I am not sure who is more excited that summer is here, me or my kids. I am so ready to have all three of my kids all to myself and not have to worry about being somewhere every minute of the day or rush off in the mornings to get to school in time. I am so happy not to have to wake my daughter up from nap every day to go pick up my son from school and I am even more excited to see my kids not have the pressure of homework, tests, and teachers expectations weighing on their minds. However, before the summer even begins, I will be handing my sons this contract, just to make sure we start off on the summer off on the right foot. I am happy to have endless hours at home with them, but let’s be real, there needs to be some ground rules, which are as follows:

1. Get as wet as you want outside, run through sprinklers, swim in the pool, roll in puddles. I will provide you with a towel, a bathing suit and one outfit per day. DO NOT ask to come inside until you are dry if you have chosen to get your outfit wet instead of your bathing suit.

2. Read. Daily. Not to me, read to yourself. If you need help with a word I will help you, but this is your time to discover and find a love of reading. This will not take place of story time at night. I swear, so don’t worry. I will always read to you, and give you a chance to read to me. But this reading time is different. Grab a book and dive into a different world. Want to be a dragon slayer for a day? Great, Ill take you to the library and we will find a dragon slayer book just for you.

3. I will trade you Popsicles for silence. Once that Popsicle is in your hands you give me 5 minutes of silence. Suck, lick, heck eat the wrapper for all I care, just be quiet for 5 minutes. Trust me, this is more for you than it is for me.

4. Remember, every single night you will have to go to bed, so there will be no need to give me that look of utter shock each night like you had no idea this was coming. And yes most nights it will still be light out when you go, I promise you, its much later than you think, but Ill pull the shade on the window if you really need it dark.

5. Discover. Go out in this great big world of ours (okay maybe not the whole world, you can go about 2 houses down from ours before I will really get nervous) but you go down those two houses and discover life. But please, don’t feel like you need to show me every creepy, crawly thing you find along the way. I’ll take your word for it.

6. PLAY with your friends. Dont fight, boss, or ignore your friends. Play with them!!! Make memories! Laugh so hard your belly hurts! Don’t take things so seriously and just have fun!!!!! I know I tell you this all of the time, but you will never be 6 and 4 years old again. Make it the best 6th and 4th year of your life!

7. Remember, I am not your short order chef, nor your maid. I will give you a good variety of food, and I expect you to eat it. Without complaints. I will take choices, likes and dislikes in consideration, but I may also make you try something new. Remember that smoothie you thought would be gross because it was green, but you ended up begging for more? Yeah just keep that in mind. Oh and put your dishes in the sink. If you do both of these each day, I assure you the huge ice cream cone at the end of the day will be so worth it.

8. No hitting, kicking, biting, pinching, tackling or… You know what, just don’t touch each other. That would probably be easiest.

9. Any cuddle time you could spare would be greatly appreciated. This Mama has missed having you around all day these past 10 months.

10. Lets make this our best summer yet. Lets check each thing we do off our “Fun things To do this Summer” list…and lets make each thing a memory that will last a life time. ** And remember…. Dance every chance you get…**

If you agree to these terms and conditions, please sign below for an amazing summer.

Love, Mommy

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