Watercolor iMovie

I played around a bit this weekend with iMovie and a few of our pictures from our recent vacation to Watercolor, Florida. I've made a few of these videos before, but never tried sharing them on my blog or on YouTube, so hopefully this works........ Enjoy!!

The temperatures are climbing, and the only place we can find relief is in the POOL!!

summer fun

I have a confession to make: Summer is not my favorite season of the year. I'm an Autumn girl myself.  I'm also a pretty big fan of Springtime, and Winter is home to my favorite holiday as well as the birthdays of both of our kiddos.

I usually dread Summertime due to the unbearably hot temperatures here in Texas, the lack of a set schedule, the pressure to fill every waking hour with something creative or memorable......you get the idea.

But this year, I decided to approach things a bit differently. I decided to just go with the flow, and really allow myself to enjoy and appreciate all the good things that only Summer can offer: swimming and popsicles and block parties and dance recitals and lazy days and s'mores and sno cones and more swimming and the smell of sunscreen and trips to the water park and farmer's markets and parades and sparklers and bubbles and sidewalk chalk and sleepovers with the cousins and staying up late and maybe just maybe getting to sleep in every now and then.

First up, I gathered up the kids and got busy making one of the oh-so-popular "Summer Bucket Lists."

Nothing fancy....it took us all of about 20 minutes. We hung it front and center on the bulletin board in the kitchen with plenty of space to add photos of the items as we check them off our list.

And then we started in on the fun!

We hosted a "Donut, Milk and OJ Party" for our neighborhood 

Relaxed with snacks by the pool 

Made a coffee filter butterfly craft & then hung our work on the mantel

Got sno-cones at Bahama Bucks 

 Cheered Grant on in his first stab at team sports

 Co-hosted a dinner party with friends

Took the kiddos to the local Farmer's Market 

 Swam at a friend's house & watched the Mavs win the National Championship

 Enjoyed the sun set from our front yard

 Made an impromptu decision to head to Great Wolf Lodge for Father's Day weekend

And Sienna finally got pink feathers put in her hair

I can't believe we are only one month into our Summer! We still have 2 more months to go with the flow, relax, get dirty, have fun and make memories. Here's to checking off those items on our Summer Bucket Lists!!

summertime

I must say, this screen shot just makes me happy! It's a collection of all things "Summertime".......food, activities, beverages, gifts, etc.....ideas and recipes I want to add to our Gussio Family Summer Bucket List. I can't wait to get started!!!

Summertime Pinboard

summer reading

Here's a quick look at the books I have been enjoying so far this Summer:

1. "Trust".....this is the book I am currently reading, and let me just say, it is not for the faint of heart!! There is some pretty rough language and pretty tough subject matter in this one, but it is definitely a gripping, glued-to-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of book. I could not put it down last night, and ended up staying up way past my bed time!

2. "A Soft Place to Land".....I chose this one while I was browsing around Costco because of the recommendation on the front cover from Kathryn Stockett (author of "The Help" which is an amazing book). It is a quick, easy, enjoyable read......perfect for Summer.

3. "Summer Island".......picked this one up at Costco as well. I have read quite a few of Kristin Hannah's books, and I have enjoyed every single one of them (I recently read "Winter Garden" and highly recommend it!!). This is another great Summer read about a strained mother-daughter relationship and the journey they take in order to heal.

4. "The Red Tent"....I know I am way behind on this one, but for some reason, even though I have had this one on my shelf for a very long time, I just couldn't bring myself to read it until now. I am often drawn to a book's cover, and something about this one just didn't draw me in at first.

This book was a huge bestseller for a reason. It is beautifully written, and tackles a pretty tough time period in a way that makes it relevant and readable. This is one I won't soon forget!

5. "Just Let Me Lie Down"......this was the second book I purchased and read on my iPad. It is a witty, relatable, alphabetized look at working motherhood from the editor of Real Simple magazine. I am not currently a full-time working mother, but I struggle with guilt over the hours that I am away from my children, and I am always interested in other mom's perspectives on leaving their children in the care of someone else. I am in a bit of a transition period right now.....making some major life decisions about starting a business, going back to work, finding my "place," and this gave me some insight on how some women simply refuse to feel the guilt and instead, look at all the positives that their career brings to their family.

6. "Uncharted TerriTORI"........OK, you can stop laughing now! This was the very first book I purchased and read on my brand spanking new iPad, and it did not disappoint! I actually read this one while laying in bed with the stomach flu, and it was just what the doctor ordered: light, easy, funny and relaxing. I have actually read all three of Tori's books, and I find her to be quite interesting (and yes, I like the reality show too).

a few Summer favorites

This Summer, in addition to making memories with the kids and going through our Summer List of activities, I have been focusing on my photography: bringing my camera with me wherever we go, paying attention to lighting, changing my settings, practicing, practicing and then practicing some more. Of course, I have a million snapshots that I absolutely LOVE which are technically pretty awful, but today I took some time to look through some shots from the past few weeks, and I pulled out a few that really sing to me :)

Sienna enjoying our neighborhood Crawfish Boil

A Father's Day smooch

Sweet Boy with GagGa in the background

Jello-Jiggler love

our Summer list

I am a self-confessed list maker. I make all kinds of lists for all kinds of things. I can't help it...it's what I do :)

This year, in an effort to be a little more intentional with our time over the next three months, I decided to make a Summer list with the kids. We sat down with paper and markers, and brainstormed all the fun things that we wanted to make sure we did this Summer. It's an evolving list, and we may or may not get to everything on it, but so far, it is really working for us.

My kiddos are 2 and 4, and as much as I would like to just play in the pool, eat, rest, and repeat.....they get bored with an activity after about 30 minutes, so it helps to have a few ideas handy to keep the bickering and complaining to a minimum!! Now we have activities to look forward to, and a visual reminder of all the fun we are having this Summer.

I would love to hear the "must-dos" on your family's list......

summer fun

Summer at our house will officially begin next Monday. This is Sienna's last week of school, and then it will be time for staying up late, sleeping in, spontaneous play dates, cousin sleep-overs, and hopefully 3 months filled with no schedules and lots of FUN!! Here's a list of what I am hoping to fit in for Summer 2010:

* Girl's Get-Away to Santa Fe (second annual trip with some of my close friends from law school)

* make our own popsicles and snow cones

* put up a tent in our backyard to "camp out" (which won't involve actually sleeping outside)

* Creative Escape

* lots of time in the pool

* planting flowers in all of our outside pots

* hometown 4th of July parade

* finger-paint mural

* story time at the library

* take the kids to Toy Story 3

* celebrate Johnny's birthday (June) and my birthday (August)

* host a bridal shower

* attend Sienna's dance recital

* go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings

* take in a concert by the lake on Thursday evenings

beach reflections

We had a blast again this year in Seaside, Florida!! Beautiful, warm, sunny weather and no oil in sight :)

We brought along our friend and next door neighbor to help out with the kiddos this year, and it really made all the difference in our stress levels!!

Some highlights:

Searching for shells on the beach

Celebrating a friend's second birthday

Flying a kite on the beach

Riding bicycles around town

Swimming at the pool

Swinging at the playground

Playing in the sand

Riding in a canoe

Splashing in the waves

Holding onto Daddy for dear life

We also made a trip to the water park, had our family pictures taken, painted pottery, ate ice cream, snow cones and cupcakes, drank an organic "green" drink that I am still having nightmares about, shopped at the outlet mall and even took a couple naps!! I am already planning next year's trip.......now if only we could do something about that drive home!!