Love-Life Cafe- Kid's Dinner

She was armed with a cookbook, a piece of paper, some coupons and a grocery cart. That was all it took to fire up my now 10 year old daughter about making dinner for the family. This is something that can be changed according to the ages of the kids, of course. It does seem to work better for the older ones, but I remember cooking dinner for my family when I was younger than her.......it was fish and hotdogs. Perhaps I should have been a little bit older haha!

Using the cookbook, my daughter came up with her menu. Then she made her grocery list. At the grocery store, I went one way and she and my 5 year old son went another. She has been taught to compare prices and this gave her good experience in a few things. 1. navigating the store  2. getting the best deal in the groceries that she needed  3. using coupons  4. asking for help (something that is hard for her). After about an hour we were armed with our carts and ready to tackle the rest of the day.

When we got home, she separated out all her own groceries and I should have realized then that she really needed to begin cooking dinner. When a fairly inexperienced person is cooking, it takes a LONGER time than someone who cooks everyday. Just a note :)

I was surprised when she even got on the computer and made a menu for us that was laying on the table by the time dinner (finally) was on the table! (7:30pm, but who really cares??? Just made us more hungry, right?) Notice the name of her cafe: "Love-Life Cafe" That made me happy!

Depending on your kids ages, this is something they will really enjoy....and will take then a long time to do (we are all looking for activities that take a long time in the summer, right?). If you incorporate this into your own family, you can give the children something to "own" and something that will make them proud. You can be in the kitchen as much as you need to.....if your child is not as independent as mine, that is fine! They can be your kitchen helper! I am all for activities that teach my kids something, as well as entertains them....and if they can take something off of my plate in the process, better for us all!

By the way, the meal was DELISH. We all gobbled it down......and it was late so we were all hungry, ha! 

Make a Worm Farm!

So, I have never been a "stick my hands in the mud," "play with creepy crawlies"- type girl......but I have 2 little boys and inquisitive minds never rest. SO, part of my summer this year is allowing those little kiddos to learn something about the beautiful world that God created for us to live in....and today's investigation took us to the world of dirt......namely WORMS!

I had seen this idea on pinterest and it was really for the homeschool mama, looking for some science activities for her kiddos. BUT, I just knew this was something that all three of my kids would eat up. As much as they said "EW" and "GROSS" at the beginning, their fascination got the better of them and they have all spent significant time playing with the wormies, feeding the wormies, and examining the wormies!

All we needed for this project was an empty salad container (*organic baby spinach from dinner a few nights ago), some dirt from the garden and of course.....WORMS!

Did you know that your local Walmart carries worms? Oh yes. You go to the sporting goods section and they are located in a frig near the counter......as bait for fish. Well, we just saved these little wormies lives! We decided on some lovely large night-crawlers and some red worms (which just look like the typical worm you find in your garden anyway).

Dump the lovelies in your salad container, pour some dirt in, add some weeds and leaves (they added some mint and rosemary from the garden ha!) and water it down. You can already see the paths in the sides (which is why it is good to have a clear container). Fascinating stuff, these weird, blind creatures.......and if your kids are anything like mine at all, they will LOVE it! (and once your kids get tired of the worm farm, you can empty them into your garden to turn over your soil. Yay!)

Summer Journals

This is the second year that we have done journals for summer, but this is the first year that my son has gotten to participate! This is a way to keep education in the background so they do not forget absolutely EVERYTHING they learned the previous year in school!

Last year we decorated a plain black composition book. (See post HERE). But this year, I decided it would be fun to make our own....and I loved the result!

To make a journal this year, I printed out the 2 titles and put together about 15 pages of white copy paper. Using my sewing machine, I simply sewed down the center and folded in half. The result is GREAT! The kids then used stamps and markers to make their journals their own, which was today's activity......and also made their first journal entry. It will end up being a great reminder of what we did this summer, as well as helping them work on penmanship and creativity.

