THE BLANDS: Summer Routine

I have to admit, I was a little worried about what we were going to do once Hayes was out of school for the summer. But so far, it has been SO MUCH FUN! Surprisingly, i'm liking it more than when he was in school twice a week! Since having him home, we have really gotten into a routine that is really working for the both of us! This is how we are spending our days...

8am-Out of bed and breakfast! (NOTE: Sometimes he is up before 8am. However, unless he is crying or sounds in pain, he stays in there until 8am!)

-After breakfast, Hayes will play and watch Barney and Super Why while I clean up breakfast, get dressed, pack up our lunches, and sometimes throw dinner in the crock pot! Once everything is done, I get Hayes dressed and we are out the door no later than 9:30am!

From about 9:30am to around 12:30pm we have been hitting up the pool, park or going on fun play dates! Our pool hasn't opened yet, but we have been having fun at friends' neighborhood pools.

Around 1pm, Hayes goes down for his nap and has been taking the BEST naps! Apparently the sun+water=a very tired toddler! I usually don't let him sleep longer than 3 hours, or past 4:30pm. During this time, I clean, do laundry, shower and have even been taking an hour or so to rest! For those of you that know me know that I really have trouble napping during the day. However, since i'm trying to take care of more than just me these days, i've been taking advantage of time to get off my feet and relax!!

Once Hayes gets up, he will usually have some down time and play on the deck or watch Wiggles or Sesame Street while I fix dinner. We eat dinner around 5:30 or 6pm and then Derek will take Hayes out in the backyard to play while I clean up dinner. Afterwards, I meet them outside with popsicles and we stay outside until about 7pm.

At 7pm, he loves to watch the Pajanimals and the "Goodnight Show" on Sprout. We put him in the bath around 7:30pm, read books and lights are out usually by 8pm each night.

After he is down, I usually go through the house and do a end-of-day toy clean-up, catch up on the DVR and then am in bed by 10!

We have literally done pretty much the same thing for the past 2 weeks! The only exceptions are on Monday, our "outing" is the grocery store and random errands. On Saturday, we normally do a family outing or hang out outside with the baby pool and water table. On Sundays, our outing is church and lunch with my parents. I anticipate spending a lot of upcoming Saturdays at my parents pool, and weekdays at the water park at our YMCA!

Here we are at the Zoo with the Odom boys and Haiden...