Outdoor Summer Activities – Pool, Games, and More!
We spent a good bit of our summer time in the pool when we were home. Last year I got a blow up seesaw for the pool. It was a big hit with the kids! The hardest part was staying on when you were all wet!
Having fun in the pool!
We put crepe paper across the two doors with kids sleeping in them. They thought it was hilarious when they woke up and were barricaded in the room. They had a blast running through it that morning!
Karlie reading the “clues” for the treasure hunt that morning.
Looking for another clue!
The girls came up with a bunch of outdoor games for the whole family to play. One of them was a relay race in the side yard. The Dad’s even participated!
Another game required the teammates to hit the baseball.
Now were ready for the bike and scooter races!
Hula Hoop contest!
Noah thought he was pretty smart doing it on his arm instead of around the waist!
The youngest had the best hula hooping skills! She won hands down as the best hula hooper in both families!
Aunt Mirm braiding the girls hair. The thought that was pretty cool having all the fancy braids!
A lot of girly chitchat, giggles, and silliness going on in the back of the van.
Welcome Family!
We painted “Welcome” on our driveway as we waited for extended family to arrive!
We have had a great summer break with our kids home from school!!! We packed in great adventures, time with our extended families, camps, Vacation Bible School, lots of memories, fun, history, road trips, flights, and much more! So thankful for a wonderful time with our family. Thanks for being patient with me as I enjoyed extra time with my family. It is my intention of getting back on schedule here soon. I will be posting some pictures of our summer fun soon!
Our first big summer adventure was having Jake’s sister and her family come stay with us for a week. They arrived on the same day the girls got out of school. We had a blast! As an added bonus of fun we also got to see Jake’s cousins who live in the area several times throughout the week as well. Thankful for family and fun times together!
The girls enjoying popsicles and ice cream bars!
The guys enjoying their game!
A pool full of fun!
The kids breaking open the pinata!
Playing the Jelly Belly game “Bean Boozled” with extended family! Everyone is waiting with anticipation to see if Aunt Cindy got a good flavor!
Snow cones were a hit with the kids one hot afternoon!
Family Game – Ticket to Ride
We got a game from my parents this Christmas called Ticket to Ride. We’ve already played the game a couple of times and the kids love it! It is a great game plus it is educational. The girls have had fun learning the names of different cities across the map. We even went through the map and pointed out all the places listed that we have been too together. So cool looking at the map of the United States and laughing at all the great memories.
The board full of a rainbow of trains. Karlie got the longest train and Brina was able to block her parents yet Jake still managed to pull off a win this round. Although Brina was the champion our first round. I had a lot of fun, but unfortunately I am not an expert at strategies with this game yet. Love playing games and spending time with my family.
This is a great family game. If you are looking for a wonderful and educational family game I would recommend it. Our girls are 8 and they can play the game on their own yet it is enjoyable for us as parents too.
Thankful for My Family and so Much More!
Thankful for sweet girls who made me a “special” breakfast.
There is magic at our house! Every night I lay out all the non-perishable items (cups, plates, bread, english muffins, or bagels, etc…) that I need to make breakfast the next morning, however, this week by the time I get to the kitchen breakfast has been made for the whole family and the kids are already eating! It’s like breakfast has magically appeared every morning (and there’s no mess either)! This morning I must have been extra good because I got more than the normal Tuesday Toast! Thankful for my sweet girls! I saved the sweets that they gave me for breakfast for later so I could share them!
Thankful for kids who love making crafts and expressing their appreciation
Karlie’s turkey from school. She had the most turkey feathers out of all the students in her class, her reason “I have so much to be THANKFUL for in my life!” Not sure if you can read the feathers they say – friends, social studies, love, food, life to live, teacher, pets & animals, family
Thankful for hot chocolate
Made hot chocolate and apple cider for my two chickies since it was a cold and rainy afternoon. They enjoyed their hot treat after school.
Thankful for a husband who plays games with the family
We figured out that Jake has the steadiest hand in our family. Karlie is watching him carefully so she’ll be ready for her next turn.
