Tag Archives: summer

back in action.

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I can’t believe it’s been a whole summer already.  A packed full, active, adventurous summer has gone by, and I haven’t shared much of any of it here.  It’s been a good break.  At first I missed writing posts so much that something would happen and I would immediately think I need to blog about this!  But as the summer went on that quickly slipped my mind, and here were are on September 2nd [!!!!] and I’m all like here we go back to blogging.  It’s good though.  I definitely missed being active on the blog, but mostly just missed you all!  

 

JT at the beach
 One of my favorite pictures of Jack from this summer.  My sweet boy!  

 

I want to share some of the stuff we were up to this summer — I won’t bore you with every detail — but some of our more fun things.  Plus we’ve been busy working on our house.  We’ve been making it a little more us and a little less standard, which we always love to do.  So I have plenty to share from that.  But first I want to hear how your summer was!!  What was the biggest thing that happened for you this summer?  The most fun that you had?  Your best adventure?  Or most disgusting moment — like the time I dropped my phone in the hazardous waste basket at the doctors office after just having a procedure done.  Not even kidding.  

 

 

I would love to hear from you all!  Share in the comments below, email me, or share on facebook.  Can’t wait to catch up with you!  Happy fall is on the way to you!  

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snacks for 100 calories or less.

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I don’t know about you but in the summertime we are snacking a lot!  We snack at the pool, at the park, in the car, and even at home.  It seems too hot to spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking, so we do a lot of snacking throughout the day.  Sometimes we even have larger snacks for meals.

 

I don’t want to be absent-minded about the snacks we are eating.  I want to feed my son, my husband, and myself wholesome food — even in the lazy days of summer.  I compiled a list of 12 snacks under 100 calories.  Today I’m sharing it over on the Knoxville Moms Blog.  I hope you will head over there and read it!  Let me know what your favorite snacks are.  We aren’t the only snacking family are we??

 

You can find my post with healthy snack options over here.

 

12 snacks under 100 cals.jpg

making the most of summer.

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It is summer.  School is out.  The air is heavy and warm.  Fireflies are starting to light our yard.  It stays light until late in the day and the sun is up early to greet us.  It is summer.

 

I am not a summer person.  In fact, out of the 4 seasons, it ranks in 4th place — and that’s only because there isn’t a 5th season.  Spring and fall are beautiful in East Tennessee.  It is hard to beat those seasons in this gorgeous part of the country.  I’ve always liked winter as well.  I love snow, I like bundling up and all things cold and associated with it make me happy and snuggly.  I hate being hot.  I hate sweating — which I do a lot of.  I don’t tend to tan, I usually burn.  Mosquitos eat me like I eat chocolate cake.  Summer is just not my season.

 

But it’s funny how having kids really does change everything.  Jack is changing how I feel about summer.  Over the past several years I have realized what a precious time this season is with my boy, and I’m kind of starting to love it.  I’m not a natural at this summer thing, and I’m not a naturally fun person so having a fun, intentional, and adventurous summer is out of my comfort zone and a stretch for me.  But I’m going to do it.  You see, I realized the other day that I only get 18 of these summers with my boy, Lord willing.  And I’m coming up on my 4th summer with him.  How is that even possible??  This realization made me catch my breath and hold back tears a little bit as I thought about how quickly time is passing.  I don’t want summer days with Jack to be wasted.  I want to teach him valuable skills, I want to show him amazing things, I want him to have a spirit for adventure, and I want him to look forward to an exciting time of year where our family shifts our focus into fun and adventure for a season.

summer park picnic

summer fun

 

In order for me to do that I have to set some goals + make some lists [because even if I am going to be adventurous, let’s face it — I’m still type A and need a good list to be adventurous 🙂 ].  So we have made up a family summer adventure list with the goal of crossing each thing off the list.  The first week of summer for us was last week, and it went really well.  I watched my friend’s son while she took care of her other son who was sick.  So we got to have some fun adventures with Jack’s buddy, too.  They had Icees and a picnic at the park to start the week.  Then the next day a Chick-fil-A picnic in Nan and Pops incredible back yard.  Jack has run errands with me and spent time outside blowing bubbles.  The first week of summer was a success!

 

Here is our list:

 

Family Summer Adventure List 2014

1. Get Icees and go swing at Bluegrass

2. Picnic at the park

3. Play in the sprinklers

4. Picnics at Nan and Pops

5. Play out in the backyard at Nan and Pops house

6. 69 cent Icees over and over

7. Anni-Jack-a-birthday week to kick off summer!

8. Celebrate Jack’s 3rd birthday!

9. Celebrate our 5th anniversary!

10. My birthday on Memorial Day this year

11. Go to the mountains

12. Go to the library

13. Go for walks

14. Play bubbles

15. Water gun fight

16. Slip-n-slide

17. 4th of July

18. Catch fireflies

19. Go to the zoo

Go to Dollywood

20. Ride bikes

21. Go to the park

22. Go fishing

23. Go hiking

24. Order pizza

25. Camp in backyard

26. Lay on driveway and watch the stars

27. Find our Gabriel star

28. Visit the cemetery lots

29. Go to Smokies game

30. Go to the beach

31. Go swimming

32. Pick blueberries

33. Make strawberry jam

34. Make blueberry jam

35. Get strawberries from Tidwells

36. Visit Daddy at work

37. Find a special place to serve

38. Go to Kingsport

39. See cows + visit Mamaw’s barns

40. Paint on the driveway

41. Paint on the fence

42. Take the dogs for walks

43. Jack’s birthday party at the farm!

44. Remember and celebrate Gabriel

45. Plant flowers

46. Fix up backyard

47. Grill out lots

48. Eat popsicles

49. Play with chalk outside

50. Rent a canoe

51.  Make homemade popsicles

52.  Swim in blow up pools in our yard