This title could be looked at one of two ways. As a verb: Summer is the best. Or as a noun: These are the rules thou shall abide by if thou wants to survive this season. Take your best guess as to how I mean it.

You're right. That would be a noun. You know me so well.

I do love summer. It is my absolute favorite season. But as my kids have become older, it has been more challenging to keep our house in working order and for mom to keep her sanity. For the most part, we tend to live without a lot of rules--especially in June, July and August. After 9 months of schedules everyone is in need of a respite from the structure. I get that. But after working and going to school last summer, I saw how that backfires and I end up chasing my tail. I'm fully exhausted and resentful by Labor Day weekend. I did not want a repeat. Just because I am not taking classes or working a job for the next 3 months, doesn't mean this year could be a free-for-all. Something had to change.

The night before our first full week of summer vacation, we sat down as family and established some "rules." Now, of course, these were not met with enthusiasm but I have to say that after 10 days, things are going quite well and everyone seems pretty content. There have been some requests to bend but overall I think this was a great idea. One of my girlfriend's (who has 4 children and the same frustrations) asked me to fax her my list. I told her I'd post it here and on Facebook. We'll see how the next 9 weeks go!