Ellie is 10 and going into the 5th grade. Tyler is 5 and headed into year 2 of kindergarten. So, they approach the journals differently. Ellie is going to actually write, using cursive (something no longer being taught regularly in public schools, but we want her to be able to do it well). For Tyler, I made lines like the lines he is used to writing on, on the bottoms for him to write a sentence. Then he draws a picture above his sentence of what he talked about. This is a great way for kids of ALL ages to record their summer memories!

Quick Note: I must have heard from my middle child "This is the best day I have ever had" at least 5 times. Today was nothing special in my opinion, just a day that I had planned out with things the kiddos would enjoy. I think that if we keep them in mind, it will keep us sane and allow our kids to do more than laze around the house and waste their summers doing nothing. We are off to a great start!

Free Summer Programs!

Planning and research is ESSENTIAL for summer (knowing that plans can and do get changed).....but if you spend just a bit of time at Starbucks (preferably by yourself!), with just a few clicks from google, you can come up with free entertainment options for your city all summer long! I never really knew about this until about 3 summers ago when I really began to research and found out all the offerings that my city has to offer. It is truly amazing!

There are several story-times that occur country-wide, such as Barnes n Noble and libraries, but you will also find city-specific things when you look. If you have never been to your city's website, usually run by  your city council or government. Seriously check it out! Through this website for my city, I found a series called "Stories in the Sky" run by the local balloon museum. I had heard before about this, but we had just never been. Today was our first time and we had a great time. Who can beat an air conditioned place, fun music, stories and even crafts? The kids loved looking at the ballooning memorabilia and there were some cute photo-ops!

One thing that is difficult for my family is the fact that I have a wide span of ages. I have 2 boys close in age and 1 girl who is 4 1/2 years older than one brother and 6 years older than her youngest brother. Sometimes finding activities they all can participate in can be a challenge. However, she is usually pretty good about jumping in even when things are a bit on the younger side (as was the story time this morning). She enjoys seeing her brothers have fun and I love that!

Whatever the activity, get those kids up and moving and do something different than the normal schedule. It will create memories of experiences they have never had before and that is a priceless thing!

Pinteresting Summer 2014- UN-PLUGGED

As in the title of my blog: A Blessed Life- My life has been so blessed lately that I have not written a blog since February. That is OK with me.....I am busy having the time of my life with my chicklets. BUT, I did decide that with the beginning of summer 2014, I am going to do another "Pinteresting Summer" blog series. It keeps me on track and it is a wonderful record of all the great things that we are doing together! If you would like to plan a fantastic, fun-filled-memory-making summer, click HERE.

In an effort this year to be more "un-plugged" this summer, I came up with a method that 1. keeps the kids time limited on electronics 2. keeps them happy and 3. gets my house clean without (much) complaining!

*NOTE* In order to employ this method in favor of a more "un-plugged" and thus more creative and more memory-filled vacation, this requires some BRAVERY on mama's part.....but once you close your eyes and dive in, I promise that you will be glad you did :)

DONE. Let's Begin! 

1. Give your kids a time-limit per day that must be strictly adhered to. For us this is not just TV, but iphone, computer and kindle as well. We  did a 2 hour time-limit of electronic use per day. (Breathe, it will be fine!)

2. In order to earn another 30 minutes of time for that special show they want to see before bed....or that new game they wish to play at nickjr.com, they have to actually EARN it.

My kids have to earn a total of 50 points to get another 30 minutes tacked on to their time......and I have assigned points to a number of chores. They can choose 5 chores that are 10 points each, 2 chores that are 25 points each, or any combination of chores that will then equal 50 points (also helps with addition. Cha-ching!)

But, the stipulation is, that Mom has to approve the chore chosen, and then has to approve that the chore has been done to the best of the child's ability.

ie. The child can not wipe off the kitchen table for 10 points if I just got done doing that while cleaning the kitchen etc. 

