Spring Break

It's strange to think that last year, every week was like Spring Break week. We never had any school or any other regular obligations during the week. My oldest only does a half day of preschool now, but when she doesn't have school, she gets really bored. That on top of the fact that I'm trying to pack and clean a house, I decided I need a list of things to do during our upcoming Spring Break or my kids are going to watch way too much T.V. and end up cranky and fighting with each other.

Some friends are planning a day at the beach during Spring Break. And while Orlando has a ton of fun things to do, I know that I'm not going to enjoy a beach day alone with a preschooler, a toddler, and 6 months pregnant. So my list is a bit simpler and closer to home.

1. Visit the Science Center
2. Go to the library in the morning, then have a read-a-thon in the afternoon
3. Paint pictures
4. Go to a splash park
5. Play outside
6. Go on a walk
7. Bake something
8. Go to the farm market store
9. Ride bikes
10. Look at scrapbooks

With baby #3 due in June, I'm going to need lots more ideas of fun stuff to do at home this summer. What do you do with your kids during Spring Break and Summer Vacation?

Painting the Sidewalk

At the beginning of the summer, I made a summer bucket list so that we wouldn't spend our days bored inside--which always ends up with my three-year-old testing my patience and me losing it. We didn't even have to wait to get bored before my daughter was testing my patience this morning. And then I remembered this wonderful list that was going to make me a more fun mom than I naturally am. Thankfully, I have no school aged kids yet, so summer's not over until the weather says it is. I got the list out and was pleased to see we had done lots of things on it. But there were plenty of new things left to try. 

I bravely attempted sidewalk chalk paint, which I originally saw here. I say brave, because I don't like messes. I know, I sound like tons of fun to as a mom, right? I mixed them in a muffin tin and carried it out on a baking tray because I could just see it splashing during the two steps over the carpet between our kitchen and the outside. I even painted too, but the baby you see in the background was not thrilled with being left out of the fun, so I couldn't paint the whole time.

Conclusion: it was fun. I did get food coloring on my hands, but it came right off after doing the dishes (good thing I had dirty dishes to do). I think it would be more fun as she gets a little older and attempts to draw something less abstract. All the colors turned out very light, so red was actually pink when you painted with it. It would be fun to do with more kids--like when cousins come to visit, but not when half the neighborhood comes over for playgroup.

A side note, my daughter has been putting dirt in pots and "planting seeds" when playing outside. Today she sadly told me that her flowers weren't growing. I told her that seeds needed time to grow. But then I looked in her pots--she planted dandelions in her pots and wanted them to grow and is sad to see that they are dying instead. It broke my heart just a tiny bit. I guess we'll have plant some seeds inside and hope they grow for her. I hope I can find some seeds somewhere.