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I'm Shay! I’m a cookbook author, lifestyle blogger, travel agency owner, wife and mama who loves making every day special for my family.

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Mix & Match Mama

Everyday Life, Shay ·

A day in the life of us.


It’s a day in the life of us!
About twice a year, I document a day in the life of us…because, these are the days I want to remember the most.  I know when I look back later in life, I’m going to miss these regular old uneventful days more than anything.  
At the beginning of the month, I picked a random day to post this and then I backed it up two days and marked it on my calendar to document…so, what was supposed to have been a boring old Tuesday actually turned into a really full/weird/crazy/kind of eventful day.  
Here you go, a day in the life of us (from Tuesday, February 16, 2016)…
Good morning!  Grabbing coffee and making my commute to work ;).  Thankfully it’s a short commute (i.e. my office) and pajamas and slippers are allowed as work attire.

First up, publishing my blogs for the day.  On this particular day, it was Santa Fe Soup and Show & Tell Tuesday.

Next up, I read my One Year Bible for the day and did my quiet time.  I love this!
After this, I worked until 5:30.  Work included travel agency stuff, book stuff, blogging stuff…I only had a short time to work on this day, so I planned a few things knowing I wouldn’t get a full day in (because you’re about to see that my day gets busy!).

At 5:30, I emptied the dishwasher and made myself breakfast.

Spinach smoothie and an English muffin with almond butter.

At 6:30, I woke up the kids (I was fully dressed at this point, because I had to leave the house earlier than usual).

Good mornin’ sunshine!

Laundry is the bane of my existence.  After years of trying to figure out how to make it easier, I realized that there is only one real way to make laundry easy…keep doing it and don’t let it get piled up…

…this is leftover from the night before. I don’t always follow my own rule of “don’t let it get piled up”…

Here I am!  Ready to go!

Andrew takes the kids to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so here they are about to head out.  Love these three!

Right at 8:00, I got Miss Ashby out the door and dropped her off at Erika’s.  Erika takes to preschool on Tuesdays and I pick up (and then we reverse on Thursdays).

And off I went…for a mammogram.  Insert groan here.  I had an 8:30 mammogram appointment, so here I am about to head in.  This was my fourth mammogram in 12 months…which is a lot of squishing!  My doctor advised me to have a mammogram last February and then they weren’t satisfied with the results, so I had a second one later that month (and an ultrasound).  They were satisfied then but wanted me to have a follow up in August (which I did) and then they told me that I needed to have another one in February 2016 and should make them annually from that point forward…so, that’s what that’s about.  I am young (34) to be having annual mammograms, but if that’s what they think I need, then that’s what I’m going to do.  Gets your girls checked friends!

By 9:30, I’m at one of my favorite spots in my favorite store…our neighborhood grocery store. I love this view: flowers, wine, gourmet cheeses oh my!  I have my typed grocery list (don’t judge) and am about to conquer my weekly shopping.  Tuesday mornings are my favorite time to shop!

I was in the check out line when I glanced down and saw my brother and sister-in-law on the cover of People magazine.  That’s weird, right?! 🙂

 Home…with a carload of groceries.  Unloading groceries is not one of my favorite things to do.
 I typically eat an early lunch (right at 11:00), but on this day, I knew I was going to have a late lunch, so I snacked while I unpacked the groceries.  I am a huge fan of cold-pressed juices, so I had that along with a combination of plain almonds and honey almonds.
 I did some more laundry. #ihateyoulaundry followed by about 45 minutes of more work.

Then, I drove up to my big kids’ school and got them out early.  #whatwhat 
Both big kids needed to visit the eye doctor, so I timed their appointments to where they missed recess and lunch (kinder and 1st grade go to recess and eat a late lunch together) and then we could go straight from their eye doctor’s office to pick up Ashby and Bowen from preschool (because they’re directly across the street from each other).  I never get alone time with just the two big kids.  We decided to make it special!

The eye doctor and preschool are by our town square, so we headed there for lunch at one of my very favorite places, Snug.  They were lovin’ their time away from school.

And look who showed up to meet us!
They turned their napkins into little pants for Sean and Catherine’s baby.  It’s never dull friends.
And then I proceeded to have my favorite lunch EVER.  This is what’s on my sandwich: homemade pimento cheese, peach jam, bacon, candied jalapenos, lettuce and tomato.  I mean…friends it’s unreal.  I had that with a spinach salad and coffee (because hi, my name is Shay and I’m a coffee addict.)

