A LOT with Audra

Ep19
===

Introduction and Summer Excitement
---

Audra Dinell: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of a Lot with Audra. I'm so excited because today I have my team back with me and we are going to be talking about. Summer. Summer brings up a couple kinds of feelings for different people, right? Some parents are like, summer, oh my gosh, what are we gonna do? Have we enrolled in camps?

And some parents are like, heck yes it is summer. I'm ready. Let's go. So what I thought we would talk about today is how our team is going to do summer. Work doesn't [00:01:00] have to look just one way. Summer doesn't have to either. And we have experimented multiple times with different versions of how summer is gonna look for us.

Each one different. And I'm kind of obsessed with thinking about like what my definition of success is. And I think about that when it comes to summer and that plays into kind of how I'm planning summer this year. So without further ado, we are going to dive in and talk about how our team does summer.

Okay.

Meet the Team and Their Kids
---

Audra Dinell: Welcome Kendra and Kristen. Hello. Hi. You're back. Yay. Yay. Actually, is this the first episode the three of us have done?

Kendra Moody: Yes, we did. Values.

Audra Dinell: Oh

Kendra Moody: yes, just the three. Yeah. Yay.

Audra Dinell: Because we've had Sierra on before and then Kristen and I did one with Christie. I think it would be helpful to share our kids' ages.

So my kids, I have two boys, they are eight and six this [00:02:00] summer, so this is our first summer where they are both elementary school students and therefore out for the summer. Kendra, how old are your kids?

Kendra Moody: My boys are eight, four, and one.

Kristen Selby: Oh my goodness.

Kendra Moody: I know. Sweet little baby.

Kristen Selby: So my daughter is 13 and she will be taking advanced credit courses through June and half of July.

And so that kind of changes our summer dy dynamic. And then my boys are 11 and nine.

Audra Dinell: Hmm.

Kendra Moody: So fun. So

Audra Dinell: fun.

Kristen Selby: I love our age ages too.

Kendra Moody: Yeah. It's like we have everything covered one through 13, like teenager. Yeah.

Audra Dinell: One girl. Right. A lot of boys in the pack. A lot of boys. Leah leading the pack. She's the leader of the pack.

Kendra's Summer Logistics
---

Audra Dinell: So since you have been a part of the thread team, I'm curious, what have your summers looked like logistically?

And Kendra, even when you were in corporate, I'm just curious. Like since you've become a mom and been a part of the team or in your previous lives, what has Summer looked like?

Kendra Moody: So, [00:03:00] when I was in corporate America, summers looked no different than spring, winter, and fall. It was, you know, 24 7 childcare except for Saturdays and Sundays.

And so it really felt like there was no different. And our schedules and our routines. And so the first summer that I joined the thread team, I sent our oldest to daycare with our middle. We, I had just had two at the time, and so my thought process was I still needed full-time care for him, so I just sent him.

So to daycare,

Audra Dinell: can I say?

Kendra Moody: Yeah.

Audra Dinell: When you were in corporate? How old were your kids? Because were they even school aged then, or were they still just like preschool, daycare age, where it's like if you don't pay for their spot all year round, you don't have it.

Kendra Moody: So our oldest is eight now, and I've been with a thread three years.

So he was five and our oldest, so he had just done his first year of kindergarten.

Audra Dinell: Okay. Yeah. So corporate [00:04:00] life. Summers summer, were the same. Mm-hmm. And you chose to take your oldest from kindergarten back into the same care daycare

Kendra Moody: with his

Audra Dinell: brother. Cool. Yep. Okay.

Kendra Moody: Yep. So that, that's what worked for us that summer.

And then the second summer I decided that I wanted to keep him home. He requested it. He was at daycare with a bunch of little kids and he didn't like that. And so I thought, okay, well. I made this move to be able to spend more time with him, so let's try it. I tried to

Kendra Moody: inundate him with camps.

Mm-hmm. Which I think at the end of the summer he didn't like. There were a few camps that I. They were just long days and I think he prefers a slower pace. So that first summer, or I guess the second summer, I sent him to camps. And then my middle at that point was at preschool where they both go to school and so they had a summer program.

