Seven To Twelve: A 'Normal' Morning In The Aardsma Household

At about 6:45 a.m. my morning begins. I drift awake to the happy realization that I have another 15 minutes before my alarm clock goes off. As I lay in my loft bed, listening to the early-morning sounds in the house--a few footsteps, doors opening and closing softly, Matthew's car--I think over anything that happens to be on my mind. That can range from Christmas presents to (more often than I would like) what on earth I am going to write about in the next Aardsma Weekly!

In a few minutes my cat comes up to join me. She cuddles down and goes to sleep at the foot of my bed, only to be rudely interrupted a few minutes later when I throw off the blankets and get up. Beka has usually put breakfast in the oven by the time I emerge. (I make breakfast the day before, and then we cook it the next morning; a hot breakfast without the early-morning work!) I get dressed and we sit talking in the living room until breakfast is ready. Timmy, Caleb, and Matthew soon join us.

Breakfast is a relatively quiet meal, since Mom and Dad are usually still asleep. Matthew will sometimes just grab a banana on his way out. He has work at the vet clinic and other things he does in the morning.

Once breakfast is over, Matthew either heads out or does school in his room. Timmy and Caleb lazily get dressed and ready for the day. Timmy goes outside to do the animal chores while Caleb tidies up their always messy room! Beka starts tidying the house, while I begin the breakfast clean up. Mom appears a half-hour later and begins various things around the house and property.

Timmy and our big ol' ram, Wally, saying good morning. Photo by me.

As soon as Dad is up, Mom goes into her office/bedroom and spends the rest of the morning doing desk work. She pays bills, does e-mail correspondence, and any other number of things.

Around 9:30 the breakfast dishes are completed. Beka sits down to practice piano. For a half-hour various pieces can be heard, including Christmas carols, classical works, and hymns. I sometimes enjoy this and sometimes don't. She often plays the same pieces every day for weeks. It can get pretty annoying sometimes!

Mom doing office work on her computer. Photo by me.

When Beka is finished practicing, I grab my own instrument: the clarinet. (I just recently began clarinet lessons, which is why I've never mentioned it before.) For fifteen minutes I blast the ears of my patient family with various high-pitched notes. Caleb enjoys watching me play, though he spends much of the time covering his ears!

Beka begins lunch preparations around 10:00. She peels potatoes, flips through cookbooks, fries up meat, and cooks noodles from 10:00 to 12:00! I watch her cooking and wonder how she manages to turn raw meat and potatoes into the scrumptious meals we enjoy every day. I'm afraid she far outdoes me when it comes to cooking! (But then, as she often points out, she has been doing it for four years.)

Caleb joins Mom in her office for school. While she does other things, he reads his lesson aloud to her and then completes the lesson in his workbook. I often wonder how Mom manages to concentrate on her work and listen to him reading at the same time. I guess it's just one of those things you do when you are a mother.

Caleb doing his daily Dr. Aardsma's Math Drill. Photo by me.

Around 10:30 I grab my own cookbooks and join Beka in the kitchen. While we chat, I make breakfast. She is usually deep in some kind of cooking adventure, and we enjoy covering any number of topics while we work. Mom often comments from her office. I make anything from muffins to Danish, and Beka enjoys dipping her fingers into the tasty contents of my bowl some mornings, and making faces at the same bowls on other days. Either way, we both enjoy the chance to talk 'undisturbed' for a while.

At 11:00 the lunch preparations begin to speed up. Beka is busy in the kitchen, while I do lots of little things. There is always laundry to hang out, floors to sweep, or drawers to be cleaned out. Mom leaves her office for a while to direct activities and do some bigger projects. She often employs Timmy and Caleb, and they dejunk rooms, clean the garage, or tidy the yards.

Near 11:45 Beka calls me into the kitchen. She usually has a few odds and ends for me to take care of. Sometimes she needs me to set the table, make tea, stir up orange juice, make a salad, or just call Dad for lunch. There is little conversation now as Beka does everything at the last minute: transferring roasts to the table, putting everything in dishes, or making gravies.

The morning ends when we gather for lunch. We are all starving; the morning has been a busy one, as always! The fruits of Beka's morning labors are spread out on the table and we are ready to eat!

The Weekly Bible Verse

Psalm 27:4: One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

Bits and Pieces

Well, this was The Week. The week with the Magic Weekend. Any of you who happen to have hunters in the family, or are hunters yourselves, know what I am talking about: shotgun deer season opened this weekend. Matthew was out the first morning at the crack of dawn (literally) and managed not only to shoot a very nice eight-point deer, but also a beautiful coyote. He brought them both home and did them up (yuck). We turned the deer into venison chops and venison burger. Matthew skinned the coyote, and is planning on sending the fur in to be tanned.

Matthew's nice deer. Photo by me.

I am happy to say that we have a new camera! It arrived in the mail just as Matthew was beginning to do up his deer. We were disapointed that we would not get any pictures of his deer, so when the camera came I rushed out to the barn and snapped away. So we're back in business in the picture department.

Did you find the frog in this photo last week? Photo by Beka.

A Word About The Weather

It has warmed up a bit this week, to everyone's satisfaction! We also got a few thunderstorms, and I mean LOUD thunderstorms! We were all pretty surprised. Hopefully we won't have many more. I'm not too fond of lying in bed with two pillows and a blanket over my head, trying to sleep through crashes and bangs and patters.

A Thanksgiving Joke

If the Pilgrims were alive today, what would they be most famous for?

Their age.