Hey You, It's Okay to be Not to be 18

Hey you, yeah you, the one who is doing her best to defy her age. The one who has a ridiculously long beauty routine and takes daily selfies, often with a duckface.  You know who you are. You are over 30 but make sure you still buy Teen Vogue to keep up on the latest trends.  You may have even tried the bottle trick to look like Kylie Jenner (Is that the right one?)

I just want to let you know, that all of that is unnecessary. You can wear age appropriate clothes and still look stylish and even sexy. All that extra makeup doesn't take away your age, it covers up your beauty.  The selfies do not tell your facebook friends that you look pretty today, they tell us that you want us to tell you that you are pretty today.  And the duckface, well, I would like that to stop for all ages.

My point is, you're beautiful at 35, 45 or 55. You will be beautiful at 65.  There are amazing style icons of all ages who wear clothes and make-up that compliment their beauty.  I also see many moms at the baseball field and the elementary school who look incredible but don't look like their 16 year-old.

I am not a mom who does her hair every day or wears the latest fashion, but I admire moms that do. (I used to be one of you and maybe I will be again someday.) I just want to let those of you who are scared to look your age know that it is not bad. Embrace who you are.  Forty can look hot. Own it girl!

I Used to Think I was Busy

My husband and I were laughing the other day about how busy we used to think we were.

Eight years ago my son was born, and I thought having a newborn was so hard. Between the lack of knowledge and the lack of sleep, I had never been so busy in my life. Just keeping up with feedeings and laundry and me running ragged. When I went back to work, forget about it! Then, then I was really busy.

As my son got older, I slept more, and sometimes he could wear one outfit for a whole day and go more than two hours without eating.  But then he moved and talked and played and eventually he started sports and school. I was so busy.  I had to make sure school clothes and sport uniforms were clean.  I had to have food for lunches. I had to get to games and practice on time. I volunteered at the school and tried to schedule play dates. I was Bu-SY!

Then, I got pregnant with my second child.  I was tired thorugh the pregnancy and had a tough delivery. When she was born she had a milk intollerrance and gas that made her cry and cry.  I was tired, I was frustrated and I was still busy.

Now, my daughter, my second, is almost 2. She walks, she climbs, she gets into everything. It is hard to let her out of my sight for even a minute. I have to chase ths child and she is busy. Meanwhile, my son has homework and projects and sports events and CCD and, and, and...I am BUSY!

As I am writing this, I am wondering if I will be looking back in 5 years laughing about how busy I think I am now. I also wonder how many of you with 3+ kids are laughing about how busy I think I am. It's funny how things look with a little perspective.

Summer Rules for my 8 Year-Old Son that Strike a Balance

Let me start by saying that if you are a Tiger Mom looking for a strict way to keep your child on point this summer, this may not be the place for you.  I want my son to have some responsibility this summer and keep up with what he has learned, but I also feel that breaks should give our kids some time to relax.  The summer breaks have gotten shorter. Here in Maryland, our kids have about two months off.  I don't know about your kids, but my son works hard all year at school and at extra circular activities.  Some weeks and weekends we are very busy.  My son loves his sports and needs his school, but I also think taking a real break is OK.  To be honest, if he found school easier, I may do less worksheets over the summer and just learn through activities, but he is just not a kid that can afford to lose too much. 

That being said, here are my draft set of rules for weekdays during the summer at my house this year.

1. You may watch a little TV when you first wake up, but just for 30 minutes. After that, it is time to move around.

2. Each day, you need to do each of the following:

• Read for 20 minutes. This can be your bedtime reading.
• Play outside for at least an hour. This can include the pool or any sports camps you go to.  If it's raining, you can be active inside. (This one will be easy and I am sure it will be exceeded most days)
• Play for 30 minutes inside without the TV on. (Toys, Board Games, drawing, etc.)
• Do one educational worksheet, write someone a letter or do some creative writing.
• Do one house chore

3. Unless someone is spending the night, you will be in bed by 10 pm.  (I know this may seem late for some 8 year-olds, but he would stay up until midnight if I let him. And do not worry, he gets plenty of sleep since he is not an early riser.)

