The Summer Jar

The Summer Jars

Summer's Here! 


Being the mother of a newborn, I was ready for Georgia to settle into a routine by week 1.  This was not the case, as I remembered, that newborns eat all of the time no matter if the clock says 8:00 pm or 3:30 am.  (By the way, 3:30 am is a time where no one should be awake in my opinion!)  By week 9, Georgia was settling into a routine.  Enter the Hallelujah chorus....
Georgia started sleeping 5-6 hours at a clip at night, then would wake, eat, we'd play, then she'd go down again until lunch time.  Yes...I love routine.

Georgia Drew napping

Friday was Lily's last day of preschool.  As Monday crept closer, I started to think about how I needed a routine for Lily as well.  She can turn into a major grumpus if she doesn't know what's happening next, or isn't motivated by a schedule or routine.  Hmmm~ wonder who she gets that from?!   If it was left up to Lily, she would watch TV from sun up to sun down.  Not happening!!!  I want her to remember all that she learned in preschool too, so each morning, we have "lesson time" after breakfast.  We practice sightwords, work on simple math, and usually play a game.  Then she can watch two shows of her choice, then lunch, and nap time.  Ahh...routine in place and one happy preschooler and one happy mommy.

I love, love, love, Pinterest.  I saw this idea and realized this was just what we needed.  The Summer Jars.  Two jars with labels "Do" and "Did" to keep track of what you want to do over the summer and what adventures you did over the summer.  Each day, you pull a stick out of the "Do" jar and that is the adventure of the day.  When I say adventure...I use that term loosely.  Going to the mall, painting, and baking cookies are all adventures to my sweet Lily.  So yesterday, we created the jars and brainstormed what adventures we wanted to do.  We put a few in there to do with Daddy too, so he wouldn't feel left out.  Right before bedtime, Lily pulls a stick out of the jar and we see what we are going to do the next day.  Last night, she pulled the stick that says "Go to the mall"...she jumped up and down and clapped her hands together when I read it to her.  She loves to shop and look in all of the stores...hmm wonder who she gets that from?

Lily working during lesson time.