My girl picked this pretty vase out herself and bought it for me with her own money last week. Using it as a table centerpiece for dinner tonight. She LOVES putting thought into what others would like and gifting to them. ✨💕
Summer Schedule Inspiration For The Kids
Someone told me last week that her kids were halfway through Summer break (from school). That genuinely surprised me. I learned last year that Summer was the perfect time for us to homeschool pretty consistently, so we’ve still been going (with the intent to use our breaks more in the Fall and during the holidays). And knowing we’d still be schooling, I’ve had some Summer activity ideas brewing in my head since before the season started that fit right into our Summer of learning. But these are great activities for anyone not homeschooling and just looking for a little more structure or even just some random suggestions for things to do. As usual, I’m late to put my thoughts down on paper (or digital notepad). But here I am at the halfway point (for at least some) finally doing it. Not too, too late.
Anyway… I created this schedule with flexibility in mind. Take a trip on Thursday instead of Tuesday, Build stuff on Friday. Make something on Mondays. Or just do one or two of these things in a week. You get the idea. It’s just inspiration.
I also created this schedule knowing that having set days for certain activities is helpful not only to me, but also the kids. They enjoy knowing what to look forward to and can make plans in their heads better with that knowledge.
So, here’s the schedule in written form with a bit more detail than the graphic:
Monday - Build Something
There are really so many ways to bring a building day to life. Use a specific type of building item, theme your build, race to build something, have a building challenge, work together to make something awesome, and so much more.
The suggestions I put in the graphic for building items are LEGO, magnetic tiles, wooden or unit blocks, dominoes, a blanket fort, and a stick teepee. A few other suggestions are Lincoln Logs, a marble run, something with cardboard boxes or popsicle sticks, and a building kit (like this one my kids loved).
We’ve invested heavily in LEGO and magnetic tiles (Picasso sets are our favorite, but we have a few different kinds) since my son was old enough to start playing with them. They were birthday and Christmas gifts from us and other family members, which made it easier to enlarge our collection. So it’s really fun now to have a lot to use to build!
For unit blocks, I’ve found that Jenga blocks are absolutely perfect for building! My kids have reached for them more than anything else recently. They build mazes and castles and pretend wars and forts and lots more! They’ve even used them to make indoor putt putt courses. They have 2 sets each that I purchased when on a BOGO sale at Target.
Several of the other items—like dominoes, blankets, and Lincoln Logs—I’ve collected through thrifting. The dominoes double as pretty decor in a glass container!
Tuesday - Take a Trip
My suggestions are pretty common, but they are easy to do in a day without much (or any) planning. I’m going to divide them into free and paid options below.
FREE - park, nature hike, library
PAID - zoo (a membership is typically totally worth it if you live near one), museum, lunch out, indoor activities (like ice skating, roller skating, a trampoline park, indoor rock climbing, Top Golf)
Wednesday - Play a “Game”
I used the word, “game,” here a little loosely because I couldn’t think of a better term. But basically I just mean anything that challenges the mind a bit without a lot of mess. So things like:
Board Games - A few of our current favorites are Sequence, Blokus, and Sorry. Card Games - We LOVE Play Nine and Skyjo! Puzzles - I pick these up at thrift stores if they’ve never been opened, but also occasionally grab a pretty or seasonally appropriate one elsewhere. Activity Books - Our absolute favorite activity books for a couple years now are these 1,000 dot-to-dot books. They’re frame-worthy once completed! Coloring Books - We’re partial to more detailed coloring books. This Audubon one is on our wishlist right now. Paint-(or Color-)By-Numbers - We’ve done a few of the Mondo Llama brand paint-by-numbers in the past year, and they’re good (not tooooo overly detailed).
Thursday - Create Something
A painting, a drawing, something with air dry clay, a Perler bead creation, a sewing or knitting or embroidery project, an outdoor chalk masterpiece, and more. So be crafty, yes. But you could also take this in a whole different direction and do a science experiment!
Friday - Have a Party
Make this anything you want! Bake a cake just because. Have a cute little tea party. Plan out a fun charcuterie board for lunch. Have an ice cream celebration and make it extra fancy or super simple…I’m sure it’ll be well received either way! Or do a book party where you read a book, make a craft, and have some sort of related food item. There are so many options here. And anything you call a party is sure to be exciting for everyone!
One of my kids is reading about Genghis Khan and the other is drawing fireworks.
Spent a huge chunk of today organizing and reorganizing things in the house. Felt good.
Feels like of 90 (which is welcome on a Louisiana June afternoon), hot coffee, and a fire.
I didn’t plan it all out. But it was nice.

My girl made me a plate and served it to me with pistachios and pecans. ☺️

Sunset driving over the lake by my dad’s house last night.