So I kept the older one home and I sent my middle to the full-time [00:05:00] camp that his school had, which he loved. And. We also moved during that time, so we were right across the street from it. So we got to walk to it, which felt like a great pace for us. And he was at the age where I felt like he needed more interaction with kids.

Like I don't think I could have kept him entertained

Kendra Moody: full-time over the summer. And so this summer I feel like I've stair stepped it so that

Audra Dinell: Wait, wait. Can I ask how old then was your middle when you chose to pull him? When you felt like he just needed more stimulation? That he three. Three. Three.

Okay. Yeah.

Kendra Moody: So three is when he started preschool. At this preschool. So it would've been the summer that he was three. And so this summer, or I guess four, 'cause this summer he will be five. Well, no, he's been there for two years, so this summer I am keeping both of them home with me full time. And we only have one camp scheduled for our oldest.

The rest is gonna be

Audra Dinell: camp mom.

Kendra Moody: Oh, I love that. And I'm sure you have a plan

Audra Dinell: for that and I kind of wanna hear about it.

Kendra Moody: Do you want me to [00:06:00] tell you about it now? I do. And you're a camp mom. So camp mom. So here, here's the thing. I am structured, we all know this based on my strengths, and it kind of terrifies me to just go into a summer and not have any structure.

And I remember as a child, two of my parents were teachers, and so our summers were just so much fun days spent outside swimming, play dates, sports, late nights, sleeping in all of that. So I crave some of that for my boys because that's what my childhood memories are filled with. And I know that I still want to, I have have work that needs to be done and still want to be productive.

So my plan is to have productive mornings where I create a schedule for us that I will post on the fridge so that I can work and then they will have scheduled time to do coloring reading. [00:07:00] My oldest really is into math, and so he has math worksheets printed for him to do this summer and even asked one of his teachers to send some home with him.

So we'll have our mornings for them to do those types of things. I'll have it scheduled out so they know what they can follow. While I work. And then our afternoons are gonna be where we can go swimming, go to parks, play dates, adventures, and things like that.

Audra Dinell: Oh, fun. Okay. So Camp mom is gonna look like productive mornings where everyone has a schedule, they know what they're supposed to be doing, they're mostly gonna be at home, and then afternoons are gonna be outings and fun.

Yes. And I will say when we were prepping for our quarter too, as a team, this is the kind of thing we talked about, right? Mm-hmm. I. Open it up. What does everyone want their summer to look like? What's their availability? I, we put it on our planning doc. I have that printed out so that I can see. Don't ping Kendra in the afternoon or, or something.

You know, I'm not saying that that's necess necessarily how we roll.

Kendra Moody: You can ping me. I might just like be out a pool responding to you.

Audra Dinell: Right. If I [00:08:00] want time with Kendra, it's the morning. Yeah. Right. Or you can meet me at the pool, which we've done. We, we did one summer. Yeah,

Kendra Moody: that was, we did, we had a full couple hour working session while the boys swam.

Audra Dinell: I know. That was awesome. So I remember when it was Kendra's first summer and Kristen, I'm wondering if you remember this, where. Well, I will say when kinder first came on the team, like I, coming from corporate, I felt pressured to kinda like make it a more formal environment than like Kristen and I rolled with.

And so like Kinder had her own office and like her and I were in separate offices. Now if we work together, it's like we're in the same space, you know? Right, right. And I forgot, do you remember that? Yes. And then I remember you came on board in May, were you straddling both wrapping up corporate job and

working at the thread

Kendra Moody: I did for, it was I think April and May. Yes. And then I came on or March and April and then I came on full-time in

Audra Dinell: May, but I remember I, one of you remember Kristen, where, Kendra was like, you know, this is the plan for the summer. And Kristen and I were like, [00:09:00] oh, okay.

Yeah. We'll have our kids this summer.

Kristen Selby: We have little interns. You'll meet them soon? Yes. Nice.

Audra Dinell: But I do, I I'm curious, before we jump into, I wanna hear what your world is, Kristen. Kendra, can you talk about how you incorporated work the first summer you were on the team.

Mm-hmm. And incorporate. Mm-hmm. Like, like you said, kept on as normal. Yeah. How did you incorporate, and then you just talked about how you're going to incorporate it mornings this summer. Mm-hmm. How did you incorporate it last summer when you were kind of juggling in multiple camps?

