2014 Summer Bucket List

It is getting to be that time of year again.  The kids are finishing up with school and if you are like me, you’re wondering what am I going to do with them all day long?  Last year my family started a new tradition of doing a summer bucket list.  I came up with it by myself and told the kids what we were going to do each day.  While my kids enjoyed this I could tell that they wanted to be involved more.  This year I decided to let help pick what to put on this list. Each day they are going to take turns choosing what we are going to do.  They loved this idea so much and cannot wait to start working on checking things of our list.  Below is the list that my kids and I came up with.  Hope you enjoy and find some inspiration for your own family.

SUMMER BUCKET LIST 2014

1.     GO TO THE ZOO

2.     GO TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK

3.     HAVE A PICNIC

4.     PLAY RED LIGHT/ GREEN LIGHT

5.     PLAY HORSE OR PIG

6.     HOPSCOTCH

7.     WATCH THE SUNSET

8.     EAT ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST OR DINNER

9.     MAKE PLAY DOUGH  recipes are from Motherhood on a Dime

10.                          MAKE HOMEMADE POPSICLE recipes from tipnut

11.                          FLY A KITE

12.                        CATCH LIGHTENING BUGS

13.                         GO STAR GAZING

14.                         PLAY IN THE RAIN

15.                         SPOT SHAPES IN THE CLOUDS

16.                         MAKE CAMPFIRE FRUIT AND SMORES CONES from kids activities Blog

17.                         GO CAMPING IN OUR BACKYARD

18.                         BUILD A SAND CASTLE

19.                         HAVE A WATER BALLOON FIGHT

20.                         GO TO A BASEBALL GAME

21.                         GO BERRY PICKING

22.                         GO ON A HIKE

23.                         VISIT A FARMERS MARKET

24.                         DIET COKE AND MENTOS ERUPTION found at Science Kids

25.                         DIY SLIP AND SLIDE from Inner Child Fun

26.                         DIY BUBBLES from Homemade Bubble Solutions

27.                         HAVE AN OUTDOOR MOVIE NIGHT

28.                         MAKE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM

29.                         MAKE LIQUID SIDEWALK CHALK from smashed peas and carrots

30.                         HAVE A FAMILY GAME NIGHT

31.                         GO ON A TREASURE HUNT

32.                         RUN THROUGH THE SPRINKLER

33.                         MAKE SOLAR SMORES from Spoonful

34.                         GO SEE FIREWORKS

35.                         DIY WATER BLOB from Clumsy Crafter

36.                         GO TO THE MOVIES

37.                         MAKE TRIPLE BERRY NO-DRIP POPS from Kraft Recipes

38.                         MAKE A TOILET PAPER BIRD FEEDER from Homeschool Antics

39.                         GO ON A SCAVENGER HUNT

40.                         MAKE A MILK JUG BALL CATCHER found on Lakeshore Learning

41.                         DO AN ICE EXCAVATION ACTIVITY found on Gluesticks

42.                         GO BOWLING

43.                         WATCH THE SUNRISE

44.                         MAKE AN OUTDOOR TENT FORT

45.                         MAKE A BACKYARD WATER PARK

46.                         MAKE TRAIL MIX

47.                         GO TO THE PARK

48.                         PLAY MINI GOLF

49.                         VISIT A CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

50.                         SWING IN A HAMMOCK

What are you doing this summer?

Thanks for stopping by!

Christina

Cleaning Schedule

   Cleaning is something that I have struggled with since I was little.  It is not that I do not like the house to look clean, because I love it to look clean.  It is more the fact that I have come to realize my problem is that I am a perfectionist.  I want everything to be perfect all the time.  While that would be nice it is just not ideal when you have three small kids in the house.  Because of this with the birth of each child I have had to re-adjust my cleaning schedule and figure out what works best with the new addition. I have come to figure out that breaking it up throughout the week works best for me.  This allows me to have more time with the kids each day.  Below I have included my weekly cleaning schedule.  At another time I will share my daily and monthly.

Monday - Bathrooms and Changing the Sheets on all the beds.
Tuesday - Bedrooms
Wednesday- Kitchen and Dining Room
Thursday- Living Room and Family Room
Friday - Office, Laundry Room, and Play Room
Saturday - Outdoor work and Errands
Sunday - Rest

Do you have a cleaning schedule?  What is your weekly cleaning schedule like?  I would love to hear from you!

Chores for Preschoolers

  Are your little ones always asking to help?  If they are anything like mine they are.  My kids Princess and Captain Curious are always asking to help.  Princess will say, "Can I help mom?"  and then Captain Curious always follows with, "I help please mommy?"   What do I do when they ask this question?   I find something for them to do of course.  I was recently thinking about giving the kids some chores to do.  Some of these are daily and weekly.  Also some are by themselves and others are with help.  Below is a list of what I came up with.


DAILY CHORES

________   Put dirty clothes in the laundry basket

________   Set table or help set table

________   Clear your dishes from the table

________  Clean up toys

For my older one Princess I have a few extra daily chores.

