Quilted Color Match Game For Tots by Frugal Family Fun Blog {even if you don’t quilt, you could do this with paper or something!}

Silhouette Giveaway at Infarrantly Creative {I. want. this. Ends tonight!!}

Pippa’s Poetic Debut at Jodilightful {such a sweet encouraging post!}

Bento Box Basics from Once Upon A Holiday

Summer Kids Crafts: Grow a Head by Scribbit

Which Glue Is Best For You? by Marie at Make and Takes {So simple. But great info!}

linked to itscome2this’ Saturday Stumbles

Cardboard Campfire by Family Corner (hat tip to Muffin Tin Mom!)

Camping Out at Home by Modern Mami {so fun and sweet!}

Jam Jar Lanterns at Craftzine {reminds me of lightning bugs!}

Campfire Cake at Family Fun

A Camp Out Birthday by Random Thoughts of a SuperMom {how cool is this? it would even be a fun playdate!}

linked to itscome2this’ Saturday Stumbles!

It’s funny… we’re not even “in school” right now, but I’m already in summer mode!  I looked over the calendar this weekend, and the summer is already packed with trips to the beach, church conferences, and other summery-activities, and I started thinking about what I’d like to do with the boys this summer in between all the running around.  Some of them are pretty cliché, but they are things we haven’t done with the boys yet, so I would like to start adding the “typical” summer traditions into our summers!

photo by jamelah

1. Catch fireflies! See? Cliché all over the place!  But how many fun memories are truly made of these types of things.  It just so happens I have several jars saved up, and the fireflies should be making an appearance soon!
2. Go to the James River. We are so blessed to have a beautiful natural resource like the James just minutes from our house.  The James River Park system has some amazing places to visit with the kids, and there are even some great “urban” areas to explore the river at the Canal Walk.  Very cool things!  What natural resources do you have close to home that you can explore with your kids this summer?
3. Do the Summer Reading Challenge! As a bookworm from an early age, I did many library summer reading programs.  I thought my boys were still too young until I read Allison’s post about her Summer Reading Challenge – we are so in!  Will you join us?
4. Continue our homeschool time. We have already been going rather light on our preschool lessons, so I see no reason not to continue as we can… I’m still working to get into a good schedule, and I don’t want to lose the progress we’ve been making!
5. Learn more Bible verses together. This is an offshoot of our homeschool time – and something I definitely want to keep up all year round!
6. Go to the zoo - a lot! We have zoo passes this year – what a great place for the kids to run their energy out and learn some stuff, too!  The Metro Richmond Zoo is not huge, but it is a really great place – well-kept, very doable for a short trip, and a whole lot of fun!
7. Build a new swing-set/play fort. Seriously.  I am even excited about letting the boys “help” a bit.  I was my dad’s helper in building things, and I know I practiced pounding nails at an early age.
8. Ride bikes. We need to do some bike maintenance and even some bike purchasing before we can all go rising together, but we have a great neighborhood for riding bikes!
9. See fireworks on the 4th of July. Classic!  We now have a baseball team again in Richmond, so we have a couple more options for fireworks shows in town.  The biggest question now is do we want to pay money and get a guaranteed good seat for a show, or brave the masses to find a good seat on our own for free?
   
10. Run through a sprinkler. Again a cliche, but since we don’t own a sprinkler (no actual grass in our “yard”) this could be a tough one to plan out.  But how much fun! Maybe we can get a sprinkler just for this?

What are your “everyday” plans for the summer?  Any special traditions you want to start or carry on? I’d love to hear your plans and get some more ideas to add to my list!

For more Top Ten {Tuesdays}, visit Amanda’s site here!

Edible Science Experiment: Making Butter and Whipped Cream at Make and Takes {Lydia just asked me if we could make butter!}

Mothering Daughters by Kristen at We Are THAT Family {filing this away…but not for too long!}

Bible Verses on Creation Care {good insight on Earth Day}

Spring Audio Books by Let’s Explore {great suggestions}

Books You’ll Love: My Garden by Sarah Jane Studios {we’re planting a garden, so this one looks great!}

see more fun links at itscome2this

How was your Easter Sunday? Did you go to church? Hang out with your family? Eat good food? Do an egg hunt? Give Easter baskets? Wear new clothes? Dye eggs? We’d love to hear what you did. Why not tell us in our forums? You can even leave a link to your blog so we can all see what you did!

As an incentive, I’m giving away a free copy of the The Parable of the Lilyby Liz Curtis Higgs to one person that leaves a reply in the discussion What did you do for Easter? So, start chatting–you might win a book and you’ll probably make a friend while you’re at it!

