we checked a handful of items off our summer list during our trip to new york.
new york, of course.
hike.
fireworks.
swim.
not to mention, the things that were not on the list…
watch fireflies.
play in a creek.
go to an amusement park.
eat three burgers in three days.
night swimming.
watch live music.
eat frozen custard.
home is…summer, moving right along.
here it is…
{oh, and i should add “finish painting walls white” to the list…the wall looks like an ugly beige/pink/something in this photo!}
i decided that i liked meg’s chalkboard list, and since our dining room chalkboard has been empty for a few months it was time to fill it up!
for now, i am still in reset mode. i canceled our trip to sunriver for the weekend…i want to ease into summer.
yesterday, we managed to cross one off the list…
after the little guy’s last day of school we went down the street, and the kids had a huge water balloon fight with some friends. myself and the mom hosting the party filled over 300 balloons! it took me at least an hour to fill two five gallon buckets with balloons…within a few minutes the balloons were gone!
totally worth the smiles and celebration to kick off the summer!
home is…happy it’s summer break.
it’s been a few years since we did an official summer list.
there is always one in my mind, but i thought it would be fun to have one in writing somewhere in the house since the kids can read (well, the little guy can and baby girl wants to learn this summer)!!
i was originally inspired by meg’s summer list…
in 2011, our summer list it looked like this…
in 2012, our list looked like this…
in 2013, i didn’t make a list because our summer was so busy we didn’t need one!
in 2014, i just didn’t make it happen.
this year, the summer list is making a return!
while baby girl is already on summer break we have a couple of days to work on the list before the little guy gets out of school for the summer.
we will need to come up with a list…and a fun way to display it!
until then, i know i would like to implement these summertime rules…
stay tuned…
home is…planning fun!
We’ve been checking items off our summer list.
We had some friends over on the 4th of July. We ate, drank, played, set off fireworks, and walked to the local fireworks show down the street.
And, today…
We didn’t check it off, but we inadvertently started. Lorelai wants to wear undies. So, after she got out of bed this morning we put undies on. Shortly after breakfast, I decided that we needed to get out of the house while Ryan worked from home. My plan was to go to Goodwill and see where else the morning took us.
I asked Reece use the bathroom and gave Lorelai the choice to put on a diaper or try to pee on the potty. She refused the diaper, so I told her she would need to go pee on the potty before she could put her undies back on.
We sat in the bathroom for over 3 hours.
Fruit snacks.
Books.
Drinks.
Ipad.
Lunch.
Iphone.
Popsicle.
Hugs.
Finally, I gave in.
I was tired of sitting in the bathroom and she wanted to get off the potty. It’s been four hours…and, really, 6 hours since she got up and had her diaper changed.
She told me she will let me know when she needs to go.
I even offered her a diaper and she does NOT want to put one on.
We’ve moved outside, and she still hasn’t gone pee…
until just a second ago (at 3:15 pm) when she was standing on the deck and said, “I’m going pee!”
Six hours later.
I’m not sure I’m ready for this.
home is…working on our summer list (some items are easier to cross off than others).
Last night we invited out next door neighbors over for a test run of an outdoor movie in our backyard.
We had a campfire for roasting marshmallows.
And, once it got dark enough outside everything worked great!
My photography skills in the dark…not that great.
So, I changed all the photos to sepia.
You get the idea, right?
We watched Puss in Boots.
All boys…and baby girl!
The moon between the trees.
We’ll definitely be doing this again!
I have big plans for an outdoor movie party.
Check this one off our summer list!
And, can you all help me out with the photos? What settings should i be using/change?
I was shooting in auto…I’m not using manual, yet.
I don’t want to use flash, and the nighttime mode on my Nikon D60 just makes things blurry.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
home is…a successful test run (for the movie, not my night time photography skills)
For the first time in the five summers of living in this house we did not make it to the Tigard Festival of Balloons.
I love to get up early beginning on Friday morning and walk down to the park to watch the balloons launch.
Unfortunately, it was rainy.
Friday.
Saturday.
And, Sunday.
When my 5:20am alarm went off each morning, I listened for the rain, heard it on the roof, and went back to sleep.
Here are a few photos from years past…
And, you can see my posts from last year here and here.
It all worked out ok as baby girl woke up on Friday morning with a fever, so we spent the day lounging and fighting her fever.
By Saturday she was getting some energy back, so we headed out to goodwill while the boys washed Ben and took Odyssey for a swim.
We found a couple of treasures…
so, I have new projects to work on.
By Sunday afternoon, the sun began to come out…
These horses were out on my drive home from Trader Joe’s.
And, I was able to get out and enjoy my happy place a little bit.
We weren’t able to cross balloon festival off our summer list, but we’ll be working on some other items this week.
Stay tuned for a peek into our home later this week…
Oh, also…
Source: kellehampton.com via stephany @ on Pinterest
Kelle liked my yellow dress!
home is…no hot air, but lots of rain.
Last year I was inspired by Meg to come up with a Summer List of our own, and I loved it!
I absolutely love how Meg’s looked on her giant chalkboard with the photo collages in what is now her craft house!
