Summertime, and the Living is Easy

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE!!! I for one cannot be more excited.   A couple weeks ago I planned and created our Summer Chain of Events.  We were scheduled to start our activities on Monday but since Huck made his arrival over the weekend, we started on Tuesday and doubled up our activities.  This was an extra special week because Nana, Grandad, and Mima got to share it with us. 

Here's how our first week went.

Our Chain



Monday, June 4th: On the schedule for Monday was making homemade ice cream (we actually did this on Tuesday). This was a really simple recipe and the kids really enjoyed it. Justin helped them with this project. Click HERE for the recipe.

 Eating their yummy ice cream

Gotta have sprinkles!



Tuesday, June 5th: As of Tuesday we were back on track.  The kids have asked several times over the school year to go to the public library.  Since they go at school and we are always busy with sports and other activities, I never made the time to go.  On Tuesday Justin took two happy kids to the library where they each picked three books.  Seth has really gotten into reading in the past few months so he has already finished one library chapter book plus another store bought one (more on that later).  We're going to try to go the the library every Tuesday this summer. 

Reading one of his books



Wednesday, June 6th: Wednesday was a cooking day.  This time it was McKayla's turn to cook dinner.  They both enjoy helping me cook so I thought it would be a good idea to let them pick a meal and do most of the work.  McKayla chose to make lemon pepper salmon with rice, broccoli, and carrots.  She did a great job and we all enjoyed it. 

Thursday, June 7th:  Now it was Seth's turn to cook.  He chose one of his favorite meals, breakfast for dinner.  We made tons of food.  On the menu was biscuits with sausage gravy, scrambled eggs with cheese, and cheese grits.  Yes, I realize there is almost nothing healthy about this meal but Seth LOVED it and so did everyone else. 

Friday, June 8th: Nana got to take over on Friday. My mom LOVES to read so she was thrilled to hear how much the kids enjoy it too. After camp, we picked them up and headed to Barnes and Noble. They each got two books and a cookie. Huck got two books too. When we got home Nana, Seth, and McKayla headed for the back porch and immediately started reading. They stayed out there for two hours. I couldn't believe it. They both started and finished chapter books that day.

Leaving Barnes and Noble



Saturday, June 9th: On Saturday we had a very special mission, making Father's Day presents.  For obviouse reasons I can't reveal what we were up to, but I promise to post more on this later. 

Sunday, June 10th: Last summer we did our summer chain of events but the only record we had of it was this blog.  This summer I decided that the kids should keep a summer journal.  Sunday we started that journal and we'll add to it each Sunday.  Hopefully they'll keep these for years to come and look back on all the fun we had. 

First week of the journal



We're off to a great start and I can't wait for the kids to find out what other summer activities await us.