I've always
looked forward to summer break. I love the break from early mornings and
busy schedules and I love having my kids home with me. Having a new baby
just as summer began I was nervous that the kids would struggle with being home
too much and getting bored. I'm happy to report that so far (we're only two
weeks into it) we are doing so much better than I expected. They haven’t even
drawn from our Summer Boredom Buster jar yet.
From the get-go I
explained to the kids that each day they would have jobs to do, similar to what
they usually have on Saturday's during the school year. I expected moans
and groans, but actually they have been better about it than I expected,
especially Abigail. On several days she's asked me before bed what jobs
she'll have in the morning and as soon as she's up she is hard at work.
Not having
anything in the morning has saved my sanity. Katie and Jason still wake
up early (usually before 8), but the girls are finally getting to the age where
they like to sleep in. To be honest, I really don't know what time the kids are
getting up these days cause I'm the last one up. Jason has been great at
getting his own breakfast and even helping Katie get a bowl of cereal and then
they quietly entertain themselves. I'm totally spoiled, right?
So our mornings
are slow going, by the time everyone is up and jobs are done it's around
11-12pm and then it's lunchtime. Katie is down for a nap before the kids
head outside, and then most afternoons they spend the rest of the day playing
with friends.
With the girls
getting up so late each morning they aren't tired at the usual bedtime of 8pm.
We've pushed back lights out till 9pm but they struggle to fall asleep,
often we'll hear then chatting till after 10pm.
As the girls get
older (and their room has more stuff they don't want their younger siblings
getting into) they have attempted to keep the younger ones from coming in
uninvited. This led Jason to feeling protective of his space as well so
a few months ago he created a sign for his door that said NO girls were
allowed. Shortly after my mom arrived, and she was sleeping in his room
(he slept in a fort in the bonus room), I noticed his sign changed to something
along the lines of, NO girls allowed except Grandma. I wish I had taken
a picture of these first few signs in his cute little five year old handwriting
and his inventive spelling.
Fast forward to
one of the very first days of summer break when the kids spent all day creating
in their room. At the end of the day the girls bedroom door looked like
this. The can is their mailbox (there was two, but they kept falling
down), just in case someone wants to leave them mail. Even two weeks later
they are still diligent about turning over the “in” or “out” sign when they
enter or leave the room.
And Jason’s door
looks like this.
The girls have spent many, many summer hours crafting and
creating. In addition to the signs on their bedroom door, they have
gotten back into making things with duck tape (their newest product is
wallets), and Abigail has made several friendship bracelets from embroidery
thread while Carly has been occupied making lanyards. They haven't played any DS or computer games all summer, I love that!
The girls attended our stake
activity day camp this past Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. They LOVED everything about it and I’m
so grateful our stake leaders put in so much time and effort to make it such a
wonderful event for the girls each year.
We’re off to a great start!
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