Behind the Scenes: A Day in the Life

Family Photographer Kansas City | Wedding Photographer Kansas City

You’ve heard the saying: “We all have the same 24 hours.” While it’s true, the way we choose to fill those hours can be as different as night and day! 

With the various responsibilities involved with being a wedding photographer in Kansas City, writing, investing in my relationship with my husband, children and our families, caring for and homeschooling our three children, keeping up with housework, building community and serving, etc., there have been plenty of times when the magnitude of our schedule has seemed overwhelming. 

However, when our children were much smaller, J and I were both convicted that we, and our children, were not called to live and keep up with the frenetic pace that is a badge of honor in our current culture.

Throughout Scripture, God’s heart for people is revealed in the way He repeatedly shows us how He wants us to completely rest in Him, in all things. While that doesn’t mean we are exempt from working, it does mean people who serve God are called to order our lives in a way that leaves room for rest and being still. After a particularly fast-paced season of life with littles (and very little rest!), we recognized He was calling for us to obey Him radically in this. 

That means the rhythms of our daily life might look a little different than you might expect. Or, they might look exactly like you might expect!
In general, we steer clear of extracurriculars that would infringe on our family time together, or limit our freedom to build community with people, so weekday evenings are pretty quiet. We treasure those times and want our children to see how important family and community are, and the best way we can do that is by living in a manner that prioritizes people and relationships.

Before we dive deeper, a note about the way I work. In order to accomplish the most of the hours I work, I “batch work.” In fact, as I’ve been writing this post, I’ve realized I have actually incorporated batch working into our daily routines, also! 

What is Batch Working?

Batch working is a method of assigning specific working hours to specific tasks, which increases productivity and eliminates the time suck of transitioning from one job function to another over and over.

I started to implement this when my youngest two were in diapers, and it has served me well over the years. I usually check email two times daily, but other than that I always designate certain tasks to be done at certain times. 

For example, if I’m going to work a 6 hour stretch of time, I may designate 1 hour for culling (selecting which images to edit and discarding images with blurs, blinks, etc.), 3 hours for editing, and 2 hours for marketing. During the hour that I cull, I may cull 3 weddings and 2 photo sessions, but I won’t move on to editing at all. I stay in my “cull flow” and do all the work of that nature possible during that time. Then, when I move on to editing, I do the same. While in my “edit flow,” I may edit 4 photo sessions that were previously culled, in addition to the 2 I just culled, but during that time I will touch no other task. When it’s time to work on marketing, I’ll spend that time in my “marketing flow,” creating and scheduling social media posts, or sharing blog links, etc. There are a variety of marketing specific things I may do during that time, but I won’t do anything that doesn’t fall within that designation, and if at all possible I will complete like tasks together.

A Day in Our Life | Wedding Photographer Kansas City

Fair warning: I’m not the most rigid person about schedules. I want to be; I think it would be great, but it’s just not me. Instead, we go about our days with general blocks of time designated for certain things. Tasks can be finished in any order in that block of time; it’s just the part of the day where we do X, Y, and Z. There’s an approximate time each block begins, which is what I’ve outlined below, but it’s pretty flowy. The kids also have items that need to be completed by a specific time, but they can be worked on all throughout the day, and those are on our daily board (see below.) ***Throughout this post I will share some of the items we use, but I am not an affiliate for any of them. Just sharing things that we love!

On Wednesdays, it’s a whole different ballgame because we usually host dinner, worship and prayer in our home, but that’s another important rhythm the kids are able to observe and participate in. Also, Fridays are usually family movie or game night, and if we aren’t spending that time with others, we let the kids stay up a little late. We all play board games or Mario Kart, or watch a movie together.

5:00 AM: Wake Up & Quiet Time

Over the past couple of years, I’ve invested a considerable amount of time and effort to figure out what works best for us as a family in terms of schedule, and one thing that works best is when I wake up and have a solid hour alone with the Lord to begin the day.

Rhythms are important, and children need schedules, but when you start a photography business from scratch within a few months of having your first of three babies in three years (technically four, counting our Cadence!), it’s literally just survival mode for a while. There were years when I didn’t sleep longer than 2-3 hours at a time, and to be honest that’s just started to change recently. During those years, there is no way I could have managed waking that early; sleep had to be a priority when possible. Now that our three are 5, 6 and 8, nights and mornings look a little different.

