Happy Friday!! It is hard to believe that June is almost over! I’ve always thought that July 4th is the halfway point of summer even though that’s not really the case. The kids still have 8 weeks left of summer break–phew! Anyway, I am linking up as usual for Friday Favorites with  Erika, Narci and Andrea.

Summer Snacks

We have a busy week with evening activities so our meals have been on the fly. This week I shared some ideas some make ahead snacks that are perfect for summer time activities!

My new favorite homemade snack is this Freezer Friendly Lemon Hummus from Super Healthy Kids! I was able to freeze three batches of this recipe. Such a perfect snack to bring to the pool or beach.

I’ve never frozen hummus before but this recipe is supposed to be freezer friendly. I’ll report back on how it turns out!

Birthday Celebration

This past weekend was my birthday and we had some dear, longtime friends come and stay with us to celebrate. We had a fun weekend with family and friends! It made getting older a little sweeter.

My mom rented this rocket ship for a fun birthday surprise!

Because it was a big birthday for me (hello 40!), we’ve got a few fun trips planned for later in the summer. I am going with my husband and another couple to Florida in August and I have a girls trip planned to the nearby lake in late July!

New Yeti Mug

One of my favorite birthday gifts was this Yeti travel coffee mug. It is not uncommon for me to bring an actual mug with me in the car. So this mug is a much better spill proof way to bring my coffee on the go! It keeps my coffee hot all morning–no more cold coffee for me!!

It is the little things that can bring joy! 🙂

Embracing the Mess

Another favorite of the week was this FIVE layer cake my daughter made with a friend. She and her friend made their own Summer Fun List which included making a 10 layer cake! When my daughter asked to make this cake yesterday, I wanted to say no. It sounded like a big mess and I didn’t see how it was possible to make ten layers of cake! I decided go against my initial thoughts about this project and I picked up five boxes of cake mix! Yikes!

The girls realized after five layers that the cake was big enough! They were happy with the outcome and the mess wasn’t all that bad. Sometimes you have to embrace the mess!!

Parenting

My favorite read of the week is this article Why Our Kids Busyness is Not a Badge of Honor. This post has so many great points about the state of our kids these days. I’ve talked with many fellow parents about how busy our kids and our lives have become! Yet, we aren’t doing anything to change our crazy schedules!

This quote stuck with me:

“It takes a leap of faith and a brave parent to trust that simplifying our children’s lives and giving them down time to play, connect with their families and create simple joy is what our kids really need.”

My husband and I are as guilty as the next parents about scheduling our kids in activities and encouraging them to try new things. But we are coming to realize how important it is to just let our kids BE!

Take a look at this article and let me know what you think!

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That wraps up my favorites of the week! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!