Some Summer planning with the kiddos!

 We stopped at Saver's tonight to pick up some sheets to use for our growing flower beds.  I've never really had to worry about it before, but since so much is up, I figured I'd better.  Monday's are 25% off at my Savers, but even with that, I still think I'll hit up Goodwill and Garage sales for more. 

No matter how you look at it, Summer is quickly approaching.  With my oldest just turning 7 and no longer purely entertained by being Mommy's helper or running errands, we've decided to do something really fun! She is compiling (with my help) a list of all things we'd like to do this summer.  Small things from plant extra flowers to big things like try new day trips.  Of course I have to monitor, because "running down to Disney World for a quick trip" just isn't quite in the budget this year!  And we want to be realistic! :)

She is really into science lately which is really fun.  She wants to do the messy and fun things, like the classic volcano everyone has seen and/or made.  I was not a science kid myself so I do not know of a lot of other big fun science projects.  I've searched like mad and finally come across a site I love and took a lot of ideas from. Science Bob is a great place to go for things science related for the younger kids.  Its more than just projects, although that's all I read, but check out his site - really great stuff!


Our list also includes other fun ideas we haven't heard much about before.  Like a Life Book.  Similar to a scrapbook, except less pictures and she is in charge.  She can read very well and writes quite clearly also.  So this book is totally compiled by her.  I will give her guided pages and provide her information, like about her birth and trips she's taken so far in her life.  Then she can add her own pages, like collages of things she likes, maybe brief journal entries, pictures she's drawn, etc.  I would like to come up with a standard page that I have her fill out every summer.  Like "Summer of 20XX" and then have her answer 10 questions every summer.  Hopefully by the time she graduates it'll be something really amazing.  I'll take pictures along the way so if you are interested you can play too.

Bed Time starts in 10 minutes! So off I go!

Growth Charts

I love my babies! Who doesn't! Anyone who has babies, knows that they don't last long! I loved the idea of a growth chart.  I originally wanted to do it on the frames of their doors.  But I realized that may not keep forever since we could move or redo the house or yup, a fire.  (Ours would not have ruined the growth charts if I did do them on the trim by their doors, but that's a mute point now)

Of course, it had to be inexpensive. And they are no beauties after seeing some of the other ideas online (more of that later) but it doesn't matter, because they are ours.  So I bought an inexpensive chart from current catalog.  They are listed for 19.99 right now, but I used online coupons and waited for a sale.  I want to say I got them around $6, maybe $10.  I'm sure you can find cheaper ones till but 7 years ago, there wasn't much to pick from.

When I got them, they are just computer printed cardstock.  Which is fine, I didn't have the time to get creative on the computer.  However, the sheet does not start at 0" and go to 60".  I decided to put them on boards to give them stability and hopefully increase their life.  Also, we wanted the child to be able to stand up next to it and accurately give their height, so my husband used scrap wood to make up the difference.  (Did that make sense?) Maybe this will help..

Now the board is accurate.  When the child stands next to it with their feet on the floor, we can mark their actual measurements. 

Of course, I had to make it even better and meaningful.  So now that the girls are old enough to write their names, they write their name next to the line.  I add the date and their age.  This way not only do we watch them grow, we can also see how their handwriting changed over the years.  :)

 Even though there are tons of better ones out there ( just check this pinterest search or you can buy some on etsy - just now, over 2,000 listed on etsy! Wowza!) I know mine will be just as great as any of the others.  It's not about how cute it looks before, its about how amazing it is as you go!