{I also adore her old school chairs and would love some of my own.}
Source: megduerksen.typepad.com via stephany @ on Pinterest
Anyway, it gave us (me) a reason to plan some fun activities each week, but also left room for spontaneity and lazy days.
Although the little guy has been out of school for a couple of weeks, this week is the “official” start of summer break for all of the “big kids” as the last day of school was yesterday.
I have a giant chalkboard like Meg’s, but the kids use it and I am afraid that they would erase our list and I would constantly be re-writing it this summer.
I decided to use our giant bulletin board instead.
You may remember that it has been used to display our christmas cards in the past…
in our playroom…
and, in our family room.
Now, the bulletin board is located on the huge wall next to our open staircase in our entryway.
It has been displaying the kids artwork from the school year.
Since we won’t have school work, and we have two other bulletins on the wall to display artwork, I decided this would be a good place to put our summer list.
So, here is our Summer List 2012…
We walk by it every day and we can make sure that we are checking things off as summer moves along!
I printed out our list in a fun font, cut out the items, and glued them to scrapbook paper that was cut into different sizes.
My hope is that each time we do something on the “list” we can write the date on the card and I can write down a little bit about our adventure.
I will also print some photos of our adventures to put up on the board.
See my handsome cousin and his fiancé up there? We’re going to their wedding in August!
And, the big thing on our list…
no more diapers!
So, what do you plan to do this summer?
Here are some recent photos from Instagram…you can follow me as @homeisablog!
Well, we’ve got to to cross something off our summer list…
home is…hot fun in the summertime.
So, I said it in my about page…I’m a procrastinator.
Yep, still don’t have our summer list done.
Actually, the list is done, but the display is not…and I’ve got to have it all ready for a blog post, right?
We have already crossed two items off the list…
The first year (when all of our oldest turned one), it was 30 adults and 15 kids.
This year we had 26 adults and 26 kids (with one more due this month)!
One of the families lives on 5 awesome acres near wine country, apple orchards, and berry farms.
They graciously hosted the crew and it was fabulous!
Lala found this jumprope…
…and wouldn’t let it go.
And, we lucked out with June weather here in the Pacific Northwest…sunny and in the 70’s!
Bobo had a great time playing with some of his buddies and ran all over the place until he got blisters from his Batman Crocs!
It’s always fun to get the dad’s together with all of the kids.
The dad’s play with the kids, and , after 5 years, I think they know everybody’s name!
They all looked relaxed.
She finally played with the other kids after following me around for almost 2 hours.
Isn’t this outhouse awesome?!
We did it all potluck…the kids love the homemade cupcakes!
We sang Happy Birthday.
The kids shared their cupcakes with me.
This hammock was a hit with all the kids…Lala even wanted me to change her diaper on it!
I gave it a try and decided we need to get one for our backyard!
Today we “officially” went to the pool.
Bobo had gone in a couple of times before his swim lessons, but today we packed a lunch, brought our beach towels, and all had our swimsuits on!
The kids has a blast!
So did I!
Actually, I didn’t sit around.
I got in the pool, went down the water slide multiple times, and left feeling like I had been on a mini vacation.
Sometimes, the easiest way to take care of kids is to act like one yourself!
I made a fun graduation gift inspired by the theme of the graduation party we went to over the weekend.
I’m thinking about making more to put in the shop…so check it out later this week!
home is…working on our summer list.
Wow.
July was crazy busy.
And, what…where did August go?!
I have lots of catch up posts to put together about some of our summer adventures…
I promise to get to them.
More for me than anything.
The little guy asked me if we still had things to cross off on our summer list.
Yes, we have a few.
And, a few will wait until next summer.
For now, I am going to embrace September.
I love the changing seasons.
I used to love the beginning of a new school year.
I look forward to the sounds of football coming from the TV or radio, cool evenings, crisp mornings and sunlight streaming through leaves that are trying to hold on to their green color just a little bit longer.
Ryan has been traveling a lot. Like, every week. It’s just the way things are. It’s the life we have chosen.
He’s tired.
I’m tired.
And, we just push on.
He texted me today from Northern California and said, “Would love some hardcore family time on Saturday.”
So, I will plan some hardcore family time for us.
Maybe cross some things off of our summer list.
Oh, and we have a birthday to celebrate on Monday.
Ryan will be 39.
Oh, and we welcomed a new little bundle into the extended family on Tuesday.
My sister-in-law texted us on Tuesday afternoon and said, “Think I might be in labor.”
Less than 4 hours later she texted us again and said, “SHE is here!”
Welcome little Katherine Grace to our extended family. She is surrounded by brothers and boy cousins…and has our baby girl to help show her the ropes!
Speaking of baby girl, she will be 2 a week from today!
Two. Years. Old.
Wow.
home is…hardcore family time.
So, I missed a couple of weeks while we were on vacation.
We went to visit my husband’s family in New York.
I will get a post up about that after I get a post up about our beach trip from the 4th of July!
Can we say I am a little behind on keeping up?!
Here is where the dogs go when we are out of town…
And, this is a bit of what we have been doing since we got back…
home is…summer is finally here in the pacific northwest!
*today I am linking up with The {Starfish} Blog…
stephany taddeo 