Sad my post-trip afternoon coffee is finished.
Learned about and watched some dock diving yesterday!
I had no idea it was a real dog sport. Fun to see!
We had the best day at the zoo yesterday!
It was overcast and thundering and not super busy. We saw every single animal, which included lots of babies. Got caught in a heavy downpour and waited under a pavilion for a while, which was fun. And a zookeeper gave the kids peacock feathers.
May Monthly Round-Up: Butterflies, Mother's Day, Yetis, + Summer
I started a monthly round-up last month, so I’m sitting down again to do one for May.
It was a sweet, busy month. We’re not far into June, but when I looked through photos I have from last month, some of those things seem like they were multiple months ago. Time is weird sometimes.
Here are some highlights from our May, which was really just a couple of weeks ago.
BUTTERFLIES
My girl got a National Geographic butterfly kit from her Paw for her birthday. It comes with a voucher to order Painted Lady caterpillars when you’re ready. So, we decided to do it a few weeks after she got it. The caterpillars arrived, and we got them set up in their jar. The info packet says you’ll get five, but she got six. I think it took about seven-ish days for them to start making their chrysalises. Only three appeared to have made it through the process as only three were hanging from the jar lid. The others ended up in chrysalises but were on the bottom of the jar. But when I transferred the three that were hanging, Ro said we needed to keep the others just in case. As you can expect, she was right, and one of the ones that was on the bottom of the jar emerged from its’ chrysalis as well. We got it into the larger container with the others and observed them for a day, then released them. It was a neat learning experience for her.


MOTHER’S DAY
Mother’s Day is really special to me. I always, of course, think about my mom (who passed away when I was 10) and my Memom (who pretty much raised me after my mom died and passed away herself 5 years ago). I desperately wish they were still here with me and my family. But, I’m a mom too now. And it is really, really, really one of my very favorite titles and responsibilities in my life. So, I’m just really grateful that I get to celebrate that and be loved by my children.
The actual day was a good one! My kids (and husband) celebrated me well. We went to church (Matt spoke, and it’s worth a listen), then I chose to go to a restaurant we had not been to in a long time—La Cuisine de Maman. They gave me thoughtful gifts that I really like! And we spent the rest of the day at home together.
Waiting to be seated for lunch. The restaurant–La Cuisine de Maman–is on the grounds of Vermilionville, which is a really cool and beautiful historic and folklife park that is situated alongside the Vermilion River in Lafayette, LA.
My gifts! A LEGO set to add to my Botanicals collection, a 10 oz. YETI that my bud picked out for me, a super cute set of anklets that my girl picked out for me, and a beautiful great blue heron art print from a local artist.
YETI DRINK DATES
As I just noted in the photo above, my bud got me this little YETI for Mother’s Day because I had mentioned that I liked them! My girl already had one from a couple of years back. So, I guess B felt left out. Ha. He decided to get him one with his own money for his weekly coffee.
Since we all had our own, we decided to have a YETI tea time one evening when Daddy had a meeting out. We had a few other YETI drink dates in May as well. And they’re just the best.

Ro made place cards for the occasion. Sweet girlie!
PLANNING SUMMER
Our entire Summer isn’t planned out, but I did manage to get a few things set in stone. I also have several things that don’t require much pre-planning saved in my brain (or maybe on a piece of paper somewhere) that I’d like to do when it works out.
A few things we have planned:
- Some fun activities with our homeschool co-op, including: “tech apart” day, bowling and laser tag, volunteering at a local organization that serves our local homeless community, a patriotic art lesson, and an island survival game day
- A couple of baseball games in Dallas
- Some swimming, hopefully
A few things I’d like to do at some point:
- Build bird houses with some inexpensive bowls, cups, and plates
- Do a watercolor tutorial from Brighter Day Press
- Sun prints (I already have the supplies!)
It was a family yard day today. The kiddos willingly worked hard. 💚
Took a blackberry bush thorn to the end of my left pinky finger this afternoon. It bruised almost immediately and is, surprisingly, quite bothersome.
Reflection circa Thanksgiving 2020 in Sikes, Louisiana #mbjune

Currently researching: rabbit fencing (to keep them out of my garden)
Coreopsis showed up next to my blackberries this year.

Finally cut back my irises this week. Here’s what they looked like last month. 😍
Hoping to add more soon. I envision one whole end of our pond covered in them.
Between playing a game of wiffle ball last night against my son’s baseball team and getting adjusted today, I’m going to bed sore tonight. A good sore, though.
Our day was supposed to include the zoo after a chiropractor appointment this morning. But the weather was unexpectedly very stormy. So, I got the kids smoothies, then we came home and started some paint-by-numbers I’ve been hoarding.
This is mine so far…

My cucumbers have arrived. 🥒
I’m currently growing 2 or 3-year old straight-eight cucumbers on a cattle panel trellis.