When I was a child, I remember being proud to put my hand over my heart and say the pledge or sing the National Anthem. I was one of the kids that got to raise, lower, and fold the American flag outside our school. As I got older, I went through a stage where I was a little less proud and felt strange showing pride in my country this way. Then, my grandparents came to live with us. … [Read more...]
DIY 4th of July Shirts
We try to do at least one craft a week, so this week we decided to make something for the 4th of July! I found a photo of similar shirts on pinterest that I used as inspiration. The kiddos and I made up our own strategy together. … [Read more...]
11 Summer Activities Tested by Kids
So far this summer we have had a lot of fun! We've managed to get out of the house enough, yet not over do it. I planned several summer activities that I think that kids will enjoy, but the true test of an activity or outing is what the kids think. So... Here are a list of Kid Tested Summer Fun Ideas and what "my" kiddos thought about them! (You can read more about our daily summer schedule and structure here.) … [Read more...]
How I Structured Summer with 4 Kids
During the school year, I only have L and E. So, prepping for summer is a little different from our norm. Big Sis and Big Bro join us and after last summer (not enough structure, way to much freedom!), I really wanted to try my hand at structuring our summer a bit more! I worked hard to plan out the months that we had together so that we had fun activities, adventures, learning activities, chores, and free time. I wanted the days to be predictable but also flexible and able to work with camps and having friends over. I also wanted to make it easy for me to … [Read more...]
The Perfect Wedding
There is no such thing as a wedding that goes perfectly according to plan, but there most definitely IS such a thing as a perfect wedding. Our wedding weekend was the most amazing marathon two days, despite the mishaps that we came across at the time. I am sharing this with you because I struggled for months after our wedding with feelings of failure and frustration that our day didn't go "just so" or that my DIY ideas didn't come off the way I'd pictured. I'm known for being organized, and I felt like I had let people down because I wasn't organized enough. I was worried that people saw … [Read more...]