll stop at Target or Meijer on the way home. Once we’re home it’s baths, stories, teeth brushing, and bed. Darryl will get home around 9:30 pm, and the kids always run out to greet him. After Darryl gets them settled back in bed, we’ll start our tv-watching and sewing routine.
My name is Jaime and I live in the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago with my husband and 3 children Kyleigh (4) and twin boys Christian and Caleb (just turned 2 this month). Wednesday’s are the hardest day of the week for us as this is the only day my husband works late so I am on my own at night. I work full time in Chicago overseeing a team of 15 in the advertising industry, and my daily commute from door to door (both ways is just over 3 hours)….I make the most of my commuting time freelancing with my design/photography background as well as special projects for my children.
On Wednesday’s the kids are with our babysitter until I get home at 7:00pm. From there I take over dinner which is typically prepped by my husband the night before (for those that know me well I am not a cook). Followed by play time, on a nice day the boys go in the jogging stroller and my daughter rides her bike alongside me. I’m definitely not an avid runner or even jogger, but I try to keep up with her to spend time with my kids and get some activity in. Bath time follow’s after and then reading, singing and bed time. I make sure all is ready for Thursday, as all three kids attend preschool in the morning. Then I pop open my computer and finish up my daily work I didn’t get to, both my career and side projects…..and my husband gets home around 10pm from teaching.
I enjoyed your Monday Morning series and actually developed my own two years ago while on maternity leave to never forget the loved chaos (see website link of post). It has been a goal of mine to recreate once I came back to work….now 2 years in, it is still on my to-do list! Would love to be a part of your series to let your readers in on our normal….also look forward to seeing results from other families.
Media, PA (16 miles outside of Philadelphia). 1 daughter, Anna, (2 years old) and a second daugther (NOT named Elsa despite requests) due to arrive in late August.
My husband, Mike, is a full-time stay at home dad. I’m a lawyer working in Philadelphia. I typically take public transit and get home around 6:15. My husband is finishing up dinner for the three of us when I walk in the door. Anna has emptied her entire toybox onto the living floor and is singing/screaming at the TV and/or dog.
I am greeted with squeels of “mommy’s home” and a jumping 10 pound dog. I’m on immmediate toddler duty for the night. We sit down around 6:30 for dinner. It’s often two completely different meals and takes about 45 minutes (includes bribing toddler to eat). After dinner varies – sometimes a family walk with the dog, sometimes I take Anna to the park, sometimes we play at home. Bedtime starts around 8:00 – bath, books, bottle (no judgment please!). I start with bath, husband comes in for book time together and I end with some one-on-one time/stalling. Bedtime routines takes about 30-45 minutes.
We end with an hour or two of TV/adult time – sometimes me working on my laptop side-by-side and planning our week. We got to bed at 10:00.
Not the most exciting or crazy – but with only two hours of quality family time, we try to cram as much as we can in each night! I’d love to see more moms with stay-at-home dads – I know there’s got to be more than just our family out there!!
I’m in Wichita, KS and I have a 3.5 year old daughter. My husband gets home at 3:30 in the afternoon, we start bedtime stuff about 7, then my husband is in bed by 9:30, so we have quite a long evening. Currently I’m also watching my nephew on Wednesdays til about 6, which is not my daughter’s favorite thing, but he should be in daycare soon. We usually have dinner in front of a movie on Wednesdays and sometimes Fridays and Mondays too, just because if Quinn will actually eat, I’ll do whatever I need to do. A lot of the afternoon/evening involves Quinn and my husband roughhousing while I relax for a little bit. After dinner Quinn usually gets a bath with Jarrod (my husband, I don’t think I mentioned his name yet) while I take care of dishes and straighten up the living room. Sometimes we’ll go outside and play or take a walk around our pond if it’s not a bath night. After she goes to bed my husband and I usually have dessert and catch up on our tv shows or watch a movie. It’s pretty basic, but it works for us.
Hi, there! I’m Whitney and I live with my husband and 9 month old baby boy in San Diego county. I’m 29 and my husband is 33. We are both working parents and live in a one bedroom apartment. We didn’t move once we found out I was pregnant because 2 bedrooms are expensive in San Diego and we’re working on building a nest-egg. Luckily have both of our families near by to help with our little man.
Husband works FIVE. FREAKIN’. MINUTES. from where we live. I, on the other hand, work about an hour from home. I’ve always been jealous of Husband’s non-commute. He also gets off of work at 4 instead of 5 like I do. This works well for us because he’ll pick up little man from either his mom’s house or our friend’s house, come home, and play. I call when I’m leaving work to see how their days went and to check when little man last ate. I like his last meal of the day to be done with me. I stay on the phone for a few minutes and then say goodbye if nothing crazy is happening. Most days I’ll listen to an audio book on my drive home or the news. I consider each day a success when I navigate the traffic hell that awaits me on the freeway.
Our little guy sees me and smiles so big which takes a little of the sting away after being away from him all day. Shortly after I come home we change little man into his nighttime diaper, turn on the sound machine, say good night to the street as we close the blinds and blackout curtains, and Husband kisses him goodnight. Husband makes dinner while I nurse little man (I guess we’re both making dinner actually, haha!).
This is the most time I get with him during the week. It used to be Husband would sit with me while I nursed but little man became too distracted, and honestly, I wanted some alone time with little man. So, now little man and I have our own time.
Once nursing is done I put him to bed in his pack n play and come out. Usually I take a shower and Husband has dinner ready when I’m done. I offer to help with the dishes. Offer. Most of the time Husband will also do the dishes and let me get some downtime in either zoning out watching tv or working on some craft project. After that we may watch a show together or, most likely, it will be time to sanitize bottles and get ready for the next day. I try to be in bed by 9 and Husband usually stays up later to get in some video game time.
Rinse and repeat each work day.
Also, we’re a cloth diapering family and have been since little man was 2 months old. Wednesday is usually laundry night 😉
Hi! My name is Lindsey :)…… and my husband and I live in Ortonville Michigan (just north of metro-Detroit!) with our sweet and spunky one year old. I am a part time registered nurse and my husband is a 9-5 businessman. The best part about Wednesday evenings is watching my daughter light up when “Da-Da” walks through the door. Then my hubby gets his daddy daughter playtime in while I try and finish puting together some dinner for the two of us. In addition, I also prepare dinner for my daughter, which is becoming increasingly difficult due to some severe food allergies. Therefore finding her something somewhat exciting to eat has become a challenge recently. After dinner we play, go for a walk, explore in the backyard, or get our snuggle time in. At bedtime I take on the pajama duty (with some help from bubble guppies or mickey mouse clubhouse) and now that I am done nursing my husband does the nighttime bottle and puts her to bed, unless we have an “I want my mommy” meltdown hah. So I usually take this opportunity to finish up cleaning sippy cups, laundry, the mess from dinner, and getting the house back in order for the next day. If I am home the next day it is a much easier task then if I have to work. I work two 12 hour shifts each week, so that means leaving while my daughter is asleep, and coming home after she is in bed. 12 hour shifts at the hospital are a doozy!. Once our daughter is asleep hubby and I relax and enjoy our well deserved time together, hope for an uninterrupted night of sleep, and get ready to do it all over the next day!
Our little family is located in Boise, Idaho (have you been here? It’s AWESOME!)
Our family consists of myself, my husband, and our son who is 1 1/2 years old and the most amazing kid in the world (except for yours). Husband works until about 3-4pm and then picks up the kid from daycare and brings him home to our furry children, our two labrador retrievers. The boy plays with the dogs and escapes out the dog door to the backyard to explore while my sweet husband makes dinner. (How lucky am I?! He also does the grocery shopping…) I work 8-5 and get home around 5:30pm, and we sit down as a family for dinner most of the time.
Wednesday nights are special for us because it’s our night in the neighborhood to flood irrigate our backyard – which means the kiddo and the dogs get to run back and forth in the freezing muddy water (since it’s 90+ degrees out in the summer here) and “get their wiggles out” before bedtime.
I usually put the boy to bed while my husband finishes watering the yard; we read a book or two, sing a song (“Idaho” by Josh Ritter is a great one) and I tuck him in with his lovies and teddy; he usually sleeps well but thank the gods above he still sleeps in a crib *knock on wood*.
After the baby goes to bed, my husband and I are able to relax with a cold drink on the back deck and talk about our day, or do yardwork, and sometimes work on our 1950s era house. Usually we’ll throw the frisbee for the one lab who will actually FETCH, or just junk out on the internet for good mom blogs…
Just outside of Jacksonville, NC. My daughter turns 2 in July and I have another girl due September 5th.
