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Summer Fun Lists & Charts

{{aka - the post about how to keep my sanity this summer!}}

 

every year for the last several summers we have created a summer fun list - just a simple way to check off all the fun things we HOPE to do throughout the summer.

 

now just to be clear, I have NO intentions of following any kind of strict schedule for the summer. it's a time to sleep late, be spontaneous and just relax... but I also feel like the whole house functions just a little bit better if we do have some semblance of order, know what I mean?

 

so here are the charts/lists we made for Summer 2013

 

first up - Bob and I are planning to run our first 10k at the end of August, being our first time I want to be sure to train well enough for it and I'll be honest, I usually slack on exercise in the summer months. so this is my chart to track my miles that I've run leading up to the race ...

 

 

next up is our official SUMMER FUN list ...

 

I am loving this cute washi tape that says 'like it, love it, etc'

 

and since we're lazier in the summer and busy heading off to the beach and other fun places, we tend to neglect our house more ... which is fine, but at some point it must get cleaned or we'll be living like pigs.

so instead of everyone having a chore chart we go by this very basic and loose schedule - each day has a specific chore we all help with - bathrooms twice per week helps keep them from getting nasty, same with vacuuming. then we have the dailies - simple things that help keep the whole house running more smoothly - the basic rule is to pick up after yourself. if everyone chips in with these few basic things every day it only takes a few minutes each day and we never feel like we're spending a whole bunch of time cleaning. I like that!

 

a poster to keep track of books we've read ... as you can see we just put it up. =)

 

and a boredom buster poster too ... because there's nothing I hate more than kids saying they're bored in the summertime ... so if they ask me the age old question of 'what should we do?!?!' I direct them to the poster to pick something ... {stuff on the left is mostly outdoor, stuff on the right mostly indoor}

 

and here they all are ...

I feel like this is the summer command center! hahaha

oh yeah, one more ... dirty clothes somehow always seem to get dumped in the hallway by the basement door and it drives me cRaZy so I put up this sign - and so far, it's been going much better!

 

and that's it! just keeping things loose and fun with just the perfect dose of structure to keep us all sane ... that's my kind of summer!

 

how about you? do you keep a regular schedule during the summer? do you have a daily plan or just go with the flow?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Week One

 

 Ahhhh summer is finally here ... we've had some ups and downs this week ... it's definitely been an adjustment for us all to be home together every day again. I think we're finally getting into a groove now that we've established some basic rules. My husband came home one day to find me in tears because my kids had been fighting/arguing so much and driving me crazy. I did not want to spend our summer like this! So he talked with them and we all worked some things out and so far it's been smoother since then. So now that I've been honest and you know that life isn't all shiny and happy here are some pictures from the past week or so ... ;)

 

 

 

 

The girls have begun frog hunting again - this was their first catch - they made him a cool

habitat and kept him for a couple hours before releasing him again.

 

 

For Father's day we went out to dinner at one of my favorite places - yummy, yummy Mexican food!

The day before school got out I had a minor outpatient surgery - I pretty much camped out in front of the TV with Netflix movies for the day ... kinda rare for this busy Mama to just lay around all day!

 

My daughter wrote the sweetest card for her teacher!

 

As soon as school was out we were in full summer gear - hangin' by the pool, eating

watermelon and drinkin' iced tea ... yes, summer has officially arrived!

 

And personally I have been enjoying my quiet times every day out on the patio ...

so nice to take my time and not rush ...

 

Our countdown was completely filled now that school was out! Time to change the chalkboard wall!

 

We celebrated school being out with yummy treats at Rita's!

 

While the girls were swimming I started working on our Summer Fun List!

I'll share it with you in my next post!

 

Yum Yum Yum

 

Blueberry faces and wet pool hair - love it!

 

My toe nails match the pool water!

 

Friday night we enjoyed a concert in the park - so fun and relaxing,

this is the kind of stuff I love about summer!

 

Saturday night we watched Hope play her last soccer game of the season. So proud of her!

 

 

 

 

A sure sign of summer - colorful, wet towels hanging on the fence.

 

Sunday we had family visiting and I made an angel food cake, oh so yummy!

 

With fruit salad and cool whip of course!

 

Joy wore matching dresses with her American Girl Doll to church on Sunday.

 

Oh Gracie, that does not look like a comfortable pillow for your head!

 

When Bob got out of work the other night we headed to the beach for a couple hours.

Such a nice time of night to enjoy the beach after all the crowds had gone home.

 

 

We went to SIX FLAGS with our friends! It was BLAZING hot so the kids

enjoyed the waterpark for most of the day ...

 

And we even let them choose where to have dinner on the way home ...

 

We had our first friend day - swimming, lunch and friends - yay!

 

And we went to the car races one night ... only saw a bit before getting

rained out but it was fun and we'll be going back again.

 

How is your summer going so far?

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of the Year Teacher Gifts

My girls have had the most amazing teachers this year.

I have a lot more to say about their first year in public school, but for now I just

wanted to share what we gave them for the end of the year THANK YOU gift.

 

I sort of figured that most teachers have a bazillion mugs and things that say '

World's Best Teacher' so I wanted to do something a little different.

I figured with it being summer and all, who couldn't use a new beach/pool towel?

 

I found these gorgeous, bright, cheerful towels at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Wrapped a pretty ribbon around each one and gave them with ...

 

 

 

A pretty handstamped card - I LOVE this stamp set --

this is what I HOPE the teachers get to do this summer!!

 

And I found these chocolate bars that had $1,000,000 on them so we wrote a cute little tag that said 'you're one in a million!'

 

My youngest daughter also chose to make her own GIANT card for her teacher -

she wrote the SWEETEST sentiment inside it thanking her teacher and telling her she

was the best teacher ever. I was super proud of her doing this all on her own!