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If you ever come to my house for dinner (and please know you’re always invited — I make a killer lasagna!), I have a few rules that everyone has to follow — no phone, texts or tv during the meal.

One bite of the lasagna and you really won’t care who’s texting you!

Now actually, this is a rule my parents had way back when we were kids — raising three teenagers during the dinner hour almost drove my Dad crazy with the constant phone calls.

So one simple rule was born — no calls during dinner! 

“If it’s important, they’ll call back” my parents would always tell us.  Not to mention, the people around the table were JUST as important as the people on the phone.

Dinner was time for our family to sit down and catch up with each other, talk about the day, plan for trips and take time to reconnect.

Seasonal art projects for kids that highlight the life cycle of a tree. Fall is starting this week (yea!) so we wanted to celebrate with a fun seasonal activity! When the seasons change, it’s a wonderful time to introduce kids to the science behind nature.  For example, leaf rubbings are a great way to explore …

This week’s Discover and Explore linky is Art & Museum Fun!

I’m a huge fan of taking kids to visit art museums.  Yes!  They will have a good time — and NO! They will not ruin the artwork.  I have taken my kids to art museums dozens of times and (other than a few slightly embarassing questions) we have never had any mishaps.  Your 4-year old may ask why all the statues are naked, but that’s part of the learning that goes along with viewing artwork 🙂  And museums offer our kids a wonderful look into the creative minds and thoughts of others!

There are many types of art museums that you can visit – some have ancient art galleries (think mummies and greek sculpture), others have modern art pieces (which can lead to really great discussions with kids), and almost all museums will have paintings, drawings and photography.   One of the things I love about an art museum visit is that it will appeal to kids of all ages, from toddlers to teens!

We love outdoor explorations! 

Getting to know nature and being a backyard detective are activities my kids have enjoyed for years. 

And having great science tools takes outdoor exploration to a whole new level!

With the first official day of summer coming this week, I sat down to review our summer reading list. Since I know first hand that it can be somewhat challenging to get those older kids reading during the summer months (or reading something OUTSIDE of their normal ‘book type’), I always like to have some …

Many thanks to Hallmark for sponsoring this post and helping to create communities where all children have the chance to grow up as healthy, productive & caring persons.  All book choices and thoughts are mine alone.   Today’s book list was inspired by a young lady who fights for quality education for all children around …

When we got married, my husband and I moved half-way across the country and away from every relative we had.  It was hard the first few years to not have all those family dinners and be there for all the holidays. 

Then we had kids and realized that if we wanted to spend more time with our extended families, road trips were going to be a necessity.

Connect with us on Facebook for more fun ideas!!

My kids just LOVE countdown calendars!  “How many more days until…” — it’s always so much easier to wait if you have something fun to do 🙂  

So, a few years ago, we created a countdown calendar for Halloween.

  So glad you’re still with us! Just in case you’ve missed some of our recent fun activities, here are a few ideas for Summer —   50+ Summer Activities for Kids  If you need a quick & easy activity for your kids, try one of these 20 Summer Scavenger Hunts! Looking for low-cost ideas …

Don’t you just love a day at the beach?  The smell of the air, the warm sand and the hunt for shells — yep, that’s what I call some summer fun!

We had some wonderful beach activities shared at this week’s Discover & Explore linky and so many of them reminded me of fun beach books.  So this week, I thought I would share our feature posts and link them to a great summer read for the kids!