Mercy! Uncle! Stop this Crazy Thing!

"Mercy! Uncle! Stop this Crazy Thing!" Those are the phrases that have been going through my mind over the past 3 weeks. We had 2 weeks notice to move out of our old house on post. We had Faith's birthday party there on May 21 which was the day before we got the keys to the new place. From that day we had 11 days to get moved out of the old and into the new house (also on post.) Clearing on this post is hard. You do lots of stuff and still pay a cleaning team to do more. We were happy to pass inspection on June 2 and be able to put our full attention into setting up the new home.

But wait, it was party time, AGAIN. Olivia's 10th on June 4. So we had a party in our new place basically just after we unpacked enough stuff to be functional. (Pictures and details to follow... sometime.)

I might also mention that we put our van in the shop at the beginning of this whirlwind for a few repairs that we had procrastinated. That all went fine, but Dave's little black truck smoked itself to a permanent halt. I don't think we quite got our $1000 worth from it. Dave's mechanically minded co-worker said with reserved optimism that we MIGHT be able to get $500 for parts at a junk yard. So we didn't have the truck for the move. Just before Dave went back to a full schedule at work, and thanks to my generous Dad, we were able to get something a much more... functional. Our second car is now a two-door little red (no, not a corvette) Ford Explorer Sport. I think it will serve us well and we are grateful for it.

To my surprise (really!) school ended on Thursday, May 29th. I dropped the kids off and said something about getting a gift for their teachers the next day. Olivia and Paul told me that it WAS the last day! I think I have a great excuse-- during the move I took down the lunch menu which alerts me to days when there are no school. If I see that nothing is being served, I know there is no school.

And you know that photography class I kept going on about? THANKFULLY, my instructors said I could turn in my last couple of assignments post-class and they would still critique my photos for me.

So, I was caught off guard and found that summer vacation had arrived, and I was not ready. After a week of free-for-all I got my trusty summer schedule planned. The kids and I have enjoyed using versions of this schedule over the last couple of summers. This schedule keeps my kids from repeatedly asking "Can we go swimming today?" and "What's for breakfast?" and other questions that rub me the wrong way. Reguarding the first question, I don't really feel like getting into a swimsuit more than once a week and exposing myself to full sun for multiple hours- this leads to red bumpy arms and an exaggerated "pregnancy mask" (yeah, I still have it.) As for the second question, and the many variations thereof, I am personally offended that the kids ask what we are going to eat. This must mean that they think I have nothing planned. If that's the case, then this insults my mothering. If I have something planned and tell them what it is, I have a 75% chance of getting a negative whine in response to whatever it is.

I've learned from experience not to plan too much in one day. One year I tried to have something planned for the morning AND afternoon. This was too much and I couldn't stick with it.(I had things like board games, craft activity, trip to the playground and such to fill our time. But we just needed downtime. These things can happen during downtime but it gives some room to be spontaneous and go with the flow.) It's okay to have play stuff and work stuff on the same chart. It is realistic and teaches the kids that one must do both. For me and the kids it seems to suit us best to do the majority of our chores in the morning. I am a better worker in the morning. If we went and played in the morning I would just come home tired in the afternoon and not get much done. But this way, I get the necessities done, can live in the moment better, and it also helps me to get out of the house in the afternoon or I want to take a nap. Anyway, here it is...



Olivia gets full credit for the descriptive day titles and for the idea of "Wacky Wednesday" when we have lunch for breakfast and breakfast for lunch. The piano icon means piano lessons for Olivia and Paul. The slide with water means we go to the local "splash park." This is simply a playground that has some water toys and sprays and it is free. The book is our symbol for the children's reading program at the library program (my personal favorite!) Faith, Paul and Olivia go to a weekly presentation at the library. Topics include reptiles, music, puppets, magic, etc. This gives me one hour to browse the library, read, or just cuddle with Seth and a board book. We either go early or stay after so the big kids can check out books to read for the incentive program. The grocery cart is for grocery shopping- a necessity that the kids look forward to when snacks are sparse. This is certainly the most challenging activity on our schedule, but bribes of picking a candy at the end of the trip can ease the pain a little. The King size Caramello works well... for me. I was slightly excited when I stumbled upon the fact that a nearby movie theater has FREE morning showings of kids movies throughout the summer, see film props. If we don't care for the movie showing that week, than we will watch a rental at home w/ popcorn and drinks to make it a little special. I move that to afternoon to serve my purposes. And finally, the big wave signifies the most looked forward to activity (by those under 35)- a trip to the pool. This is actually the only activity that costs anything and of course it's minimal.

Chores are pretty self explanatory except for "popsicle" jobs which you can read about here. For summer, I have 12 popsicle jobs so this covers 3 children doing them 4 days a week. Gives us a little wiggle room if we miss a day for some reason or it can be a nice free day at the end of the week. I let the kids have a bit of a say-so in their daily chore and this is when Paul volunteered for helping with laundry. He brings down the dirty clothes, starts the first load in the washer and sometimes transfers to the dryer. He made it clear that he was not volunteering to fold. Darn! I have been saying that morning chores need to be done by 10 am. I am often reminding them at 9am. I know this schedule makes me look really organized, but there is LOTS of chaos too. If anyone has a cure for hitting, pestering, tattle-telling, screaming, kicking, name-calling, hair-pulling, whining and the like, I will pay big money for it. Really, this fighting amongst siblings is what is going to drive me mad this summer.

Many posts to come when this merry-go-round slows down... For now, two pictures-- Paul taking it easy and Seth sporting his trampoline hair.