100 Things to Do This Summer

We have entered our second week of summer vacation! Our 100 Things to Do poster is up and we are already beginning to mark our progress with stickers. 

We have kept some old favorites from our previous lists and added a couple new ones. The girls look forward every summer to creating this poster so it has now become one of our family traditions! 

Some of our new additions this year are: 

• Watch Shark Week! Starts Sunday, July 31st. Maybe we will have a repeat Jaws viewing on our Friday Movie Night this week as well.

• Make clothespin mermaid dolls.

• Make crayon "sun" catchers.

• Build a bat house.

• Make monkey bread. We usually make the cinnamon-sugar recipe but there are some other great recipe variations here.

• Letterboxing / Geocaching.

There are some things on our list that will be repeated many times over such as "Ride bikes", "Visit the library", "Eat from our garden", or "Build a fort". 

This poster is a great go-to list for the kids to find inspiration in their summertime. It also gives them a perfect excuse to argue over who gets to mark the next sticker on the list!

What is on my personal summer manifesto? 

• I want to keep the TV off and keep the girls' creativity on by spending time outdoors, playing, drawing, creating, and reading!

• I hope to carve time into each day to read, write, sew, cook and play (both with and without the kids!) 

• Spend time cultivating Sophia's great interest in bugs and butterflies. I think we definitely need a magnifying glass and new bug-catching net (however she does pretty well catching things with her own two hands!) 

• Do a Summer "Spring Cleaning" using the guidelines in the book, Organized Simplicity. I hope to do this for every season. I love the changes I see in my home when I do this detailed purging and cleaning!'

•  Complete ALL 100 Things to Do on our list this summer!!!

What special things do you have 

on your "summer list" this year? 

Beginnings of Summer

Hooray for the last day of school! I hit the alarm button this morning of my last wake-up call until Autumn! I love it!

I have been pitiful with keeping up with my Photo 365 project on this blog. I am still taking daily photos, however. Unfortunately, most of the photos are still on my camera or on the computer untouched and waiting to be put on Flickr. I managed to catch up to the 31st of May so you can go check them out.

Here is a bit of what we have been up to lately:

 Gosh...and summer has not even officially begun!

Craft Hope Bracelets

Our bracelets for Craft Hope's project 12 are finally in the mail only a few days before the June 15th deadline! The twins decided to help me today with just a few more before sending them off. We made a total of 25 with sizes that fit my wrist to even the littlest wrist of Evangeline. 

Unfortunately I missed the deadline to participate in the Project 13: security blankets for tornado survivors. I do hope to join in on the next project as soon as it is posted! 

A Day in the Life

Each week, to add a bit of "sparkle" to our book club, we pick a prompt out of a jar for a fun creative idea that we each should do the following week. 

Some of our past ideas have been: watch a documentary to discuss, make ATC cards to exchange, "Christmas in July" $5 or below pollyannas, and recently we each brought a  different fruit to contribute to a community fruit salad. The fruit salad was delicious and I think it would be excellent for a potluck dessert for summer parties! 

This week the choice was to snap a photo each hour for one day of our lives. Easier said than done! 

I had to remind myself with the kitchen timer so I wouldn't forget between laundry, lunches, changing swimsuits umpteen times, little girl bathroom breaks, and sneaking in testimonies of the Casey Anthony trial. (yes, I'm obsessed with this case!) 

Here was our day:

8:00-9:00 AM * Wake up call just before 8. Breakfast, lunches packed, everyone dressed and ready to drop the girls off at school. Home by 9.

9:00-10:00 AM * A hot one today! Sophia and the twins get in bathing suits and fill the wading pool.

10:00-11:00 AM * The summer edition of Rhythm of the Home has arrived! I sit watching the girls play, drink coffee and read a bit. 

11:00 AM-12:00 PM * The twins back inside to play. Call my Mom, clean up, sort laundry, do dishes, watch some recorded testimony from Lee Anthony.

12:00-1:00 PM Lunchtime! As soon as they are done eating, they get back in their bathing suits for more outdoor fun! 

1:00-2:00 PM * Since all the girls are by the pool again, I sit outside with them to make more bracelets for Craft Hope's Project 12. Deadline is June 15th!

2:00-3:00 PM * Everyone back indoors. I mix up a batch of French Vanilla ice cream from Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert book. 

3:00-4:00 PM * Another round of cleaning up outside and in. Get the little ones ready to go pick up Madelyn and Lana from school. Home by 4.

4:00-5:00 PM * Homework done and left for me to double check. Lana abandons her glasses and hairband to go play in the pool outside. I watch them, nursing Evangeline, reading this and this!

5:00-6:00 PM * Dinner is made, Evangeline takes a nap. We start watching Gulliver's Travels.

6:00-7:00 PM * Cut up watermelon for a snack. Finish up the movie and then clean up the kitchen from dinner. 

7:00-8:00 PM * The sun is beginning to set. I clean up the deck; water the plants with the pool water. 

8:00-9:00 PM Yea for delicious homemade ice cream with chocolate chips! Pajamas on, teeth brushed, almost time for the girls to go to bed. 

10:00-11:00 PM * Another fun day! I am ready to bring my sleepy baby up to bed with me, read a bit of The Help, and then off to sleep to prepare for tomorrow's adventures!

Past and Present

 

A year ago in July, my sister took this photo of our twins, Isabella and Grace, with their cousin, Kate. I posted it with the caption: The playhouse their grandfather built for us has been rejuvenated with their giggles. They are our future generation. I hope it will be reborn several times over.

This year for Memorial Day, the girls gathered in the playhouse and I captured them again in the window. One year older.

The leaves were still gathered in the frame of the window. Isabella still smiled with her tiny hands covering her mouth. Gracie surprisingly wearing blue nail polish again. 

Yet, so much difference in just a year's time! They are not babies anymore. They are growing taller, smarter, and closer as friends. The stories of our own childhood are being revived in their smiles. 

They hold a bit of magic in their hands, unaware they are creating memories that will last a lifetime.