My husband is active duty military and as he’s been in a while he has to supervise a lot of younger Marines. He is also preparing for a deployment that will be time right around when I give birth! In the meantime, he leaves every couple weeks to train for several weeks. When he is home, he could be “out of work by 5” but still have to stay to supervise. Or they’ll decide he needs to work nights to help that crew or work 12 on 12 off. I have learned to do a lot of things as a single parent.
I work myself, but my schedule is limited to when daycare is opened as I can’t rely on my husband to always be able to help. So sometimes I’m out by three and I can get my daughter and cook a proper meal and sometimes I can’t pick her up until almost six and I just want to make spaghettios as a staple. After dinner it’s bath time and some playtime mixed with trying to potty train battling with my daughter to eat or understand that if she throws food the dog gets it and I can’t make the dog give it back. Sometimes we try to do stuff in the garden but it’s always miserably hot. Then the fights at bedtime as to where she lays down or whether she gets a bottle still and whether that bottle gets milk (trying to take away the bottle entirely). Afterwards I watch Netflix or try to get my house ready for a new baby and occasionally place the kid back in her bed. Lather rinse repeat.
Amelia, 2.5 & Molly 9 months. We live in Victoria, BC, Canada. Not sure if you are opening it to Canada but I thought I would try 🙂
I am on Maternity leave right now so I am home with the girls while my husband goes to work as a teacher. He comes home, often takes the girls out for a walk or pushes them in the jogging stroller as he runs. I get to have time to make dinner.
We all sit down for dinner together (but rarely all 4 of us are sitting at the same time – more milk?! A fork? Pass the salt! Molly dropped her whole bowl of yogurt! You get the picture).
Then we play and typically have a dance party…Bruno Mars, One Direction & Demi Lovato are our girls’ favs.
That is followed up by crazy noisy and fun bath time which is done by my husband. Putting the girls to sleep is often staggered so that Molly has time to fall asleep before Amelia stomps into the room insisting on leaping on to her bed and doing a belly flop. Stories and songs for both though.
When the nighttime routine goes smoothly, everyone is happy and it is a beautiful thing! Then its relaxation time for my husband and I followed up by late night work on our computers. There are too many devices that come to bed with us!
Oh and I gotta sneak in some House of Cards on Netflix.
Let’s see my Wednesday evenings . . . I almost don’t want to comment because our evenings can be such a train wreck . . . but that is what this is all about right? Seeing the beauty you might not ordinarily see?
My name is Sara, my husband and I have 2 kids (Lia 3.5 (TOTAL threenager) and Kellan 8 months) and live in St. Louis, MO. My husband works full time and I work part time three days a week. Our kids’ schedules are quite unique – here is the breakdown M-home with me, T-preschool/daycare, W-home with grandma, Th-preschool/daycare, F- home with me. On rare weekends I meal plan on Saturdays and grocery shop on Sundays for the upcoming week . . .but that is rare. Weeknights are so stressful, between getting home, cleaning bottles, preparing bottles, preparing dinner, trying to spend time together as a family, getting out of work-mode, not to mention trying to get my three year old to get her jammies on, brush her hair and teeth, and go to bed quietly as to not wake up the baby. Just typing it out makes me stressed. It often ends with raised voices, a lack of patience, and feeling guilty once they are asleep.
We just went through sleep training with Kellan but he will still often cry until he can settle down. Lia has different reaction to bed time based on who is tucking her in. If it is dad he tucks her in sings her songs and that’s that. If it’s me I tuck her in sing her songs and then she grabs at me, begs me not to leave and cries. It breaks my heart and frustrates me all at the same time. If I try to leave she will scream and wake up her brother, if I stay it just gets worse . . . it is a double edged sword that has often left me in tears.
What is unique about Wednesdays is my Mother-in-law watches them and usually she has dinner ready for us which is a huge help. I love my kids to the ends of the earth, but weeknights are so hard.
We live in the small town of Lawson, Mo. My daughter is 3.5, Stella and my son is 2 next month, Silas. My husband gets home from work about 5 during the week and I work at a preschool but am now off on summer breaks. Our evenings feel chaotic as the usual routine is dinner, bath, bedtime. Sounds a lot smoother than it is, HA! we also have a puppy running around in the chaos that is the evenings. I try to cook dinner while their father entertains them or they play outside in our backyard, dinner can be them eating what I make or them eating chicken nuggets because they won’t touch what I just spent an hour making :). Bath is a mess because they shower together and play (loudly) while my husband and I run around like chickens with our heads chopped off prepping their evening drinks, getting their oil diffusers filled, getting pajamas out and hopefully picking up the house some before the are done showering. Then we each take a child and get them ready for bed, read a book to and tuck in. the key to controlling some of the chaos is the splitting of the kids, we learned quick it’s easier to divide and conquer, and we rotate so one night I do my son’s bedtime routine then the next night, I do my daughters. We are pretty good at sticking to a semi early bedtime of 6:30/7 pm, because we both appreciate some quiet down time before we go to bed in the evenings as well! since we live in a small town we live close to family, which means some nights after dinner we may walk to the local ice cream shop or visit the kids great grandparents (who happen to live next door to his parents, about 2 blocks away) those trips involve checking on papa’s garden and cruising around the yard in the gator with a grandparent while the adults chat, it also means they get a cookie or graham cracker from granny, a very important part of the visit! there’s also a chance that we are eating dinner at least one night that week at my inlaws house, or we will be visiting another set of grandparents (both are parents have divorced and remarried and all live within 10 minutes of our home) I hope you choose to come experience life in our part of the country and see how we do Wednesday evenings!!
my name is Joanna. I live in Fort Mill, SC, a town close to Charlotte, NC where both my husband and I work. We have 2 small children, Stella 2 and Jackson 7 months. I work full time as a RN and am going to school online to complete my BSN. My husband is in charge of daily drop offs and pick ups as he works close to our daycare provider. We pack a lot into our evenings. I don’t get home until at least 5:30, the baby goes down at 7 and the toddler anywhere between 7:30 and 8. I make it a point for us to all eat together every night. Wednesday is bath night, when we wrangle both kids in the tub at the same time. It is a rushed and crazy time and we are exhausted by the time they are both in bed, but I try to savor these fleeting moments.
I’m not sure how unique we are, but our weeknights are certainly crazy! I have a three year old boy and a 7.5 month girl, a full-time job in PR and an hour long commute.
My husband does daycare pickup and then wrangles the kids for an hour or so before I get home. Suffice it to say that by the time I walk in the door around 6:30, I’m mentally, if not physically, exhausted. We have a pretty awesome neighborhood with lots of kids, so most nights I start out by chasing down the toddler and/or bribing him to come inside for dinner. Dinner is either something thrown together for the three of us, or frozen chicken nuggets for him with dinner for me and my husband to follow after bedtime. The baby generally chooses bedtime to start melting down, so we’ve gotten very good at eating with one hand while we hold her and bounce through the meal. Meantime, we have a kid who cannot manage to eat a single piece of food or drink a sip of milk without making a complete mess of himself. I see other kids eat without bibs and wonder how they do it without destroying their clothes every day.
After dinner it’s usually after 7pm, so time to go straight upstairs for bath and bed. Recently we started bathing the two kids together, which sounds efficient, but usually means the toddler stealing all of the bath toys and freaking out when we have to rinse his hair (a drop of water in the eyes = tragedy, apparently), while the baby just sits there and happily splashes. Then it’s time for tooth brushing, after which the toddler congratulates himself on his newly acquired ability to spit out the toothpaste.
My husband and I split up from there — I take the baby because I’m still nursing, and he gets the fun job of getting the toddler into pajamas, back on the potty for the third time because he’s potty trained, and into bed with a book if he hasn’t gotten books taken away for not listening.
After the baby is down, I go in to say goodnight. The kid has gotten VERY good at stalling, so he either needs to go on the potty AGAIN, a sip of water, or to “have a conversation.” I try to be patient and remind myself that he will be grown up so quickly, but it’s hard.
At that point we pretty much crash on the couch, often with an alcoholic beverage, and attempt to hold some sort of adult conversation. Usually unsuccessfully.
Phew, I’m exhausted just typing this.
We’re in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia!
I stay home with my daughter (almost 5) and son (2). I feel like our evenings are mayhem. I’m so tired at that point sand my kids are up and down from the table. After dinner we play and as soon as my husband gets home at 7 we go up for bed. If he’s early they rough house and get all worked up, but it’s fun. My daughter goes in first and one of us takes my son downstairs. Then he goes up. I feel like it’s total chaos but I also get some of the sweetest snuggles, which I need after a long day with them!
Oh and we live about 10 minutes north of Boston.
Hi, my name is Robin. We live in a town called Lead, which is in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. My husband (Derek) and I have 4 kids, added all together. (I have 2 and Derek has 2.) Domenic is 12, Mya 9, Tanner 8 and Parker 5.
