Miss S. graduated last week, yesterday was Jared and Matt’s last day of school for the year and Jason finishes up on June 15th.

I will have four teenagers and a nine month old Sweet Pea to entertain this summer and the concept was daunting to me.

I was inspired by Amy from The Finer Things in Life to tweak her concept of “The Summer List of Fun” for my kids and their ages {19, 18, 15 and 13}.  When I broke out the markers and poster board this weekend, they looked at me a little funny but soon the ideas started flowing.  Now, we have a pretty good idea of the things we want to do this summer.  Here are a few highlights:

• go swimming at the lake
• biking on the C & O Canal
• see a movie together {with popcorn from the theater, a special request from Matt}
• plant an herb garden
• decorate the game room with yard sale finds {which will require going to yard sales, another fun summer activity}
• make homemade ice cream
• go strawberry picking
• take water bottles to the homeless on a sweltering day

You get the idea!  It was fun just to sit and watch the kids come up with things they would like to do *with their mama* this summer.

We came up with more than 40 ideas and we will continue to add to the list as the summer goes on.  Combine the list of summer fun with our two week vacation to Florida to celebrate Miss S and Jason graduating high school, their jobs, the two younger boys staying in Florida to visit my family for an extra two weeks and I think summer will go by quicker than we want it to!

What do you plan to do with your kids this summer?

Please link your parenting posts below:

You know you love your testosterone driven hubby and boys when:

• the cries of “doorknob” and subsequent running through (your much smaller than before, mind you) house doesn’t irritate you any more.
• you can tune out the noise of video games playing throughout the house 22 out of the 24 hours in a given day because the blowing snow and blizzard conditions have kept them indoors ALL DAY
• you go to make dinner and realize that the ingredients for the dish (that is on the menu that takes time for you to plan) have been eaten as an experiment for “what tastes good on Ritz crackers” so you just make omelets and move on
• you willingly put snow pants, gloves, hats and a bazillion pairs of socks in the dryer 20 times a day so that the boys can play in the snow (and go in and out and in and out and in and out) as many times a day as they want
• you lovingly prepare hot cocoa with mini marshmallows EVERY time they come in from going in and out and in and out of the snow.
• you put on your snow boots and get out your camera so they can show off igloos, snow tunnels and forts (that all really look the same but who am I to critique snow architecture?) most every time they go in and out and in and out to play in the snow
• you stop cringing when the doorbell rings, knowing that it is the neighborhood kids who will now join your boys in going in and out and in and out which just means more clothes in the dryer and more hot cocoa to serve

I love them, that is for sure, but if school gets canceled tomorrow I may very well lose my mind. 

Pumpkin Patch $5