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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Sweet Summertime

I've seen lots of posts lately about what people do to keep their children busy during the summer. Since kids who go to school are done for the year, and most homeschoolers try to finish up their curriculum and have summers off too, there are lots of great ideas out there for fun activities you can enjoy with your children.

Here's the thing though - I just spent the entire school year driving my children hither and yon to activities, usually 5 days per week. We were busy ALL THE TIME. I'm really OK with just hanging around home for the most part, especially because it's so hot here in North Carolina. Also, we do go on vacation, so it's not like we do NOTHING.

We make our own fun, though. We have had a lot of rain over the last few weeks, and the kids have been having fun dancing in it. Even Grandma got in on the action when she was visiting, and Todd's always open to running amok with the kids:


Don't you love Isaac's rain outfit?

We've also been watching the butterflies on our butterfly bush by the front porch:


I know we have a tiger swallowtail (upper left) and a black swallowtail (lower right). I *think* the one in the lower left corner is a hoary edge. This one's pretty rough looking, but it is the only picture I found that comes close to what it looks like. It also kept its wings determinedly together while I was getting the picture, so I don't know what it looks like when it spreads them. The one in the upper right corner? No idea. I thought it was a Painted Lady or perhaps an American Lady, but it doesn't look like the pictures I found. If you know, would you tell me? 

I felt inspired, looking through pictures of butterflies we might find in North Carolina, to start paying more attention to the ones we see and start keeping a record. I might also try to plant more flowers to attract them, after reading about what different types of butterflies like to eat. That might be a project for fall, getting some new plants to attract butterflies, and then seeing what we get in the spring.

Isaac chose three tomato plants at the grocery store this summer, and he's been taking excellent care of them. This week, we had our first ripe grape tomatoes! He was delighted. We only had five, so Isaac got two and the girls and I each had one (Daddy doesn't like tomatoes, so we didn't save one for him) and they were delicious. There's quite a difference between home-grown tomatoes and store-bought, yes?


The girls entertained themselves one afternoon by trying to color Isaac's hair blue using sidewalk chalk:


Note they didn't want to color their own hair. Good thing their brother is pretty easy going when it comes to playing with his sisters!

So, we're not entirely bored around here. Somewhere, I have a nifty little book, sent to me by my friend Jenn, called something like, 101 things to do to be the most fun mom ever, or something like that. There were some neat ideas in there, so if I can find that, I'd like to try some. We also have some cool art projects coming up. And last, but not least, my darling girls are still finishing up their school work!

What are your favorite summertime things to do? I will post more, if I find anything especially fun, and simple. (Simple is good. I can do simple.)

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