During school summer break, we have the kids for a week on, week off, sharing time with their other parents. So we only get to have the kids every other Wednesday.
On a typical Wednesday night at our house, Derek will have been off during the day and more than likely taken the kids to do some really awesome activity and will then be home in the afternoon to start dinner. Derek is a great cook. He usually has dinner ready when I get home at 5:15 pm. When I get home, the kids might be outside playing with chalk or digging holes in the yard, or hanging in their rooms. We eat dinner as a family at the dining room table as often as we can, when sports schedules allow. (We normally do not have sports on Wednesdays.) After dinner the hubby and I will start on clean up, dishes and sweeping while the kids play outside if the weather allows, possibly walk the dog down to the park near our house, dig for worms or try to find dinosaur bones in the yard. If the weather doesn’t allow, there will likely be arguing over what to watch on Netflix, who gets to play the Kindle and who has to take a shower first. More than likely, the kids will end up doing rock, paper, scissors for the shower order and then that will commence. (1 bathroom home) After showers we might sit down to watch a movie all together with popcorn since Wednesdays are one of our few nights without sports and we all get to be home together. Parker, Tanner and Mya go to bed earlier than Domenic, so they will brush their teeth and get ready for bed after pleading for one more snack and 15 more minutes. Domenic will probably be on his phone after the kids go to bed until his bed time. After all the kids are in bed, and depending what time it is, Derek and I might enjoy a glass of wine and a movie ourselves.
Thank you for considering us, I loved the Monday morning series.
YEAY! I looooooved this series – you guys did such a great job and the photos and stories that came with them were so beautiful and touching – I can not wait to see these! My first thought was….you’d be hard pressed to find some beauty in my two year old’s exhausted meltdown when the words “bath time” are uttered – but then I read your comment about how you’re greeted with smiles and hugs and realized that I am too!!! and it is so FABULOUS…. We live on an Air Force Base- Vandenberg, it’s about 45 minutes north of Santa Barbara on the California central coast – my son is Grant and he is almost 2.5. I’d love to enter to see if there is some hidden beauty in the routine of dinner/bathtime meltdown/ books and bedtime.
Oh my gosh! I used to live on Vandenberg 🙂 small world!
Naperville, IL (Chicago suburb). 3 year old boy – Graham & 5 month old boy – Elliott.
2 full time working parents, 2 amazing little boys, 2 dogs & 2 cats make our family perfect. Life is never quiet! Our 3 year old is the life of the party, so evenings and nights are never dull. Thankfully our baby is up for the party most days.
With all the craziness of day to day life this would be an incredible opportunity to capture the moments of our everyday life that are easily overlooked.
Boise, ID – One little guy named Robbie (age 3 1/2). Our Wednesday nights are great. Robbie has sensory processing disorder and a feeding disorder which means there are only a handful of foods he will/can eat. It also means he can be super active so we try to get him outside or on the garage crash-pad or to the pool on the nights he doesn’t have therapy. He’s really funny so he likes to put on performances (kinda like your Harlow!). He’s also pretty sassy (I’m pretty sure he gets that from me but he definitely gets his drama gene from his dad so we’re even). If we stick to the routine (which includes a timer and specific instructions) he goes to bed pretty well and is usually in bed by 8 and actually asleep by 830-845.
Hi! Kary, here from Biloxi, MS! Would love to participate and show you our Wednesdays! I am a military spouse with one 2.5 year old boy. While every evening is different what you’ll see is some outside play with lots of neighbors on the base, dinner together and a routine that is rarely deviated from. Daddy is a strictler for a schedule! You’ll also get some bonus shots of a man in his uniform when he gets home, but I can’t promise any adorable toddler hugging military man pics. Little Dude is stingy with the love these days!
We live in Ontario, California (I gave you the whole word since people sometimes read it too quickly and think we are in Canada, not that I’m saying you would do that but….OK, I think maybe you might do that…hee hee) and we have a 2 year old. I work full-time, my husband is a stay-at-home Dad. I get home from work a little after 5 PM. My husband instantly disappears to check his video game and be by himself for a few minutes. We trade off who makes dinner depending on what it is we are having. Or he leaves to go pick something up. After dinner it is usually me and my daughter playing, running around outside with our Basset Hound until 7:30 which is bathtime. We do bath, read stories and have her in bed by 8:15. Usually. Depends on how many kisses Daddy and the Ga (her word for dog before she could say Dog and she has kept it up) get. Not sure we are much different than most people but I loved the Monday Morning Series and think this is a great idea as well.
My name is Courtney and my Wednesdays are spent with my husband Greg, 3 year old Ellie and 4 month old Fiona. We live in Plymouth, MA, aka America’s Hometown, home of the pilgrims (about 40 minutes outside of Boston). I am a newly stay at home mom. Our nights involve cooking, playing, and catching up as a family. Our bedtime routine is fairly long and drawn out. We have staggered bedtimes for the girls. A normal night usually take about two hours of bedtime routine for everyone to fall asleep. Greg and Ellie get some fun time together while I put Fiona to sleep. Once Fiona is down for the first time, yep the first time, I come down stairs to start Ellie’s routine. Usually in the middle of getting Ellie ready Fiona wakes up and needs a bit more rocking to sleep. When Fiona is down again I return for Ellie’s three, she insists on three, bedtime books and then off to her room. Once Ellie’s in bed I lay on her floor until she is asleep and then try desperately to sneakily creep out. She often catches me and we begin again! Once all is quiet Greg and I have a few minutes to catch up then its cleaning up from the day and a shower to prepare for tomorrow. Although very busy our evenings are a wonderful time we get to spend together!
My name is Kristy and I live in the suburbs north of Detroit,MI. I have two little girls…Morgan, 5 and Harper, 2. I just got a new job where I work from home most of the time and I also work part time so that I can pick my oldest up from Kindergarten everyday so, I am with the girls from 3:15 on everyday and my husband gets home around 6pm. Then it is a rush to eat dinner and get my youngest to bed by 7. Then the 5 year old stays up for a while longer and sometimes I get more work done. Wednesdays are usually the craziest cause it is usually bath night and garbage night. Some nights are smooth, some nights are crazy, some nights we eat with the neighbors and some nights we get time to all four wrestle in the bed (those are my favorite nights).
Hello! We would love to be featured. I’m a consultant and my husband is in the Marine Corps. We just moved to Monterey, CA. We have 2 boys (19 months and 5 months) who both go to bed at 7. A typical night involves me picking up the boys from daycare, and making dinner while my husband plays with the boys. They both get baths and then it is off to bed. I usually continue working once they are asleep while my husband studies.
My name is Lindsay And I live in Long Island, New York. I have a 3 year old son and a second son on the way in September. I work full time as a fifth grade teacher and my husband is a firefighter for the FDNY. Our Wednesdays consist of me racing home from work to pick my son up at his Montessori nursery school. On nights that my husband is home he does all the dinner prep and cooking while I play with my son, do laundry, and clean up the house. Firefighters are amazing cooks btw! We feed our son and then I start his bedtime routine by 6pm after bath, books, and many songs together in bed he has lights out by 7 pm. Then, my husband and I eat a relaxed dinner together and watch tv or just talk about the day. We then make lunches for the next day and maybe do a fire in our backyard fire pit. We are always tired and more so with the pregnancy but we love our little life and just being together!
My name is Gabi and I’m a SAHM to one amazing little boy. Zachary is 20 months. I also run a daycare out of my home, I have 4 other littles ranging from 4 months to 20 months. It’s pretty crazy here between 4 and 6! Evenings are a great time of day. The kids are all playing, running around, and “talking” with each other. It’s chaos, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
And obviously reading directions is my strong suit! We are in Bedford, NH
Huntington, West Virginia. we have one child, she’s 18 months. And three dogs that we treat like children! I work 3 12s a week, so on days I’m home my husband gets home around 5:15. Ellie goes to bed at 7 so we struggle with playtime as a family and working in bedtime routine. Our house isn’t large and we are always toy over flowing and stepping on each other and tag teaming the playing, making her dinner, making our dinner, bath water, finding PJs. It’s a beautiful mess! I never want to forget these days because ellie will be our one and only and it’s going so fast!
My name is Michal and I live in Tenafly NJ, with my husband Yaron and our two sons, Dashel (3.5) and August (almost 2). I am currently 35.5 weeks pregnant with baby boy #3! Our typical wed night routine starts around 530, with playtime, dinner, bath, stories, usually some more playtime and finally bed. What sets our family apart is that my boys are so close in age and I am so very pregnant, so everyone pitches in a helping hand and evenings can be quite chaotic. I’m sure our routine will be changing up shortly and getting even more intense with a newborn, but love will prevail!
