Library

Number 63- check out the events calendar at your local library... you'd be amazed at the activities that are offered for free!

I'm just going to say it, the library is fun! And not only is it fun, but most of it is FREE! We have been taking advantage of ours lately for this very reason. My kids' favorite activity right now is storytime. They LOVE sitting down with me on the couch or in their beanbag chairs and reading book after book. They are always upset when it's time to be done, and as a mom and a teacher nothing makes me happier. Two nights ago my mouth and throat were dry from reading for so long, but I didn't care I kept right on going. I think that the greatest gift we can give our kids is a love of reading. It will make their lives richer and fuller in so many ways.

We read until we pass out!

Our local library has the summer reading program, which I will post about another time, and it even rewards it's patrons for checking books out of the library during the summer months. Everytime you check books out at the library you get a scratch-off ticket. The very first time that I received a scratch-off ticket just a couple of days ago, I scratched that silver off with the penny that the librarian gave me and then I saw it. Winner! I never win anything and the fact that I won 2 free books from the library just made my day. It was late as we were leaving the library so I have yet to collect my prize, but when I do I'll definitely be posting it. I wish I had a picture of my winning ticket but the librarian took it. Hindsight right?!

The reason I was at the library that night was because I had signed The Sponge up for a FREE drama workshop for kids. (Isn't the library wonderful?!)

We were the first ones to arrive and she was a little nervous and clingy, but once she saw the props and the other kids started pouring in she was in her element. Now, some of the moms stayed for the workshop, but I have come to notice that if I'm with The Sponge when she's in a class, such as her dance class, she watches me and tries to talk to me and doesn't pay attention to what she should be doing, so I bowed out and I'm glad that I did. While I was looking for new CDs, books, and movies when she was in the workshop the sounds of the singing, laughing, and "drama" from that conference room were filling the whole main level of the library. I could even pick out The Sponge's voice from time to time amongst all of the chaos and it made me smile. I was a little sad because I could not see what was happening and truly be a part of this experience with The Sponge, but when I asked her how it went and she enthusiastically said, "IT. WAS. AWESOME!" I knew that I had made the right decision.

Sometimes even though we want to be right there with our kids every minute (and I do when it comes to the extra-curricular type of activities- oh, and I usually tear up watching them participate and succeed at ANYTHING---I'm a little emotional okay?! (: ) we need to step back and let them gain some independence and have their own time to just be themselves, fail, succeed, whatever, and experience life.

Nature Art and Dance Party

It has been surprisingly easy to check off items from our summer activities list. Especially when The Sponge initiates activities that are already on the list! (I love that girl!) Last night my hubby and I were chillin' on the new patio furnature that he had just finished making. Awesome job right?!

He bought the adirondack chairs in boxes and put them together and made the table out of pallets, a 4x4, and casters then stained them all to match!

Anyways, so we were chillin' and admiring the view of our kids running around being crazy adorable in the backyard when The Sponge came up to me and asked if she could make a project out of leaves and flowers...um...YEAH! She asked for paper and glue, to which I happily abliged as I grabbed my camera to check Number 52-create works of art from nature off of our 70 Days of Summer Activities list. Of course, as soon as The Hulk heard the words "project" and "glue" he was running over and asking for paper too. They had so much fun with this open-ended activity. The Sponge made a family out of the leaves:) Here's how they made their masterpieces!

Materials were gathered

Sponge got angry when Hulk stole her leaves

Hulk does not like getting his fingers dirty! -Glue yucky!

Ta Da! Finished Masterpieces!

While we work or play outside we like to listen to music, so last night I had our Kindle Fire tuned to my Taylor Swift station on iHeart Radio (which if you don't have iHeart Radio yet you should, it's free and there are NO commercials). The kids decided to have an imprompto dance party, taking care of Number 6-have a dance party in your backyard.

Hulk getting down with his bad self

Oh, you're taking picures now Mom?

