DM's Summer Faves

Oh, I used to post all my latest favorite things every month.  I still have lots of favorites - life is one big discovery of awesome material objects - but alas, blogging is like second or third on my to-do list, always, and I almost never get that far.  So it goes.

But it's summer and even though it's practically too late to share the scoop - half this stuff has already been taken off shelves in favor of backpacks and fall jackets - some of it always applies.  So far it's been a great summer, and here are some of the things I've loved:

BUDDHA BOARD
Our family received this as a Christmas present years ago; I store it away for a few months, then get it out for a few, and it never fails to entertain and fascinate.  This summer I've brought it to the pool for Poppy's enjoyment, since she has had to sit around for an hour every morning during the sisters' swimming lessons.  Love how fast it dries, and we've gotten lots of comments and inquiries from kids and adults alike.

DRY(-ISH) SUNBLOCK
We have an extensive hodge podge of sunscreen tubes in our summer bag, and this one from Neutrogena is my newest favorite.  55 SPF satisfies our fair complexion needs, and it is indeed as light and non-greasy as I've found anywhere.  I think it even would dry, in a climate with less than 90% humidity, but I may never know for sure, at least not this summer.

It's photographed on one of my CHEVRON-STRIPE SKIRTS from Old Navy.  Soft wide waistband, flowy A-line drape, past-knee length, and flattering but bold stripe print - it's like the perfect summer skirt.  PLUS it was very flag-ish on the 4th of July.  But I remained conservative and got it in only two of the three colors.  And that's only because I got a couple of other longer Chevron skirts at Kohl's a month or two ago.  Ahem.  I just like them.

And while we were at Old Navy last month, picked up these cutie "FLIP-POPS" for Poppy - I loved the white-on-green, and the elastic strap in back is indispensable.

Speaking of pool shoes, I finally retired my worn-out fake crocs and invested in a "real" pair - CANDACE in Oyster (white).  I thought they'd be so summery, but mostly they make me look like a nurse.  I like them anyway, though.  They go with all my new striped skirts!

SALTWATER CANVAS WHALE BAG
I have a gazillion tote bags, but I am sick and tired of not having a single one big enough for our pool tote needs.  So I did 15 minutes of research, and got us this massive 10-pocketed mesh bag from Saltwater Canvas.  Overall, I love it.

What I like:

• Lots and lots of pockets, and I use them all! 
• Hidden inner zipper pocket to hold money and phone
• D-ring to clip keys onto so they don't sink to the bottom
• Mesh is super strong and allows water/sand to sift out bottom
• Main compartment is HUGE enough to easily hold 4+ beach towels, diaper pack, and change of clothes for all of us

What I wish was different:

• A bit of padding on the straps would go a long way, or even a padded velcro wrap that would hold the straps together.
• I wish is had at least one plastic/vinyl lined pocket to keep wet & dry things separate.  Instead I bring a plastic grocery bag.
• I wish the bottom was reinforced instead of mesh so I could place it on a wet surface (i.e., the concrete ground at the pool) without my things getting wet.  But it's a toss-up because the mesh might be nice at the beach to let sand out.

I also noticed at the pool a lot of Moms have Scout bags - I'm attracted by their bold patterns and enormous size, but I don't see any with the pockets that mine has, and I love the pockets.  I don't know about you, but we bring a lot of pocket-size things to the pool like sunscreen, goggles, water bottles, snacks, comb, shampoo, and books.

DANCE ACADEMY
A few weeks ago, I saw the Paris Opera Ballet perform Giselle at the Kennedy Center.  I was entranced.  I came home and bought tickets to take my girls to the Washington Ballet's The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe next month.  And I put Dance Academy on my Netflix queue.  My ballerina friend told me about it at Giselle - it's an Australian teen drama, and they're all at, you guessed it, the National Dance Academy in Sydney. 

I was hooked after the second episode, and I have worked my way through the first, and now second, seasons faster than I care to admit.  The conflicts and issues that arise in season 1 are fairly predictable, but handled well, and I just love all the dancing.  I keep thinking, how did they find so many actors that can dance so well, or dancers that can act?  Either way, I think it's wonderful - not extremely deep, but also not trashy or idiotic, like most American "teen" shows.  Just well done, and I am totally into it, hook, line and sinker.  Season 2 has taken some surprising twists, and I can feel the show maturing, in a good way, just as the characters are.  Go watch it so we can talk about it.  It's been a great summer escape.

