Our summer holiday task list 2019

Every year as the school summer holidays draw closer I like to come up with a list of things that I want to do with the children. We have eight weeks to fill, and although we will be spending a week in the Isle of Wight at the beginning of the holiday and a week in Lanzarote at the end, there is a lot of holiday in the middle to fill.

I'm not one for organising lots of exciting days out over the holidays. I don't like my husband to miss out, and we tend to save our money to put towards going away so I try not to spend too much on entertainment at other times. We'll do a few outings with friends I'm sure, but we'll also spend lots of time going out locally, to the beach, the playground and the library.

So I try to come up with long term projects that can be completed over time at home. My big task for the summer is a thorough sort out of the children's bedrooms. I want to empty them completely apart from the large pieces of furniture, then give them a good clean and really think about what goes back in. I'm sure there are lots of things lurking at the backs of cupboards that no longer have a place there. Mia is really excited to start, in fact she wants to start straight away, but I know that we need to have a couple of free days to devote to it!

They both receive lots of craft kits for birthdays and Christmas that I've put aside to work on. Mia has a lovely unicorn diamond painting kit that we've been working on together, and we've already bought a frame and chosen a place in her room to hang it. We are over halfway through, and I know that we can easily finish it.

Another project that is currently taking up far too much space on our dining room table is the Lego Taj Mahal. This amazing set was passed on to the children by a friend, and after a massive sort through and ordering of missing pieces they have begun to assemble it. As far as I know it's the second largest Lego set available with nearly 6000 pieces, so it's quite a task. People have been asking me where we will put it when it's finished and my answer is 'back in the box', which receives a wail of protest from the children, but we definitely won't have the space to keep it out on display!

As a part of this job we also need to sort out our Lego. I'm quite good about keeping the individual sets separated and stored neatly in boxes, but we have a massive box of mixed bricks in our living room that looks really untidy. I need to reorganise our storage a little bit so that it's still handy to play with (it's played with every day) but can be put away out of sight when not in use.

I'm going to build the children a proper reading den for the holiday. We have a cheap indoor wendy house that we bought a few years ago, and I'll help them set it up with cushions and what not inside so that it's nice and cosy for them to chill out in.

Harry is working on a large timeline poster and adding in all sorts of historical dates and facts. He's measured out his bedroom wall to work out where it will go, so I want to encourage him to get as much done as he can, then we'll hang it up so he can add to it as he discovers more dates that he wants to add.

Finally, maybe I'll have some time to myself as well while they are busy! I've been working on a Christmas ABC Sampler which I received for Christmas 2017, and am hoping to have framed and ready for display in Christmas 2019. I'm pleased to say that the main cross stitch part is coming along really well, and I'm currently about halfway through the final letter - A for Angel. I need to go back to each letter and add in some metallic thread parts (I was worried that I'd run out so I finished the main areas first) and then there are lots of beads to put in before I ask my Mum to help me frame it. It would be wonderful if I could get it finished and framed before they go back to school in September!

What are your plans for the school summer holidays?