On Thursday Reese “graduates” from her first year of preschool. I know I’m not a mom with 4 kids in all day elementary school that is staring down the barrel of all day every day kid entertaining that I’m not used to. But I’ve still gotten used to having Reese go to school twice a week, and she’s gotten used to that stimulus. That routine twice a week became the bones of my weekly plan, and now it’s gone.

I knew this summer would be different. Last summer was my first with two kids, but I kind of spent it drowning in mental illness. I need this summer to be different. I’m healing my body and brain. We’re in our new house, new neighborhood. I’ve got two kids running around. I needed a plan.

Last year I wrote a blog post about designing your summer, and last week I made a quick video on Danica Plans all about my process over the past month as I designed this approaching summer. I’ve been equally excited and hesitant to design this summer because I’m still not sure how *healthy* I’ll be, and because the calendar is so blank! No big trips, family reunions, girls camp, anything.

But that’s the beauty of it! I have a lot of freedom. So here’s what I want from my Summer 2018:

Girl Goals

I decided to set some goals for each of my girls so that I don’t lose days and weeks to Disney movies or Netflix when we’re bored. Reese has learned so much this year – I don’t want her to lose it! And I’ve treated Loney like such a little baby – it’s time to start actually teaching her things and treating her like a toddler (sobs).

Reese

1. Identify all 26 letters in the alphabet
2. General Counting
3. Be able to spell her own name

We’re ok on all of these, but still need work. It doesn’t mean we’re doing these EVERY DAY, but they’re just a focus so we have stuff to work on when we have down time at home.

Loney

1. Words/Talking – Reese, book, binky, bottle, up, down, etc.
2. Hand Gestures – blow kisses, high fives, peekaboo, bump it, touch body parts on command
3. Solo Time – spend quality solo time with her as much as possible!

Each month I’ll check in with these goals and see how we’re doing. I’ll adjust my weekly plans to reflect our progress.

Weekly Summer Plans

Every week we will do

• A library trip
• A swim/water play date
• Park play

Right now it’s looking like Monday or Tuesday will be our library days, and we’ll go to the Monday Music & Movement class or the Tuesday Storytime there. Friday is our most open day, so I’m setting that as our swim day. And we’re in a playgroup that meets on Thursdays most often, so most of our park days will fall on Thursdays. We will also have my niece one day a week, which will be helpful for planning fun activities to keep everyone entertained.

Reese will have dance once a week for July & August, and we have movie passes for the Megaplex Kids Movie Series every Wednesday. Reese has swim lessons for a week in June, and Ryan has softball Tuesday and Thursday nights through June as well.

We won’t be religious about this schedule, but it provides some good bones to start filling in the other things I want to do like exercise, parties, barbecues with friends, and more.

Daily

I’ve written before about the Happiest Toddler on the Block daily goals – Reading Time, Creative Time, Outside Time. I’ve modified that to create a daily schedule that will give us the structure we need. We ALL thrive with structure, but I’m often bad at creating it. I think it’s even more critical during summer, where we’ll have nothing to force structure upon us. Some days this stuff won’t happen, some days it will be covered by the activities we already have scheduled. But for those inevitable days where we have no plans – this gives us some structure to keep us sane.

Daily Reading – We’ve been doing this right after breakfast and that’s been working really well, since bedtime is often a hot mess.

Daily Cleaning/Helping – I really want to create a habit of family effort. As much as it can be a hassle, I want to teach Reese how to do tasks around the house. Right now she brings in groceries and helps take clean laundry into the right rooms. I think I can teach her to dust, wipe down the chairs, put away the toys where they go, and other tasks. Every day!!

Daily Physical Activity – We gotta move these bodies every day! I’m working on a list to keep adding to so we always have options.

• Scooter
• Pink Little Tykes car
• Park play
• Splash Pad or Swim
• Soccer
• Baseball
• Mini-Trampoline
• Yoga
• Walk Coco
• Play with her golf set
• Dance Party!

Daily Creative Play – I’m the worst at this. It just always seems like a huge mess and hassle! But I have a whole bin of art supplies and buckets of toys that require some help or setup that I NEVER pull out. It’s time!

• Coloring
• Play-doh
• Blocks
• Legos
• Baby Doll
• Puzzles
• String Toys
• Play kitchen
• Painting
• Chalk
• Cook together
• Play music
• Bubbles
• Make cards

I am so excited for this summer to begin! Here’s to hoping we can stay productive and busy to make the most of this excellent season.