Summer Sundays

When I woke up this morning, one thought struck me: “Today is Sunday. Time to get ready for the Sunday routine.” Then I remembered something: It’s summer vacation. As of Tuesday, June 17th, both of my kids were out of school.

So that means that it’s time for a DIFFERENT Sunday routine!

All this time during the school year, the Sunday routine involved getting ready for another busy week of jumping in and out of my car, running the kids to and from school, babysitting, running errands and just taking care of things for that week (like, say, a doctor appointment). So, every Sunday, I’d make sure the kids had clean clothes to wear for school, that backpacks were in their proper locations, that there was enough money in lunch accounts, each child had everything ready to go for the next day, and that there was enough gas in the car for yet another driving spree. I also made sure the towels were washed, work clothes were clean and ready for wear, and that there were meals planned for Monday.

Now, though, I don’t have to worry about all of those things. Sure, I still need to wash all the towels and make sure work clothes are ready for Monday, but all that other stuff, especially the school stuff, is not too much of a priority anymore.

It’s SUMMER! We take each week one at a time and see what comes up.

This week, for example, Jesse goes to summer school, and Jennifer has plans to hang out with friends. I can pretty much figure out what will need to be done today to prepare for all of that. (Thank goodness no more rushing to the store before school to get Jesse a Lunchables for his lunches!) Laundry will need to be done and gas WILL need to be in my car, but aside from that, everything else is pretty much free and clear.

So basically I am asking myself, now that the kids are out of school, what AM I going to do with my Sundays?

I have been spending my weekend trying to get caught up on things. Reading and answering emails, reading other stuff, and going through my files to make sure everything is current. I also worked on the July budget plan and decided on some things I’ll need to take care of for next month. But as for today? I don’t know about anything new to implement for a new Sunday routine. I mean, I use my weekends to get caught up on stuff, work on major projects I don’t have time for during the week, try my hand at a different project I’ve been playing around with in my mind for some time, hang out on the Internet (Facebook and Pinterest), and just chill. And all of that sounds like good stuff to do on the weekends, but there still needs to be something different that I do just for Sundays. Saturday night is "movie night." Maybe we could start making Sundays a "movie night," too.

The summer Sundays need to be different than the school year Sundays. Now that the kids are out of school, I don’t have to worry about the “Sunday routine” anymore. In fact, I don’t even think there should be a “Sunday routine” anymore. There should just be a Sunday.

I have a “summer schedule” I created for the kids some time back and I am seriously thinking of putting it to use again. We already have been enjoying our “one week of laziness” after school let out, but after that’s all over with, I think getting back into a routine would be a good thing to do for the kids. And having said that, I think it would be a good idea to keep Sundays open for whatever we (or I) want to do with them. No rushing or worrying about being ready for Monday morning. I think that, just as Saturdays are meant to be “free days” and days we do pretty much whatever comes up, the summer Sundays should be the same way.