Our Summer Bucket List

I've seen various ideas on blogs and Pinterest about "summer fun jars" and "summer bucket lists" and decided that I wanted to get on board. I want to be intentional about what we do this summer - even when it comes down to having some serious fun. 

I'm completely shocked that July is here.  Since time flies when you are having fun, we must be having a lot of fun?! : )))  I figured I'd better get my Summer Bucket List posted before fall arrives. So here we go: 

 1. Make homemade ice cream.

 2. Attend VBS.

 3. Get sand in our toes at the beach at least once a week.

 4. Learning/teaching our kids the beauty of serving by joining The Call to 

     Serve.

 5. Help the girls learn 50+/- new Spanish words. 

 6. Enjoy the waterpark at least once a week. (Thanks Meme and Papa)

 7. Read lots of books.

 8. Attend age appropriate library programs for each girl.

 9. Have a picnic.

10.  Catch fireflies (and release them, of course).

11. Trips to the Farmer's Market.

12. Go through our We Choose Virtues curriculum. 

13. Go on a mini-vacay to a local hotel and spend time at the beach. 
      (using my husband's reward points for free nights - woo too!).

14. Camp out in the playhouse.

15. Make many precious memories!!! : )))

So what about you?! What does your family have in store for the rest of the summer?  Just chill?! Or a jam packed schedule of summer fun?!

Hooray! We did it...we did it!

So, per my previous post here....the verdict is in. I said that we know I can grow people, but could I (we) grow food?! ;) The answer is YES! Well...to some degree).

Earlier in the summer, we planted cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers and sugar snap peas.

Unfortunately, the sugar snap peas didn't make it. The green peppers are slowly but surely coming along. The tomatoes are doing pretty well (we've eaten a few already). Thus far, the cucumbers are a bit confusing!? The vine has gone wild and is growing every which way and there is only one enormous cucumber on it. hmmm We shall see?!

The kids are very proud of their efforts - watering, hoping, weeding and waiting.

In the meantime, we had fun reading books about planting and gardening, especially this one:

Are any of you reaping a yummy harvest of a home garden?

The summer fun continues

I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus lately. Last week, I was a volunteer teacher at our church's Backyard Bible Camp and the week before that was spent nursing my family (myself included) back to health from a horrible stomach virus. I'm happy to say that we are all feeling better AND we had a great time at Bible Camp.

Thanks for hanging in there and checking back on the site today. I'm a bit of a stickler with myself when I have committed to do something (i.e. try to post at least four times a week), but you know as well as I do that life happens and sometimes something has to give.

In the mean time, I want to share some of what we have been up to (with our summer activities) since you've heard from me last.

(Learning all about planting seeds - the tangible and edible kind and the kind that change hearts and lives.)

(Having a great time at VBS.)

(Cooling down in the extreme heat at the splash pad.)

Next Tuesday, I will be giving away some products from a character curriculum that we really like. I hope you will join us here so that you can have a chance to win : )

Growing food

(Our serrano peppers from last year. I should have been more prepared to use them?!?)

(We did manage to get some cherry tomatoes last year.)

So, we all know I can grow children, but the question is....can I grow food?! ha ha ha Last year, my dad bought us a raised garden kit. We were so excited to start it and grow food together. The girls couldn't wait to plant, water and pick.

It did fairly well for the first several weeks. As the summer went on and the days got much hotter and I got much bigger (in my pregnancy), I'll admit...we neglected the garden a bit. I almost refused to go outdoors. The tomato plants got so large that they overgrew and "suffocated" the other plants. We were able to enjoy a few of our tomatoes and some serrano peppers survived, but that's about it.

As part of our summer activities that I mentioned in a recent post, we are trying to grow food again this year. It works out perfectly with our new clean eating journey that we are on. I will talk about that more in a future post, but our garden is completely organic and pesticide free, etc. This is a great learning activity for everyone.

I hope we will have some fresh homegrown vegetables soon!

More attempts

Book Babies.

Craft time.

Silly songs and pom poms.

OK, I cheated a little with this photo ;). This was from the spring session, but I wanted to show you how cool our library is....they actually brought areal llama in for one class. Notice that Lai Lai wanted to introduc

e her own llama to his momma {insert laugh here}.

In keeping with my little "how we're going to attempt to avoid mushy brains and bodies this summer" series, I wanted to share a little peek into our library story time sessions (or "library school" as the girls call it). We actually finished the summer sessions up today. Two of our girls attended classes and had a great time.

I am so truly grateful for our library. They go above and beyond in their story time sessions. The themes, stories, crafts and short videos (or music time for babies) are always so fun and interactive. Our girls have a great time. Another aspect that I like is that the sessions are usually only a few dollars to cover the price of materials or sometimes, free.

It's a great opportunity for the girls to make new friends, acquire skills and learn to love books and stories. We'll definitely be signing up for the fall!

Summer fun (and learning of course) begins

I mentioned to you last week that we were going to attempt to avoid mushy brains and bodies this summer by being intentional about some of our activities. Although it's not "technically" summer, we have been having a blast.

I'm really grateful that we live near one of the Great Lakes. It's such an amazing place to go and one of our favorite family activities.

The long stretch of sand and dunes allow for a natural playground - a nice soft landing pad for little knees and/or bodies that tend to fall often. A huge body of water, sand dunes, and wildlife are a perfect backdrop for a day out and lessons in nature.

The girls love to run and yell [all the things they cannot do in the house ; )] dig, build and splash their little hearts out. They especially love chasing the gulls who perch themselves all over the beach.

There are many more trips to the beach in store for us : )

Keep coming back to visit on {homeschool} Tuesday, there are some fun giveaways coming soon!