Countdown to Summer!

I may have mentioned before that my family has an affinity for Paper Chains...

Well. We do! Our three started asking if we could make a paper chain count down to Summer Vacation...right after Christmas! I was able to hold them off until now.

Here we go! Our "Spring" (and I use the term very loosely) here in Nebraska has been very cold. And wet. And gray. And drizzly. We had snowfall on May 1st...and the last time snow fell on Nebraska in May was 1967!

So to jazz up our chains...the kids made some smiley suns to remind us of warmer weather yet to come! And we went with a rainbow pattern, because who doesn't love rainbows?!?!

Katy pulling off her first chain.

John's turn!

Our fourth grader's final day is May 22nd and the little two are finished on May 24th. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend!

Summer Lovin'!

Summer is Upon Us!

For my boys...school was finished by May 17th. We've been keeping pretty busy since then with our Summer Bucket List. I've got ideas everywhere...Pinterest, my trusty spiral notebook, and from an Awesome Master Summer Bucket List Linky over at Little Wonders' Days!

I thought it was high time to get my hiney in gear and put them all in one spot and share them with you!

Catch Lightening Bugs
Visit the Zoo
Play in Sprinklers (and make some of our own!)
Explore a few New Parks
Play at the Children's Museum
Explore Downtown Omaha
Pick Strawberries and Raspberries
Lots of Swimming
Plant Veggies and Flowers
Take a Day Trip to Lincoln
Visit the Farmer's Market
Participate in the Library Reading Program
Work on our Summer Bridge Workbooks
Walk to DQ for Treats
Make Superhero Capes
Weaving (Louie)
Make Pretzels
Visit the Roadside Chapel in Gretna
Make Butter
DIY Bouncy Balls: Version One & Version Two
LOTS of Science Experiments
Make Rain Gauges
Body Paint
Make Dinosaur Soap
Built a Foil River and Sail Origami Boats
DIY Moon Sand
Pour Paint Rainbow Flower Pots
Make LOTS of Popsicles and Snow Cones
Pull Taffy
Make Pool Noodle Light Sabers
Water Pinatas
Crazy Art Projects (Splat Paint, Bubble Paint, Spray Paint w/ Bottles, Ice Cube Paint)
Bubble Experiments
Make Sponge Water Balls
Melted Crayon Art
Fourth of July Crafts
Make Jolly Rancher Lollies
Marshmallow Poppers
Make Father's Day Presents & Interviews
Fence Weaving
Paint Sticks
Make Slushies
Make Suncatchers
Dye Yarn with Kool Aid
Make Cinnamon Pickles (Grandma's Recipe!)
Make an I-Spy ABC Photography Book
Camping Inside

And the Grand Finale of our Summer! Drum Roll....

We're packing up the Van and Driving from Nebraska to Washington State on a Two Week Road Trip!
So I'll also be making a long list of things to occupy our kiddos on the road!

Summer Bucket List Final Stats...

Now that we've got a couple weeks of school under our belts, I think we can safely say that Summer is over. Sigh.

I wanted to go back and visit the Summer Bucket List we started way back last May.

We didn't get everything done, but we certainly had FUN! And it was really all about having something to do. A reason to not stay in our jammies all day (although, we had a few of those days, too!).

Here's a little tour of our Summer:

Playing Some Putt Putt

Scavenger Hunts around the Neighborhood

WATER table, guns, balloons...whatever!

Exploring a New Park...Storybook Island in Cedar Rapids, SD

We didn't make Giant Bubbles, but these dollar bin water guns were amazing!

Outside the Omaha Children's Museum

Lots of Swimming at the Pool

The boys made some DIY Moon Sand

Rock Painting...this one is Kat's masterpiece

Planted herbs in mini-pots

Checking out a new Spray Park

These are just some of the things we accomplished! As for the stuff we didn't get to...that's what next Summer is for!!!

Fourth of July Goodies!

Did you all have a Festive & Safe Fourth of July???

I hope so! We sure did! We had some family and great friends over for a cook-out, snappers, play-time, fireworks and then we wrapped it all up with our town's Firework Show!

Here's my Firecracker Trio!

Anyway, I wanted to share two YUMMY goodies I made for the day.

Red, White & Blue Dipped Strawberries!

