typical tuesday: Stacey Bennum

Hey ya'll! Here we have our awesome friend, Stacey, from GA sharing a typical tuesday with us. Remember when we would go to GA to visit our friends and stuff? THEY were THOSE friends. We love the Bennums. And plus, their guest bedroom bed is super comfy, just FYI. Stacey and Jeff are actually both from the same place Chad and I are from (Bellingham, WA) so we kinda have known each other for a while. Now they are in GA living the life. Any ways, enough from my babbling. Here's Stacey:
Meet the Bennums!

Athens, GA

Jeff, 30, Spanish Teacher, Assistant Football Coach, Head Basketball Coach,

Stacey, 27, Stay-at-home Mom, Club Volleyball Coach, Church Youth Leader

Cheyenne, 2.5, Sweetheart, Smart, Chatterbox and a Dora Fanatic,

Berkeley, 1o months, Sweet, Happy, Thumb-sucker!

Hello "Playing House" Followers! I just love Rachel's blog and I wish I could be as good of a blogger as she is, but I am not, so sorry!! This Tuesday is just about as Typical as it could get, except for one thing. Usually, Cheyenne, my 2.5 year old climbs into bed with us early in the morning, but today my 10 month old, Berkeley, was the early riser at 6:45 am. Yes, we named our children after cities and there are way more city (girl) names that I love than the number of children I want to have. Savannah, Brooklyn, Alexandria, Sicily, those are a just a few of my faves... anyway, totally off the topic, I tend to do that. My husband, Jeff, delivers Berkeley to me in bed and gives me a kiss on his way out the door. He has a 35 minute commute to his high school (without a/c by the way, what a trooper... a new vehicle is hopefully in our near future) where he teaches Spanish and coaches football, so I don't see him until around 9:30 at night when he gets home from practice. I take Berkeley and fall back asleep while nursing her for about 15-20 minutes until she is finished and up and ready to play.

Cheyenne currently sleeps in the guest bedroom on "Grandpa Frank's bed" (it is where he slept when he visited and the name has stuck for at least 6 months now). She has her own toddler bed, but we bought it on Craigslist and it is totally falling apart and the boards always come out from under her mattress and therefore it is not very comfortable. Anyway, so Berkeley and I went in to their room and I watched Berkeley play on Cheyenne's bed for about 30 minutes until Cheyenne woke up. She thought it was pretty cool to play with her big sister's toys without them getting ripped out of her hands every five seconds.

Cheyenne heard some stirring and woke up too:

She loves my volleyball shirt, and it fits her perfectly as a nightgown. Cheyenne loves for me to snuggle her for a few minutes when she gets up and I love it! Berkeley always tries to get in on the action too.

Breakfast time! Today it is Watermelon for Berkeley and Oatmeal and Cinnamon & sugar toast for Cheyenne.

Yes, I feed my daughter sugar for breakfast. I know I am a horrible parent. We like sugar in our house, but we also love sports and exercise so it all works out. Sugar is one of my favorite parts of life:) Then, I clean the girls up, get them dressed and do their hair. This is my favorite part of the day. It is like playing with my american girl dolls or barbie dolls when I was little. My favorite part was always picking out the outfits and doing their hair. So many possibilities. I wanted to put Cheyenne's hair in braids today, because we were going swimming later and I wanted her hair out of her face. Then, I pack the diaper bag and swim stuff and load everyone in the car by 7:45 so we can make it to the gym by 8 when the child care opens.

I usually try to do the dishes and clean up breakfast before I leave, but we were running behind today so I had to leave it for later:( Not so pretty!

The gym I go to is the best deal EVER!! For $45 a month I get to go to the gym everyday which includes child care and every Friday we can drop our kids off for 2 hours anytime between 5 and 8:30 and leave the gym for a date night (we used this in the summer but obviously can't now because of football games, although, I may skip a game this season and use it for some me time)! And the membership includes unlimited tanning, which I only use during the winter months... I know, I know, so bad for me, but it makes me feel so good! I justify it because I only go two or three times a week and I never go the full amount of time and I never go long enough to get burned, but just to stay un-scary white. I haven't used it since April and probably wont need to use it until December, because the weather here in Georgia is beautiful and sunny until then! There are two gyms here in Athens, and I usually go to a different and nicer one, but today we will be swimming at my friend's house who lives on this side of town. Cheyenne loves it because it is a new set of toys to play with.

The gym is my lifesaver! Seriously, days I don't go to the gym, I think my life sucks and the day drags on and on and on, then the days that I do go to the gym, I love my life and I am so happy!! Sports are also one of my favorite things about life, and here in Athens, they have like no adult sports leagues (unlike Bellingham, the town Rachel and I grew up in). So I drop the girls off at child care and start lifting. I wasn't about to take a picture on the main floor where I actually lift, so I went up in the girls only loft area, where there was no one and took a picture and I was embarrassed to be taking a picture of myself in public even though no one else was even there. As you can see this gym needs some work, but it totally has everything you need, so it doesn't really matter.

I really like competition so before I got a gym pass, I would just pick a race to train for. I have run tons of 5ks, half marathons and a marathon. My husband said (nicely) I had gotten too skinny and that I should get my volleyball butt back, so I have been lifting heavy weights with him for about 2 months now and have stopped running. It has been fun to change it up and I am super excited because I can do pull-ups and dips again on my own without the machine to assist me. Today was arm day so I did Bench with a max of 120! woo hoo, slowly getting it back! I usually have to ask a stranger to spot me on days that I max, which is awkward, but it is so much more fun to push yourself than just go through the motions. I followed bench with incline dumbell press, shoulder press, power shrugs, dips, skull crushers, tricep pullovers, tricep extensions, dips, pull-ups, push-ups, hand-stand holds and floor wipers for my abs. By the end I can barely move my arms and it is the best feeling in the world!

