Perfectly Imperfect Mom

  Summer break has officially started!  My best friend, Kat, and I made a huge list of all the fun things we want to do with our kids this Summer and tried to keep everything under $10.   But how do you plan an epic Summer when you have three young children and don't want to spend a lot of money?  Here is a list of activities that are either free or under $10 *This post contains affiliate links which means I may make a small income from the company. This in no way affects you so no worries on your end!    1. Go to free or dollar movies at your local theater. Regal Cinema and other theaters have Summer Movie Programs where they show movies on specific mornings for only a dollar. You can't beat that!  2. Picnics in the park.   3. Get a frozen treat. When I was pregnant with Ace and I was nearing the end of my pregnancy with him it was disgustingly hot and humid out. Anytime I had to leave the house I stopped at Burger King for an Icee. They were only $1 and they were the perfect treat for a hot day. Seven-11 has slurpees as well and they are under $2.    4. Have a glow in the dark party. We love to buy glow in the dark jewelry for the kids, turn out the lights and put music on. They love this. It is probably the easiest way to entertain them at night. If you live near the beach you can make it even more fun and have a glow in the dark party on the beach at night. You can get glow in the dark party packs for less than $10 here.    5. Have a scavenger hunt. You can make this as easy as getting a sheet of paper, getting crayons and coloring squares and telling your child to go find items with the color of each square. Something fun my best friend and I do is use our Shopkicks app and have our kids scan items on the app at different stores. It's actually fun and you earn points towards gift cards, ha! And no this isn't sponsored, we just actually like doing this and it's out of the heat.    6. Check out your local library. Many libraries have story times and activities for children of a variety of ages in the Summer. They also may have a Summer reading program, a great way to get your child reading more. If your library doesn't have any of these it's still a great way to spend time indoors, out of the heat, and read some new books.    7. Watch the Sunrise.   8. Watch the Sunset.    9. Make your own bagel pizzas. You have to buy food for lunch anyway so make it fun!   10. Make S'mores.    11. Explore new areas in your town.   12. Visit the local museums. Ours has free admission the first Tuesday of every month! Check to see if yours has any free days.    13.Make your own popsicles. Go here for over 70 recipes!   14. Play hopscotch using sidewalk chalk.    15. Go for a bike ride.    16. Feed the ducks.    17. Play freeze tag.   18. Make fluffy slime.    19. Have a water balloon fight. We love these water balloons because they are easy to fill, have 3 sets of different colors (one per kid) and are under $10. If you want to spend less you can go with a more simple set like this one.    20. Make forts out of sheets and furniture.    21. Get ice cream from Chick-fil-A. The kid cones are under a dollar and your children can enjoy the air conditioned play area! Check your local Chick-fil-A for other events like Cow Appreciation Day on July 11th. Dress like a cow and you get free food!      Don't forget to pin this for later!

What are some of your free or inexpensive activities for Summer?    Want to write for Perfectly Imperfect Mom? Email your submission HERE   facebook ♥ instagram ♥ twitter ♥ pinterest ♥ bloglovin

  Summertime is upon us and if you’re like me, you must be wondering how to occupy the kiddos to curb summer boredom (trust me, it’s coming) and save your own sanity.

The plan? Weekly summer themes.

Hear me out.

I’m a planner. I work better with a schedule and so do my children. My children have never attended camp because I make summer both fun and educational (I can’t help it! I’m a teacher!).

Weekly summer themes can be incorporated anywhere, even with vacations. It works for children of all ages and with both free and expensive activities. All you need is a bit of planning and some research. 
Let me break it down:

These are the weekly themes I came up with for this summer, with some help from my kids: Zachary, 8, and Oakley, 4:
You can be as specific or vague as you want with your themes. When my daughter was younger, I was broader with the themes to incorporate activities for both age groups. For example, last summer we had a week of transportation so my son could read up on submarines and space shuttles while my daughter learned about the different types of transportation we use in the air, on land, and to sail the seas.

Once you have your themes, now comes the research. With every theme, we go to the library once a week. It allows for quiet time, it’s free, it’s in the air conditioning, and it lets us chose books that help us learn about that week’s theme. We look for both fiction and non-fiction books.

Next, I think about local attractions and events that may accommodate our theme. Some of these are easy, like going to the science museum for science week or seeing the fireworks for the Fourth of July for the week focusing on America. 

But it helps to think outside the box here. You don’t want to necessarily go to the same attractions your family would go to on a regular weekend. I like to find something we rarely do or even something we’ve never tried before.

For example, we plan to try the glass blowing demonstration in Hollywood, as it’s something they’ve never seen and we’ve wanted to try. 

Summer is known for being kid-friendly so flipping through a local parenting magazine, such as South Florida Parenting, or searching online for a few keywords or even on Pinterest, can give you a multitude of ideas for your themes.

