Red, White, & Blue Playdough

One thing I'm striving for this summer is to try and not sweat the small stuff and to keep things simple when possible. So when I realized that somehow the 4th of July Weekend has already snuck up on us I decided to keep our festive play simple and go with some playdough play.

We have a great basic cooked playdough recipe which can be tweaked in lots of different ways to create slightly different versions or play invitations.

Pool Noodle Olympic Ring Painting

We've always enjoyed the Olympics, but this year the kiddos are especially fascinated by them. Big Brother has been asking to watch them all week! On top of watching them, this past week we've been exploring some different ideas and projects for "Olympic Week" in our Simple Summer Theme series.

The other afternoon I wanted something fun to do that wouldn't take a lot of set up and was trying to think of a way we could create the Olympic Rings.

Although I'd seen the toilet paper roll ring prints, I realized that pool noodle pieces would also make great tools for printing circles!

Shark Week (A Simple Summer Theme)

So although we were headed on vacation a few weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to have a Simple Summer Theme we could still explore. As we were at the ocean we went with a theme that matched - Shark Week!

I packed a few things I figured we might do in between trips to the beach and in case of bad weather. But, we had such a great week exploring a new place, hanging at the beach, and enjoying some amazing weather that we barely got to any of the activities.

Instead although we got to a few activities fit in on the trip instead we wound up having something closer to a "Shark Day" when we got home from vacation. But it was a great way to come back home and unwind from the trip.

Desert Week (A Simple Summer Theme)

So when Big Brother requested a "Desert Week" in our Simple Summer Theme series, I was a little stumped on what we might do for projects and activities.

But, in the end I was excited about some of the different projects and materials we were able to explore. (Although this was a slightly shorter theme week.)

Keep Summer Simple (July 2016)

We're almost a week into July, and just posting our monthly goals  . . . but that fits perfectly with our focus for the next month: Keep Summer Simple.

For whatever reason, this summer I'm feeling the need for us to keep it simple - slow it down and just enjoy the best parts of this season in our part of the world. The temperatures are warm, the world is green, the swimming is perfect, and the gardens are begin to burst with fresh veggies and fruit. It's one of the best times of year to live in New England. 

Science Week (A Simple Summer Theme)

This summer we were excited to kick off our Simple Summer Themes with Science Week! Each week of summer vacation we explore a different "theme." We use materials on hand, simple/easy projects that don't take long to complete, hands on activities, recipes, and field trips.

This summer, even more than previous summers, we're truly keeping our themes simple. We're doing something fun with them when we want to, but also making sure we have lots of time for free play and spontaneous summer fun too.

Our first week proved to be a great kick off to the summer as it was exactly what the boys needed - something a little fun that fit into our other summer activities. They loved Science Week so much, they are requesting a lot more Science over the summer!

Easy Pool Party Cupcakes & Pool Party Ideas

You may have noticed we've been a little quiet on our posts this month. The school year wrapped up in such a whirlwind it took just about all my energy to keep us moving through it. And while we've been quiet here online, we've actually still been pretty busy as a family. End of school year events, barbecues, a friends' wedding, Father's Day . . .

Despite the busyness, one thing we really wanted to do to kick off summer was to have a small "pool" party in the backyard. While our pool is not officially large (we purchased an Intex Pool 12ft by 30in this spring) the boys are pretty excited about it none the less.

So as promised, on the first Friday of our summer vacation we invited several friends and their parents over, set out snacks and cupcakes, put some other fun toys out in the yard, and kicked off summer in full pool party style. 

These cupcakes turned out so fun, I couldn't help but share them! And make sure you check out our other fun tips for a fun and successful backyard pool party. 

40+ Backyard Art Projects & Activities

Earlier this week we posted about how one of our summer hopes is to just spend time enjoying our backyard. We also enjoy creating art both in the backyard and on our back deck. Sometimes we use the materials as is in the yard and sometimes we collect materials we want to create with. Other times the project is just so messy that the only place I want to do it is outside . . . even though I love a good, messy project.

As we get ready for summer we've put together a post of more than 40 ideas of art projects you can either do in the yard or after playing outside.

Enjoy the Backyard (June 2016 Monthly Goals)

This spring a big focus for us as a family has been getting the backyard ready for summer. We're pretty blessed to already have a large backyard, but this spring it's gone from a fun place to play to a pretty kid focused yard.

One of our motivations has been that this summer (in addition to visiting some of our favorite local spots) I really want to spend time just relaxing, at home in our yard. 

Summer Fun in the Upper Valley (VT/NH)

For quite a while now I've hoped to start sharing some family activity resources for the New England area. So with summer on the horizon it seemed like a great time to start sharing!

