Summer fun with kids: getting pretty

Today was a special day for my little girl. When I told her what we were doing today she got so excited. As Tabitha calls it, we got our pretties on!

Today was beauty day at our house. I painted Tabitha's nails and chalked her hair. She loved chalking her hair.
Hair chalking is so easy an I never thought that it would be.
All you need to do is wet the hair, and pull the chalk through the hair. I actually used sidewalk chalk because that's what we had. I put the chalk in water and it made the colors really stand out.
We did it with Tabitha's friend Afton and her mom and both girls had a blast. We also put on the sprinklers and played with the water and chalk.
The girls had a blast and Tabitha keeps asking when I can chalk her hair again.
Just and FYI dark colors will take a few washes to come out. Pink came out right away but blue stayed in after the first wash.

Summer fun with Kids: Picnic in the park

Tabitha's new favorite way to eat dinner is to have a picnic. Really I think she just doesn't want to sit in her booster seat, but she always asks for a picnic.
We have a pretty cool park here in Rexburg, (we actually have a few, but the one I'm referring to is Porter Park). Porter Park has a large grassy area, picnic tables, play ground with both little kids and big kids slides and swings, basketball courts, tennis courts, a 120 year old carousel and a splash park (thats free!). So last Friday I decided when I picked Tabitha up from preschool we would go home and get a picnic ready. I got everything ready then picked Morgen up from school and we went to the park. First we ate and had a fun meal together. Then we put the girls in their swimsuits and played in the water with them. After Tabitha was done in the water we went on the Carousel. Then we played on the playground for a bit. It was a really fun family activity. Had we been home, I probably would have turned on the TV for Tabitha while I made dinner. As it was we had 24 hours with no TV! That has been happening more and more lately. I love it! Over all this trip cost me maybe $3. Food I had on hand, we buy the carousel pass so it cost $9 for 10 rides and we used 2, plus gas to get there. It was a really fun and inexpensive way to have fun with the kids and not have to worry about how much it was going to cost us and if we could afford that.

Tabitha running in the water 

Close up of our splash park

The Girls enjoying the water

Even Eva likes playing in the water. 

While I know not everyone has a park like this i'm sure there is a park near you where you can have a picnic and enjoy your family. We would have had just as much fun at a regular park, because we were doing it together.