School's (Almost) Out for Summer!

(You're welcome for the earworm)

But it's true. In one week, my kids will be officially on summer vacation! I can't believe it's already been nine months since we put them back on the bus for a new school year, brand new backpacks full of pencils and notebooks. Alas, here we are. Staring another three-month summer break square in the face.

And I know that summer hits us all a little differently. So my goal with this post is not to say, "Yay, it's summer! Time for everything amazing and fun and awesome!"

My goal with this post is to say one thing.

Are you super excited to have all of your kids home every single day? Fantastic.

Are you dreading the chaos that the summer brings and aren't sure how you're going to survive? Hang in there.

Are you planning your summer down to the hour with sports and day camps and playdates and outings? More power to you.

Are you hoping your kids can entertain themselves and not get into too much mischief in the process? I feel you.

Here's the thing, friends. There's no one right way to do summer. Your summer might look like a lot of outdoor fun at ballfields and playgrounds and neighborhood pools. Your summer might look like vacations and road trips and camping and lake time. 

Your summer might have you flying by the seat of your pants, trying to make memories for your kids, but really you're just exhausted because KIDS. Your summer might include a lot of screen time and prepackaged snacks because that's just how you roll.

You might be a chore chart-making mom. You might be a "go outside and only come in if someone is bleeding" mom. You might be a swimming lessons/t-ball/VBS/horse camp mom. You might be a last-minute trip to the beach mom. You might be an ice cream for dinner mom. You might be a "spontaneous trip to the biggest candy store" mom. You might be a "go ahead and play outside, but stay where I can see you because you couldn't pay me to leave the comfort of the AC right now" mom.

And you know what? Those are all pretty cool moms. 

So this summer, I encourage you to just do you. Don't try to conform to someone else's idea of a perfect summer. Don't feel guilty when you see someone's amazing summer pictures on Instagram. Don't feel like you're depriving your kids when you see how many activities another mom has lined up for her brood. Don't push yourself to exhaustion in an attempt to give your kids something phenomenal--they also think that popsicles on the deck are pretty phenomenal. 

For the record, I will be posting daily pictures for Summer of Fun again this year, but don't let that deceive you. Some days that picture is pretty mundane. And sometimes I get to 8:00pm and scramble to post something because I'm super put-together. 

(Speaking of Summer of Fun, go read last year's post if you haven't yet).

If you're interested in some further help in regards to summer, I HIGHLY recommend The Lazy Genius most recent podcast series. Her four episodes in the month of May (episodes 62 through 65) all focus on summer strategy. Kendra is just so fantastic and level-headed and I really enjoyed this series. :) (Plus, her episodes are all a very reasonable length--these four are all between 12 and 25 minutes long).

So happy summer! Let's embrace the next 12 weeks and everything that means. Because before you know it, we'll be putting them back on that bus in September. :)