
(a recent visit to the Gateway Arch. I LOVE St.Louis!)
Hello, I’m
Amber. I’m a stay at home mom to my 4 year old son Ayrton. Along
with my husband Aaron we call St. Louis home. I grew up in a small
town of 200 people in Southern Illinois, so I find I’m a nice mix of
country and city. I was excited that Danielle gave me a chance to
share my day with all of you. So here goes:
6:02: Good
morning. Aaron has a meeting at 7 so he’s already up getting ready
to leave for work. I get up and make our bed. Our house is on the
market so any little cleaning thing I can do saves time when we have
a showing. Nothing is worse than rushing to clean up, leaving the
house, and wondering if there were any dirty clothes or underwear left
laying someplace.
(Our dogs Phoebe and Speck inspect my work)
6:15 I unload the
dishwasher. I try to run it at the end of the day and since I cook a
lot I like having an empty one to fill up at the start of the day. I
also sweep the floors. We have two cats and two dogs and I fight a
never ending war with pet hair. After I do that, I check my email and
Facebook and have a cup of coffee. I talk to Aaron about our day
while he has his breakfast.
(you said to show you the good and the bad)
7:00 I was able
to get dinner in the crock pot and pack Ayrton’s lunch before he
wakes up. Ayrton is not a morning person and it takes him awhile to
really wake up. I try to get some snuggles from him while he’s like
this. I have some bread that’s day old so I’ll make us French
toast for breakfast.
8:00 Breakfast is
done. Ayrton is dressed and playing with his cars. I’ve made
Ayrton’s bed and picked up his room. Now I’ll get dressed and
ready. I love dry shampoo since most mornings I don’t have time to
shower; I also have short hair so no easy ponytails for me. I love
these turban style headbands I found at Forever 21 for $3.80. My
makeup is a BB cream, mascara, bronzer and blush.

9:00 I drop off
Ayrton at Parent’s Day Out at our church. When I had Ayrton I was
the first of my friends to have a baby and I really didn’t have any
close mom friends. PDO as we called it was a great way for me to meet
other moms and it also gave Ayrton a chance to play with other kids
his age. He goes twice a week and I try to do all my errands on
those days, so the rest of the week we can have fun.
9:10 I make a run
to Aldi for produce for the week. I looked at the sale bill for the
weekly specials. This week they had watermelons for $2.99 which is
almost half price of the other grocery stores in the area. I pick up
some other fresh produce and a couple dozen eggs while I’m there.
I’m lucky the Aldi is less than five minutes away from our house.
9:45 I’m back
at home and I’m going to can some pickles. My mom always canned
when I was little and I’m starting to try my hand at it. I spend a
LOT of time in the kitchen cooking, so while I cook I enjoy watching
things on my iPad. Right now I’m watching John Adams again on
Amazon Prime. We watched it several years ago and I’m really
enjoying watching it again. These cucumbers came from the Soulard
Farmers Market; it’s been around since 1779!
11:00 Well,
things are not going as I planned. Over half the jars didn’t seal
the first time. I take off these lids and try a different brand.
Another jar of them spilt into the sink. I’m sweaty and the house
smells like vinegar but I’m going to keep trying. (I also hope no
one wants to see the house today)
11:25 I’m
hearing pops so I think I finally got these pickles done. I then
remember the pile of laundry I haven’t started yet. I quickly sort
and throw in the first load.
12:00 I join my
friends Heavin and Jenna for a workout (even though I smell like a
pickle). The gym we go to (Complete Fitness Results) offers an
express 30 minute workout at noon. I really enjoy spending time with
my friends and the workout is great too. I need extra motivation and
going with friends really helps. This is us with one of our trainers
Mike Klaus.

(my shirt says “always wear your invisible crown” I love it!)
12:30 I’m done
at the gym, I eat a snack in the car while I head to The Point to
drop off some donations. The kids at my parent’s church collected
food during Bible School so I was happy to drop it off. I was a
social worker before I decided to stay at home and two years ago I
joined a group looking to start a drop in center for young adults
ages 18-24. We’ve recently opened and offer meals, education and
job support along with just having a safe place to be. It’s
staffed 100% by volunteers and I’m so happy to give a few hours a
week to help out.

