A Round Up of Ideas To Banish Boredom This Summer

I know most of you are already in the throes of carefree summer living, but we still have four more days of school here! 

Just in case your kids are driving you nuts already you're in need of a little inspiration, here is a round-up of our best simple and easy summer fun ideas for kids. Enjoy!

This remains our most talked about activity...ever! It is so much fun, every single time.

It requires a little prep work and some time for the shirts to freeze.

Hands down, one of our all-time favorites!

 Beat the Heat with a Frozen T-Shirt Contest (Family Friendly)

Playing with water is always a hit on a hazy, hot summer day. Here are some fun and super simple games that will get your kiddos moving and everyone laughing.

Simple & Fun Backyard Olympics

 You can get more ideas for some summer Olympics fun from our oldest son's summer birthday party.

Host the Summer Olympics in Your Own Backyard

I'm sharing two Round-Up posts that have some terrific ideas to banish boredom. The first is specifically for older children, though with supervision, many of the activities are completely appropriate for anyone. Click on the links below the photos to read the entire posts.

Pardon the pun, but ice really is cool. It's a great tool to engage imagination and discovery of all kinds. I love these activities because they are like summer arts and crafts projects but without having to constantly monitor and oversee, and it keeps their minds engaged and their creativity flowing. 

Older kids can handle these ones all one their own, and the results are pretty spectacular!

Summer Fun with Older Kids

Lastly, this Round-Up features all kinds of interesting and engaging activities that you can participate in with your children if they are very young, and they are FUN! Some are actual crafts, while others are simply ideas for when you - and everyone around you who calls you Mom - needs a little break, and there's even a fun summer snack or two. Click the link below for more!

 Fun and Easy Ideas to Banish Summer Boredom

So the next time you hear, Moooom, I'm bored," you'll have some new tricks up your sleeve. Have fun!

Ten on Ten :: June 2017

We are heading to the finish line, maybe limping a bit. ;) 

Ten more days of school.

I'm sure there's so much valuable learning going on right now.

We had a really busy but fun weekend, and the weather got hot hot hot so when we've been home, it has been out back in the pool. I'm looking forward to some fun pool parties this summer. 

Saturday was the 10th, and someone was not terribly thrilled to have to stop and have his diaper changed before heading downstairs for breakfast. #roughlife

Since it was Saturday, the day began the way 99.9% of all Saturdays begin: Daddy makes waffles. Perfection.

Big changes were about to happen for him and me. Big.

I knew this would be the very last time to snap some pictures of him playing in his crib tucked in the nook of our bedroom, so we played in here together for a long while and I savored every moment.

Levi is still obsessed with the law of gravity. :)

Checking on the flowers and plants in our front yard for a few minutes. I planted a couple other Hydrangea bushes last week and I'm thrilled with how they all look in front of our house.

Daddy took the older kids to the library, Ethan was at work, and I worked on a cute little outfit for Levi for the 4th of July after getting Levi settled for a nap.

After lunch, time for baseball. We were trailing by quite a bit but then had a couple of great innings, which closed the gap considerably. We lost 11-7, but then yesterday (Sunday) we won 8-4. Go Caleb!

After baseball, we had a graduation party to attend. I was taking notes, believe me, for next year when I have to go through it...I mean, when we get to celebrate Ethan. ;) My friend did such a great job with the party and I'll definitely be asking her for advice! 

Someone may or may not have screamed when it was time to step out of the car, ha ha.

Look how happy he is (while driving anyway)! So cute!

Then back home for another swim - we were so hot and it had been an action-packed day!

Silly me thought this was going to be a fun, somewhat relaxing summer. Umm, clueless maybe!

I will be sweating profusely as I corral and bodyguard this little guy. Oops. Maybe next summer? I had to keep him out of the pool area entirely if I wasn't in the water with him, and this is what he does watching everyone swim- he peg-leg crawls to the fence and puts his little face right up to the bars. It's both adorable and kind of sad.

Only a morning nap today, so feeling a little worn out.

I am in love with the little swirls of hair coming in. What is it about baby heads in general? Can't get enough!

And this.

I will write a post later and share more pics of his sweet room.

It still feels strange at night. I can go in my room and turn on any light I want after 7:15 pm!

We were prepared for the worst. I had Isabelle sleep over at my parents in case he cried all night, which he did Friday night.

But on this night?

He slept so well! He only cried when he needed a diaper change in the middle of the night, poor baby- his tummy had been bothering him, and I figured that would help. He woke up in the best mood!

Change is so very hard, and some things just feel much harder than others.

But we felt that it was finally time, even though I thought it was time back in February, for a variety of reasons, we just couldn't go through with the move then. It didn't feel right, but this time it did. He seems really happy to be in there!

And that was a snippet of our busy weekend...what did you do?

Friday Favorites...Friends, Food & Fun!

I feel like I say this at the beginning of every single month, and here I go, saying it yet again.

I cannot believe it is already JUNE!!!

June means warmer weather and longer nights and relaxed schedules and ice cream cones and campfires and fireflies and just all the really, really good stuff in life, ya know?

But we aren't there quite yet. Nearly three more weeks of school for this crew until summer really begins, and I'm determined to convince myself that I'll be all geared up for it. Currently, I am not. ha ha

Today is going to be a great day, filled with lots of favorites!

