I’m so relieved swim season is over now! It is SO FUN and there’s sadness when it ends too, but I was soooo excited to see nothing on the calendar this weekend.
I spent Saturday mostly in a relaxed catch up mode. Nothing was “urgent” but I have a long list of things to do or catch up before spring break in a couple weeks.
I spent a long while doing my monthly planning. Back in January I created a Google doc to walk myself through the various monthly planning steps laid out in Sarah’s Best Laid Plans. It works SO well for me! (She includes checklists in the book, too, but I love using the Google Doc to have space to reflect, brainstorm, etc. I copy it forward and make a new one each month.)
The process really helps me catch upcoming things I need to plan for that could be easy to miss otherwise. It spans a big picture view down to a more granular level.
When I’m done, I then add many/most things directly to either a Google Task list or my actual Google Calendar. For me, this monthly planning session has become probably the most important one, more so even than weekly planning! (I think since many things are already in place by the time the week rolls around.)
Other things I caught up on yesterday:
-cleaned my office!
-made the boys do a big clothing purge/drawers clean out (much over due)
-a BIG Monarch/finance catch up – now totally up to date which feels so good!
-took a long walk (nice to not be rushed)
-did my planned Heather Robertson workout (-> I absolutely LOVE these workouts!! I really recommend and she has a ton of long (12 week!) full programs. I have just been doing her workouts 3x/week to supplement my gym workouts but they are awesome.)
-watched Your Place or Mine on Netflix with Ivan (Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon movie).
-Ivan had soccer later at night (like 9 pm!) so I ended up in bed snuggling with Charlie and watching episode 2 of The Pitt (which I decided I think will be a solo show for me. Started it with Ivan the other day and he promptly fell asleep- I think there was WAY TOO MUCH medical jargon for him, especially as a non-native English speaker! lol! It was totally speaking my language though! 😅)
On the agenda today:
-gym for full body strength
-lunch out??
-little shopping spree with Ivan to browse a few things possibly for boys for spring break/ maybe use my Lululemon gift card in person??
-clean out our kitchen junk drawer!
-email catch up
Asher worked yesterday morning, went to hit golf balls with a friend, cleaned a bathroom and his room + drawers clean out, went to the gym to lift and later ended up sleeping over at a friend’s. Asher is a busy bee who likes to always be doing something. I think he is also enjoying swim being done so he can do other things again!!
Ethan slept late, lounged around, cleaned his room/drawers/etc., and then went to the Milwaukee Bucks game with a tennis friend’s family all evening. (The family had some kind of passes to go down on the court and really awesome seats which was cool!) Ethan “invested” in a $145 Milwaukee Bucks jersey at the arena shop which he was excited about because he has been super into the Bucks and didn’t even own a Bucks t-shirt. (He literally said, “this is an investment piece. I’ll still fit in this when I’m 40!” (Never mind that the player will be long retired by then, lol…) Ethan is NOT a spender at all though (unlike someone else whose name rhymes with thrasher 😆), so this purchase seemed valid and reasonable. 🙂
Today Ethan works from 2-9 (he can pay off his Bucks jersey, lol!). (Actually, we will probably chip in on it because like I said, he’s not a spender!) and Asher lifeguards this afternoon.
Speaking of teens and money, I just remembered that Emily had asked me to write a post about how we manage teens/finances in our household. I should write that soon! Let me know if you have any specific questions. (Not that I’m an expert on finances!! But would be happy to share our experiences with teens + money.)
Hope you’re having a good weekend!
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for OPEN weekends. I realized this morning that Asher’s spring golf stuff will be primarily just weekdays (I think!), as will Ethan’s spring tennis season! We may be looking at a long stretch of more breathing room on weekends, which sounds awesome.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Hooray for some more open space on your weekends! Great to have a “catch up” day on Saturday, and those puppy snuggles watching the Pitt looked lovely too. Owen was sick with fever (not too unwell luckily though), and it was raining all weekend, so I ended up having a catch up weekend too! Did a lot of tidying, cleaning, decluttering, online banking, and laundry. And naps. 🙂 Owen’s now better and starting the week a lot more sorted. Its still raining though – boo.
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It’s nice to slowdown after a busy season. I’ve had 2 months of that and I soaked it up. March travel is starting soon but will try to make it as slow and not rushed as possible. Those busy moments make us appreciate and enjoy more of the slow season.
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Before you even mentioned Ethan not being a spender I thought – oh that’s not like him, he must really be a fan! That is great that he had such great seats for the game! I feel like Paul will likely be the saver and Taco will be the spender, based on their personalities. We will see if my hunch is correct!
I’m glad you finally had space in your calendar after a super busy month! Ours was much quieter than the last several have been but we had enough going on to keep the boys entertained, which is crucial. Too much time at home is not a good thing! And the beautiful weather today really helped!
I love The Pitt! I have to have the captions on so I can understand what they are saying. It is definitely not a show for Phil. He does not like shows set in stressful environments at all. I didn’t start watching it until January of this year. I watched several episodes on my day off on my birthday so now I am all caught up and have to wait for an episode to drop each week!
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This must have felt good! You have been insanely busy lately.
I’m intrigued about the Heather Robertson workouts. I looked at it, and they’re free? I’m looking to focus on strength starting next month. Have you ever done Caroline Girvan? I’m wondering how HR compares.
Yes, I would like the post on teens and finances! My daughter is currently looking for a job and is talking about a car (meanwhile she still doesn’t have her permit, so that’s funny…) Anyway I’ll be interested to hear how you manage things.
I hope today was a fun day for you!
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I am excited for your teens + money post! I also wanted to add that I would find it interesting to hear more about the teen job process–if I recall correctly, both your boys got their first jobs at 14. My 13-year-old wants to get a job next year but also I…have a hard time imagining someone will want to hire him haha. Or that he would be well equipped for the fast-paced environment and stress of a fast-food job which I am imagining is one of the only jobs a 14-year-old can get? My younger kid really wants to be a lifeguard starting at age 15, which is the minimum age for lifeguarding in our area, so I think she will be a little more focused/motivated by that goal. Anyway, I’m curious how you handled the job hunting process with the boys, whether you pushed them to work at a certain age or they wanted to themselves, what kinds of jobs they looked at, etc.
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