Summer Things For When All Else Fails..,

With a three month old to care for as well as two nine year old boys, a twelve year old girl, and a fifteen year old boy home for the summer, I know that things are going to get crazy. This is my first summer home A.) since Will was 4, and B.) with more than one kid. So, in order to save my sanity, I'm compiling a list of activity ideas to break the monotony (and maybe keep them from breaking each other). I'm getting a lot of help from Pinterest for this, lol.

I reserve the right to add to this list as I find more ideas! ;)

1. Visit the zoo
2. Water gun fight
3. Water balloon fight
4. Visit the Riverquarium
5. Picnic (Riverfront Park in Albany, park, lake, river, with Mark on his lunch break)
6. Go to the park
7. Walk the trail at the lake
8. Feed the ducks at the lake
9. Go to the library
10. Interview each kid
11. Do photo shoots
12. Make smores/banana boats/etc
13. Roast weinies for dinner
14. Bake cupcakes and let them decorate
15. Set up an ice cream sundae bar
16. Let them play in the waterhose
17. Go to the pool
18. Visit state parks
19. Play board games
20. Learn card games together
21. Get them Twister
22. Play in the rain
23. Blow bubbles
24. Sidewalk chalk
25. Sidewalk chalk paint - recipe here
26. Make bouncy balls
27. Make popsicles - Mango Kiwi Raspberry Pops or Whipped Pineapple Pops or Sprite & Gummy Bears or 100 More
28. Tie Dye something
29. Watch clouds
30. Do a puzzle
31. Play I Spy
32. Watch the stars
33. Discover uses for food coloring
34. Make a Naked Egg
35. Make homemade bubbles
36. Make a target to throw water balloons at
37. Have a glow in the dark bowling tournament (glow sticks in bottles of water)
38. Make jellyfish in bottles
39. Make homemade watercolors and paint
40. Make an Angry Birds game
41. Make no-flour playdough or magic playdough
42. Play sidewalk chalk games
43. Find and make pet rocks
44. Experiment with balloons
45. Make water bottle fountains
46. Make sun tea
47. Have a treasure hunt
48. Paper airplane races
49. Potato stamp art
50. Have a Wii Championship
51. Wash the cars
52. Go see fireworks
53. Play with sparklers
54. Visit a historical site
55. Each pick a country and learn about it - obscure facts!
 56. Make bleach t-shirts
57. Make pinecone bird feeders
58. Make a photo booth
59. Make a time capsule of the summer to open next summer
60. Put together a family joke book
61. Make sponge balls and FIGHT
62. Do marble paintings
63. Go to the Botanical Gardens
64. Do a photo scavenger hunt
65. Watch the sunrise
66. Make bookmarks from pressed flowers/leaves and packing tape
67. Make ice boats
68. Cook a solar powered lunch
69. Mega bubbles!
70. Make lemonade from scratch
71. Go puddle jumping
72. Make a video of everyone making funny faces
73. Make tape word paintings

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Last year (and pretty much every year for 10 or 12 years beforehand) my sister did all of the Christmas decorating.

And then last year, 12 days before Christmas, my sister died. Needless to say, we were all pretty much numb for the holidays. I went back to work shortly before New Years and couldn't bring myself to take the decorations down. So my mom and my nephew did it one day while I was at work. See... Jamie was BRIGHT. She had some pale green, bronze, and gold ornaments... That went on a light purple tree. That was her tame tree. The tree in the living room? Was white, with a mostly red, hot pink, lime green, and turqouise/aqua-ish ornaments, along with her variety of ornaments that she had bought or been given (glittery cupcakes, a frog prince, two Frosty ornaments, ornaments the kids have made). That tree was fondly called the Dr. Suess tree. So there was a lot of her personality tied up in it. Christmas is just... JAMIE for us. Last year we were numb, this year we're remembering...