I do not expect PERFECTION, but I do expect BEST EFFORT. Electronic time is a REWARD.....and you EARN REWARDS!

So, in case you want to employ this method of a more "UN-PLUGGED" summer, I am going to attach my chart here. Feel free to use this and change it to meet your family's needs this summer. 

For another way to involved kids in doing chores this summer, click HERE. Chores can be FUN, I promise! Capitalize on your kids wanting to help you and you will raise more responsible, happier, more well-balanced and less entitled children who can actually contribute to the running of your household. 

Summer 2014 Electronic Entertainment (ie. TV, Kindle, Ipod) Earning

You get 2 hours electronic time per day. In order to earn 30 minutes more, you must accumulate
50 points

10 point chores:

Dust 1 bookshelf with pledge

Clean 1 set of windows with windex

Clean 1 large mirror with windex

sweep stones from front patio

spray down patio table and wipe

spray down kitchen table and wipe

febreze furniture in whole house

15 point chores:

Clean 1 toilet with cleaner

make 1 bed

start 1 load laundry and dryer

vacuum 1 room

dust all frames

sweep kitchen floor

sweep laundry room floor

write a thank you note to someone and mail it

collect all laundry from house and put in laundry room

organize 1 section of your room

Collect 5 items to donate

20 point chores:

do the edges in 1 room

dog poop in yard

empty all garbage cans and take outside

sweep back patio

fingerprints- Mr. Clean magic eraser

collect all toys from house

25 point chores:

totally clean cat box

fold 1 load laundry

put away all dishes in dishwasher

Collect a bag of items to donate

Clean shower area with spray

clean your room for 15 minutes

clean room of your choice for 15 minutes

weed flower garden for 15 minutes

clean out refrigerator for 15 minutes

Summer Movies!

When you live in the desert (ie. where WE do, indeed live), you need some nice, indoor, air conditioned activities planned....and if they are CHEAP then that is just a double blessing! Cinemark Movies does a children's movie series every summer in most states. You can get in for $1 per ticket, and if you buy a pack of 10 movies it actually is only $.50 per ticket! They make their money off the popcorn! But, the good news is that the movies are only rated G and PG, take place in the mornings once per week, offer air conditioning....and because they cost so little to get in, if you have a child who, say, screams, has tantrums, spills the popcorn and yells out repeatedly that he has to go to the bathroom or wants to drive the cars in the arcade (you know just in CASE something like this happens....as we know that my children would NEVER do anything like this ;) , you can walk out and not feel very badly about wasting your money :)

Quick tip: Make sure and get there early to get a seat. TONS of people come to these events....lots of kids, lots of parents, lots of laughter. It is fun, though usually quite crowded!

Give them a Job!

Summer seems to be ALL about the kids having (way too much) FUN! Right? Wrong! Not always, that is.....I think it is so important to actually teach kids responsibility in the summer time when they are home all day, using up things, making bigger messes etc. I actually think this is something that should be taught year-round....but a good place to start is the summer time! There is an important lesson to be learned for kids that the parents (ie. especially the stay-at-home mom) is not their servant. Yes, cleaning and cooking etc. are part of my job description, but I think that part of the job description of ANY member of the family, is to help to learn to take responsibility for things, people, themselves etc.



We do LOTS of cleaning games in our home. I do not want to ever be accused of being a slave-driver with my kids. I think that that only leads to resentment.....so a way to teach them responsibility is to make cleaning and chores FUN! Believe me....you have to change up the routine ALL the time to keep kids interested in helping. We have lots of different ways that we do that in our family and I am going to show you just one today.....and talk about a few other ideas for getting kids involved. Believe me, even the smallest in your family can learn to help out. I think that WITHOUT teaching kids responsibility we are shirking a big responsibility ourselves as parents!

