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One thing I'm striving for this summer is to try and not sweat the small stuff and to keep things simple when possible. So when I realized that somehow the 4th of July Weekend has already snuck up on us I decided to keep our festive play simple and go with some playdough play. We have a great basic cooked playdough recipe which can be tweaked in lots of different ways to create slightly

We've always enjoyed the Olympics, but this year the kiddos are especially fascinated by them. Big Brother has been asking to watch them all week! On top of watching them, this past week we've been exploring some different ideas and projects for "Olympic Week" in our Simple Summer Theme series. The other afternoon I wanted something fun to do that wouldn't take a lot of set up and was trying to

So although we were headed on vacation a few weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to have a Simple Summer Theme we could still explore. As we were at the ocean we went with a theme that matched - Shark Week! I packed a few things I figured we might do in between trips to the beach and in case of bad weather. But, we had such a great week exploring a new place, hanging at the beach, and

So when Big Brother requested a "Desert Week" in our Simple Summer Theme series, I was a little stumped on what we might do for projects and activities. But, in the end I was excited about some of the different projects and materials we were able to explore. (Although this was a slightly shorter theme week.) 1. Read a Good Book This book Deserts by Gail Gibbons was a great resource for

We're almost a week into July, and just posting our monthly goals  . . . but that fits perfectly with our focus for the next month: Keep Summer Simple. For whatever reason, this summer I'm feeling the need for us to keep it simple - slow it down and just enjoy the best parts of this season in our part of the world. The temperatures are warm, the world is green, the swimming is perfect, and

This summer we were excited to kick off our Simple Summer Themes with Science Week! Each week of summer vacation we explore a different "theme." We use materials on hand, simple/easy projects that don't take long to complete, hands on activities, recipes, and field trips. This summer, even more than previous summers, we're truly keeping our themes simple. We're doing something fun with them when

You may have noticed we've been a little quiet on our posts this month. The school year wrapped up in such a whirlwind it took just about all my energy to keep us moving through it. And while we've been quiet here online, we've actually still been pretty busy as a family. End of school year events, barbecues, a friends' wedding, Father's Day . . . Despite the busyness, one thing we really wanted

Earlier this week we posted about how one of our summer hopes is to just spend time enjoying our backyard. We also enjoy creating art both in the backyard and on our back deck. Sometimes we use the materials as is in the yard and sometimes we collect materials we want to create with. Other times the project is just so messy that the only place I want to do it is outside . . . even though I love a

This spring a big focus for us as a family has been getting the backyard ready for summer. We're pretty blessed to already have a large backyard, but this spring it's gone from a fun place to play to a pretty kid focused yard. One of our motivations has been that this summer (in addition to visiting some of our favorite local spots) I really want to spend time just relaxing, at home in

For quite a while now I've hoped to start sharing some family activity resources for the New England area. So with summer on the horizon it seemed like a great time to start sharing! For this post we're focusing on summer activities in the Upper Valley region. The Upper Valley area is the Vermont and New Hampshire towns which border the Connecticut River. Visitors may be coming to the area