These were SO easy and SO yummy! I've been seeing shots of these everywhere...so I just ad-libbed.

I washed off a container of strawberries and patted them dry. I went ahead and cut off the stems. You don't need to, but I knew my kids would be leaving green strawberry leaves everywhere if I didn't! Then I melted a bag of white chocolate chips. I did it in a saucepan...people swear by the microwave, but I can never get the chocolate to melt properly that way. I dipped the strawberries into the chocolate and made sure a nice line of red was still showing. Then I immediately dipped the chocolate tip into blue sprinkles.

I set them down on waxed paper and then I popped them into the fridge to set. YUM!

Red, White & Blue Jell-O!

I found the idea and recipe for this HERE at Brown Eyed Baker. She cut them into adorable star shapes...go check them out!!!

This really wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Plus, the looks on the kids faces when they saw the different colors was priceless. Plus...it was YUMMY!!!

Me Likey Monday!!!

Popsicle Edition!

It's Hot here. Hot & Humid. Ick.

I'm more of a "Winter Girl", so this sweaty mess can make me cranky. Here is a list that makes me feel refreshed...yummy icy popsicles!

The only thing that sounds better than a root beer float...is Smile Monsters' Root Beer Float on a Stick!

The Idea Room captures the idea of summer with their Fresh Fruit Popsicles!

I found these cool Watermelon Pops over at I Heart Naptime!

My family are big fans of the Push Pops and Big Red Kitchen has this awesome DIY version I can't wait to try!

I found these cuties at a blog called Sandy Toes and Popsicles! How perfectly popsicle-ish!

You can never go wrong with Old School Jello Pops and Eat At Home has a great recipe!

Pass the Sushi has got my mouth actually watering for these Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles!

Let's Get Cooking has a two-fer with these yummy Pudding Pops AND a Banana Cream version!

I can imagine what a wonderful texture these Chocolate Kiwi Pops must have! From Oh! Desserts

These Watermelon Popsicles from Flipflops and Applesauce combine two of my favorite Summer treats: Watermelon and Popsicles!

Now. I can guarantee you're craving a popsicle right now! Do you have any favorites you'd like to share?

Summer Bucket List: Take One!

Am I going to do a Summer Bucket List post everyday?

Probably not! But today was our first day and I'm all excited!

I went out on a limb and bought an actual bucket for our Bucket List at Target's Dollar Spot. Then I wrote down all the items on pieces of construction paper and folded them up.

We let Kat do the first draw! This turned John into a weepy mess (he plays the tortured Middle Child well). This, in turn, caused Kat to turn into a weepy mess. So with sniffles, wails and snot rivers...the job somehow got done!

And First out was SCAVENGER HUNT!

We loaded snacks, drinks and Kat into the wagon and hit the pavement.

Louie's Challenge was to find as many things with the letter "L" as he could.

John's Challenge was to fine as many yellow things as he could.

Kat's Challenge was to be cute and give Mom a work out hauling the wagon around the block.

John kept simple tally marks on his sheet of paper and found 23 yellow things: dandelions, fire hydrant, hose, three types of flowers, a bottle cap, spray paint on the street, road sign...to name a few.

Louie wrote his list out and found 20 "L" things: light pole, leaf, littering (not us! he found a wrapper on the ground), license plate, lawn, lines, lace...to name a few.

This is an activity that I'll throw back into the bucket in a week or so and we can look for different letters & colors.

Sum-Mah (pronounced summer) Kick Off!

My boys final day of school was Friday (both grade school & pre-school). They were all excited to get on with Summer Vacation, but I just couldn't put my heart into it until yesterday. Saturday was a normal day for us...since they wouldn't have been at school anyway. I know. Mom's a Party Pooper.

So yesterday I suggested we do some Putt Putt! It's on our Summer Bucket List. It's also one of the items on my 101 in 1001 Challenge. John has spent Saturday night with my folks so Sunday we were just a family of four (in other words...equal
parent / kid ratio). YAY!

One of our local malls has an indoor putt putt course. And it's Black Light!!! Extra fun points for Me. Gotta make up for my former lack of enthusiasm.

We even put Kat in argyle for her first time golfing!

I've got to stop feeding this kid radio-active foods!

