What a Summer!

Wow! It's finally over. The kids are back in school and I finally feel like I can breath a little. I loved the summer but I'm so glad it's over. I was running out of way to entertain the children.

I had a great summer. We went to Montana and just hung out around out great state. We had a ton of birthdays to celebrate. Three in June and six in August. We also had some sickness over the summer too.

I spent quite a bit of time crafting over the last couple of months as well. My sister and  I decided to start our own Etsy shop with hair accessories, bottle cap jewelry, journals, baby items and just a mixture of different things. We are still working on it. You can check it out on Etsy and Facebook.

The last thing that has kept me busy is my little boy. He turned one in August and it's been amazing to see his growth. He has learned how to crawl around the house, pull himself up and grow six teeth at one time. It's been fun watching him develop all these new skills.

Life around here has been crazy busy but it's been fun too. I guess now it's time to get back to a more scheduled life. I like the routine of kids in school. It's a lot easier for me to concentrate.

What was your summer like? Did you have fun? Learn anything new?

Summer Activities: Place Mats

Place Mats are a good thing to have if you have a messy child or if you are just trying to keep your kids entertained at the table, restaurant or their grandparents house.

Mr. I really likes to make food groups so for our place mat I drew the food plate from the http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ and then we cut out food from magazines. You could do any theme you like or you could just draw a picture. It's really up to your child what they like the best. 

Supplies:

Paper

Glue

Scissors

Markers, Crayons or Paints

Contact Paper 

Directions:

Take the paper and make a design using writing utensils or gluing magazine clippings. 

When you are finished measure out some contact paper and cut. 

Remove the backing of the contact paper and put it on top of art work. Repeat on the back side. 

Cut off access contact paper. 

Display your play mat on your table or keep for visits. 

Here's another idea. Use draw erase markers to draw on them and wipe them off.

Summer Activities: Root Beer Floats

Nothing says summer better than a root beer float. They are so cold and yummy. Perfect for a summer day.

Ingredients:

Can of Root Beer

Vanilla Ice Cream

Frosty Mug

Straw

Directions:

Take the frosty mug and put 2 scoops of ice cream or more if you like.

Pour the root beer in slowly. It makes a lot of foam.  

Put the straw in and enjoy.

Frosty Mug:
Take the mug and run it under the water. Don't shake the water off. Put it directly in the freezer and let it sit for about an hour. You got yourself a frosty mug. Don't have a mug use another glass.

Summer Activities: Binoculars

My son loves to explore. He looks for bugs, rocks, shells and pincones.  He also loves to look at the moon and stars. I decided since he loves to explore it was time to make some binoculars. It seemed like a fun way to make exploring even more exciting. 

Make your own pair of binoculars and start exploring.  Here's what you need. 

Supplies:

2 toilet paper rolls or paper towel roll cut in half

Paints, markers or crayons

Glue

Yarn

Hole punch

Stickers (optional)

Instructions:

Take the rolls and decide how you want to decorate them. You can use paints, crayons or markers.

After the rolls are decorated glue them together side by side.

Next take a hole punch and punch one hole on both sides.

Measure the yarn around your neck making sure you have enough to make the binoculars hang like a necklace.

Use the yarn to string through the holes and tie a knot at the end to secure it. 

 

Preparing for Summer

Today is our last day of school and I have been trying to prepare for the next 100 days together. I'm trying to schedule activities we can do at home and away. 

It's hard to prepare because my boys are so far apart in age and what one child likes the other does not. You would think I would be great at coming up with ideas since I write this blog but not so much. 

I started a list last night of different activities and I'm working on organizing it. When I'm finished I plan on posting it here for all of you to see. Hopefully it will give you something to do this summer with your kids. I'm also planning on starting a new board on my Pinterest for 100 Days of Summer. I think it would be cool to keep all the projects and activities together in one place. 

Give me a couple of days and I'll start the list. It's going to be super fun and I hope encouraging and inspiring. 

What are you doing this summer? What summer activities does your family like?