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Summer Fun Binder for Kids

May 16, 2016 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Summer vacation is coming up VERY quickly for us. I’m thrilled to pieces because it means no more trying to keep kids on task to do their homework in the evening, no more loading up all my kids to make 3 trips to the school each day (drop off, 1/2 day kindergarten pickup, end of the school day pickup), a more relaxed schedule, and a chance to spend more time with my kids having fun and teaching them some new things and life skills.

This year, I decided to put together a binder for each one that will help us stay organized for the summer. (And so you don’t worry about my kids being over scheduled during their summer, they will have HOURS AND HOURS of free play time every day — they need it and I make sure they get it. But I also think structure, goal setting, and learning life skills are just as important. There’s really time for all of it with all the hours in a day!) I’m getting the binders started with the basics and then the first week that school is out they’ll get to help me customize their binder a little more with what they want to add and by coloring their binder cover. Here’s what’s in our binder:

Binder Cover – cute summer coloring pages

Tab #1: Calendar of Events

Each child will have a monthly calendar to write down all of our scheduled stuff for the summer, so they can easily see what’s going on and get excited for fun things that are coming up.
One of our weekly events is an online art class that I’m very excited for!

Tab #2: What to do

Here’s where we’ll keep their weekly “to do” list. If they complete everything on their list (Mon-Thurs), we’ll do a fun activity on Friday (go out for ice cream, go to the splash park, go out to lunch, go to the park, have a movie day, etc).
I’ll also include any special tasks I want them to complete each week. Example: My kids that are learning to write will have a couple handwriting worksheets to do.

Tab #3: Summer Reading

My older kids get to use these cute summer reading lists to keep track of all the books they read this summer.
I’ve also included the Barnes and Noble summer reading program to earn a free book.
When our local library does its summer reading kickoff, we’ll add that info too.

Tab #4: Summer Goals

I’ve included a place to list Acts of Service that they’ve completed during the summer and this will also be customizeable for each child to include the things they want to accomplish during the summer. We’ll also be working as a family on completing a Family History booklet that I included inside the front pocket and we’ve already talked about training to do a 5k together as a family at the end of the summer, so I’ll be including the Couch to 5k training schedule. Ideas for what to include for kids to customize their own: recipes they want to learn to make, piano music they want to learn, sewing patterns, and any other skills that interest them.

Tab #5: Summer Fun

This is going to be a “go to” place for all those “I’m bored” moments this summer. I’m going to include fun activities like games, crossword puzzles, special coloring pages, etc that they can pull out and do when they’re needing something to do. These will be different depending on the age of the child, but each one will get a zipper pouch with a set of dice and a new pencil and some fun games to play with dice. This tab will have things added throughout the summer so they don’t do everything in the first 2 days of summer!

So my children will know

March 28, 2016 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

My daughter’s kindergarten teacher sent an email today to let us know that the mom of a boy in her class was killed in a car accident over spring break. I didn’t know her but it hit me hard and left me in tears. I thought a lot about what my own kids would be going through, if it had been me.

For a few months now, I’ve been having the feeling that I needed to write letters to my kids in case I were to die while they’re still young. But it seemed like such a daunting task that I’ve never followed through with that feeling and actually done anything about it. That changes today. Today I am starting to write. And while I hope I’m around to see my grandchildren have children of their own, I’m going to write down the most important things I want my children to know, in case I’m not able to be with them as they grow into adults.

Easter Cupcakes

March 26, 2016 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

These simple Easter cupcakes are one of my favorite Easter things that my mom did for us when we were kids. Today, I love them because they’re simple, cute, and a fun and easy way to let my kids help in the kitchen. Just make up a batch of your favorite cupcakes. When they’re cool, stir some green food coloring into a bowl of coconut. After you frost a cupcake, the kids can dip them in the coconut and then add a few jelly beans to the top. Now that they’re ready, we’re all set for Easter!

