Summer Fun List

So I am going to TRY and start blogging again.

No promises but we will see how it goes.

There are so many things that have happened that I could tell you about, but for right now I'm just going to jump right in to what's happening right now.

The kids are on summer break.

And they are ready to run, and go crazy every second of the day.

So we sat down and came up with a list of things we really want to do this summer.

I'm sure we will add some and there will probably be some that don't get done, but it's nice to have a go to list.

• go fishing
• go swimming
• visit all of the parks in town except the one by the river with all the bugs (Braeden's request)
• go to the zoo
• visit the children's museum
• go to the beach
• fly kites
• pick berries
• picnik
• make a bird feeder
• stargazing
• go to a parade
• learn to swim
• play in a kickball game
• plant flowers
• visit a old friend
• catch fireflies
• learn about clouds
• eat lots of popsicles
• make homemade ice cream
• have a lemonade stand
• go to lots of garage sales
• try some new campfire food

So what will you be doing this summer?

 



I Don't Wanna Do My Chores!

There are a lot of things I don't know about kids.

Like why my almost 6 year old has random attitude problems.

Or why my 1 year old likes to destroy thing so much more than my other kids.

But there are some things I do know about kids.

I know that routine is crucial for my boys to function like little human beings.

Without it they turn into crazies.

But sometimes the kids get bored with the routine, especially when it comes to chores.

I hate fighting my kids to do their chores.

Like really really hate it.

So I'm always trying to look for really cool chore charts or different ideas to make it a little more exciting.

One time I made chore dice.

I put pictures of different chores like dusting or emptying the trash on each side.

Every day they got to roll the dice and see which chore they got to do.

They thought it was so much fun that they wanted to roll 500 times a day.

So I had to make a rule, if you roll it you have to do it.

It worked like magic for a few months but then they got bored.

So we made a chart and they got to put up stickers every day that they did their chores and at the end of the week they got a little treat if they had stickers for every day.

Once again good for awhile but then they lost interest.

It has taken me 5 years but I think I've finally figured out something brilliant.

My children get bored with chores!

I mean seriously who would have thought.

That doesn't mean that I stop making them work.

It just means that doing chores is part of our routine, how we decide what they do has to be mixed up a little.

Right now we are doing chore sticks.

I have a bunch of popsicle sticks that I've written different chores on and every day after school they get to pick a stick from the jar.

Today was day 2 and it went perfect.

They ran to me when I said it was time to pick a stick and went straight to work after I told them what it said.

No whining or crying or asking to do it later.

Now that's what a momma likes to hear.

So there are a lot of things that I still need to learn about

 kids but it does make me feel good to know that I am making progress and learning new things about my kids.

Is there anything that motivates your kids to do their chores?

Because I don't think you can ever have too many tips about this subject.

New Year's Countdown Bags

Since New Year's falls on a Saturday night this year we will be having our party at home and sending the kids to bed around 9.

I still want to make sure we have a good time though.

I don't know if you've seen the countdown bags floating around the blog world but they looked really fun so I decided to do my version.

The first thing I made were some noisemakers.

They are super easy and really awesome because they aren't too loud.

And who wants a headache on New Year's Eve?

So here's what you need to scrounge up.

Scrapbooking paper (optional)

Empty ribbon spools

tape

rice

glue

First tape off the opening on one side of the ribbon spool.

 Then you want to put a little bit of rice in the other opening.

Make sure you don't put too much in or there won't be room for the rice to shake.

Now tape up that opening.

Then trace the spool twice onto scrapbooking paper.

Cut out the circles and a strip to cover where the ribbon would be.

After you've got it all cut out just glue it on.

 Then I took brown lunch sacks and drew clocks on them with the time the kids get to open them.

Here are some of the other surprises the kids will find in their bags.

Sparklers

Stuff to make a memory jar

A interview page

Ava will have one with sparkly nail polish and

 Braeden will have one with a recipe for a yummy treat

 Then it will be time for bed so we don't have a bunch of little grumps for church in the morning.

So do you have any big plans for the big night?

First Snow of the Season = First Snow Day!

On Tuesday it started snowing.

And snowing.

And snowing.

Mason and Ava were so excited and they stared out the window most of the day.

It was so cute watching Mason in complete awe of the change that was happening outside.

I can just imagine what that little mind of his was thinking.

Then when Braeden got home he got started making snowballs right away.

And you can't make a snowball without throwing it!

So he took aim at his sister who was watching him through the window.

 On Wednesday we woke up to school being cancelled and daddy being sick.

What a fun combination!

So to try and keep the kids from begging and whining about wanting to go outside for just a little while I decided to make some peanut butter clay.

It's super easy and just 3 ingredients.

Peanut Butter Clay

Mix 1 Cup of Peanut Butter with 1/2 Cup of Honey. Add 1 Cup of Powdered milk. Gradually add more until no longer sticky but not too much or it will get crumbly. Then break out the cookie cutters and have fun!

 My kids will play for hours with clay or play doh

and that's just what they did.

(And yes we stay in our jammies all day on snow days)

Then of course you can't have the first snowfall without getting out there and playing in it!

So I bundled them up and sent them out to burn off some stuck in the house energy.

I must admit that I think I like snow days more then the kids do.

We have a whole day to stay at home and work on fun things, and play games.

And tonight we start our 24 days of Christmas.

I still have to get the calendar set up but we'll be ready.

We are also doing a special service activity that we will be starting soon.

More to come on that in the near future.

Have a Happy first day of December!

Crayon Melting Experiment

If you decide to be a crazy person and walk outside your air conditioned house

you will notice it is HOTT

Not single T hot

Double T HOTT

So as the kids and I were talking about how hot it is and what would happen if it were 485 degrees

we wondered if it was hot enough to melt a crayon.

So we made our hypothesis.

 Braeden said No

Ava said Yes

I said Yes

Reed said Yes

And because Braeden didn't want to be the only one saying no he claims to have heard Mason say No

We put some of our old crayons outside and this was the result

Isn't it beautiful!

I can see a melted crayon art project coming soon.

It is hot enough to melt a crayon and probably fry an egg!

And of course the kids couldn't have all that ooey goodness and not touch it.

But at least they used sticks!

As a little side note I noticed that the washable crayons melted faster than the regular ones.

It would be interesting to try it with different brands and see what happens.

If anyone tries it let me know how it goes!

Bringing Back Memories

Well it has rained 

and rained

oh and then it rained some more. 

We spent some time in what we like to call our troll closet.

That's our tornado spot.  Luckily it's close to our books so we had something fun to do.

But then for a whole 5 minutes the sun came out.

And I was able to stare in complete happiness at this.

 It was a FULL rainbow!

Actually a double but the second one was so light it didn't even show up in pictures.

But a couple days ago when we actually had half a day of sun we worked on our motor skills.

Always a good thing to work on.

When I was younger and we would go to visit my grandparents my grandpa would sometimes get out blocks of wood, hammers and nails and light us up.

And we would look something like this.

Who knew hitting a nail could be so much fun????

Well I did because it's one of the things I remember from my childhood.

(I remember surprisingly little about my childhood)

If your kids are younger or get frustrated easily

You might want to start the nails for them.

It might save you a lot of crying.

And a few other tips.

Smaller hammers are easier for smaller hands and

the softer the wood the better.

Braeden loves hammering into the stump and the nails go in really easy.

I'm gonna have to see if I can find any pictures of me doing this.