Mason (6rs), and Zach (4yrs) give my husband and I a run for our money most nights. We live in Toronto, Ontario (Cananda!). I am a Gr3 teacher and my husband works downtown with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Every night feels like a sprint from the moment we pick them up from the babysitter down the street at 5-ish to the beginning of our bedtime routine at 7-ish. I like evenings in the warmer weather best because then we can be outside. We live in the suburbs and have spent a lot of time trying to make our backyard a nice space – so we often eat out there (if the bugs aren’t too bad!). After dinner we try to divide and conquer getting the kids ready for bed, dishes, laundry, etc. then we each take one kid and lie down with them for cuddles, snuggles and stories. How we are ever going to manage all this and homework too in a few years…I really can’t imagine!
Jacksonville, FL
kids ages 2 & 3
My kids go to bed early, usually in bed by 645pm. They don’t nap, and are a disaster at night if they stay up late.
Fort Wayne, IN
We are a fun family of 4! I’m Christy, my husband is Pratt, and we have a 3yr old daughter and 4 month old son. We have ice skating lessons every Wednesday night, so usually it is me getting home from work to jump in the SUV, only to pump in the SUV, and off to skating. The kids usually don’t go to bed until 9-9:30pm on this night, so we can enjoy some company together! I work part time and my husband is a network admin.
Eli (almost 4) and Seth (5 1/2), New Hope, PA (Bucks County).
Wednesday night in the summer is pretty low key for us. My husband and I both work – I’ll pick up the kids around 4:30 from camp and then if it’s nice out, we’ll try to go for a family bike ride down the road (finally, we are each on our own bikes!). Then it’s some combination of the boys helping one of us cook dinner or playing something outside (we’ve been playing 4 square and hopscotch and looking for bugs lately) . After a family dinner, when we each talk about our day, we often have popsicles outside. Then attempt to bathe/shower. And then there’s the crescendo before bed – dance party, wrestling match or (if we’re lucky) yoga. Then, books, bed…. and checking on the boys a zillion times. That’s a normal day – god knows if a photographer shows up, it’ll go down totally differently!
thanks for doing this again – loved the Monday Morning series!
Hi! Melissa from Pittsburgh, PA here! Evenings are downright crazy in our house. They start at about 5:30 when my husband and I get home from work and run 8-year-old Emma to a soccer or softbal game while attending to 8-month-old Camden’s needs. There’s dinner, activities, play, homework, nursing, dishes, bath, stories and everything else to fit into a small window of time. Having such a large age gap is definitely challenging but I wouldn’t have it otherwise!
My name is Beth from Norman, OK. I am Mom to Jack (age 3 1/2) and Lucy (age 3 months). A typical evening consists of myself and both kids arriving home between 3:30-4:30pm followed closely by my husband, Tanner anytime after 4:30. We usually allow Jack to play outside, digging in the garden or playing with “the dudes” (our sweet neighbor boys) for a little while after we get home. We try to eat dinner sometime around 5-5:30pm and we try to eat as a family. Jack is a pretty picky eater and would eat pancakes for every meal if we let him, which I do sometimes. If Jack has had a good day we allow him to watch a show after dinner while we clean up. Pjs & bedtime start at 6:45pm with chasing a naked 3 1/2 year old around while trying to wrangle his Jammie’s on him. We read 2 books every night, right now the favorites are “Green eggs & ham” and “Digger, Dozer, Dumper”. He can recite them both by heart and likes to read them with me. After we are done with his bedtime it’s time for baby Lucy’s turn. We nurse for the last feeding of the day and she is usually swaddled and in her bed by 7:20pm. My husband and I try to relax and chat about our day while also catching up on an episode or two of “Orange is the New Black”. We are typically in bed by 8:30 or 9pm since we are both up for work by 5 or 6am. We would LOVE to be involved in this project and are close to Oklahoma City if there are other families in our area that you choose!! 🙂 Love your blog!!
Mechanicsburg pa
Two boys ages 2 and 5 1/2
Two working parents who are teachers… Husband teaching voice lessons in the evenings in between the insanity that is our house of boys who love to act like animals, tickle and love Disney!!!
My name is Kim and I am a single mom of Joelyn who is 10 and Derek who is 8. We live in Richmond Virginia. Our Wednesdsy nights are usually calm or we are going all over the city with games or practice. If we are not Wednesday is a good day for us to spend time together doing a special evening activity around the city to just clam down and spend time together.
Homework can get crazy depending on the time of year as well. Dinner is always a family event and we must all be at the table at nights. Bedtime can be very crazy depending on what went on that evening. Electronics must be given to me by 7 and lights out by 8:30. Wednesday’s are the one day of the week we all usually look forward to!!
Boston, two boys, 1 and 3. WEDNESDAYS. I am surrounded by chaos. My husband and I are like two ships passing in the night…he having picked the boys up from school and me rushing home from work to relieve him so he can get back to work. It’s one of the days at work that I don’t have to rush home which is great for work; not great for home. Dinner is usually patched together from previous nights goodies and ALWAYS served up a la carte for the 3 year old who isn’t into non-kid food (or broken granola bars…wink, wink). It’s shared tubby time after that, if the baby, who’s taken to trying to climb out of the tub, will cooperate. Then he gets milk on a chair outside the bathroom while the big guy finishes up (but DO NOT try to wash his hair….still at 4 he screams like a wild man at any attempt). Staggering their bedtimes + a tub is challenging! Baby goes to bed first…sometime big brother joins us (aka jumps off of things in their shared bedroom while I’m whisper yelling for him to calm down). Daddy makes it back home just in time to read books and lie with big brother. I return to disaster detail (seriously it looks like we were robbed) but usually end eating ice cream from the tub while reading Mommy shorts in avoidance. Pick me!!! I might be the first to buck the trend of beautiful moments 😉
Boynton Beach, FL.
2.5 year old & 1.5 year old.
My husband works nights so dinner/bath/bed is all me! It never goes as smoothly as I’d like, but hey that’s motherhood. We do dinner first. My two year old (Luke) will take two bites of whatever I made and then declare he “doesn’t like it”, even if he ate it the night before. My one year old will make a huge mess that I will put off cleaning for as long as possible. Then it’s bath time. Most of the time I have to carry the one year old (Elijah) because I don’t want his dinner getting all over the stairs! Bath time is always the best because I can sit and somewhat relax while they play in a confined space! But I always end up with water all over me because they love to splash! And there is always a big fight over who gets to sit by the faucet. Once I manage to get them out of the tub, it’s jammy and story time. Luke picks the book and once we’re done reading, he does anything he can to stall getting into bed. I put Luke to bed and then Elijah to bed and then I take a deep breath and start cleaning up the mess from the day! 🙂 After my work is done, it’s mommy’s veg out time on the couch until my husband comes home and I go to bed.
I am a part time working mother of two little girls, Cassidy is a new 2 year old and Cadence who is 7 months old. My husband works full time in construction. We live in South Windsor, CT. Our evenings after work include nursing a baby and distracting a toddler from a pacifier addiction while trying to cook dinner, sometimes with a husband who fell asleep on the couch. We try to play outside before or after dinner. While I’m cooking the big one “cooks” too since she has access to the pots and pans, while the little one crawls around looking for things to put in her mouth. Dinner is usually together at the table, negotiating with the big one to eat more veggies. Then they take a tubby, watch a show and go to bed. Bedtime is daddy reading a story to the two babes on my lap after he pins down the big one to brush her teeth. Then we rock them to sleep…..until they wake up and we rock them to sleep again.
We are from Springboro, OH. My husband Tom and I have 2 kids-Liam who is 2 1/2 and Daisy who is 15 months. Our middle if the week routines are kind of hectic! I am a SAHM and my husband works 1/2 time at the office and 1/2 time at home. He usually comes home around 4:30pm on Wednesdays. The kids and I are usually playing outside or an example for today-I was chasing my son around trying to put his underwear on but he was screaming at me bc he wanted to go “commander” (commando). His grandma taught him that. My hubby usually works while I get dinner and wrangle the kids. I eat with the kids and my husband eats later. We stagger bed times bc we currently co-sleep. I go to sleep with my son at 8-8:30pm in his Paw Patrol bed. (So comfy!) My husband stays up working and playing with Daisy until about 10pm and then he sleeps with her in our guest bedroom. Our nights are probably very different from other families, but it works great for us!!! 🙂
Boston, two boys ages 1 and 3 (almost 4). ME AGAIN! Boys were up at 4:50am….so apologies for my inconsistencies…big boy is almost 4 and I take my time at work but hit the ground running at home.
