Summer Chain of Events, Week 2

We got the kids back early for this week so that they could celebrate Father's Day with Justin.  Since Sunday was already a big deal we started our chain of events back up on Monday. 

Monday, June 18th: Water color painting was our activity for the day.  They each made five or six paintings and hung them in their rooms.  Seth even put one on his ceiling above his bunk bed.



Tuesday, June 19th: Water play day!!!  The kids got to play outside in the sprinkler.  We made it extra fun by putting the sprinkler next to the trampoline.  They were able to jump and get soaked at the same time.  They loved it! They took a break for lunch and then went back to it.

Wednesday, June 20th: This day was Mimi's day.  Justin's mom took them to Firefly Pottery to paint.  They did this with her last summer as well.  Seth made a basketball piggy bank and McKayla made a footflops box. 

Thursday, June 21st: Feeding the ducks at Lake Ella.  We gathered all the old bread at the house and headed to the lake to feed the ducks and turtles.  We walked the lake twice and still had bread left so we gave it to some other kids that were there.

You might be wondering how we accomplish these activities with a newborn in the house.  We try to complete our activities around Huck's naps :)

Friday, June 22nd: On Thursday we made shirts for the 4th of July.  We used glitter fabric paint and pipe cleaners to create these shirts.  McKayla's is on the left and Seth's is on the right.  Not sure why this picture is sideways.  

Saturday, June 23rd: Saturday was a rainy day so we had to wait until late in the afternoon when the rain stopped to go on our nature walk.  We headed out to the walking trails at Meridian park, got out the baby carrier, strapped Huck to Justin, and went for a walk.  I should have gotten a picture of all this but I didn't.  Once we were done with our walk we went to the playground for awhile. 

This is what Huck did while the kids played. 

Sunday, June 24th: On Sunday the kids were supposed to go shooting with Justin.  Unfortunately, the weather was awful due to tropical storm Debby.  So, I switched activities on the chain and we made play-dough instead.  Again, I forgot to get pictures.  The kids enjoyed making and playing with the play-dough.  I used a new recipe I hadn't used before but it turned out great and smelled yummy.  This is how we made it. 

Two weeks of the "Summer Chain of Events" have been successfully completed.  I was a little worried about getting it all done with Huck here but it's all worked out.  Many more fun activities to come!

Father's Day

A few weeks ago Justin made the comment that it's not fair that mother's day falls during the school year because the kids make all this cute stuff and by the time father's day comes its summer so there's no cute homemade stuff.  Well, the kids and I took care of that.

We started father's day off with some decorations and presents. 

 Check out the ties on the wall.  I bought some outdoor themed construction paper and the kids cut out the ties and put some sticker letters on them (click on the picture to enlarge it).

 I found this idea on pinterest.  I took two poster boards and cut out the letters and words.  We waited for a sunny part of the day and the kids held them up so I could take the picture. 

 I printed these on the computer for them to fill out about Justin.  I'm going to print the same ones each year to watch how they change.  This one is McKayla's.

 This one is Seth's.

 Justin's Aunt sent me this awesome idea a few months ago.  I took Huck's hand, stuck it in ink, and stuck it on the baseball (easier said than done).  I wrote his name on it with a sharpie and wrote Happy Father's Day 2012 on the opposite side.  Justin loved it!

After opening presents we had Justin's favorite breakfast, biscuits and gravy.  The rest of the day was spent playing with the kids and relaxing around the house.  For dinner we headed to one of Justin's favorite restaurants, Seinyard.  It was delicious!!!

Pictures from dinner...

After dinner we grabbed a couple movies for the kids and milkshakes from Baskin Robbins.  We really had a great father's day.  Hmmmmm...now how will we top it next year? 

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.