I picked up the girls from the child care and it was my lucky day, because I found a penny on the way to the car! In case you hadn't heard, Find a penny pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck!

I quickly ran by Wal-Mart to grab a few key items we are missing at home and I get a $5 footlong to eat, so my workout doesn't go to waste. I got to my cute friend Andrea's apartment to swim at their pool with a bunch of friends from church. I met Andrea when we were both in Primary together at church. She leads the singing time and I think she was also was an Elementary Ed major at BYU and taught first grade and is the cutest thing ever! Her husband is in Law school at UGA and they have three adorable blonde girls that Cheyenne loves to play with. I was the last one to arrive, of course, and I lathered up the girls with sunscreen, changed them into their suits and we headed to the pool. The temperature is mid 90's at this point and everyone is relieved to cool off in the pool!

Half of the people in our congregation (ward) at church are students at UGA or married to students at UGA and most of them live at this apartment complex which is so fun for them.

We swam for about an hour, then the kids started to get hungry. We headed back to Andrea's apartment and she was so sweet to feed Cheyenne some spaghetti for lunch.

Then the little girls played with toys, while the big girls (us) talked and cooed over Chelsea's adorable new baby girl, Eve.

Chelsea was also in Primary with me and her husband is also in law school at UGA with Andrea's husband. I love our ward! We have so many young families and it is perfect for our stage in life right now.

Around 1 or 2 we headed home and I put Berkeley and Cheyenne down for their naps. Yes, they sleep at the same time, I plan it that way! Nap time is the hardest decision ever for what to do. First of all, I never know how long it will last, it could be anywhere from an hour to 4 hours and you never know what you are gonna get. It is my only break from 7 am til 9ish pm so I have to really evaluate how to use it to stay sane!! My options are clean, do laundry, read scriptures, sleep, play on the computer, pay bills or balance checkbook, update blog, eat, shower and get dressed, or get other random things done. I am usually happiest when I clean and read scriptures. That is the best decision. Today, I read two chapters in my scriptures with a study guide which is my new favorite way to study the scriptures. Love these two books and how they help strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ and help me try to be a better person:

Then, I cleaned up the kitchen and mopped half of the floor, then put frozen lasagne in the oven for dinner.

When I went into the kitchen to clean it, I found a little audience lined up to watch me:

I finally took care of the dirty dishes from this morning:

Then, because it is Tuesday, and I obviously didn't learn what I was supposed to when reading my scriptures, I used the rest of the time to watch trash tv on hulu, namely, Bachelor Pad:

Such a trashy show, I know, but of course it is entertaining and I love it. I am slightly embarrassed that I watch it and it is even more lame that I am blogging about it right now, but it is what I do on my typical tuesday, so why hide it, right? I totally don't want to watch shows like this when Cheyenne gets a little older, because I don't really want her to ever watch them and think that is normal life, but for now I watch them after she goes to bed and she has no clue, so I am going to enjoy it while I can:) I liked last season better, because I think the people were prettier to look at, and slightly more "normal" or at least sane. I don't really care who wins the money, I just really like the Bachelor and Bachelorette shows and got to know the characters when they were on those shows, so it is fun to watch.

When the girls woke up I played with them for a little bit, then we ate dinner around 4:30. On Tuesdays, we have a lot going on and we eat really early so I always make something really easy. Usually it is something in the crockpot, but our crockpot cracked and we are without one at the moment, which is so sad, since I use it at least twice a week usually. I am trying to decide if I should try to super glue it, look for one at a garage sale or just buy a brand new one since they are only around $25 brand new.

Dinner was extremely messy, so we all took a family shower. My girls love baths and they love to shower with mommy, and showering with me is easier than giving them a bath sometimes, so that is what we did today. All fresh and clean:

Then I got to do my favorite thing of picking out new outfits and doing their hair again. Berkeley's hair is getting long for a 10 month old:

I got dressed and did my hair:

Then we got in the car around 6:30, Cheyenne always has to buckle herself in and doesn't let me help her so that drives me crazy helps me learn patience. Then we drove 20 minutes to our church building for Young Women's activity night.

I was not in charge so I participated and we read in our scriptures and learned about our divine nature as daughters of heavenly father and queens and virtuous women.

We each picked two qualities to work on for the next week and I picked to be more charitable and obedient. I've got a long ways to go, but at least I am trying, right? The girls also brought in cakes they baked for a birthday and Cheyenne was excited to eat them. Then we drove the 20 minutes home, and arrived at 8:45, but Jeff was not home yet. Jeff called to tell me he was leaving to come home right after we came in, so I decided to let the girls stay up so they could see him for a minute. He got home just before 9:30 and he played with the girls for a minute then put Cheyenne to bed while I nursed Berkeley and put her to bed.

Then he ate dinner, while I picked up the house to be ready for tomorrow.

Then Jeff showered, while I checked my email, facebook, etc. Then Jeff went to bed, while I payed bills and balanced the checkbook and finally got into bed just before midnight. I have a love/hate relationship with football season. My husband isn't home much, but he loves his job. This year will also be his first year as the head basketball coach, so we really will not see him much until April. It will be a long year, but I really appreciate how hard he works and I feel blessed that he is doing something he really enjoys for the most part. There are down sides to every job, and as long as I keep myself and the girls really busy (and go to the gym), the time goes by faster and I love my life:) Plus, April to August we get to see him a ton and it is totally worth it! That is our "Typical Tuesday." Congrats to those of you who made it through this entire really long post!

Thanks Stacey, this made me miss you guys!
Wanna share a typical tuesday with us? Just email me, k?