Day 1…

At last it is here! The event that children anticipate all school year long… SUMMER VACATION!!!!

I have to say that I absolutely love summer, it is by far my favorite season. After a Colorado winter (that lasted until late May this year) and a fairly dreary spring – all 2 weeks of it (it’s been a weird year weather-wise for us in Colorado)… I am soooo excited to see the sun and be warm finally. I love spending time outside, going to the pool, grilling burgers and brats while drinking the occasional margarita and doing all kinds of fun things with my kiddos.

There are many pros AND cons though to being a work from home mom during the summer.

THE PROS:

• I am HOME with my kids – I am able to be here all day with them and take care of whatever they need or any issues that come up without the fear of needing to leave work early. Not to mention the amount of money it saves me on child care!
• I have a flexible schedule – I am able to work the hours that I want to and take off the time that I want to. I am able to work for half the day and take the kids tot he zoo in the other half should the mood strike me. I can take the whole stinkin’ day off if I want to.
• Have laptop will work – meaning that I can also take my work with me. If we decide to go to the park for a few hours I can always take my laptop and hotpot with me and get a few hours of work done under a tree while the kids play on the playground. I have even been known to take it with me to the pool (away from the splash zone of course). So the kids can get in fun time and I can finish up some work as needed.
• I don’t feel like I am missing out on summer vacation with my kids… I remember when I worked in an office during the summer, by the time I got home from work after picking them up from day care I was so tired and worn out that I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything. I felt like the only time I got to enjoy during the summer was on the weekends and I hated it. I hated being so tired that it felt like a chore to go out and play with the kids after work.
• No rush hour in 90 degree weather!!! This is just my personal favorite – because I HATE rush hour with the white hot heat of a thousand suns. Take normal rush hour madness and add to that increased temperatures and it gets even worse. People get meaner, more short tempered on the roads and I just don’t like to be involved in any of that!

Now I don’t want you to think that working from home during the summer is all sunshine and rainbows… it’s not. There are many, many, MANY trying times working from home during this time of year…

THE CONS:

• They think I am on Summer Break too – So my children know that I work from home obviously – but they don’t apparently understand that I do actually WORK while they are normally at school. So when they are on break they seem to think that all my time should be spent on them, with them, entertaining them, spending money on them – and so on and so forth… yeah, not so much. There are many times through the summer where I have to remind them that just because THEY are on break doesn’t mean that I am on break.
• I am constantly a referee – having three kids home for the summer, two with special needs and one who thinks she is a teen even though she is only 8 – well let’s just say it creates a unique dynamic in our household. There are many times where they all get along and life is peaceful and serene. There are also times when all three want to tear each other limb from limb and are very vocal about it. These incidences tend to become more and more common the more time they spend together. The thing is that while I am working they have to entertain themselves and they don’t always do the best job of that. So then they end up getting on each other’s nerves and then all hell breaks loose. Which makes it very difficult to get work done sometimes. Having to stop multiple times during the day to ring in on the latest problem definitely plays hell with staying on task and meeting deadlines at times.

• My grocery bill goes through the ROOF!! – having twin teenage boys in the house is a huge hit to my grocery budget. They are always hungry, eat constantly and then complain when there is nothing to eat. There is nothing to eat because you two bottomless pits have EATEN IT ALL!!! Seriously my son went through a box of brownies in 2 hours time. Then when I asked him how he could have done that he said – “I didn’t think I ate that many”. GRRRR!!!!!! I am not sure if we will all survive the hormone-fest going on in the house right now.
• “I’m BORED” – I hear this on a regular basis from my 8 year old. I’m not certain how exactly she can be bored with the closet full of toys and games, drawers full of Monster High and My Little Pony Equestria Girls figurines, the scads of movies that they own and not to mention the tablet that her father purchased for her on her birthday! Yet when I point out all of these things to her as possible ideas for entertainment she looks at me like I have two heads and says “But I don’t want to do any of that”…. and I want to scream.

So with all the cons listed above in mind I decided that a plan needed to be formed in order to enjoy the pros of working from home this summer. So I decided to look on good ‘ol Pinterest for some fun ideas for the kids. Today’s podcast is all about trying to defeat boredom and keep my sanity this summer. You can click here for the Summer Fun board that I created with these and other fun ideas posted on it. I hope you enjoy them!

Do you have some fun summertime ideas to help keep boredom away in your home? Please comment below and share with us!