Making Time to Create

People often ask me how I have time to do all these creative things. I like to scrapbook, make crafts, make cards, sew, make jewelry, cook/bake, blog and I even do some photography. This is not out of the ordinary--a lot of people like to do all of these things too. What is out of the ordinary for me, is that I have 4 little boys, ages 6, 4, and almost 2 year old twins. They certainly keep me busy. WAY busy.
My answer is always the same. I make time to do it.
I have a schedule and a routine. Most of my morning is spent doing household chores (laundry, cleaning, etc.). In between jobs around the house, I take care of my children. They are usually happiest in the morning, and play well together without me, so that is what I let them do. If they need me, I stop what I'm doing and come help them. When my oldest gets home from his morning Kindergarten, we have lunch, read, and do homework. Then I send the twins off to bed for their naps. That is also when my older 2 get to have their quiet time. They have a few things they like to do, and sometimes get to watch TV.
This is MY time. This is when I do all those things that I want to do. I try to make a plan of what I want to do earlier in the day, otherwise I waste my time.
When the twins wake up, it's back to being mommy. This is when I tidy up the house, or we go outside to play. Often I'll start on some of the dinner so I won't be doing it when the kids are all cranky. We have dinner as a family, then relax, read, and play together. At 7:30, we start our bedtime routine, and the kids are in bed at 8.
Depending on the day and how tired I am, I will either veg out with the hubby, or I will get back to work on my creative things. My other trick to making time to create: very rarely do I watch TV--we only have 2 programs we faithfully watch, which equal 1 1/2 hours of TV a week (or less if it's a rerun).
So, there you have it--that's how things roll around here!