One thing that we do is a job jar. (I am really into jars, ie. the boredom buster jar, as you can tell....but the reason is that the kids respond so very well to it!). I listed out a bunch of different age-appropriate jobs and stuck them all in a jar. This is no easy task with a 9, 4, and 2 year old in the house.....some jobs are NOT appropriate for all ages but then you can just let them choose again, or they can keep that job and do it with assistance from mom. It is no big deal.

Remember a couple of things:

1. Your kids will WANT to help if you make it fun

2. Let go of the image that your house has to be perfect (haha). Stop yourself from going back over the streaked bathroom mirrors, or re-vacuuming the room because it is not as perfect as you would do. It is not about that. It is more about allowing your kids to get involved and take some ownership over your home.

3. Praise praise praise praise praise praise praise (x 1000). When your kids are doing something to help out, you will not BELIEVE the affect that praise has on them!

4. Change up the routine. Even if you do something fun like the job jar, if you do it every single day it will get boring for you (and the kiddos and you certainly do not want that!

Here's some pics of the kiddos today with their chosen jobs. El is changing and washing her sheets while Tyler (above) is vacuuming. (The vacuuming for my little 35 pound boy is something I have to overlook. It is NOT about the job well done, it is about the effort....and that little thing tried REALLY hard!)

Some other ideas that we routinely do to make cleaning fun:

1. The song game. Each kid gets to choose a CD, song and room to clean. During that song, all the members of the family clean that chosen room (more often than not it will be the chooser's own room but that is OK!). When the song is finished the next person gets to choose a CD, song and room. Lots gets done in a pretty short amount of time!

2. The time-limit game: You set a time limit (ie. 15 minutes) to clean 1 particular room with all the members of the family. When that time limit is done you set the timer again (ie. 10 minutes) to do something fun (ie. chalk on the sidewalk, play a short game, dance to wild and crazy music etc.).

3. Put away 3 game:  Each person in the family puts away 3 things from every single room (this will take about 20 or so minutes depending on the size of your house). After the whole house is done once you set the timer (ie. 20 more minutes) to do something fun.....without doing little breaks, kids get TIRED. I go through this game with the kids about 2 times all the way through.

4. Chore Chart:  Each child can have a chore chart that they are responsible for every single day. They can be easy things like "make your bed" and "brush your teeth." This instills responsibility. You can offer rewards such as allowance or just make this part of the daily routine!

5. The "I am so desperate to find something that I am offering to bribe you" game:  So, this is a little "tongue in cheek" but not as much as you think. I have done this a few times when we have lost my precious son's glasses (that cost upwards of $200), my keys, or my phone. When I offer the winner a small prize, you will be amazed at how much gets cleaned and how quickly lost items get found :) This is a desperate move, but hey, sometimes it is needed :)

Just some super-fun ideas. You can create so many fun ways to clean if you want to. What are some of YOUR favorite ways to clean with your kids?

...and just because precious Trenton gets left out of everything, let's just do a pic of him and the $200 glasses :)

Oops, they are missing. Let's bribe the olders to find them.

$5 is an awfully small price to pay to find these things :) Just keepin' it real, folks :)

Gardening with your Kids!

Gardening is something that I always wanted to do, but always felt very overwhelmed by! I would read books and books and books....and articles and pin things on pinterest....but until I actually did it, I did not realize what an amazing experience it could be for my kids....and for me! Our gardening experience began last summer when my husband built a big box and filled it first with stones, then with dirt. He even installed a watering system for me (because he is THAT great of a guy....and let's face it, we live in the desert!). So last year we planted just some starter plants and we learned a TON! Last year we planted tons of herbs (basil, oregano and something else I can't remember :), we also tried our hand at strawberries (which yielded a whole 3 fruits all season!), different types of tomatoes, squash (which we learned attract squash bugs and let me tell you I will never have squash again!), and the most amazing sweet pepper plants you have ever seen! The yield for those were just INSANE! We also did some spinach in the colder weather and we had fresh spinach salads all winter long!



