It\u2019s summer friends! If you haven\u2019t wrapped up your school year yet, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re getting close. The children are getting anxious to be done, and you\u2019re ready for a breather. Hooray! FREEDOM!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is your gentle reminder to not let that freedom waste away. Use that freedom to accomplish some of those goals or projects you have put on the back burner. Summer is a wonderful time to work on those things (for yourself and your kids) that you just haven\u2019t had time to get around to during the busy school year.<\/p>\n<\/div> It\u2019s also a time for FUN! Vacations and swimming and camp, OH BOY! But be warned\u2026don\u2019t let your fun drowned you. Take advantage of this slower season to RELAX, to ENJOY and even to GROW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As excited as we are about summer, let\u2019s make these days and hours count. Don\u2019t have a \u201cbummer summer,\u201d as I heard one lady say. And that takes a little planning. Uggh! Yes! I said that word. But planning doesn\u2019t have to mean a meticulous list with exact times and dates. It could just be a brain dump of everything you\u2019d like to do\u2026a summer bucket list of sorts. Take a minute to write down a few goals. I have a couple friends who just want to have a summer full of fun. That\u2019s awesome! Maybe that\u2019s you too. Write down those fun things you want to do. Maybe it\u2019s time to get your kids started on a chore list. What a great season to implement it while life is a bit slower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me this summer, I want it to be full of fun, but I also don\u2019t want my home to fall apart while we\u2019re doing it. I don\u2019t function well in chaos, so I want to have some days set aside for fun and some days set aside for a bit of normalcy. And I FOR SURE don\u2019t want to have to spend a lot of time thinking about and preparing meals. No thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, guess what?! If I don\u2019t want my home to fall apart and summer to be chaos, it\u2019s time for me to do a little brain dumping myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s mine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I took these ideas for myself and went a little deeper. Taking a good hour or two to plan (even as much as I despise it,) really does help the decision making in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n E has been doing a chore list since she was two<\/a>. It has transitioned into more of a responsibility list as she has gotten older, so it was time to update it. She LOVES when we update it because she gets to pick the pictures that go on there. We added Clean 15<\/a> and practicing math flashcards to her new list. We\u2019ve tried many kinds of chore charts\u2014velcro charts, money charts, picture charts, the list goes on. This is the chart that has lasted the longest for us because kids love to move the little push pin magnets<\/a> from \u201cto do\u201d to \u201cdone.\u201d And it\u2019s just very simple and so satisfying. You can get your editable version here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are gone a lot during the summer, but I know there needs to be a plan in place for when we are home so it\u2019s not chaos all around. And I know kids just thrive on a routine in general, so it\u2019s important to have something in place so I\u2019m not scrambling the night before or the morning of, trying to figure out what we are going to do that day. So that was the next step for me. I just quickly typed up a list of our rhythms which you can find here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rhythms are a wonderful tool to implement in your home. While they seem \u201cboring\u201d in the long run, they allow you to work on what is most important to you and help you to always move forward even if it\u2019s a little at a time. Here\u2019s our list of rhythms<\/a> for days we\u2019re home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daily anchors<\/a> are things that always happen on a certain day of the week. We have a lot going on, but there are certain days when specific things happen. I know I need to be home for the days E has music lessons. I know I want at least one day a week where we go exploring or on some type of adventure. I know we have a couple days a week where we are doing church activities. And with a sitter living near me now (woohoo!), I\u2019m able to have one day a week where I can work! I needed to put all of these things on a list of some sort and have them visible so I know what\u2019s going on each week for the most part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s too bad we all have to eat three times a day! I would imagine food is the most stressful thing for me in this homemaking journey. Eesh. I need to feed everyone. Every day. Several times a day. And it does not go well when there\u2019s not a plan in place, nor when there\u2019s not any food in the fridge. Eesh again! Do you know what you\u2019re eating this summer? All I know is that I do not want to be in the kitchen hours on end. So I must have a plan. I need recipes I can make as fast as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter my meal plan anchors\u2026my favorite thing I added to my anchor list.<\/a> I already have a pretty good rotation that works well (see it here<\/a>), but I needed it to be whittled down even further, so that when it comes time to sit down and plan out what we\u2019re eating for the week, I don\u2019t have to take much time at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there you have it. My meal rotation for the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another way to have the best summer ever? Hold your plans loosely. Here\u2019s a secret. You\u2019re summer is not going to go as planned. Yes, we created a \u201cloose plan,\u201d but that is just a general guideline. It\u2019s not a hard and fast, \u201cWe are going to do this or else\u2026\u201d If you come to summer with that mindset, you are going to be sorely disappointed. If you show up to a swimming play date with hopes that it\u2019s going to turn out just like last year, you will probably be frustrated. Enjoy what is right in front of you. Make new memories. Cherish the moments. Even the grumpy kid ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter into summer with THANKSGIVING. Thankful for beautiful weather. Thankful for down time. Thankful for children being home. (Yes, that\u2019s something to be thankful for.) Thankful for extra time with friends. Thankful for summer rains. Thankful for water and swimming holes. Thankful for grills. Thankful for BBQs. Thankful for back decks and deck furniture. A grateful heart will allow you to look with new eyes on situations that are less than pleasant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Relax, let go of lofty expectations. Enjoy your reality. Cherish each and every moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hope you have the best summer of your lifetime,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarah<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the links here are Amazon affiliate links. If used to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you! So THANK YOU!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s summer friends! If you haven\u2019t wrapped up your school year yet, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re getting close. The children are getting anxious to be done, and you\u2019re ready for a breather. Hooray! FREEDOM! <\/p>\n This is your gentle reminder to not let that freedom waste away. Use that freedom to accomplish some of those goals or projects you have put on the back burner. Summer is a wonderful time to work on those things (for yourself and your kids) that you just haven\u2019t had time to get around to during the busy school year. <\/p>\n It\u2019s also a time for FUN! Vacations and swimming and camp, OH BOY! But be warned\u2026don\u2019t let your fun drowned you. Take advantage of this slower season to RELAX, to ENJOY and even to GROW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65,371,66,118],"tags":[391,393,357,390,23,358,113,392],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-food","category-home","category-summer","tag-best-summer-ever","tag-expectations","tag-food","tag-freedom","tag-goals","tag-meal-plan","tag-summer","tag-thankful"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-asset-10.jpeg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":544,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-asset-10.jpeg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nCreate a Loose Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Chore Lists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Rhythms<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Anchors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Meal Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Hold Plans Loosely and Enter Summer with a Grateful Heart<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n