Sweet summer! We’re in our last week of school but it feels like it’s already in full swing in some ways. All school-year extracurriculars are over, we have our summer planning TTT on Thursday (excited to fill these out!), we’ve printed out summer reading challenges, and our first swim meet is tonight – whee! Here’s what else we have planned this month…

Wrapping paper courtesy of Annie + a watercolor penguin card by yours truly = a sweet Father’s Day package

On my calendar:
— Swim meets! Our neighborhood swim season has begun and it’s a fun vibe to spend many of our evenings at the pool surrounded by friends and neighbors. Since practice runs from 6-7:45pm across all three kids, we’ve packed sandwiches for dinner most nights alongside this 8-compartment bento box filled with fruit, veggies, pickles, chips, and cookies.
— Father’s Day! I’m once again organizing a pastry bar from a local favorite cafe for the men at our church, and celebrating my own wonderful husband, Dad, and father-in-law.
— Our 20th high school reunion! We fly to Connecticut later this month and can’t wait to squeeze our friends and revisit some of our favorite haunts on the shoreline.

What I’m loving right now:
— I picked up The Detective Dog from the library on a whim and it is a new family favorite picture book! The rhyme scheme is excellent (thank you, Julia Donaldson!) and the illustrations are equally charming.
— I am late to the party but I recently made my first (and then second) purchase from Bookshop.org! If you, too, are late, their goal is to give readers the convenience of online shopping while supporting independent bookstores at the same time. You get to choose the local bookstore you’d like to support and they’ll earn 30% of the purchase price (most of the profit) when you designate them in your account. (I’m currently supporting Fable, a new bookstore near me that’s slated to open soon!) You do pay for shipping, which annoys me as much as the next person, but I’m trying to reacclimatize myself to paying for a service that does, indeed, cost money.)
— My and Annie’s habit for the last few weeks has been to sing along to “Day for Singing” by Jess Ray on our way to school each morning. It does a beautiful job of helping me set a hopeful, energetic tone for the day ahead.

As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!

What you’re loving right now:

This is where I highlight a few items here that have been popular in the last month with fellow readers, based on my analytics. Here’s hoping this will help you find something you’ll love!

— This preschool version of a paint-by-sticker book. Our family has long loved the kid version, but this simpler version was perfect for Annie (age 3). She carefully completed every page on our HHI road trip; we’ll definitely be stocking up for summer travel. (There are so many to choose from!)
— Our favorite summer swim goggles for kids. No hair pulling (praise!).
— The underbed boxes we use to store our kids’ artwork and school memorabilia. More about that system here!
— The Shibumi shade, the pride of North Carolina. So lightweight, so easy to set up – it makes beach days a breeze.
— Annie’s lavender tie-dye pool sandals. She and June have matching pairs!

Last month on The Connected Family:
— 21 Views of the Village | A feast of friendly inspiration
— Walking at night, eating out with kids, and what we’d do differently | Our twice-yearly audio AMA
— What to do when your nine-year-old’s friend gets an iPhone | This newsletter is based on a true story
— Plan a low-screen summer with me! | Boredom, independence challenges, and a fill-in worksheet for kids and parents
— Four more ways to handle summer screen time | Including a free-for-all option

What I read in May:
— A Prayer for Owen Meany | I specifically chose this book for this month’s slot because I remember one of my high school best friends (who I will see in a few weeks!) claiming this as his favorite book back when we were in English 12 together. That has stuck with me for the past 20 years, and now having read it, I’m even more eager to discuss it with him. More astute reviewers have called it among the very best American novels of our time, a work of genius, a heartbreaking masterpiece of a novel, but I cringe to say I wasn’t overly impressed? At 700 pages it felt bloated to me, especially on the heels of the similar but much more lithe Gilead. I kept wanting to skip ahead; when several threads came together in the final pages, it felt more like a relief than rewarding. The anti-war, anti-American commentary also felt heavy-handed. All that being said, I do think it’s a book — and cast of characters — that will stick with me. We shall see what my friend has to say :)
— The Power of Moments | This was a quick read exploring why certain brief experiences can jolt us and elevate us and change us—and how we can learn to create such extraordinary moments in our life and work. The authors didn’t include many parenting applications in the book but it seems to me there are a ton; I’m planning to write a TCF newsletter inspired by it in the future.
— Loved and Missed | I picked up this book after an enthusiastic review by Jenny Rosenstrach, and it didn’t disappoint. Ruth, the dignified narrator, swivels between trying to love and save her daughter Eleanor, a drug addict living in squalor, and trying to love and save Eleanor’s daughter Lily, whom Ruth is raising as her own. This book is slim and packs a punch, filled with dialogue that achingly brings you right into each fraught relationship. It is both brutally sad and magnificently triumphant. I’m glad I moved it to the top of my queue.

My reading list for 2025! I’m 7 / 24 so far.

Revisiting my May goals:
Hire a bathroom contractor now that all estimates are in (We selected a contractor only to get the news that they aren’t taking new projects until they hire a new trim carpenter! Argh! We aren’t in any rush so are hoping they’ll find one soon.)
Complete three more watercolor landscape postcards (Yes! Four, actually!)
Edit Annie in April (Underway!)
Finalize, print, and send itineraries for our reunion weekend
Make reservations for our reunion weekend (Still stuck on one dinner! My project for tomorrow!)
Refresh our plan for summer days at home
Plan for and lead dance class; wrap up my third grade book club

June goals:
— Film June in June
— End the school year and begin summer well
— Clear out the art bin
— Paint three more watercolor postcards and send them off for the auction
— Plan for Annie’s July birthday (it will sneak up with travel!)
— Complete June’s baby book
— Make a PCP appointment. I don’t even really care who it’s with at this point, I’m just going to make one.
— Order supplies for sleepaway camp
— Host the reunion + have fun!

I’m also working on memorizing the Gettysburg Address. June is keeping me accountable, and my main tactic is to set a reminder on my phone and read it aloud once a day. Super simple!

As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2025 PowerSheets goals!

To close, I would love to hear one thing you’re doing to prepare well for summer! No matter what season of life you’re in – whether you have kids or not, a job that shifts or not – a new season on the calendar always feels like an opportunity to be kind to our future selves :) It could be putting books on hold at the library, deciding on a lunch you can repeat, planning now for a trip, or resetting toy storage… the smallest things can make a big difference! Please share in the comments, if you’d like.

Affiliate links are used in this post!