Kendra Moody: Yeah, so I feel like last summer I definitely wasn't as present as I wanted to be. So I, I feel like the juggling was, and it was my oldest, so I probably gave him more TV time, tablet time than I normally would. And I also took him with me to a lot of things, which was super fun. That was fun. It was neat. At that time we were doing [00:10:00] a lot of our workshops at a place where we.

They weren't hosting us. We set it all up what was previously Mud House. And so it was fun to take him with me the day before and help me set everything up. And so I, I do feel like it was more of a, I took it kind of a week at a time. I understood what my events were, what my responsibilities were for the week.

If I needed help, I'd ask grandparents or

Kendra Moody: maybe he'd have a friend that he would go stay with. So I think it felt different because I was just having to do that with Juan and so I, it was easier to bring him to things or allow him to have some TV go to a friend's house. So this, this summer will definitely feel different because there's two of them

Audra Dinell: and you're applying your learnings, right?

Yeah. right. Yeah. Okay.

Kristen's Summer Journey
---

Audra Dinell: Kristen. Mm-hmm. Before you came on the thread team, which was right as you were starting your business, you were a stay at home mom.

Kristen Selby: Yep.

Audra Dinell: So it was like, summer, all year round. Like give us a glimpse. Tell us your life.

Kristen Selby: Well, first of all, I want to go [00:11:00] to Kendra's mom camp. I knew you'd appreciate it.

Audra Dinell: Can we come? Sounds amazing. I was like taking notes, like this is what structured people do. Yeah. Mom camp

Kendra Moody: y'all. It'll probably last like three days and I'm gonna be like out the window.

Kristen Selby: So fun. Well, so I'm thinking back when I first became a mom, I was, at that time I was working full-time in an office in

the Texas Hill country. And so my mom actually kept, my daughter and I worked full-time in office. And then when I had my second, I went part-time. So I was like part-time at home, part-time in office. And then we moved and I went fully remote and just contracted with that company. And I think that's important because my kids have never really known anything other than the blend of work and life.

Audra Dinell: Yeah.

Kristen Selby: I think they, like, I just don't even know that my kids know that some people actually drop their kids off at school and go to an office and then. The kids have to do something [00:12:00] after school until mom and dad are able to pick them up. Like that's something that is foreign to our household. Yeah.

Which I think is both good and bad. When we landed in Wichita my kids were still, you know, pre preschool and I loved, like, you're right, it was like summer all the time. And I just loved that time of life where I did some remote work during nap time and damn, I was so productive. Like, you know, you never know how productive you are until you have a baby and then you're like, gosh, I have a window of an hour and a half or two hours.

But yeah, we just explored like it was a new city for us. So I just remember waking up and being like, guys, what do you wanna do today? And we would go to a new park and I mean, we used to drive, like we're in Goddard and we used to drive to Augusta, like on the regular just because they liked the playground out there.

And then we'd have a picnic and I mean, I just feel like it was. It was just such a beautiful season. So in a way I kind of feel like, you know, after hearing Kendra's story, mine is the reverse. It's kind of flipped. My kids, you know, obviously got into [00:13:00] school pandemic hit, and I was homeschooling them when I joined the thread team.

And so still it was very much this. You know, work life at Blend and we were kind of living that summer life and I was kind of, I was teaching at home and all the things. And so once all my kids were in school I decided to launch. You know, timely. And at that point I think things really shifted for summertime.

You know, in the early years of timely the, you know, first and second year I didn't have a ton of clients and so I was really able to still, you know, we kind of do the, the flip where in the mornings we spend a lot of time together. And then I will take a chunk of the afternoon to work and then.

We'll go to the pool, you know, late afternoon. So like that work chunk kind of feels like a break in the middle. And so I was able to kind of compartmentalize my work in a way. And that has changed over the last [00:14:00] couple of years because now I have, you know, a lot more clients and I have a team that's larger than I'm supporting and I'm, you know, have a role on the thread team.

And so life has my work life has just become a little more demanding, I guess.