10 Things to do if You’re Staying Home for Spring Break

March 18, 2016 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

We’re staying home for spring break this year – no trips for us. But I still wanted to make sure we did some fun things together as a family. We’re also in the middle of doing a deep clean and decluttering around here. So I put together two lists – because I’m one of those “list people”. Each day we’ll do a project around the house and each day we’ll do something fun together. My list of fun activities is longer than 1 per day so that we can pick and choose a bit, deciding what we want to do based on how things are going that day or what the weather is like.

Project list:

declutter/organize bedrooms/playroom
wipe down cabinets in kitchen and bathrooms
outdoor cleanup
wipe down kitchen table and chairs
clean appliances (incl inside of oven and fridge)
dust, glass surfaces, bathrooms

Fun Activities:

library (pick out books and movies for the week)
visit a new park
go out to lunch
day trip (take a drive and go spend the day in another town)
go out to breakfast/brunch
have a picnic
go for a hike
have a movie and pajama day (don’t forget the popcorn!)
have a family game night
have a lemonade stand

Summer Shopping List for Kids

March 2, 2016 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Tis the season for giant kids consignment sales . . . at least around here. But whether you’re shopping consignment sales or the stores, it’s helpful to take inventory of what you need for the kids for spring and summer. We take an evening and write down everyone’s sizes and then go through all their clothes to take inventory of what fits from last summer and what they’ll be needing. I find it helpful to have all on one page, so I created a printable list for myself and then added the details of the local sale where I’m helping with the advertising.

Click here to to print the list.

See more about consignment sales with this post from last year.

Daily To Do List to help stay on track with habits and goal setting

February 24, 2016 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Daily to do list to stay on track with your goals

I have to be honest that I have struggled with creating new habits that I want in my life and sticking with the goals I set because life gets in the way, especially with 5 young kids. There are nights when I’m up all night with a sick child and I’m too tired in the morning or days that the twins are having melt downs and I spend my day trying to manage that. I always have good intentions, but inevitably, something happens and I have to practice this thing called flexibility instead of sticking to my plan 😉 Enter my new DAILY TO DO LIST that has changed my life over the past month. In fact, one week, I purposely didn’t use it and everything went back to the way it used to be until I started using it again the next week. It is helping me keep my New Year’s Resolutions and keep up with habits that sometimes get forgotten in the busyness of a day.

I looked and looked for a calendar that would give me what I needed but nothing did and so my husband finally bought me a week at a glance calendar a couple of weeks into the new year. Its what I had used in the past but it hadn’t been giving me what I fully needed. So, I’m using it to write my appointments and things I need to do each day, but I’ve added my new “every day” or DAILY TO DO LIST to each week so I can mark items off throughout the day, feeling accomplished every time I check mark a square, and stick with my goals. If you want to use it, here’s the Xcel spreadsheet so you can adapt it to your own needs and goals. I’m not proud of some of them, so please don’t judge me! Most of these were things I did either on a semi-regular or occasional basis anyway, but having the list helps me to get back on track if that pesky flexibility issue gets me — which pretty much happens to me every day 😉

So, honestly, it sounds like such a simple idea but if you’re having a hard time reaching your goals, remembering to help your 2nd grader study spelling each night, or just creating better habits, give it a try and I’d love to hear if it helps you.

Tips for Creating Your Own List:

Just print one copy and make notes on the back throughout the couple of weeks you use it. The next time, edit it to add or remove items. The list I’m using now went through a couple modifications and will probably change again as I see other needs in my life throughout the year.
Tape it to your calendar — I tape it on the side so I can open it up like a page and still use the calendar that’s underneath it.
Gray out any spaces that you don’t need. For example: I don’t exercise on Sundays, so I just grayed out those boxes so I don’t feel the need to fill them in with a check mark.

Baptism Day

February 22, 2016 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

We were so excited to have our oldest child choose to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was a big day for him and he had 3 grandparents, 2 aunts, and 9 cousins all make the trip from out of state to be there with him. We had a wonderful weekend and are so proud of him.

