Summer Fun Day 5

Lego Day
My boys are obsessed with Legos. Seriously. They love building with their Legos, playing Lego games on the computer, watching Lego movies, drawing Lego pictures, coloring Lego printables, and anything else that uses Legos or is related to Legos. No joke. So I only thought it fair that we have a Lego day.
We started out building and playing with Legos all morning. Then, I printed some coloring pages from online. To do this go to Lego.com and then “products”. Each product line has their own website, click here to see an index. Clicking on the picture of one of the product takes you to that product website. Coloring pages are usually under the “Funzone” or “Download” tabs. Then, just download and print.


Some of the websites also had printable stickers. They are basically just pictures that you can print on sticker paper and cut out. We printed them on plain paper and used them to make dioramas. Most of the kids just glued them flat onto a background. I was pretty impressed when I saw Seth’s 3-D version.


I also saw these Lego puzzles on Pinterest…

Source: icanteachmychild.com via Marissa on Pinterest

...and decided to make our own with some clipart cutouts. I just taped over a picture using clear packing tape on two blocks and then used an Exacto knife to cut apart the blocks. The kids had fun putting them all together.



Later, I saw these and wished I had more time to make some like them…

Source: ilovechesterrific.com via Marissa on Pinterest

Then, the boys wanted to make a movie. We took about 70 pictures, each time moving the Legos a slight bit and writing our dialogue on a dry erase frame. The plan was to take a bunch of these pictures and when put together in quick succession it would look like they were moving, playing out the story. However, after all our work ,we realized we didn’t have any video editing software on our computer.  We did have a slideshow DVD maker. So we did that, adding some fun music. Unfortunately, I can’t upload the video here because it’s only on the DVD. So here’s just a few snapshots from the video….



To be continued…
The actually video is pretty cool. So if you’re ever at our house, ask Seth to see his Lego video and he will be more than super excited to show you!

Summer Fun Day 4

On a Stick Day

Since our nice weather continued (and we didn’t eat the s’mores from the previous day), we had another outdoor/grilled dinner. This time our whole meal was on a stick: chicken skewers, veggie kabobs, fruit medley skewers, and s’mores!

Yay, being outside!!!

Marshmellow roasting on the gas grill thanks to long roasting wires (previously metal hangers).

Mmmmm, s’mores…

It’s always a good meal when your kids ask, “Can we have this for dinner EVERY night?”  :)

Summer Fun Day 3

A Backyard Party
Aaron’s parents were in town to bring Joshua home. Since, they weren’t going to be around the following week for Aubrey’s birthday we had a fun little party in the backyard.

The weather was perfect right around dusk, so (sorry) some of the pictures are blurry. We hung some lanterns, cooked hot dogs on the grill, and then had cupcakes and ice cream out on the deck. It was really nice once the sun set.

Here’s a cute little video of Aubrey cheering when she hears Minnie Mouse cheering for her in her birthday card.

Aubrey was excited to see her present from Grandma and Grandpa Palmer…a yorkshire stuffed dog in a purse, complete with leash, doggie bone, and comb.

She loves the puppy. She’ll put it in the carrier, say “Night, night puppy,” and carry the purse in the crook of her elbow. Think Paris Hilton. When Aubrey does it, it’s both adorable and hilarious. I couldn’t ever get a video of that, but when Grandma was pretending the puppy was licking Aubrey, Aubrey decided to lick back!

Summer Fun Day 2

Pajama Party Day!

The kids playing Battleship.
This day was simple, stay in your PJ’s all day and lounge around. Think slumber party with out the overnight part. Something about being allowed to stay in your PJ’s all day makes everything more fun. We pulled out the sleeping bags, watched our favorite cartoons, played board games, had a Wii Sports tournament, and ate pancakes and bacon for lunch. The kids loved it.

Ryan and Seth boxing on the Wii.
While this day was really fun, I think if we were to do it over, I would do this right at the beginning of summer when the kids are really excited about getting to do nothing or as a final hurrah before school starts in the fall.

This picture cracks me up. The kids were playing with cars and the car tracks while Aubrey watched Curious George. I’m not sure why but she put one of the tracks in her mouth. I was very tempted to start a car at her nose and see if it would go down the track. Instead, I took a picture.  :)

Summer Fun Day 1

*Warning: This is a long post with lots of pictures. I’ll try to be brief.  :)
The first month of summer vacation went by fine. Everyone enjoyed just being able to lounge around and play and do whatever we want. Each boy even got to spend a week on their own at their grandparent’s up in Frisco.

However by the end of June, I was starting to get the whole “I’m bored” repetition. Add to the mix the fact that the 2 kids that I babysit would be returning for the remainder of the summer, and I knew it was time to start planning. At first I thought we could do “summer school,” but it seemed a lot of work to plan for “school” all day everyday.  Plus, I’m not one who does well sticking to schedules. I like flexibility. Then, I stumbled across the Whimsy Love blog and her Summer Diary. Basically, she tried to do one special thing each day. One thing, I can do that…

So I poured over her past Summer Diary posts (this is her 2nd year doing it) and all the fun kid stuff I had pinned on Pinterest and I made a plan. I made a spreadsheet with each day remaining in the summer and a list of activities to do for each day’s theme. I want to chronicle the fun we are having and hopefully inspire you to think outside of the box and have some fun. Even if it’s only once or twice a week.  (I’m actually a couple weeks behind, so I’ll have to get y’all caught up)   So here goes…

Day 1 Chalk and Inflatables
We started the day out by playing with some pool floaties. Each kid had their own raft. They pretended to be floating in water for awhile.

We had to run to the store and while we were there we found these beauties for only $2! Punch balls! If you’ve never seen one before they are kind of like a giant balloon attached to a giant rubber band. You hold on to the rubber band and  punch quickly and it bounces back and forth. Simple enough but super fun!
Then we watched a movie while laying on our pool rafts. Watching movies on pool rafts…very comfortable.
Next up was homemade sidewalk chalk paint.  I found the recipe here on The Idea Room blog. (How convenient that our brushes match our paint colors!) Each kid grabbed a color and painted away in the driveway.

I made a few sidewalk games to play after our chalk paint dried. We threw two rolled up socks to play a bulls eye game. (You can’t see it because of the brightness of the pic, but each ring was a different color and the center was worth 40 points.)

We used wood mulch chips to mark our spots while playing Hopskotch.

Seth made a maze where you had to get from one side to the other without stepping on any lines. Very cute.

They all had so much fun and kept saying “This is the best day ever!” I would say it was a hit. Too bad Josh missed out, he was still at his grandparents’ house that day. Well, one down 45 more days to go…