Blueprint for Success

I'm composing my battle plan. There are 2 and a half days left of school. I'm looking forward to no homework, packing lunches and washing uniforms, but I have definitely learned the hard way that when beginning summer with 4 kids, failure to plan is planning to fail.

Here's what I've got so far.

No visitors before 11 am (unless a pre-scheduled playdate)... this prevents my house from becoming the 10-year old boy flophouse, which is what happened last summer. This also prevents me from coming out of the bathroom in a towel and finding half of Big Guy's baseball team sitting there.

Chores must be done begining at 9am. (Chore chart to be determined.)

Electronics only before 9 am and between 4-6 pm. That includes me and the internet. Sigh. We'll see which I like better ~ sleep or blogs.

One field trip a week, including zoo, spray park, aquarium, local historical sites, dare I try hiking?

One all-pool-all-the-time day.

One day per week designated for playdates. (I realize this means I could end up with 8 kids here. I may need to adjust this plan.)

Fresh air, fresh air, fresh air.

Lots and lots of wine ice cream and popsicles.

Everyone in their bed by 9pm. (Stealing a line from Chris, "You don’t have to go to sleep but you can’t stay here.” (An aside, her Notes from the Trenches was the very first blog I ever read.)

What am I forgetting?

Oh yeah! The BABYSITTER! I need to find a one-morning-a-week babysitter. So I can do all kinds of fun things like my skin cancer screening and my mammogram and my Pap smear without having a 4 person miniature audience.