Getting My Game Face On

Oliver has been out of pre-school for three days this week. He is the type of kid that likes structure. He likes to know what is coming next. Since he expects that he should be going to pre-school and isn't, he hasn't been the most manageable child. Add to the fact that its about 15 degrees cooler than last week and its raining. In other words, its temper tantrum central over here. And I am spent.

Oliver being silly and telling me to take his picture as he leans backwards.

I've got to get on the ball, devise a summer plan and get some activities going. In other words, I need to get my sh*t together in order to make it through the summer with my sanity. The plan so far:

1. The Summer To Do List-I went all out this year after I saw this cute idea on Pinterest. I made Chloe and Oliver tell me some things they would like to do. Oliver gave me one item, swimming, and Chloe listed about 4 things, go-karting, the zoo, lemonade stand and the pool. Not enough ideas. I added some more to insure that we avoided the "Mom, I'm bored".

2. Having Something Else for the Kids To Do- Oliver will be going to summer camp at pre-school three days a week. It's in the morning, keeps to the same schedule but incorporates a lot of outside play. Chloe will be swimming and diving on the local swim/dive team and will have practice every morning during the week. This means that Oliver doesn't have to sit through her two hour practice every day. Its tough on him, especially since the pool isn't open to patrons, only the swim team, during that time. I also enrolled Oliver in swim lessons. He's taking from a small swim school that only allows two kids in class at a time. I think this is a better option for him as he is lively and needs a lot of attention. I didn't want to sign him up for a class at our Y that has 15 first time swimmers.

4. The Garden - Boredom buster. The garden always needs tending. The kids will help with weeding and picking the vegetables. I also signed us up to help take care of our church's food pantry garden for two weeks this summer. Its a larger plot in the community garden, so maybe the kids will enjoy watering it. I also planted more than we can consume and the kids and I will be donating our excess bounty to the local food pantry.

5. Having a Plan for Dinner - I've always been a planner and I confessed how many calendars I keep. But, the one thing that helps me keep my sanity and helps me to feel like I am doing "ok" at this mom gig is by planning dinners. If I don't, it just seems the day is ruined come 4:30 p.m. when it dawns on me that I have to feed these little people. So, I was super-thrilled when I stumbled across this blog when I was planning out dinners and nearly *squealed* when I discovered that she was just releasing a cookbook based on the blog. My dinner sanity is restored.

6. Books - Chloe and I are going to have a mother/daughter book club. We picked out the Franny K. Stein series books and Chloe also wants to read The 39 Clues book series. I am in the process of finding books for Oliver that he and I can read together while Chloe is reading. He loves the iPad and I have been trying to find some good, interactive books to download on it. I also purchased him some seek and find cars books that we can look through together.

7. And then there is the really FUN stuff- The plan is that I will take Chloe on Fridays to the track so she can kart and Matt will meet us up there after work. We also have a vacation planned later in the summer to the Finger Lakes and there is always boating.

8. And there is always this- I saw this beauty on Pinterest too. I am in the process of making one!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!