4. When we are on vacation, you will still bring a book to read. The rest of the rules? Well, we'll see.

5. If you play Xbox, write at least two sentences about each game you played or team/character you created.

6. If you watch TV, write at least two sentences about each show you watch.

7. If you get bored try to come up with something to do out of the bored jar that we will make together.  If you ask Daddy what you can do more than once a day, he will give you a chore or make you write.

8. These rules can change at anytime based on your behavior. If you have been good, we may wipe all the rules and have a totally fun day. If you choose not to cooperate,  they may become more strict.

Please tell me what you think. This is my first year of making written rules. I wonder if I am being too soft or if the whole idea of written rules over the summer is ridiculous.

Momma's Summer Book List

I recently made a book list of titles that I thought my husband would like for father's day and it inspired me to make a list for myself.  You know, since I have so much down time. :-) 

I am hoping that as summer slows down, I will be able to squeeze in time for at least one or two books. If I do, here is the list I plan to choose from.

(Although I picked a few mysteries, I tried not to go with anything that I think will be a hard read. )


Our Souls at Night: A novel
A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future. In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf’s inimitable fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis’s wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.

Their brave adventures—their pleasures and their difficulties—are hugely involving and truly resonant, making Our Souls at Night the perfect final installment to this beloved writer’s enduring contribution to American literature.




Greenglass House

It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves.

(This one sounds a little cheesy, but it got great reviews and an Edgar award)

Paper Towns

Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery
New York Times bestseller
USA Today bestseller
Publishers Weekly bestseller
When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.

Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.

Landline: A Novel

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts...

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

 Luckiest Girl Alive: A Novel

“Luckiest Girl Alive is Gone Girl meets Cosmo meets Sex and the City. . . . Knoll hits it out of the park.”
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
HER PERFECT LIFE IS A PERFECT LIE.

As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve.

But Ani has a secret.

There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.

With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that's bigger than it first appears.

The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for—or, will it at long last, set Ani free?

Eight Hundred Grapes: A Novel

There are secrets you share, and secrets you hide....

Growing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.

But just a week before her wedding, thirty-year-old Georgia discovers her beloved fiancé has been keeping a secret so explosive, it will change their lives forever.

Georgia does what she’s always done: she returns to the family vineyard, expecting the comfort of her long-married parents, and her brothers, and everything familiar. But it turns out her fiancé is not the only one who’s been keeping secrets….

Bestselling author Laura Dave has been dubbed “a wry observer of modern love” (USA TODAY), a “decadent storyteller” (Marie Claire), and “compulsively readable” (Woman’s Day). Set in the lush backdrop of Sonoma’s wine country, Eight Hundred Grapes is a heartbreaking, funny, and deeply evocative novel about love, marriage, family, wine, and the treacherous terrain in which they all intersect.In this breakout novel from an author who “positively shines with wisdom and intelligence” (Jonathan Tropper, This Is Where I Leave You), Laura Dave “writes with humor and insight about relationships in all their complexity, whether she's describing siblings or fiancés or a couple long-married. Eight Hundred Grapes is a captivating story about the power of family, the limitations of love, and what becomes of a life’s work” (J. Courtney Sullivan, Maine).

  

 Leaving Time

Throughout her blockbuster career, Jodi Picoult has seamlessly blended nuanced characters, riveting plots, and rich prose, brilliantly creating stories that “not only provoke the mind but touch the flawed souls in all of us” (The Boston Globe). Now, in her highly anticipated new novel, she has delivered her most affecting work yet—a book unlike anything she’s written before.

For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe she was abandoned, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.

Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest: Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons, only to later doubt her gifts, and Virgil Stanhope, the jaded private detective who’d originally investigated Alice’s case along with the strange, possibly linked death of one of her colleagues. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers.

As Jenna’s memories dovetail with the events in her mother’s journals, the story races to a mesmerizing finish. A deeply moving, gripping, and intelligent page-turner, Leaving Time is Jodi Picoult at the height of her powers.

The Nightingale

In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.
FRANCE, 1939
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.
Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

(This one is a little deep for Summer, but I wanted to remember it!)