I like to look up free or cheap options to help keep costs down so we can often be found free museum days or at local parks with a magnifying glass. You could choose to just do a few weeks this summer.

Weekly summer themes can be as detailed as you want them to be. Have fun and happy summer!
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Ahhh I can not believe Summer is almost over. It seriously flew by. We had a lot of fun traveling, seeing friends and the kids loved camp. Now we are onto a new chapter of life. All of our kids will be in school! I can't believe the girls start preschool full time and Ace is going into Kindergarten. It seems surreal. I feel like I need to update on the kids so I don't forget these ages.  I was just looking at pictures of the girls when they were babies and it seems so far away yet it could have been yesterday with how fast time flew. In so many ways I miss having those two little babies playing on the floor but I love how fun they are now. 

Everly is very sensitive. She is also hysterical. Such a clown and once she warms up to you she is the funniest person ever. She also is my cleaner and likes things a certain way. If it's not she gets pissed. She also is a really good little girl because she listens really well and likes to help. She is also very physically sturdy and can do so much. It's crazy to watch her do a flip. I still can't get over how she has always been advanced physically.  Ashlyn is very much my sweet, goofy girl. I always say she dances to the beat of her own drum and I love it. I love that she sees flowers and wants to pick them. She isn't in a rush or aggressive. She likes to be snuggled and is just such a good girl. That being said she is so mischievous. It kind of makes us laugh and roll our eyes like "that's Ashlyn being Ashlyn" because she has always been this way. She also is very silly with her movements. I can't even really explain it but she does the funniest things because she is so goofy. She always has the sweetest smile too.  Some of the girls' favorite sayings are "Hold you" which means hold me, "My do it" which is I do it and my favorite of Ashlyn's because of the way she says it is "this is mine." I wish I could relay how it is said because it's hilarious.  Then there is my big boy Ace. He is such a good boy. He definitely has his moments but he has just matured so much. He amazes me with how much of a helper he is if I need him when we go somewhere or helping the girls with things. He is a rule follower so that helps a lot. He is still a big talker and loud so that can be interesting. I can not wait to see how he does in school this year. We have started working on a few words with him and he does really well. He has always been a smart cookie but more importantly a sweet guy.  Oh sweet Summer we will miss you.  facebook ♥ instagram ♥ twitter ♥ pinterest ♥ bloglovin

Hey there! How was everyone's 4th of July? Ours was pretty low key but nice. We have had such a busy Summer already that I have a lot to fill you in on. 
So far Ace has spent a week at camp We went to our Keys house Celebrated Ace's birthday early Bran and I had my best friends girls for a few days, we went to see Pan. Ace is now obsessed with being able to fly. He actually told me to today that I should have named him Peter Pan so he'd be able to fly.  Then we had a little romantic couple of days away while my best friend took the girls and my sister took Ace. We got to explore St. Augustine. So beautiful!  Spent some time in Daytona and celebrated the 4th. We had ice cream for dinner and the girls loved it! We are now back home settling back into normalcy before our Summer gets busy again.
Next up we have more Summer camp for all kids, $1 movies, play dates, another trip, Ace and Branden's birthdays, mine and Bran's 7th anniversary (how did that happen?!) and getting ready for our girls to start preschool and Ace to start kindergarten (again how did that happen?!).



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We are in the final countdown to Summer break! I have been pinning Summer ideas like a mad woman. I am dead set on not having a boring Summer. I want to make the best of it because I know it is going to fly by and then it will be back to work and Ace will start Kindergarten. 




With Kindergarten right around the corner I really want to soak up this time with my kids. I feel like time is just going to go by so fast. I just want my kids to remember Summer as days full of playing in the pool, eating popsicles, movie days and late nights with friends. I have the best memories of Summer and I hope I can give that to my kids as well because it truly does go by in a blink of an eye.

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I am all about a fun Summer Bucket List. This year I am so excited for summer because some of my Mommy friends are off for the summer since they work at schools so we have decided to do a bunch of fun stuff together with the kids.

It is fun having a toddler and being able to relive your childhood with them. Here are some of the fun things we have planned to do this summer!

Summer Bucket List

• Swim Lessons
• Go to the Seaquarium 
• Go to the Zoo
• Young at Art Museum Play Dates
• Museum of Discovery & Science Play Dates
• Lion Country Safari
• Gymnastic Classes
• Trip to Michigan
• Trip to Ft. Myers 
• Ace's 2nd Birthday Party in Michigan!
• Ace's 2nd Birthday Party in Florida!
• 4th of July Family Fun
• Bubbles Overload
• Bowling Play Dates
• $1 Summer Movies
• Sidewalk Painting
• Splash Pad Play Dates
• Water Fun
• Ice Cream Dates
• Beach Days
• Teach Ace to ride his tricycle
• Make play dough
• Bake Cookies
• Make our own ice cream
• Backyard car wash (let Ace wash his car and bike)
• Bar- B- Q's with Family and Friends