So it is almost July and it has officially turned into that hot muggy nonsense that I absolutely loathe.  Summer isn't my jam.  But in so many ways I have learned that keeping my kids occupied during the summer months helps them, helps me, helps everyones sanity.  Sure, we already have a month behind us, but there is still a month and a half to finish off our list.  Some of these things we've already tackled, but I always think it is fun to see what people come up with for a summer bucket list.  So here is ours...

-Go to Deanna Rose Farmstead
-Complete the summer reading program through the library
-Swim lessons
-Picnic at the lake
-Go to the fair
-Visit Branson
-Go to the zoo
-Run through the sprinkler
-Spend a few days at the lakehouse
-Build a fort and watch a movie in it
-See family in Western Kansas
-Take sister pictures of my girls
-Have lunch with Grandma
-Practice writing names
-Learn the difference between left and right
-Potty train Brooklyn!!! (HAS to be done!)
-Attend Vacation Bible School
-Go to the farmers' market
-Celebrate the 4th of July with friends
-Back to school shop

This weekend we will tackle a good chunk of this list and I CAN'T wait.  It is going to be lots of fun for all of us (hopefully!).

How is your summer shaping up?!

So it is almost July and it has officially turned into that hot muggy nonsense that I absolutely loathe.  Summer isn't my jam.  But i...

The trees are greening up, the flowers are blooming, and the temperatures have finally climbed into the range appropriate enough to play outside in.  I live for spring, minus the whole allergy season part.  Spring + fall are totally my jam.

This year I want to take complete advantage of the weather before the humidity sets in and mama can't stand being outside for more than 10 minutes.

So I present... Our Spring Bucket List!

--Take the girls to their first Sporting Kansas City game of the season.  Rob has already been to several and I've been to one.  But the weather has not cooperated with us to take the girls along.  We ended up buying season tickets for this year because my husband LOVES SKC and soccer games.  The atmosphere is like no other.  We just need less wind, warmer temperatures and no rain so we can take the babes with us.

--Visit the Easter bunny.  This year I am skipping most of the public egg hunts and bunny visits in favor of going to a private one with a smaller crowd.  I think it will be perfect for the babes to really enjoy themselves and I don't have to worry too much about big kids overrunning the littles.

--Hunt for eggs.  Rob has been working his butt off to get our yard cleaned up and beautiful.  This year it will be so fun to watch the girls hunt for eggs in their own yard.  Start the tradition early for all of them.

--Take pictures with real bunnies.  I've talked about our local pet store that is kind of like an indoor zoo.  This year they are offering pictures with bunnies in exchange for a small donation.  I'm down, so down.  Count me in.  I have high hopes for this, but we will see.

--Attend the Climb Out of the Darkness 2019 events here in our area.  I have been very open and vocal about my postpartum anxiety and this year I are excited to put my efforts behind a very public cause.  We will be walking in the walk and I will be spreading the word near and far, because it means that much to me and YOU ARE NOT ALONE. For more information on the Climb Out of the Darkness activities, click here.

--Have a picnic by the lake.  This is one of my favorite things to do when the weather cooperates.  It may be a bit harder this year because my littlest love is mobile and doesn't sit still very long.  But I think if I give her some food, it will help keep her stationary. Maybe?

--Finally let the girls ride their bike to the park.  Grace has been wanting to do this, and I just haven't had a chance to do it really with Emily napping in the afternoon.  But we WILL make it happen.  I promise.

--Visit the baby animals at Orschelns.  Our local farm store has baby animals you can hold.  We have taken Grace in the past, but we haven't done it since Brooke was born 3 years ago.  So this spring is the season.

--Go to Deanna Rose Farmstead, again.  We LOVE this place.  I really love going to this place when the big kids are still in school.  So instead of having this on our summer bucket list, we are moving it to the spring one.  The temperatures are still nice and the crowds should still be relatively small.  That's a win, win, win for me.

--Wear hats with our Easter dresses.  I did this growing up and I'm excited to have all girls and pass this down to them too.  There is just something about a straw hat with an Easter dress, I am a sucker.

This spring is shaping up to be a busy one in our house.  But I am excited to put effort into the memories and make it extra special for all of us.

What is on your spring bucket list?

"No matter how long the winter is... spring is sure to follow." -Proverb The trees are greening up, the flowers are blo...

Well summer is over.  Maybe not by the calendar, but in my book summer ends on Labor Day weekend.  That was my goal for finishing our summer bucket list.  It was a long and fun summer and we killed our bucket list.  Only a few things didn't get accomplished this summer.  It happens.  You got to shoot for the moon in all things though, right?