Over time, I’ve become convinced that waking early and spending intentional time in prayer and Scripture is the best thing I can do for my marriage, children, community, the world, business and my life. Prayer is a constant conversation and the undercurrent that flows throughout every day, but there’s something special about setting aside the first part of the day as dedicated time to simply be with the Lord and listen to him.

If weather allows, I enjoy walking and praying in the early morning hours, and if it’s pleasant outside I’ll start with that, then shower when I return.

If it’s too cold to walk, I generally jump in the shower and spend some time surrendering the day, my life and all the things, then brush teeth and get ready for the day, make coffee or tea and spend some time listening to the Lord, reading the Bible and studying Scripture. This year I am reading through the Bible at the pace of The Bible Recap, a reading plan by Tara Leigh Cobble. After quiet time, I switch over the laundry and empty the dishwasher.

7 AM: Kids Wake Up & Breakfast

Our little ones have always been early to rise, and they are only just beginning to sleep until 6:30 or *sometimes* 7. They are big snugglers and do best if we don’t have to be out the door right away, so we ease into our days, and I love that.

Each night before bed, I fill out their daily board, which is simply a basic white board. I use this one from IKEA, and have a column of daily tasks, chores and school subjects for each child. They love when I write them out in their favorite colors. Once they wake and have some snuggle time, they head over to check out their daily board. 

Each column contains daily routine items such as: make bed, brush teeth, clean room, get dressed, wash face, comb hair, bring down dirty clothes, etc., but it also lists their daily chores, memory work, and individual school subjects. They are each responsible for completing everything on their list by a certain time (usually 1 or 2 PM.) If they finish all items by that time, they may earn 1 hour of screen time for that day. If they finish all items by that time without any complaining or whining, they may earn a portion of their allowance, which is distributed on Saturday afternoons. As they complete their items throughout the day, they check them off on the board, and let me know when they are ready for me to review chores, etc.

While they finish their daily hygiene, I make breakfast, and when they return to the table we eat breakfast together, do our hymn study, go over our Bible lesson and memory verses, and talk about whatever surfaces in that time. I really love Marty Machowski’s The Ology and WonderFull books for theology and praying through the Psalms. Depending on the day and how everyone seems to be, we usually rotate between those items. We also frequently incorporate The Bible Made Easy for Kids by Dave Strehler, The Magnificent Names of Jesus by Jimmy Dodd and Sally Dodd, and the New City Catechism as jumping off points for discussion, dialogue and Scripture study.

After Bible, we talk about the plan for the day, go over anything that needs special attention, and we spend a little time praying together. (We use something similar to this!)

8:00 AM: School with Ez & Chores for Zai & Elle

After breakfast and Bible, everyone clears their plates and I wipe down the table while they wash their hands. Then, Ez and I sit down for his lessons while the older two go work on chores and do some reading. He’s only 5 so we work on grouping with manipulatives, and do some handwriting, phonics and reading. He wasn’t taking to the Abeka handwriting curriculum I used for my other two, so we recently introduced Handwriting Without Tears and he has been thriving.

8:30 AM: School for Zai & Elle

Depending on the day, this time flexes a bit. When Ez is at the end of his ability to focus, we swap out. Zai and Elle work on their Language Arts, Math, Phonics and History/Science lessons, and Ez finishes his handwriting, does his chores and constructs cool things with various blocks. 

Zai and Elle are readers and some of their lessons require minimal instruction, so in between helping them and teaching, I load the dishwasher, fold clothes and change over laundry as needed. Sometimes Ez will work on Hooked on Phonics on the Ipad for additional reinforcement.

10:30 AM: Play/Dance Break

By this point we all need a breather, so we’ll put on some fun music and dance, do a Zumba workout or similar, or they’ll all play for a little while together. If the weather is nice, they play outdoors. 

If I’m not dancing with them, I get things together in preparation for lunch, switch over laundry or fold clothes, and clean a bathroom. Zai also does his AM piano practice at this time. 