Every Friday morning is my special time with Caleb before school, and this little tradition has become one of my very favorites. I think I'm in denial that he is heading to high school in the fall. That doesn't seem possible, so I am soaking in all these moments together. Really, there are special individual and uninterrupted moments that I have with each one of my kids during the morning because of our schedule and varying times for needing to be at school. It just works out that way, and I treasure it.

I've been putting Levi in the jogger and taking him on really long walks a few times a week lately, and it truly is one of my favorite things to do. Some walks are quite intense- I haven't been running because my left knee is acting up, but the hills are steep and tough!- so I feel good about getting in a solid workout. Other walks are leisurely and just so much fun, especially when I meet up with a friend, like I am this morning. Can't wait!

 In case you think I have it together every day... some mornings we barely make it out of the house, and only some of us are actually dressed. (Thankfully, most of the time that's ME ;) )

 

I am so excited that another one of my friends, this one from my high school days!, is coming over for dinner tonight. Good friends are definitely favorites of mine, and to celebrate, I'm making our favorite No Bake Peanut Butter Pie during nap time this morning.

I'm hoping it's a good nap because I also need to get some cleaning done. While I won't claim that housework is my favorite, I admit that there is something so revitalizing about cleaning up our home so that it feels tidy and inviting. Which is no easy feat with the resident tornado that lives here, let me tell you...good thing he's so stinkin' cute!

 I turned my back for a nanosecond.
And don't even ask me where that spoon came from! ha ha ha

 He was SO excited to show me "his" dirt  =)

Lastly, this is my favorite color for that spring/summer transition right now, here in the north anyway. So pretty and fresh!

Ack, that's a terrible picture, sorry! But you get the idea...and now I've got to go finish lunches. Thirteen more to go, ha!

Have a really wonderful Friday! I hope it's filled with all your favorite things, too!

sharing today with Erika, Narci and Andrea

Memorial Day Weekend in Pictures

Most mornings around 4 he wakes and I nurse him back to sleep. Normally I get up then, even on the weekends, but I just couldn't steal myself away from him. I know this isn't going to last forever and I'm determined to drink it all in while I can.

After a cool and wet week, it was absolutely fantastic to wake to a gloriously sunny morning. I went to our town's plant sale at 8 and then figured I'd sneak in a nice, long (UPHILL) walk before traveling for several hours in the car for the first day of Ethan's soccer tournament in MA. I think we have a golden! Look at that shimmery gold!

We made it to UMass, the Amherst campus, and man is that place huge. It was very pretty, but the fields were a total mess after all the rain. I was terrified that someone was going to break an ankle or a neck while playing. Levi spent much of the day like this because there was also NO shade, so I kept parking him with the sun to his back, which put him in the complete wrong position to see anything. Sorry, buddy. A sour older lady also pointed out to me that "that baby needs a HAT!" Because clearly, this lad is not cared for in any capacity whatsoever.

They were ahead until the last three minutes when they gave up a goal, which tied it. Again, I was relieved he hadn't broken something. They'd be coming back the next day. (They ended up losing the first match after having been ahead until the very end, that's frustrating; and Ethan took a header that went wrong and it messed him up a bit. Honestly, I am not sure how much more of this we can allow him to take, but that's a post for another day. They never recovered from some bad plays in the second game and lost by a point.)

It was so late when the match ended, and we were in the middle of nowhere, so we gladly pulled into the golden arches for something to eat before driving the 2+ hours back home. We gave him a straw. He looooved his straw. Who knew?

An early Sunday morning stroll through the yard. So quiet and peaceful. I needed the day to start peacefully. I also love how all the landscaping is coming together. Slowly but surely.

Saying goodbye early in the morning. We missed the older boys and Daddy while they headed back to UMass. I'm so thankful that we had perfect weather because being housebound might have done me in. Single mothers have the hardest job on earth, and I am not kidding even a little bit. Also thankful that it was just for one day.

First day trying the nursery at our new/old church. It did go better than I thought it would, but still. Mommy makes it all better. He collapsed against my neck and sobbed when I got him after the dreaded but expected tap on the shoulder. Since the service wasn't over yet, we went for a little walk while we waited for Isabelle and Caleb.

After church, my in-laws picked up Caleb to spend the afternoon together, so I thought it would be fun to enjoy a little picnic on the front porch. And it was! This guy devoured fresh blueberries and coconut, and oh is he such a character! He sat in his chair for nearly half an hour picking up individual shreds of coconut to eat while Isabelle and I planted the last of the flowers. For now anyway. ;) He also put on the quite a show to keep us entertained while we worked.

We took the scenic route (I got lost) to the farm, Isabelle's happy place. I was a bad Mom because I'd promised her ice cream there and it was so much later than I'd planned, and it got freezing cold that evening. Don't worry, I let her soak her feet in the tub while Levi was in the bath- that is what she REALLY wanted to do, ha ha- and then made her an ice cream sundae with gummy bears. I think I may have avoided incurring emotional damage. Phew.

I would have liked to attend one of the parades and ceremonies, but the weather was awful and we were really tired, plus, I don't need those things in order to feel grateful. And I am so grateful for the countless sacrifices of our service men and women and their families. So we decided on a simple day at home doing fun things together. A high point for sure was eating dessert in the living room while watching a movie.

Today the weather looks much the same: gloomy. But I don't mind. Levi is a tornado these days and I feel like the house is wrecked, so it's a good day to tackle that. And now we're that much closer to the weekend. =) 

ps: I don't post videos on here, but I have been posting on Instastories, so feel free to find me @bethanylivs_life over there - I love getting glimpses inside other people's ordinary days, so say hello if you stop by.