Balancing Work and Family
---

Kristen Selby: All that to say now, as I'm thinking about this summer it probably will be, I, I'm just kind of being curious about it. 'cause I think it's the most work I've ever had, which I'm so grateful for and I'm scaling and growing my business.

I'm grateful that I have a partner who is home with the kids a few days a week, and I'm home with the kids a few days a week, so I, I actually kind of block my Mondays and Fridays, so I'm not doing any meetings or in-person work. That doesn't mean I'm not working on those days, but I kind of keep that fully remote.

And then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm still doing kind of the normal client meetings and anything virtual that I have to do. So I don't have little visitors in the back of my Zoom meetings, although that does happen. And honestly, I kind of love that. Like I really love to embrace the whole like

the [00:15:00] holistic kind of perspective of, yes, like I'm a mom, I'm a business owner. I don't have an office like I, you know, that I go to, so I'm working from, you know, my home office. And I just think that's a, that feels authentic and true to me.

Audra Dinell: Yeah, I have so many things I wanna ask and share. I will start there that I completely agree.

Do you remember that video that went viral probably 10 years ago? You know what I'm talking about? Where it was like that, that band was interviewed. Economist man or something like that. Yes. Bbc, yes. Pushed his kid and you know, no shame to him because that was just the culture. But I personally love being a part and all three of us I know have this.

Heart and like initiative to be a part of blending the home and the work and not making kids an excuse or like a pretend like we don't have them. Right. They're a humongous part of our life. Of course, they're one of the most important [00:16:00] parts of our life, so, right. I just love that you. Said that, that, yeah, sometimes kids do pop in the Zoom background

Kristen Selby: and I remember early on, you know, I was kind of, I almost felt some shame around if I was like on my computer, my kids, you know, it was like supposed to be the My Kid day.

But it's really turned into, like just some really beautiful conversations around like, Hey, I get to be with you a lot. I get to come to all of your class parties. I get to drop you off. I get to pick you up every day. And the reason is that I, I have to work really hard here sometimes. And so it, I think for them to see us as holistic humans too is really powerful.

And so I've really released all of that shame and guilt because it affords us the lifestyle that feels most aligned for me.

Audra Dinell: Ooh, that is so good. I feel like that's something that I'm still in the middle of working on, and I do feel like my youngest is six. Right? So it's like that age doesn't really get it.

And like you said, my kids know no different than me [00:17:00] blending work and life. They don't know me going to an office. The last time I worked for someone else in an office, my oldest was two, so it's like he doesn't remember that. But I do feel like I'm flipped from you, Kristen, where I am taking this summer to really.

Slow down and try and be really present and just be with my kids. And so I am navigating some of those things right now of like, what is this gonna look like? Because my, I know my boys are proud of me that I own a business and there was a season where I was traveling a lot for my business and I was gone.

And I know that that was not a negative thing. Like they're very proud. And also I just have this like inner knowing of what my family uniquely needs this summer, and that is more of mom there and fully. Present, which can be a struggle for me to be fully present. And I find I love my [00:18:00] work so much that I get sucked in when I'm doing something.

It's not like a stressful have to, and I know in your world it isn't either, but it's more of just like I can find myself being short with them when I am like super excited about what I'm doing, which most of the time happens to be on a computer, you know, or a phone and just the stories I'm unraveling right now, the stories I'm telling myself about.

That, and I think the summer will be really interesting for me. Before I talk about my summer though, I'm so curious, was your youngest born here?

Kristen Selby: No, he was a month old when I moved here. Yes. Okay. So we actually went back for some of his well checks.

Audra Dinell: Okay.

Kristen Selby: To Dallas.

Audra Dinell: And then you homeschooled, before your youngest was in kindergarten or the year? Yes. Okay.

Reflecting on Past Summers
---

Audra Dinell: He

Kristen Selby: was in preschool, so we did mommy preschool. Okay. Sorry, teachers.

Audra Dinell: I'm sure you did a beautiful job of that. He reads well. So check. You did it. You did it.

Planning This Summer's Camps and Activities
---

Audra Dinell: So this summer I kind of alluded to we are, so what I have done in the [00:19:00] past is, I mean, gosh.

