I did find my 7 items yesterday but completely forgot to blog about it so I am combining yesterday and today. I’m amazed that it is more than halfway through the month and I am still going strong in this challenge…so much clutter has exited my house, never to return and it makes me feel pretty happy!

The Husband let me get rid of one of his very old shirts and a pair of cords. They are at least a decade old. I also found a shirt and pair of jeans to get rid of. And then there is the bag full of bags…no reason to keep that around taking up space.

gymnastics outfits the girls have outgrown and the base for a broken cordless phone that was thrown away almost a year ago

2 cake pans that I am a bit sad to part with but know realistically that cake decorating even just for fun is probably not part of my near future because of time constrictions, a kitchen utensil and a magazine

Last year, I pinned many a “Bucket List” to my Summer Pinterest Board. I even printed off some blank ones and had each of the kids fill one out. We actually managed to complete most of the ideas on the bucket lists.

The thing that I noticed about our lists though was that it was geared towards the kids. It may have involved me in terms of preparing activities or taking the kids places, but I’m going to admit honestly that I was not truly engaged in the activities.

I have come to some realizations lately due in large part to the fact that my oldest son is now an adult. His 18th Birthday was a bit of a wake-up call for me, an awakening to how fleeting these years are. I still have many younger kids and have the chance to create memories with them.

The way that I have been doing things is to create situations that they may remember but I likely will not. 

In being busy and working hard to gather supplies and instructions for those awesome Summer crafts and in taking the time to make the fun, creative snacks and meals, I sometimes miss out on the real moments, the kisses, the hugs, the chasing in the grass, the laughter.

I am creating this printable Bucket List for Moms Who Want to Engage for me and moms like me, those who feel like their kids’ childhoods are slipping away.

I will continue my honesty by stating that some of the things on this list will be a stretch for me. I don’t even like being outside. It will be hard for me to set aside the dishes and the to-do list and get down in the grass with my kids. But I will.

Let’s make this summer about treasuring moments and creating memories that last for our kids as well as for ourselves. Are you in?

Click image below for full printable of 40 ideas…

You can check out these other Summer Bucket Lists as well to get even more ideas.

Disclosure: I received this product at no cost in order to complete a review. This post is sponsored and I was compensated for my time, however the experiences and opinions are all my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Four of my kids are currently in piano lessons and in the fall, our youngest will be starting lessons as well. The Husband played piano when he was growing up and still enjoys playing. Providing our kids with a love and appreciation of music is something that is important to us. We are fortunate to be able to have a wonderful piano teacher who comes to our home weekly to teach our kids. We are able to pay for these lessons using homeschool funding, but most States and provinces do not offer such funding.

Music lessons can be very expensive and I had often thought about those who were not able to access those lessons either due to monetary reasons or not living close enough to an available teacher. I am therefore so happy to be able to introduce you to Free Piano Lessons 4 Kids!

About the piano lessons:

The videos are piano lessons taught by Joseph Hoffman. These video lessons are absolutely free. There is no catch, no small print. Piano lessons with a qualified instructor in the comfort of your own home really can be accessed at no cost!

One of the benefits of the online lessons is that the video can be paused or rewound at any time and that they can be repeated as often as necessary for your child to master the skills taught.

I love these videos! This is an example of one that my kids found fun…it’s a song about chocolate and it’s delivered in an engaging way. It was a video that I used with our daughter who has not yet had piano lessons. The lesson introduces early concepts such as beat, the staff, reading music, finger placement, and playing a simple song.

There are 55 free lessons available and the website is easy to navigate. If you have a child who already has a foundation in some of the earlier concepts of playing an instrument and you want to skip ahead to later lessons, that is very easy to do. The lessons do not have to be done in order (though it certainly makes sense for most circumstances to do so!).

The lessons are interactive, engaging and interesting. The videos are crisp and easy to follow.

Additional materials:

There are full colour materials that can be purchased to accompany the lessons. They are currently on sale for just $19 and include activity pages, sheet music and practise tips to correspond with the lessons. Though your children would certainly still learn from the videos, I would recommend purchasing these. They are a great way to reinforce the concepts taught and having the sheet music available right at the piano will give your child the opportunity to practise without needing a computer nearby.