For this post we're focusing on summer activities in the Upper Valley region. The Upper Valley area is the Vermont and New Hampshire towns which border the Connecticut River. Visitors may be coming to the area for Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Hitchcock, the Vermont Law School, several local lakes, or favorite tourist stops like Woodstock and Quechee, VT. For many of us in the area, this is also the place we call home. Whether you're visiting or you live here, it's likely that at some point in the near future you'll be looking for something to do as a family.

We've collected some of our favorite places (and a few places we hope to get to) below.

Monthly Goals: August 2105

As a teacher there's something about August 1st that has always left a slightly bittersweet feeling in the air for me. It means there are a few more weeks of summer to go, a few more relaxed days before the busy days, a little bit of time left to squeeze in a few more things from our summer bucket list.

But there is also that beginning anticipation and excitement of a new school year ahead, new students to expect, and all the plans to be made.

Only this year, as August 1st rolled around there was a new feeling: the realization that at the end of this month my big guy will officially be a kindergartner. And as soon as I think about that, I just want to slow summer down as much as possible.

When people ask me how our summer is going, I feel like I can honestly answer that while it's been busy, it's been good. We've been enjoying our Summer Bucket List, Simple Summer Themes, and our attempts to Plan to Unplan. We've spent time with friends and on our own, we've created and played, we've explored and just hung out too. 

Vehicle Week (Simple Summer Theme Week #3)

We're still really enjoying our Simple Summer Theme weeks even though summer is quickly passing us by. It's no secret we love playing with cars and trucks, so Vehicle Week was a lot of fun for the boys!

Week Three: Vehicle Week

One of my favorite things about this week was that we already own so many of the materials we needed. It also encouraged us to get out some of the transportation toys we already owned and hadn't used in a while. 

Beach Week (Simple Summer Theme 2)

It's been a couple of weeks now, but we greatly enjoyed our second Simple Summer theme: Beach Week.

Ocean related activities are always some of our favorites! We had a lot of fun earlier this year with Big Brother's Ocean birthday party, so we were able to build off of that with even more fun activities. And even though it will be a while until we see the real ocean, this made us feel like we could almost be there. 

Bug Week (Simple Summer Theme #1)

As I mentioned earlier this week, Big Brother thinks it would be fun if each week of our summer vacation had a "theme." Most of our summer will be spent at home, and I love that he's thinking ahead like this. With extra kiddos here off and on during the summer, it would make our times with them more fun too.

But, I really want our summer to still feel relaxed and flexible, and well, like summer vacation versus summer camp. So, with that in mind I'm trying to honor his theme idea but in a low key way. We'll try, on the days we can, to do at least one simple project, snack, or activity that matches our current theme. Here on the blog I'm calling this "Simple Summer Themes." After the week I'll share a brief round up of different ways we celebrated our theme.

Our First Week: Bug Week

Our first week was "Bug Week," and as it was also our first week of vacation, we definitely tried to keep it simple. But even keeping it simple was still a lot of fun!

Clothespin Dragonflies

Big Brother has asked me to organize "theme weeks" this summer, which makes me laugh as I'm starting to think he might be a future teacher in the making. Or, at least a camp counselor. I'm trying to approach our weeks with enough projects and activities to make it seem like a theme to him, but also enough freedom to make it still seem like summer for me.

Our first theme was "Bugs." We did several simple bug explorations and activities, but one of my favorites were these adorable clothespin dragonflies.

Monthly Goals: June 2015

It's hard to believe we've been setting monthly goals for half of a year now. Each month I feel like things are getting a little more organized, a little more focused, and even a little more thoughtful!

But this month I've decided to switch up the goals a little and think a little differently than before. Our June goals are all about getting ready for summer so we can make the best of it when it gets here.

June Goals: Make a Summer Bucket List

It's been hard not to feel like summer is already here these past few weeks. The warmer temps, all of our outside time, and the fact we've been purposefully taking it a little slower this past month means that we've already been dipping our toes into summer fun. 

Easy Blueberry Cobbler

There are a lot of different recipes and opinions out there for how to make a cobbler. Do you put the fruit on the bottom and add the batter on top? Or do you make the batter for the bottom and put the fruit on top? And although we've tried many of them, this quickly became our new favorite go to recipe this summer when we have fresh berries (or cherries) in the house and we want a warm, cobbler treat.

It's fresh blueberry season, which is one of our favorite times of year! We love baking with blueberries,freezing  them for the winter, and of course eat them just in their natural, yummy state. 

Cucumber Boat Investigation

I hadn't actually planned on creating this as a post, but set this out one day during our Pirate Week as an extra activity. The kids had so much fun with it, and it sparked such great inventive thinking, that I couldn't resist putting it together as a post.

It's cucumber and zucchini season here in New England, and as often can happen, the crops are producing quite a lot of veggies! For the last two weeks we've been able to take as many of both veggies as we want from our CSA, and we've been using quite a lot of them in the kitchen. But we did have some extra around and it seemed like it would be great for building cucumber pirate ships.