Summer Time Schedule!

Hey friends!!

It's a happy day here at our house...because it's the last day of school for my 2 oldest daughters and we will officially be on SUMMER BREAK!

YAHOO!!!

And also- WHOA. my kids are home. all day long. for a good solid 2.5 months. HA!

We love a good schedule at our house and summer time is when we MOST need one. 

My girls THRIVE on a schedule and while I wish I could say they were SO good at playing independently and being creative and always just so sweet and happy to go play outside- that is just NOT THE CASE. 

And don't even get me started on my 2 crazy, toddler boys. HA!

So- with that being said- I thought I would share what our summer schedule is going to look like and also a fun idea I found on how to make each day count. Because even though my kids drive me bonkers- multiple times a day- I know how PRECIOUS these summer days are that we get to spend together. And while I know I will never be the perfect, Pinterest mom- I do want to try my very best to create lasting memories that my kiddos will treasure forever!

Our Daily Summer Schedule

6:30 am -7:00 am- Kids wake up. Our summer rule is that you have to stay in your room until 7 am.

The girls are pretty good about this. This will be a new rule for the boys as they just started sharing a room. We have one of those "wake-up" clocks and I am crossing my fingers AND toes they get with the program pretty quickly. HA!

7:00 am - 8:00 am- Kids get dressed, make their beds, eat breakfast, and brush their teeth. Depending on the morning, the girls are usually really good about helping me dress the boys and making their beds for me (I am a lucky mama! :)

8:00 am - 10:00 am- Go to the gym. We belong to a gym that has childcare included in our membership (all the praise hands!!)- so the kiddos go to the gym daycare and I go workout, take a shower and get ready for the day. This is such an IMPORTANT part of our day. The kids LOVE going to the daycare and I truly need to work out to maintain not only my physical wellness, but my mental health as well!

10:00 am - 1:30-  Out and about. What we do during this time changes from day to day. Some days we might run errands, other days go to the park or go to the library. Most days- we will run errands or go to the park for an hour- then head over to our pool- which opens at 11 am. We will swim, eat lunch at the pool and head home around 1:30 so Marshall can take a nap.

1:30 pm- 3:30 pm- Nap time for Marshall and quiet time for the rest of the kids.

I allow the kids to watch one hour of TV a day during summer break- so usually they play for an hour and then watch a couple of shows for an hour! Sometimes instead of playing, the girls will color or make a craft and if they are really into what they are playing- they will "save" their hour of TV for after they take their showers.

3:30 pm- 5:00 pm- Snack time, clean up around the house and then head outside to play or go to a nearby park. If it's raining and we're all stir-crazy- we will go walk around Walmart (it's only 2 minutes from our house!) or go to the library to play and read. This is a HARD time of day for my kids- they are TIRED- especially my James- who doesn't nap anymore- but gets VERY cranky by this time of day. I have found that feeding my kids a good (but SUPER simple snack- I don't have time for anything involved) and getting them OUT OF THE HOUSE is what keeps us sane during this weird time of day!

Most days, I use a big snack tray to feed my kiddos and its a win-win for everyone! It's easy for me to put a couple different snacks in the different compartments and the kids LOVE having a "snack tray!"

5:00 pm- 6:30 pm- Play some more, wait for Daddy to come home (the most IMPORTANT part of our day- HA!), and eat dinner. 

6:30 pm- 7:00 pm- go for a family walk, kids ride their bikes, or we play in the back yard.

7:00 pm- 8:00 pm- Shower, shows if the kids haven't watched TV all day and bedtime. 

PHEW! What a day! HA!

It might seem like a pretty planned out day- but that's what really works well for us. I am not one of those "easy-breezy-fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" moms and my kids REALLY like know what we are doing each day.

Ok- so check out this fun idea I found! I thought it was a really neat, simple way to make each day a little more fun!

I found this graphic on Pinterest and (I tried to find who created this image- but it wasn't linked to a certain blog!)

What a great idea to have a "theme" for each day of the week!

Also- I loved this post by Raluca, who writes over at the blog, Playful Notes. She gives such great parenting tips and I got a lot of great ideas from this post!

My biggest "goal" for this summer is to maintain a fun schedule so the kids and I don't feel all out of sorts...but also to just CHILL.OUT. I want to ENJOY my kids. This will probably mean the house is dirtier and the laundry stays balled up in the laundry basket longer. As much as this pains me (HA!)...I've got to let it go!! I love my kiddos so much...I don't want to waste any precious time yelling at them to pick up their legos...when I could join them on the floor instead and build something WITH them. 

I'd love to know your "game plan" for the summer!
Do you throw schedules and structure out the window?
Do you maintain a similar schedule to our's?

Whatever your summer looks like....I sure hope it is filled with lots of sunshine, laughter, the lingering smell of sunscreen, nights spent catching fireflies in the backyard and lazy days spent at the pool/beach/river/lake.

Summer time is my FAVORITE. You know how most people say Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year? That's how I feel about June, July and August :)

We're ready for you summer- BRING IT ON!

I hope you have the BEST day!