Every summer has kind of been different for us. Before I started this business. Like I said, I, I did work for a company for a few years, and so it was the same as kindra, whereas every summer was just another season and it happened to be in Hawaii, so like legit, it felt like summer, all year round and

my oldest was going to, preschool all year round. And then as my second was born, I chose to stay home and put my oldest back in preschool at the end of summer. So I had like a couple months with them. My mother-in-law came out and lived with us for a little bit to help with the kids. And I did like 15 hours a week of contracting work.

Then moving here. I did choose to put them back into a preschool for the first year when my oldest was four, and my youngest when he was two, I put him in two. And then it's just, I'm in a different season this summer because I have two elementary schoolers. So my youngest has been in preschool year round since he was two, so for three [00:20:00] solid years.

So that was his summer. The last couple summers I've had my oldest home and one summer we did all the different camps and I was like, you know a person who loves novelty A DHD. And so I was like, let's try everything. And I learned he really liked one camp in particular. And then the second summer his friends were going to a different camp.

So we tried that camp and it didn't really work out. And so I was lucky to get a spot back in the camp he liked the summer before. I can't really remember how many weeks I put them in camp, but it wasn't all summer, but it was the majority of the summer. And then last summer we just stuck with pretty much one camp.

He did do a couple camps with Kendra's oldest son and liked them. Yeah, but preferred like his routine. So it was just so interesting to me to discover these things about our kids and what we think is gonna be beneficial, exposing them to all the things for me is different than what actually worked for him.

He just wanted to be in this camp that he loved.

Kendra Moody: [00:21:00] You know, and it's funny, I remember you and I talking about this, and I don't remember if it was last summer or this summer, whichever summer we tried all the different camps, is that by the end of it, we were looking forward to summer being over because

it was almost more taxing on us to remember where everyone was going. Yeah. To all the different places. And so it's almost like having a little bit of that structure helps you stay present, because if not, you're like, what week is this? Where are we going? What time is this camp? You're a taxi driver. For 75 days.

Yeah. And then before you know it, you're like, when is this over? When can I just take you to school, drop you off somewhere, leave you there for eight hours and then come pick you up? I remember us having this Kuhn, that conversation at the end of that summer and we were both like, dang it, we were looking forward to this but didn't realize the toll that

putting them in all the different things took on us and took away from our being able to be present.

Audra Dinell: Yeah. Well, and some, the camps were in different locations, different hours. Some were all day, some were half days.

Balancing Work and Family Time
---

Audra Dinell: [00:22:00] So this summer what I have done is mapped out with my two elementary schoolers.

I've mapped out the events that we have, like the in-person events that we have, and I have chosen to put them into my oldest's favorite camp for four weeks. Two weeks in June, two weeks in July. And then my oldest also loves soccer and there's a soccer camp available at his age, so that's gonna be a bonus fifth week of camp for him.

And those are pretty much gonna be my working weeks this year outside of the events that fall on off weeks, but in general, when I booked Camp Weeks, we then booked our events around them as much as we could. Do you remember that? Like I have the calendar for my kids' school for the next like year or two, and so I've blocked off weeks of like out of office.

Out of office, out of office, and we worked our workshops around that so that. If I, if we have a workshop that week for our current cohort, my kids are in camp now. We did do some adjusting and so Camp Shift shifted a little bit, and then we're also doing some leadership training this [00:23:00] summer and getting to go to the Global Leadership Summit again.

There's no camps available first week of August that my kids wanna go to, and that's when global leadership summit is happening. So I think I'm just gonna lean on grandparents and family those days. But in general, I am really going to try and focus on batching content, getting as much work done is needed in just the weeks that my kids are in camp outside of those one-off event days when they're not in camp.

That will be interesting. I think what that has meant for me is having to lower my workload for the summer. Having to say no to any new projects or any new ideas and having to really look at like what is the base of what we're doing here? What has to be done and can I do it in that time? And you know, I'm really good at estimating what I can do in a certain amount of time, not so we'll see how it goes.

Yeah. But I am really aiming to not juggle as much this year. Kind of what [00:24:00] you alluded to, Kendra. Not juggle as much of, okay, I'm available anytime I can work my kids around it, but be more structured and say, okay, here's my availability for meetings. Kendra and I both have some coaching clients that we're working with now, so I'm already starting to schedule them for their June coaching sessions, and I know what week I'm like, this week is available.