Heading back to the car with these two.

Now, here we are at the eye doctor. One child wanted glasses so much!  She just loves accessorizing and realllllllly had her heart set on glasses.  The other child told me “if you make me get glasses, I will stomp on them in the parking lot”.  So, there’s that.  Two kids, two different attitudes.
We discovered during Smith’s eye exam that he is…far sighted.  Sigh.  Bless his heart.  He tried so hard not to tear up, but he was really disappointed.  The doctor said that he’ll only need to wear them for reading, iPad watching and when he’s focusing on things up close (like building Legos).  So, he doesn’t have to wear them all the time (or even the majority of the time).  He was all sad when we went to pick out his glasses until he saw this one pair that had lime green on the sides…and then he perked up.  So, beginning next week, he’ll be sporting some black and lime green glasses from time to time…and I bet he’ll look adorable :).

Kensington was devastated.  Not only does she not need glasses, Smith does.  I mean…she just thought the world had turned against her.  That kid.

Leaving the eye doctor with two sad kids.  You have to laugh!
Okay…so, I didn’t tell Ashby that the big kids were going to be with me to pick her up from school because I wanted her to be surprised.  I just knew she would be thrilled.  So…we walk in, we walk up to her class, there is squealing, there is hugging, hugging turns to wrestling, all three of my kids are on the ground, Bowen is yelling at them to get off of Ashby, I am now carrying two backpacks and two nap mats while simultaneously trying to get three kids off of the floor and keep an eye on Bowen…it was business as usual.

We drop Bowen off at home and then head to our house to work on homework.  This is also when I empty out backpacks and make lunches for the next day.
At 4:00, we’re back in the car to drop something off at Manda’s house.  At this point, I’ve ditched my booties, my jacket, my jewelry and have put my hair up.  Annnnd…I have on my  trusty Sketcher’s Go Walks that I keep by the back door for outside time.

We were back home by 4:15 and the kids wanted to play outside.  Winter completely forgot about us this year (which stinks) and so we have had plenty of time to play outside in the yard.

Ashby could ride her bike all day, every day.

Backyard fun is the best!

The creek that runs through our yard was dry, so the big kids crossed it to the other side.  They climb trees, build forts and get all kinds of muddy.

Ashby loves to swing 🙂

 I really want to stay healthy, so I make sure to eat fish every day. 🙂
I munched on a few of these while I prepped dinner.

This one came for a kiss.

The big kids were so muddy and gross that they went straight to the shower before dinner.  I love kids in jammies!

I make dinner 5 nights a week and typically three of them are new recipes for either a blog post or book and two are repeats. Tacos are a favorite around here, so that’s what we had.  The kids had their tacos in shells and Andrew and I had ours like this…
Like a big salad.
I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner when Smith asked if he could have a piece of candy out of his Valentine’s bag from school.  Andrew said sure and he bit into this big piece of chocolate…or a heart-shaped brown crayon.  Sigh.  This is him rinsing his mouth out.  The kid ate half a crayon.  Yuck!

After dinner, a doggie named Ashby followed me around…

…and Andrew watched Smith finish off this Ghostbusters Lego set.

I then proceeded to fold all of that laundry.  Boo.

Kensington’s room is now officially a library (according to her), so I stepped lightly around the stacks of books.

Smith showed me his completed Ghostbusters car.  I was so proud!

I then went and put away the downstairs laundry while Andrew got the kids’ teeth brushed and into bed.
I went to say goodnight to the kids and met up with Andrew in the upstairs hallway.  The kids were all in bed!  Woohoo!

Andrew and I headed downstairs to watch educational television…or Vanderpump Rules (which will educate you on nothing) and eat a brownie.  This is our downtime every night and we LOVE it.

Around 9:15, I took a shower and climbed into bed to watch one episode of King of Queens.

My final screenshot before calling it a day.
Whew!  That was a day in the life of us!
On my foodie blog today, a delicious dinner your whole family will love…
…BBQ Chicken Rice Bowls!
xo
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Comments

  2. Clareio says

    i remember the days of wishing I needed glasses! they were then followed by a few years of desperately not wanting them… I now have them for tv/driving and they don't look as bad as I thought they would!