Go Spo-onge, Go Spo-onge

Dance partners :)
The Hulk doesn't like to wear pants..it makes him 'ANGRY'! ;)

We had so much fun with these two activities. It's amazing how much fun you can have when you let your kids lead the way. One of my favorite blogs to follow is Hands Free Mama. I swear when I grow up I want to be just like this amazing Mama. Her focus is on really being present with her family. That is my ultimate summer goal. My kids are growing up too fast, as all kids do, and I just want to relish every moment and turn them into memories not regrets.

Camping Trip

Camping is Fun!

This past weekend was our 2nd Annual Family Camping Trip! We added our cousin and her family to the fun this year. Last year on our 1st family camping trip (which was...interesting) it was just me and my family, my sister, and her boyfriend. The campground that we went to was dirty and disappointing and will rename nameless (but let's just say it rhymes with Halt Dork!). This year we chose a new (clean) park, my kids were a year older, and we let go and just had fun! We were able to check off several of our 70 Days of Summer Activities during our 3 day trip and I got pictures of most of them!

We checked off number 24-make smores  on our last night there. Now, I did not get a picture of this (and I should have) but my husband may have invented the most delicious camp-out-sitting-around-the-fire-treat EVER. You'll want to take notes. No really. Go get some paper and a pen. He sprayed a pie iron then put in two pieces of white bread in it  and loaded it with marshmallows and an entire Hershey bar. AAHHH! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. After a few minutes of sitting at the edge of a blazing hot fire what resulted was an unbelievably ooey, gooey, chocolaty delicious treat that words fail to fully describe! If you have other yummy campfire treats please share, I have a feeling I'll be buying some wood very soon :)

Number 29-make mud pies

These mud pies started out as dirt pies.

Then the kids decided to make mud pies by adding water from the water fountain.

Then they thought it would be more fun to squish their toes and splash around in it. (This picture makes me think of the grape-squashing from the wine-making episode of I Love Lucy :) )

Filthy



and I love it!


Number 33-play with sparklers

Using the extended shutter time on his camera, my cousin's boyfriend Mike took a picture of the kids playing with sparklers. So cool!

Ooooooo. Aaaaaahh.


Number 41-go on a family camping trip

I think I covered that one already, but here's a group photo that we took on the last day before we drove away from our campsite. The Sponge is so sassy I love it!

Number 46-go swimming

The park that we were at had a lovely beach and Marina and a beautiful lodge. We took the kids swimming in the lake (okay my husband did, I didn't bring my suit on purpose-body issues but I'm working on it- but once they got out there I wish that I had :(  ) and the kids had a blast.

Number 54-look for rainbows

Now, when I originally wrote this one I was thinking about looking for rainbows when it was raining, but I like how we found ours better. After the kids made their mud pies they were filthy from face to feet and I took them to the water fountain/spigot to rinse them off and in the mist of the water we saw rainbows! I tried to get a good picture of it but I don't think it came out too well.

Our "home-made" rainbow :)

Number 59-start a nature collection

My daughter has always loved picking up rocks that she thought were special in any place from the parking lot at BJ's to the local playground and now my son has developed the same fondness for these little gems. While on a trip to the playground near our campsite The Hulk started digging in the sand at the foot of the slide...

The Hulk's favorite playground equipment

Finding treasures

and found these.

The rest of the weekend was filled with the kids looking for more treasures as they both were building up their new rock collections.


So, in 3 short days we were able to create many wonderful memories and cross 7 of our summer activities from our list. What fun things are you doing this summer?

Journal

Check out how I maintained my current weight (and maybe lost a little!) on our 3 day camping trip on the Gettin' Fit page!

Journal

Check out yesterday's health journal on the Gettin' Fit page!