What? What do you have? Mm-hmm. So I'm excited to see how that flow. Works. I think what I love though, when talking about summer is that there's no right way to do it. I tend to geek out on these schedule type things, but I just wanna like blanket statement, like absolutely no shame in any, any season. If you're in the season where it's like your summers are the same as every other day of the year because you're in corporate or because your workload, your business is growing so much that that's what you choose.

That's great. And it's also great if you're like, I'm taking the summer off and I'm working 30% like me. Yeah.

Okay.

Fostering Connection with Kids
---

Audra Dinell: As we wrap up this conversation, I would love to hear what your [00:25:00] hopes are for yourself, your family, and work this summer.

Kristen Selby: So something that my husband and I have been talking about a lot is just kind of defining what a successful and easeful summer would look like.

Not that it would be easy, because that doesn't exist or balanced 'cause that doesn't exist. But what would it look like to feel really good about how we showed up this summer? When they go back to school in the fall. And we are rethinking what connection looks like with our kids. And so connection is kind of the word that I'm going into the summer with.

When my kids were little, I feel like I was able to take the lead on that connection. So I would plan activities to do together or we would go to the museum or I would surprise them with like. We're going to a new city and we're gonna go to a new restaurant for a day trip. And now my kids aren't always excited about that.

Sad. So it's like they are taking the lead now on what that connection looks like. And so we always make a summer bucket list, but this time I'm really leaning on them to tell me like, what would [00:26:00] feel good to you if we like shared experiences this summer? What are those experiences that you really wanna do with, with me or with, chase. And so I am excited to connect in unique in different ways. And I know I feel like last year was kind of a summer of grief for me as I realized, you know, I'd be like, let's go to the playground. And they're like, yeah, that's kind of lame. We've been there like a thousand times mom. And it's like, oh hey.

Like they're changing and I have to change as a mom now if I want to connect with them. And so, you know, what that looks like right now actually is much more simple, which is interesting. So it's like basketball in the driveway with my middle son because he talks a lot and we connect and we talk about school while we're playing basketball.

It's like that movement where you're like side by side and not looking at each other in the eyes like that, that emotional connection. My daughter loves to go thrift shopping or she's obsessed with coffee now. And so now we go to, you know, coffee shops. I know if

Audra Dinell: you come. Yeah, if you need a pa, if you need a babysitter.

Don't her for her. Do not tell her I said that word. [00:27:00] You a coffee babysitter. You know who to call? Yes. Okay, great. Ra, you can come to. Thank you. Great. Sorry, I felt like I had to steal that one. I'm like, I'm sorry, you said my magic word. Well, and I was like thrift shopping.

Kristen Selby: Yeah.

Kendra Moody: So cool. She's. Which is so

Kristen Selby: cool.

She is cool. She is, she is. So, and her time is limited now. Right? As she gets older. She wants to be with her friends a lot and she's taking these courses and so it's just being intentional about connecting when I do have her. And then my youngest, he is still like, he's very into reading right now, so we always do like the library reading program, summer program on Mondays.

And so we have like our library days, so we'll continue to do that. And he's very into Pokemon right now, which I know nothing about. And honestly like. Like I just, my eyes just glaze over every time he starts to talk. But I know that like I want him to talk to me about more important things later. So I'm gonna listen to every card detail that he wants to, to share with me.

So we're gonna do some sort of trading activity at some, I don't even know, I don't know the words to use right now because I don't understand it. Like cards can get graded or I don't [00:28:00] know. Someone help. It's like damage. Yeah.

Kendra Moody: That they can do to, it's like a battle.

Kristen Selby: Well, but like he wants to get, to get his valued.

Oh. But I'm pretty sure like a third of his are fake that he's just like gotten, you know, at trades at school. So anyway. We'll see. I feel like there's gonna be some character building around that too, but I just wanna dive in with him because that is what he's so excited about and I want to be there. So I guess, long story short, I am just looking to connect with my kids and I don't know exactly how that looks, but at the end of the summer, I just wanna look back and be like, Hey, I.

You know, I showed up as a leader for my business in the ways that mattered most, and I was really intentional with my time. So that might mean saying no to like social opportunities or networking or coffee dates, so that when I have my work time, I am really focused on my team and growth. And I showed up really well for my family and I was present.

