DAYS IN THE LIFE: stay-at-home mom, homeschool, cleaning routines & real-life moments

When we wake, hear the birds and see the sun, side by side our fears are done, all the good times just begun. We know what we have, let's hold on tight, found what we're looking for in life. All right, so this is a little bit different, but honestly every day in my life with three little boys in a small apartment is different and I'm okay with that. This morning my baby woke up at 5am so he was actually back in bed for his first nap at 7 o'clock in the morning so the boys and I ate a quick breakfast and got to homeschool right away. When we're able to get homeschool done first thing in the morning it gives us so much freedom for the rest of our day. And here I wanted to show you what my morning tonic has been lately, especially going into the I love Organic Olivia's mineral juice, you just add a couple droppers of this into some water. I love it, I give the boys a few drops too. And then we continue on in homeschool. Guys, I'm not a type A mom, I am a type B mother and homeschooler. I stick to our curriculum, it's simple, we use the peaceful press and honestly most of our days, most of our homeschool days are finished in an hour. A little bit over an hour some days when we're working on reading, but I focus on reading the bible to my children, playing a game, and getting math and reading just drilled in, especially for my first grader. A wise mama just said the simpler you make it, the more enjoyable it is for everyone and I have lived by that. I have definitely lived by that this homeschool season. I don't know if you know this about me but I was not homeschooled and this is very new to me and so far I'm really enjoying it. Homeschool is finished, Rory is still sleeping. I normally do this before he wakes up but I had some extra work to get done this morning. I normally do these things before anybody wakes up in the morning, just like my quiet time listening to a podcast or some music, but Rory woke up this morning at five in the morning so we're gonna get it done before he wakes up from his first nap. But these three things, and I have something fun to share with you, are I unload the dishwasher, I put a load of laundry into the dryer, take the dryer stuff out, put it away, most important part, and then I always make my bed. Three things, if I can get those done in the morning every day, my days are better. Here's the fun little thing, while I chit chat, I filmed a mini course with my friend Lana from Girl Teach Me on resetting your home. It's a mini course, it is so affordable but it is jam-packed with information, practical tips, and encouragement for the mom who's like, I'm so overwhelmed, the holidays are about to start, or I'm so overwhelmed, my house is continuously a mess, this is a place to start for you. Practical tips, we have like a five-day challenge for you in there, and so much love because she's a mother of five, I'm a mother of three living in a small apartment, we get it. And we've also found ways around the chaos and to get out of the mess, and so if you need a little home reset, I really encourage you guys to check that out. So affordable and so worth your time, especially like right before the holidays. Let me get these three things done, then we're gonna go do some outside time. Uh-oh, Rory's awake. I love you so much but I just need to get this stuff done. I'll give him like five minutes to tinker. It's an easy laundry day today. God bless. God bless those easy laundry days. I just dried some dish towels this morning, and as you can see my type B self is just shining bright right here. I folded a few of them until I was able to shove the rest of them into a drawer. Dish towels aren't that big of a deal for me, so there you have it. Next is making the bed. This is so important for me, and I'm trying to show and teach my children the same thing. Like the first thing we do in the morning is make your bed. Sometimes we race. I don't know if a mom needs a little tip for you, but if you have little ones, they love racing. It's worked for us, okay? But the other tip I have is to always make your beds easy to make. Mine hasn't always been easy to make, but now that I've made that shift, it just feels so much better in the morning, and it helps you accomplish that little thing really quickly. That's what we all moms need, isn't it? Don't mind me, I have two different socks on. But that's how the day has gone, and now we're at the sponsor of this video. Thank you Bull & Branch for sponsoring this video and for being a consistent favorite in our home. We have all Bull & Branch on our bed. Their bedding, their duvet, their pillows, their pillowcases, all of their sheets are certified organic and just feels good sleeping in certified organic, non-harsh chemical treated sheets. I've lived in hotels, you guys. I've lived in motels. I've lived in apartments. I've lived in people's homes. Nothing is as important as like feeling warm, cozy, and cuddly in your bed. Bull & Branch has been on our bed since we've moved to one place and stayed here, and I'm so grateful for them. I talk about them often on my channel because of how much we love them and depend on them in our home. My boys have all Bull & Branch. Pillows, pillowcases too. I have an asthmatic child, so getting pillows and sheets without harsh chemicals in them is absolutely crucial. That's actually how we came across Bull & Branch. So I just appreciate good high quality things. That's what I do as a minimalist. I save, I wait patiently, and then I get things that are high quality and they're going to last us for a long time. Their sheets are so soft and buttery and they get softer with every wash, which is awesome. You guys can use my code MARGARET25 for 25% off site-wide. Exclusions apply there, but this is their best sale of the year. If