I’m still here!!

Hello Everyone!!! I pray you have been basking in the all the summer glory!!

I wanted to update all of my readers on my crazy busy life since I last posted and to let you know that I’m still here and hope to continue writing as much as I can.

I have a Kindergarten grad now!! My oldest finished Kindergarten at the end of May and we have been in summer mode doing all the fun stuff since. She truly loved kindergarten and had an amazing teacher that she and I will never forget! And a new love for learning, which I am trying to really continue with learning time for her and brother after breakfast most mornings of the week.

I started taking a class in Limited radiography online through work and am very busy with studying and remembering how to be a student! I have the garden started.. just don’t look at the weeds, and just need to plant the next set of seeds this week, along with mulch and well I said not to look at the weeds right!

My husband went on a trip with his brother and had a fantastic time. While he was gone it was all Mama time!! I want to say right now in all capitals YOU MAMAS THAT DO THIS ALL BY YOURSELVES ALL THE TIME, I AM IN AWE OF YOU AND YOU ARE ALL ROCKSTARS IN MY MIND. It is hard to have the kids all to yourself for days at a time. Even the smallest amount of time I get when my husband is home,like I can step away to say go get the mail, I missed it! I definitely did a lot of breathing, and prayers of patience that week. But in all reality it went well, and I enjoyed having them by myself! While he was gone, I had my 2nd to oldest nephews graduation party that we got to go to and enjoy! We travelled the 3 hours down there, enjoying music, podcasts (favorite was the veggie tales one!), and they loved to draw in their new sketch pads (thanks dollar tree)! The 3 hour ride home that night, we listened to music, my youngest slept for a bit, and my 5 year old girl asked me loads of questions. It was a great trip, exhausting, but very much enjoyable.

So let’s talk about summer and the stress/ fun that it entails for my family and I’m sure you can relate.

Road trips–

Oh how we love to get out of dodge and see some countryside. I don’t know about you but we sure enjoy going to new locations and exploring. How do we do it with the littles???? I will tell you!

First, you need to decide with your significant other as a team how you want to entertain your children on the road. Some parents like electronics, and some do not, and some do a little of both. No judgement either way! Parenting is hard and you need to do whatever you need to do to keep all the stress at a minimum. For my family we do no electronics such as movies or games. We do listen to music, and podcasts along with audiobooks.

If you are like me and want the kids to entertain themselves with non electronics then I will tell you my secret … ready….. DOLLAR TREE IS YOUR FRIEND!!!! LOL. Ok so it’s not a great secret, but this has been my go to since the kids were very little. They have toys, activity books, board books, and so much more that can entertain the kids for so so long! This time I went with the sketch books, new gel pens, crayons, and a sticker activity book for my daughter, and for my son I got a sketchbook , crayons, stickers, and an activity book of super hero’s! I got that all at 1.25 a piece and let me tell you, it is so worth it. They love to have something new to do on the drive! I also bring lots of books for them to look at, toys that they can easily play with, and if all else fails there is always the games of I spy or we play I’m thinking of, which is kinda like 20 questions, sing the alphabet, ask what do animals say, and whatever we can think of that is fun for them.

If you have a baby that does not play with things yet, you can get some light up toys, noisy toys, and mirrors and sit in the back with them, as long as you have your partner with and entertain them that way.

The other thing that we do on our drives is eat snacks. Who doesn’t like a good snack right!! I again use Dollar Tree for this. They have tons of snacks that you can get for the kids and yourself. I use the snacklebox – that I did not know was a thing, and found a few of the tackleboxes at home and started using for this, and my husband thought I was a genius …. Until we found out it was already a thing… lol! If you don’t know what they are you should look it up. They are everywhere now. They are great because I can put a bunch of different snack in there and just hand it to the kids so they can pick what they want! I usually put some treats that they usually do not get unless its a special occasion and they are so excited when they see them! My oldest told me enthusiastically this last trip… Mom you are the best!! How did you know I would love these!! … I take those moments when I can!

Some of the podcasts we listen to are Veggietales, Little Stories for Tiny people, Mick Munter monster hunter,and Earth rangers. The kids like to listen to audiobooks too. Some that we have listened to are Dragon Masters, Harry Potter, Roald Dahl books including Fantastic Mr Fox, Dr. Seuss books, The kindgdom of Wrenly, Disney Princess books ,Pinkalicious books, Ladybird Audioadventures, and more. I have to say, my husband and I can get into some of those audiobooks too!

Lots of stops on the way to let them stretch their legs can be much needed too!

Summer play dates / get out of the house and try something new-

I have been trying to get better at this the last few years. We now meet up with one family that we all really enjoy and trying to do that once a week or every 2 weeks. We have also started to see another one of my daughter’s friends and have fun times. It’s sometimes hard to do this, and with schedules and let’s face it pure exhaustion from all the things we have to do at home. Give yourself grace and do what you can.

We love to go to the local libraries and in the summer they have so many things to do with your kids.. also it free. The other day we went to a presentation at the library where they had a local professor of biology come with his exotic animals. It was fun to see the kids learn about the animals and interact with the other children. They have read and feeds at one of the local libraries where you can picnic with the kids and the librarian will read books to them and usually has an activity for them to do too. It’s a great time to sit back and relax while the kids are having fun!

Anything you can do to get the kids excited and having fun is a great way to spend a day! Try drawing with chalk, making slime, make popsicles – (dollar tree has the equipment) , chalk paint, lay in the yard and look at the clouds, or read a book with them, or just run around and play make believe. My hope is that I can make myself slow down and really just play with the kids as much as possible during this summer!

Vacation bible school is a great way to continue teaching your kids the love of God, along with let them have a great time with friends or new friends over the summer. Also a great time for you to volunteer to help out your church by helping the future of our church … our kids.

More to come on our new adventures this summer! I just wanted to give some ideas for you out there that needed a little encouragement! You can do this! No matter what you do, just let your kids be kids and have a fun time!

Here’s some of our fun already this summer!!

Sunshine, fresh air, and lots of giggles makes a great kid summer!

-Kristy