It's almost time for school to start!
I cannot believe how fast this summer flew by and how fast time goes at this stage of life. We had a short and fast summer in the Caputo household – a trip to Minnesota, camps for the boys, ongoing sports practices and lots of surfing and ocean time!
Ben had his first job this summer, which was really fun to witness and watch him grow into. He worked at A-Z Cooking School, which is a wonderful organization in Santa Barbara dedicated to something near and dear to my heart—food, cooking and eating! Additionally, we have a new family member, Annie, an adorable kitten that Ben brought home from his sleep-away camp to join our brood. She fits right in and I love watching her prance around in her pink collar – finally another girl in this boy-town house!
As we approach school a few things come to mind that help my household run smoothly, so I wanted to share them with you:
Make sure you are getting your calendar meetings scheduled with your partner! Once/week look ahead, talk through who’s where on which day, who’s picking up whom and what does our 7 day outlook look like? This is a practice that Steve and I live and die by.. and I honestly don’t know how people with busy households like us survive if you aren’t communicating at least once week with this approach!
Second is food – a necessary element in any busy household and I firmly believe you can take away 80% of the strife we all feel when we hear, “What’s for dinner,” by laying out a meal plan on Sunday. This doesn’t have to be complicated and it doesn’t need to take more than a few minutes. Look ahead, fill in the gaps, and remember to give yourself a break one night each week and let the kids eat at Chipotle!
The 3rd area that is important at this time of year is how your kids are getting to where they’re going… carpool time! Establish the text strings, put it on the calendar so everyone is on the same page and communicate clearly and kindly and OFTEN with all parties involved!
