Some Summertime

So far this summer Michael and Sophie have...

...been swinging on the big kid swings in many of our local parks, pumping their legs and declaring:

Sophie: I'm Ladybug Girl!
Michael: I'm Bumblebee Boy!
Sophie and Michael: And we can do....ANYTHING!

It's from one of their favorite books, Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy by David Soman and Jackie Davis.  We're pretty big fans of the whole series, but that was our first, a baby shower gift.

This summer the kids have also been getting all arts-and-craftsy including...



...painting with sponges and finger paints.  I picked up those sponges at the dollar store long ago and the plastic trays at Ikea recently for less than $3 each envisioning messy table crafts like this.  We used lids from some broken storage bins as pallets.  I knew I held onto those for a reason!



We surprised the kids one Saturday afternoon with a stop for...

   

...ice cream!  Is it sad that these were their first solo cones?  We just haven't done this much...yet!  ;)

So far we have hit Tunes on Tuesday once and will surely be back.  It's one of my favorite summertime events, and the kids are starting to get more into it, as you can see below!



The performers in this video were Janet Marie and Marchibald.  The kids loved pretending to be dinosaurs eating trees during "I Love Broccoli."

My little buddies are proving to be good little garage salers, too!  We've been out a few times since the weather got nice, and I gave them each a dollar to spend on Friday morning.  Sophie picked a My Little Pony, and Michael wanted a truck, both marked $1.  They must have worked some bartering magic, because the seller (a mom of boy/girl twins herself) told them both to pick a second toy.  Bargain hunters!