Three kids ages 18mths, 3 and 6 our Wednesdays are chaotic and blissful all in one ! Family dinner, outside play, homework, opening mail, bath time, prayers, book reading, playing tag, , loads of dishes, cleaning and laughter
We live in Minneapolis with our 3 kids under 3–Nora and Bryn are identical twins who will be 3 in Aug and Brecken will be 1 in a couple weeks! My husband is a kindergarten teacher and I teach first grade. Evenings look like this:
Hubs comes in the door like Santa Claus with at least 2 new books, a handful of paintbrushes or other classroom castoff paraphernalia, and the girls immediately sit down in the doorway to read/play with their new treasures. Brecken tries like hell to do whatever they’re doing and positions himself as intrusively as possible in the mix. The nanny high steps over everyone to get out the door, and if I didn’t beat Nick home, I’m quick on his heels. My greeting is usually shrieks of “I got a new book!” Or another random piece of news from the day (“Brynny fall down! We put oils on it. All better.” Or “Brecken naughty! He eatin’ the cords.” Or maybe a new rule they learned: “No stickin your fingers in your butt!”
Hubs, our head chef, usually fixes the kids dinner, and always tries to throw in something totally wierd to see if they eat it (black olives, blue cheese, onions, etc) and then gets a huge kick out of it when they eat it and ask for more. A few nights a week he will workout on the floor of the living room while everyone is eating, bringing more black olives on demand in between sets of mountain climbers (he’s pretty ridiculous. and amazing). I wash our lunch dishes from work and clean up as the kids finish eating and then we all go outside for awhile–sometimes we’ll schlep our circus around the nearby lake on a wagon ride, bike ride (2 in a trailer and one in an ibert on the handlebars), or in our giant 3-across triple stroller from 1990. Then it’s home for baths or bed. Baths are all 3 in the tub with Brecken in the middle in a laundry basket. Then it’s a lotion, Dipes, hair detangling and footie pajama train. Our kids go to bed super early–babe at 6:30 and twins at 7. Brecken gets drunk off a boob and passes out while the girls get tooth brushing videos with dad. Then the girls demand we sing every toddler song ever written until we finally cut them off and quiz them on what number has to be on the clock before they can get out of bed in the morning (SEVEN!). Prayers, kisses, water, no-you-cannot-have-goldfish, and one more kiss.
Then we make and eat our own dinner serenaded by another 20-30mins of raffi’s greatest hits from their dark bedroom. Hubs and I are usually passed out by 9:30. It’s glorious.
Hi! My name is Erika Bush and I have two daughters, Chloe (who will be 6 in June) and Isla (who is 1). We live in Pensacola, Florida. I am on active duty in the Army and my husband stays home with the girls. I am instructor for AIT / a-school (where Soldiers and Sailors learn their future jobs). A typical night varies if I’m on night shift or days (I rotate every 6 weeks) if it’s night shift (where I go to work at 3pm and my oldest is still at school) we have just over an hour together before I’m back to work till midnight. We always eat together At the table for dinner – even if it’s just some chicken nuggets. when I’m on night shift the girls get to stay up a little later, their bed time routine won’t begin with dad until I’m back to work. When I’m on day shift, I get off at 3:30pm we have more time together and things are a little less hectic. I try to play with the kids while my husband cooks- help Chloe with her homework and then we eat dinner. And into the bedtime routine and stories. Both girls go to bed early as Chloe and I have to start our days at 5:30 am! To get to work and school on time!
My name is Corey, and my husband and i live in Simpsonville,SC with our 2.5 year old, James, and furry baby Jack Russell, Sugar. Wednesday is usually my late day at work since I’m a high school teacher. I try to cook dinner every night, but if I’m going to slack, Wednesday night is the night for it. 🙂
Our evening routine usually consists of playing outside, a FaceTime call to one of the grandparents, cooking dinner, me with my camera taking pictures, story time, Jammies, and bed.
Having Raqurl come would be particularly special for me because I have so few photos with my hubby and James that I’m not in because I’m the one taking the pictures.
Hi there! I live in Blue Bell, PA- just outside of Philadelphia.
We just became a family of 4 last week! I have Riley Clare, 21 months and Quinn, 8 days old. Every night has been crazy as we adjust to this new life. Riley Clare is in school until 3pm and then comes home to swim in the pool, visit the horses out back or take walks around the neighborhood. She’s a busy bee that will stay outside until dinner (and then it’s kicking and screaming to come in) around 5pm. She’s typically a good eater (what child gobbles down broccoli?!? She does!) and is very entertaining. Lately one of us holds the newborn while We all sit at the table. There’s cleanup (toddler enjoys loading the dishwasher). Bath time is with daddy and then books and songs for an early bedtime around 630. Then…it’s about cleanup and a fussy newborn. Oh, and ice cream. Always ice cream. That’s non-negotiable. I may have dripped ice cream on the newborn tonight. 🙂
Hi! I am a SAHM to two kids 14mo apart (girl 3yrs and boy 2yrs) and we are expecting #3 in a few months! We moved from AL to Denver, CO when our son was only 2wks old and have been on our own with no family within a thousand miles ever since. Evenings are full of beautiful chaos as we wrangle kids, make dinner, get ready for bed (and try to remember to brush the kids teeth!), and do bedtime stories–all while trying to steal a little attention from Daddy, who leaves for work while we are all still sleeping. Once the kids are in bed, we try to spend some time together in 5 minute increments, in between putting kids back in bed. We call the evenings “the witching hour” at house. Mommy is always about to loose her ever-loving mind throughout the bedtime process, but we obviously think it’s great since we are adding more 🙂
We are in trumbull ct and have two kids 7 & 4, and a dog! We both work outside the home and Wednesday is usually a wild evening! Sitter gets one off the bus and I get the other, husband has late meetings some Wednesdays so it is usually a night of a few extra shows, quick shower and a half homemade meal!!! Kids, dog mom and dad are all tired but try to keep sanity as much as humanly possible, but there is inevitably crying or whining from one of us 🙂
Hello! I live in Wyckoff, NJ (suburb of NYC) and have two girls: Eleanor (3.5 y/o) and Amelia (almost 18 months!). I am currently a SAHM and my husband works in finance in Jersey City. Dinner is insanity as my younger daughter insists on screaming the entire time I cook. Dessert is a necessity, mostly as a bribe to eat 2 more bites. That could be why bedtime is early – 7 PM sharp! My husband and I rotate who puts which girl to bed. Whoever gets Amelia is in charge of our dinner, sometimes scrounging whatever is around but preferably take-out from our favorite sushi joint with a glass of wine close at hand. It’s chaos, but it’s our chaos so we love it (most of the time)
Liesje, mommy to Oskar (5) and Otis (7 months). We live in The Woodlands, TX. We moved to the US three years ago. My husband is Dutch, I am Belgian, Oskar is Dutch/Belgian and Otis is Dutch/Belgian/American. We homeschool. Wednesday is our ‘Dutch/Belgian’ day: we have a playdate with Dutch-speaking friends, eat Dutch and Belgian food and watch Dutch or Belgian television. The rest of the week is filled with American friends, foods and tv.
Birmingam, Alabama
Jorge-9
Alex-8
Eva-6
Isaac-5
Our house is chaos. I may even mop the floor for your arrival. We do have a sit down dinner complete with sharing our favorite part of the day. We may or may not have nudity at the table, depending on the mood of the 5yo. And I promise we have the best BBQ this side of the Mississippi.
I’m a SAHM mom to two fun loving and happy boys ages 2 and 8 months. Our evenings start at 6 pm when my hubby gets home from work. Dinner is usually done by then (with the help of my handy crock pot and my 2 year olds help). The house is a mess with laundry that just came out of the dryer on the couch, toys everywhere, a craft that’s drying on the counter, and we sit down to eat dinner. It’s tough getting our two year old to eat so we divide and conquer. I usually help our 2 year old eat his dinner while my hubby feeds our 8 month old. When we are done, one of us does the dishes while our 8 month old self feeds with Cheerios to keep him occupied. We then get both boys bathed, teeth brushed, diapers on (potty for the two year old. We are in the middle of potty training and that’s a whole different chaos!), selecting an reading stories then bed. Then relaxing time with my hubby watching our DVR shows. We live in Santa Clarita just north of Los Angeles.
Kathy here. I live in Smithville Texas which is just outside of Austin. I have 3 children. My bonus child, Hannah who is 15, Jacob who turned 2 in February and Emily who is almost 10 months. Wednesdays at our house are no different from any other nights really. Jacob spends most of his night wrecking the house by pulling out every toy he owns. Emily is now mobile so she does her version of crawling all over the place and of course wants to play with everything her big brother currently has in his hands. Normally Hannah is with us on the weekends. I generally am the one who gets the kids to bed and bathed as my husband has to get up at 245 to be at work.
