Buck and Belle: So, Here's The Plan.

I am so excited it's summer. Like beyond words excited. I love the thought of not having anywhere to be at a certain time. Let's be real, my schedule is by no means stressful during the school year. Three days a week, I drop Fawn off at school at 9 am and pick him up at 1 pm. And I work from home. But, to not be on a schedule with the little ones is so refreshing. We get ready and head out when we want, and we crash for nap and rest time when we want.

This is the first summer since Fawn was a year old that I haven't signed him up for some sort of school or Mother's Day Out at church. It was only a couple days a week for month in the middle of the summer -- but it was something. This year it just doesn't make sense -- I will have Small Fry with me anyway so I might as well have them both!

But, it's definitely required some planning to keep the house somewhat in order and to keep the kiddos occupied.

THE HOUSE: When Fawn was in preschool, I would take one morning a week while he was there and clean the house from top to bottom. Small Fry was my slightly destructive, but generally content side kick. That just doesn't work with two boys under foot. So, I've made a list of twelve household chores that need to happen on a two-week cycle (some of the chores are repeated if they need to occur weekly). I've got the order of the chore rotation written in my calendar and they are "scheduled" to occur Monday - Saturday, with Sunday being a day to rest (or catch up if the week didn't go as planned). The downside is that my house is never totally clean from top to bottom. But, I think the upside outweighs that! We can tackle a chore at some point of the day for 15 to 30 minutes and move on to the next chore the next day. We've been at this plan for several weeks and I'm loving it. Sometimes everything works right on schedule. Other weeks, we get behind or ahead. And, that's okay too.

THE ENTERTAINMENT: My friends kid me that I'm a cruise director because I'm constantly planning outings for the boys and trying to get a group together to join in the fun. I think its just a carry over from my days of helping with law firm recruiting. It's no secret that we love to go and do. We very rarely spend an entire weekday at home ... like almost never. But sometimes we get stuck in a rut and go the same places and do the same things over and over. Enter, my summer plan. Sunday is my planning day, and I map out an outing for each weekday. I also plan for several activities for Fawn that can be done at home. The activities don't have to be pinterest-worthy, time-consuming, or stressful (that's NOT the goal here). The goal is to have fun, make memories, and avoid summer boredom. So far so good. I can't believe it's the end of June -- this summer is flying by.

I'm not the most organized person, but I am a planner. I don't really think there is a spontaneous bone in my body. I know there will be days -- maybe even whole weeks -- where we throw the whole plan out the window. But, for me it's a good starting point to enjoy these fleeting summer days with precious little ones!