Summer fun....Survival style

What do you think of when you hear "summer fun"?  Do you think lazy mornings hanging out in your jammies, no schedule, flying by the seat of your pants, relaxing, etc?  Well if you do then your idea of summer is the exact same as mine and the boys'.  Unfortunately Oksana and Anya fall apart under that kind of summer "fun".  I've had to totally shift my thinking this summer in order to survive.  Considering that I just lost the rest of my summer school break, and may never have it again, it was time to build in more of what the girls needed and less of what I consider summer to be.  I started by creating a schedule.  This is how our day goes:

MORNING:

7:00-7:30 wake up
7:30-8:00 breakfast
8:00-8:30 get dressed and ready
8:30-9:30 learning activities/devotional
9:30-10:30 Craft/cooking activity
10:30-11:30 Free time
11:30-12:00 make/eat/clean up lunch

 AFTERNOON

12:00-1:00 Reading/book on cd/quiet time/quiet music/read aloud with mom
1:00-2:30 outside time/swimming
2:30-3:30 tv time/snack
3:30-4:00 Chores
4:00-5:00 Free time

 EVENING

5:00-6:00 make/eat/clean up dinner
6:00-7:00 Family activity
7:00-8:00 – medicine/ bath/ pajamas

Now...do I follow this to the exact minute?  No, for example today was about an hour behind on everything and that worked out great.  Truthfully my girls can't do learning time and craft time for a full hour and that's OK.  This just provides structure to our day.  Oksana will ask "what is next on the list"?  This keeps things predictable and running smoothly.  She can't wait for TV time today.  She has discovered a new Disney movie that she is excited about.  I need her to watch that in the afternoon because that is the best time for me to get stuff done.  With the schedule she knows that no matter what the movie is coming, and I don't have her arguing with me all day to do it immediately. 

Here are some extra things in our schedule:

Every Monday Oksana has therapy in the afternoon.
Every Tuesday we do a cooking activity
Every Thursday we will have lunch with Dad at work and then head to PT and speech
Every Friday is a field trip

We also got a pool.  It's not permanent, and it's not anything extravagant but it is big enough that it needs a filter and the boys can enjoy it too without feeling like they are in a kiddie pool.  That has bee a life saver.  My kids all LOVE it.  It has been a wonderful thing to have available through the summer so that we can get outside and have a ton of fun without a ton of work on my part.  Best money I ever spent!

Here are a few of the things we have done so far this summer:

Enjoy our pool....with 2 very silly boys

 

Celebrate Evan's 12th birthday.  He loves having his picture taken with me ;).

 

Had our family pictures taken.  Now that was an adventure!

 

Gone on field trips.  These are from Purina Farms and the zoo.

 

Met Belle at the 4th of July parade!

 

Cooked treats.  Here is today's treat, Rice Krispie treats with chocolate and sprinkles!  The picture on Pinterest was very different but we had fun and they were good!