This year we are trying out some new plants: cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, rosemary and hot peppers to name a few.



This thing that was the BIGGEST shocker with my garden but how much the kids just ADORE working in the garden, then eating their results! We go out and water everyday, which my son just can not wait to do! We pick weeds and get dirt under our fingernails. We plant new plants and then when they all start to grow the kids sit in the dirt and eat VEGETABLES off the plants! Every single kid in my family will eat a fresh salad out of the garden for almost every meal! It is SO AMAZING! All of my kids have become veggie-holics! I can hardly believe it and I am not even exaggerating one bit!

One thing that has also fostered my 9 year old daughter's love of gardening is an amazing 3rd grade teacher who helped them learn about plants and even plant their own school, community garden! This week we signed up to help take care of the plants. We go in the cool of the morning and water them all down for about 30 minutes. Ellie explains about each of the plants to me, picks weeds and shows me how to water and take care of them. This is going to transform her life and I am sure that she will continue on with having her own garden when she is older!



My biggest piece of advice? Stop reading and just get out there and do it. By DOING it, you will learn a ton and your kids will enjoy learning with you! Involve the kids in every single piece of the garden and I am telling you that they will 1. love it 2. ask to do it 3. eat the fruits (and veggies) of their labor. I continue to stand in shock. We will have a garden now for the rest of our lives!

Bust that Boredom Away!

It has become an annual tradition now: to make a boredom buster jar. The day you make it, is a boredom buster in and of itself....and then you have something to send the kids to when they ARE actually lacking in creativity to figure out what they want to do!

*Just a note that in almost all of these "Pinterest-ing Summer" blog posts, my youngest, Trenton is not pictured. The reason for that is that he is sleeping when we do a lot of our fun activities. It is the way it is.....by next summer he will be able to participate in more :)

We began with a brainstorming session laying on the trusty hammock. We were armed with paper, camera, pepsi and cute people. We began to brainstorm everything we could think of to do if we get bored. I wanted to come up with 100 ideas.....and we landed on about 85, so I was pretty happy with that! These ideas will then be cut out, folded and put in our boredom buster jar!

After our brainstorming session we then went to the second phase of our boredom buster jar-making....decorating the actual jar! We decided this year to mod-podge a small bucket that I had lying around....using my HUGE stash of scrap book paper. We tore bits of paper, then each person got a chance to stick it on the bucket. *Mod Podge is great for so many reasons: 1. you can't really mess it up 2. It is messy but easily cleaned up 3. kids love it 4. there are not ENDS to what you can do with this product! Just use it like glue, then when you have your paper stuck down, you actually paint with the mod podge right on top of it!

Allow to dry. While you are doing that, you can cut out all of your amazing ideas and fold them all. In the time it takes to do that your mod podge project should be done. Here is what we came up with. Here is to the BANISHMENT of those 3 little words we all dread hearing:

"MOM, I'M BORED!"

P.S. My kids are so excited now that they actually ARE saying those words....because they want to pick from the jar :) My son is currently brushing the dog's hair, while my daughter is playing a wii game :)

The Great Blue Experiment!

What happens when you add elmers glue, almost an entire bottle of blue food coloring (thanks to an excited 4 year old boy), water and borax? BLUE FLUBBER that also dyes your hands blue for seemingly ever :)

So, I began with THIS recipe for Flubber!

I made a mistake by buying the small jar of Elmer's glue at our Hobby Lobby outing this week so I had to smudge the directions a bit. Add that to an excitable little 4 year old who added WAY too much food coloring and we had a bit of a mess....but I have to say that this mess created MUCH fun for a LONG time on this summer afternoon! If you had the correct proportions of everything, I think this would be an AWESOME and fun little science experiment! I highly recommend this!

On another note, like my new bowl I got for $1? I just adore garage sales!

Summer Library Programs!