So here is how we did...

-Go strawberry picking - COMPLETED.
-Go to Deanna Rose Farmstead - COMPLETED.

-Complete the summer reading program through the library

First off.  Let me just say that I LOVE our town and the library we have here.  Their summer reading program was immensely better than those from my childhood.  The girls (and I!) finished our summer reading early but didn't make it to the library again until a few weeks before the program was done.  The girls got the cutest little certificates, play dough, a book to take home, coupons for free cookies, free bowling and coupons for discounts at the local germ farm (aka the indoor playground).  They even sent a book home with Emily girl.  So mission accomplished!

-See a movie at Memorial Stadium - COMPLETED.
-Swim lessons

We wrapped up swim lessons in August.  When we started the summer Grace would not even put her face in the water.  Now she puts her face in the water willingly and kicks all over the place.  By the end of summer her instructor (we went through our country club and their lifeguards take on swim lessons for extra hours) even had her jumping off of the diving board.  She may not be 100% in the swim department but I definitely feel like she is way more comfortable now then she was at the beginning of summer.

-Gymnastics 

Just wanted to share this little gem from her last gymnastics class of the session.  I can't rave enough about the gymnastics program through the Lawrence Parks and Recreation department.  I am still trying to find a way to squeeze gymnastics in for her this next session.  We will have to see though!

-Picnic at the lake - COMPLETED.

-Go to the fair

We drove 5 hours to go to mama's favorite fair with Aunt Erin!  Everything is home grown, family friendly and CHEAP.  We rode the train, the merry go round and all the kiddie rides.  Played some games and toured all the animals.  It is worth it to make the drive every year. 

-Go to the zoo

We didn't just go to one zoo, we went to three DIFFERENT ones.  We started by going to the Topeka zoo with some of our local friends.  It was a super nice day so it was PACKED.  We fed some birds, and cried a lot.  But we survived and made it out in time to get Cracker Barrel.  Find you some friends that will hit up Cracker Barrel with you y'all.

Then we hit up the Salina zoo with my best friend and her family.  Rob was even able to make the trip out with us for this one.  It was a slightly warmer day.  But we saw everyone, everything and bonded over crazy children and somehow surviving.

Finally we met Allison and her family in Manhattan to go to the zoo there.  It was a disaster of a hot day that followed a much cooler day so we were expecting it to not be too terrible.  Darn Kansas got us.  It was so gross.  But in the end, any time spent with our friends is a win win.  And my kids slept GREAT that night. 

-Spend an afternoon at Wonderscope - after getting hand, foot and mouth last summer we have avoided most indoor play areas.  Unfortunately, Wonderscope is included in the indoor play area criteria.

-Run through the sprinkler

While it was not necessarily running and I have no proof.  We spent many afternoons playing keep away from dad's new sprinkler system while he was in the process of installing and adjusting everything.  So I am going to count it y'all.

-Build a fort and watch a movie in it

It was not really the fort my mind envisioned but the girls set out one afternoon to pull every last blanket out and cover our coffee table then proceed to lay inside and giggle.  This ended up happening many afternoons this summer.  Maybe sometime soon I will pull out the sheets and really show them how to make a fort.

-Take sister pictures of my girls

Yes! One Saturday, Rob had something going on so we ventured out to the small sunflower field just south of town.  I got only one picture that was worth anything because Brooke was not having it, it was hot and the sun was very very bright.  But you know what, one is all you need to document this time in their life.

-Have lunch with Grandma - COMPLETED.

-Learn the alphabet - we worked a lot more on our counting than the alphabet this summer.  We counted EVERYTHING you guys.  So while we didn't learn the alphabet, we did tackle another learning aspect.

-Teach Grace to write her own name

She still needs a bit of guidance getting started but she can identify the letters in her name and write them out.  In preschool she will learn to write all uppercase letters this school year, which had I known that, we would have focused on that first. Oh well!

-Practice Grace's speech diligently

Our summer was full of speech practice.  I briefly touched on our speech adventures in the back to school post.  We did the summer session through the school system.  Worked one on one with a speech therapist the rest of the summer. And practiced, practiced, practiced at home.  This summer we saw so much improvement in the speech department, so I am very thankful for that!

-Learn the difference between left and right - this is still a work in progress.  I ask her almost daily as she is putting her shoes on or writing which hand she is using and it hasn't quite clicked yet.  Hopefully soon!

