06/03/2026
Confession time: Summers used to not be my favorite - it can be hard to be home with kids without the normal structure of life. It can be easy to just settle for surviving or miss the joy of it all together by overscheduling. Over the years, I’ve found a few key elements that make summer not only doable, but one of my favorite times of year. Fully embracing the joy of slower days, connection, time with friends and lots of sunshine with a lot less chaos and overwhelm.
1. Daily (flexible) Schedule > Overscheduling. I love creating a simple daily routine for the summer. It helps all of us feel grounded and know what to expect while still having the freedom to choose where the day will take us! I also create chore lists because when everyone is home, we’re team players for keeping the house in order!
2. Morning peaceful time. This is a controversial one and even I sometimes opt to sleep in, but our mornings go exponentially better when I wake up before my kids and have time to start my morning slowly with a cup of coffee, read the Bible and get a few things done. Realistically, this looks like me getting up at 6:30 and my kids Hatches turning green (meaning it’s wake-up time) at 7:30.
3. Taking 5 minutes before kids come down to prep breakfast and set out a game or activity pays dividends in getting the morning started smoothly!
4. W pick up the house before leaving for an outing. It feels so good to come back to a clean home and the kids are usually extra motivated to help because they’re excited about the outing!
5. Morning Outings. I always create a bank of morning outings and we decide together where to go. As much as I sometimes wish we were homebodies, my family does better when we get out of the house for part of the day! Some of our favorite outings include: the pool, library, science center, park and - new this year - $1 movies and kids bowl free.
Continued in comments…
