Our Summer S'Cool

Awhile back I was talking to one of my friends about how we were going to spend our summer with our kids. While we have plans for vacations and trips of course, its those normal days I was dreading. You know the mornings, the ones where you agree to turn on the cartoons for only a half-hour so you can wash the breakfast dishes and before you know it two hours have gone by. Every time you reach for the remote, there is your zombie faced child pleading, "Mommy, just one more show pleeez!" Or those afternoons when suddenly and without warning every single, solitary toy in the house is out without seconds?

I'll admit last summer I had too many of those days.

I promised myself this summer would be different.

   My girls always seem to do better with structure. Maybe its a twin thing since we tried to get them on the same schedule from day one merely as a survival tactic. But twins survival aside, I really do think most children strive with structure. So as I started thinking about how to structure our days, I kept several things in mind. First, I wanted fun to be foremost- after all it is the summer. But who says we can't have fun and learn something too?  Practicing and reinforcing all those skills they learned in preschool was also at the forefront of my plans. This is the summer we countdown to kindergarten (sniffle, sniffle.)

  So I dove into researching all kinds of activities we could do this summer and almost immediately themes started to emerge. Once I discovered I could link each theme to a trip or a place we plan to visit this summer, there was no holding me back.

Who wouldn't want to make your own fossils before a trip to the dinosaur park? Or whip up a batch of homemade butter before visiting the county fair? Or read all about the creatures that live in the ocean before heading to the beach?

With our trips and corresponding themes planned out, I made a list of types of activities I thought each unit should have. For each theme, my goal was to have the following:

• tons of books to read, non-fiction and fiction
• science experiments
• nature observations
• art projects
• creative snack ideas/ cooking recipes
• games for practicing literacy and math skills
• printables for printing/cutting practice
• computer games and activities
• and most importantly- the field trip!

From that list, I started collecting ideas for activities and oodles of fabulous free printables online. This binder has been the place to keep it all organized.

I also raided the dollar stores and dollar bins at stores like Target, Jo-Anns and Michaels for extra fun little activities like dinosaur eggs and butterfly puzzles. These containers help organize those little extras and supplies for each theme's activities. Plus they keep them hidden from the girls so I can surprise them later with them.

And much to Mr.Cabin and my mailman's chagrin, Amazon is my new best friend and I cannot wait to read all of these new books with the girls. We've been reading to the girls everyday since they were born but most of our books are fiction. Its been fun beefing up our non-fiction. I can't wait to see all the new things they are going to learn.

Even though I tried to plan most of our activities out, one last priority is flexibility. I want to stay open to where the girls' natural curiousity and wonders will take us. Bottom line is I want them to love learning and understand that learning is a life-long process that will never stop. Of all the gifts we wish to bestow upon our children- knowledge is one of the most precious.

I hope this will be a summer very well spent.

Stayed tuned...we're starting off with a dino-mite adventure!

Find me here:
I Heart Nap TIme, At the Picket Fence , Tatertots and Jello, Sunday Showcase

Cabin Decorating- Adding Age

     Ordinarily when I finally get a few quiet moments to sit down with a home decorating magazine, I'm a page by page kinda gal. Unless I spy on the cover a feature of a cabin, then I flip fast and furious straight to those pages. I adore reading romantic accounts of couples finding long forgotten cabins in various stages of crumble and neglect then lovingly restoring them to their former glory. Or who doesn't love an adventurous saga of a family who has taken a cabin apart log by log and transported it clear across the country to its new home?

    Of the oodles of cabins I have ogled at over the years, almost all of them have one thing in common that my cabin does not share- age.

   Now by no means am I complaining about the "newness" of the cabin. But it has been a mission of mine to make the cabin feel as if it has always been there tucked away in the woods. So I thought I would share a few of the ways I have been able to add a little age to the cabin and speed up the maturing process.

Using Family Heirlooms and Flea Market Finds

Whether from your own family or found at the market, older pieces add instant history. This was my grandfather's rocking chair, one of my most prized possessions. I was lucky enough to grab it when my grandmother downsized. I love sitting in it and thinking about how much my grandfather would have loved this place.

