Snow day and weekly rhythms

I assumed we’d have a virtual school day today. Last week the kids had a day off school when there was just bit of ice, and we really did get a few inches of snow overnight. But this morning when I checked my messages, the school district had decreed a 2-hour delay.

So it was up and at it, but the slower start was nice. I went for a walk in the snowy woods, and then the 5-year-old and I made a snowman in order to make use of the snowman kit he got for his birthday. It will all be in a puddle later but it was a tiny little adventure, squeezed in around shoveling and getting people out the door.

I have been pondering weekly rhythms lately. No week is ever quite the same around here. There are a lot of moving parts, so I find it helps to have some things be the same week to week. For instance, on Mondays I do a virtual session with my trainer at 12:30, so I don’t have to think about scheduling exercise that day. Monday dinner is always pasta night. This is especially helpful now that I’m usually headed downtown for a rehearsal on Monday nights. It’s quick, and I don’t have to think about it.

Tuesday tends to be a run-on-the-treadmill + resistance training day. Tuesday’s dinner has lately been some iteration of chicken and rice. This week it was with a jar of curry sauce. (People ate in shifts last night with activities.) Tuesday is always Best of Both Worlds podcast release day — I tend to listen to the week’s episode at some point on this day, often on the treadmill (yes, even though I recorded it…I like to listen to it as other people do).

Wednesdays I drive the little boys to school in the mornings. It’s our lighter activity day (no one has anything after 6:30 p.m.) so we aim to do a sit-down-together family dinner. That’s also trash night so everything goes out to the curb. This has become bath night for the little guys too (they do bathe at other points, but I for sure do it this night). We pick up whatever part of the house the cleaning service is doing the next morning. I now think of Wednesdays as Before Breakfast interview days — this is the day those longer episodes come out.

I tend to do my planning on Thursday mornings these days. I know I’ve touted “Plan on Fridays” as a rule…and this is Friday planning, just moved a day up so I can do the upcoming weekend’s plan at the same time. I send around a schedule for the weekend, and I plan what I have coming up the next week professionally and personally (I tend not to send the next week’s family activity schedule until Sunday because changes keep coming in). We generally do breakfast for dinner. Thursday is another choir night for me, this time with my 17-year-old. At some point during the day I practice my music for that.

Friday is another day I take the little boys to school. If we’re home Friday night it’s make-your-own-pizza night, which is generally a hit around here. Well, for most people. Two kids strongly prefer a frozen pizza, so sometimes I throw one of those in the oven too.

There’s a weekly rhythm of activities too…ninja warrior class Mondays, parkour Tuesdays, after school yoga (!) for the 5-year-old on Wednesdays…Anyway, I’m sure all of this will change soon enough, but 6 months into the school year it’s finally starting to feel fairly routine. There are always some changes (see: 2-hour delay) but when the scaffolding is in place I worry slightly less about forgetting things.