For the second year now, we are planning on spending much time at our county library! All over the country, libraries are running summer reading programs with great incentive for the kids to turn off the TV and open up their imaginations! A couple perks about most summer library reading programs:

1. Totally FREE to sign up
2. Great prizes for kids and sometimes even adults (I am signed up!)
3. Introduces kids to the way the library works
4. FREE....oh yeah I said that....but that's important to me :)
5. Many time libraries put on great kids programs all throughout the summer including story times, shows, music etc.

What we do: We sign up for the reading program then check out some new books. That day our nap-time activity (for the olders) is to read the new books! We then plan on one day a week spending some more time at the library for the REST of the summer. They check in with their reading log and get their prize, get some new books and we get some free and educational fun :)

Yesterday we went to our local branch of the library and signed up, and then stayed for a great show they were putting on in the back....gotta love some MAGIC with some live animals! The kids were mesmerized!

So get on out there to your local library and sign up. I promise you that you will not be disappointed!

Tub Paint!

• Time for a guest blogger...my sister, Rachel! She is a very creative, stay-at-home mommy and she is also trying some "pinterest-ing" ideas this summer! Check out her latest project. I can't wait to try it with my boys! They will LOVE it!
  
  

  

  
  
   I am a stay at home mom and my husband just deployed again... he is gone 6 months out of the year! I have to do things to keep my almost 3 year old happy and busy. He has always loved bath time but has been getting bored with the same old toys. I wanted to share with you the most EASY recipe for fun ever! You could use this as side walk paint as well. Recipe on my photo. It stirs up really easily and can be saved for numerous bath times. My son loved it! It does drip down the walls after a couple of minutes, but most of the color stays in place and will not stain. Just rinse off when done. Because it's made with bath soap, they are getting clean in the process. No complaints there! The thicker the paint, the less it will drip, so just play around with how much cornstarch you use.
• 3:27pm

  TIP: use an ice cube tray or , if you don't have one, put small containers inside of a plastic bin that floats in the tub

  
  

Memorial Day Door!

A recent boring day, lead me to my favorite site on the entire world wide web: Pinterest! I was feeling very "crafty" but not too ambitious and not extremely creative. So, I began to just look through all the hundreds of pins I have already pinned onto Pinterest. I was looking for something I could do for my home that was 1. summery 2. easy 3. uses materials that I already have on hand and 4. can be completed in a short amount of time.

I settled upon this adorable website that showed a beautiful star wreath for the front door: Here is the original link if anyone would like to go there....I want to go on record of that that for my "Pinteresting Summer" blog series, I am always going to show you the original link. Most ideas are not mine, but are taken from or adapted from other, more creative people! STAR WREATH!!

So, without further ado, here is the wreath that I made for my front door. I think it turned out very cute, only took me about 45 minutes to complete and is perfect for both Memorial Day or July 4th!

For this project, you only need the following materials:

cute paper (ie. scrapbook paper)

hot glue

ribbon

cardboard (for the backing)

1. Go on the internet and search "star template" on google. When you have the size that you desire, print it out and use it as your template.

2. Trace your star template onto 12 pieces of paper. I used 6 different papers and did 2 stars of each.

3. Once you have your stars cut out, you begin to fold them 3 dimentionally. This seems intimidating but is really only time-consuming. You fold a crease down each point stopping at the middle. Then you take 2 adjacent points and fold them the opposite direction in the space between the 2 points. Once you do it, it makes sense, I promise!

4. Cut out a template of a wreath from a piece of cardboard. Make it look like a skinny donut.

5. Then just simply arrange all the stars, and use hot glue to glue down the points. Do not skimp on the glue. 

6. Attach a ribbon loop to the back and there you have it...a very festive and cute wreath for your door or mantle. I plan on doing this again in new colors....perhaps Christmas time :)

Summer Schedule

IT'S SUMMER! (at least for us!) Thank you for all of your patience. I have not posted on this blog for almost an entire YEAR.....the reason for that was that I took on a new blog with my local MOPS group. However, my time with MOPS has (sadly) come to an end. I am back to blogging and am planning for this summer to highlight our summer as we did last year with our blog series "Pinteresting Summer." I have made a very detailed list for EVERY SINGLE DAY for our summer, using many pinterest ideas. I am going to blog about our time, telling you about the fun we have had, as well as giving some tips as to what would make pinterest ideas better, if they did or did not work etc. I am excited!

