Book of Mormon Summer Reading Schedule

For those of you interested, here is a Book of Mormon Summer Reading Schedule. It begins June 1 and, if you stay on course, finishes August 29. Click on thumbnail to view and print. Please leave me a comment if you participate or download this file. Good luck!

Italian Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is perfect for your next picnic or BBQ potluck; it's super simple and really yummy!

1 package Garden Rotini
16 oz. bottle Italian Dressing
1 can sliced or chopped olives
4-5 carrots, sliced
broccoli, chopped

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Add all other ingredients and toss to coat. Refrigerate for several hours. Stir well before serving.

Summer Schedule

Here is a look at the summer schedule that I came up with for me and my cute kiddos. I started off by choosing a theme for each day of the week. Well, Monday through Thursday. Friday is kind of a free for all, go wherever the wind blows us kinda day. Monday is movie day. Tuesday is a special learning activity unit. Wednesday is our field trip day. I got a group of friends and their offspring together. It will add to the fun and make the whole experience more field trippy. Thursday we will rotate between a cooking class and a craft.

I typed up a schedule for each day of the week. I have to say, I am all kinds of excited about "Quiet Time"!!!





Then I wrote out the different activities for the whole summer. It takes a little doing up front, but will give me loads more play time come summer!










After I decided the themes of our days and filled in my monthly activity calendar, I wrote out a week by week supply list of all the items we will need for each activity. When I make out my weekly grocery list (which I always do on Sunday evenings) I can just glance at my supplies needed worksheet and add those items to my list.










I am trying to keep my daily to do list to a minimum this summer so that I can enjoy my family, so I decided to make a Most Important Task list. I had it laminated and will use a dry erase marker to map out my week, erase when then week is over, and use the same form next week.

I did something similar for the kids. Their list has a spot for the daily chore they are in charge of. I typed up a list of all the chores the kids can help with, cut them apart, and had them laminated as well. At the beginning of each week, the kids will draw a slip for each day and write on their task sheets what they are in charge of. We take Fridays off. No chores. Saturdays they have to do a chore plus vacuum, dust, & straighten their rooms. Each child will take a turn weekly helping to plan, cook, and clean up a meal.









I decided to go simple with the rewards system. Each child will get a punch card. They can earn up to 3 punches per day for things like good behavior, being kind to one another, getting their jobs done without me twisting their arm, etc. They can then turn in the punch cards for predetermined prizes. All are low cost, most are free!

I think this will be a great system to keep us motivated and on task, and allow us to make the most of our fun time together.

Candy Gram Pail

I had a hard time coming up with an end of the year gift for Jaxson's teacher. I finally decided on a candy gram, but I didn't want to put it on a piece of poster board. I saw these pails at Michaels and thought it would be a perfect fit for the candy. Here is what the note says:

I SKORed big when I got you for a teacher. Don't SNICKER, but I think you're great! You are MOUNDS of fun and you have brought me so much JOY. I think you ROCK. (pop rocks) Thanks BEARY much (gummy bears) for always being so JOLLY (jolly ranchers) and for helping me become such a SMARTIE. Teachers like you are worth a MINT. (york peppermint patty) I'd be a NERD if I didn't thank you for helping me put the PIECES (reeses pieces) of the knowledge puzzle together. You are Might Magnificent. (m&ms) Thanks for a great year!

I also thought it would be cute to have Jaxson draw a picture to put on the lid of the pail; we just haven't gotten that far yet!

Cozy Cottage Notebook

My mom recently opened up an Etsy Shop so I created this little notebook for her to keep track of her product ideas, inventory, and items sold.

Outings

Spending one-on-one time with my children is very important to me. So at the beginning of every month I pick a day and write it in my calendar. Most of the time these outings are fairly short and low cost. This month Jaxson and I went to Barnes & Noble, got Italian Sodas to sip on, and sat in the cafe area and played a card game that he has been learning. Cost: under $4. Time spent with my child: Priceless!

Cupcake Card Tutorial

I used paper from My Mind's Eye Dreamy 2 collection for this card.


1. Cut the background piece 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 and adhere to card.

2. Cut a 2 x 5 1/2 strip of polka dot paper. Put your adhesive on the back, but don't attach just
yet.

3. Cut a 14 inch length of matching ribbon and run it along the back side of the polka dot strip.
Lay it so the ends of the ribbon are near the bottom of the card. Adhere strip to the card
toward the left side.

4. Tie the ribbon in a knot.





5. Cut a 3 inch scalloped rectangle from dark pink cardstock. (I used the Winter Woodland
Cricut Cartridge.) Adhere to card with pop dots.





6. Cut a 3 inch cupcake base from brown cardstock. ( I used the From My Kitchen Cricut Cartridge in the blackout setting.) Trim off the cherry.

7. Cut a 3 1/2 inch cupcake frosting from pink patterned paper. Adhere to cupcake bottom. Adhere cupcake to scalloped rectangle.

8. Hole punch 7 holes from raspberry colored cardstock and adhere to frosting.

French Breakfast Muffins

These are my very favorite muffins. So yummy & easy!

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 t salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cube margarine

Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Set aside. In a bowl stir together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. In another bowl combine egg, well beaten, milk, and 1/3 cup melted margarine. Add to flour mixture, stirring just till moistened.

Lightly grease muffin cups; fill 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or till golden. Immediately dip tops into 3 T melted margarine, then into cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve warm. Makes 12.