This is my grandmother's worn sewing basket which believe it or not now serves as glow stick storage (glow sticks are a kiddie must-have around the campfire.)

I realize how blessed I am to have these items handed down to me. They add not only age to the cabin but priceless family history as well.

Using Worn and Distressed Finishes

We finally installed cabinets to the kitchenette. To achieve a worn look and a pop of color, we stained them fruit punch red. The color makes me so happy!

Fake It

This rusty old chandelier now hangs over our table. It may look old but I actually bought it brand new at Home Goods. It was a steal too- would you believe only $19?

While most of us girls can agree age can be a sensitive subject, when it comes to growing old gracefully with my decor, I'm finding the aging process to be quite fun and mostly wrinkle-free.

Find me here:
Between Naps on the Porch , Savvy Southern Style , At the Picket Fence , Funky Junk Interiors

Beauty and the Beast Breakfast

By far my favorite Disney princess has always been Belle. With "her nose stuck in a book" and her ability to see true beauty within, what's not to love? So when I first saw they were rereleasing the movie in 3D, I knew taking the girls was a must. With Chirstmas over and our elf-on-the-shelf back in the North Pole, I was missing some of that morning magic so I decided to suprise the girls with a special breakfast to announce our movie trip. You should have seen the looks of pure astonishment and giddiness when they came downstairs on an ordinary Friday morning to see the dining room table all adorned for a special breakfast.

Our Lumiere-esque sign read, "It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you this morning as your Mommy proudly presents your Breakfast."

For breakfast, the girls dined on vanilla yogurt with strawberries cut in the shape of enchanted roses...

...and cranberry-orange mini-muffins in rose paper cups.

I decorated the table with an enchanted rose and mirror and piles of vintage books.

Mrs. Potts, Chip and Lumiere also joined the festivities.

The girls also recieved new Belle t-shirts to wear to the movies and a little goodie box with a Belle pez dispenser and candy inside.

The buffet was set up for our after-movie treat: a new Belle nightgown for each girl and special snack, a Beauty and the Beast cake.

Each girl had her own Belle on the cake (when you're a twin- it's all about the fairness.)

The movie itself was as magical as I had remembered it. The 3D effects were stunning and the girls were mesmerized the entire time. My favorite part of the day however, was as when we were tucking them in and I heard, "Mommy, this was the best day ever!" 

Catch me partying here  !

Year in Review

Hello friends,
Its hard to believe it has been months since I posted last.  All has been fine in our little corner of the world.  Now with winter finally upon us,  things slow down a bit and I am excited to share some of the things we've been up to.  I love how a new year brings out that reflective spirit in me. So here is our little year in review- some old and some new.

First, Mr. Cabin built   the cottage exercise room - my bright, happy place amongst the basement chaos.

Next, was the cabin's wood shed. Yes, it is there in the background of the picture. Its not so pretty right now. It still needs paint and a front eve. Who am I kidding? I am not sure if it will ever be pretty- after all it is a tool shed. But its functional and the bottom line is - it got those tools out of the living room! Most importantly however, fingers crossed, with the tool shed built I am one step closer to getting the outdoor shower of my dreams!

My favorite project at the cabin was this impromptu one- a small dock out over the pond- built from left over wood from the shed. We spent a good many hours swimming and fishing off that little dock this year.

Gotta love unplanned strokes of genius.

Back at the cottage, I started a tea party garden for the girls this summer. The basic structure was about as far as I got, but I am looking forward to finishing it this coming spring.

Now unto all the projects I have yet to post about. Installing red cabinets in the cabin's kitchenette! I am thrilled with the way they came out.

And finally the project that is mostly responsible for keeping me away and preoccupied for the past few months- the girls' woodland fairy birthday party. There will be lots to post about that special event!

Hope all is well in your little corner of the world too. Hope your own reflective spirit finds you looking lovingly on this past year with pride in your accomplishments and into the future with anticipation and hope.
Happy New Year friends!

