children Archives - Dine and Dish

Summer of Fun Bucket List for Kids 2012

Kristen — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:24:45 +0000

I alluded to my Summer Bucket List in my last post. My Summer Bucket List is the list of things I hope to accomplish with the kids by the time school resumes in August. 99.9% of the time, I don’t accomplish most that’s on the list and then I feel really bad about it when they go back to school. (Well we do try to cram as much as possible into that week before school starts to ease a bit of my guilt :).)

This year, I decided to take things a bit more seriously and follow the lead of amazing blogger and mama, Amy Clark. Amy created a “100 Days of Summer” Pinterest board last year and I watched, enviously, as she checked the items off, one by one. She’s doing it again this year and I can’t wait to see all the fun she has with her kids.

I decided to make my own Summer of 2012 Pinterest board, thinking something more concrete might be exactly what we need to make the most of our time this year. My list is fairly large, and I can guarantee we won’t get everything done on the list, but I’m hoping we can cross a lot of the things off! So, without further ado, here is our Summer of Fun Bucket List for 2012.

Go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt
Go on a Family Moon Walk
Make homemade Waffle Cones for Ice Cream
Have a water balloon fight
Watch the 4th of July Fireworks
Make inexpensive chalkboard message boards for each kids room
Have a neighborhood squirt bottle water fight
Paint Rocks
Teach the kids how to play tennis
Go to a Kansas City T-Bones Game

Make homemade pretzels
Have a watermelon eating contest
Have at least one date night with each kid individually
Build an awesome indoor fort and live in it for the day
Make artwork placemats
Find a good book to read a chapter out loud of every day
Make homemade Coke Icees
Have an overnight staycation in our town
Make homemade bagels using the bread machine

Make funnel cakes
Teach the kids to follow the FlyLady Daily Kids Challenges
Decorate water bottles and drink lots of water all summer long
Watch the sunset, preferably near the water
Make and eat sno cones
Make treats and take to the fire station
Have an outdoor movie night
Go to a production at Theater in the Park
Make a PVC pipe sprinkler car wash
Plan and do several Acts of Kindness for others

Have a pajama day (at least one!)
Take the kids to the Independence, KS park and zoo
Make homemade musical instruments
Play flashlight tag
Go on a road trip / day trip with no destination in mind
Go to a small town festival in Kansas
Visit the Omaha Zoo
Go to the Tonganoxie Rodeo
Go on a picnic in the park

Go fishing in Iowa with the cousins
Have a Shrimp Boil
Go to Happy Valley Farm to pick berries
Take the kids on an ABC Photo Walk
Make a Cookie Cutter Bird Feeder
Participate in the Great American Backyard Campout
Play miniature golf in Parkville
Make Flubber
Make Glow Stick Lanterns

Make Old Fashioned Egg Cream Floats
Go to the Missouri State Fair
Send handwritten notes to friends and loved ones
Have the kids write in journals each day
Create a summer music playlist and listen to songs from it each day
Go hiking at Shawnee Mission Park
Fly a kite
Sharpie Dye T-Shirts

Make and eat homemade ice cream for breakfast
Ride in a canoe or pedal boat
Make a jar and catch lightening bugs (then release)
Have a summer solstice party
Take a family vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park / Estes Park
Visit my niece and Aunt and Uncle in Branson, MO… go to Silver Dollar City
Have an old fashioned, outdoor play party – play Red Rover, Red Light Green Light
Go on a photo scavenger hunt

Make homemade, glazed yeast doughnuts
Jump in puddles
Make regular trips to the library and load up on great books for summer reading
Play back yard frisbee golf
Make word cloud about me portraits
Find pictures in the clouds
Paint with water
Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Make homemade popsicles
Make Summer Sponge Bombs & play splash tag
Do giant canvas finger painting
Play hide and seek with glow sticks outside at night
Go swimming at the pool as much as possible
Go see a double feature at the Drive-In movie theater

and one final thing…

Make an Instagram Photo Album at the end of the summer that captures all the fun we had, no matter what we end up doing!

Alright – that’s about it! There are some fun new ideas I’m excited to try and some tried and true fun summer favorites that we do each year. I hope you’ll stop by Pinterest and create a summer fun board of your own! Let me know what your plans are for the summer. Whatever you do, I hope it is a safe, happy and fun one!

The post Summer of Fun Bucket List for Kids 2012 appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Identity Crisis (Shrimp and Asparagus Recipe)

Kristen — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:38:16 +0000

This simple Shrimp and Asparagus Pasta Recipe makes a great, family friendly weeknight meal!

Minus the fried ice cream and funnel cakes, our family has been trying to eat a bit healthier lately. Since my kids love fresh vegetables, I have been trying to incorporate as much as I can into our evening meals. That is why, when I saw this recipe for Shrimp and Asparagus on All Recipes the other day, I decided to give it a try.

The problem was, I didn’t really look at the recipe closely before getting started on it. What started out as appearing to be a healthy recipe ended up calling for a massive amount of butter and olive oil! Seriously – 1 cup butter and 1/2 cup olive oil? When I ended up making the Shrimp and Asparagus, I cut down on both the butter and olive oil significantly and it was still very delicious….

The post Identity Crisis (Shrimp and Asparagus Recipe) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Family Fun and Peabody’s Snickerdoodle Muffins

Kristen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:23:50 +0000

I admit it… I’m a little slow on the whole New Year’s Resolutions thing. We have been so busy since Christmas that I feel like the New Year came upon us without giving me the chance to really reflect on what I want to accomplish this year. I have already mentioned that for our household, 2009 is going to be a year for Simplicity. That is my main goal, but I have some other smaller things that are really important to me as well.

My oldest kiddo, Jacob, turned 7 yesterday (which in itself is unbelievable to me… my baby is already 7 years old!). For his birthday he wanted “muffins with sprinkles”. When I asked him what kind of muffins he wanted he said, “Those kind that have cinnamon sugar on them!”. I knew immediately that he was talking about Peabody’s very indulgent Snickerdoodle Muffins. Snickerdoodle Muffins are very worthy of a special occasion, like a 7th birthday!

I got up and made the muffins in the morning, put some spreadable butter on top, added some sprinkles and a candle just for fun. We had so much fun doing a quick early morning birthday celebration before school!

It was during our impromptu birthday celebration yesterday morning that I watched the joy on the face of my kids as we did something a little out of the ordinary and unexpected. Something as simple as having muffins with sprinkles brought smiles and laughter galore. It dawned on my how easy it is to please children, and how often I do not take advantage of that.

With that revelation, I’ve determined that another goal of mine for this year, and beyond, is to remember to have fun with my family. We need to stop rushing around so much and I need to plan more fun little activities for us to do. They are all at an age where it takes so little to please them… I need to maximize that the best that I can!

What are some of the fun little things you do with your family or that you remember your parents doing with you when you grew up?

For Peabody’s recipe, head over to her blog. The recipe can be found HERE.

Also, don’t forget to check out my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe at the Right@Home website!

Happy Belated New Year. I appreciate each and every one of you and I hope that 2009 is full of wonderful things for you!

The post Family Fun and Peabody’s Snickerdoodle Muffins appeared first on Dine and Dish.