Back To School Series and Organizing Schedules the Electronic Way - The Cozi App

I am going to air some family secrets here and please, if you know and see my husband smile as if you know nothing. It is true that EVERY SINGLE one of our closest friends know that if you want to make plans with us, you need to contact me. I am the scheduler of the madness in our family, birthdays, sports, PTO functions, work schedules, vacations, etc. I do it. I was often having the hardest time with my husband in trying to get him to understand "Yes honey, we are booked 6 Saturdays from now, it's YOUR BIRTHDAY!". Seriously, that is how clueless my wonderful husband could be, he forgot the day he was born.

I took to a smart phone immediately. I was a Blackberry addict and from there my love of technology grew. Another family secret, if you know me, I love cell phones. I could tell you the best on the market for what you would need based on your personality :). I still miss my Blackberry, it now belongs to my 3 year old, who lovingly makes play calls to Grandma and Papa. It wasn't until almost 2011 when my husband got a smart phone. He got the most basic one he could get of a Blackberry, which was obsolete at that point. Finally a year later I got him into an iPhone 4 and with that came the Cozi App for me. FINALLY, I could sync calendars with our home computer and phones that we would know what was going on. 

I took my planning seriously too! Sunday evenings I got out my paper planner (I tried the exclusive electronic way and it got crazier as the years went by. More on that later) and would type all the new update information I could. 

I loved Cozi because it was Free, it synced, and also was color coded! Each Family member had a color, all 4 of use had our events highlighted in our designated color. I could include anyone in the family I wanted or just one to highlight "Jacob's Doctor Appt" Which it was me taking him, but I often excluded myself so my husband would pay attention a little more to the colors. 

I love Cozi because I do little Albums for the kids of things the say and they also have a Journal part of the App. I could open it and write something Anna or Jake said to put in their albums later. 

I have always used the free version of Cozi on our phones and haven't purchased the Gold Membership. It is a nice app to have for your family to sync and go. 

In a way our life is a little easier because I no longer get the phone calls or the sentences that start with "This weekend we are having Johnny over for dinner" yup, never mind that Suzie invited us over after Jake's soccer game. Those situations are NO MORE! 

What is the best for me, I get my PTO (Parent Teacher Organization, AKA a PTA) schedule a year in advance and I set up special warnings 2 weeks before for the both of us. Just in case if I need him to take a day of work for a major event, we both get the reminder. I have my schedule for School events well in advance for him to be there too.

Download it, try it, and see if it helps. I still have a paper planner because I am just that weird personality. One extra reminder for myself and for my husband goes a long way.

As the school year progresses, schedules get crazy. Use it as an extra reminder during the holidays too! Holiday cards and shopping can never start to early in my book. 

Have an awesome Wednesday! 

*****This post was not sponsored by Cozi or the Time Inc Corporation (owner of Cozi) or any affiliated company. I have used the Cozi application for a few years now. I have not been given monetary or a membership to write this post. All content and views are mine and of my own choice*****

The RESET BUTTON and our Toddler

So, if you know me personally, you have heard the EPIC stories of my daughter. I love her with ever fiber of my being and that she is so spirited and wonderful. She by the time she hits kindergarten, will turn every hair on my head grey. My children are 6 years apart, and we always say my son is like having an old cat. He is easy going, chill, and has so much patience for his little sister. Which with our little princess, she is chaos bottled up 2.5 feet of girl. There is a saying "Let her sleep for when she wakes she will move mountains" which is so true.

The most recent case was when she robbed the Easter Bunny, she ate all 14 chocolate eggs, and shoved all the money in the oven of her play kitchen. She didn't know, but she did out the Easter Bunny to my son, I think he was teetering, but this pushed it all over the edge. I am so sad on this transition for my son and we have chatted about the Easter Bunny, Santa, and the Tooth Fairy. He still loves the idea and is now excited to help carry the tradition for his little sister. (IE, he can hide the Easter Eggs).

I am getting to a point, I promise!!!!!!!!

I realize, I got caught up in the madness of life when I looked at my planner and can't remember the last time I used it. I got a printable planner from The Handmade Home and I love love love it.  I just haven't actually used it in a month. It is amazing how a month can change your WHOLE SCHEDULE and the way your run your home. This generation of kids won't know a 9-5 job for their parents and weekends off. With technology especially there are many ways to connect to the office. I mismanaged everything and lost our structure so that means our schedule is FLAILING.

With our toddler who is challenging as it is, we like to have structure so she knows what is coming and it makes teaching behavior expectations so much better. I kept trying to figure out why the temper tantrums were coming more frequent and it hit on Tuesday evening. So now I have to tighten the ship and and press our RESET BUTTON.  This is going to be hard for me because she will defy it and the moment it is back on schedule Summer Break starts.

The disappearing weekends

School is almost out for us and as a member of our PTO executive board... we celebrate as much as the teachers. Baseball is going on right now, swim starts the following weekend after school, and then there is this move we are trying to maneuver. With school starting up in mid-late July (year round schools here) the following Thursday after the swim championships.  Every single weekend is book solid with games, swim meets, and other social functions.

I have decided things are going to have to change. I can't do this every weekend booked solid run run run. It's not fair to my husband who is RUN RUN RUN at work all week he needs down time too. He is going to want to veg out on the couch and watch a baseball game or a movie. Plus in Southern Arizona, who wants to be run run run in the hot hot heat?

The disappearing weekend seems to happen more and more these days and for long stretches at a time. With families and kids, do they need down time? How often do you feel is needed? I feel Sunday is church and nothing else unless. We do a Sunday dinner, take walks, and maybe have guests over for dinner. I am horrible at going and going then all the sudden I piled on to much and break down. I at that point cancel the weekend and we have our jammies on Saturday Morning until we go to church.

 What do you do to handle your schedule and make sure your family gets down time outside of sleeping and church?