If you’re anything like me, then you have probably been dreading August since…maybe, last August?

August means a full month with two kids at home all day with no childcare framework. So camp is over and I need to find a way to entertain both kids and somehow keep them from driving each other nuts. 

I decided to take a short break from my normal blog format and just post what we roughly do each week. Obviously, I am a day off my usual blog schedule, but we can just chalk that up to August being off to a crazy busy start. Not like I forgot or anything.

Anyways, camp ended on Thursday, so Friday started Day 1 of Keitanat Mommy (or Camp Mommy when we speak in English). Two campers, one exhausted mom, and a whole bunch of caffeine. I had planned on creating a schedule and printing it out for my kids to know the rough plan. But being a Type-C mom without a printer at home, I honestly just didn’t. 

I didn’t make any plans, I’ve just kind of been flying by the seat of my pants and been sticking to a rough schedule. It already feels like a week, but it’s only been four days. Oh man, August is long. 

Anyways, I’ll stop rambling and just put the schedule here.

7:30-8:00am (ish): get crazy morning energies out with Mendy Music 

This is an important step that cannot be skipped, lest it lead to a trampoline couch, rolly pollies on mommy, or aimlessly running back and forth on said couch. 

8-9am (ish): breakfast and wild-mirpeset time. 

Translation: Josh and I eat breakfast while the girls make a mess on the mirpeset.

9-9:30am (ish): tefilah and free play 

Everyday I get the same objections from my 3.5 year old that she doesn’t want to do it, but then happily sings along and answers all my questions and fills in the next word when I pause for her. 

9:45-10am (ish): 1.5 year old goes down for a nap. 

10am-12pm: Mommy and 3.5 year old special activity

During the nap on Friday, I decided to take our 3.5 year old on a nature walk to collect some loose parts for a loose-parts collage. It started out as a cute exercise in seeing what caught her eye and then weirdly ended up with us cleaning plastic garbage from several parks and then bringing it into our living room. She kept collecting things on Shabbat as well, oops. 

Sunday was too hot for a 2-3 hour nature walk (I know, she enjoyed it THAT much on Friday), so we came home early and did some screen time, oops. 

Yesterday we did some mirpeset painting and coloring. Then we came inside and had some screen time. Like three hours of screen time.

Today we just went grocery shopping and had some more screen time. Hey, we need to keep her quiet somehow when the baby is sleeping. 

12:12:30: lunch

This is either me eating while the baby is sleeping and the toddler is occupied on the screen, me making lunch for everyone with our toddler, or me making lunch with both kids screaming that they want the egg that is currently cooking on the stove. 

12:30-3pm: survival mode

That means that we either have that day’s flavor of babysitter, including the screen, or I am juggling both kids while battling my exhaustion (just as the caffeine wears off), the kids’ boredom, and the endless to-do list that I need to squeeze in somewhere. 

We also got a blow-up kiddie pool for the mirpeset, but it gets dirty after one use and we’re still looking for easy ways to clean it. If you know anything, please let me know. They love the pool and can spend hours in there, but once they use the pool, it means they need to jump straight into a bath. 

3:30-4pm: dinner 

I know, but they eat early and getting them to eat anything is difficult enough, so I don’t fight the timing. 

4-5pm (ish): Bath and some more snacks

5:30-6pm: bedtime 

That’s a rough daily schedule. I hope maybe you can find comfort in this and maybe even find some ideas to help you pass the days in August. 

Good luck to everyone. And seriously, if you know how to keep a kiddie pool clean, let me know.