It is hot here in Mississippi! We had a few days that were nicer, not so humid, and luckily those fell during the holiday weekend while my parents were visiting. Well, lucky for them, at least. 🙂
My parents were prepared for our heat, though. They brought the boys a blow up pool! Ha! It is actually a lifesaver for us this summer, because our neighborhood pool is closed this year (ugh) and we can't justify the expense of joining a club that has a pool.
We spent a few days outside at the beginning of the summer, but quickly learned that a Mississippi summer is equivalent to our Chicago winters. It's a good time to play inside!
Coming up with fun activities to play inside can be challenging, but we've been mixing it up between cooking lessons, video games, action figures, LEGO sets, race cars, learning activities and more. The other day, we reused one of our empty Stonyfield Greek Yogurt cups in a race car game we made up.
(Hit refresh to see the gif image in action above.) Judah has a bunch of little Hot Wheels cars, so we rigged up a track and cut out the bottom of a yogurt cup to make a tunnel target. We had so much fun trying to get the cars to go through the yogurt cup. One point was awarded for hitting the target, five points for actually getting the car through the hole! Judah played for at least an hour!
What kind of creative ways have you had fun with your kids this summer?
Favorite Things Lately:
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SCOOPED: Ice Cream Treats, Cheats, and Frozen Eats
- This new cookbook by Southern Living is one of my favorites for this summer! It's a great reference for frozen recipes to celebrate National Ice Cream Month. Once you receive this book, you will want to just sit and slowly flip through the pages, taking your time to gaze at the beautiful photos of scrumptious desserts. Seriously, that's what I did. I love this book! It includes everything from ice cream sandwiches, sundaes, cakes, milkshakes, truffles and more. I'm a sucker for the size and feel of a book, and this one doesn't disappoint. It feels good in your hands, and a perfect size that's not overwhelming for my bookshelf. It's just an absolutely fun, feel-good recipe book! I mean, who doesn't want direct access to amazing ice cream recipes in their cookbook collection!? I'll be sharing one or two recipes from this book within the month. 🙂
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library - Many of you probably already know about this. In 1996, country music sensation, Dolly Parton, started a program for her local area in East Tennessee to encourage reading in young children. She mailed one book to their homes every month, to ensure each household had quality books. In the year 2000, she decided to make this program available nation-wide, to any community that was willing to partner with her. Our community is partnered with her, so I signed up my two kids earlier this year. It's FREE! Each of them has received an age-appropriate book for the last 4-5 months, and we have enjoyed them all!! Judah received books so far like "Betty Bunny Didn't Do It
" and "This Monster Cannot Wait!
". Simon received ones like "Corduroy
" and "Good Night, Gorilla
". All great books and it's FREE! If you have kids up to preschool aged, visit their website to see if the program is available in your community. I believe the books stop coming once the child turns 5.
I would love to hear about any children programs or products you know about and love! Any favorite iPad apps? Favorite toys? Activities? We're always eager to try new things!
I am honored to be a member of the Stonyfield Clean Plate Club. I received product or coupons for writing this post, but all opinions are my own.