________  Help dry any plastic dishes

________  Help change laundry around. 

Both of my kids love to empty the lint trap.  But for Princess she also likes when I hand her the wash and let her put it in the dryer.

________  Put any of your laundry away.

Princess loves to put her clothes away.

WEEKLY

________  Help dust

________ Help sweep

Princess sometimes helps with cleaning the bathroom.  But I do not use toxic chemicals.  I only use a white vinegar and water solution, and sometimes baking soda.  I will talk about this another time though.  My point is that what I clean with is safe for her to be around.  I also never force this on her it is only if she wants to help with the bathroom.  Do your kids have any chores?  What do they do to help?  I would love to hear from you!

Christina

  

Pantry Clean Up and Organization

My pantry has been a mess lately and it has been driving me crazy.  I have been doing my spring cleaning lately and I decided that today I was finally going to attack my pantry.  I took everything out wiped down the shelves and then put it all back in, but in an organized fashion.  Below I have included before and after pictures of my project.

Before

  

                                                                         After

                                                                        Before

                                                                      After

                                                                 Before

                                                                After

                                                                      Before

                                                                       After

                                                                    Before

                                                                     After
   The plastic bin and the fabric bin in this picture are from the dollar store.  That is tea bags in the fabric bin.  Tea is a small obsession of mine.  I will talk more about that another time.  How do you like to organize your food storage?  I would love to hear your comments!

Christina

6 Things to Do with Kids to Celebrate Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day here is a list I came up with of 6 things you can do with kids to celebrate Earth Day.

1.        Take a walk with your kids, take a trash bag with you and pick up trash while you walk.  For older kids you could turn this into a game and see who can pick up the most.

2.       Have a nature scavenger hunt.

3.       Plant a garden, or flowers.

4.       Read a kids book about Earth Day.  There is a bunch of books at Amazon.com

5.       Make an Earth Day craft with your kids.   One idea is take a paper plate and give your kids blue and green markers or crayons, and let your kids color and draw their version of Earth.

6.       Print out an Earth Day Activity Packet at Spoonful.com

These are just some ideas of things you can do with kids to celebrate Earth Day.  I am sure there are lots of other things you could do as well. I hope you enjoy this list. 

Happy Earth Day!

Christina

Princess Closet

We have a closet in our family room that has been a dumping ground for the kids toys.  Princess has been wanting a closet to have all her dress up stuff in.  I finally decided to give that to her.

                                                  BEFORE

 I have to say that this is pretty embarrassing.  But I had to show these before pictures.  So I could show just how bad the closet was before the project.

                                       
                                         Before

 

                                           More Before

                                          AFTER

                                          AFTER

                                I got these bins from the Dollar Tree.

                                       More After

                                    As you can see here Princess is happy with her new closet.

                                         The pillows came from Target on clearance.

                                        I put the games in the chest here.

Flylady Helps

    I know I talked before about my trials and errors.  Well one thing that I have had trial and error with is learning how to organize and clean our house.  With each child I have found it to become harder, and harder to keep up with.  Between more laundry, dishes, toys out etc......     But here is the thing I am definitely a work in progress when it comes to this area.  You could often find a laundry mountain, stack of dirty dishes in the sink, or toys all over the place at my house.  While this is embarrassing to share it used to be a part of my life, and I know I am not alone in this. 

     A couple years ago I stumbled across this web page called Flylady.net.   She teaches about how to be able to organize, get rid of clutter, and keep the house clean.  And I can safely say that in the 2 years since I found her, when I have been on the wagon our house has been a thousand times better.  Now I am only human so I have fallen off of the wagon quite a few times.  But  that is the great thing about her.  She lets you know to just get right back up and jump right in where they are.  She is a true inspiration to me and I feel that I am truly blessed to have found her.  Check her site out here.
I also would highly recommend her book it is called Sink Reflections.  It is truly a wonderful read.  Marla is smart, funny, and a wonderful role model in this book.



Christina


Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link. By clicking on the link and purchasing from the site, I will receive a small commission.

Spring Cleaning - How to limit trash

Spring is right around the corner.  With that in mind I was making my spring cleaning list.  And I started thinking about what I was going to do with all the trash.  So here is a list of what I came up with.


1. Recycle as much trash of possible.  Our town provides recycling as part of the trash service.

2. Compost wastes - If you are a gardener, or just want to reduce your carbon foot print this could be a good option to look in too.

3. Donate to the Goodwill, Salvation Army or what ever is available in your area.

4. Turn your trash into cash.  Find a resale shop to try to sell it at.  Have a garage sale, yard sale, or try to sell your stuff on eBay.

5. Reuse items as much as possible.

6. Repurpose - Find DIY repurposing projects to do.  This is a good way to turn something old into something new.

7.  Hold a clothing, books, or movie swap.  I am fortunate enough to have my sister close by.  We have kids around the same ages, but they are opposite sexes so we swap clothes. This works out great because as you may know kids out grow clothes way to fast.

These are just some options. I am sure that there are many more options as well.