The Matheny Manifesto:

A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life

Mike Matheny was just forty-one, without professional managerial experience and looking for a next step after a successful career as a Major League catcher, when he succeeded the legendary Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. While Matheny has enjoyed immediate success, leading the Cards to the postseason three times in his first three years, people have noticed something else about his life, something not measured in day-to-day results. Instead, it’s based on a frankly worded letter he wrote to the parents of a Little League team he coached, a cry for change that became an Internet sensation and eventually a “manifesto.”

The tough-love philosophy Matheny expressed in the letter contained his throwback beliefs that authority should be respected, discipline and hard work rewarded, spiritual faith cultivated, family made a priority, and humility considered a virtue. In The Matheny Manifesto, he builds on his original letter by first diagnosing the problem at the heart of youth sports−hint: it starts with parents and coaches−and then by offering a hopeful path forward. Along the way, he uses stories from his small-town childhood as well as his career as a player, coach, and manager to explore eight keys to success: leadership, confidence, teamwork, faith, class, character, toughness, and humility.

From “The Coach Is Always Right, Even When He’s Wrong” to “Let Your Catcher Call the Game,” Matheny’s old-school advice might not always be popular or politically correct, but it works. His entertaining and deeply inspirational book will not only resonate with parents, coaches, and athletes, it will also be a powerful reminder, from one of the most successful new managers in the game, of what sports can teach us all about winning on the field and in life.

(This is one is not typical for me, but looks really interesting)

25 Ideas for Our Bored Jar

I am making my first attempt at having a slightly more structured summer this year. I have come up with some rules and a making a Bored Jar this year for my 8-year-old son. Here are the ideas that I have come up with so far.

1. Make paper airplanes
2. Write a list of players for your ideal sports team (you pick the sport)
3. Organize your bookshelf
4. Do a puzzle
5. Go outside and find 3 different bugs
6. Play with sidewalk chalk
7. Invent something (You can either try to create it or just draw a picture and explain how it would work)
8. Go outside and find 3 red things in nature
9. Put your clothes away
10. Pull weeds in the garden
11. Read for 10 minutes
12. Write down 5 dinner ideas (Things you would like us to make for dinner)
13. Draw a uniform for a sport team
14. Write a letter
15. Play a game on the computer from one of your school sites for 20 minutes
16. Go feed the ducks in the duck pond
17. Play an Xbox game that you have not played recently
18. Watch a TV show with Dad that you both like
19. Hide a treasure and make a treasure map
20. Make your bed
21. Water the flowers
22. Play football outside
23. Put your toys away
24. Make a sock puppet
25. Practice catching pop-flies

While there are some fancy versions, mine will probably be something simple like this with folded paper inside. 

Picture courtsey of www.todaysmomma.com

If you have any to add, please do so in the comments. I would love to hear your suggestions.

To the Mom Whose Son was Screaming and Pinching You on the Way into Daycare this Morning

I just want you to know that I saw you and I am praying for you. I saw you and your 3, maybe 4, year old son get out of the car and immediately go behind it, stepping away from the school. I saw your older son trying to help.  I saw the frustration in your face as you tried to remain calm and gently talk your child into going into the center.

I spent at least 5 minutes dropping my daughter off to her classroom and as I walked out, I saw you just walking into the center and down the hall to your son's classroom.  I am guessing it took you that long to get him inside.  I heard him scream and grab at your neck. I could hear in your voice more frustration than I did outside as you told him that he may not pinch you.

I wanted to stop and talk to you. I wanted to tell you that it would be okay.  I wanted to tell you that I have sisters' whose kids had separation anxiety into elementary school but that they were now well adjusted kids. I wanted to give you a hug and tell you that nothing is wrong with your child for missing you and nothing is wrong with your parenting. I wanted to tell you that if you feel, "working mom guilt", that although it is normal, it is fine that you work. I wanted to buy you a cup of coffee or a glass of wine or a big huge piece of chocolate cake.

But, I did not to any of these things. I could see that you had your hands full, so I gave you the  most knowing and empathetic look that I could and went out to my car.

