A Visit from the Stuarts!

We had our annual visit with the Stuart family last weekend.  We look forward to their visit all year long, especially now that they call Thailand home.  We pack a year's worth of visiting and talking into a long weekend.  

We have developed some traditions during these visits.  I had not even really realized they were traditions until the children started talking about the things they wanted to do during the weekend.  For example, Isaac said, "I sure hope Mr. Troy makes guacamole again this year."  I had forgotten all about guacamole, so avocados went on my grocery list.

Water Balloons

 The annual Johnson/Stuart water fight tops the list of traditions.  This year, Isaac asked that we buy 1,000 water balloons instead of 500.  We also added a water balloon launcher.  I think the dads enjoyed that as much as the kids!

Games

 We play lots of games during our visit too.  Settlers of Catan tops the list.  "Spot It" was popular this year too.  There was also a lot of Wii playing going on.  The grown ups played Spades again this year, although, sadly, the women lost both games this year!  

 Swimming

Saturday morning swimming at the city pool is also highly anticipated by my crew.  The high dive gets a lot of attention.  This year Eli braved the low dive for the first time.

 Bon Fire

We had a bon fire with S'mores this year.  Mark built quite a fire for roasting marshmallows!

 I am already looking forward to the next visit! 

Praise God for good friends!

 

Shaving Cream Fun

Yesterday was a stay at home day and I decided it was time for some shaving cream fun.  Eli has a sand and water table that stays on the back patio.  It has been so hot lately, that it has been neglected.  We took the sand out and moved it to the shade of the front porch.  It will be the "water table" until the weather cools down a bit.  

We had inherited a couple of bottles of shaving cream from guests, and since nobody here uses it, it became play cream.  The children loved the texture and it entertained them for about an hour.  Isaac even got in on the fun after he finished mowing the yard.  It cleaned fingernails and the sand table and put a smile on some bored faces.  It also crossed one more item off our summer bucket list!

Happy Father's Day!

I asked the children what they love about their daddy.  It is funny how similar their responses were, even though I asked them individually!

"I love that Daddy plays games with me!  He gives me Piggy Back rides.  I love wrestling with Daddy." -- Eli

"He watches t.v. with us."  --Isaac

"Daddy reads with us.  He plays with us and tucks us in.  He is awesome.  He is my favorite Daddy and the only one I want!" --Olivia

"Daddy is fun to be around.  He watches shows with us and plays with us." -- Bailey

"Daddy wrestles with us and gives us piggy back rides.  He always says prayers and reads with us.  Daddy is fun!" -- Anna Grace

Screen Free Week

On Wednesday, I made the announcement that my children were going to take a week long break from screens (not the window kind).  They had been arguing a lot, and I decided that television and video games had become way too important.

On Thursday, I started to question whether we would make it through six more days.  I started to realize how much we rely on screens to entertain us.

On Friday, I am still questioning our chances of survival, but it is getting a tad bit easier.  I am also trying to cut back on my own Internet surfing time, and I am getting some stuff done (like blogging).   We will see how the next five days go!

Blueberry Picking!

I love going blueberry picking!  Blueberries are healthy, but expensive!  We have lots of people living at our house, so we can go through a $3 pint of blueberries in minutes (we should enter a contest or something...).  So, blueberries are a rare treat. 

I heard about a blueberry farm a little less than an hour away, and since blueberry picking is on our summer bucket list, I decided we should go.  It has gotten really hot, so I wanted to get an early start. I promised a trip to the value menu at McDonald's to anyone who got up without complaining.  Food is a powerful motivator around here, so we were out of the house by a few minutes after six.

I managed to miss a turn, so we got a little lost (like 16 miles out of the way lost).  I was really frustrated, but then I spotted a Daylight Donuts sign.  After a brief stop, we were all a lot happier!

  

DONUTS SAVED THE DAY!

