Summer, Summer, Summertime

Whew, what a semester! I find it horrifying that I haven't had time to write and edit a post since spring break. After the last eight weeks of my life however, I shouldn't be surprised. With Louis going through an awful sleep regression, me being sick and then sick again and finally one last bout of sickness, a campus in chaos, and the every day that is our life, I haven't had much time for the extras lately. 


I spent the first weekend after classes wrapped up moving Jo into our spare bedroom and celebrating Dylan's graduation from UNI. Mom came down for a few days to help and it was fun having her here. Louis received some coveted alone time with Grandma and I had some help with meals and childcare for a much needed reprieve. I wish the rest of the family could have been here, but if we only got together when all eleven of us were free we'd never see each other. After playing too hard, I spent Sunday locked in my bedroom grading my last round of final exams. I had hopes of being done with my grading last Wednesday but a sore throat and loss of voice sidelined my plans. Being done on May 6th for the summer is still pretty amazing though, so I'm not complaining!


Today was my first "official" day of summer and Louis and I filled it pretty well. Last night I cornered Joanna and Nevin in front of Once Upon a Time and we created a meal plan for the week. One of the entries on my summer bucket list is good food! This plan is twofold. First, Louis is used to eating healthy, well-balanced meals at daycare and I don't want to get out of that habit. Second, I love experimenting with good meals with my family, the school year is just usually a hard time to do too much of that. I have been following a bunch of food blogs in my Google Reader and bookmarking ideas for months. This week I really focused in on the basis of a plan on Super Healthy Kids. I'm really excited about the plan and one day in, we're right on track!

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast	Oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon	Bran muffin with banana	Omelet and toast	Smoothies and toast	Egg sandwiches with strawberries
Lunch	Pizza Pitas and grapes	Leftover Lasagna	Leftover chicken, bacon, ranch wrap (FM 78)	Quesadilla	Strawberry Spinach Salad
Snack	Crackers and string cheese	Apples and Peanut Butter	Veggies With Hummus	Crackers with String Cheese	Bananas and Pretzels
Dinner	Vegetable Lasagna (CL)	Chicken Stir Fry (SIS 65)	Lemon Asparagus Pasta (SIS 57)	Sausage Asparagus Skillet (SIS 56)

I always struggle with finding a delicate balance in the summer between going with the flow and getting things accomplished. I am starting my summer with a cleaning task and a laundry task for each day of the week, but the rest of the time I can fill with whatever Louis and I see fit. 

	Clean	Laundry
Monday	groceries clean refrigerator	Lou’s
Tuesday	bathrooms	towels
Wednesday	store clean kitchen	darks
Thursday	dust	whites
Friday	vacuum	rugs
Saturday/Sunday	farmer’s market meal plan	sheets

I also will benefit from Aunt Jo doing about 10 hours of babysitting per week. I offered her room and board if I can get into the office and get some work done this summer. Lou will enjoy the fun times with Jo and I'll have some child free hours to regain my sanity.

With the first day under my belt, I can say I'm very excited for my summer ahead. Next up I want to finish that summer bucket list I mentioned above. I hate when the months get away from me and I didn't get to seventy-five percent of what I wanted to accomplish!