With Dad & Mom before the baptism

3 generations – with Dad & Grandpa

More grandparents

The all important cake 😉

Re-used Popcorn Tin as Valentines Box

February 8, 2016 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

The kids need Valentines boxes for school and I had some popcorn tins that needed to be reused. So, today I got out the spray paint and painted the tins (not the lids) and added some adhesive foam hearts that I wrote their names on. They haven’t customized them yet, but I told them that they can add more foam hearts or draw pictures, whatever they want to do to make it “theirs”.

Glittering Jack-o-lantern Jars

October 28, 2015 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

My kids were begging to carve pumpkins for Halloween, but we’re doing a no spending challenge this month. I was so tempted to go out and buy pumpkins since I had to say no to a few other things this month. After all, they’re only young for a little while and we only have so long to make these memories.

Then I thought back to last year’s pumpkin carving. I cleaned out the pumpkin myself since none of the kids would touch the “yucky” guts. Then, my husband carved an awesome jack-o-lantern while everyone else watched. Yes, priceless memories there!

So, I decided to improvise for my zero budget and hopefully end up with a better experience that the kids could participate in this time. The inspiration came from these Starry Night Luminaries that I did with the twins for our at home preschool a few weeks ago.

Here’s the very simple directions for making your own Glittering Jack-o-lantern Jars:

Gather your clean jars. Recycled jars, like pickle jars, jam jars, etc work great! Just make sure they have a lid.
Spray hairspray on the inside surfaces of the jar.
Immediately, add some orange glitter, put on the lid and start shaking so that the glitter will stick to all the jar sides.
Turn the jar upside down, with the lid as the BOTTOM. Then, use a sharpie to draw a jack-o-lantern face on your jar.
Open the jar and set a battery operated tea light on the lid before screwing the jar on top again. With the lid being the bottom it makes it easy to unscrew the lid and turn the light on and off as desired.
If placing on an elevated surface, like ours on our wood porch railing, use a small nail to nail the lid to the surface (if possible) so the jars won’t fall over and break.

More Homemade Halloween Costumes

October 25, 2015 by kim.milius@gmail.com Leave a Comment

When we started the No Spending Challenge for the month of October, part of the process was determining if there were things that would be an exception to the no spending rule. I chose to spend on medical bills, $50 a week on groceries, and Halloween costumes, which I would make as inexpensively as I could since I had already promised the kids they could be certain things & I knew I didn’t have everything I would need for their costumes.

A funny thing happened, though, because as the days of no spending went by, I found myself not wanting to spend anything on costumes, even though I had told myself it would be okay. So, I pulled out the costume box from past years and the twins both found something that they LOVED that they could use in the box – score! The other costumes I was able to pull together for only $6 plus tax — not too shabby, right? The key is to get creative – dig through closets, check out thrift stores and dollar stores, and see what you can get for free or cheap (I use local facebook groups).

Strawberry Shortcake: I had the hardest time coming up with an idea for this little girl’s costume. So, I asked the kids what we should do and one of them had the idea of Strawberry Shortcake – of course, that was BEFORE I had decided to try to not spend anything on costumes, so it was amazing how it all came together. We got the cute red dress as a hand me down and it was in the closet with the winter dresses she hadn’t started wearing yet. I belong to a facebook group for our town where people offer free things and one day saw someone was giving away some costumes, including this wig. I was amazed someone hadn’t snatched it up yet and even more amazed that it fit! I spent $1 on a pair of Christmas socks at the dollar store; I just cut off the Christmasy owl on the top and cut off the bottoms to make a pair of green striped “tights” that go on like leg warmers over a pair of white socks and white leggings that we already had.

Darth Maul: We had the robe already that I made for last year’s Darth Sidious costume. We also already owned the light saber. We used some leftover fabric to make a belt and spent $3 on face paint.

Ladybug: We dug through some hand me downs that she hasn’t grown into yet and found a pair of black pants and a red shirt. The tutu/skirt was in the girls’ dress up box. I cut up an old pair of black shorts into circles and sewed them onto the shirt. We spent $2 on the antennae – I found them at the dollar store but they had skulls on the ends so we took those off and bought black fuzzy balls to glue on the ends instead.