Thankful for kids who enjoy playing games
We played Kerplunk and Jenga tonight. After a few close calls we did manage to get quite a tall Jenga tower before it came crashing down. Here’s a picture of Brina focusing on her turn. Thankful for some fun with the family tonight!
There is so much to be thankful for today and really every day of my life!
Game Closet
Our game closet has been cleaned out and re-organized so we can more easily access the games. We got rid of some of the games the girls had outgrown! Some of the games we donated and others we sold at our garage sale or online.
Games have always been a fun activity in our family. It came to our attention a few months ago that it would be beneficial to do a weekly game night with the kids. Playing games, we have noticed, has allowed for extra teachable moments in our family. While everyone wants to play well it’s good to learn how to have fun and be a good sport even if you cannot win every game. There are a lot of positive attributes to playing games such as reading, counting, strategies, waiting turns, being a team player and so much more.
While we play at least once a week on our regular “family game night” ! We often pull out a game when friends are over or at some point (or two) over the weekend. Playing games together allows everyone to relax, spend quality time together, while talking, and creating memories. To keep it fair we roll a dice to see who will be picking the game for the evening. If time allows we may play two games or stretch a game out over several evenings. Our girls look forward to game night every week!
CONGRATULATIONS to Our Barnes & Noble Gift Card Winner!
The name has been drawn for the giveaway!
CONGRATULATIONS to
Lynette
for winning a
Barnes & Noble Gift Card!
Thanks for making a comment in honor of our Giveaway!
An email has been sent to you with more information*
Enjoy your next trip to Barnes & Noble!
Also, Lynette received an extra 5 bonus entries into the drawing for having the closest guess regarding the number of books on the new bookshelf Jake made for the girls. The actual number of books on the bookshelf when the picture was taken was 834! Yes, I counted every book on the shelves. Our family loves books! Thanks for entering and being the closest Lynette! 🙂
*Giveaway must be claimed within 5 business days of the prize being announced. Failure to claim the prize within the allotted time frame means you forfeit the prize. The actual gift card may or may not be identical to the one pictured above.
Teaching Our Children: The Number Crunch Game
A few years ago I came up with a fun game for the girls to learn their numbers. It was a super simple, easy, and fun way to teach them the written words for the numbers they had already learned. I came across it the other day when I was re-organizing their educational cabinet and thought I would share it since there may be other parents looking for a fun and simple way to get their kids to learn the written numbers. Even though our kids have pretty much out grown the game since they now know their numerical words it is still fun to pull out every once in awhile for a fun reminder. Here’s how I put it together:
- Wrote out the Numerical Words in a Word Document (1 to 20 then 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 1000, 1000000)
- Made the words big and bold
- Printed the words onto colorful paper (can find for a couple dollars at Walmart)
- Laminated the words
I used these for a variety of different games!
Number Crunch Games (a few options):
- Line up all the numbers from least to greatest while being timed
- Line up all the numbers from greatest to least while being timed
- Pick out all the odd number while being timed
- Pick out all the even numbers
- Sort out all the numbers before 10
- Sort out numbers in the “teens”
- Find all the numbers above 100
- Locate any number ending in “O”
There just a few ideas to get you started. You can get creative and come up with so many more variations on ways to make learning the written numerical number learning process fun for your little ones. The reason why I laminated the cards is because I wanted to make sure I could use them for many activities over several years (and they have have held up really nicely of the past couple of years).
Greenville Drive Baseball Game & Fireworks
Greenville Drive Baseball Game
The other night as we were talking about summer the girls brought up the Greenville Drive and how much fun they had going to the games. There is just something about watching a game in person that makes it extra fun. It’s a great family summer activity too. Plus, if you time it right on certain nights they do fireworks (that is always a big highlight for our kids)! 🙂
We try to go to at least once (maybe more) to a Greenville Drive Baseball game each summer. Also, the past two summers the girls have earned rewards for doing the summer reading program through the local library which includes free tickets to a Greenville Drive game. Way to go girls!
As I was thinking about our conversation I came across some pictures of our last Greenville Drive Game and thought it was a good time to share. If your starting to think about summer break and planning some fun activities for your kids you should check into your local sports teams! For those of you who live near Greenville, SC you can check out the Greenville Drive’s 2013 Schedule online.
