Well, this summer had a wild surprise in store for the Jedda household. Three of the four children in our home have been told by their doctors that they should not be outdoors this summer. Not part of the summer, but the whole summer. I was astonished. What would this mean for all of our summer plans? How would I manage to keep my children active and inside all summer? Although I don't have all of the answers, I do believe we are beginning to figure it out.

This week we have adjusted some of our summer bucket list so that we could still do the activities we had planned, but indoors instead. We have had a fashion show as well as a tea party. We have had guests over and even camped in the living room. We have played many games and watched many movies, but still manage to keep a pretty good schedule. My living room has been a Nerf battle zone as well as a crazy dance studio. We even had a teddy bear picnic.

Next week we are planning a game of marker tag and a treasure hunt. I am still working on what exactly the treasure is going to be, but I am making the cards up tomorrow that will lead the children to the treasure. The best part is they will have to work together to make it to the treasure. I guess even though we can't go outside, we can still have a blast and enjoy each other's company.

Well, I should go for now. We have company coming over tomorrow and will need to be well rested. I hope you all a wonderful summer and if you have any ideas for indoor activities we would love to hear them. I am pulling at straws here and could really use some help coming up with other things to do with my children.

TTFN,

Dawn

Summer Fun

So we have had a very busy summer so far, but we have been able to stop and enjoy the weather for a little while.  I was blessed with the chance to have five of my nephews over for a weekend.  That was a blast.  I was so busy that I wasn't able to think about anything else.  So for that weekend I had nine children ages ranging from two in a half to fifteen.  It is amazing how well all of the kids get along and how very different they all are.  I am very much looking forward to having them over again soon.

One afternoon we set up a bubble station.  I used an old juice dispenser and made up a batch of bubbles in it.  This makes it easy for the kids to refill their bubbles when ever they need them.  I did manage to get a couple of good pictures to share.

We also put a giant blue tarp in the middle of the yard with the intentions of using it as a slip 'n' slide...that didn't work out, so we used it for a water wrestling mat instead.  We ran our hose over it and the kids began to wrestle.  It was awesome, the water made the mat slippery and it created a wonderful outlet for the children to play rough.

We have had an array of issues this year so this summer we decided to let loose and enjoy every minute we can.  With my husband deployed, the kids and I had to decide whether we wanted to mope around the house or get together a list of all the off the wall things we wanted to do and take as many pictures as we can to send them to their dad in his care packages.

In May I was able to capture pictures of my son mowing the lawn in a red cape.  He was very much enjoying himself and was belting out the Superman theme song.  So of course, the pictures were printed and sent to his father.  It is the little things that we do that our soldiers abroad miss the most.  Our goal is to try and include him in as many of these little moments as possible.  He called two days ago and our youngest daughter took the phone outside and played with daddy and the new bubble station out front.  He was calling on a video chat so he was trying to interact with her as much as he could.  He even blew into the phone.  She thought that was awesome and so did I.  Every little moment in a child's life is special, so there is no way we are going to leave daddy out.

Well, I guess I should get some sleep...we have another long day tomorrow.  If you guys want to share your summer plans, we would love to hear about them or ever see them.

Thanks for your time,
Dawn

Summer is almost here.

As summer gets closer my stress level seems to increase ever so slightly.  I have begun to think of things to do this summer to keep my kids and I busy.  We started a list to help us accomplish our goals.  Some of our summer plans are probably very similar to your own.  We are planning many sleepovers, camp outs and play dates as well as a variety of movie nights.

On our list we also have several outside the box activities.  One of the top activities is marker tag.  Marker tag is very simple and doesn't require a lot of rules or supplies.  You simply need plain white shirts and makers for everyone playing.  Let the games begin.  Chase each other around and create fun summer shirts in the process.

We are also planning to have a giant slip'n'slide that runs the full length of the our side yard which is roughly a half acre.  All we are going to use is a long tarp or piece of plastic with the similar consistency.  I am also hoping to put together a pvc pipe sprinkler that I can hang above the slip'n'slide.  I think the pipe sprinkler will be better for us than just a hose.  By using the sprinkler from above, I am hoping to avoid some tripping hazards.

This summer is going to be the toughest summer we have had in a long time.  With my husband deployed it has been difficult to keep everyone entertained.  I am hoping that this summer will be a chance for the kids and I to build memories that we will always remember.

If any of you have summer activities that you would like to share, we would love to hear them.  I am hoping to have a longer list of summer activities in the next week, but I am prepared to wing for part of the summer.

We are down to the last 13 days of school here and will be enjoying some of our festivities very soon.