I was impressed with Louie's game. We've never taken him before, and most holes he could do in four shots. Kat was awesome at throwing the ball, giggling and twirling around in a psychedelic frenzy. All in all...I'd call it a success!

To top Sunday night off we let the boys "camp" in the living room.

Two cute boys cuddled up in their sleeping bags on the floor. That's what you'd think, isn't it?

Not for us! We took Living Room camping to a new level!

And scooted the love seat across the room next to the couch. It made a huge (and lopsided) bed! The boys loved it and whispered themselves to sleep.

Ahhhhh...summer...

Linking Up HERE!

Little Wonders' Days

Summer Bucket List

Kelly at Little Wonders' Days is hosting a Summer Bucket List Linky Party and rounding up everyone's Summer Bucket Lists! I'm so excited to be able to share what we're doing and to see what everyone else is up to! Plus...I'm ALL about lists and never pass up a chance to make one! :) Last year I had our Bucket List in my head and, while we did some of the things, it was too easy to get lazy and there was lots left undone.

Not this year! I've compiled a lot of stuff to keep us busy and (fingers crossed) out of trouble!

I've diced up my master list into three categories. The first category are the things that we will be doing on a regular (if not daily) basis...like summer reading at the Library. Next I have the category "Spontaneous Bucket Fun". These are the things that I'll write down on slips of paper and then have the kids pick from an actual bucket. My goal is to have everything needed to do these things rounded up and ready so we can do whatever the kids pick from the bucket. My final category are things that take a little more planning, need to be done on a weekend, or things Dad wants to be a part of.

Now...on to the list!

On-Going Summer Fun:

Participate in the Library Summer Reading program

Visit the Zoo (Zoo Crew Thursdays)

Children's Museum trips

Garage Sale-ing Fridays with Gram & Gramps

Go to the Pool

Muffin Tin Mondays 

Spontaneous Bucket Fun:

Shadow Watching

Summer Science Fun Box

Walk to Dairy Queen for a treat

Visit a new playground

Water Balloon & Squirt Gun Battles

Make Gum

Make Rock Candy

Make Popsicles

Tie Dye Shirts

Catch fireflies

Do themed scavenger hunts (Color, Letter, Shape)

Paint Rocks

Make Ice Cream in a bag

Make Lemonade from Lemons

Make giant bubbles

Eat lunch in the shade of our tree

Go to a spray park

Make homemade bread and butter 

Make snow cones

Make Root Beer floats

Visit the fish at Cabelas

 Make 4th of July Decorations

Make Silly Putty

Make finger paint

Make fizzy sidewalk chalk

Make water toys

Make chalk paint

Make Moon Sand 

A Little More Planning:

Visit Fun Plex

Visit the Lincoln Children's Museum

Visit the Lincoln's Children's Zoo

Go Bowling

Play Putt Putt

Go to a Baseball Game

Go to an Imax movie

Go to a Farmer's Market

Walk over the River Bridge downtown

Go see Cars 2

Pick Strawberries

Visit Mahoney State Park
Plant some Veggies

Linking Up the Summer Fun Here:

Countdown To Summer Vacation

The big news around here, now that it's almost May, is Summer Vacation!

Louie figured out how many more days of second grade he has and then figured out how many more days John has left of preK.

What's a Mom and Some Kids to do with this information???

Make a Paper Chain!

With a link for each day left of school. When the boys come home they run to it and rip off the day that they've just finished. Easy. Fun! And...sanity saver. Instead of, "How many more days now, Mom?" being thrown my way a few times a day, I point to their chains and answer, "Count!"

I cut up some construction paper into strips. Then I pulled out the JUMBO Glue Stick. My kids think that any project that involves the JUMBO Glue Stick is the most important project in the world. We counted out the strips that each boy needed and I put them to work.

Kat, obviously, doesn't go to school. But she won't be out-done by her brothers. Plus she's a diva and demands, "Pik-urs, Mommy!" while posing for me. How can I say no to such a sweet request?

Here are the Kidlets with their respective chains.

ps...Yes. That is my angry & mis-understood middle child still in his jammies at 4 in the afternoon. Whoops!

Linking to these Parties:

The Creative Crate

Simply Designing

Craft Goodies

Inspiring Creations

Sun Scholars

Paisley Passions