July SUMMER ACTIVITY Plans!

 June was fun and busy and we honestly did maybe half of what I had planned in June's planning blog post. We had family visit, library activities, and lots of friends and playing outside which took up our time. 

This month, instead of planning activities for each day, I am going to put some of the activities that I really want to do here so that I can reference it as I'm planning each week, but not feel pressure to be too busy or try to do too much. 

Nature Bookmarks 

I found this fun idea to make nature bookmarks. The girls can gather leaves and maybe some weed flowers out in the creek, and then we can use Lindi's laminator to make their bookmark for them. I think Ashtyn (who loves flowers and reading) will especially love this activity.

Rock Balancing 

A simple outdoor activity that we have fun with is rock balancing. The girls love finding the rocks and trying to get them to balance. We can do this in our backyard or out in the creek.

Shadow Drawing 

Today we're going to do a simple shadow drawing activity. It will have an easy set up and I think the kids will have a lot of fun with it. 

Nature People 

Moving outside, we are going to use chalk, rocks, and plants to make people on the cement. I know the kids will love this one, especially Ashtyn. 

Frozen Paint 

Painting is a great thing to do during the summer because we can do it outside to help with the mess. Today, I wanted to try frozen painting, a fun summer twist to art!

Make a Sundial 

Another fun activity I saw the idea for was to make a sundial. It'll be a fun way to talk about time and clocks, and we can learn about the history of it. 

Bird Feeders 

This day, we're going to make toilet paper roll bird feeders with peanut butter and bird feed. We will probably need to hang them up at Ben's parent's house because we don't have a good place in our yard to hang them up. 

Sun Print Experiment 

This is a fun and simple sun activity. Ashtyn especially loves science and we can learn about why/how it leaves prints on the paper. 

Make a Ladybug 

Coloring and craft activities are great for rainy days or really hot times in the summer. I think all three girls will love this one, since they all love ladybugs. 

Under the Sea Pages 

I have some ocean themed worksheets for the girls to do. We can also watch some YouTube videos about the ocean and ocean creatures. 

Color Wheel 

Ashtyn loves art and I got emailed these color wheel worksheets that I think she will really like. 

Backyard Bugs Course 

I found this free course on bugs that I can do with Ashtyn during the summer. It looks fun and I think she'll enjoy us doing it together. 

So that's it! I don't know if we'll get to all of these. Each Tuesday, our library does an activity in the morning, so we've been doing that each week. We've also been reading a ton, because we have a goal to read 100 hours this summer together. That's been lots of fun and any activity we do on top of that will be great! 

Parker's Fifth Birthday!

 Parker had such a wonderful time celebrating her 5th birthday! 

The night before, I set up the streamers and balloons so she would wake up to those decorations. I made donuts while the kids played with the balloons. The donuts had pink frosting and I had pink and blue sprinkles to put on top. 

Once we got breakfast and donuts cleaned up, I took Ashtyn and Rylee over to Caleb's house to be babysat while Ben and I did a special date with Parker. 

We set up our bathroom and gave her a makeover. She specifically requested makeup on her eyes and lips. We also painted her nails and let her pick out a special hairdo. We played ballet music (her request) while we did it. Then she put on a dress and picked out accessories. 

We did a little photoshoot with her before we took her to B Fruity for a special fruit smoothie. A really nice older gentleman paid for her treat, which was fun. She loved that everyone there told her she looked like a princess, though she kept saying she missed her sisters. 

Then we picked up Ashtyn and Rylee and went home. During Rylee's nap, Ashtyn and Parker played with their neighbor friend for awhile and then all the girls watched Sophia the First (Parker's pick of a show) while I finished getting everything ready for the party. 

At six, we had family come over for Parker's Pancakes in Pajamas Unicorn party. Everyone wore pajamas and we made pancakes (with sprinkles and syrup and strawberry jam and whipped cream), sausage, bacon, strawberries and cherries, and vanilla and chocolate ice cream. I also made some waffles without flour for Makenzie and I. The decorations were unicorns and we had some unicorn bookmarks for the kids to color as well as little unicorn horn headbands. 

Parker loved everyone coming, being sung to, and opening presents. She had a blast at her party and felt so special. I love her and the traditions we have! 

Our MAY Highlights - Visiting Family, Memorial Day, and Warm Weather!

 We had a blast in May doing a lot of fun things with family! 

One of the biggest highlights of the month was when we traveled out to West Jordan for Mother's Day weekend. It was even sweeter after all the craziness of Covid and not being able to visit for so long. 

We drove out Friday after Rylee's nap, so we had time to visit with my mom and Luke for a few minutes before it was time for the girls to go to sleep. After we had them in bed, Ben and I went over and hung out with Jon. We grabbed some food and it was a lot of fun to talk with him and spend that time together. 

We got to bed late, so we had a lazy Saturday morning. Even though it was cold, the girls begged my mom to take them out into her yard. She worked on it a lot since we'd last visited and had a lot of fun things for the girls to do. They had a blast and Ashtyn especially loved "helping" my mom with yardwork. 

