5 things people might not know about me

So I was challenged to share little know facts about me. Here we go.

1.  I play the violin. For over 20 years.
2.  I want to go back to school or take classes of some sort.
3.  I know how to make lard, cheese, soap, pickles, jam, jelly, bread, flour, butter, and many other almost lost skills
4.  I was a cheerleader.  Yep seriously.
5.  The color orange actually makes me angry. I dont know why but it does.

I dare you to share things about you!

100 Kid Approved Summer Activities

1. Start a water balloon fight!

2. Make a pool noodle water wall.

3. Have fun in the dark with this DIY glow in the dark ringtoss!

4. Make your own sandbox so you can build sandcastles right in your backyard!

5. Have fun with water tables.

6. Make marshmallow shooters!

7. Have a newspaper snowball fight!

8. Three words: water balloon pinatas!

9. Have a firework display in your backyard after the sun goes down.

10. Host a “summer camp” for all of the neighborhood kids!

11. Hit the pool and play a round of swimming pool scrabble.

12. Go for ice cream.

13. Make your own water slide!

14. Do some magnetic ice fishing in the sun!

15. Roast marshmallows.

16. Make these toilet roll binoculars and go for a nature walk!

17. Put the kids in their PJs and take them to see a movie at the drive-in.

18. Build sand castles.

19. Make your own kites and then take them to the park to test them out!

20. Have a skip-rope contest.

21. Organize some old fashioned backyard games.

22. Go strawberry picking and then make homemade strawberry jam.

23. Go for a bike ride.

24. Create an ABC activity jar!

25. Make a lemonade stand.

26. Play hopscotch.

27. Keep your kids busy with some backyard sensory bins.

28. Have a picnic lunch with your favorite foods!

29. Make a laser maze!

30. Get out the sidewalk chalk.

31. Enjoy a nice, fattening, cold ice cream from the back of an ice cream truck.

32. Make a bird feeder.

33. Jump into the pool and try out these awesome pool games!

34. If it’s raining outside, put on your rain boots and splash around in the puddles.

35. Spend the day at your local splash pad.

36. Make Dandelion Soup!

37. Create this AWESOME alphabet sounds fishing and matching game!

38. Make giant bubbles.

39. Make a bonfire in the backyard and tell scary stories.

40. Make frozen banana pops.

41. Visit an amusement park or a local fair.

42. Make a pool noddle race track!

43. If it’s too hot or rainy, build a fort.

44. Organize an “I spy neighborhood walk”.

45. Make busy bags.

46. Collect rocks and paint them.

47. Go to the movies!

48. Paint with water.

49. Visit local tourist attractions in your city.

50. Have a family water gun fight!

51. Make popsicles!

52. Make your own plastic bottle bowling set.

53. Whip up a batch of edible play dough.

54. Make your own board games.

55. Let your kids go wild and decorate their own bikes!

56. Build a race track with masking tape.

57. Have a hula-hooping contest to see who can keep their hoop going the longest!

58. Make popsicle stick crafts.

59. Spend the afternoon painting with ice cubes.

60. Grab your gardening gloves and watering cans and try some of these gardening activities for kids!

61. Play dress-up.

62. Teach your kids how to knit with their fingers. It’s so easy – even I can do it!

63. Get out the spray paint and have fun with this DIY lawn twister game!

64. Make your own toy boats for hours of fun water play.

65. Make an outdoor obstacle course!

66. Spend the afternoon painting with edible paint.

67. Let your kids go wild with some of these fun (and messy!) activities for kids to play in the dirt.

68. Make old fashioned tin can stilts.

69. Play spray bottle freeze tag!

70. Enroll your kids in swimming lessons.

71. Make s’mores pops!

72. Put together an alphabet scavenger hunt in your backyard.

73. Make these adorable love bug rocks.

74. Make your own sprinkler out of a pop bottle.

75. Delight your kids with these exploding paint bombs!

76. Go on a bug hunt and store what you find in one of these cute DIY lightning bug jars.

77. Spend the day at the zoo.

78. Paint with salt.

79. Crank the tunes and DANCE!

80. Play sponge bullseye on your driveway.

81. Make toy parachutes.

82. Paint a tree (with washable paint)!

83. Wash the car!

84. Make beaded sun catchers.

85. Do some spray bottle painting!

86. Make one of these fun waterfalls!

87. Lie in the backyard after the sun goes down and count all of the constellations you can see.

88. Go to your local pet store and learn about the different animals.

89. Make these adorable labels for your vegetable garden!

90. Go to 7-eleven for a slurpee.

91. Get your kids excited about chemistry with this fizzing good tea party.

92. Make your own mini-golf course!

93. Organize an overnight “camping trip” in your backyard or living room.

94. Make a pool noodle bath pit.

95. Feed the ducks at your local pond.

96. Make sand slime!

97. Let your kids get creative and paint your windows. Don’t worry – it washes off!

98. Play a good ‘ole game of tag.

99. Roll down a hill. I’d forgotten how much fun this is!

100. Take all of these ideas and create a summer activity bucket!

If you have anything to add to the list, please leave a comment below! Links to other activities are welcome!

Teaching the Virtues of a Daughter of God to my Daughters {Gratitude}

I am constantly amazed that I have been blessed to be the mother of 5 wonderful children.  Two are little mommies-in-training.  Lately I have come to comprehend that my girlies are kind of my apprentices. Which if you watch your kids they imitate you anyways, why not make what they are imitating intentional.

My New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

 When I was in high school there was this recipe that was being passed around the internet.  'The $250 Cookie"  The story was that the lady went to Neaman Marcus and asked for the recipe to this wonderful cookie she had.  They said that it would cost her two fifty.  She gave them her credit card and got the recipe.  When she got her credit card bill it was $250 not $2.50!   So to get even she sent the recipe to everyone she knew and asked them to send it to everyone they knew.  I don't believe the story is true but they are really good cookies, and I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Turn the oven on to 350F

Cream together
2 cups butter
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar

Add
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Mix well.

Add
4 cups flour
5 cups oatmeal, blended until fine powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
mix well!

Add
24 oz (4 bags) chocolate chips
18 oz dark chocolate bar, grated
Mix well.

At this point the dough is very tough to mix.
Form into 1-1/2 inch balls.  Place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  (they flatten out abit)
Bake for 10 min
cool on a rack completely before serving so the chocolate can harden abit or you will have a wonderful chocolatey mess...good thing or bad?!  Not quite sure at this point.
ENJOY!!!