Good Clean Fun

After school my kids decided they wanted to clean using wipes, uh sure!  I gave them each a wipe and they cleaned the stroller, bikes, scooters, basically anything they could get their hands on.  We have done this before with a bucket of soapy water and rags, but since it was slightly chilly we stuck with the wipes.  Sometimes I forget how they love to help and serve and be useful too.  What an awesome way to show their appreciation, as moms we don’t always recognize it!  Here is a look.

Garden Rocks

Today we got to plant some of our seeds for our garden!  I am really excited about our garden this year as we have lots of space to make it large.  I decided to keep track of what we planted we’d decorate rocks and write the name of each plant on it.  My kids really got into it!  They enjoyed being able to spell the words on their own, choose their marker color, and make it their own.  We just used Sharpies..quick and simple, and now I will know what is growing in my garden.

Chalk Art

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought we’d give it a try.  We made chalk art and then took our pictures with our art.  It was loads of fun to make, even my son enjoyed it!  He made football players and then tackled them!  Here is a look.

Basketball Circle Game

My son is just slightly obsessed with basketball.  To entertain him, as well as our whole family, we made up a game to play with our hoop.  We drew circles around our driveway (and then across the street) and wrote numbers inside the circle to show how much each one is worth.  The closer the circle, the least amount of points.  It was lots of fun.  I started with numbers 1, 5, and 10.  Isaiah added ones worth 30 and 90 points!  It is a great way to practice basketball skills as well as addition.  Love it!  Here is a look.

Water Exploration

Today my kids discovered water draining down the road by our driveway and we decided to turn it into a fun project.  Here are some fun water ideas that we did.

* We brought out our water bottles and a bucket to refill them and slowly added more water to the stream to see how far it would go…they loved making it grow!

* We tried to float some of our bath toys in it but it wasn’t deep enough.

* We build dams out of different things to see which would hold the water the best.  Some things we tried were sticks, leaves, and rocks.

*We studied it the next day to discover most of it was gone!

* Splashed it it, of course!

* We also made a big pond, as we called it, and measured the water.

* We raced the water we poured in the stream down the hill.

* We also made handprints by getting our hands wet and slapping them on the ground!

* Add food coloring and see the water turn colors.

It was a fun way to experience the good outdoors without too much exercise for my sweet daughter.  I love the times when my kids are just creative and invent new games and ways to explore!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Backyard Camping

We had a wonderful spring break!  Truly so much fun to get to spend lots of low key time at home with my kids, how I’ve missed that!!  To end our week of fun we decided to camp in the backyard (but not sleep all night due to the rough sleep my husband has had and the colder temperatures at night).  We My husband set up the tent in our backyard, we brought out pillows and blankets and enjoyed our pretend camp.  We had fun tent wrestling, going on a hike around our backyard, collecting sticks for our fire (in our fire pit), star and moon gazing, looking for signs of wildlife,  and roasting s’mores.  It truly was a fun memory for our family, next time we might even spend the whole night outside (when the weather warms).  Here is a look.

Number Game

We have been loving the weather!  Spring is here and it feels great.  Here is something my kids and I have enjoyed doing together over spring break.  Draw several squares with sidewalk chalk joined together and number them (we did 1-12).  Inside each square write a number as well as an activity.  Have your kids roll the dice and do what numbers add up to (mini math lesson!!!).  Our kids really enjoyed the suspense of waiting to see what is rolled and playing some games we haven’t played in awhile.  Here are some ideas for what to put in the squares.

1. Play Duck Duck Goose

2. Play a round of croquet or ladder golf

3. Paint rocks

4. Trace your body with sidewalk chalk and label the parts.

5. Take a family bike ride

6. Eat popsicles

7. Play 4-Square

8. Look for signs of spring

9. Play hide and seek or tag

10. Play a basketball game

11. Roller skate

12. Relay races

Happy playing!

Easy Birdfeeder

My daughter is such an animal lover!  Today we decided to make bird feeders.  It was quite simple and loads of fun!  We poured water into muffin tins.  Added bird seed and a piece of string.  We set them outside to turn to ice, and hung them in the tree!  Very fast and easy, she got to do the whole thing.  She got a bird book and binoculars for Christmas so this is a great opportunity to wait for birds to come and see what kinds our feeders attract!

Pouring

Sprinkling (dumping) the bird seed

Add the string

Retreat

We had the blessing of going on a retreat over our kids fall break.  We got to go fishing, paddle boating, and 4-wheeling.  The kids got to (sort of ) sleep in bunk beds, and enjoy s’mores. We even got to see stars!  It was such a huge blessing and a wonderful time to be in God’s creation and just spend some quality time with our family.  Here is a look.

Our kids both loved the tire swing. Isaiah also liked to use his Ninja moves on it in a sweet game he invented.

4-Wheeler! Ayla was in heaven and wanted tons of rides. Isaiah on the other hand would have prefered not to ride at all. No surprise there.

Yes they are on the roof! They liked to go up there and feel big I guess!

We got to go on a great hike and Isaiah is here, the king of the world!

We got to go down by the Arkansas River and let the kids explore. Luckily no one got to wet!

Paddle boating was a great adventure.

We went fishing and my husband caught a fish right away. Ayla was sad we couldn’t fry him up for dinner!

Our friends also had a great homemade play area.

Isaiah loved being outside and enoying God’s creation.

We got to see chipmunks and lots of deer, thankfully no bears or lions.

We ended our time with a scavenger hunt where the kids got to get each other with silly string! Wahoo!

Snow Cone

We had another snow!  The kids were so excited, and so was I.  We decided to do something a little different and set up a snow cone stand in our backyard.  I had some cherry syrup leftover from the summer’s homemade slushies, so we scooped up some snow and sprinkled dumped some on.  I thought the kids would get so cold, but they loved it!