Our first blog post for summer is about HOW to make summer plans. Making a detailed plan for summer can be very overwhelming....I know. But, I think it is essential because without it, you will hear the phrase that every parents dread "MOMMY, I'M BORED!" This summer schedule will beat the boredom, keep you focused and allow you to do much more than if you did not have a plan! This is the perfect time to make your plan as well because many things actually begin in the first week of June.

So, without further ado, here is HOW to make a (successful, fun, detailed, cost effective and amazing) summer plan!

1. Plan an evening (or 2) without the kids to build your summer plan. I like to go to Starbucks or a nice bookstore so you can be alone, have internet access and sip on a super duper lime refresher :)

Arm yourself with: a notebook and pen, a large calendar, a laptop or some way to get on the internet.

2. For the months of May, June, July and at least the first half of August, write down all specific dates on the master calendar (ie. piano lessons, rehearsals, Tball games and doctors appointments). You want a MASTER calendar for everything so you can keep track of what happens when!

3. Now you will begin to add other activities, so let's begin by adding activities that are happening in your town. Begin by getting on your local library's website for their summer reading program info. They also sometimes offer some free kid days. Write down these special days, along with one day per week to go to the library, check out some new books and record your reading plan. My library offers one prize per week throughout the months of June and July!

4. Check out your city's kids activity offerings as well as festivals etc. and write those down.

5. Mark out all summer travel dates including your vacations or family visiting you.

6. Make at least 1 playdate each week for interaction with other kids. These can be formal or informal (ie. you can meet at a local museum, or can just have a couple kids over to your house for a water balloon fight!)

7. Plan all summer birthday parties (I have 3 kids each with summer birthdays, so I have more planning than most!)

8. Get on pinterest and begin to research some fun summer activities. I would recommend following me on pinterest because I have pinned some AMAZING sites of fun summer activities! Begin to fill in fun activities for days that do not have anything listed. **LEAVE ROOM for flexibility. If someone calls up and wants to invite you to go somewhere but you have a pinterest activity planned, feel free to leave that activity behind.This schedule is good to have, but you do not have to follow it with military accuracy!

**I have 1 child who still needs to nap, while the other 2 really just need some down-time every day. I like to plan a naptime activity each day for the 2 older children. Pinterest is a great place to find and plan those activities! Some days it can be as easy as reading a new book while other days they can do a science experiment.

9. Check out the local movie theaters. Many of them offer free to VERY low-priced movies (ie. $1 per ticket including popcorn) for kids movies in the summer time.

10. Check out "kidsbowlfree.com". This is a bit deceiving, though because you have to pay to rent shoes. For our family it costs about $15 to bowl. But, it is a good activity for hot summer days when you want to be in air conditioning for a few hours!

11. Check out info. on community pools for both lessons and open swim times.

Hopefully this will give you a good start in making your summer plans. It DOES take some time to do this, but with a Starbucks refresher in hand, and a few kid-free hours to yourself, it is a fun way to spend an evening....and a REALLY great way to have an amazingly fun and productive summer.

Let's click our glasses to our summers! I can't wait to share with you all the fun we are going to have!

Kids Bowl FREE

Last week we did something we have not done in a VERY long time....we went bowling. In fact, the last time I went bowling with anyone, Ellie was an only-child and she was at a birthday party for her 4 year old friend! So, imagine my excitement when I learned about this website: www.kidsbowlfree.com

All you do is go to the website, pick your state, sign up your kids and they send you free coupons for 2 games per week straight to your email!

