Ah summer…

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Long days of sun and water.

Sleeping until mid-morning.

Reading whole books in one day.

Weeding gardens in the hottest part of the day.

Playing with kittens in the dappled shade.

Hamburger fries and watermelon.

Hot dogs and s’mores.

Friends and family.

But, what if you are the mom? And not only the mom, but the mom that likes the schedule and the order of the school year?

The first month and a half of our vacation were total chaos this year. It was fun – a two week trip clear out to Washington state, a couple weddings (with one more to go), a family reunion, sunny days swimming and good times all around.

All those weeks with no plan or order were starting to wear me down, though. And it’s a known fact that children do better with a bit of schedule and discipline. I decided it was time to buckle down and save the rest of my summer and my sanity in the process.

The Morning

The first change came right away in the morning. Getting up anywhere from 9:30 to 11:00 was not cutting it. The pets weren’t getting fed until after lunch most days. It seemed like the later the girls got up, the grumpier they were. It did nothing for my mood either, to have them straggling out at any time, wanting breakfast and then asking to go swimming. We decided a compromise time to get up was 8:45. Their alarms are set and they (usually) get up shortly after they ring. I figure this will give us a headstart when school starts back up, too. They will still be used to getting up by their alarms.

We have what I call ‘morning chores’. This consists of all the getting ready for the day things: making bed, combing hair, brushing teeth, feeding pets, doing dishes. I have a chore chart where they can cross these things off as they do them. That seems to give them extra incentive to get them done.

After breakfast and the morning chores are done, they usually sit down for a little bit of review work. Do some cursive and manuscript letter practice or go through some flashcards. Reading is always a good idea, too. They read quietly and out loud. We are also working through the Bible School books from this year. We missed Bible School completely (much to the girls dismay), so I promised them at the beginning of summer we would get the books and we would go through them together. That seems to be a good thing to do. They are enjoying it and so am I.

Lest this all sounds too schoolish and scheduled, please keep in mind that I was a teacher for nine years and I absolutely LOVED it and still miss is. While I wouldn’t want to teach at this stage of my life, doing a little bit of it at home does give me a small taste of it again. And honestly, the schedule has been good for me and the girls. I have noticed way less frustration on all sides in this house. Everyone knows what is expected of them and things are going way more smoothly since we started having a bit a plan.

The House

I am also trying to keep my house cleaned throughout the week. I have gone through spells of this before, and I really like how easy housekeeping is when it is broken up among the days of the week, instead of doing it all on Saturday. I like to keep Saturday open, anyway. That is Weston’s day off from work and it’s nice to be able to go along if he is doing something interesting that day.

This plan is all very flexible. If something comes up, we either do it the next day, or skip it until next week.

You would be surprised, if you were a fly on my wall (and there’s plenty of them this summer!!!), how many times these chores get skipped until next week. I’m not sure my house gets cleaned any more often than most summers, but it does help save my sanity to have a plan in order.

A side note about Mondays. I used to believe that Monday was just a day that was meant to be hard. I would hit the week with a huge to do list on Monday morning and bog down before noon, wondering why I didn’t have the power to get it all done. Then I realized that while Sunday is called the day of rest, it really doesn’t provide a lot of rest. I totally changed my approach to Monday. I do laundry that day and not much else that is extra. We do all the morning chores, of course, and cooking happens. I usually do some straightening from over the weekend, but no cleaning or in depth organizing of any sort. I have learned to love Mondays. I just needed to learn my own rhythm for the day.

The Electronics

Face it, electronics are here to stay. Learning to use them in a sane way is crucial for our, well, sanity. Even though I have learned a few things about them over the last few years, it is hard to remember them and apply them in my everyday life.

I know, for example, that if I sit down after I send Weston off to work, and start looking at emails and scrolling mindlessly that my devotions may not happen. It is easy to scroll from the time Weston leaves until the girls’ alarms ring a couple hours later. Rabbit trails happen so easily. Something pops up that catches my attention, then something else does. Soon I am far from my original post and I may have completely forgotten what I was looking up in the first place. It is a collossal waste of time and energy. My goal is to have devotions, look at emails (and delete them because I can’t stand cluttered email) and get the girls chore chart written out before they are up.

Do you let your children use your phone or iPad?

This is a question I would love if you answer in the comments. I am curious what you let them do. Our girls use my old iPad for a few games. I have made some rules for the summer, though. No playing on it until after lunch. When they start playing I set the timer for 15 minutes. When it rings, they are done until the next day. Emma loves to draw and she is allowed to use Art Hub for 45 minutes a day. After that they are done with electronics for the day. Occaisionally they will watch something we are all discussing. Titan sinking, which led to discussing the Titanic, which led to watching a few short videos of the Titanic explorations. Statuses are always a big pull for them (because they see mom and dad looking at them?!). When I’m not looking they are pretty good at sneaking my phone and scrolling through that.

I’m tempted at times to change my lock code to something they don’t know, throw away the old iPad, stick my head in the sand and not take the time to teach anything about technology. That doesn’t seem quite right, though. On one hand, they need to know how to use my phone in case of an emergency. We don’t have a land line, so my phone is the only one available during the day. And what would it be like at 16 when they get their first phone and they have not been exposed at all to them. It seems like they would go hog wild and be lost at sea.

Am I making excuses? I’m not sure. Tell us how you do it!

The Meals

While the busyness of the last while has been going on, cooking has definitly taken a back seat. Meals are whatever is fast and easy. As some of you may know, I follow the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle, so cooking does take a bit more forethought. Honestly, a lot of that has fallen by the wayside lately. My girls aren’t even going to know what a vegatable is and salads are but a distant memory!! So what are we eating?

Chicken salad sandwhiches. Here is the recipe I use:

1 cup (or 1 can) shredded chicken
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1 wedge Laughing Cow Cheese (optional)
Squirt mustard
1/2 tsp salt
shake of red pepper flakes
pepper to taste
1/4 apple diced

Mix the yogurt and cheese together first.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Serve on your choice of bread or eat on WASA crackers for a different spin.

Ham sandwhiches.

Hamburgers.

Pizza. Looking for a quick easy option for a crust? This one is really good and it’s gluten free, to boot.

Chips. (Preferably baked, but let’s be real, here. We have eaten plenty this summer that haven’t qualified for even tending towards healthy.)

Lots of taco, quesadilla, enchillada meals.

Taco salad. Here is my favorite dressing recipe:

1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 T ketchup
2 T dill relish
1 tsp vinegar
2-3 shakes hot sauce 
a couple shakes red pepper flakes
1 T taco seasoning 
*Mix all together.  Add enough milk to thin to desired consistancy.  Pour over taco salad.  

For the taco salad, I use shredded lettuce, kidney beans, hamburger meat (seasoned with my favorite taco seasoning from this company, all the spices are better than average from Starwest Botanicals), cheese, and crushed tortilla chips (not Doritos!).

The Flexibility

Another thing that is saving my summer (and sanity) is not being too strict about all this. There is no way this is always happening and I’m ok with that. I like the security of having a plan to use when we are home, and I like the flexibility of knowing it’s ok to let it go when summer calls and we just want to go have fun on these long hot days.

What is saving your summer (and sanity)? How do you feel about technology and your children? What do you cook in the summer for ease and (hopefully) healthy?

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