The God Centered mom is celebrating its one week-versary today!
Let’s review what we’ve covered this week: having 3 kids under 4 years is a humbling experience…we all have a disease of pride…there is treatment available through humbling oneself and placing God at the center…when bad things happens in our lives we have a choice in our reaction: Self-centered or God-Centered…training our children is an exercise in persistence…we know the way they should go by asking, looking at directions and from previous experience…being a God centered mom requires sacrifice, extravagant sacrifice.
WHEW!! That’s a lot of heavy stuff in one week. In honor of the one week-versary I thought we deserved a commercial break…
SUMMER FUN!!!!
I am loving the laid back summer schedule but sometimes we have a hard time coming up with things to do. It’s difficult to play outside in the heat unless we are in water of some kind. Here are a few fun ideas of things to do with the kids inside and a yummy beverage for moms to drink while watching the kids have fun.
Balloon launch
Get a cheap balloon pump at a dollar store (dollar tree is my favorite) and a bag of balloons. Put the balloon on the pump and pump it up. 
The REAL fun begins when you do a “rocket ship count down” (’5,4,3,2,1 BLAST-OFF’) and let the balloon zoom around the room. This activity kept my boys entertained for 30 minutes when I pulled the pump and balloons out to take pictures.
Number Find
- supplies: grocery ads, blank paper, glue and scissors
This is a wonderful afternoon, educational activity for preschoolers (maybe Kindergarteners). I got the idea from our homeschool curriculum by Sonlight. You decide with them what number they want to work on. We chose “3″. Then you scan all the grocery ads for pictures with 3 items in them. For example, 3 mangoes, 3 cartons of Blue Bell ice cream, 3 bottles of water, etc.
If they are old enough they can cut out the pictures and glue them around the number. For younger kiddos you may need to help by cutting out the pictures and letting them glue them on. 
Letter Smash
This activity was invented yesterday by my middle son. He started by sticking our magnetic letters onto the trash can. You could technically spell out words but he’s only 3 so we’re not there just yet.
Then you take a tennis ball (we allow balls in the house…call me crazy I know. if you want you could take the trash can outside) and launch the ball at the letters watching them smash all over the floor. Highly entertaining. 
Educational Movie Time: Let’s call a spade a spade…our kids watch T.V. and movies. One movie that I really don’t mind if my kids watch frequently, is “The Letter Factory” by LeapFrog. It’s great because it teaches kiddos each letter of the alphabet and the sound each letter makes. I think some of the dialogue is pretty funny too (“we need a new letter ‘h’ at checkpoint 3 please, a new letter ‘h’ at checkpoint 3″…ok not as funny when i type it out, but trusts me on this one.) Maybe if my 3 yr old watches it enough he can spell out some words on the trashcan for “letter smash”!
Iced Coffee (Mommy’s treat!)
This may not be new to y’all but I am a recent coffee addict and it’s hard for me to “down” a big cup o’ hot joe on smokin’ hot days. When a friend shared this “recipe” with me I was super excited and tried it ASAP. Brew your coffee as usual. Pour into a glass and let it cool on the counter for awhile (patience is a virtue). When I say “awhile”, i waited 30 minutes and it was too soon. So it maybe more a summer afternoon beverage with your leftover morning coffee.
Then prepare your coffee as you like (mine with a large helping of Chai Latte creamer). 
THEN add your ice. It’s uhmazing!! Goes down so smoothly and quickly you’ll be ready for seconds before you can say “yum-O”. Since you saved so much money not getting it at Starbucks, you can purchase this super delicious candle from anthropologie!
What are some of your favorite “summer fun” ideas?
love your new blog! thanks for the thought provoking posts.
if you have no patience (or it is totally drained by the kids, which mine is), brew your coffee double strength (double the coffee for the usual water amount) and then you can ice it right away (the extra water dilutes it to the perfect boldness).
you all enjoy the day. will certainly be saving my grocery flyers this week to do the number find.
Playdough time is great for the young ones…my one year old loves it. Also, she loves to take her farm animals and hide them from mommy. I make her tell me the name of the animal before she hides it, and when “we” find it, she has to tell me the sound. It is a nice, fun, indoor, out of the heat ,game. When we are outside we work with sidewalk chalk and practice drawing animals, letters….really anything! Love your ideas….letter smash is in our near future!
When my boys were little, we made a chalk raceway on the driveway. They would then ride their bikes, trikes and Big Wheels around the “road.” Easy summer fun! I would also let them “paint” the fence with water. Very fun on a hot day. A slip and slide is a great way to spend $8.00 for an afternoon of smiles and big muscle time.