summer days

I love love love love love summer and I feel, like a lot of people, I spend the majority of the year waiting for it to get here. And then it goes by so quickly. This year I'm trying so hard to be conscious of how to more fully enjoy each sweet long summer moment. Whatever we happen to be doing. To make sure we get to enjoy summer to it's fullest, I've been making a list of things we love to do.

We've assigned a different activity to every day of the week, so the days don't entirely slip by unnoticed. It's easy for me to fill the days with chores and errands and forget to make time fun stuff.

Monday - hike or park day. There are so many undiscovered (by us) parks and trails around here. We bring our nature journals and cameras and record what we see.

Tuesday - game day. My kids love playing games, but sometimes need to be reminded that they love playing games. And by games, I'm not talking about the Wii. Or the iPad. Although, those are fun too. Ragdoll blaster anyone?

{aren't these fish gross?? we laughed and laughed because the one on the top right has human looking lips!}

Wednesday is project day. This week we worked on our science journals. The kids collected household objects and made a chart predicting whether the items would sink or float. Then they tested it. Other days we do an art study, or some crafts. Last week H & H got out the window markers and covered the kitchen window with all things pirate. Ships, maps, Captain Jack and treasure chests. If you haven't already gone to Michael's Free Crafting Around the Globe you must try it out. It's every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 11-2 and each time the kids get to make a craft from another country. This week they made aboriginal paintings from Australia and stained glass (plastic) from Italy.

Thursday is field trip day. This also happens to be when most museums are free, so that works out well. Also on my list are factory tours, like a local bread and chocolate factory.

Friday is garage sale and library day. The kids like getting allotted spending money that they can spend (or save). It's fun to map our route and head out early.

Have you all joined your summer reading programs? Our library system even has an adult reading program, although I'm not doing very well so far. Havalah has logged in over 80 books and Henry is around 20+. They've loved earning prizes from the program and most of the time the libraries have really great prizes. This year ours offers free admission to the zoo, 2 games of free bowling, meal coupons for restaurants and insulated snack sacks. H & H love reading hard to earn these.

{my SIL Hilary picked up these books from the Dollar Pin at Target!!!! Thank you, Hilary!}

Some other things on the list include a bit of sewing for me, namely this dress, for which I've had all my supplies, but have been trying to find time to sew, since last summer.

I was inspired seeing the cute cuff on this girl, and have been looking around to make a bracelet of my own. Did you know that Michael's has a whole line of vintage inspired jewelry pieces that are dirt cheap? I've bought my supplies and can't wait to epoxy the whole thing together.

A bit of extra cooking, including trying out new things on the grill, like pizza! Who knew? As it turns out it's so fun and easy. Here's the recipe we followed - and it did not disappoint.

Later this summer I'm hoping to dust off the canning jars when my sisters are visiting and "put up" some peaches, even if it's just a small batch. Also at the top of my list is this two ingredient chocolate mousse. Oh.Yeah. Maybe tonight.

So these are all just thoughts and activities to shoot for every week, but of course some days none of it happens. There are still tennis and swimming lessons to attend and sweet friends to see, days camps to go to with homeschooling buddies and of course times when we aren't even out of bed before 9 am. But it helps me fill up my summer love tank to know that there are sweet full days ahead. Will you share some of your ideas with me?