Slices of Life

My boys and I are always looking for fun ways to keep cool in the summer and today we thought we'd round up some of our favorite games, activities, and ideas for keeping cool in the hot summer sun. 1. Play water balloon baseball-- inflate a batch of water balloons and take turns pitching and hitting.  Whether you hit the balls or not you will get wet! 2.  Freeze some favorite characters or toys in ice and have the kids use tools to excavate them out.   You can read all about our superhero rescue here. 3.  Break out the sprinkler!  Around here we can find a sprinkler at Lowe's for under $5! 4.  Invest in a slip and slide-- my kids enjoy using shaving cream with ours.  5.  Get messy with some water balloon painting-- you can read about how we did that here. 6.  Make some sponge balls and play catch--  Using three sponges for each ball, cut each sponge lengthwise into three long strips so you now have...

My boys and I have had so much fun raising a batch of tadpoles this past month.  We brought a baggie full of tadpoles home from one of our hiking trips and set them up in their own little home.  We read up on how to care and feed them and set them up with their own little home.   We fed them bits of spinach and studied them; how they moved, what color their skin was, how their tails looked, etc. We kept them in a small see through show bin outside on our patio table so they had lots of fresh air, plenty of shade, and other food sources (like the bug larvae that would get laid in the water). After just a few sort days we saw a few of the tadpoles sprout back legs. It took some time but they eventually sprouted front legs too and we could see their bodies getting longer and thinner.  Evan told me he was so glad we did this because he never knew that they went through so many changes or how it would have happened.   ...

My all time favorite macaroni salad is one that I grew up with it.  I just assumed everyone made macaroni salad the same way so I was really surprised when my husband informed me that he had never heard of adding tuna to a macaroni salad until he met me. I just cannot imagine eating my macaroni salad any other way!  I love the crunch of the veggies, the creamy mayonnaise and the summary taste and scent of fish. Ingredients: 1 box macaroni 1 1/4 cup mayonnaise; divided 1 can tuna (I prefer solid white in water but any can will do) 3 carrots, sliced 2 stalks celery, sliced salt & pepper to taste While the pasta is cooking according to package directions on the stove I mix together the mayonnaise, tuna, carrots and celery. Once the pasta has drained and cooled I add that it and give everything a good stir until the pasta is evenly coated.  I then sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper and set it in the refrigerator until it's time to serve....

I just love summer and all the free time I have to read while sitting by the lake watching the boys swim and play in the water.  I managed to read quite a lot this month; good thing too since the books just keep piling up!  I already have a good 6 or 7 books waiting for me for next month.  There's just so many good books and so little time to tackle them all. Here are the ones I read this month: Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts-- Oh my! I was in tears by page 30 and wasn't sure I was going to be able to read the whole story but I did and I am so glad too; this was a fantastic book! The book begins with a mass shooting at a local movie theater/mall and follows the lives of a few of the survivors afterwards showing how they grow, change, and persevere. Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews-- I read this book in just under two days!  When famous lifestyle blogger Grace finds her husband cheating on her she doesn't realize that walking away from her marriage will find her h...