School’s nearly out! How did this happen? I blinked, walked the dog, or something — but suddenly the school year is less than 2 weeks away from being over in our area.

My daughter is thrilled for school to be over, and while I always look forward to summer too, I also know it requires a bit of creativity on my part to make our summer fun and memorable, while still maintaining my writing, work, and household duties.

So to get into the spirit of summer — here are a few ideas to jump start your creative juices. Plan ways to not just survive this summer, but thrive and have fun doing it!

1.  Theme Days. Discuss with your children what themes you could come up for different days. By getting your children involved with you, they take ownership as well and you know they will be excited when that day comes.

2. Water, Water, Water. What child doesn’t like water? Whether it’s buying a small sprinkler head to put on a hose, or a mini wading pool they can play with the dog in, or a water balloon game — kids and water mean great fun. Get your cameras out and ready!

3. Gardening. Take your children to a nursery and pick out a flower, herb, or vegetable to plant at home. If you have no space to plant it, plant it in a pot and move it to the area you’d like. Kids enjoy getting dirty, plus they will take pride in seeing their plants grow.

4. Crafts. The internet is full of inexpensive craft ideas. Many items require little or no purchasing of supplies. Just type in “Summer crafts” or something of the sort in Google and get ready to jot down your favorite ideas. Then start creating!

5. Learn. For older children, let them choose a topic of interest, and allow them to research everything about that topic online. Then, set aside a time for them to share their knowledge with you. They love to see they know something you may not know, plus it encourages them to grow in their own learning.

6. Exercise. Children are like puppies in that if they are cooped up for too long, they start to go stir crazy. So whether it is an early morning nature walk, or afternoon bike ride to a park, get outdoors and let them burn off some of their excess energy!

Tune in next week for more ideas and summer fun. Happy planning!

I’m not sure what happened to me Saturday, but a switch got flipped and I raced into spring cleaning mode with zeal. Corners untouched for a while, got scrubbed. Dust bunnies hidden were eradicated.

I didn’t tire, but continued looking for the next area to attack with vigilance.

Flower beds were raked of their winter droppings. Fall perennials were pruned. I even managed to give a mopping lesson to my daughter. By Saturday afternoon things glistened inside and out!

Cleaning was not something I enjoyed as a child. I had multi-colored carpet that constantly changed with the array of clothes on my floor. There were far more important things to do — play with my friends!

As I’ve gotten older, I don’t care for cleaning any more than I did as a child. My multi-colored carpet is gone, but I still feel there are far more important things to do than clean — spend time with my family!

I hope I never grow out that feeling. Even when I’m a grandparent, I don’t want cleaning to be the high point of my day.

Life is full of mini adventures waiting to be explored. Family activities waiting to be done together. Escapades waiting to be discovered.

I will always dislike cleaning. After all, there are more important things to do!

Spring is in the air … I think. Apart from the record high temperature and then snowfall two days later about two weeks ago, I’m hopeful Spring is finally here to stay.

I’ve said this before, but Spring is one of my favorite seasons. I love seeing new life in nature. Neighbors that you haven’t seen much all winter surface with the warm weather. We round the last bend of a school year for our daughter. Family walks with the dog transpire without having to bundle up. Yes, I love Springtime.

Yesterday on our walk, I found myself looking at the trees threatening to show life on their branches, and imaged picnics and BBQs in the backyard, possible flowers blooming now that our puppy is nearing one year old, and summer vacations. I caught myself smiling at the thought of such great things.

How is it that Spring can invoke such excitement and anticipation when nature still appears so brown and dull? For me, the thrill of Springtime is the reminder that renewal will be around the corner. I may not see it yet, but I know it’s coming. Whatever has lingered, will have its chance to be refreshed and new, like a new resolution to tackle those weeds before they overtake my rose bushes this Summer.

With another Spring season here, it’s also a reminder that our daughter is growing up — only five more Springtimes and she will be college bound.

Life is fleeting. Each day counts.

How are we spending today?