A Short Trip

The kids and I took a short 48 hour trip to visit my parents on the dairy farm where I grew up. My mom just had carpal tunnel surgery and I was hoping that we could be more help than a hindrance with our visit. We were able to cross off #s 23- catch fireflies and 28- eat popsicles (make your own) on our 70 Days of Summer Activities list. We easily made our own popsicles in theses molds using kiwi strawberry juice (3) and a combination of 2/3 orange juice and 1/3 white grape juice. I was a bit nervous that the pops wouldn't come out in one piece since the tray was one solid piece, but it worked perfectly and we enjoyed delicious, refreshing, 100% juice pops that were a little extra-special because we made them ourselves.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Good-Cook-Ice-Pop-Maker/16451279

After our drive home we pulled in the driveway as the sun was going down and it was just starting to get dark out. My husband was working in the garage and getting together our camping gear (for #41!) and then it happened...the fireflies started blinking. Well, who can resist trying to catch fireflies?! The kids set out to each catch these mysterious insects with hubby's help and were successful!

The Sponge was the first one to have success. She LOVES bugs and let this little guy crawl all over her (yuck! good for her!). Unfortunately, while I was trying to get a good photo he escaped (sorry honey!) and she set out to find a replacement. In the meantime, Hulk was still looking for a firefly of his own and with Daddy's help he was able to wrangle his own.

The Hulk (much like his Mommy) does not share his sister's love for having insects crawl all over his skin so he yelled and dropped the firefly after feeling it's (creepy) little legs tickle his (adorably pudgy) hand.

All in all, it was a great ending to our short trip.

70 Days of Summer Activities

70 Days of Summer Activities
Making memories along the way...

With this being my first official blog post and it also being the beginning of my summer vacation with my two AWESOME kids, I think it's most appropriate to start with a summer to-do list. These 70 activities are things that I intend to do with my kids over the speedy summer months, and we have already been able to cross a couple of things off our list. Stay tuned as we check off the rest! Enjoy

1- make your own crayons
2- make play doh
3- blow snake bubbles
4- go on a color hunt nature walk (use egg carton)
5- do yoga with your kids outside
6- have a dance party in your backyard
7- camp out in your backyard
8- make slime!

Slime at The Sponge's birthday party

9- enroll in your library’s summer reading program
10- go bowling in your driveway
11- play with ice on a hot day
12- make your own sprinkler, even if you already have a store bought one
13- make elephant toothpaste
14- make and play with finger paints
15- go to a drive-in movie
16- go to a drive-in movie in your livingroom
17- grow something...flowers, veggies, anything you want
18- make your own rock candy
19- perform the diet coke and mentos experiment
20- go on a scavenger hunt
21- play with water beads
22- build a sand castle
23- catch fireflies
24- make smores
25- go on a picnic...for breakfast
26- build a fort...outside!
27- paint with your feet
28- eat popsicles... (make your own)
29- make mud pies
30- dance in the rain and jump in the puddles
31- pick a bouquet of wildflowers for someone special
32- watch the sunset, and then draw it
33- play with sparklers
34- watch fireworks
35- go fishing
36- go to a baseball game
37- create an obstacle course
38- have a water balloon fight
39- go to the zoo

Me and my chicks at a local zoo :)

40- go to a park...or several!

....a walk in the park...

41- go on a family camping trip
42- drink root beer floats
43- make marshmallow shooters
44- play on a slip and slide
45- go to the fair
46- go swimming
47- ride a horse
48- go to a petting zoo
49- play hopscotch
50- make an outdoor “waterbed”
51- go on a photo scavenger hunt
52- create works of art from nature (leaves, sticks, flowers)
53- make your own bird feeder
54- look for rainbows
55- play in a plastic bubble
56- make a water wall
57- put shaving cream on your kid’s slide
58- play monkey/fire in your backyard
59- start a nature collection
60- put dirt in your kiddie pool instead of water
61- have a tea party outside
62- take free nature classes from your local parks department
63- check out the events calendar at your local library...you’d be amazed at the activities that are offered for free
64- make glowing jars for those late summer nights
65- enjoy frozen yogurt dots
66- read outside
67- look for bugs
68- eat corn on the cob
69- go to a farmers’ market
70- HAVE FUN!!! :)