  5. Narci says

    I am betting Smith is going to be adorable in his glasses!! Also, love that you went to our favorite eye doctor!! You deserved that brownie after your crazy busy day!! 🙂

  7. Kim says

    Awe glasses aren't bad at all! My 6 year old has severe farsightedness. He has Nike glasses (of course since he's Mr. Baseball) that look like Squints from the Sandlot, or as adults tell him Wild Thing from Major League. Not that he has seen the movie, but he loves the Cleveland Indians so it works! 🙂 I bet once he wears them & can see clearer, he will love them. 🙂

  10. Ramona says

    What a great day!!!! The best photo is of the two sad kiddos in the eye dr office. Lol. And, girl, I am with you on the laundry. I told my family to stop wearing clothes so I can get caught up. Lol.

  14. Aubrey says

    What a great day! (Except for getting your breasticles squished. That part was just okay.) The post-appointment optometrist pic is hilarious! 🙂

  16. Chasing Pure Simplicity says

    Oh the laundry! I have to do at least a load a day to not lose my mind! Much to my mothers dismay, I quit sorting years ago. Works for play clothes and school uniforms just fine – and saves me loads of time!

    Thanks for sharing your day! Always some of my favorite posts!

    ❤️ Brit (mom of many littles aged (9,8,7, and 7)

  17. Melissa says

    Oh my, that sandwich? Sounds amazing! Snug is the name of the place? Also, please tell Miss Kensington that I have glasses and they can be kind of a pain and they get dirty and you can't lay down on your side because they get all wonky, and she's really better off ❤️

  18. happymomof4 says

    Oh my, that sandwich looks and sounds soooo yummy!!!!!! Send me one- lol!!!
    LOL!! Between the pictures from the eye doc's and reading your post, I can so relate!!! My daughter wanted glasses so bad, she was popping the lenses out of sunglasses and wearing them as glasses- and yes it looked bad LOL!! My son would have the same reaction if he had to have glasses too!
    I'm going for my first mammo in a few months, and I'm a little nervous, not sure why?! But I know it's important!

  21. Melissa says

    My middle has glasses too and sports some Ralph Lauren ones that sound very similar to Smith's. I'm sure he will adjust fine…the only thing it took Brody a while to remember was to grab them from school every day. He left them all the time and it took both his teacher and me reminding him to get in the habit.

    I loved hearing about your day…the funniest thing to me is how you take your jewelry, shoes and jacket off in the afternoon and pull your hair up. I do the same thing and just said the other day I was changing into my "after school clothes." : ) And you're right about the laundry…going from 2-3 kids made daily laundry a necessity! Have a great day!

  22. Kathy Olson says

    I enjoy reading about someone else's day and you are right – these days are the ones you will want to remember the most:)
    I would love some of your smoothie recipes, too.
    I wish winter had forgotten us here in Iowa! I'm getting a little tired of snow, but it is pretty when we are all home together and I watch it coming down.
    Have a great day and keep up the good work!

  24. Liz F. says

    Day in the life posts are some of my very favorites–thank you for sharing! Poor Kensington, bless her heart, she has plenty of time for her eyesight to deteriorate! You should do a blog post on how you get your husband to watch Vanderpump Rules–hahaha. I always end up watching things like crab fishing and car rebuilding with my spouse. Boo, hiss. familyoffoley.wordpress.com

  25. Joe and Casey Burns says

    We just learned my 5 yr old son is far sighted too and had to get glasses. He has to wear them all the time though. So just wondering what was Smith's vision test and what was his prescription strength? Barrett's was 20/40 and his strength is a +5 and other eye a + 4. He was sad too.

  29. Rebecca Jo says

    I so laughed at the stomping of glasses in parking lot. & what a cruel world he is the one who needs them. I'm sure he's going to look ADORABLE in them!
    What a fun hectic life you have 🙂

  32. Lauri says

    You will need to know the trick of other Moms whose kids just had to have glasses but did not need them. Go to Claire's and let them buy a pair that look real. After a week of trying to keep up with them and pushing them up their nose all day, the thoughts will vanish lol!

  34. Mrs W says

    This post made me giggle a lot!! Specially the after doctor's picture!! I too wanted glasses when I was in 8th grade just because Mary Anne from the Babysitter's Club needed them to read so I wanted mine to read too. Lo and behold I found out I needed glasses but not just for reading, for ALL THE TIME. Now I can't stand them, but I have to give it to her, they sometimes do make cute accessories. 🙂 When does Andrew go to sleep? Doesn't he get up super early too?

  35. Aaron, Lacey, Audrey and Elle says

    My 7 yr old daughter loves the Katie Woo books too! Have y'all read the Kylie Jean books…they are so cute and make great beginner chapter books!