Thanks for reading,
Dawn

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family.  On Friday my mother helped my children smuggle bacon home so that they could use it to make me breakfast in bed.  I caught them being sneaking as we walked into our house and as I asked what they were hiding my 15 yr old son told me to mind my own business. I was shocked that he thought it was okay to say that to me.  Just as I started to get irritated by his mouth, he began to apologize and explained that I was ruining their surprise for me.  I quickly calmed down.  Later that night my 8 yr old daughter told me that on Sunday(Mother's Day) I was not allowed to get out of bed until they said it was okay.

I love my children!  They did a wonderful job making secret plans.  Although I knew some of the plans, I didn't know what to expect.  I was greeted at 8 am with a tray full of food.  As well as a beautiful vase of flowers the girls picked from the yard.  My breakfast was an omelette(eggs and cheese), bacon, saltine crackers and honey, toast, an apple and a coke.  I did ask to trade the coke for a small glass of milk and I had way too much food to finish, so I shared.

About an hour later the doorbell rang.  To my surprise there was a lady standing there holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  My husband sent me flowers.  Since he is deployed, the flowers came as a huge surprise.  I am so grateful for my husband and all the sacrifices he makes to keep us safe.  I love that even though he is so far away he was able to find a way to brighten my Mother's Day.  I love you Charlie and miss you very much.  Thank you for all that you do.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Hello there, I hope you all had a great day today. For my family Cinco de Mayo is a great opportunity to reach out and learn something new about another culture.  Come out of your boxes and try something new.  Who knows, you might enjoy yourself.

RED Friday at my home.

Hello all this is what RED Friday looked like at my home yesterday.  I am blessed to be a Military Wife and to have all the support I have here at home.  My husband is currently on deployment and we miss him very much.  RED Friday gives us an opportunity to show our support for him and all of his fellow Warriors.  I hope that you will all join our family and show support to all of the men and women deployed around the world.

RED Fridays

Hello all

Today I would like to invite all of you to join my family as we honor our Deployed Military by wearing RED on Fridays.  Red Fridays literally means to Remember Everyone Deployed.  The idea is for those of us home to wear the color red on Fridays to show our support for all of the men and women who serve our beautiful country.  Please join my family as we show our support for all of our Deployed Military.

Half of my heart is deployed.

This week I stood with my children at the Portland International Airport and watched as their father's plane took off.  My husband is an amazing man and it is always hard to watch him go.  I always try to remind myself that even though he is not home as much as I would like he is an amazing role model for our children.  I couldn't ask for a better husband or father for my children.  Travel safe my love as you travel with half of my heart.  I love you Charlie.

During Spring Break

So we had an interesting spring break here in Oregon.  Most of the week was very wet and stormy, so we spent a good portion of our vacation indoors.  We played a number of games and watched several movies as well as enjoyed multiple rounds of Ottoman Olympics and fashion shows.

For those of you who don't know... Ottoman Olympics is a crazy activity I created to help me cope with my 4 energetic children being stuck in the house because of bad weather.  This activity only requires 2 things: first its helpful to have an ottoman and second children willing to participate. When you gather your items you can begin to find a good place to set the ottoman where the children can run, jump and flip over it and nothing is going to break (including the kids).  Then your set.  I simply suggest they get into line and take turns flipping and rolling across the ottoman in as many ways as they can imagine.  They are usually pretty tired after about a half hour of playing this game and are ready to settle down for a little while. This gives me just enough time to come up with the next activity even though they usually just want to play Ottoman Olympics again.

Although we didn't do all the things we had hoped to this year, we did have fun together and that is really all we wanted anyway.  Have fun in all you do and remember to roll with whatever happens sometimes the simple things that we do to save the day really work and they create the best memories.

Spring Break!

I don't know about all of you, but I am looking forward to spring break.  For us spring break is next week (March 21-30) and we will be spending as much quality time as a family as we can.

Spring break is another great opportunity to create memories your children will always remember.  We enjoy playing games together, lying back in the grass and enjoying all of the sights and sounds that surround us in nature, and even a few late night movies (or video games) in the yard.

Games to enjoy (rain or shine):

Flashlight Tag
Hide and Seek (usually with a twist)
Basketball
Soccer
Football
Scavenger Hunts

Nature Challenges:

Cloud Characters
Bird Watching
Identifying Animal Sounds
Catching Frogs

Late Night Movies:

Pillows
Blankets
Snacks (of course)

We enjoy outdoor movies from a projector and have a 8ftx16ft movie screen to show movies on (courtesy of Luke Jedda).

As we enjoy our break we will be capturing photos and plan to share the experiences with all of you.  I hope you all have an equally spectacular spring break.