Summer Inspiration

 

This past week here in Western Washington has been GORGEOUS! And I don’t just mean a “nice” few days, we are talking birds singing, sun shining, gentle breeze a blowing, topping out at 80, crisp clear perfectly blue skies, snow-capped mountains in the background, BEAUTIFUL kind of days!! These are the days that I live for here!! These are the days that all Washingtonians live for, the reason we endure 300 days of rain for ( I MIGHT be exaggerating on that a teeny tiny bit!).

Now that we are getting  closer to summer break, my kids are already starting to make some plans for their school-less days!! My daughter is super excited for an Auntie Sissy date! I promised her that we would get together, just she and I, with my younger sister for a girl’s date day and she has not stopped asking me when we are going to do that! My son is super excited for days at the lake or beach, and Martial Arts Summer Camp. They are both excited to hit the Oregon coast for our annual family vacation and of course for Family Camping trips (they are DEFINITELY more excited for this than me).

One of the blogs that I really enjoy reading, Sunny Side Up, has a great summer tradition that they do each year. They make out a list at the beginning of each summer of all the things they hope to accomplish and as they do them, they check them off! I am seriously thinking of doing this with our family, I think it will be a lot of fun!! Here is a sample of Erin’s Summer Schedule from Sunny Side Up’s blog from last year.

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Some of the things are super simple and others are more challenging - like I would struggle with making sock puppets and putting on a puppet show!  But I know we will be going to the library tons, doing tons of play dates, park dates, and eating LOTS of popsicles! I LOVE the simplicity behind it too, nothing too fancy - just good ol summer fun!!!

I did want to share one idea with you all that our church does each summer, we call it Life in the Park and we pick a day each week (this summer we are doing Wednesdays) and then we pick a local (within a 30 mile radius or so) park and meet up there each week! SO each Wednesday during the summer at 11 am we are meeting at a different park in the area for at least a couple of hours. We pack lunches and us mommies (sometimes dads, grandmas, whoever) spread out all our blankets and spend a few hours each week talking and hanging out while the kids are running around having a blast. We try to mix up the parks too so that we have water areas to play at, hiking areas if you want to hike and just good ole’ fashion playground equipment. It is one of my favorite things about summer! You can totally do this too with your church group, your MOPS group, your preschool group, your neighborhood friends – whatever! Go for it!

Summer doesn’t officially kick off for us here until almost the end of June, school is out June 21st, so still a month to go…but the weather today definitely has me getting me excited!!

This is the view from my front yard - looking up from the grass into the tree in my yard. Such a gorgeous day!! See what I mean- makes the rainy days totally worth it!!!!

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Another favorite summer activity for my kiddos are dinner picnics at the park! And I love it too because I make it as easy on myself as possible! There is an AWESOME park near us that has a couple different playgrounds, hiking, fishing pond, ball fields, (there used to be a petting zoo), a huge flower garden you can tour, just a beautiful place to go (and it is totally FREE), and VERY close by that park is a Little Caesars! SO we swing in and get a hot and ready pizza for $5.99, I bring some apples or grapes or whatever fruit is handy and some water bottles and we have a very cheap, very easy, very FUN dinner picnic at the park! I keep a large blanket in the back of my car just for the purpose of picnics or whatever other emergency might crop up and I don’t even bother with paper plates (this is SO NOT LIKE ME- OCD, TYPE A personality momma! and I think that is one reason why my kids love it so much!).

We just had our first dinner picnic at the park last weekend and it was PERFECT!!

So what are some of your summer traditions? What are you most looking forward to? Other than sleeping in? And no homework? And the sun?

~JESS

Potluck Main Dish Lifesaver

 

So I don’t know if any of you have come across this scenario or not, but this seems to be what always happens to us at church/school/neighborhood/MOPS picnic/wherever potlucks - our last name begins with P, so somehow we are 99% of the time asked to bring a main dish (You know when ever the potluck is one that is broken down alphabetically by last name as to what you are supposed to bring).  And I ALWAYS struggle to  come up with something to bring  because I don’t want to cook for 100 people and EVERYONE is already bringing chili or lasagna or enchiladas!

And we have to throw into the mix here that my  kids are pretty picky too! So they of course WILL NOT be eating any of the other main dishes that consist of Chili, lasagna or enchiladas. And somehow there always also seems to be about 50 different salads to choose from (and my kids won’t touch those either!). So now they are stuck eating chips, a few carrots I was able to sneak onto their plates, and  hopefully someone brought some fruit too! 

About a year ago, one of the lovely ladies from our church clued me into the BEST potluck idea EVER!

And here are the reasons why it is now my favorite Main Dish Potluck Item!

1. I don’t have to actually COOK it! (just heat it up!)

2. My kids will FOR SURE eat it (and so will about 98% of ALL the other kids! Don’t even bother to ask where I am coming up with these statistics, totally making this up as I go!)

3. There are NEVER leftovers that I am forced to eat (I really don’t care much for left overs, ESPECIALLY if they sat out half the day at a potluck and WHO KNOWS who touched it, sneezed on it, coughed on it – clearly you get the picture, and CLEARLY, I have issues!)

4.  Did I mention how little PREP WORK (AKA COOKING) there is for this? NOT MUCH!!!

5. THEY ARE SO EASY TO PREPARE, BRING, EAT, and CLEAN UP!

So my SECRET Potluck Main dish Lifesaver is…….

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Yep! Hot DOGS! In the crock pot! Easiest thing EVER!!!!

My 5 quart crock pot will fit 60 hot dogs standing on their ends. Just put them on low for 4 hours or high for 2, add a bit of water (although I have been told you can do it without the water too!), put a lid on it and you are good to go! Don’t forget the buns and Ketchup!!! 

And no, I never mentioned healthy in my list of reasons why I love bringing them. And to be honest, my hubby and I are NOT hot dog fans so we don’t buy them for our house so my kids think they are kind of a treat to get.

  1. Ooh, Another hint is to grab some of the chili that another main dish-er made and you’ve got your self a chili dog at the potluck!

Enjoy!

~JESS

Book Review and a Giveaway

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  If you have read our blog for any length of time now, you know that Jenny and I are both big readers and that we both have  a love for MOPS- Mothers of Preschoolers. Jenny and I have both served in leadership roles in our local Mops groups over the years and have been [...]

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Stronger!!!!

  I have seen this video floating around Facebook for a couple of days but hadn’t had the chance to watch it until just now! And then I saw it on my friend Karla’s Blog, and I love what she had to say, “Need a reminder that your day is not so bad? And need [...]

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Coconut Oil Hair Moisture Treatment {FRee printable Instructions}

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Have you heard all the rage about coconut oil lately? I actually gave these as gifts earlier this year and since then I’ve discovered many other benefits from using it. This really is the perfect little gift.  Let’s first start with the hair treatment. This would make a fun Mother’s Day, Teacher or Birthday gift [...]

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Ribbon & Flower Barrette Holder

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    So yesterday Jenny shared with you her amazing flowers and painted mason jar tutorials, and today I have another flower and mason jar idea too! Totally different concept, but oh so easy and oh so functional for your little girls room! My little girl Kaylee has tons of barrettes, clips, pony’s (this is [...]

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