Earlier this summer arrived back home from a 2 week trip to Colorado while a massive heat wave came through Wisconsin that came with lotsa rain. We were outside in the early morning and then back inside while the sun was at its peak and then back outside before and after dinner. It was such a mix of wanting to soak up the sun without getting too hot, while enjoying the cooler breeze through open windows at night.
With so much back-and-forth, my home felt a little wonky. Almost like we lost rhythm. Anyone else? Maybe you also just arrived home from a trip or your kids had summer camps and rhythms, schedules, basically everything stable kind of fell through the cracks. And everyone feels it in your family, right?
Because underneath certain rhythms are the real rhythms, the ways we actually want to spend our days, the things we desire most, the rhythms that actually keep us moving & feeling alive — like placing your bare feet on solid dewy ground in the early morning sun, spending time reading your Bible with your kids after breakfast, lingering at the table with friends after dinner, soaking up the sprinkler-filled days and having meaningful conversation with your spouse at the end of the day. These are the real rhythms we live for and are created for.
But the rhythms, probably more like routine things, make us able to live and dance freely throughout our days. And luckily, kids actually enjoy routine and honestly so does your home.
I am someone who needs grounding, I need stability in any season, so after our 2 week trip to Colorado, and then the random play dates, a camping trip, numerous trips to the lake, I knew I needed to place some things in our days that kept me grounded and our house feeling intentional and functional.
And although we are well into summer, intentionality in our homes is still possible. And honestly, I’d say that being more intentional towards the end of summer will probably be more impactful because fall is coming soon, so it’s the perfect time to ease into new rhythms and create good habits withouts the pressure of actually needing to or the demands of schedules actually changing.
A few things that help me maintain a sense of rhythm during the summer are meal planning, 10 minute tidy’s and afternoon quiet times. I was trying to think of other things but honestly between these three I feel like there can be rhythm with our crowded, always-on-the-go summer days. If you want to have a visual for rhythms in your home this summer, I have a free printable for summer rhythms. I print it off and put ours on our fridge so I can see it and remember as I’m going throughout my days.
Meal planning
Every season I write out a bunch of seasonal ideas for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, sides and desserts and then each month I simply pick from the list and break it down per week. Mayyyybe this seems ridiculous to some of you but every day of the week has a certain type of food, Tuesdays we eat red meat, Wednesdays it’s chicken or seafood, Thursdays are leftovers and Fridays are pizza. So if there are 5 Tuesdays in a given month I literally plan 5 meals with red meat from my giant list I gathered for that specific season.
This works so well for me. I’ve been doing it for over 2 years now after reading the book, In the FLO, it’s essentially about how to naturally and easily balance your hormones and live within your feminine energy by eating certain foods during particular times of your cycle. In other words, I eat cyclically, so my family follows suit. It helped prep my body and hormones through the season before getting pregnant with my third baby, and then during my third pregnancy and now postpartum. Planning like this has honestly helped my mentality about meals and grocery shopping and makes it a solid rhythm instead of cooking being chaotic or meals feeling like I’m adding one more thing to my to do list every day. I feel a sense of grounded-ness in eating cyclically and seasonally. It’s made me more creative in the kitchen, and my emotions have never been more steady. My kids have tried so many foods because I don’t make different meals – like grown up meals and kids food, my kids and even my baby right now, simply eat what we eat.
So that’s a quick overview of meal planning. But one last thing, I do not meal prep. I absolutely love turning on music in the kitchen, letting a summer breeze blow through open windows, sipping something tasty while chopping veggies and making dinner. My motto in the kitchen is “low and slow” – meaning I cook meat slowly and when my kids help mix things, I teach them how to stir by keeping the whisk or spoon low and stir slowly. So we keep our meals easy, but tasteful, our kitchen is a place of peace not hurried-ness, and it’s an enjoyable environment for us all! So will all that, I don’t prep meals one day a week because I honestly enjoy cooking way too much to not do it several times a day.
10 Minute Tidy
The next rhythm I have been keeping in our home is a 10 minute tidy. So 10 minute tidy’s are one of things I almost always have on my “summer rhythms” print-off that I keep on my fridge. I mentioned it earlier. But now thinking of this particular rhythm in our home, it’s something that almost always makes its way onto that list! Remember to grab yours here so you can get started on it today! Okay so, with anything revolving cleaning in your home, a simple guideline is if you have minimal stuff = minimal clean up. And I am sure that if it takes you longer than 10 minutes to do a quick clean of your home (or at least the first floor) then you have too much stuff. Or maybe you don’t have a good system down.
10 minute tidy’s can look different depending on the day. Maybe in the morning it’s more like getting all the dishes in the sink from breakfast, starting a load of laundry and having the kids circle back to any toys they got out in the morning. This is also a great way to teach and instill habits in your kids. And in the afternoon it might look more like resetting our home – so opening curtains from afternoon quiet time, making sure laundry is put away and doing a quick swipe through of the kitchen so making dinner is seamless.
Sometimes we put on music and within 2 songs we have everything cleaned up, or we even set a timer. But our kids know the drill by now. haha that when we say a quick clean or 10 minute tidy, they basically know what to do and know the expectation is that they help clean up even if they didn’t make the mess.
Afternoon quiet times
So the third rhythm is having a daily afternoon quiet time: this time is almost non negotiable in our home. Every day, after lunch or around 2pm, all three of our kids have an hour long time in their room created for them to rest, renew and reset. It’s when the baby takes her afternoon nap, and my two older kids (who are 6 and almost 4), sit in their beds with books and they are expected to literally enjoy the quiet. And honestly, most days my 4 and 6 year old fall asleep. I think one of the best habits to form in young kids is setting aside time for no stimulation and for boredom to arise. We don’t even have screentime or devices besides our cell phones, laptops and tv, but our kids don’t have access to any of those and we only turn on our tv once, maybe twice, a week for a family movie night on friday nights. But even without lots of screens in our home, my husband and I notice a huge difference when they have been given time to simply be, to rest, to sleep, to read by themselves. They come out of those quiet times differently than when they went in.
These three things, especially the meal planning and 10 minute tidy’s, make room for doing the fun summer things. You have your bases covered: food for your fam and possibly others to join, and your home is somewhat put together, enough to leave the mess or be able to host people in a pinch!
Underneath these 3 rhythms are the real rhythms, the things that make our world go round. So tell me, what are things that keep your home in-sync? I love chatting with women about…basically everything, so comment below, ask questions and hit the subscribe button so we can connect more!