Brina and Karlie pausing for a brief moment from watching the game so I could snap a picture.
Fireworks after the Greenville Drive game are always a hit!
Giveaway: $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card
I am excited to announce a new giveaway on Blessings Multiplied! The winner of this giveaway will receive a $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card! The best part about this card is you can use it for books, educational items, games, puzzles, and much more. Summer is quickly approaching and you may want to get a book for an upcoming family vacation! We love to read in our house so any trips to a book store are considered fun and relaxing for all of us. Here’s how to enter the giveaway:
Enter the Giveaway (up to 5 entries per person)!
- Sign up to follow my blog (if you haven’t done so already) and leave a comment below telling us how you follow Blessings Multiplied. Put a separate comment for each way you follow Blessings Multiplied (Email, Twitter, or Facebook) plus an extra entry for your bonus answer! Each comment counts as an entry into the giveaway.
- Sign up to receive Blessings Multiplied via email
- Follow on Twitter – @BlessMultiplied
- Like us on Facebook – BlessingsMultiplied
- BONUS – you can get a bonus entry into the drawing if you leave a separate comment below sharing what type of items you enjoy picking up at Barnes & Noble.
- EXTRA BONUS – My husband recently built a book shelf for the kids birthday! The kids love having their own book shelf in their room and can be found reading quietly next to the shelf several times throughout the week! You can get extra bonus entry by making a guess on how many books we have on the kids book shelf (picture below). The person who gets closest to the actual number of books on the shelf will get an additional 5 entries into the drawing! 🙂
All comments must be made by May 31, 2013 at 10:00 PM EST to be entered into the drawing. Good Luck!
The actual gift card may or may not be identical to the one pictured above.
Reading Eggs – FREE Two Week Trial
Reading Eggs is offering a Free Two Week Trial Offer. All you have to do is sign up to try out their reading program, no credit card required. Do you have a little one that is just starting to read or one who wants to increase his or her reading skills? Then this may be the perfect time to check out Reading Eggs program.
You want reading to be fun and easy for your child so why not try out Reading Eggs and see if it is a good fit for your family. Reading Eggs strives to make learning to read interesting and engaging for kids whether they are just beginning to read or increasing their reading fluency. Through the use of reading games, activities, songs, and other resources your child will pick up great learning tools that will help them on the road to becoming a proficient reader.
The kids will work through various maps that on their level and will earn golden eggs, ribbons, trophies, and other rewards to encourage them to continue learning more. Reading Eggs is an interactive program that our family has used in the past for our young readers and our kids LOVED it! They got a kick out of working through the maps, accomplishing goals, and earning rewards. The kids can even customize their own “reading egg” avatar to match their personality.
All you have to do is click the “free trial” button once you get to their homepage and get started!More information about Reading Eggs:- Reading Eggs was developed by an experienced team of teachers, educational writers, animators, and web developers. People who have interacted with children and have taught kids to read.
- Reading Eggs focuses mainly on the core reading curriculum skills and strategies that help readers develop more successful reading skills as well as builds their reading confidence level. The program is perfect for ages 3 to 12.
- Each reader can work through the Reading Eggs program at his or her pace so if you have a young reader and more advanced reader in your home both would be able to focus on their specific skills.
- A more advanced reader would move through the first few maps a little more quickly because it may be more of a review for him or her until they reach a point where the information is newer and more challenging for them, whereas, a new reader would work through the first maps more slowly but steadily as they get more excited about the program and earning rewards.
- Reading Eggs launched in the United States and Canada in 2011. Since launching they have had over 500,000 subscribers and have presented more than 15 million lessons.
Our readers will receive a Free Two-Week Trial Offer! Register now for a two-week trial of the Reading Eggs program. No credit card is required. Help your child learn to read, increase their phonics skills, or increase their reading fluency with Reading Eggs free two-week trial!
A special thanks to U.S. Family Guide and Reading Eggs for offering a free two-week trial to my readers. Any specific product information was provided by Reading Eggs and U.S. Family Guide, however, the opinions expressed in this post are our own. We received a complimentary subscription for sharing information and our family’s experience regarding Reading Eggs.
