Our Days of Summer...

Here are a few fun things we have been doing this summer, in no specific order...

Hope you are enjoying yours~

Here is New York City... notice the Empire State Building and Central Park:) The kids worked on this for at least an hour, by themselves, while I sat on the back porch and drank my coffee while chatting with my best friend in NY. 

Don't underestimate the power of free play- the more time you give your kids to play by themselves (without you having to entertain them) the healthier it is for them and you.


Here is a our tent/fort that we have started working on... will post more photos as we go along. This is under out Avocado tree which is producing Avocados by the hundreds now.

The Avo's...

  
Remember our cute (and super easy) bird feeder we made here? Well, here's our little friend enjoying a snack. We have refilled it with bird seeds a few times since.

Kids made their own doll houses out of Popsicle sticks. We used a hot glue gun for immediate drying, but you can use regular glue and paint it the next day once dry. We made all the walls and roofs separately and then glued them all together. Mom was just the supervisor and hot glue gunner. They did everything else by themselves.

Kids made their own puppets. The boys made astronauts. My big guy drew and colored his own rocket. He asked me to make him the astronaut. He colored it. My daughter made a princess and ballerina. It's pretty much just making a picture on card-stock, coloring it, cutting it out and gluing a craft stick to the back. Voila. A whole puppet theater:)

I cannot get enough of this chalkboard paint. You can see what we did with it here, but I am all over the place with it now:) I made labels for inside my pantry, the bathroom, you name it, I am loving it!

Here is a fun sign I made for the kids playroom:

I painted a cookie sheet (I had to paint it a few times over a few days to get rid of the streaking) and used green acrylic paint for the border. I am using this chalk pen which is so great. It goes on smooth and wipes right off with a wet rag. 

 ...and a little something I made for myself to stick in the kitchen. It's nice because I can change the inspirational quote whenever I feel I want to. I just took a picture frame, removed the glass and painted the cardboard inside it with the paint. You can probably paint on glass with it, though I haven't tried it yet. Will let you know how it works!

And that is how we are enjoying our lazy days of summer. 

Looking forward to getting back into the water after Tisha B'Av. 

May you all be safe and well during these 9 Days.

Always,