That's what's gonna feel successful to me.

Audra Dinell: Hmm. I will say my oldest went to Pokemon Camp. Oh. And it is actually kind of interesting once you start getting into it and learn, but it does seem like there's a sea and [00:29:00] ocean of learning, and so I have battled with him and I did have fun for you know the few weeks that we were doing that you did once I started to learn a little bit.

So there's hope. There's a game. There's a battle. And that I think you're, you, you're a gamer. You like games. Yeah. Card games. Yeah. Like you can get into that. I like. Yeah, we like games. Be my affirmation this summer.

Kristen Selby: I like games.

Audra Dinell: I like games and I wanna connect with my kids.

Intentions for a Meaningful Summer
---

Audra Dinell: I actually do have a structure and a schedule this summer and we are going to take our mornings and we kind of have a little morning routine laid out.

It's pretty similar to the school day. The one thing is when I typically drop them off at school, I like to walk the dog and then go home and work out. And so that's gonna be now done with them. And we have morning chores that we're gonna be doing. And so basically until about like 10 to 11, that's kind of our time at home.

They're available to sleep in, to read. They'll, they often go outside and play soccer. [00:30:00] That's a time where my kids play really well together. They'll build Legos. They just know that screens are not allowed, it's morning time and so they just connect really well. So I'm excited about like having that structure during non-camp weeks and then do outings.

After that, I haven't decided exactly how I'm gonna do screen time this summer, so that's still up in the air. It might be helpful to use Limitedly when it's super hot, but also this summer we joined a pool, so typically we've got like three pools in our family. We can go to those at any time, and we go to our neighborhood pool, but we actually joined a pool that's open from one to nine, and then it's more than just a pool.

There's like sand volleyball on a playground. And so I'm excited about that. That's kind of like my loose plan for summer. It's open till nine. And so even on the weeks of camp, we can eat dinner and then all go to the pool together as a family when Corey gets off work. So I'm excited about that. And then thinking about my kids in that schedule [00:31:00] and like what they want, I feel like right.

Now they are, especially my older one, is really starting to, you know, have more of a voice in how he wants his summer to go. And he had two requests, he said, on my summer bucket list, I wanna join a competitive soccer team. So we have tryouts on our schedule. And then he said, the second one is I wanna have

movie nights, but they have to be outdoors. Oh, fun. I know. And so we, we had, we, Santa brought a projector for Christmas and so we can do 'em at our house. We have a drive-in in our town, which is probably one of the only towns that still has a drive-in. I think it's only open on Friday and Saturday, maybe.

And then we've got a new community amphitheater who are showing outdoor movie night. So I feel like I can check his boxes really easily. We also have that really cool Sunflower Summer app that we plan on using. So I think for me, this summer, I love your intention, Kristin my intention is just to like steward this season while I feel like I have three summers with them, [00:32:00] where they are still elementary schoolers both.

And so I felt this going into the school year of like I'm in a really special time that I think I'm personally gonna cherish. And so I got way more involved in their school this year. I feel like these three years where I have two elementary schoolers are just really centric to, like everything we do is central to.

Them and their ages, and I'm just kind of going all in on that. So I think that's my intention is stewarding these summers well and playing and, and connecting with them. My youngest, this dude, all he wants is quality time. He just likes to hang out with mom and I love it. And, and family members, not just mom.

He loves family. His love language. 100% is quality time. And so this is the first summer I keep telling him like he doesn't even know what's coming because he's been in school since he was two all year round. I'm like, you're gonna get your first summer with mom. I just cannot wait to see how that goes.

And I [00:33:00] think for work, for me, this is definitely a season of Pause of Rest, which is a new season. Like I am intentionally limiting ideas, which is really hard for my brain because it has a lot of ideas and projects that it wants to do. But I'm just being really intentional about, again, stewarding well, like the foundation of what the thread is, the cohorts we run in our community, the alum that we serve, and focusing on.

Those efforts, the podcast, our social content and just trying to steward that well, while knowing that this is like a season of just like summer pause. So that's me. What about you?

Kendra Moody: I love how you brought in your year for the word steward.

