I can't believe it! I really and truly cannot believe it! We made it through another school year, my friends. We. Did. It. Woooo-hooooooo! Next up? Summer. I'm over the moon thrilled and elated that summer is right around the corner! This year, I've got something so cool planned. So totally awesome and fabulous, I can't stand it. I've just finished up--after months of drafts!--the plans for our Smart Summer Challenge 2017. And it's going to rock. Totally, 110%, completely … [Read more...]
make summer learning ROCK with free bookmarks and Summer Brain Quest
Oh, friends. You know that I am obsessed with continuing the learning for my kids over the summer, right? Every, single spring I do a little happy dance, just knowing that summer is around the corner and that I get to have Maddy, Owen, and Cora to myself every, single day. I love it. And I love having a ton of fun ways to keep my kids reading, thinking, creating, and playing with numbers during the long summer months. Anything to avoid the summer slide. Really and truly. This … [Read more...]
smart ways to keep kids healthy–in school and at home with fit4Schools
When I was asked by the great folks at WeAreTeachers to take a minute to check out fit4Schools, I was thrilled. But I was skeptical. fit4Schools actually seemed too good to be true. A site designed to empower children and families to make healthy lifestyle choices a habit? Yes please. A fitcalendar with a fun activity to get kids moving every, single day? How awesome? Free lesson plans for teachers, designed to Captivate, Educate, and Activate learning on different … [Read more...]
new year’s interview: fun family tradition
It's New Year's Interview time! (I can hardly believe it!) This year, we made some minor adjustments to our traditional New Year's Family Interview because as the kids get older, I'm more interested in their thoughts and reflections than on their favorite color or best friend. So after our late-afternoon fondue dinner, we busted out with the biggie ice-cream sundae fixings. We made monster sundaes, got all crazy on sugar, and then got to work on our interviews--a fun and easy family … [Read more...]
stay sane during the holidays: Blue Apron makes feeding family easy and fun
Our family loves food. We love food. We love to make food, talk about food, celebrate with food, and eat food. My kids are food adventurous, and we are basically always up for trying a new things. But we're busy. We're juggling work and school and homework and activities and lessons and church. So finding time for creating healthy meals for our family is not always easy. Add the holidays looming, and life is nuts. Enter: Blue Apron. We had a chance to give Blue Apron … [Read more...]
our favorite thanksgiving printables for BIG kids!
This week is the big week for us--lots of travel, lots of family, lots of friends, and lots of food! Officially, the fun winter holiday season is upon us, and from here until January 2nd, it's a wild ride. But often that wild ride means that our kids tend to be kicked off of their normal schedules. They get tired. We get tired. They get cranky. We get cranky. And they need some down time. We need some down time. So we've gathered a few of our favorite Thanksgiving … [Read more...]
top secret ‘happy day’ notes for the whole ‘hood
Originally published September 1, 2010, but republished today because, well, friends, everyone could use a lift. Last week, we ran into a verrrry blue Thursday morning. Everyone was cranky, everyone was bickering, and everyone was down in the dumps. Maybe our summertime later-night schedule was finally taking a toll on us; maybe we were anxious about the upcoming change of schedule. Whatever it was, we needed a lift. I remembered my pal Jessica's recent post about 'Doing Good … [Read more...]
halloween mad lib: spooky fill-in story for halloween fun
I am always on the hunt for super fun Halloween activities for my kids. From the time they were teeny, we played Hats, Cats, and Pumpkin Grid Games, ABC Leaf Hunt, GHOST Bingo!, or Halloween Word Search. Anything to ring in this spooky holiday with a bit o' sneaky learning. But as they get a little older, they've grown out of those kinda little-guy-ish games. They love the Halloween Printable Games we play at Halloween Class parties, but I also wanted something fun for them to do here at … [Read more...]
how to play James Bond: fun card game for familes, by cora mascott
This summer has been all about card games over here. We've been doing a lot of card game playing, and I remember doing the same when I was young. We'd go on card game binges almost--playing the same card game for days on end. It's part of being a kid, I think. So I'm thrilled to have Cora over here again, guest posting for me and sharing one of our favorite card games of the summer: James Bond. One of the kids' babysitters taught them how to play James Bond last summer, but this … [Read more...]
pokemonGO: what it is and what parents need to know
Oh, friends. Those of you who know me know that Pokemon is one of my least favorite things in the whole, wide world. I struggled through Owen's crazy Pokemon stage a few summers ago, trying to learn to distinguish Charizard from Charmeleon and Pidgey from Pidgeotto so that I could try to understand what he was talking about--all the livelong day. Maddy, Cora, my husband and I tried to play Pokemon, flipping cards and talking about evolutions and attacks and CP and EX (probably wrong … [Read more...]
backyard painting–with nature
Originally published June 16, 2011, I stumbled upon this post today, and it was a good reminder to slow down. No matter your child's age. We have been taking a lot of walks lately, just slow walks where we're looking closely at what's around us because I feel like we've been moving too quickly in the rush of the last weeks of school. And just like last year, when everyone started to get antsy and bickery and up and down and not too sure of what's going on because the school schedule's … [Read more...]
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