Hello Summer

Well, the end of the school year is rapidly approaching and as usually happens it gets crazy busy.

D has nine days left of second grade (sniff), we have a family funeral to attend, my brother-in-law Colton is graduating from high school this upcoming weekend (yay!), our friend Jacquelyn's daughter's birthday is also this weekend, W has a birthday coming up (what!?!) and the day after is his little other half, K's birthday.  Then there's Father's Day, my little birthday buddy, KC, and my birthday as well as several other family birthdays sprinkled throughout the next month; and that's just June!  I'm already tired thinking about it.

If only June were actually like that image!

I have mixed feelings about D being on summer vacation.  It'll be nice to not have to do the school pickup-drop off thing, but at the same time we barely survived spring break.  When he's home he feels like he needs to be entertained all the time and gets easily bored and cranky!

That will not be happening this summer.  For the sake of my sanity I will be developing a survival guide, also known as a daily schedule.  Things like: movie Mondays, field trip Fridays, library day, and maybe a park day too.  Those will be the major activities for the days but I will also have time set aside for quiet reading time and I think I might also create a list of things they can choose to do if they come to me and say they are bored!  D's school also does library Tuesday evenings where they can checkout books and take AR quizzes on them.  Plus I'll also need the daily time to do a little cleaning and laundry.

I'm also torn about kids summer activities.  I know some parents pack their kiddos summer full of various camps and activities and I have those moments of guilt where I think to myself "should they be doing more, am I denying them opportunities?"  But then I realize that one camp or activity a month in the summer is ok!  I don't want to spend my summer running around crazily doing different things that will in the end make us all very cranky.  I want to be able to go to the cabin, go camping, and have barbecues with friends, do spontaneous summer things without having to worry about missing one of the activities.

I am bound and determined to survive this summer with my sanity at least partially intact.  I will also plan some girls nights with my good mom friends out there because if I don't have some grown up conversation I will lose it.  There is no other way to say it, if I have to talk about coloring, cartoons, kiddie craft projects and change diapers all day I might need to book an extended stay at the local behavioral health unit.  Sadly, that sounds a little relaxing.  Maybe if we're really lucky the hubby and I might get a date night or two this summer also!

But I'm trying to stay positive; I am responsible for how I choose to feel - even if coffee helps me feel those feelings.  Have I mentioned that it's typically not safe to approach me if I haven't had my coffee yet?  I have literally walked away from poop on the bathroom rug so I could drink my coffee before I faced it, but that's another story and I seem to have rambled away from my topic.

Life's an adventure and (at the moment) I say bring on the next chapter!  Hello summer!

Until next time!