Lauren from longmeadow MA SAHM to 2.5 year old girl and 1 year old boy. My husband works from home but travels quite a bit so he is sometimes around for our nighttime routine. Usually dinner is my 2.5 year old refusing all foods and demanding yogurt while her one year old brother eats everything in site. I try and cook dinner for my husband and I while they are eating. We sometimes do a short walk after dinner but sometimes go right to bath because my one year old is so messy. Then it’s milk and a show, books, bed for the baby and some one on one time with my girl. She’s usually in bed by 730 and I am on the couch with a glass of wine by 732. Would love to be featured!
I’m Evin, my kids are 10, 4 and 5 and I live in Liberty Hill, Texas, just outside of Austin. Wednesdays are weird for us – if Dad is home, we have supper on TV trays in front of the TV – I cook a good meal every night but the table is usually too covered in crap to eat on. Then the kids play or goof around on youtube till bedtime, which means shower, jammies and bed for the big kid, and jammies, teeth and laying on Daddy and watching hunting shows until they pass out. Now – a lot of Wednesdays, Daddy doesn’t get home till late. If I’m solo-ing it, I’ll lay down with the little two in bed and read stories, then I turn lullabyes on YouTube on their phone and turn down the lights and I play around on Facebook on my phone and ignore them till they fall asleep. The girls still sleep with Daddy and I in our bed. It sounds unpleasant but it’s really pretty awesome.
I’ll be happy to tell y’all about our sex life but I’d rather y’all not photograph it. 😀
Aloha!
My name is Jessica. We have 5 little minions ranging in ages they are: Isaiah 8, Curtis 6, Germaine 4, Maliha 4, and Elijah 6 months. My husband is currently active duty in the Army and we are stationed in Honolulu, HI I am fresh out of the military so im learning how to be a stay at home mommy which means at about 2:30 everyday..the chaos erupts 🙂 Its manageable..but my friends don’t really come around. We would love to be featured..especially so I can show my mom the kids are all alive..no but seriously..PICK US!!!
Walnut Creek California. Ivey is 5 (6 in August) and Linden is 4.
On Wednesday nights we have swim team meets. Which basically consists of us camping pool side under a pop up tent from late afternoon until past bedtime. We do everything you normally would on a Wednesday evening (eat dinner, color, read, snuggle) we just do it at the pool in between the girls events. when the meet is over we load the kids in the pull wagon, walk home, and go to bed. Wednesday nights we rarely take a bath (hello they were just swimming right?)
Hello! My kids are Izzie: 13, Caleb: 9, & Jack Jack: 6.
We live in Round Rock, Texas
I’m a full time student so our evening consists of me picking up all the kids after an hour commute from my campus in San Marcos.
Usually our nights consist of coming home and the kids arguing over whose turn it is to pick a movie/tv show to watch while I put things away and get into comfortable clothing. My daughter insists on taking a shower as soon as she walks in the door. Music is blaring from the bathroom while she does this.
I then do whatever dishes are left in the sink during the day (don’t judge me, I’m a single mom to 3!).
Then I get asked about 3 times (by each child) what’s for dinner. Sadly, I’m not always on top of the game when it comes to this since my mind is usually scattered with getting everyone and myself ready for school in the mornings. On days I have something in mind, I’ll go to the grocery store before I pick everyone up. Most nights it’s something easy or a “fend for yourself” kind of night.
After dinner, the other 2 take their showers fighting over who has to go first because, well, boys will be boys. Then there’s usually toy guns EVERYWHERE while they imagine their in a world somewhere between Star Wars and the Avengers.
Then at around 7 I get them to start the long process of brushing their teeth, which is usually led with arguments about how none of them got their snacks yet. Afterwards everyone gets into their beds and I hug and kiss everyone.
Then when I sit down for what feels like the first time all day, the requests for water and needing to use the bathroom start. This usually lasts an hour. I find time to do homework or just watch an episode or two of Psych on netflix while this is going on.
I hope we get chosen, I would love for us to be featured!
I am an exhausted mother of a 2, 4, 6, and 8 year old. Three beautiful girls and a crazy, love able but challenging boy, keeps my husband and I going non-stop. We live in beautiful Mount Pleasant, SC just outside of historical Charleston. (The location alone should get us in top 12:).
Wednesday nights are INSANE with my husband traveling for work Tuesday through Friday (which unfortunately is quite common in today’s global world). Harrison is typically woken up from his nap at 345 so we can chase to tennis practice for my oldest Ellasyn. Snacks are eaten in the car as we rush to the lesson. We play in the park or go for a walk or sneak in a quick trip to the grocery (because by Wednesday the $200 worth of food I bought at publix is gone) until she is done..then rush home for dinner and baths. I try to prepare healthy meals but typically end up with “quesadilla Wednesday.” Bath time and story time is no joke. There is always a fall or spill or someone unhappy. I absolutely cherish story time where each child “reads” a book. I tuck them all in bed and crash in my bed to decompress.
Love my kids and my life and would love to share the ups and downs with others.
Lansdale, Pa
1 daughter- 2 yr
My husband and I work full time. Daddy does pick up from preschool two blocks away, if it’s nice , might walk Sometimes if I am working from home we’ll take big Ern(our boxer) and walk over to get her together.
Every 5 min she asks to go ‘ Ooooooutsiiiiiiide?’ We spend lots of time in the backyard. Golfing, frisbee with Ernie, water table, clubhouse, bubbles, wagon rides , swinging, and that’s just to name a few.
Dinner is whatever we’re feeling for the day. My mother will come over once a week and bring a home cooked meal. A saving grace that we look forward to each week.
Bedtime bath, hugs and kisses to everyone and reading bedtime stories all before 7:30-8.
Afterwards? Could be I go back outside to work in the garden or watch the sunset. My husband might be working on a house project or unwinding by playing his bass in the garage or watching tv/playing a video game. We meet up eventually after I get 20 minutes or so to myself.
My husband and I have three kiddos. Jake is 6 1/2 and just finishing up kindergarten. Chloe is the middle child and will be 4 next week. Our youngest, Norah, will be 1 in a few weeks. We live in Lancaster, PA. My husband works for a bank and I’m an attorney. Our Wednesday routine starts around 5:30 when my husband gets home and relieves the nanny. I’m usually home by 5:45 and then I scramble around to find something to put on the table to eat that isn’t always chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese. Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes I give in to what’s easy and will surely be eaten. After that, it’s clean up and play time until about 7:30 when its time to wrangle three kids into pj’s and attempt to coerce (I mean convince) them to brush their teeth. My husband reads stories with the older two while I nurse the youngest one. The girls share a room so when Chloe comes in, we say prayers and get tucked in. In a perfect world, that would be the end of the story. But not with our middle child, Chloe. She refuses to go to bed without a good meltdown first. We often have to send our oldest in as the hostage negotiator because she just won’t calm down with me or my husband. If all goes well, they are all down for the count by 8:30, allowing my hubby and I to have some much needed quiet time together before we collapse in bed too!!
My husband, 19 mo old daughter and 16 month old puppy live in a suburb of Columbus, OH. I work in downtown Columbus as a lobbyist and my husband is a civil engineer. My daughter just started daycare after my mother in law watched her for 16 months which has changed our evenings dramatically. A typical evening starts after I pick up my daughter with a snack and when the stars align a family run/walk at the local park followed by dinner. We start bedtime routine around 7/7:30. My husband and I spend the rest of the evening either catching up on our days and Netflix, playing with the dog or cleaning. Throw is some toddler melt downs and messes and you have our typical Wednesday night.
I’m Ashley and live in Huntsville, AL with my husband Andrew and our son, Logan (4) and daughter, Hannah (2). I stay at home with the kids so by dinnertime I’m almost done for the day 🙂 My husband usually gets home around 5. Dinner is done by 5:15 at the latest and we all sit down together. The kids eat what we eat and usually break into song or saying some random word over and over again while we say “Eat your dinner!” “We don’t put napkins in our mouths!” After kitchen clean up we usually take a walk around the neighborhood which involves my son driving his Power Wheels around making every dog in the neighborhood bark and my daughter crying in her wagon about something we don’t understand 🙂 We do baths every other night so if we have baths my husband and I each take a kid. We read to them separately in their rooms, say prayers, and sing a song. My son’s bed is full of stuffed animals, his library books, a stack of Dr. Seuss books, and 2 non-noisy toys. Both normally go to bed btwn 7:15-7:30. I love documenting our life with pictures and would love to be a part of this!
I live in Las Cruces, NM with my partner, Victor and our 4 kiddos: Tara (11), Natalie (4…almost 5), Jordyn (2…almost 3), and Cameron 1 and a half.
