It\u2019s that time of year again \u2013 the end of school and the beginning of summer vacation! In all honesty, it starts feeling a bit like summer break once swim team starts in late April \u2013 the countdown begins when we start donning goggles and swimsuits every afternoon for swim practice. I told my son that I couldn\u2019t believe that he was going to be a 5th-grader next year, and that I was just getting used to the idea of him being a 4th-grader. He told me that I should start calling him a 5th-grader now, because before I knew it, he was going to be in middle school \u2013 crazy!<\/p>\n This summer, we are going to be moving to a new house, preparing for a new baby, sending our son off to a sleep away camp for the first time, and going to a family reunion in Florida. Lots of fun, hard work, and probably some tears from me as we say good-bye to our beloved little house (and most likely also on the car ride home after dropping C off at camp!). We are planning to sit down with the kids this weekend for our first \u201cFamily Meeting,\u201d in which we will let the kids know what is ahead this summer, and have a list of tasks that our family needs to accomplish at each stage. We will need lots of help from them, so we will assign jobs and hopefully have some enthusiastic helpers (wish us luck!).<\/p>\n What are your summer plans? Do you have family meetings in your house, and if so, how do you structure them?<\/p>\n Many blessings to you on this Tuesday morning. Mary, Queen of Families, pray for us!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s that time of year again \u2013 the end of school and the beginning of summer vacation! In all honesty, it starts feeling a bit like summer break once swim team starts in late April \u2013 the countdown begins when we start donning goggles and swimsuits every afternoon for swim practice. I told my son […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":732,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-keeping-it-real","category-motherhood"],"yoast_head":"\n