940 Saturdays

There are approximately 940 Saturdays in the life of your child, before he or she reaches the age of 18 years.  I have 16 Saturdays left...

How did we spend all of those Saturdays?

In the early years, I was working a 9-5 job Monday thru Friday, therefore, my Saturdays consisted of laundry, shopping, cleaning and baby duty. Hubby worked some of the Saturdays in 12 hour shifts.

We bought a house and I still worked 9-5, Monday thru Friday.  My Saturdays now included laundry, shopping, cleaning, baby duty and yard work.  Hubby still had the job with 12 hours shifts.

Then baby #2 came along with bed rest. Hubby still had the job with 12 hour shifts.

A few years later we added a puppy and I was a SAHM.  Everyday felt like a Saturday!

Then I worked opposite of hubby. No more 9-5 job, but still a Monday thru Friday job. Saturday chores were done on whatever day of the week I had off.

Then we started homeschooling the boys. Saturdays became a day for chores and sleeping in.

Then we started Sunday School.  Saturdays were spent doing chores and any final preparing for left over Sunday School messages and lesson plans.

Fund raising activities happened on Saturdays.

Saturdays went thru many changes: Family Movie Night - Family Game Night - The Day We Will Celebrate Your Birthday Night - Bath Night, etc.  The daytime hours were still spent doing chores and errands.  

Saturdays were sometimes the day I did all sorts of cooking for the upcoming week.

Hubby changed jobs! No more 12 hour shifts, but sometimes Saturdays. That was alright. Our Saturday switched to Sunday afternoons!

Our Saturday/Sunday activities for several years and into the now include: Big Family Breakfasts - Family Movie Time - Family Dinner Time - Visiting Gramma and Grampa Time - Road Trip Day - Baking Day - Game Day - Disposable tableware Day(s) - Sleeping in Late Day(s) - The-day-we-will-celebrate-your-Birthday Night - Eating all the Leftovers Day - Pulling-out-the-futon-and-sofa-sleeper-and-watching-movies-all-day-and-night Nights. Anything and everything we can squeeze into the weekend we do. I try to get all the chores done before the weekend so we can just relax.

I guess we didn't really waste 924 Saturdays! We did lots and lots together. It just so happened that our "Saturday" didn't always fall on a Saturday. We took advantage of any and ALL downtime we had. So, actually, we had more than our fair share of "Saturdays"! I'm so glad we did. I treasure it all.

Sunday Afternoons

Church today and then it was my turn to guide the YG Bible study.  One of the girls asked if we could do our study outside in the beautiful weather. Of course, I said, "YES!"  Snacks and Bibles in hand, out into the weather we went.

Afterwards, once we were home, I decided to sit in the Sanctuary of my gardens.  They are all brown and blechy right now, but it was so warm out there that I didn't mind the brown blechiness.  My backyard is very secluded. The only evidence of neighbors comes from any noises they may make - heard, but not seen.  If they don't make any noise, I only hear some mild traffic sounds and an occasional plane.  Mostly, I hear birds.

Mom's Quivering Aspen

The northwest corner of the backyard is hugged by a cedar fence. There is also a 45' pine tree, several cedar-type trees, cherry trees, a lilac, a flowering crab and a 42' Quivering Aspen that I found as an 8" shoot on my Mother's property many years ago.  There is a curved sitting bench in this corner. It once belonged to my Grampa. He gave it to me years before he died.  This is where I sit -- on my Grampa's bench. On either side of me are the cherry trees which I affectionately call, "The Grandmother Cherries."  I bought them shortly after both of my Grandmothers died in 2011 -- almost a year ago now.

That corner is the warmest, most secluded and most sheltered spot on our little piece of property.

We will see Momma bunnies sunning themselves there in the spring.  In the coming cold of winter, a cat will sometimes sun herself there too. In the spring you will also find me there too -- sunning away.  That's how it was for me today. A sunny spring day and I was in the back corner sunning myself.

Sleeping on my thick blankie.

Me & Sophie

Later, I decided to get my thick and plushy comforter and hug pillow. I threw then down on the deck in a sunny spot and promptly fell asleep.  This is a typical Sunday afternoon activity -- napping.  We get everything done that we need to, go to church and head home for a long afternoon nap.  It's a blessing during anytime of the year.