  37. Mama Of Boys says

    I am exhausted just reading that!! I start at 6.30am and stop at 10.30pm so you only get an hour more than me in a day yet you seem to accomplish so much?? Maybe my coffee isn't strong enough?!

  40. Katie says

    What a day! That post eye doctor's picture is hysterical! I am curious – what kind of mulch do you all have around the playset?

    • Carrie says

      We started my oldest at age 7, she is 8 now. It is a pain to bug her to do it but has helped so much!!! We have a top loader so we had to wait until she was tall enough to not fall in while reaching for the clothes. I did have lessons first, on each step. We don't separate colors but use the color catch sheets. My husband actually can't sort clothes!!

  42. Michelle K says

    You should have K read fancy Nancy spectacular spectacles…Nancy's friend gets glasses and Nancy is jealous until her mom reminds her to be thankful for good vision. Can u get K fake glasses? I've seen then at children's place and even Wal-Mart. 😉

    • Dana Ivy says

      Should I be telling you that I'm totally fanning out at the fact that you just responded to my comment?!? Ha. Keep doing what you're doing because it's obviously working 🙂 There definitely aren't enough hours in the day though, that's for sure!! With that being said, g'night Shay! Xox

  45. KRISTIN TATE says

    My 6 year old and I can relate to Smith…I picked his black and blue ninja turtle glasses up today. He has to wear them only for reading, TV, ipad, and PlayStation. The doc is confident that wearing them will correct his astigmatism, our fingers are crossed too.

  47. Jeanie says

    That was a very full day! I did actually laugh at Smith and Kensington after their eye doctor appointment. Well, I didn't laugh AT them, but found it so funny that they were both sad for completely different reasons.

  50. Riley Wroe says

    Have you ever considered doing a post about when you started blogging, how to get started, how you determine your schedule, etc.? I love reading your blog and I would love knowing the ins and outs of your brain when it comes to this topic!!!

  52. Grace says

    You are amazing – I don't know how you do it! Such a great mana, with such cute kiddos! Loved this post. What's in your spinach smoothie, I love smoothies & could use a new recipe to change things up a bit.

  54. DME83 says

    You probably hate unloading groceries because you use the plastic store bags! Good reusable bags changed my life (I bought mine from Wegman's because we live in NY). I now load those bags to the max and make about two trips into the house. A cart full of groceries typically fits into about 3-4 bags but I still put meat into the plastic ones just to be sure there's no leaking. It took a little training to remember to bring them into the store but now I'm angry when I forget them (which is pretty rare!).

  55. Elizabeth Birenbaum says

    Aww poor kiddos! Poor Smith is sad he needs glasses and sweet Kensington is sad she doesn't need glasses. Isn't that how it always works? I love that book suggestion from a person above. I have glasses (well contacts) and wish wish wish I didn't need them! That book sounds perfect 🙂

  62. Robin says

    What a fun post. I am wondering if you have looked into thermal imaging rather than traditional mammograms that emit so much radiation…the mammograms can actually cause breast cancer. I'm sure you have done your research but just thought I would put it out there that there are some alternatives.

  63. Vanessa Piot says

    What a busy (and productive) day! Love these posts:) Just got back from visiting Dallas this week and our new neighborhood that we are moving to (from CA) has a Snug cafe inside it! Excited that I can walk down to the cafe with my babies and grab something yummy for lunch:)

  65. Nicole says

    One of the things I have loved getting to know about you is your realistic balance with a healthy lifestyle! From how it appears, you aim for a healthy lifestyle, but are not afraid of indulging in sweets or using a cake mix to simplify things sometimes – I really love that! All of that being said, I'm wondering if you do go through seasons where you watch what you eat more? Is there a reason you two skipped the taco shell? That sounds so silly, but I'm just wondering 😉 Thanks Shay!!

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      I would say we pretty much eat consistently throughout the year. Neither of us ever diet, we just always try to maintain a balanced diet. We eat tacos all the time, but sometimes, we just like a big taco salad. It wasn't for any particular reason…just how we assembled dinner that night.

  66. Nicole says

    Thanks for your reply! I used to be super strict with my diet and fitness routine – when I stumbled across your blog, I was really encouraged! This girl is healthy, enjoys working out, but has an everyday brownie? Makes fun food for dinner and bakes? I loved it! And it has encouraged me 🙂 My family thanks you too! 😉 We now have so much fun in the kitchen baking and preparing meals together! Thanks Shay! Just through your blog, you've helped show me how to attain a healthy, yet realistic and fun lifestyle!