you've been looking for good clean sheets, it's a great time to invest in them. Thank you again, Bull & Branch. Y'all are some of my favorites, and let's It's now the afternoon, and I'm just going to show you a few snippets of what our afternoons look like. It's starting to get cold here, so normally we'd be outside. We'd be playing in a creek or something, but often when it's chilly, this is what our days look like. Now I am capturing really fun and cute moments, but please know that sprinkled in were some arguments with my kids and endless amounts of snacks and conversations of me teaching them how to do things differently and to talk kinder to me and to talk kinder to one another. But I will say in saying that, we are the happiest that we have ever been in this home. We haven't always had this kind of joy. I have been a stressed mom, and over the last eight years of being a mom, I've learned that how I show up, who I am, how nourished and how regulated I am, that rubs off on everybody in my family, whether I like it or not. And I've shared it before. I came to a breaking point probably five years ago, and I said, enough is enough. I'm going to simplify my life. I'm going to slow down. I'm going to live a different life, and you guys, watching this back makes me emotional because I am living a different life. I am so joyful, and yes, there are hard moments, but we've got more joy, and that's what life's all about. But we've got more joy even in the mundane, even in just sitting on the floor with my kids. That's where the richness of life is, right here on the floor. I am going for a run. It hasn't been a bad day. It's just been a long day where things haven't gone according to plan, and that takes an emotional toll on me. So I feel physically exhausted, but I know I'm only exhausted mentally. So I'm going to get outside, get some fresh air, put my headphones in. It's like my happy place. I go so slow. I'm not a runner. I'm a mother who needs it. I need a few minutes to myself to move my body, to remind myself that I'm strong, that I can do this, and just like, I love the outdoors. So we're going to go for a run. Probably going to be 15 minutes. Will my hair stay on? Yeah. My run was fabulous. It wasn't long, but after a long day of serving and loving on the boys, I just need some me time. And I'm about to get some more me time this morning. I made a quick breakfast for the boys and a little bit of tea for myself. My baby's already down for his first nap, so I'm gonna take my everything shower. Have you guys heard of the everything shower? It's where you wash your hair, shave, you just do everything you need to do. It always makes me feel so refreshed and so good. I've been using MONAT lately, you guys, just to help my hair grow back. I'm doing my oil treatment, which I do about 15 minutes before I wash my hair, but I've been using their thinnings here. Look at that growth. It's shocking me. It's just a clean shampoo that is created to help with your hair struggles. All the clean shampoo that I've used, most of it just kind of makes me feel like my hair's straw. Like it doesn't clean, it doesn't help, it doesn't treat. So I've really been enjoying MONAT. I love them so much that I joined their business, so if anybody is interested in getting some clean products that will treat your scalp and your hair, you just let me know. I'm here to serve you. No pressure ever. If you're not interested, no worries at all. If you are, let's chat. If you want to do the business too because you love them so much, let's chat. The aftermath of being out of the house for three hours, not really prepping for it. We get out of the house almost every single day. We're in an apartment on the second floor. We just need it for my sanity. I shared about that on Instagram. I think you guys saw that I put that in here, but boys are hungry. There's a huge pile of laundry right here. Our coats are still over there. I just got a package of paper towels in. So we're going to feed this little guy, put him back down for a nap. Then I'm going to feed the big boys. Then we're going to do some reading. Then it's my work time. Sounds like a lot, but we're kind of in this season of like this is just what we do, and we have very slow intentional mornings so we can handle this at the end of the day. You all showered? You feel better? All right, let's get snacks going. I've literally only had time for eight minutes of work, so work will be happening later tonight. All right, I just never want my kids to think that this is more important than them. I did this job so that I could be home with them, but I'd rather sacrifice later. I can't do a mom vlog without a little cleaning segment in here. Guys, I'm simple. I'm a minimalist. I live slowly, but with three little boys in an apartment, things get messy real quick. So almost every single afternoon before we have dinner, we have a power 30-minute cleaning session. This is absolutely essential for all of us to function well that night and also the next morning. I like to turn on good music, maybe listen to a book together, do something where it's more intentional instead of like this controlling drill sergeant-y afternoon. That's never worked for us. Trust me, I've tried. But you guys, this is it. This is a normal day in my life. I'm about to cook a really simple dinner, and I just wanted to show you how a mama is homeschooling, working two jobs from home, taking care of her children, and also taking care of herself. I view this work as the Lord's work. This is where he put me. I am so grateful for it, and I hope this encourages you, at least reminds you that you're not alone in the work that you're doing. This is the most important work we can be doing, what we're doing right here with our kids in the house. So thank you for being here, you guys, and I will see you in my next video.