The catch is that you must pay for shoes, but that is pretty minimal, and if you want to play yourself you also obviously pay for that. BUT, they run another family deal where you pay $25 for the family as a one time offer and you get to play with the kids all summer. I did not do that but if we plan on making this a regular thing it would be well-worth it.

If you have never bowled with kids before, let me offer you a few tips.

1. Bring your camera! Such lovely and fun pictures.
2. Bring hand sanitizer. I have heard not-so-lovely things about what kinds of germs were found in the holes of bowling balls.
3. Call ahead of time to make sure they have the lanes open for when you want to go.....also see if you can be in a lane on the end, not surrounded by people. I won't talk about it now, but I had a bad experience with a disgruntled (bitter, mean) woman who was trying to practice for a tournament and my children were "distracting her." Ah well.
4. Ask to have the bumpers put up. It makes it MUCH more fun for kids if they do not keep getting gutter ball after gutter ball.
5. Our tickets were good until 4:00. The ending time is when the alley will actually END your game, whether or not you are through or not (because they are free tickets). So, give yourself plenty of time before the ticket runs out!
6. Don't plan on being competitive.....plan on having FUN because it really, really is! (especially tiny little bowling shoes that make the tiny ones walk like a duck!)

Another fun art project!

Coloring can get boring......but NOT when you do cool projects like this! I got this tutorial from pinterest and HERE IT IS.

All you need is crayons and paper! I am all about the easy, crafty ideas that keep the 8 year old occupied while the 3 and 1 year old are napping!

Summer Journal!

We all want to keep education as a priority over the summer but it doesn't really happen all the time! But, one fun way to keep education at the forefront is to teach kids to journal!

We did this activity yesterday during nap time for Ellie my 8 year old. I bought a plain composition book like the kind she uses at school for $1.99. Then I pulled out all my old scrapbook paper, stickers, glitter and glue and let her have at it! This activity took her about an hour to complete and she LOVED making it her own.

Allow kids to go crazy and decorate the book however THEY want it to. When she was done gluing down all the random pieces of paper we then made a front label that she filled out that said "Ellie's Summer Journal."

Allow the glue to dry a few hours then cover it with clear contact paper. Now your child has a unique journal for the summer.....this encouraged creativity and helps writing skills for those budding writers!

Making Crepes!

I went to Romania in 1997 and I experienced crepes from a cafe for the first time in my life. Since that time I have wanted to learn to make them. About 2 years ago I tried once and they were so gross I didn't do it again. But, I came across THIS RECIPE from pinterest and as part of my "Pinterest-ing Summer" I had a goal to learn to make crepes!

So, last night I made them and it was FANTASTIC.....according to everyone! I changed them up a bit. I made the regular crepe recipe and did a variation on the ham and cheese ones listed. I made ham and swiss cheese crepes with the mustard/cheese sauce that had broccoli in it. I am telling you it was DIVINE!

Then for dessert we had nutella and strawberry crepes.....and they were gobbled down by everyone. SO YUMMY! I am excited that I have done something I have always wanted to do and it turned out so great! I always thought they would be so difficult but actually they were quite easy and I WILL be doing it again!

Washable Sidewalk Paint

I was excited about this project because it is made with 3 ingredients that we already have in the house.....takes very little time and effort.....and can involve kids of all ages! This time we involved the neighbor girl who also enjoyed the endeavor.

To make washable sidewalk paint you need cornstarch, cold water and food coloring. Yes, that is all!

You simply mix a 50/50 ratio of cornstarch and cold water together until smooth. Then you ad a FEW drops of coloring to make the paint! I used about 3/4c. cornstarch to 3/4 c. water to get enough paint for 4 children.

We then went out to the sidewalk and had at it. I have learned that the kids love to get messy and this is great because then it dries on their skin it is simply chalky so it comes right off!

Quick, easy, fun and make a long hot summer day quite enjoyable. Have fun!