10 Summer Dates

Good Thursday morning!

The Gallery pics feature food today. Strawberries and Cream Muffins. It's an English recipe... and they taste wonderful. If you're interested in making them, I posted the recipe three Tuesdays ago. You can click on Recipes on my sidebar and scroll down a little until you come to the post entitled "Strawberries and Cream Mini Muffins." Try them. I think you'll like them.

RANDOMNESS #1 - Roxie is trying out for the high school Junior Varsity Basketball Team this afternoon. I know what you're thinking. "Didn't she just try out for JV Volleyball two days ago? Are they trying to kill these kids?" The answers are, "Yes" and "Yes." (And I'll tell you. It's no picnic for the parents either!)

Results will be posted in the morning. It's a one-day try-out, so I'm not sure how much rest we're going to get tonight. (And just in case Roxie didn't hear that correctly in the meeting, Mikie is taking the camera when he picks her up in case they post the JV Team tonight... and she happens to make it.)

As always, no pictures will be taken of the "agony of defeat." Roxie will not allow it, and I'm not going to fight her on this one.

RANDOMNESS #2 - I know I haven't posted anything totally riveting in the past few weeks, but life is happening all around, and I've decided to stick with the basics here on A Simple Life. The blog is, and always has been, a very nice little "release" for me, and hopefully, I'll have something with more depth and humor to share in the coming days and weeks.

But being the "giver" I've always been, I'm steering you toward some really good blogs today. As always, feel free to visit, but don't forget about me!

Blog Linkage - I'm sharing entertaining linkage AND useful linkage.

1. Google Birmingham Bargain Mom. (This is easier to me than remembering the website). Click on the first site that pops up. Click on Entertainment on her sidebar. She has TWO lists of FREE and $1 summer movie lists already posted. Check and see which movies you and your kiddos would enjoy and go, go, go.

2. Go to Nesting Place under My Blog List. There are lots of posts to scroll through before you get to "A Painted Coffee Table" dated May 13, so enjoy those, too. But READ "A Painted Coffee Table." I love her easy, breezy way of making her house a really pretty home.

3. Go to Big Mama under my Blog List. Just for fun, scroll down and click on "Previous Entries" until you get to the one entitled "I Walked the Line" dated May 18. It's light and funny reading for a day such as today.

4. Go to Confessions of a Pioneer Woman under My Blog List and click on Photography at the top of her page. You'll be able to see the "Action Shot" Contest winner. There are some really pretty and interesting photos to scroll through.

Enjoy.

10 Summer Dates

Here's a little challenge for you. Put this list on your refrigerator the last day of school, and see how many of these dates you can actually take with your kids. Make as many of them one-on-one dates as you can, but use them as family dates, too.

1. Pick your own... whatever. Find a farm with blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, flowers, etc. and get picking.

2. Play outside in the rain. Smell the rain on the pavement. Splash in puddles. Make mud pies (and pictures).

3. Make your own rain. Douse everyone with the hose or sprinkler.

4. Camp in. Put the sleeping bags on the floor and have a family slumber party.

5. Stargaze in the backyard.

6. Catch lightening bugs, and then watch them flicker away into the night.

7. Play a word game. Think Scrabble, Boggle or Bananagrams. (Just the two of you.)

8. Take an early morning bird walk. Choose the right field guide.

9. Teach the kids a game you haven’t played since you were a kid. (I was a huge Hopscotch player back in the day.)

10. Visit a historic house. Kids will be amazed at what the old-timers lived without.

Have a terrific Thursday. Love on someone today. It's the perfect day for that kind of thing. I'll be back in the morning with Weekend Happenings!

Take care, and I'll talk to you Friday.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda