50 Days of Summer Fun Project!

Say the word "summer" & it usually conjures up images of fun in the sun & lazy carefree days. Most summers that's just fine with me. This summer is a little different for our family in that my DH, Cass, will miss the first month due to 23 days of Army Reserve Annual Training at Ft. Carson, CO. Our 3 yr. old tends to handle daddy's absences better than our 5 yr. old son, who is a bit more sensitive & very attached to his daddy. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with ideas of how to overcome Cass's long trip, when I came upon the perfect idea over at The Crafting Chicks blog. I love this website & visit it regularly. They have some great ideas of things to do this summer with your kids including science camp & making summer achievement badges (much like Boy Scout achievement badges) which I would love to make, but think I'll tackle that project next summer! But I digress - 50 Days of Summer Fun is the perfect solution to summer's inevitable "I'm bored". I love that you can make up your own activities and create your own chart, or download a free, (but blank) copy of the vertical chart above. Being the scrapbooker that I am, of course I had to make my own! Here's what I came up with and how:
I started by opening both a blank Word document & Jamie's chart on the Crafting Chicks website. I copied the 50 items onto my Word doc. & began to edit.
First I changed the page layout to landscape (horizontal) & then formatted the text into three columns. I added the title 50 Days of Summer Fun using the font Marcelle. (download for free here.) The hardest part was actually reading through the list & deciding what I wanted to add & delete.

When I was finished with the list, I printed it out on a piece of pink Basic Grey cardstock from Michaels. (original size was 12x12 so I cut it down to 8 1/2 x11) The background papers & stickers all came from the Echo Park 'Summertime' paper kit available from Hobby Lobby in the paper kit aisle. The blue paper is 12x12, but the argyle is cut down to 4 four inches. I placed them side by side, flipped them over & ran a strip of double sided tape down the sides & across the top. Then I adhered them to a heavy piece of cardstock for added thickness and stability. I glued the list to the blue/argyle, added the stickers, and used a 2" square punch to add Cade & Macy's pics to the right corner. I printed & punched the Marshall Summer 2011, added four banner stickers (Echo Park "A Walk in the Park" kit from Hobby Lobby), topped it with white embroidery thread, buttons, and voila!

The plan is to do as many of things as possible throughout the entire summer, check them off as we go, take lots of pictures, and have a fun-tastic summer! Check back regularly to see how many we've done! Better yet, make your own & leave me a link in the comments section so I can see!

Here's my list:

1. backyard campout 2. finish a chapter book 3. family movie night 4. go to the bookstore 5. go to the movies 6. backyard swim party 7. go to Bouncin' Bears 8. go to a baseball game 9. Pop Pops & Gma Linda's house 10. Read/tell scary stories 11. go to the Farmer's Market 12. make a craft 13. run through the sprinklers 14. have a sleep over 15. go on a nature walk 16. go to a parade 17. fireworks show 18. blow bubbles 19. walk to Mike & Sam's 20. Decorate/rearrange your room 21. water gun fight 22. play flashlight tag 23. celebrate an unbirthday 24. family picnic 25. sidewalk chalk art 26. go bowling 27. make s'mores 28. eat snowcones 29. play at a friend's house 30. make homemade ice cream 31. go on a road trip 32. night stargazine 33. make a summer collage 34. Children's Museum 35. Build a fort 36. Family Game night 37. go on a treasure hunt 38. build a sandcastle 39. Pizza Party 40. Ice cream sundae buffet 41. Grammy & Grampa's 42. plant flowers 43. play at the beach 44. airplane museum 45. kids take pictures 46. chart animals/birds in yard 47. visit a historic landmark 48. play at the park 49. perform a random act of kindness/volunteer 50. visit daddy at work
What's on your list???

Happy Crafting!

~ Stephanie

This project has been linked to:

A Crafty Soiree & Yesterday on Tuesday

Full Circle Summer

So without even realizing it, the first year of my new life as a stay at home mom has come and gone. It was a year ago in June that I handed in my resignation as a teacher and closed the chapter on that part of my life. A new career awaited me; new adventures and exasperations. It's interesting now to sit back and reflect on what that year has been like. So let me try to sum it up:

In one year as a SAHM, I have:

cooked more dinners than I ever did before; burned more gasoline than ever on my never ending trips to The Woodlands for preschool, church & MOPS; become addicted to Facebook; memorized the Disney & Noggin t.v. schedule (& learned all accompanying theme songs); enjoyed being "Room Mom" for Cade's preschool class; watched my daughter bloom & become a happier, more well adjusted child; seen more of my husband than I ever did while working; had more fights with my husband than ever while working; grown closer to husband; missed my old friends, old job, old students; made some great new friends and reconnected with others. Miss being a part of intellectual discussions & working on intellectual endeavors beyond "A is for apple." Grown to a deeper level in my relationship with Jesus Christ; become so much more connected to my Church Home; gained weight; joined the Y; started a scrapbooking business; (still working on becoming more organized & clean); struggled with wanting what I can't have; been jealous of others with more money; missed the money & things that came with it from working; missed dying my hair, manicures & pedicures; cried ALOT; wanted to pull my hair out ALOT; changed more diapers than ever before; been more tired than ever due to constant demands of my time & attention; taken a million pictures of my kids; given a ton of baths; read a ton of books; played a ton of games; given & received a ton of hugs & kisses; made a ton of memories; been HERE everyday with them.

Never. Regretted. My. Decision.