M is for "Mom's Summer Plans"

Blogging through the Alphabet with Marcy at Ben and Me continues, even though it is now technically summer break for us.

Of course the kids have lots of plans this summer. Eli will have Boys Club. Brynne will have Girls Club. Our little Co-op small group will meet twice a month to do activities and earn badges from Keepers at Home. Eli and Brynne will have Amazing Athletes camp. They will bowl, go to the library, swim, go to the water park, go to the zoo, play video games, and just have fun. Dawson will switch to the night shift, where he stays up late with his friends playing video games and sleeps half the day. It's great to be a teenage boy. But wait ... now he has a summer job, so his summer of luxury won't be quite as luxurious as he had planned! (btw ... he made $16.50 an HOUR with tips yesterday working at the carwash ... whoa whoa whoa ..)

I hope today isn't a preview of how our summer will go. On this FIRST DAY OF SUMMER BREAK, Brynne was up at 6:30 a.m. and Eli was up at 7:30 a.m. Aren't kids supposed to be excited about sleeping in?

But what is mom going to be doing? I actually have a very busy summer planned.

First, I plan to read absolutely as much as I can get away with! I am participating in an online Bible study called "Love Like Him". And, I will be leading a book study here starting in June on the book Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv.

Second, I will be doing LOTS of lesson planning! We will have all three kids home next year, so I have lots to get prepared. This is especially true since we are adding Eli to the mix. My girlfriend and I have planned a "planning day" in July. Dawson is going to keep all of our kids here at our house and the two of us are going to grab a couple of bottles of wine and retreat at her house to work on our plans. I have great plans for the plans I will plan.

Third, I am planning to do some decluttering and purging. With each room's cabinets and closets I clean out, I will "earn" a $20 garage sale trip on Friday mornings. Let's see if I can get motivated to clean out some junk and bring in more! I am starting with the master bath and my closet this week.

Last, I will be doing some traveling!!

• In early June I get to spend the weekend with my sister in Kansas City getting my new niece's nursery ready for her arrival in July. 
• The next weekend my husband and I are going to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, for our anniversary. He's planning to play golf and I'm planning to sleep in and get a massage. Yeah, we plan to spend some time together, too. 
• We will be home for two days and then we are packing up the kids and heading to St. Louis, Missouri, for a family vacation. It's one of our favorite places to go with so much to do. 
• And then in July I am flying out to Portland, Oregon, with my mom to help my brother paint his house so they can get everything prepared for the arrival of their first baby who will be born in October. While there, I plan to take the bus down to famous Powell's Books for some bargains! I get back two days before our first day of school. Whew!

I also plan to stay diligent with my summer wellness plan. This includes both physical and spiritual wellness. My days will still start early (although not quite as early as they have during school). I will have my quiet and devotion time, do my Bible reading and journaling, and then hit the road for a good walk/jog with Crusoe. When I get home I plan to get ready for the day, do some blogging, work in my garden, and have all of this done (or mostly done) before the whirlwind of the kids wakes up.

This summer is going to go by SO fast! What do you have planned for YOU, moms?