{I’ll pick a winner on Friday—so you’ve got all week to reply!}

Free Easter Printables from Living Locurto {where were these during my Spring Party?!}

Today Is Fun {a new to me blog with lots of fun activities for kids and parents!}

Frugal Family Fun Blog {there was so much fun on here, I didn’t know which to feature!}

Easy Easter Matching Game from Imagination Station {more fun for leftover plastic eggs!}

Lenten Lights from Little Llamas {such a visual way to celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection!}

The Choice To Be Unpopular by Diaper Diaries {a great parenting reminder!}

…we started off about a year ago with 3 verbal rules (Obey Daddy and Mommy, Do not hurt others, and Do not hurt yourself), and I’ve kicked around several lists in my head for the past couple of years – but they were always very negative.  No kicking, no hitting, no shoving, no throwing…  A lot of “NO’s” to address very specific behaviors – but not getting to the heart of the matter.

Then I ran across this post – and I fell in love.  Not only with the presentation, but also with her rules.  So positive, so uplifting… I freely admit that I used almost all of her rules – I added two more (#1 and #2) and I took out a couple others, but for the most part, they are the same.  And instead of doing this on canvas, I did it on a scrap piece of MDF that we had in the attic – so it’s heavy as all get out, but I had everything on hand, so it was free!

So here are our 21 Family Rules…

For more Top Ten {Tuesdays} (or top 21, since I can’t count), visit Amanda here!  And for more Do It Yourself Day projects, visit A Soft Place to Land here!

I feel like I’ve written a post about this before, but I can’t find it on this blog or any other one I’ve ever maintained… so maybe it’s just been kicking around in my head for a while.  Please remember that I am a mom of 2 boys – ages almost-4 and almost-2.  These kiddos are crazy and gross – they are all boy, that’s for sure.  I decided to do this list after I said the following to Elias yesterday:

1. Get that out of your pants. This really applies to anything… but yesterday it was a 4 foot length of doweling that he had threaded through his underwear like it was a sword.

2. Sweetie, not everyone wants to see your Spiderman underwear. Do you see a theme happening here?

3. OK – go show Daddy, and then never do that again. Suppressing laughter, but followed by the admonition…

4. Kix do not belong in your nose.

5. We have to put on clothing to go out of the house.

6. Underwear is for family time only.

7. Stop smushing your face into mine!  I can’t breathe! This is a way that Donovan shows his love – I need to teach him that love does not have to be so… smothering.

8. Donovan, give your brother some space while he goes pee-pee. This is mostly so I don’t wind up with a little kid covered in his brother’s pee-pee.

9. Stop drinking the bath water!!!

10. I miss the boys. Said on a date night with my hubby.  I really never thought I would say that on a much needed night alone… Sorry, my love!

For more Top Ten {Tuesday}, visit Amanda here!

In no particular order (chronological or otherwise), here are my top ten favorite summer pictures:

1. Elias and his best friend, London, at London’s 4th birthday party (held at Inflation Nation – super fun!).

2. Craft time. What I hope will be happening in our house for years to come.  This is one of the first times I’ve been able to keep Donovan busy while Elias and I worked on a craft together.

3. A trip over the James River to Belle Isle. A first for the boys this year, but it won’t be the last!

4. An everyday occurrence at our house - followed by much laughter, and then, finally… “Momma, will you get him off of me?”

5. Donovan’s first trip to the Metro Richmond Zoo. I didn’t get many pictures, so this is the best one that was taken of Donovan (and me).

6. Great-grandbaby #6! My nephew, Mason, was born at the end of June, and he became my hubby’s Granny’s 6th great-grandbaby!  There’s another on the way (not us!), so Granny will continue to be surrounded by little ones who adore her!

7. Another everyday occurrence at our house. Donovan loves running around in his diaper, and he also loves shoes… so he’ll take everything off and then bring us a pair of shoes to put on him.  crazy kid….

8.&9. An afternoon at the water fountains. With Josh’s mom, who the kids all call Emmy, and my sister-in-law and her two daughters.  The kids all had such a good time together that day!

10. Brothers!

For more Top Ten {Tuesdays}, visit Amanda here!

Blessed is [Lydia] who obeys the law of the Lord.
[Lydia] doesn’t follow the advice of evil people.
[Lydia] doesn’t make a habit of doing what sinners do.
[Lydia] doesn’t join those who make fun of the Lord and his law.
Instead, [Lydia] takes delight in the law of the Lord.
[Lydia] thinks about his law day and night.
[Lydia] is like a tree that is planted near a stream of water.
It always bears its fruit at the right time.
Its leaves don’t dry up.
Everything godly people [Lydia] do turns out well.
Sinful people are not like that at all.
They are like straw that the wind blows away.
When the Lord judges them, their life will come to an end.
Sinners won’t have any place among those who are godly.
The Lord watches over the lives of those who are godly [Lydia].
But the lives of sinful people will lead to their death.

Psalm 1 (Lydia’s version)