Summer on a farm

Summer days on the farm require a certain rhythm. I love this aspect of living here! I am a lover of lists, "a game plan", enough routine to leave room for spontaneity...good rhythm. Here's the beat of a typical day around here:

5 am Andy sneaks out of the house, grabs some water, and heads down to the fields

6:30 My early bird boy wakes up and turns on cartoons

7:00-7:30 The rest of us wake up, more cartoons. I slip outside and work with my flowers for a half hour or so.

8:00 Breakfast

8:30 We help Andy on the fields before it gets hot.

**All times from here on out are give/take an hour**

10:00 Free hour for the kids while I get a shower and get dressed. The book worm typically reads, the computer nerd typically plays video games, and the artsy girl usually draws 52 pictures with glue and glitter, changes clothes 4 times, and gets out all the dolls and stuffed animals for a tea party.

11:00 We read the Bible together and they journal in their notebooks about the verses they heard. We discuss what they teach us about God and ourselves. We pray. We do a few chores around the house (dishes, trash, make beds, put up clean clothes...the basics).

12:00 Lunch

12:30 Swim at the country club, go somewhere fun, or run errands. Or we stay here with the slip and slide, sprinkler, etc. Andy comes inside about now to avoid triple digit heat. He might be talked into coming with us if we aren't gone too long. OR he will be getting ready for a farmer's market. We usually tag along once or twice a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and/or Fridays. Just depends on our plans.

4:00 Kids play or watch a movie. I clean an area of the house.

5:30 Cook dinner, they read quietly in their rooms. Andy is back out in the fields.

6:30 We eat dinner. Sometimes we take dinner as a picnic and eat with Andy. Usually he eats late.

7:00 Kids play in the sprinkler or slip and slide, trampoline, swings, four wheelers, and/or with our neighbor. We might go on a walk or a ride. We might have game or movie night with popcorn or maybe even a snow cone or some ice cream.

8:30 Showers, bed time stories, and finally sweet sleep! Andy usually comes in around this time to tuck the kids in and so we can talk about our day.

9:30 He's asleep. I snuggle in the bed with him, pull out a flashlight under the covers, and read and hang on as long as I can until I give in to sleep. (Most days I'm snoozing by 10:00! Do the math and see how much sleep I am getting in the summer. It's crazy, I know. I have boundless energy all day long!)

It amazes me how much the kids love these summer days. They said they had no desire to go to any camps this summer, their same response as last summer. They also rejected gymnastics class and swim team. They didn't want to participate in any classes or camps. Period. We will spend three weeks, spread out throughout the summer, with our best friends from Atlanta, including a beach trip and a week in Atlanta. We will spend time with new friends here. We will spend a lot of time with family, including our weekends with our cousins which we affectionately have named "Camp Stinky Feet" (boys) and "Camp Twinkle Toes" (girls). We hope to go to the zoo and the water park, have fireworks, and make home-made ice cream. We will make bi-weekly treks to the library and swim a lot at the country club. It's so simple, cheap and fun! No frills, just ten weeks of balanced play and work time, with lots of family time memories to treasure!

Summer is a beautiful, wonderful season and will end too soon!!