We had never been to this farm before, so I was not sure what to expect.  It was great!  The children got a tour of the chicken coop and met a few newborn chicks (I actually managed to set aside my blueberry picking obsession for a few minutes to allow time for the tour).  The children were great pickers, and we ended up with four and a half heaping gallons.  I weighed them when I got home, and I ended up paying a little over $1.50 a pound.  Even more importantly, we had fun and crossed another thing off our bucket list!

  "Look Mom, I have picked thousands!" --Eli

Notice the new canine friend we made at the farm!

Happy Day!

Bubblemania Camp

We had our first session of Summer Fun Day Camp this week.  Pinterest.com was a great source of fun bubble ideas.  We ended up with fifteen campers and we had lots of bubble fun!  I was especially proud of the older children who were really good sports.

Bubble Snakes

 Bubble Snakes were very popular.  Who knew you could cut the end off a bottle, cover it with an old sock, dip it in bubbles, and make long bubble snakes?!?  

Human Bubbles!

"Human Bubbles" were lots of fun too!  I filled a small wading pool with a couple of inches of homemade bubble solution, and added a Dollar Store hula hoop.  The bubbles were really amazing!  The children also used the hula hoop as bubble wands.

Choose Your Bubble Wand!

Everyone brought household items to use as bubble wands.  The children tested everything from spatulas to fly swatters to see what would make the best bubbles.  We also used straws and yarn to make big bubble blowers.  

Bubble Art

 

The children blew bubble solution mixed with tempera paint.  A partner caught the bubbles on paper to make art.

We also tested out three different bubble solutions-- Walmart, Dollar Tree and homemade.  Almost all of the children voted that the Dollar Tree solution made the best bubbles.  That is good to know!

Eli enjoyed the "Key Lime Cupcake Eating" station!

Camp Johnson

Summer day camps are very popular around here.  There is everything from sports camps to scout camps to museum camps... and the list goes on!  I think most of the camps are really good, but the thought of taking my children makes me very tired!  Five different people headed in five different directions for five different camps makes me twitch (and the thought of paying for all those camps makes me twitch even more!).  So, up to this point,  I have just pretended that summer camps do not exist.

A friend texted me to find out if Anna Grace was going to do museum camp.  She wanted to know if her daughter would have a friend there.  I jokingly responded that we were going to "home camp" this year and have exciting themes like "bubble camp" and "water fight camp".  We both chuckled and moved on.  

The idea stuck in my head and I did a little thinking about it.  I decided having summer day camp at our house might be fun!  It would be cheap, the kids would have fun, plus I might actually do some of the things on my summer bucket list.  I talked about it with a friend, and she volunteered to do a couple of our "sessions".  We brainstormed some old fashioned fun activities, and I put together a simple flyer to make it "official".  We decided to invite children from the girls' book club and their siblings.  That gave us a total of twenty campers.

Our Bubblemania session at Camp Johnson is this week.  Hopefully it will be lots of fun!  Here is our flyer--

The Johnson and Pitts families are excited to present the first annual

SUPER SUMMER FUN day CAMP SERIES

 You are invited to join us for some old fashioned, frugal fun!

Bubblemania

We will spend the afternoon experimenting with different household

objects and homemade bubble tools to create one-of-a-kind bubbles.  We will also test out a couple of homemade bubble solution recipes to see which ingredients make the best bubbles!

Supplies— Bring homemade bubble blowers or common household objects you think will make cool bubbles

Playdough

Make up a batch of homemade playdough and come join us for an afternoon of sculpting fun!   Prizes will be given for—brightest playdough, best smelling playdough, most creative playdough sculpture, etc.

Supplies— homemade playdough

Sidewalk Art

Join us as we create sidewalk masterpieces out of chalk and paint.

Supplies needed—cheap paintbrushes, muffin tins

Wild Water Day

Come join us for some fun water games.  We will end our time with a good natured water fight!  Come dressed to get wet!

Supplies— Your favorite water gun and filled water balloons.

Family Carnival Night

Get ready for an old fashioned family carnival.  Bring your favorite carnival food and a carnival game to share!