He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.
Proverbs 10:5
Thank you God, for a wonderful, delightful, and meaningful summer.
Here are some of the things we did this summer.
Here are some of the things we did this summer.
Outings
We visited the BrickFest at the Hall of Science. First time BrickFest was held in a museum, we heard; we got in for free because of IDNYC and free museum membership. SWEET.
- BrickFest @ Hall of Science
And we got Daddy a souvenir from the BrickFest. =)
A nice walk at Battery Park and Financial District and also a fun playground. Collaborative merry go round (some kids peddle, some kids get free ride) is a pretty cool idea!
I really enjoyed our trip to the Cloisters, a monastery. It was a great introduction to our next year curriculum!
Annual Visit to Daddy's Office.
Liberty Science Center
We had a really fun free visit to the Jersey Science Center, thanks to the "courtesy" policy with our Hall of Science membership.
The annual family vacation in Brunswick, Maine!
Food Fun
- Graham Cracker house
Who says we can't do gingerbread houses in July?
- French Toast Recipe by Big Sis
This cracked me up!!! =)
- Learning to measure (Bread Packs)
We love our bread. I've come up with a nice system of measuring them in packs to make things efficient.
It is even better when Lil Sis was able to learn about measuring by helping me with the packs. Two birds, one stone!
- Apple Chips. Too much work, too little return
The kids gave me the idea for this. It's delicious, I have to admit, but not worth it in my books.
- Mommy-popped corn for movie afternoon
We love Trader Joe's organic corn kernels, popped in our own pot. SCORE!
- Cauliflower Rice
Another of the girls' ideas. It's surprisingly delicious.
They learnt a TON of things from the ABC Food app we got for free some time back. It is Lil Sis' absolute favorite app.
- Girls' Original Wontons.
Always great to have the kids cook with me. In fact, we continue to cook together (one kid each day) and I LOVE it!
- Butteries from our Scotland friend
Hubby's Scotland friend (whom he met when he was in college...ahem...almost two decades ago) came by NYC and we enjoyed some delicious Scottish food (and of course some delightful Scottish conversations)
Smoothie pops are SOOO good!!!
We drank a LOT of these this summer. Banana/Strawberry Smoothie and Mango Lassi.
Summers are for cookies. =) And here're our favorite recipes
Not yet firm but still delicious Chocolate Pie
Art/Crafts
- Princess' wands
Art and Crafts are most fun in summer, especially for my very hands-on girl.
- White glue and salt painting. Interesting texture
- Carasel (Sock Bunny)
Meet Carasel, the adorable sock bunny. She was supposed to be even cuter.
- Charlotte, Beanie Bunny
- Painters' Tape Painting
- Daddy Play doh time with Lil Sis
Daddy and Lil Sis are pretty good with play doh, I think.
- White Glue Starry Night
- About Big Sis
This was a really cool project.
Lil Sis is super super creative. Look what she made with origami paper!
I made my first Quiet Book!! (It's still in progress, but I am getting TONS of therapy from it!)
Lil Sis made some cupcakes by sewing beads as sprinkles.
Activities
- We read, and read. It was like an endless buffet that we devoured.
The best thing of summer is all the reading we do. We read during the school year too, but now we read more. =)
Here is Big Bro's summer reading log (growing every week!)
Big Sis's summer reading log
Lil Sis' summer reading log (I only include those she read WITH me)
- Mommy's FAVORITE book this summer
Hands-down the most amazing book this summer.
- Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program
We enjoyed these free books, thanks to Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program.
- Playground. Fort. Ship. Space shuttle. Homeground. etc.
This little playground may seems insignificant and boring to most, but to my children, it is a gem.
They come up with all kinds of creative play on it. We have played on many sophisticated playgrounds and adventurous structures; however, this is HOME to them.
It is our summer home, almost.
- Surprise Water Play: Sprinklers
The sprinklers were on, to drench the grass.
They drenched the girls too, and they had a BLAST.
Thank you God, for giving Mommy, who usually is very concerned with anything messy, the ability to laugh with abandonment. After all, clothes can be changed, but joy that seemed to have rained from Heaven does not always pop up at surprising times.
Then we visited a REAL water sprinkler place. =)
Play is abundant in our house, summer or not. However, summer does provide more time for free play.
Tea party, anyone?
We did up a chore chart for summer and the kids gained points. At the end of summer, they exchanged their points for extra screen time and books.
Spiritual Discipleship
And we put up prayer requests on the dining table; it is visual and helpful.
We also had family bible time Mon-Thu in the summer. It helped by printing bible verses and put them on the dining table, so we can read right after dinner. For this summer, we read Psalms 27. 127, 16, Proverbs 3, 10 and now we are at Romans 12. We find this time really helpful and the kids participated enthusiastically.
To increase family bonding, we have Timbo Cafe every Friday, which essentially means we have dessert after dinner, and game time or talk time.
We also were quite intentional about dating our children individually. So they had a date every month (that is once a week for us!)
Big Bro read through Acts this summer, Big Sis read some verses from Proverbs for her devotional and Lil Sis read some verses on love that I put up for (and read with) her.
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