After Irene

I am so very grateful that we survived Hurricane Irene with practically no damage. All around us, neighbors, family and friends, lost power and had flooding. We were very fortunate. Some friends lost everything and will have to rebuild their houses completely.

As we celebrate the end of summer this weekend, there is so much more to be grateful for...

Hoping you will fully enjoy your Labor Day Weekend too,

Preparing for Irene in between

Our cottage is right in the middle of the path Irene is expected to take in the next two days. We started to prepare a few days ago. Apparently so is everyone else. Mr.Cabin tried to purchase a generator- sold out. Extra batteries- sold out. Flashlights- sold out. Even bottled water- sold out. Luckily, we have all of these supplies at the cabin four hours away. So after work today, Mr.Cabin began the four hour journey to the cabin to pick these things up and then he will travel the four hours back to us. Bless his heart. In the meantime, I have been preparing here as best I can- making ice in case we should lose power and use of the fridge.

We are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

Praying eveyone stays safe,

The Summer Lists: Half-Way

At the beginning of every summer, I sit down to write my "Summer List".  It is a horrid list of things I have been putting off all year. Re-organize the pantry, clean the closets, recover the kitchen chairs again.
I am a procrastinating champ so this list is chock full of fun tasks like that.
This year however we started a second "Summer List" just for the girls. Inspired by all of the other lists out there in blogland, this list is fill up to the brim with things like catch fireflies, collect sea shells and make ice cream.
Today- August 1st, I consider to be the half-way point of our summer- only one month left until life returns to our normal school and work routine.  Looking at our lists the past few days had turned me into a giant grouchy puss. While we have checked off almost all of the girls' list- my list has been almost forgotten. Not one task checked off. The problem is- I have not forgotten about my list. I wish I could but it was still there nagging at me. And while I could say the girls are only little once and it is perfectly fine for me to spend all my time creating adventures and memories with them, the realistic, logical side of my brain knows that life with them would also run much smoother if the closets were more organized.
So at the start of our weeekend I was in a terrible mood, I desperately needed to cross some items off of my list but hubby had other ideas. He wanted to take the girls canoeing- one of the things on their list. Mommy guilt set in and I finally agreed. Our entire day Saturday was spent preparing for our trip. By Sunday morning, I was barely smiling.

Then somehow my spirits lifted. Spending the day out on the water somehow healed my soul and changed my perspective.

How could life be so terrible? Look at all I have to be grateful for. The warm wind on my face, the sun on my skin, the sparkle on the water helped me to realize my glass of lemonade is really half full.

I woke up this morning seeing all the ways I have been able to balance. The pallets are a perfect example. The first half of the summer was spent building a wood shed at the cabin out of these giant pallets- one major item on the "Cabin To- Do List".

 Although the girls had fun when they thought the floor was going to be a stage for their "performances", for the most part the time spent building the shed was not too much fun for them.

But when we were almost done, Mr.Cabin had the wonderful idea to build a little dock for them with the left-over pallets.

 Fishing and swimming off this little dock was the best part of their summer at the cabin yet.

 Somehow the work had turned into the play and we were all happy.
So this is where I am this morning, trying to remember the pallets, trying to turn the work into play and keep us all happy. Not everything may get checked off my list. Not everything may even be checked off theirs. But at the half-way point, we already have some terrific memories and I am looking forward to what the end of the summer brings.

Anyone have ideas how to make reorganizing the pantry fun for two four-year olds?

Still here...

It's been awhile...
Memorial Day till now has been a whirlwind for us. Today we are packing for week at the beach and I finally sat down to offload some photos onto the computer. Looking at all these pictures brought about a bad case of blogger guilt. I have not written in such a long time-  so many of these photos belong in posts.
Perhaps when we return from the beach and the summer slows down a bit, I will finally have the time to write about all that we have been up to.
Until then, here are a few of my favorites. Hope you are savoring the sweet days of summer too...