I'm Tired of Waiting....Let's Talk Summer!

I just read this inspiring post at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home. It really got me to thinking about how we can spend our days this summer at home. We will be home quite a bit with gas prices like they are, and a need to be frugal anyway...so we might as well make the most of it.

I feel so blessed to be home with the girls this summer. I remember all too well the alternative from summers past (school-age daycare is scary to me!). Let me share some of my summer plans with you and I hope some of you will do the same, because I am nosy that way. Well, actually, you give me good ideas and I'm always looking for good ideas!

My sister is one of these nerd-types that makes out summer calendars and writes in all the activities before summer even gets here. Oh wait. I do that too. Well, she's still a nerd because she used to read encyclopedias for fun.

Actually my sister has a great deal to do with our summer plans because she and her kids drive an hour to come to our house each week. I live by the grandparents so she has to drive this way instead of the other way around, which I think worked out quite nicely. Tuesdays will be taken up with cousins and visiting and playing and a whole lot of screaming. Four girls ages 4-8=a lot of noise! Plus, on Tuesdays we all trek to my old city for story time at the library with our wonderful librarians. All four girls will be old enough to participate in the summer reading program so I believe reading will take up a huge chunk of time this summer. (By the way, working off of those reading lists has made ALL the difference in our book selection. They have LOVED the books I've been picking--ones that they would have never picked on their own either!)

So what about the rest of the week? Well I really need to find a balance between housework, home projects, and spending time with the girls. I know, I know, they can help with the housework. We can do it together. And we will most of the time. But I really need to be purposeful in choosing activities for them to be involved in every day that we can all do together. It's really easy to get out the water paints and leave them to paint at the table while I go do something else, but I also need to choose activities that we can all three do with each other. It all goes back to keeping their hearts and tying strings of fellowship and all that.

We are also going to have to figure out some inexpensive places to go. I am not capable of staying in this house 6 days a week. This is Texas, so soon it will be too hot to visit any parks for more than 10 minutes at a time. It's a challenge. I believe I need to do some brainstorming.

And I'm not sure you understand the level of mine and my sister's nerdiness. We are picking themes for each week and skills for each girl to work on. More on that later.

OK, what are your ideas? How do you fill the days up? And please don't write and tell me all about your vacation plans because that will not add to my contentment. :) But how do you fill up the regular ol' summer days at home? Can't wait for your ideas--you can leave them in the comments or post it on your blog if you like. Just make sure and tell me so I can go read it! I really do need ideas!

I'll leave you with some shots of last summer! Of course, I didn't take many pictures of the everyday things.