Summer is now upon us! For those of you with children in public and private schools, your children now have more free time on their hands and a greater probability of uttering the words, “Mom, I’m BORED.” For those of you who homeschool, you find yourself suddenly out of routine and in need of “something to do.”

For those of us who homeschool year round like myself, we face the same dilemma with all the other mothers, as our children yearn to go outside and run free while tyring to find ways to beat the fierce summer heat. Depending on where you live, the summer can be fiercer in some places than others.

Here in central Texas, it’s pretty darn hot.

The trick, then, is to occupy our children’s minds, provide them with some physical activity and keep our children cool (so we don’t also hear, “Mom, I’m hot!” How then to do that?

• Last summer, I wrote up this list of Ten Things to Do This Summer. Reading over it again, I’ve got some great ideas for things to do that we didn’t do last summer. Anybody up for making Goop or an impromptu water balloon fight?? This list will really get your imagination going.
• And to address the summer heat, read this post about Beating the Summer Heat. Our house (in the aforementioned REALLY HOT central Texas) doesn’t adequately cool and the height of the summer can be a real PAIN. This post is chock full of tips and tricks for scheduling your day around the heat of the day and for helping your children cool off.
• Get creative!! This post, When ya don’t got rain, make some! demonstrates how a little creativity and imagination can go a long way towards turning a hot and cranky day around. And if you feel so inclined, you can make your own rain hose. (And for what it’s worth, we got a sprinkler this year and the kids like the rain hose better because the spray is softer.)
• And if that’s not enough for you, there are HUNDREDS of other ideas over at Kristen’s blog, where today’s WFMW theme is the “Mom, I’m Bored,” Summer Edition. There’s bound to be something over there your kids will want to do. (PLUS… 4 blessed participants will win a special summer prize!)

So, Moms, are you with me? We can survive this summer heat and hopefully prevent a little childhood boredom along the way.

Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by Kristen @ We Are THAT Family!

*********************************************************************************************************************************************

This is a tip I’ll be using TODAY – since today is my Princess’ ninth birthday!

Today, after we visist a nearby farm, feed some baby goats, go into town and get our hair cut at the salon, we’ll head to our local Sonic so Princess can redeem her Free Wacky Pack coupon.

If you go to the Sonic website and sign your kids up for the birthday club, they (you) will get an email shortly before their birthday that can be redeemed anywhere within the next 30 days.

We did this for Drama Queen’s birthday last month. I don’t usually order kids meals for them at restaurants (I have my reasons) so it was a real treat for her to get to pick one out. And Sonic now has healthier side options for their kids meals, too. String cheese or banana anyone?

And it’s free – which I never complain about. Hubs says, if you want to do this “the right way” you’ll just take her to get her Wacky Pack and come home. Otherwise, if you spend money on food for the rest of y’all, they win. Good ole hubs. He’s right.

Of course that’s not the way we’ll be doing it today. We’ll be out all day. After Sonic we’re picking up my mother in law and taking Princess shopping for her gifts. Hey – we need to eat lunch somewhere, right? Sonic here we come!

Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by Kristen @ We are THAT Family!

Okay, y’all are seriously going to stop reading my blog after this, you’re going to think I’ve lost my ever-lovin’ mind. Maybe I have. But when something works, it works. And y’all… this works.

Last week when a pimple popped up on my chin, one of those deep under the skin, it’s sore and this is going to be a doozy of a pimple sort of pimples, I sighed and thought, “Oh no! And I’m meeting my bloggy friends on Saturday!” It’s true, that was my first thought. I briefly thought about looking up some kind of home remedy, but I didn’t.

Nope.

I waited two days, until after I’d popped it and it was big and red and sore and healing but still there. So Friday night I finally turned to THE GOOGLE for some relief and I kept seeing the word “toothpaste” pop up all over the place.

Seriously??

Finally, I figured it couldn’t hurt and I already have toothpaste so I rubbed a little dab on and went around the rest of the evening getting a little whiff of minty freshness every now and then. I woke up the next morning and it was MUCH smaller, not red at all, and not sore either!

That is.. until I took a shower and washed my face and then it was pink and swollen and sore again. So what did I do? You’d better believe it – I added more toothpaste. I went about my morning, getting ready to go and when it was time to put on my makeup I gently washed off the toothpaste and kind of avoided that spot with the powder so as not to clog up the skin, etc.

It was like a pimple miracle. I didn’t have to deal with a painful pimple all day, and probably nobody would have even noticed if I wasn’t blogging about it and pointing it out.

Next time, I’m going to try toothpaste as soon as I feel a pimple coming on, I’m interested to see how well it works from the beginning. But I do know, at the very least, if you wait too long, this works GREAT as a pimple soother and healer.

And Y’ALL… do you know what I kept thinking the whole time? Do you know how much they charge for fancy pimple creams!?

Unless you’ve got some serious acne issues, skip the creams and grab the tube of toothpaste and I bet you don’t even use a penny’s worth.

Stop by Works for Me Wednesday at it’s it’s NEW location, We are THAT Family and congratulate Kristen/encourage her with the addition of this new “blog child.” If you’ve never visited Kristen before, you’re just going to love her. I know I do!