1:55 I pick
Ayrton up from Parent’s Day Out, I always ask Ayrton what fun thing
we should do when we get home. So we play cars and a little Batman.
About
2:45 we have nap time. I read him a couple of books before and
today he goes right to sleep. It’s a small mommy win for me. I mix
up a carrot zucchini cake and while it’s baking I jump into the
shower. (Phew! I no longer smell like a pickle) I then start tackling
laundry. I’m not very good at the folding and putting away, so I
have about 5 baskets I need to catch up on. I make some tea and turn
on the TV and watch just a little more John Adams. There is also some
dusting I need to do. We have a really small house so thankfully,
cleaning it doesn’t take a lot of time. I also give my mom a call
while it’s quiet. I grew up in a very close knit family. My mom and
her siblings all live along the same road within a mile of each
other, so we are very close to each other. I love these strong family
bonds.
5:00 Ayrton is up
from his nap and playing, so I start dinner. I put Pork Carnitas in
the crock pot this morning. It’s so easy and so good! I shred the
pork and chop up some onions, cilantro and cheese. I also make an
orange cream cheese frosting to ice my cake. I’m trying a Greek
yogurt based cream cheese I saw at Aldi this morning.
5:30 Aaron is
home early so we have dinner early tonight. We decide the weather is
so nice we will
go the city pool after dinner
6:30 We get to
the pool and see some friends from Church there. Ayrton has a great
time playing with the girls, while I get to visit with their mom. We
usually only stay about an hour or so in the evenings, it’s just a
great way to cool off and let Ayrton burn off some extra energy.
7:45 We are home
from the pool I give Ayrton a bath and we have some dessert before we
put him to bed. I’m pretty relaxed about bed time. Sometimes we get
to bed at 8, but some nights like tonight it’s later.
8:45 I read
Ayrton a couple of books. Before he goes to bed I like to talk about
what we did today and what we would like to do tomorrow. We are
blessed that in St.Louis there are so many free activities. The zoo,
art museum, history museum and lots of parks are all free to the
public. We are never at a loss for something to do.
9:00 I load the
dishwasher and clean up the kitchen from dinner. Aaron is watching
golf, so I grab my laptop and sit outside on the porch for a few
minutes. I scope out Pintrest and my Facebook for awhile.
9:45 I look at
all the folded laundry that I didn’t get put away and promise
myself I’ll do it in the morning ;) and then lay on the couch. I’ve
recently convinced Aaron that Sherlock is amazing so we watch a
little of it together. (lots of repeats in my life right now)
10:30 Aaron heads
to bed and he has the talent of falling asleep before his head hits
the pillow. Not so much for me. I usually read awhile before I’m
able to drift off.
11:00 I’m still
awake and thinking that I didn’t take any pictures after 8:30 but
who wants to see me and my laundry laying on the couch? I decide no
one and turn off the light.
XO Amber
XO Amber
---------------------------
Thank you so much Amber for sharing your day with us. There is so much beauty in every moment. Whether it is a failed attempt at canning (oh boy can I relate to that. The second try is always better. I love hearing that ping ping!) or a fun outing with family. We can find beauty in the ordinary. You can check out Amber on Pinterest!
Find more A Day in The Life of Her HERE
If you would like to be a part of the "A Day in The Life of Her" series,
shoot me an email. I'd love to have you!
blissful_and_domestic@yahoo.com
XO Danielle
I think your life sounds crazy and wonderful!!! My first pickle canning experience was hit and miss too!!! My house smelled like vinegar and my husband wouldn't come inside for two hours!!! Ha!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you live in a pretty awesome town ;). I know all about the pet hair struggle we have 3 cats and 1 large dog. The daily sweeping really helps.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to show how it really is with us moms! My children are all grown now and I worked 2 jobs to support them. A clean house only came around on my day off, lol! Nice to meet Amber and her sweet child.
ReplyDeletethat would be awesome to live where you have so many amazing free places to check out. we live outside of Houston but most everything costs and you have to pay parking. I SHUD sweep daily but alas I don't, way to go on that. I'm horrible at putting away my laundry too!
ReplyDelete