-Potty train Brooklyn - we started sitting on the big girl potty but with Emily being attached at the boob, it is going to be really hard to actually potty train Brooke for awhile.  My goal is to have her potty trained by next summer.  But like with Grace, I am not putting any pressure on it.  It just has to be done in order for her to start preschool next fall.  So we shall see.  It is totally doable.

-Attend Vacation Bible School - COMPLETED.

-Go to the farmers' market

That same day we hit up the sunflower field, we also made it over to the farmers' market for big ole brownies and cinnamon rolls.  I did't realize how large the farmers market here in town is, so it was nice surprise to see all that was offered.  Have I mentioned we absolutely love our town lately?

So there you have it.  The last of our summer bucket list.  It was packed full and so much fun in a lot of ways.  I am not at all a summer person, but it was nice this year to have a bunch of activities to keep us busy but not overcomplicate our whole summer either.

(Sorry for the low quality cell phone pictures that most of these are.  But I'm a mom of three!  I don't have time for the big camera, all the time.  Ha ha.)

How was your summer?!

Well summer is over.  Maybe not by the calendar, but in my book summer ends on Labor Day weekend.  That was my goal for finishing our summer...

June is done and we are 1/3rd of the way to the end of Summer.  I'm not celebrating (too much), are you?  Okay. Okay.  I am totally celebrating that we have one month down.  I loathe summer, sweating and running here, there and everywhere.  Not that it is much different than the other 9 months of the year.

Anyway - we are off to a good start with our bucket list! Here is where we stand going into the month of July.

-Go strawberry picking

On the very last day of the season we got out and picked a row of strawberries.  They were tiny but the girls had SO much fun.  Grace and Brooke picked almost every strawberry we took home and Emily?  Well she spent most of the adventure sleeping.

-Go to Deanna Rose Farmstead

One week the weather was unexpectedly cool and we took FULL advantage of it by spending the afternoon at Deanna Rose with Aunt Kara.  We walked and walked, saw all the animals, fed the goats, slid down the slide, played on the playground, ate some ice cream, melted down a time or two... and finally crashed on the way home.  Just the way it should be.

-Complete the summer reading program through the library
-See a movie at Memorial Stadium

Unfortunately we will not get to actually mark this one off this year.  It was almost 100 degrees on the night scheduled for the movie... so because of our littlest girlie... our time was better spent in Kansas City shopping with an aunt that was visiting from out west.

-Swim lessons

Our original plan was for both Grace and Brooke to take swim lessons at the country club this summer.  But after one terrible first lesson and a so - so second lesson.. Brooke will wait until next summer and Grace will continue this summer two times a week.  Grace hates putting her head in the water and for some reason has a really hard time trusting even adults with her buoyancy... so my goal this summer is to get her to float, on her own.

-Gymnastics

We are back with the parks and rec program for another session.  Grace LOVES gymnastics and her coach Ms. Gina! It is a win for all of us.

-Picnic at the lake

We jammed packed those few days of lower temperatures, jumping at the opportunity to picnic at the lake without sweating our butts off, wearing sunscreen or dealing with five billion bugs.  It was a lovely little picnic complete with a blow out from Emily and a skinned knee for Brooke.  We are the traveling circus y'all.

-Go to the fair
-Go to the zoo
-Spend an afternoon at Wonderscope
-Run through the sprinkler
-Build a fort and watch a movie in it
-Take sister pictures of my girls
-Have lunch with Grandma

Bonus points... Aunt Erin happened to be off and we got to enjoy lunch with her too!

-Learn the alphabet
-Teach Grace to write her own name


-Practice Grace's speech diligently
-Learn the difference between left and right
-Potty train Brooklyn
-Attend Vacation Bible School

I seriously cannot believe that I have a child old enough to attend Vacation Bible School. Some of my greatest memories growing up a Catholic include the weeks spent at VBS during the summer.  This has been a real hit with Grace and I look forward to hopefully getting her into Religious Education come this fall.  Fingers crossed it doesn't fill up as fast as the Catholic preschool program does.

-Go to the farmers' market

A few other highlights that should have made our list this summer?

-Go to Science City

We last minute jumped at the opportunity to go to Science City with my sister, as part of her job.  We got to ride on a school bus, which probably could have served as an adventure by itself.  Science City is way different than what I remember, but my girls seemed to enjoy themselves, so that is all that matters.  It was a solid afternoon of entertainment.

-Visit the lakehouse!

This was not originally on my list because going to the lake with a baby is not as fun as you would think.  We did it two years ago when Brooke was the same age as Emily... and it was stressful and not at all relaxing.  So this summer we were not planning on going down to my parents lake house.  On Friday, my husband persuaded me to be a little carefree this summer... and so Saturday afternoon we loaded up the van and off we went for a 24 hour adventure to the lake.  It ended up being jam-packed with fireworks, church and playing on the boat before grabbing dinner and heading out of town.  We are all feeling it come this morning, but at the end of the day I really do think it was worth it.

