Summer!!!

It's summer!!

Hallelujah!

I don't think I have ever anticipated a summer as much as this one.

I love my kid's school but I seriously miss them when they are gone. 

Oh and the lunches. I hate packing lunches every day. 

And homework. Not a fan of that either.

But mostly I'm excited to have them all with me every day and to go on adventures together.

Lots of adventures.

See the summer list. 

It might be a little ambitious but I think we can do it.

So far our first week of summer has been awesome.

We have been to the pool, beach or lake almost every day and all my kids are tanner than me.

I know it's only just started and in a few months I'm sure I'll be ready to be back in the groove of school again but for now all I can think is, "SUMMER FOREVER!"

How's your summer going so far?

Summer!!

Hallelujah! 

It's finally summer!  

We had a great school year but this year I have been anticipating summer like never before. 

I'm soaking up every second of having all my kiddos with me every day. 

And having no agenda. 

Well other than fun and sun! 

I love doing the first and last day of school pictures.
I think Kenzie looks pretty much the same but she lost 4 more teeth and I'm sure she grew another foot taller. 

The past couple of years we have made a summer fun list. 

I love how it helps us be intentional about actually doing all the fun things we want to do and how it gives our week some direction.

Plus checking off boxes is super fun.

So far we have gone to the lake

and discovered Huddy's hidden talent. 

He'll probably be a pro surfer by the time he's 10.

He's got some crazy balancing skills. 

We have been taking some evening strolls to the park after dinner. 

Wesley was so excited to finally be able to do the monkey bars all by himself! 

We went to the library

(I always forget how awesome it is. Why don't we go more often?!)

and had a bonfire with friends at the beach. 

We made rootbeer floats

(which half of my kids thought were gross....WHAT???!!!)

{more beach fun}

Kenzie had her first swim meet. 

We are all loving swim. 

It's so exciting to watch!! 

 We have been enjoying lots of days at the pool too. 

I'm so excited that the pool is finally doable (and dare I say enjoyable).

The last few years were so hard with so many little ones.
I was always worried someone was going to drown! 

But this year I am so thankful for swimmers and Puddle jumpers. 

Hope you guys are enjoying summer too!! 

Nature Scavenger Hunt

We are slowly checking off more items on our Summer Fun List. 

A couple days ago we went on a Nature Scavenger Hunt. 

I wrote "Find something Red....find something yellow, etc." on the paper and then colored each of the colors with a crayon since my kids can't read yet. 

We took a bag along with us and I filled it with lots of different flower petals, leaves, etc. for each of the colors on our paper. 

The kids had a great time exploring our neighborhood and searching for all the different colors!

It's so fun to see the same things we always see with new eyes. 

Then when we got home I drew a rainbow on a piece of paper using the proper color crayon for each strip of the rainbow. We had more colors than were really in the rainbow so we got creative with pink and black clouds and brown birds. 

Then I let the kids glue their scavenged goods to the proper spots on the rainbow.

I was surprised at how easily they were able to do it. 

I pretty much just monitored the glue usage and they did the rest. 

I love a good, easy and fun craft! 

Have you been doing any fun crafts this summer? 

Summer fun list

I'm so glad we made a Summer bucket list. 

It has helped us be intentional about actually doing all the fun summer things we always want to do but don't always get around to doing 

and it has helped to give our week some direction. If we have a free day or start to get bored with our usual routine we pick something off our list to do. 

So easy and so much fun. 

Last week we checked off a couple new things...

We went fishing at the Santa Ana rivers. 

We caught a giant fish and just as we were reaching down to take it out of the water it got off the hook. Bummer!

Wesley made a new friend.
He had a blast playing with the worms 

and trying to catch the hundreds of chickens wandering around the place. 

Mackenzie on the other hand was really into fishing. 

She sat on that bench with the pole the entire time and keeps asking us when we can go back. 

The fish that got away. 

 We also got to check making fresh lemonade off our list. 

Mmmmm....my favorite! 

And we painted some rocks. 

I love how they all turned out. 

So cute and unique. 

We even had a couple peg people left over from the bride and groom (below) that I painted for my brothers wedding. 

Can you tell which is Mackenzie and which is Wesley's :)

Mackenzie made hers a flower girl and it turned out so cute! I was super impressed at her painting skills with a cheapie water color paint brush. 

(the ones I painted for my brother's wedding)

What have you guys been up to this summer?

Fairy houses...check!

Summer is officially here and to make sure we remember to do all of our favorite summer activities we came up with a Summer Fun List. 

One of the first things we got to check off our list was making some fairy houses.

The kids each picked out a suitable container to make their fairy home and then painted and decorated it. 

They were so proud of their creations.
Mackenzie has been playing with hers non stop for a week.
It hasn't housed any fairy's yet but it has hosted it's share of rolly pollies and polly pockets.