Summer Survival Schedule

This post is sponsored by Red Baron but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I live for Summer but this is the first year that it feels like we really have a family Summer Break since Emily was in school full time and Madi part time.  It was just the other day that I was thinking to myself OMG Summer is not all it's cracked up to be!  The kids get restless and need something to do 24/7.  If I'm completely honest they get that quality from me; I'm never sitting and doing nothing.  Every morning they want to know where they are going, who they are seeing and what they are doing.  I've had to create a schedule (that is flexible) to keep us from going insane.

Every day doesn't look like this of course.  There are days with appointments, camps, swim, etc. plus I work in and away from home but this gives you an idea of what our days look like especially the days that are wide open.

A tip I just picked up from another blogger that I thought was pure genius was gym time.  Take the kids to the gym for two hours where they love to play and mom works out for 1 hour and then works from her computer the other hour in the lounge area of the gym.  A girlfriend and I plan to implement that this week.  This way my kids are getting great play time they love (for pennies) and I get a workout in and some undivided work time.  Most of work I do from home on my laptop and I'm always dividing my attention between my work and my kids and it's not fair for anyone.  I'm hoping this is going to be a great solution.  I'll report back and let you know how it goes.

One of my greatest survival tips for the Summer is simple meal planning.  Meal planning is key all year round but with the lazy schedules of Summer I find it even harder to get a meal on the table.  I try to think of easy prep meals that don't require the stove or oven.  I love my crockpot all year round and in the Summer I put it in the laundry room or garage to cook so it doesn't heat up the kitchen.  Of course my go-to in the Summer is bbq-ing which keeps the heat outside.  

On our extra busy days I grab the easiest of meals from Red Baron.  A Red Baron Pizza satisfies everyone and there is literally no prep work on my part.  It allows me to actually enjoy outside play with my girls instead of slaving away in the kitchen.  Not only is it a quick solution but everyone loves this pizza especially the crust.

After dinner and bath we love to play a quick game together as a family.  We love board games or card games especially UNO.

Here are links to past meal planning posts: Post 1 / Post 2 / Post 3