You remember my complaining last summer . . .

about how busy we were? Remember how I confessed that I fell off the Simple wagon last summer?

Well, here we are and it is May. It isn't Summer yet. And I'm trying to look ahead and make things different.

Well, maybe not different exactly. Because both girls will be doing Swim Team this year, and Super is going to be doing T-Ball, so that part of our schedule will stay basically the same. I thought long and hard about having the children involved in summer activities. And I decided that for OUR family, that it is a good fit. But what I can control is how organized about those activities, and what we do with the time that is not involved in sports.

We are still going to do the Library Reading program, but we are not going to Story Hour, and I'm going to be very selective with the Reading Program activities that we go to. We are not going to do Running Club. We aren't going to do any day camps. We aren't going to any playgroup/kid get together activities. I'm not going to do a structured learning time (although we are going to still have some preschool materials out this summer, and the girls are going to continue doing Math during the summer.) But I'm not doing like Bug Week for preschool or anything like that. No circle time. No Helper Jobs. Just the materials. They can use them. Or not. We are not going to watch television. We are not going to watch movies.

So what are we going to do? Well, we are going to spend a lot of time outside. That is for sure. We'll play on the playset. We'll play in the pool. We'll work on the garden. We'll walk on the Trail. I'll read stories. We'll crochet. We will go to the Nature Center. We will go to the Zoo. We will go to the Park. And we will work. Chores will continue. Projects will be done.

And I want to do look beyond our family too. Simple Mom is talking today about 10 ideas to Inspire Community Connections. She talks about things like having a block party or baking for a cause or being part of a solution to a community problem. And I'm not sure yet what we will do, but I want to do at least one thing that helps my children feel connected to their neighborhood, their community.

And in terms of me not falling off the Simple wagon, well, I've been making some changes to eating more simply lately (and healthier), and I anticipate continuing that. I'm exercising. I'm clearing my house of lots and lots of extra "stuff". I'm starting my garden. I go outside, often, and just look at things.

I'm sure that it won't be the perfect Simple summer. But I'm hoping that it is a Good One. Maybe even a Great One.