Friday, July 09, 2010

Bingo! Beating Summer boredom, one square at a time...

We had been doing a pretty good job of staying busy during the first few weeks of our summer break, but had recently lost a little bit of that momentum. The unhappy result was boredom, irritability, and overall bad attitudes. We've still got a few more fun activities planned for later this month, but in the meantime, we are SO thrilled to be playing the SUMMER BINGO game! I first heard about this wonderful idea when Celeste posted a link on facebook, and then Jessica shared how she and her family had adapted it for their own use, and after talking about it with Darren, we decided to go ahead and give it a try! I spent most of last Saturday making game sets for each of the three older kids, and I love how they turned out!


I basically used the same set of rules shared generously by Stacy. In fact, I think our entire game is put together much like hers: small ring holding a 4x6 laminated card stock "cover" with a photo of each child, laminated Rule Card, then a BINGO card (I didn't laminate the actual playing cards because they'll be using a new one each week).

Like Stacy, I used a 5 x 5 table filled with activities to do during the week. Many of them are duplicated on all three cards, so they can all work together to earn a sticker for that square, but quite a few are specific to each child according to their interests and tasks I'd specifically like them to complete. (Dylan, for example, has three separate squares that say "Practice Piano for 30 minutes", one that says "Post something new on your website", and "Create a Comic Book and mail it to someone").



Their cards are nearly full now, lacking stickers only for the squares that say "Make up a water game in the backyard", which we'll be doing tomorrow morning. ;) I am SO proud of how they've all responded to this game! Meghan, especially, has so enthusiastically embraced it, asking me every day what she can do next. I'll leave you with a final photo, because I think it's so cute: "Have a tea party in your playhouse". :)

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Laziest Fourth of July Ever.





I haven't decided yet whether I find it more hilarious or pathetic that the only photos I managed to take over an entire four day holiday weekend were these few of my patriotic children drinking the delicious watermelon slushies we whipped up in the blender (twice, because they were just so good). What a lazy few days! They were wonderful while they lasted. :)

"Look, Mama! I found my feet!"





Friday, July 02, 2010

Original Creations by Dylan: LEGO Shrek and Fiona Minifigures


Backyard Beauty

Thank you so much for all the sweet comments on my last post! I honestly wasn't expecting any, but I had just had to share those beautiful photos of my Meggie! And Blair, you were right! While I'd still really LOVE an SLR, these were taken with my poor little point-and-shoot. I'd done nothing but bad talk it at every photo taking opportunity, cursing it's poor picture quality, ruing the day in December that I'd bought it as a cheap replacement for my previous camera, which had finally succumbed to one too many falls at the hands of certain little people who live here. ;)

The indoor picture taking capabilities of my current camera are just absolutely horrid. Awful! No matter what settings I use I get blurry, grainy, washed out disappointments. But a few weeks ago, having finally started taking outdoor photos again on a regular basis, I was delighted to discover that under proper conditions, this loathsome little lens is actually quite capable of capturing perfectly lovely pictures! It was such an "ah-ha!" moment of discovery when I finally realized it that I laughed out loud! There's just no stopping me now. I'm just so happy when I'm out there snapping photos!

Here are just a few of my favorites from the many dozens I took tonight. :)




Thursday, July 01, 2010