Let me catch my breath....
Man, this summer has been a busy one! I'm typing this furiously before I have to get the two big kids into their swimming suits and head off to the last day of swimming lessons! LAST day of swimming lessons? Already? Yes, we managed to squeeze two weeks of swimming lessons into our first half month of summer, as well as baseball, ballet, a day at the beach, a trip to see the dinos at Powell Gardens, an afternoon at the fountains in Crown Center, and a generous sprinkling of play dates and bike rides. And it's only getting better. Next week we add theater camp and tae kwon do to the mix.
I remember a more "experienced" mother at work telling me that you only get busier as your kids get older, and now I understand. The more kids you have attending school in the fall, the more you want to cram into the short three months of summer. I made a "summer bucket list" similar to one of my new favorite bloggers, cleanmama.blogspot.com, and am committed to helping my kids make awesome summer memories this year. I spent a day researching and typing up a plan, and my 6-year-old checks the list every morning to keep us on track.
I'm also trying to embrace the idea that I can put my heart and energy into several projects at once. I've always been the type of person that gets an idea (i.e. doing a triathlon) and pours a lot of time, energy, and money into it and tends to let other projects/routines/tasks fall to the wayside (i.e. cleaning the bathroom). So, that's getting old. And kind of smelly. Cleanmama has inspired me to make a "weekly docket." This maps out my plan for the week. My dinners, my cleaning schedule, my kids schedule, and my workout schedule. At the top, I pick one big project to tackle anytime that week. This weeks is the LEFT side of my pantry. This may or may not get done, I can always carry it over to next week. Last weeks project, organizing the junk drawer. Isn't that beautiful?
My workouts are getting squeezed in whenever possible, mostly in the morning before Patrick leaves for work. Admittedly, they have been low on my list of priorities until these last couple of weeks, when I realized Triathlon Season was upon us and I had to get serious. I often do this when I'm training for something big. I like to give my body and mind a little break midway through my plan and then jump back in at full force.
My new favorite workout? Running 3-4 miles with my little man on his fancy "Specialized" bike. Babies and toddlers are cute, but I'm happily realizing how much fun it is to have big kids that you can truly play with. A kid that can really play catch with you, really ride bikes with you, really play badmitton with you. There's no "letting him win" anymore.
And so we're off to start our Thursday. The best part is when everyone crashes around 2:00pm and then wakes up ready for the second part of our day.
