A Week in the Life: Quinta-Feira (Thursday)

6:15 a.m. - Alex wakes up with a wet bed. We are working on night-time potty-training and have been getting him up before we go to bed to go potty, but sometimes, his pull-up is still wet in the morning, and these days, we have been dealing with leaks and wet sheets. I get him some dry underwear and have him lay back down in our bed. He eventually goes back to sleep while I get up and have my Quiet Time.

7:30 a.m. - Rusty, Alex, and Stephen are awake. We have breakfast and get ready to go. I strip Alex's bed and throw his sheets in the wash. I have to hang out laundry in order to free up the washer for the sheets. Hopefully, these clothes will be dry by early afternoon so I can hang his sheets out and get them dry before he goes to bed.

8:20 a.m. - Rusty and Alex leave for school.

9:00 a.m. - Ana comes over. I leave for school.

9:30 a.m. - We're in class again. Today, Eunice asks us to tell her about how we met in Portuguese, using the tense we have been studying. (One of the ways the past imperfect tense is used is to describe things that happened a long time ago or over an indefinite length of time. For example, "Many years ago, when we were students at Cascade College...") We make a lot of mistakes, but we have fun trying to tell our story.

11:30 a.m. - Class is over. Rusty heads home. I head up to the mall for some homework time.

12:50 p.m. - I walk over to get Alex from school. His teacher tells me that he refused to eat any lunch and just sat there and cried the whole time. This is pretty unusual behavior for him. When I ask, he says he just didn't like what they were having today. He seems extra tired and grumpy, so I decide to have him take a nap when we get home. I also tell him that he won't be getting any snacks before his nap since he didn't eat his lunch.

1:30 p.m. - Alex and I arrive home. There is a nice surprise waiting for me at home -- Ana helped Stephen do a handprint canvas to hang on the wall this morning while we were in class. It is really cute. Rusty's afternoon class has been cancelled again (his teacher has been sick this week). I let Alex have a little time to play while I eat lunch. Then, he and I lay down on my bed together. He goes to sleep almost immediately.

Ana and Stephen with the canvas she helped him make

A close-up of the canvas. I love handprint art!

2:30 p.m. - Both the kids are asleep, so we do our homework without interruptions today.

4:30 p.m. - Rusty leaves to go downtown. Last week, he made plans with another student at the school he attends in the afternoon to get together this afternoon. Then, he will go to the church for the Thursday night dinner and prayer meeting. We swap out going to this each week, while the other one stays home with the kids. It is a nice way to get some Portuguese practice and also get to know some of the members at the Lisbon church.

5:00 p.m. - Alex wakes up. I do some housework and some spend some time on the computer.

5:30 p.m. - Stephen is awake. Katie, Teague, and Jordan come over for Girls' Prayer Time. We try to do this once every week or two. We pray together and share our time logs. Basically, this is a new accountability system where we are keeping track of how we spend our time every day. I have a little notebook where I record how much time I spend doing certain activities each day. Last week, I "worked" over 27 hours -- this includes language study (class and homework), language practice (listening and conversation), work for and with the team (meetings and projects I am responsible for, like our team newsletter), and work I do for our family (like our family newsletter, expense reports, family website, etc.). My notebook is also a good place to keep track of things like my Quiet Time and mentoring.

6:45 p.m. - The girls leave. I mix some cooked chicken in with the leftover Spanish rice and top it with some grated cheese. It makes for a nice, easy meal for the boys and me tonight. After we eat, I give them their baths and get them ready for bed. I put clean sheets on Alex's bed.

8:30 p.m. - I put Stephen to bed, but I let Alex stay up a little later since he had a good nap today. I wash the dinner dishes and he helps me. He is still at the age where it is fun to help Mom with her chores. Then I read him a few chapters in one of the Magic Treehouse books. He is really enjoying these.

9:15 p.m. - Alex goes to bed. I finish up my homework.

10:00 p.m. - Rusty arrives home. We talk and watch TV for a bit before going to bed.