Weeks 1 & 2:
Grocery List:
- Fruits & Veggies
- Ingredients for a fun baking project
Activity Schedule:
- Swim – Monday, Wednesday, Friday
- Dance – Tuesday and Thursday
- Soccer – Tuesday
Chore List:
- Switch out seasonal clothes and make a trip to consignment store and Salvation Army
- Start cleaning out my closet
Summer Goals:
- Get back in shape
- Operation: Self-Service Summer
- Get the house ready to sell next spring
- Have fun with my kiddos!
Well, here we are again! Summer has officially begun! I am lucky enough to have the privilege of taking summers off to spend with my kids and feel truly grateful to have this time with them. The school year is so hectic. Between homework, extracurriculars and my own work schedule, I feel like I hardly see my girls. But now, I have eleven whole weeks to experience all of the smiles, cuddles, make-believe games, full-sun activities, requests for snacks, arguments over who gets to sit in the middle, declarations of boredom … Oh no, what have I done?
No, but really, it’s going to be so great. Hubby even had the nerve to ask me if I was sure I wanted to do this, like I should be worried or something. Which is ridiculous. These are my kids. I’m not worried about spending so much time with them. I love them. To his credit though, last summer was hard, and he did find me in the fetal position more times than I care to admit. But this summer is different. The girls are older, and I have a plan to make all of our lives easier. I call it Operation: Self-Service Summer. I am going to teach the girls how to make their own snacks and lunches, get themselves dressed, pick up their messes, and just be able to do for themselves in general. In the words of Ina Garten, “how bad can that be?”
I have a few of my own goals as well. Hubby and I joined a gym, and we are going to take turns giving each other the chance to go. With all of my extra time and freedom of schedule, I’m sure I’ll be able to make it work … at some point. Also, we hope to put the house on the market next spring, so there is lots of organizing and purging to be done. Again, I finally have some free time, so I should be able to get this done. Hey! I can even make it part of the girls’ chores. Having a 6 year-old and two 4 year-olds helping should only decrease my workload, right? In fact, I already switched out the seasonal clothes in their closets and made a trip to Salvation Army. It only required numerous snack bribes and resulted in a broken refrigerator drawer and nail polish on the bathroom floor, but I was able to cross one thing off the list! This is going to be a breeze.
Speaking of snacks, I did a complete overhaul on what kinds of foods I bring into the house. During the school year, we have so many things going on during the week that I don’t have time to cook much. But seeing as I plan on being home most late afternoons (to avoid the heat), I should be able to cook dinner every night. Over the past six years, I have lost my love of cooking. There’s no time, and the kids don’t even eat it. I’m hoping to renew that joy of being in the kitchen again. This time, though, I want to get the kids involved. We can have weekly baking or dinner projects. So fun, right? Right?!?
It’s the end of week one, and things haven’t gone quite as I had hoped. But I remain optimistic that this will be the best summer yet. Swimming, dance class and soccer start next week, so they will at least be tired, right? Seriously, though, when do they finally get tired?!?