So onto July.  What will you bring us?


always,
amanda

June is done and we are 1/3rd of the way to the end of Summer.  I'm not celebrating (too much), are you?  Okay. Okay.  I am totally cele...

We've been out of school almost three weeks.  Grace finished her first year of preschool mid May and we already miss the routine that comes with school. She was only going twice a week... but I wasn't hearing "what are you we going to do tomorrow?" five times a day.  After hearing that phrase no less than 100 times already... I am counting down to school starting again this fall.  Yep, y'all, I am THAT mom.


Anyway --- Grace's first year of preschool was a success.  She is going to a private preschool that comes highly recommended here in town.  We had her in the twice a week program from 9 to 11:30.  Just enough time to get some energy out and provide me a chance to run errands with one less kid to load and unload.  A welcome break, if you will.  Grace's teachers were absolute saints... and took great care of my girl.  We will miss them next year, especially since one of them is on to the retired life of a grandma!

This summer I hope to keep the kids active by getting out of the house at least once a day.  That way we feel productive - but not overwhelmed.  To help I came up with a summer bucket list again this year that we can hopefully accomplish easy peasy with one big activity a week.

Our 2018 summer bucket list...

-Go strawberry picking
-Go to Deanna Rose Farmstead
-Complete the summer reading program through the library
-See a movie at Memorial Stadium
-Swim lessons
-Gymnastics
-Picnic at the lake
-Go to the fair
-Go to the zoo
-Spend an afternoon at Wonderscope
-Run through the sprinkler
-Build a fort and watch a movie in it
-Take sister pictures of my girls
-Have lunch with Grandma
-Learn the alphabet
-Teach Grace to write her own name
-Practice Grace's speech diligently
-Learn the difference between left and right
-Potty train Brooklyn
-Attend Vacation Bible School
-Go to the farmers' market

I hope to have this list wrapped up by the last day of August.  So let's goooooo.

How are you keeping your kids occupied this summer?!



always,
amanda

We've been out of school almost three weeks.  Grace finished her first year of preschool mid May and we already miss the routine that co...

Labor day weekend marks the unofficial end of summer.  The pools are drained.  The white clothing (is supposed to be) put away. And all things fall start to invade.

Hallelujah.

It ain't no secret that I'm not a summer girl.  But being a mom... I try and get out and make something of it.

This year I came across a toddler summer bucket list early in the season.  I knew not everything on the list would happen.  I mean we aren't really garden people.  But I knew a few things on the list would definitely be possible.



1. We visited the Farmer's Market.. but only once.  And I don't have any photographic evidence of it.  The girls mainly rode around in the stroller and looked.  In fact we didn't buy one thing.

2. Visit the splash pad.  You can read all about that fun adventure back in July here.

6. Play in our (plastic) pool. We've done this several times this summer, especially when friends are over.

9. Summer reading program.  We missed a bunch of the deadlines, but we went to several of the programs early in the summer.  Once things got hot it was a bit harder to get out of the house early in the morning to make it to the library in time.  Excuses, excuses, I know.  We will do better next summer when both girls can really earn the points.

13.  Swim at the lake "beach". While it wasn't a beach, Grace got to swim in the lake during our July 4th vacation to my parents lake house.


17. Watch fireworks.  And she experienced sparklers for the first time as well as poppers.


18. Play with bubbles.


20. Strawberry picking.  This was early in the summer, technically before memorial day weekend when Rob's grandparents were still here visiting us.  We had tons of fun even though most of the strawberry picking was done by Rob and his grandfather.


22. Draw with chalk. We did this a lot early in the summer.  Of course, as the temps went up it was harder to justify sitting on the driveway to doodle.  As in.. there was no justification to sit on hot concrete.  So again, no pictures.

24. Go to the fair.  It was technically a festival but there was a petting zoo and a pony carousel.  So it was basically a fair.

25. Go on a road trip. Over July 4th and again over Labor day weekend.


I am hoping to get to 14 and 15 (a picnic and ice cream) as the temps start to cool a little bit.

So 11/25.  Not too shabby I guess.  I could have tried way harder.. but ya know, the heat and all.  Haha.

Here's to cooler temperatures and the bugs dying!



always,
amanda

Labor day weekend marks the unofficial end of summer.  The pools are drained.  The white clothing (is supposed to be) put away. And all thin...