June goodness!

Here's a mishmash of our June! Every single of these is from Instagram so if you follow me (@younghipstercoolgirl) you've probably already seen them. 

Helena lost two bottom teeth and one top tooth!

Cutest baby in the world

Polly and Daddy.

Polly and Mommy.

Big smiles.

Naptime on a blanket in the yard.

Naptime with Mommy.

One afternoon when Tempe was coloring on the driveway, it started to rain and Helena went and held her umbrella over her. So sweet!

Finally jumped on the Fiiz, Swig, Guzzle, Sodalicious, etc bandwagon. Yummy and cheap family treat!

Summer activities

Fairy garden on our front steps.

Giant frozen ice cube with arctic animals trapped inside.

On the train at the zoo with Grandma Lisa!

Allan/Anderson/Crandall/Pool/Fleischman gathering at the cabin.

We welcomed summer with our fourth annual sidewalk chalk party for neighborhood kids!

Juno helped Grandpa K replace a doorknob at our house and here she is concentrating very hard on putting the old one back together.

Art journals!

I've given up on making the girls do yoga in the morning (really bummed about that, because I think it's such a great way to set the tone for our day!) but Tempe still bends every which way.

Our fun friends hosted a neighborhood movie night for 100+ neighbors!

Calling all Junior Detectives!!

I haven't done a big birthday party since Tempe's "Silly Moose" party in 2012, but we decided to jump back into the birthday party game this year!

The guest of honor... soon-to-be-six Helena!

Helena decided on a detective party inspired by this adorable trench coat we got at Target (for $6!) Isn't she the cutest detective you have ever seen?

I made "case log" invitations and put them in envelopes that had "classified: for _______________'s eyes only" stamped on them.

Didn't have to purchase a single thing for this display table! I guess I buy too much "vintage" stuff at DI. I have had that old Clue game for years and this is the first time I've used it, but I love how it looked on the table!

Party favors were just little detective kits from the Dollar Tree, wrapped in more brown butcher paper and stamped with "thanks for coming".

I stamped the food labels directly onto the butcher paper. This is "on the trail" mix.

.... "gumshoe" balls

... and "chocolate disguises". I have really gotten a lot of use out of my stupid mustache mold. 

As soon as all the party guests had arrived, I handed out their disguises and we took a picture before they devoured the mustaches. If you look closely, you'll see the masked bandit peeking through the door!

After the girls ate their mustaches, we started detective training. I fingerprinted everyone and then they examined their different fingerprints with a magnifying glass.

After the fingerprinting, the girls had to climb through a yarn "laser" obstacle course on the back deck.

We went back inside and split into two groups. One group observed a page from an I Spy book for 30 seconds and then had to list as many things as they could remember without looking.

The other group examined four different kinds of smashed candy and tried to figure out what they all were, and then the groups switched places.

After detective training, the girls were ready to open presents but... the masked bandit had already gotten there! Jason hid the presents in the backseat of his car while we were doing the obstacle course outside, and when we went to the living room, all that was left was the first clue of a scavenger hunt. All the girls were so excited to follow the clues from place to place, especially since Jason kept putting his mask back on and running across the background. Every time they saw him they all started screaming "The masked bandit! There he is!"
We eventually found all the presents and Helena opened them. Her friends know her well--she got a lot of art supplies, which is her favorite!!

 Finally, we ate zebra cakes, trail mix, and rainbow sherbet and then the girls all played happily together until it was time to go home. It was such a fun party, but so exhausting. I'm really glad that I made Helena choose just one group of friends to invite (the girls from her kindergarten class) instead of everyone she knows (like she wanted to), because I don't think this 8 month pregnant mama could have handled any more!

Hey, summer

It's been three days of summer break!

Wahoo!

So far I am loving having all three of my kids home with me all day. With Tempe going off to full day school next year, I am really trying to take advantage of the time we have together.

We kicked off the summer with our annual sidewalk chalk party. I started doing this in 2011 and it's turned into a neighborhood tradition that kids look forward to all spring (not bragging, just stating facts as told to me by mothers of said kids... unless you're all lying to make me feel better about myself)

I ask everyone to bring their own chalk and I provide 100 Otterpops (they ALL got eaten this year) and that's all there is to this party! Can't get any easier than that and it's such a fun way to celebrate the beginning of summer! This idea was even featured on Tip Junkie a few years ago. Proudest moment of my blogging life.

I saw this idea floating around Pinterest and I just had to do it. My kids (especially Helena) always want to know what's next. I made a ton of these magnetic strips and every night before bed, I map out the next day's schedule on the garage door. Obviously, every day is different, depending on the day, and the first thing the girls do in the morning is check to see what we'll be doing that day. As soon as we finish a task, they take turns taking the strip down. It's so easy for them to see what we're doing now, what comes next, and what we'll be doing later. If Helena says she is hungry (which used to happen every 15 minutes all day, no joke), now I just point to the door and she can see when snacktime  will be. This has really cut down on the whining, the "I'm boooooored", and the "I'm hungry!" that I used to hear.
And you might notice the first thing on our schedule is yoga... we start every day off with 15 minutes of yoga. I found a children's yoga video on Netflix that I really like. It is filled with positive affirmations ("Listen to your breathing and find peace within yourself. We all have peace inside ourselves, even when the outside world seems difficult" and "Try to avoid judging your practice. Do the best you can, and then move one") and breathing/relaxation exercises. I think it's a great way for us to get ready for the day--I know I feel more relaxed and patient when we start out with 15 minutes of yoga!
How is your summer going? What are you doing with your kids?

Its.... arrested development.

Now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything.. and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. It's arrested development.

It's here! It's really here! Arrested Development's triumphant return has arrived!

Did you know that Jason and I actually watched Arrested Development when it was on the air? Yep. We are two of the few who did. If more of you superfans had been around back then it never would have been canceled in the first place :)

We had a pretty low key party with my brother Josh and my sister Kelsey last night. Everyone brought food for different characters and after dinner and bedtime for the kids, we sat down for a marathon.

Martinis for Lucille (sparkling grape juice and grapes)

Juice for Buster and a dead dove (rotisserie chicken) for Gob.

Cornballs for Michael....

Teamocil (coconut M&Ms for Tobias) and we also had hot ham water (ham and potato soup) for Lindsay and pigs in a blanket for the the cousins (like they are wrapped up cuddling in a blanket)

Family love cheers!

Frozen bananas for George Michael and after we put the kids to bed, we ate homemade ice cream sandwiches for George (double dark chocolate cookies + vanilla bean ice cream = yum)

I listed a bunch of decorating ideas and games in this post, but we settled for a banner that said "Family love banner" and our marathon :)

Wow, I never thought this day would come. It was kind of surreal. So far we've watched five episodes and while the show definitely feels different, three of the episodes we watched made us laugh. Season four may not be the same as the first three seasons, but at least it's giving us a chance to really celebrate the genius that is Arrested Development.