I waited in my car for about five minutes hoping you would come out. I don't know exactly what I would have said, but I just wanted you to know that you are not alone. Eventually, I had to head to work, so said a prayer for you. Maybe I will see you another morning, maybe not. Either way, I will pray for your mornings. I will pray that this was just a fluke and that you do not have this challenge everyday. I will pray that if this is a regular thing, your sons grows out of it and that God's grace helps you to get through it until he does.

I know it is very unlikely that you will ever see this, but I just hoped that if I sent it out to the universe, maybe you would feel some sort of comfort.

Dear Coach

 Dear Coach,

We didn't get a single win this year. I bet you are frustrated and I bet you think the boys are, too. Well, let me tell you something, my son was a little frustrated, but to be honest, I think that was the least of the things he felt. Let me tell you about all of the things that came above not winning.

The boys learned alot this year. They learned how to hold their hand when they are at bat. They learned not to slow down when they run, just so they can watch the ball they just hit. They learned how to overrun first base. They learned how to cover a base when needed and what a relay is. Maybe more importantly, they learned that practice helps you improve and they learned how to lose gracefully.

The boys also gained a great experience and wonderful memories. They made new friends and got to play ball with them 3 days a week. They got to get dressed in a uniform that made them feel like a real baseball player. The got to feel how good it felt to get better and to finally have an inning end because their team scored too many runs.

My son did not talk about losing last night. He talked about how much better he got at catcher and how much he liked playing short stop and pitcher. He talked about how he'd like to try first base next year. (Which means, he'd like to play next year).  He talked about how he'll buy me a house in NYC when he plays for the Yankees so that I can come to all of his games. He talked about how good Tony's hit was and how Ethan played even when he scraped up his arm.

These boys live in the moment and it will be some time before they see how much they learned this year and much their character grew with a season like this.  They will probably be adults and maybe even have kids of their own before they realize how much time you gave this year to help them to be better and have fun. They have no idea how you probably went to work early so that you could get to practice on time or how you had to juggle your schedule to pick up uniforms and equipment and go to coaches clinics. But, let me tell you something, we, the parents, see all of that and we really appreciate you.

We appreciate your time and sacrifice. We appreciate how you taught our boys. We appreciate how you gently pushed them to get better in a way that was appropriate for 8 year-old boys. We appreciated that you were firm, but supportive and how you told them they did a great job even when they had an error. We appreciate that you cared more about their love for the game than you did their winning a game.

Please know that even though this was not a winning season, our boys are winners because of the experience that had with you.  Thank you for all that you have done for our boys.

                                                                       

                                                                        Sincerely,
                                                                        This grateful mother

Today, I am Tired

Each day I try to post about something that is relevant to me and I hope it will help or affect other moms in some way. If I am researching something or something happens in my life, that is what I write about. Well, today, I am tired. So tired. That kind of tired where I want to close my eyes at a stop light for just 2 minutes and hope no one notices.

As a result, this is where my brain is...

Thank you, Mom, for All of the Little Things

My mom's birthday was yesterday and I was thinking about all the things she does, and has done, for me.  As we get older and have responsibilities and kids of our own, I think it becomes so much clearer how much our parents sacrifice for us.  I have tried to be pretty good about thanking my mom for all of the big things, but then I got to thinking about all of the little things that she did, the things that no one thanks you for. So, Mom, thank you for all of things that I never thanked you for.

 Thank you for listening to my unending stories about friends, boys, teacher, clothes, work, and everything else under the sun.  With 4 girls, the amount of talking in our house was insane, but you have always listened and cared. Well that, or at least faked it really well!

Thank you for caring about things that are important to me.  My interests and yours have a great deal of similarities, but they also vary widely in some case. Some of the things that I share with you, I am sure are of no interest to you, but you always show interest and support me.

Thank you for doing endless amounts of laundry. Between schools clothes, play clothes, dance clothes, sport uniforms and all of the clothes that just ended up on the floor after we changed clothes 5 times, I cannot imagine how much laundry 4 girls created. Thank you.