Summer Fun Club 8 and 9

I think my theme for this summer is going to be "Life Happens."  Or perhaps "The Best Laid Plans Fall to Crap."  Maybe "Just Give Up Now?"

Monday this week went great.  Swimming lessons, lunch and down time as planned, and a picture-perfect, fun-filled Summer Fun Club.  Then Monday night Hazel got sick.  And it all went downhill from there.

Unfortunately, we had a lot planned this week.  Fun extra stuff like movie at the library, afternoon pool & picnic with friends, at least two playdates, and lunch at Chick-Fil-A (the good one with a play area.)  Cancelled, all cancelled, as one after the other of us came down with Mystery Bug.  It wasn't even that bad; just enough that we couldn't in good conscience be around other people, especially since all our besties are pregnant or have new babies.  So Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, home we stayed.

Luckily, staying home doesn't inhibit Summer Fun Club; it's written into the bylaws.  But being sick does.  Tuesday everyone just napped or rested and we didn't really do anything.  But Monday and Wednesday were pretty good.

8 - Hazel came up with this one on the fly over the weekend: "Mom, I want to learn how to make paper snowflakes."  Done.  No new materials required, love that.  During Monday swimming lessons I watched a couple of quickie YouTube tutorials, just to brush up (I liked this one best), and Monday afternoon we went snow-crazy.

These...

...became these:

Quick press with a dry iron on low:

Ready to decorate!  Dude, I even broke out the glitter.

Voila!

Monday was also the day Ginger lost TWO teeth - one at the grocery store in the morning, another just before bedtime.  

9 - On Wednesday, Poppy was sick in the morning.  Which meant none of us were going anywhere, not even swimming. And that makes a Very. Long. Day.  In the house.  Luckily I was pathetically behind on my housework and the living room was not yet put back together from the baby shower last weekend.  Which meant only one thing: blanket fort.

As we gathered our supplies, I explained to the girls the Three Things need to make a great blanket fort:

1 - Tall chairs (we used our counter stools and the dining chairs that are on Kaboosts.)

2 - Big blankets (we used Neat Sheets, some old curtains, and a few tablecloths.)

3 - Strong clamps.  As any blanket fort veteran knows, clothes pins and chip clips don't cut it.  I invested ten bucks in a set of these beauts from Home Depot.  Wicked strong.  Never a weak fort again!

Ponies, dolls, and books were immediately moved in, and the morning was spent eating goldfish in the fort, and poring over the first Halloween costume catalogs that have come in the mail.

Our afternoon "official" Summer Fun Club activity was playing board games in the fort.  The girls played a Princess and the Pea game.

Then I taught them how to play Rack-O.  Our selection of adult games sucks almost as much as our kids' game collection.  But the thought of playing Zingo one more time, or even - make it stop! - Candyland, makes me want to scrape my own eyeballs out with a grapefruit spoon.  So we're transversing the gap from preschool games to older kid, and in some cases, big kid /adult games, just so I can enjoy playing with the kids!  Rack-O is easy and only requires being able to read two-digit numbers and put them in order.  We played two and a half rounds until everyone was getting bored between turns.  

The overall success of the afternoon led me to go hunting online for some more next-level games for our family - things with limited reading but more thinking and strategy than the likes of - oh, nails-on-the-chalkboard! - SORRY! and such mind-numbing dice-dependent games of luck that never, ever, end.  We can do better.  I'll make it a blog post if we find some good ones.

Summer Fun Club 6 and 7...and other happenings last week

 We were QUITE put out, literally, during our three-day power outage in record heat last week.  Man.  I feel like we (I) are (am) still recovering, a week later.  Summer Fun Club took a hit last week as well, but even though we were essentially homeless, I still really wanted to take advantage of our pre-4th window to do some patriotic SFC activities.

6 - Last Monday we spent all afternoon at our friends' house, after a trip to emergency-lit-only Home Depot to pick up a stack of freebie paint chips.  They fed us lunch, let us nap & play, hosted us in their inflatable pools late in the afternoon, AND fed us dinner, which is about the time I got the text from my neighbor our power was back on.  What friends!  Including them in our 4th of July paint chip garland activity was the least we could do.  

For detailed instructions, see this Easter garland post.  Obviously adaptable to any holiday or color scheme.  This time we used star, circle, and butterfly shapes.

