Prepping for Summer

I love summer!  I know some moms count down the last few days of school with dread, but I'm really looking forward to it. No more packing lunches, doing homework, sorting through backpack papers, running for the bus, missing the bus and driving them to school, fighting with Ellie about wearing socks since summer=flip flops, and most importantly, no Caden "focus pill".  I'm going to use these 3 months off to fatten that kid up!  Fresh summer produce should make that a snap!  

Of course summer also means I have 4 kids of various ages, abilities and interests to entertain all day.  We all love the pool, but it does rain and even get too for for the pool some days.  Plus, Olivia's still a little young to be out in the sun ALL DAY.  Enter the blue box.  I created this two years ago when Vince was still a baby.  I took a pack of note cards, a marker and a blue plastic index card holder and answered the question "what can I do?"  100 times.  On each card I wrote an activity, some for inside some for out, some focused on Ellie some on Caden, some geared for independent play and some needing some adult supervision.  I know 100 activities sounds like a lot, but just going around the house and naming some toys that don't get as much attention was good for at least 10.  The thing I committed to was stopping what I was doing when an adult supervision card was pulled. If they pull painting, I have to let them paint.  I like this because it forces me to do those messier projects that I usually put off until "later".  They have a 3 card limit, which means if Caden pulls play with Barbie pool, he has 2 more picks.  That keeps them from wasting a hour pulling cards and rejecting each one.  

This year I will have to update a lot of the activities I had in he old cards now that the kids are so much older, but I'm hoping some of them will still work. 

4 more days and we'll try them out!  Until then, back to packing lunches!