Thank you for dealing with my meaningless tears, often with compassion. I know it is a mom's job to help her child when they are genuinely hurt, physically or emotionally, but I am pretty sure that I racked up more tears for nothing in the first 16 years of my life than I did tears that were actually warranted. While I know you got frustrated and often reminded me that I might run out of tears, you did not show the amount of frustration that I am sure you felt.

Thank you for staying up late for our 11:20 pm chats. I am not sure why important things could not come up at a reasonable time in high school, but thank you. Thank dad for this one, also. He missed so many sports reports.

Thank you for letting me lay on you at night when we watched TV. I know that as the baby, you probably had more tolerance for my need to cuddle because your cuddle time was coming to an end, but I also know that at the end of a long day, sometimes you just want to sit by yourself. However, you always let me lay across your lap when I woke up, after dinner or to watch TV.

Thank you for letting me grow. As I watch the older nieces and nephews, I can see how you would want to hold your children back to protect them. I can see how you may want to delay working, getting a driver's license, traveling abroad or going to college, but you didn't. You showed excitement and support and you never made me feel guilty for doing those things.

Thank you for understanding my need to keep the parts of meal separate.  Our family may have teased, but you always understood, or at least respected it. Even when you made a plate to bring up to play practice you kept things separate. A lot of parents would have made me get over it, but not you.

Thank you for driving all over the place for our schedules. So many times that I am in the car, I think of all of the things that I could be doing if I was at home. I am sure you thought the same thing as you drove to and from the dance studio but, yet, you did it.

Thank you for putting a full dinner on the table every night of the week. Dad gets a lot of credit for cooking, now, because he pitches in so much more in the last 20 years or so, but I know that for the first 20-30, you were the one that decided what to cook and got it on the table most of the time. I am now realizing that is no easy task.

I know this list just touches the tip of the iceberg, but I hope it represents my deep gratitude to you. I am thank full for all of the big things, but I am also thankful for all of the little things you did every day that added up over time. I'm thankful for all of the thankless tasks. I love you and am so blessed to have you. 

10 Things that go Through my Head as the School Year Comes to a Close.

1. In just 1 week, there will be no home work for 2 months. We can get through this without crying or yelling. We can do this!  (Side note, how did 3 months turn into 2?)

2. No, it doesn't make any sense to have a huge project due this close to the end of the year, but it's the last big hurdle. Again, you can do this. Have a glass of wine.

3. Don't forget to buy the water balloons for water day, prepare snacks for author's tea and put in the work leave slip for field day. Oh, and since your brain is now fried, write it down, woman.

4. Although Baseball season is still ongoing, it is already time to sign up for fall sports sign-up. Make you sure you do it before summer starts and your bran totally turns off to such things.

5. Just ignore the hole in your son's shoes, he'll be in flip flops every day soon. Before you know it, it will be time for new school shoes, anyway.

6. Make summer rules clear now and include some sort of learning before another August 25th comes around and you realize that between camps and vacations your son did not do half of the learning you planned.

7. Speaking of summer camps, did you research and sign up for those? How about the vacation plans. Darn, I should have done all of this is April when I first thought about it!

8. In between the crazy end-of-year schedule, try to appreciate the structure a little bit. A part of you will want this back in a month or so.

9. Don't forget about Father's day. It's coming up soon and you will have to do a craft with your child because it won't happen at school like the Mother's day project. Who planned Father's day so close to the end of the school year, anyway? Probably someone who agrees that school should not go so far into June!

10.  Don't forget the chalk and other accessories for the last day of school photo. Oh, and make sure it closely matches the first day of school photo so that the side-by-side is perfect! How could a school-year end without a Facebook-worthy, Pinterest-researched photo? Okay, I'm just kidding on that one. There may be a last-day-of-school picture; it will just be taken on my cell phone when I get home from work hours after the day ends. It will probably be taken in a rush before I start dinner. For the record, I think those of you who will take adorable and amazing photos with witty captions are awesome. I just do not have the energy for such things at this point.

 

*So I said 10, but I have one more:

11. Make sure you get a great gift for the teacher. If you are struggling with your kid's attitude at the end of the year, imagine how she feels with 25!

 

What is going through your head as the year ends?