After lunch, we went over to Eric and Alison's bake sale. We only got to see them for a few minutes, but it was so nice to visit and catch up with them. We hadn't seen them since all the Covid stuff happened. The girls were really happy to get a treat from the bake sale as well. 

Then we went back to my mom's and Cassie came over with her girls. The girls absolutely loved playing with their cousins! Parker was especially excited that Olivia was her age. 

Then my mom babysat the girls while Ben and I went to dinner with Quinn and Sarah. We went to a Thai restaurant, which was fun because Ben and I had never tried Thai food before. The food was yummy and we had such a blast hanging out with them. 

Ben and I got Jamba Juice afterwards, but it wasn't that great. We have a really great juice bar we like in Vernal and Jamba Juice just couldn't compare. 

Then we went home and went to bed early, after staying up so late with Jon. 

Sunday, we spent the morning and afternoon at my mom's, just hanging out. It was really nice to be with her on Mother's Day. After Rylee's nap, we picked up Jon and went over to visit with my grandparents. I always love visiting with them and it was nice to see them. We've missed them over the last year. 

The trip home was uneventful and all the kids fell asleep. 

We finished up a last month of homeschool. I did these line tracing worksheets for Parker mostly, but Ashtyn loved them too. 

The first Sunday of the month was Truffle Day. It's the only day of the year that I make them because even though they are so yummy, they are a lot of work! I made my homemade Oreos and used chocolate chips for one plate, and then I made diet approved cookies and homemade chocolate with maple syrup for myself and Ben's cousin who is pregnant right now as well. They turned out so yummy! 

Parker helped me make the cookies and the truffles. She got an apron for Easter and one of her favorite things to putting it on and helping me make things in the kitchen!

The girls love getting to go in Ben's office. Rylee and Parker have recently loved listening to music on his computer with his special headphones. 

For one of our homeschool activities, we made these cute little frogs. Their mouths folded open and we wrote their names there. The kids had a lot of fun with it. 

The girls all had fun filling in this blank circle worksheet. This one is Parker's. 

On Cinco de Mayo, we made these mini piñatas out of toilet paper rolls. The girls absolutely loved it. Not pictured, we also had a big piñata that we did in the basement with Navy and the twins, which was a lot of fun as well!  

For Star Wars Day, they each made their own Star Wars monster. Rylee named hers Rava and carried it around for days (until we lost it).

These were Parker's. She named hers Lovey and Baddy.

This one was Ashtyn's. They had as much fun playing with them for days afterward as they did making them. 

The girls also had fun making little, simple cards for their Grandmas for Mother's Day.

We did quite a few butterfly activities this month, in addition to Ashtyn catching a lot of real butterflies outside. Her favorite thing right now is catching bugs and she keeps them in containers in the garage. 

Parker really loves tea parties right now. As soon as Rylee is down for a nap (we avoid the tea set when she's awake because of water messes) she gets it out and wants Ben and I to have some tea with her. 

One Saturday, my friend Itzel and her husband Tanner came up to visit. We went on a hike and played games and just hung out. We had such a blast and I'm so glad they could come!

Rylee did so well. She hiked the whole way up herself and walked almost halfway back, she was a little trooper. She got sand in her shoes, which was hurting her feet, so she had Ben carry her then. I also did really well. I was a little worried, being pregnant and since we don't hike a lot, but I can tell I'm in better shape now even being pregnant than I was the last time we did this hike.

Ashtyn loves doing pixel art and making games on Ben's computer. Parker started doing pixel art this month as well. 

We've become pretty good friends with Ben's cousin's cousin and her family. Ashtyn especially has fun with the twins. We were able to go to the park one beautiful morning with them and they had a blast. 

Near the end of the month was Dalin's birthday! We went out into the trees to roast hot dogs and play music. It was really fun, even when a big storm suddenly came and drove us inside! 

Sisters 💓

I was six months pregnant here. I haven't even taken a bump picture and I thought it would be fun! I'm seven months now and in the third trimester, which is exciting!

Snuggles from Rylee! Also, her face lol

We did a little color scavenger hunt on Scavenger Hunt Day. Ashtyn liked it so much, she decided to make her own after completing the one I made for her. 

Ashtyn with one of her bug containers.

Ashtyn has been learning to cut things with a sharp knife. She loves helping me cut up soft foods like olives and tomatoes.

We did a movement activity together, with Mimic Me cards. The cards have stick figures on them and the girls try to copy the pose the stick figure is in. Ashtyn and Parker had fun afterwards lining them up to make dance moves. 

On the Saturday before Memorial Day, Ben's extended family went up to their little family cabin for the afternoon and it was a blast. The kids got to play on the teeter totter, take rides with Grandma Leah, roast hot dogs, and catch scorpions and lizards with Ben. 

And to end the post, here are just a few screenshots the kids took together while talking with their cousins on Facebook. When the kids want, Melissa and I will find a time that we can let them have our phones to talk for a few minutes and we always have a lot of pictures afterwards.