My Summer Manifesto

I recently visited one of my favorite blogs at http://aliedwards.com/ (excuse my ignorance here about how to create a link- I haven't learned how to do it yet!).  Ali focuses on everyday life but from a scrapbook perspective. Her website is a wonderfully fun collection of words and images focusing on celebrating your life and cultivating a creative spirit, two topics that really touch my heart.  Her work inspires me and encourages me to live life to the fullest by not only growing and challenging myself, but by appreciating and paying attention to those small but special everyday moments that often get overlooked in our hectic lives.

She posted a summer manifesto and I liked the idea so much that I decided to work on mine. I thought that with my oldest daughter’s first year of preschool coming to an end next week and our summer officially beginning,  now would be a good time to think about what I want our summer to look like and what I hope for all of us to get out of it. Perhaps my ideas will give you some as well.

My Summer Manifesto:

1.      Grow a tomato that tastes as close as possible to the fat, juicy ones that my Granddaddy used to grow so long ago.

2.      Make outside play time a priority.

3.      Visit new parks in the area that we haven’t checked out yet.

4.      Have picnics in our own front yard.

5.      Sit out on my front covered porch and enjoy watching a summer storm blow in.

6.      Enjoy the fireflies when they first come out at night.

7.      Make spontaneous ice cream runs as a family.

8.      Instigate “Spotlight Time” (I realize that this one needs some explaining. First of all my husband is a closet redneck. One of the things he loves the most about living on three acres in the country is the freedom to throw our watermelon rinds into the woods anytime he wants. He loves to shine a spotlight at night around our property and see what wildlife can be spotted or anything else interesting for that matter. The last time we did this we stood in the bed of our truck in our driveway and shone the light only to see a skunk walking around in our back yard. The sad thing is I didn’t even realize it was a skunk. He had to explain that they don’t all look like the cartoon character Pepe Le Pew. What can I say? Cheap fun and it would earn brownie points with him.)

9.      Read a novel in one of my favorite genres, young adult fiction, just because it is fun and makes me connect with myself as a teenager while bringing back old memories and dreams long ago forgotten.

10.  Check out our weekly kid craft time at the library.

11.  Actually play with the girls in the sandbox.

12.  Take the girls to the beach.

13.  Take the girls to the pool and forget about worrying what I look like in a bathing suit.

14.  Grill out often.

15.  Organize that neighborhood block party I keep talking about doing and everybody is sick of hearing me talk about doing.

16.  Take my oldest to the movies for the first time.

I feel like I could go on and on but the main thing I keep hearing in my head is to simply life this summer and to make time to have fun with my family. I want this summer to be one filled with happy memories, not items on my never ending “To Do” list. I would love to hear your comments on the subject as well. Will you join me in taking this challenge? Let’s make this summer one where enjoying our families is the priority, not just one of enduring all this extra time together since the kids are home from school.