Friday, June 18, 2010

Our Summer To-Do List Scrapbook

You may or may not remember this from my last post:



It's our Summer To Do List.

Here's how this project went down.

{Including weird conversations with myself.}

Whit, Olivia and I gather at our raggedy old kitchen table and start talking about the things we reeeeeeeeally want to do this summer.

I have to give them a bit of a jumpstart, but then they're off and running with it.

Once I start writing on the big white foam boards Whit chuckles to himself and makes a snarky little remark that I'm sure acting like a teacher *or something.* {Insert 6 year old eye roll here}.

Me (to myself): ACTING like a teacher?? ACTING? Get it, buddy. I *AM* a teacher. Hmpfff. {Insert 34 year old eye roll here plus hands folded across chest like a two year old.}

We're on item number 8ish and I start thinking to myself (which is generally never good for the kids)...

"Now Leigh...seriously...how can you turn this fantastic project into something educational for the kiddos??"

"Hmmmmm."

"Let's multitask here."

"OH, OH, OH!! I know! I'll have them write the items down on some paper and we'll put them in a book."

"That'll be fun for them and they'll love checking off the boxes."

"And, I'll be throwing in some literacy and handwriting practice, too."

"Yessssss. Sneaky, Leigh. I like it."

"And, maybe we could add a few pictures to the book along the way...just to remember all the fun things we do."

"In case they ever forget how awesome their mom is to take time to do this sort of thing with them."

"Or, in case they ever want to blame me for ruining their lives or something ridiculous like that."

"I'll have proof to the contrary."

"Sort of like a scrapbook."

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"WAIT A MINUTE! I GOT IT!! WE CAN MAKE A SCRAPBOOK!!!"

And, so our little project was born.

After we wrote down all of our items on the foam boards, I pulled out some cardstock and markers.

We decided which items each child would write and I put their initials in the boxes on the foam boards and they proceeded to write out their designated items.

I made the check-off boxes on each page and they did the rest.


Then the cutest thing happened.

Olivia made swirly letters.


Cute, no?

I helped them write out the majority of the list because frankly, more than one page of writing just wasn't gonna happen.

After they were all finished, I whipped up a cover for our book using this kit and printed it out from my computer.


I hole-punched the sides and added rings to hold the pages together.

And then I added the ribbon.


We all know about my love affair with ribbon, right? It's a sickness, I know.

Here are a few of the final pages.





And, here are two kids who are very much looking forward to eating ice cream tomorrow morning for breakfast!!


We've added a few more since then and we've checked off a few, too.

I'll be updating you later on that.

And that's it!

Hope you all have a happy summer and do something fun with your kids or dogs or husbands, if you have them.

If not, do something fun with your neighbor's kids or dogs. But not their husbands, because, well....that would just be inappropriate.

Love and hugs everybody!

Happy Summer-ing!

Leigh :)

7 comments:

Sophie Morand said...

What a great idea my dear BFF. I almost did not recognize Olivia with her long hair! Hugs to all!

Brooke said...

So glad to help y'all check a couple of things off the bucket list! Dylan had a great time with Whit ... see y'all soon!

Anonymous said...

Wow!!! That's really cute!!! Love the idea :)

Tamara said...

Such a smart Girl you are!! I love it!!

Evan's Eclipse said...

what a great mom you are! How fun and memories for later years too. Love the cover of your scrapbook and that the kids are still young enough that they let you do this and want to do this with you.

Heidi Y said...

Just saw your post on JessicaSprague site. I Love this idea! And your cover is beautiful. This is a great way to get through the rest of the summer! Thanks for sharing!

Maren and Nancy said...

Loved this! Thanks for the inspiration!
Here's my list.
http://adventuresofuniqueus.blogspot.com/2012/06/summer-must-dos-cure-to-summer-boredom.html