Summer Time!!

Last summer I thought I would really enjoy having the girls around, and we could all just hang out and go with the flow. The flow lead to white water rapids with constant bickering, an extremely messy house, not a minute to myself and me with a concussion (brought on by the feet of a kicking toddler) before the summer could end.
Lesson learned...my kids need structure. They thrive on it. I shouldn't have been too surprised as I tend to be a bit of a control freak and at least 2 of them follow my lead. This summer is the complete opposite. I started picking up "Fun Friday" activities and prizes as they went on sale as far back as March. I've researched library activities to be scheduled, joined them in swimming and book clubs, signed up for summer movie tickets, prepared classroom work to help them keep up their school skills and even contacted a retirement center about volunteer work we can help with. Yes, I am attempting to avoid that dreaded sentence at all costs; my kids will not dare to utter the 3 annoying words..."Mommy, I'm board."
I laid out my master plan in a Family Home Evening where we established the rules and devised a system for tracking the girl's behavior. With everyone on board..."let the summer (gulp) begin"!
We are now three weeks in and I must say it is a completely different experience from last year. Jessica is only 4 and took some adjusting the the family rules. Unfortunately, she had to sit out our first "Fun Friday". Though I did make a tie dye shirt for her. Here are some pictures.


The shirts were really fun to make and we get to wear them as we go out together for all our events.


Anna & Sarah learning swimming strokes.


What the rest of us do while they are swimming.

In case you're wondering...I still don't have a minute to myself and the kids continue to have sibling disagreements from time to time. However, my home is clean every day by 4pm, I'm enjoying time with the girls and we have set a record in not saying "Mommy, I'm board."