Our typical Wednesday evenings can vary depending on whether Victor has a softball game or not and what time it is if he plays. Since the kids aren’t in school right now, Tara is spending most of her time at her grandfathers. I get off work from my job around 5 and pick up the youngest two from the babysitters (this may be changing though since they may start going with Victor’s aunt) and Victor usually picks up Natalie from his aunts. Dinner will usually depend on whether I want to cook or not and if Victor is playing a game. If he won’t be home I tend to cook something we all like but he doesn’t. While making dinner the kids will play and watch tv. After dinner, they take a bath and then around 8pm I try to wrangle them all into bed.
We’re a family of four in Fredericksburg, Va, in a sweet colonial house in a neighborhood of hundred year old houses, small yards, and and little boys. Our Wednesday evenings in the summer are best spent with a family meal, watermelon, little boys (5 and 2) chasing each other with light sabers and a glass of wine for the grown ups by firefly light after they’ve exhausted all possibilities of escaping slumber.
Two boys 3 and 15 months. Wednesday’s are a day that my husband stays home with th kids and works from home in the evening. I’m a new self employed entrepreneur and will be focusing on my business full time! So Wednesday evenings are going to be nutty for a bit- should be funny and intersting! We’d love to be featured to show people that unpredictable can be good and that we can totally have carreers and families, too!
Oops we live right outside Philadelphia- 2 miles outside I be exact 😉
My name is Brie Grimmett and I’m a single mommy to two fabulous little girls. Hayden is 5 and Elliot is 11 months old. I’m also the mommy to two fur kids. Quincy the dog is 8 and Archie the cat is 9. We live in the perfect little town I grew up in, Winfield, West Virginia. Monday through Friday from 730-3 I am a teacher. I work with students who are struggling with reading and math. My kids at school range from Kindergarten to 5th grade. I love my job and the time it allows me to spend with my kids in the off hours. From 3-430 I tutor after school. I work with a small group of kids in my classroom who are struggling with specific skills. Once 430 rolls around and I can leave, I head to the sitters to get my girls. We drive home where we begin our evening chores. Hayden feeds the dog and I start dinner while feeding the baby. After we all eat, we play outside in the back yard, take a walk around the neighborhood, or just relax and watch some Disney Jr or My Little Pony. Bath time starts around 7. The girls play in the tub for a few minutes before getting clean and getting pjs on. Once hair is brushed and teeth are brushed, Hayden picks out a story for her and one for Elliot. I read while Elliot drinks her final cup of milk before bed. Once Hayden is all tucked in with all of her animals, I can rock Elliot to sleep. After finally getting them both to bed, I begin working on getting toys put away and lunches packed for tomorrow. After tomorrow’s chores are finished, I can begin working on my online class that I teach to other teachers who are trying to renew their certification. Around 11, I can finally crawl into bed. I would love to get this opportunity. Being a single mom, I feel rushed all evening long. I’m trying to make sure everything gets finished on time so that the girls can get to bed on time. Many nights I lay awake feeling guilty that I didn’t play enough or let them know how much they mean to me. I’d love to be able to go through this and be able to look at the end result and know that they know how special they are. I hope to be able to welcome you to my own little Mayberry. Good luck!
Washington, DC. Kids are 5 and 1, both girls. Wednesday nights husband goes to tae kwon. Our routine is I get home from work in time for him to go, we have frozen pizza for dinner, and I put the girls to bed before he gets home and eats what’s left of dinner. Big sister does lots of helping and stalling.
My name is Kali Russ of Duluth, MN. I’m a SAHM to a very sassy and independent two year old Mia. My husband works in the restaurant business so we typically spend our Wednesday nights at home just the two of us.
Around 5 pm I begin making a dinner special for her to put on more weight, which she eat about six bites of. After cleaning her cottage cheese and milk covered tray and scraping the pasta sauce off the walls, we head to the bath.
She loves to bring any and all toys into the tub that she can. While I fill the tub, she collects her bath-approved toys in a bucket and throws them one by one into the running water while naming them off. We have a fun bath time until it’s time to wash her curly locks. Let the screaming commence! She can’t believe a parent would water-board their child like this….even though I’m taking every precaution not to get a drop of water down her face. When the bath is all done, it’s time for towel snuggles!
Of course, she helps with the lotion and picks out her own jammies- the santa ones she wears nearly every night. After potty time, it’s story time- Snow Bears, Mary’s Lamb, Goodnight Vermont, and Frozen….every night.
We then snuggle in the rocking chair for a few minutes and discuss our day and tomorrow’s plans. I lay her in her toddler bed, twist her snowglobe music, say “I love you, night night”, turn off the light, and exit her room.
A few minutes of hopeful silence and then, all hopes crushed by toddler cries. More snuggles for mommy! 🙂
We live in Richmond, VA. My girls are Zoe (3) and Kaya (13 mon). Kaya has a rare metabolic disorder that requires frequent feeding due to increased risk of hypoglycemia so our bedtime routine always follows closely behind dinner time and a bottle is thrown in. My husband works 2 jobs (one of which is a local brewery) so he’s gone a lot of nights. I am a teacher so I am about to be at home full time for summer break. During the school year Wednesday night mean getting picked up from the babysitter, rushing home for a quick dinner and then off to choir practice at church. Then home again for a “dunk in the tub” then books and snuggles. My girls are wild and crazy and sweet and love able. Wouldn’t trade a second of it for anything in the world!
My name is Jen. I live in freehold new Jersey. I have a 2 year old little girl named Sophia. I work full time and my husband stays home with her. We also have a dog, Chloe. We all eat dinner together every night. Sophia still nurses when I get home and before bed. She goes to sleep around 9 after we play ball. She’s a lot of fun!
Hi! I am a 33year old widow and single mom to two amazing little boys ages 2 and 3. We live on Long Island, NY and I work full time in NYC. My husband passed away when my youngest son was 4 weeks old and oldest son was 16 months. Our Wednesday nights now start with me taking the train home after work from the city to pick the boys up from daycare, followed by some playtime, dinner together as our “terrific trio” as we lovingly call our little family, storytime and finally bedtime.
Westerville, OH. I have 2 boys Liam 3 yrs and CJ 18 yrs. My husband and I both work for an amazing company. One of us picks up Liam from my MILs and the other starts dinner. What is unique is the huge age gap we have. CJ is leaving for college in the fall and Liam hasn’t even started preschool. Our house is always busy with CJ’s friends or our family stopping by. Things will quiet down this fall and we will adjust to the change but this summer I get to enjoy both my boys as fulltime members of our household.
My name is Heather, my husband and i live in Augusta, GA. We have 3 kids aged 10, 8, and 5. During the summer i work Monday through Thursday while my husband stays home with the kids and then he works during the weekends. Our evenings are very free form, especially during the summer. We never really know what we are going to be doing or even what we will have for dinner. I even go to bed before the kids because i get up at 400 am to go to to work at a nuclear power plant.
Phoenix, AZ
Carson – 3
Marcus – 1 1/2
I am a mostly stay at home mom, I work evenings teaching barre fitness classes. But I don’t teach Wednesday nights so Carson loves to call it family night, nights I am gone are strictly “boys night.” My boys are crazy, there are trucks and dirt everywhere. We try to spend some time outside in the afternoon after dad comes home and I am making dinner. Dinner is almost always followed by a treat, popsicles outside or a trip for some ice cream. Then baths with lots of splashing, potty time to discuss all things poop related and attempt to train our younger one, and finally wrangle them into pajamas and pick out books. Marcus goes down pretty easy, but Carson fights it as long as he can, coming out for “just one more minute” of time downstairs.
I’m Mary, married to Bob. We have 3 1/2 year old twins, Lily and Ronin. Living life in Austin, TX. I work for the state, Bob works for Apple. His schedule recent changed so we do not have one day off together as a family. It stinks but we deal. Wednesday happens to be a day Bob is off with the kids. He gets them Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I have them the weekends and they are in daycare the other days. Wednesdays are always iffy. It’s the second day of being with Dad for two days in a row. Sometimes they are grumpy, sometimes he is. Sometimes everyone is. My job can be unpredictable sometimes so the possibility of a late night always exists, but usually I can be home by 6 pm. We are fly by the seat of our pants family with dinner. Bob used to work 9-8 but it’s currently 8-5 so most nights we have dinner together. By dinner together I mean we’ll throw something together that we think the pickiest eaters in the world might eat. Most nights it’s buttered noodles with Parmesan cheese. They refuse just about anything we want to eat and we have not yet brought the hammer down that they MUST try something new. I think they’d strike for days if we did. Dinner time is a lot of repeating. “Sit down”, “no toys”, “please get your hand out of your pants” (my son, usually!). If we finish by 7, we’re doing great! Sometimes there’s a treat after, depending on how well they ate. There might be a bath, might not. Bedtime is more repeating trying to get them dressed and into pjs. We watch a show or part of a movie in mom and dads bed, pick a book, some songs, back patting and head rubbing and pray they go to sleep quickly. If they’ve napped, at least one will be up til 9/9:30. If no nap, we can usually breathe by 8:30. Chaotic whirlwind, sometimes the longest 3 hours of my day. It doesn’t always feel beautiful, but we have moments. Please come to Austin!!!