7 -  So glad our power was back just in time to make our annual 4th of July sugar cookies on the 3rd!

This time WE hosted some OTHER friends whose power was STILL out.  What a crazy week it was.

 After the cookies were all baked, glazed, sprinkled half to death, packed up, and our friends off on their way, the girls settled in for a good solid play with the Little People Nativity set, which I had gotten out over the weekend to use the sheep in my Primary lesson, and hadn't packed away yet.  There's nothing like Christmas in July.

 

The rest of the week, SFC was a wash.  Wednesday, obviously, was the 4th.  Church pancake breakfast, neighborhood parade, naps, ice cream social at our neighbors' house, dinner out at Cafe Rio - our first venture to the newly opened Utahn institution-, and fireworks at the Washington Golf and Country Club left time for little else that day. 

Thursday the 5th, I had a little art activity planned for the afternoon, but by lunchtime I could tell Ginger was super tired from the night before, so I put her down for a nap same time as Poppy.  When I came down to talk to Hazel about the afternoon, I found her conked out on the sofa.  Just as well because I was taking dinner to a friend (that I hadn't started cooking yet), and also needed to start some serious cleaning for the next baby-shower-of-the-century I was hosting on Saturday.

Friday, I also had an activity planned, but when the afternoon rolled around, I saw I was in serious trouble for getting the house ready for the shower the next morning.  The girls were so enraptured in the decorating and set-up, however, that they willingly gave up SFC in order to help me get things ready.  

I didn't make the diaper cakes, but they were such pretty centerpieces I had to show a picture anyway!

 While I'm at it, here are just a few pics of the shower - it was a pancake party!  We had three kinds of pancakes, and multiple toppings, including homemade freezer jams, root beer syrup, and vanilla-pear sauce.  I think my favorite combo was Nutella swirl pancakes spread with chocolate ganache and drizzled with root beer syrup...I digress.

My POINT (yes, I have one) is that even though we only "met" twice last week, we are still having a super fun summer.  And we're back on track, pretty much, for our regular meetings this week.  I have so many activity ideas, we don't have enough days for them all!  So I am choosing carefully, and we'll just save the rest for fall break.

Summer Fun Club 3, 4, and 5

 I have meant to keep up with doing quick posts about our rockin' SFC activities, but the power outage set everything back a few days, and in some cases, completely off track.  So let me get back ON track.

3 - Last Wednesday was our first "cooking" activity.  I thought we could start with instant pudding and go from there.  Hazel made lemon; Ginger, coconut cream.  I explained to them the three kinds of pudding you can make - instant, cooked from a box, cooked from scratch, and what the basic ingredients in pudding are.

My personal goal for this activity was to keep my hands off.  Just talk them through it and let them do it all themselves.  After I explained about dry and liquid measuring cups, they measured and poured the milk themselves. 

Explained how to shake the powder to one end so it doesn't spill when you cut it.

Which does not mean it won't still spill when you pour it into the bowl.

Whisk, whisk, whisk, wait 5 minutes, voila!  Spoon into cups.

(Keep your hands off, Kari!  Doesn't have to be perfect!)

Hazel cut the bananas while Ginger washed the blueberries.

Layer pudding, fruit, Cool Whip; repeat.

The only part I did was cover with saran wrap.  Look at all that food in my fridge that is now in the garbage!

Poppy woke up just in time to help lick the spoons.

We ate the parfaits for dessert that night, and they were so big, we finished them for breakfast.  Definitely a success.

4 - Thursday was similar to Tuesday in that we did missionary cards, but this time for my nephew Thompson who is in the Missionary Training Center in Utah - he will leave for his assignment in Russia next month.  We also put together a package for him - peanut M&M's, jelly bellies, granola bars, olive oil & black pepper Triscuits (yum), and a little photo album of us, including this picture of him with the girls when we saw him in May:

5 - On Friday, the girls did not have swim lessons so we took the whole day for a "field trip."  We went to my mom's house to pick her up, then the post office to mail Thompson's and Natalee's things (Ginger paid with cash and Hazel received the change.)  Then off to Burke Lake to ride the mini train and carousel, a tradition we do almost every summer.  It was HOT HOT HOT, so luckily the crowds were down, but after about 45 minutes and a ride on each, we were done.  Back to Mom's for some lunch, playing, naps, and a quick run through the back yard sprinkler.  All in the name of Summer Fun Club.