I used to try to squeeze in some working minutes in this stretch, but I’ve learned that if I don’t have an hour to commit, it just isn’t worth it. It takes too long to transition and I end up losing valuable time on home and work things.

11:00 AM: Play/Chores for Ez & School for Zai & Elle

The older two resume lessons and finish what was left from their earlier block, and usually do their Science, as well. Ez will do some arts and crafts, play with kinetic sand, practice drawing, etc.

12:30 PM: Lunch

We usually eat together, but occasionally I’ll put together a “Lunch and Learn” playlist for them with Science videos, documentaries or other educational content that supplements what we are learning that day, week or unit.

1:00 PM: Quiet Hour

We haven’t always done this, but it has been such a good thing for all of us and I wish I’d caught on sooner. The older two are allowed to read quietly to themselves, or play in their rooms. If Ez is a little fussy, I’ll read him a few books and see if he will take a nap. However, he is 5, so that’s a rarity. If he isn’t napping, he’s allowed to do puzzles or any kind of quiet, individual play. 

During this time, I check email and work for 50 minutes in one workflow.

2:00 PM: Activity & Play Time

Time for some activity! We go for a walk, play outside, run up and down stairs, and do whatever it takes to get some energy out!
Then, we do a Science lesson together, or do experiments, art, coding, and various types of hands-on learning. Zai does his PM piano practice, and I spend an hour in a workflow, then begin preparing dinner and other chores and cleaning around the house. 

5:30 PM: Set Table & Get Ready for Evening

We usually eat dinner when J arrives home, but we segue into our evening routines at 5:30. The kids wash hands, set the table, put away their folded clothes, set out pajamas and get their toothbrushes ready for post dinner.

6:00 PM: Dinner & Evening

We eat dinner together as a family, and talk about highs and lows of the day, what God has been saying to us, and what’s on the agenda for tomorrow. After dinner, we clear plates and the kids brush their teeth and get ready for bed, then have some quiet play or reading. Puzzles, board games, read aloud books together, etc. And usually some wrestling with J. 

Often, we have friends or family over for dinner, and this doesn’t really shift anything about our schedule. It’s important to us that our kids grow up knowing how to lean in to community and meaningful relationships, and that it is a natural and needed part of life.

All children are in bed by 7:30 PM if they want to have some time for reading, but lights are out at 8:00 PM. Sometimes we’ll push it to 8:30 if they want to have a reading night.

8:30 PM: Post Bedtime

During this time, I make their new daily board for the next day, then check and schedule responses to emails for the next morning and tie up any loose ends from the day. We switch over laundry, clean up from dinner, connect and catch up, do homework (J is taking some classes), and occasionally watch an episode of Monk on Amazon Prime. If my workload is larger than normal, I may squeeze in another hour or so of work.

10-11:00 PM: Adult Bedtime

Now, all that being said, there are days when I don’t wake up on time, or we are really struggling and our entire plan goes completely out the window. However, there are a number of days that do go like this, and those days encourage me on the hard ones when it seems like nothing goes quite “right!” Don’t get me wrong, there are still hard days, but the season we’re in is increasingly sweet, and I’m so so thankful.

There were many years when our children were small, when every day felt like it was simply reactionary. And to be honest, that’s partially just how life is during the early years with small children.

If you are still in the trenches with little ones, be encouraged, And reach out to the people around you for help if you’re struggling! There were many years when I did not do that thing, because I was too proud to ask for help, or because I just didn’t want to ask anyone else to take care of them, or for whatever reason. But the truth is, we all need a support system and community to help us. If you’re struggling in this season, drop me an email, Mama. I’d love to encourage you and be praying for you.

There you have it - a glimpse behind the scenes at a weekday in our home! What do you love - or hate? I am always on the lookout for tips and tricks and would love to hear how you structure your day!

Tell me in the comments below, what do you do to keep your schedule flowing? Do you have a schedule similar to ours? Do you do something different? I’d love to hear about your days!

What would you like to do next?

***Please note: I do not have paid partnerships or receive pay to review any specific products. I do use Amazon Associate links for some products I share about here on my blog. By using Amazon Associate links for products I use and genuinely love, I receive a small percentage of revenue from purchases made through those links.

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