I’m in Boston with my firefighter husband, almost 4 year old son and 2 year old daughter. I work parttime and my husband shift rotates. We try to work our schedule out so 1 of us is home but we fill in with a babysitter as needed. My kids go to bed early but normally one holds out and stays up late. On Wednesday nights my son has swimming lessons or hockey games. About 50% of the time I’m alone with both kids because of my husband’s schedule.
Hi! My name is Sammie and I am a stay at home to a 5, 3 and 14 month old in Adams, NE. We live in a small rural community-think 500ish people, just south of Lincoln (the capital). While I am happily married, my husband works late on Wednesday, so it is just me and the kiddos. After a long day of being home, sometimes dinner, bath and bed can be chaotic! We start with supper around 5, followed by bath for the 14 month old. When I’m almost done with the baby, I throw Millie (3) in the tub and finish them together. I get the little ones out to get pjs on while the Henry (5) takes a bath. At 6:15 it’s movie time for Henry and Millie while I put Gus to bed. I come down around 6:45 and we do books, brushing and bed. Something we do is stories in bed EVERY night! The kids list characters and I do my best to make up a story that makes sense! We finish with prayers around 7:10 and then I head to the living room for a nice glass of wine. The kids usually read a few books before falling asleep without a fuss! I think we are a unique family to showcase in this project because of our rural setting! My life is SOOOO different from what you document on your blog! I can’t even imagine what it’s like in the “big city”!!! Thanks for your consideration! 🙂
Hi! My name is Mel. My family and I live in Round Hill, Virginia. My husband and I are in the throws of wrangling our 9 year old boy and 7 year old girl. Our typical night time routine with the kids begins before my work day ends. I work in the same school system in which my kids go to school. They are at an elementary school five miles from the high school that I work as a special educator. The school district graciously busses them to me each day. I meet them at the back door where they come keep me company, have snack, and get a healthy start on their homework while I finish up my own work duties. Of course, walking through the halls of a high school, they are adored by many and I have a waiting list of babysitters at my disposal. 😛 After we leave my work, depending on the day’s activities, we head to dance, music lessons, soccer or running club. Dinner is usually served as soon as we walk in the door around 6ish. This is when the kids run out to collect the eggs from our 3 chickens, as well as feed and water them. Then, we eat, recall our day together and, if all goes well, get dessert. Showers soon follow for our stinky little creatures. Once our ears are cleaned, hair is detangled and pajamas are mostly on, we cuddle up in our bed for some reading time. It’s all 4 of us…and it’s my most favorite time of the night. Once it’s through, they brush teeth, climb into bed and we each kiss them goodnight. Then, Chris and I take time to sit together to either write, watch a show or just sit and enjoy a beverage. 🙂
I’m Becky, mom to DH age 2.5 and Ruth age 7 months. We live in Terre Haute, IN.
Well our evenings are interesting because right now we live with my parents since my husband has just graduated law school and is currently job hunting (anyone need a tax lawyer?). In addition to that my dads elderly parents live across the street and my mom is their full time care giver so they eat dinner with us every night. That means there is 4 generations eating at our table, and while that sounds lovely in theory, it is almost always a stressful chaotic sh*tshow.
After all 9 of us (ages 91 down to 7 months) cram into the kitchen for dinner we beg my 2 year old tyrant to eat something, anything for godsakes before he totally melts down and we sit him in front of the Wiggles. I feed Ruth her purée while my husband bathes tiny Hilter. After we send my grandparents back across the street we say 57 good nights then read one of three toddler approved bedtime stories and put both kids down. Then usually my mom and I settle in for a HGTV marathon with some wine and peanut butter m&ms. That scene alone would make for some horribly unflattering pictures no doubt.
But seriously is anyone hiring a tax lawyer?!
Kernersville NC (in between the the three cities of NC which makes up the piedmont triad). I have a 19 month old girl and a hushand.
I work from home part time so my husband picks up the baby from school while I stay at home and make dinner. Dinner is exactly at 6 🙂 Afterwards we just hang out and play, which now that it is warm and still light out means outside. 7pm I give the baby a bath while my husband relaxes on the sofa. Then the baby runs around naked while we give the countdown till her 7:30 bedtime (15 minutes till bedtime!). I get her dressed and then I take her upstairs to read 3 books, say prayers and put her to bed, which sadly still means staying in her dark room until she falls asleep- thank goodness for the paperwhite kindle. Once the baby is asleep, I put my pj’s on hang out on the sofa with the husband till I decide to turn it, which is the sadly is usually by 9:30. Then he either continues to veg or works on his own projects.
While it may seem like I do almost everything in the evenings, since I work part time from home, I have the opportunity to relax more during the day which he is not able to, so it works out for both of us. I think out evenings are pretty boring and routine, hoping that once the baby gets a little older we might be able to have a little more spontaneity and fun.
Medford, NY (long island) my kids are 7 & 2 a boy & a girl & actually our Wednesday evenings consist of going to my mothers house for dinner, (stony brook) with my mom, her boyfriend & his daughter (21) and son(8) then leaving there to get home for bedtime by 8. Its the highlight of my sons week every week. He loves Nonna’s house for dinner and its always fun when we get home and I have to work out a way to carry the sleeping 7 year old & sleeping 2 year old from the car to bed. Its a good time. Funny at least.
We live in Montgomery, Alabama (not *too* far from Atlanta) with our sons Alistair (nearly 5 1/2) and Linus (nearly 2 1/2)- the same as Mazzy and Harlow! We’re transplants to the South from NY and London. My husband and I are college professors, so our summer schedule is a little easier while we’re not teaching classes. We eat dinner, almost always made by Tom, outside at our picnic table and then the boys putter in the yard for an hour or so until “milk and cookies.” Then it’s bath (maybe), brushing teeth, and bed. We recently moved Linus to a big boy bed and he likes to sleep on Alistair’s bottom bunk instead of his own bed! We’ve recently started your policy of sitting in the chair until they both fall asleep; it’s definitely trying my patience! Eventually (after about an hour) they’re both asleep and we have a little time before we in bed too. It would be great to be part of this project; it’s important, I think, to see how folks in smaller, less trendy places are getting through the day with their kids. It’s always neat to see how people in other places live!
Suburb of Salt Lake City, UT
Peter 3 (almost 4)
Ali 1
Our life is crazy, who’s isn’t with little kids toddling around. But it’s full of love and giggles and lots of screaming. Our family is pretty loud, and we own our emotions 🙂 I’m also addicted to IG so all night long I wave my camera in my kids face trying to catch every moment so that I can post them all over the Internet.
On an average Wednesday I make dinner with screaming babies at my feet sneaking scraps of food. Daddy comes home and it’s like my kids have won the lottery when they see him! My daughter stuffs her face with food and my son tells me everything is disgusting. Complete opposites. After dinner we might or might not clean up, we often take a drive, since we don’t leave the house during the day and we like to burn off some energy. We do thrifting, go to a park or up the canyons by our house and explore. When we get home, whatever time it is my kids like to run around like maniacs outside, jump in the little plastic pool, drive their “motorcycles” aka bikes. My daughter likes going to bed, so we just plop her in there, play a couple games of peek a boo and she’s often asleep without a fight. My son on the other hand sleeps with us, and doesn’t have a structured bed time. This leaves time to make dessert, play Legos or watch a movie with him.
We would love to participate and show off our Wednesday evenings!!
I have 2 girls, 22 months and 5 months in Collingswood, NJ (right outside Philly). Wednesdays are routinely off our regular routine which typically sets our 22 month old off because she is a child that thrives on structure. I work on Wednesdays so when I get home I have to go pick the girls up from grandma’s (3 houses away) and start the chaos of walking home with 2 children under 2 years, about 13 mini Sesame Street stuffed animals, and various other necessities that my oldest has collected throughout the day and cannot leave grandma’s without. So the 3 house walk usually takes a good 15 minutes and that’s not even the best part of the evening! When we get home I get to let the 2 wild animals… I mean dogs out and my 22 month old likes to feed them their dinner. Piece by piece. There’s so much more silly and entertaining things that ensue on a typical Wednesday night that I would love to share! (It was easy to write all that since I just finished getting my tiny little gang to bed for the night and that was exactly how the whirlwind evening started!)