I have to be honest, summer came very quickly for this teacher. I am not saying that I am not ready for it, far from that, I’m exhausted from a very challenging school year. The year, however, really did fly by. I would say this was the most demanding year ever but also the quickest. Strange huh?
Anyway, school is over, and I am about to settle into the summer routine. Usually I am ready for this well in advance; planning summer menus, daily routines and activities for each family member. This year, as past posts (or lack thereof) have indicated, I have been a little busy. I am NOT in any way ready for summer, routines, menus, activities, or general time off with the family. I really feel like a fish out of water!
As I am becoming increasingly accepting of my recent fall from “organized” to “winging it”, I spent the first weekend of the summer vacation cleaning out my bedroom, reorganizing closets, organizing my jewelry (what a mess that was), drawers, and getting my laundry schedule going. I am very happy to have enough time each day to be able to wash, dry and put away clothes. The school year often consists of three-hour folding and putting away sessions on a Sunday afternoon…not fun!
I did get Button to the pool (Peanut was with a friend), and we swam together to get some exercise. Naturally, Button only wanted to play, so I had to mastermind some games involving multiple laps in order for him to feel Mommy was playing, not exercising with him. I think we spent most of the three hours there actually swimming. Chase, flipper races, Who Can go Furthest Underwater? and dive races all helped.
I devoted the next day to gardening – more exercise with the amount of weeding I was doing, and getting the plants into the larger pots for my porch. Peanut, Button and I are also about to plant some apple seeds…I am hopeful that my lack of green thumb doesn’t rub of on my boys, and we are going to grow apple trees. I have no idea how that is going to work out but at least it’s something for us to write about together.
Journaling is a big thing in my house over the summer. I like the boys to write but they are not the most motivated authors. Keeping a science journal is fun and a great motivator. My boys also think about hypotheses, evaluate data, and draw conclusions. I like to keep these journals in notebooks rather than online. I know some children blog and that is great, but I want to keep up the penmanship over the summer too.
Today was very wet! We awoke to a massive thunderstorm…loads of fun as we snuggled in bed watching the lightning and counting the seconds until the thunder-clap to see how far away the storm was. Then, after one disastrous trip to the fish sore (it was closed) later, I played “Hotel” with Button. This is a game of his invention in which he becomes a hotel owner who charges for each item I ask for. He then imagines getting it all and providing me with a high level of service and comfort. I, in turn, get to ask him about prices, and making change. We use play money and it really keeps him entertained.
So, when all is said and done, I have been quite productive already, despite having no plans. My house is becoming more organized, I am on a laundry schedule, I have exercised each day, my kids have been active, learning has happened, and everyone feels happy. Success!
Now I have to think about the weekly shop! I enjoy being able to shop more regularly over the summer so food and meals are often fresher and much less rushed. But….I lack personal inspiration at the moment, so I have to thank my wonderful blogging friends over at The Full Plate Blog or Jeanette’s Healthy Living have a plethora of yummy and healthy ideas for me to draw from. If I’m entertaining, I could even pull from my wonderful cousin over at Smitten Kitchen for advice.
So I’m off to think about getting my butt into gear with some planning. I like to plan, it makes me feel better. But I am glad that we all survived my completely random, unplanned weekend without any casualties 🙂
Healthy Working Mom 