Okay, today is the first day that we're putting the new summer schedule to work. Right now I have a few minutes to myself because the kids are in their rooms for "quiet time". (Never mind the fact that Abbey is howling like a hyena - at least she's confined to her room and the door's closed.) Amazingly, the kids all slept in until about 8:30 and so we had free time until about 10. That's when the trouble started. Ten o'clock is designated as time spent doing chores. They're simple, really. Ian and Abbey have to clean their rooms and make their beds. Emma has a few more chores added on to that but not much. Ian's room still isn't clean. Abbey's bed isn't made and I think I hear toys marching out of their bins as we speak. Hmmmm. Maybe I don't need to re-fill the pool after all. You see, they don't get to have any more free time until chores are completed. Call me the chore Nazi if you want to, I don't mind. I'm sure that I've earned some pretty thrilling names that have been muttered under my kid's breaths over the last couple of days anyway.

School time went well too. It's only about 45 minutes long so that the kids don't protest too loudly but so that their brains don't atrophy over the summer break. They did pretty well today but we'll see how things are shaping up after we've been doing this new gig for more than 24 hours. Any suggestions on how to improve? I'd love to hear from you if you do!!!