Oh my gosh, y’all, I’ve just reinstated mandatory nap time and it is SO NICE.

For a while now I’ve been thinking my 5 yr old needed naps during the day again. She wasn’t handling school time well and late in the day when it was time to get ready for bed she was having meltdowns. Then I read this article from Making Home about the importance of the mid-day nap and it just really sealed the deal.

Drama Queen wasn’t making it through the day without a nap, she did better when she got one = she still needs mid-day naps. Period.

Now, personally, I don’t mind her taking a nap except we usually do most of our school while Little Prince naps. On the other hand, as I mentioned, she wasn’t doing well with school during nap time anyway – so what am I really losing??

At any rate, the only problem with letting Drama Queen nap while Little Prince naps is… you guessed it – Princess wants a nap, too!!

Well, guess what? I gave in.

Naps for everybody!! Yay!

Except for mom. (Awwwww.) =P

So part of last week and so far this week, immediately after lunch they all three laid down. Sometimes they all sleep. Sometimes Little Prince sleeps and the girls just rest. But that’s just fine. You know why?

I get two hours of silence.

In the middle of my day.

And I can, you know, WORK.

So what about school? Well, we start earlier and do some before lunch. Whatever Princess has left we do after nap. And mommy gets two hours to recharge in the middle of the day, pay bills without kids screaming in the background, read, work on taxes… pretty much anything you can’t do with three kids running around like wild indians or scurvy pirates.

I don’t see mandatory naptime going anywhere anytime soon. Even if Princess and Drama Queen don’t need to sleep, they can always read.

Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer. Hop over and read Shannon’s tip about Keepsake boxes!

It’s another themed Works for Me Wednesday – apparently Shannon is concerned her children are going to get bored over the summer and we’ve been invited to throw our ideas for summer entertainment into the mix. Well, here goes!!

1. Make your own craft and art supplies. Make chalk, paint, facepaint, goop, slime, you name it. Not only does it occupy them while they’re making something, but it gives them something to do afterward also. And it’s usually very economical too! For tons of recipes look here and here.
2. Stock up on cheap outside toys. At the beginning of each summer (or a little before) I hit the dollar stores and invest in a collection of new, shiny, exciting, and CHEAP outside play toys. A small inflatable pool, bats and balls, mini golf games, whatever I can find – guaranteed to keep them playing outside and having fun for the next few months. If they get bored with some of them, tell them to make up new games while using and combining the different sports items.
3. Visit the library often. If your kids enjoy books (or even if they don’t, maybe you can foster a new love of them) take them to the library each week with their own bookbags to fill. I have fond memories of summers at my grandma’s house and one of the things we did often was visit the library, come home with a stockpile of books (mine mostly Nancy Drew) and bury our noses into some amazing adventure when it was too hot outside for adventures of our own.

It’s that time of year again. SUMMER! Swimming pools, outdoor fun, and higher temperatures. It gets pretty hot here in central Texas and also in our house which doesn’t have particularly good air conditioning (like 90 degrees inside sometimes!)

Last year we devised a way to make it through the hot afternoons, and it seems it’s time to switch back to the same summer schedule as before.

1. First off, we need to do the bulk of our chores in the morning, before it gets so hot that we don’t want to lift a finger. We can do school after that since that mainly involves a lot of sitting.
2. Secondly, we switch the bath times from before bed to mid-afternoon. Once the day hits its hottest point, the children can take turns, taking long leisurely cool baths. This not only serves to cool each child down, but gives them a little alone time during what could be our crankiest part of the day. Also, you get to put on a nice, clean (non-sweaty) outfit and everyone looks cleaner and less frazzled when daddy gets home for dinner.
3. If you or your child gets so sweaty that your discomfort is interfering with your day – go ahead and change! I know this makes more laundry, and it’s hard for me to do because of that.. but what’s the good of saving a little bit of laundry if you’re going to be crankier and less effective because of it?
4. Buy lots of cheap popsicles (or make your own) and eat them frequently! That’s not hard to do, right? It’s not uncommon for my children to have multiple popsicles a day during the worst part of summer. It really does help to cool you down.
   
5. Cook out on the grill as much as possible! I mean, there’s no need to add EXTRA heat right? Especially since my kitchen faces west which means that side of the house has direct sunlight when it’s time to make supper. Ew. Seriously, if I ever build a house the majority of the house & windows will face north and south!
6. Take a break and finish later. When mid-afternoon hits, we stop and take it easy. Okay, okay…maybe that doesn’t fit the “busy momma” definition.. but in this case I make exceptions. We rest (and take our baths and eat our popsicles) and watch a movie together or some other activity until time to start on supper. After getting the kids in bed, the house will have cooled back down again. At that point I can finish cleaning up in the kitchen and picking up elsewhere so that we don’t start the next day with a messy house. That takes some self-discipline, since I want to rest after the kids go to bed, but if I don’t want to do it throughout the afternoon then I need to make it happen later.

So those are my tips for beating the summer heat indoors. Got any other good ones? Go ahead and share!

Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer who talks this week about how giving her kids an online allowance works for her. Check it out!