Audra Dinell: Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, that I just keep going back to that of like that, that was a beautiful choice for the year.

And of course we never know where our word of the year is gonna take us, but it's definitely feels like. This summer is one of three special ones. Not that the rest aren't gonna be special, but like you alluded to [00:34:00] Kristen, like they will change. There will be a time where my kids wanna hang out with other people more than they wanna hang out with me, their friends, but we're just not there yet.

That's why I'm so grateful to have moms who are in seasons ahead of me, and I'm grateful to, to be a mom in, in those seasons for other moms. And then I'm also grateful for moms like you with one year olds, that I can cuddle and say, oh my gosh, they're so cute that you send to daycare every day,

Kendra Moody: all year round.

Okay, so what's your intention? Yeah, for the summer, so my intention, I feel bad, I haven't talked about sweet Murphy. He will be going to daycare just because he's one, almost two. And my intention for this summer is to really grow my connection with, I loved your word connection with my older two. We had this conversation the other night.

They love each other, but sometimes they show their love to each other by fighting. That's what my oldest told me. And so this summer, in thinking about how I want it to go, I really wanna deepen their bond with each other. They [00:35:00] just battle super hard. And so, I want to really be intentional with allowing them to see each other as friends and playmates and

more than just like punching bags. Hmm. So I was thinking, you know, in the past, so both my parents have pools, so we're fortunate to have kind of access to lots of swimming and I thought, gosh, I am usually the mom where I'm like, okay, go swim. I'll sit out here and read my book or do some work or something.

When I envision what I want this summer to look like, I wanna be in the pool playing with them. You're getting your hair wet. I'm getting my hair wet. I got a new swimsuit. Like I am excited to be the mom that's like racing them in the water, or you know, throwing water balloons at them and not feeling like I can't do that because I have to hop on a call or because I have to do something.

So it really, for me. I want to grow. I think [00:36:00] all of our bonds will grow deeper, but really the two of them, because this might be their last summer where it's just them two and then the third one's gonna come in and that'll be a different dynamic and it'll be fun, but it'll, it'll be different 'cause he's younger.

So yeah, it'll be a fun time for them to hopefully. Get a bit closer as brothers and just have, have fun.

Audra Dinell: That's beautiful. And I love that. It's like you're not working around nap times. Yeah. That's where all of us are. Yes. Yeah. Next year, you, next summer you might. I know. I know. So my friend Quinn wrote a book about parenting boys.

She has four. She lives in Texas. But she's from here. And she wrote about how when she senses that there is a spirit of selfishness in her home, she will ask the boys to clean. Each other's rooms. Interesting. Isn't that interesting? And it just made me think of what you were talking about, how you really wanna foster their bond.

And I had not so much thought of my summer in that lens. And I'm going to now. That's [00:37:00] beautiful. Thanks. I listened to her podcast this morning. Quinn Uhhuh. Oh my gosh. The

Kendra Moody: one I, the one you shared. Shared. Okay. Well, and then I've also listened to the next one. There's one on introverts. I'm gonna text you.

Oh, yay. Yeah.

Audra Dinell: She is, she's so awesome. We'll link her, her podcast is called Renew You. It is faith-based, but she is a therapist and a pastor's daughter and a mom of four boys as I mentioned. Let me repeat, mom of four Boys Alert,

Kendra Moody: but that's a wild summer.

Audra Dinell: I don't know how she's doing summers, but we'll link her that podcast that you're referencing in the show notes.

Final Thoughts and Podcast Wrap-Up
---

Audra Dinell: Okay, everyone, thank you so much for just being a part of this conversation. Like I said, I geek out overhear how other people run the back ends of their lives, the insides of their lives, the lives that are behind the curtain. That might not be like the shiny accomplishments that we see on social media.

So. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Maybe you got an idea or two. We would love to hear what you are doing this summer. We are three moms who love ideas and have different kids at different ages, and so [00:38:00] if you would go on our social media and coment on the post and share what you are going to be doing with your kids this summer.

Make sure you subscribe to our podcast. We would love to be able to get these episodes directly to you every single week, and if something resonates with you, of course, share, leave a review. All that stuff helps. Thank you. Thank you, and we'll see you next week.