Good morning to you all! I can't tell you how wonderful it was having an extra day to the weekend yesterday. We cleaned out our garage, went to a BBQ (with two very sad, emotional girls--maybe it was the 95 degree weather), and cleaned our house. Not a lot of time for relaxation, but time to get some needed things in order.
Speaking of ultimately hot weather, we've been quite enjoying a way to live with the heat lately.
Popsicles and painting with water.
Let me first tell you about painting with water. Actually, you can probably guess everything there is to it; you gather buckets of water, a variety of paint brushes, and let your children "paint" away. They love this! They paint their names with water on the sidewalks, draw pictures, or usually, just paint every square inch of sidewalk with water. Sometimes it ends in dumping the entire bucket of water on oneself.
Now for popsicles. We go through these pretty fast since the kids expect one every time we're in the heat. We make ours with whatever we have on hand. Here is one recipe we've made up we enjoy.
Cran-Lemon Yogurt Pops
half a pitcher of cranberry juice
a few cups of apple juice
one whole lemon, juiced
3/4 cup of plain whole milk yogurt
Combine. Fill popsicle molds and freeze.
We have 3 sets of popsicle molds (all from Target) that are different sizes and shapes. The great thing about making your own popsicles is that they are super cheap and much healthier when you make them yourself. Plus, it is fun to sit down weekly with the kids and "combine" what we have to make pops.
My favorite summer pop is lemonade pops. Lots of fresh squeezed lemon juice (we keep lots of lemons around during the summer), a little sugar, and water.
Give these summer ideas a try. I'd love to hear what variations you have on them.
Happy Tuesday and returning to life from the holiday. I have a really fun project to share tomorrow that is perfect for summer car trips and includes chalkboard paint, my favorite. See you then!
the sleepy time gal