There is also a practise CD available that provides accompaniment tracks and if you would rather have the lessons on DVD, lessons 1-45 are available as a 3 disk set.

Our take:

Our family really enjoyed this program and feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to try it. The kids and I have decided that since their formal piano lessons are over for the Summer, they are going to continue learning their instrument using Free Piano Lessons 4 Kids.

These lessons were a fantastic addition to our regular lessons and if lessons with our teacher were not possible, this would be the way that our kids would be learning to play the piano on an ongoing basis!

Linking with What’s Working Wednesday, The Homeschool Village, After School Link Up, Works for Me Wednesday, Hearts for Home.

I found this mish-mosh of items today in our bedroom…

That box is for a Camcorder that I don’t even know if we own anymore! The hat is broken, there is a hinge, a thingamawhatsit, a bag, some papers and garbage and a cord to something we got rid of. No idea what that black thing with the squares is…anyone else know?

I can admit it. I am a sucker for books that make me cry or tug at the heartstrings. Last year when I was compiling the list of our Top 10 Read-Alouds, I realized just how much I liked these kinds of books when many of them made that list as well! So here is a list of some of our favourite sappy books:

Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton – This book had to make the list! It’s part of how our “Snuggle Puppy” got his pseudonym! This book is fun and sweet and what kid doesn’t like a book that can be read or sung and encourages hugs and kisses?!

Just in Case You Ever Wonder by Max Lucado is kind of a less creepy version of Love You Forever. It also presents a tiny introduction to the topic of Heaven. It’s a really nice book to read one on one to your child.

Just the Two of Us by Will Smith is a wonderful book for a father to read to his son. It has great illustrations and the message is heartwarming.

I Promise I’ll Find You by Heather Ward is a book I’ve been reading the kids since my oldest (now 18) was a toddler. Its message is relevant for any child but I think after we began adopting, the words took on a whole new meaning as I read them to children who were looking for safety and security and a feeling of belonging.

I Love You as Much…by Laura Krauss Melmed is just one of those books that you have to read to your baby. It’s simple and sweet and so affirming.

I Love You Stinky Face by Cyd Moore makes the kids giggle and want to be tickled as they are reminded that I love them no matter what!

I Love You More Than Rainbows by Susan Crites has become much more than a book around here. It has become a way that we talk to each other. “I love you more than Slurpees.” “I love you more than chocolate.” “I love you more than my favourite stuffy.”

Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis and I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose Lewis are just a few examples of the adoption books for kids that we seem to read again and again. I have a growing list of favourite adoption children’s books!

Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss is a nice everyday read but it’s especially beautiful for events like your child’s baptism or milestones in their lives such as graduation or their first job.

I’m joining iHomeschool Network’s 10 in 10 (Ten Weeks of Top Ten Lists). I’m linking up with Angie at Many Little Blessings. I hope you come and join in the Blog Hop fun!

Today, I read that Crystal who started this challenge was having to dig deep to find items now. I wish I could say I’m having that problem! My clutter problem is to the point where if I did this challenge for a year, I would still be able to find 7 items to get rid of each and every day.

Today I found some very old books, very old. My purging today consisted of sending 4 books, a small picture frame and a raincoat to the trunk of my van to be given away and a broken ruler to the garbage.

The trunk of the van is becoming quite full of giveaway items and sometime this week the kids and I will need to make a trip to drop them off. Just having the items out of the house feels good and I imagine dropping them off and not having to think about them again will feel even better! How’s your de-cluttering mission coming along?

Deals and Freebies for you…

This week is NotebookingPages.com 7th Birthday Sale-a-Bration Event.

Become a Notebooking Pages LIFETIME Member during their NotebookingPages.com 7th Birthday Sale-a-Bration Event:

• Save $25 on your membership
• Receive access to 150+ current notebooking products
• Receive ALL future notebooking products
• Receive up to two years FREE access to their notebooking (& copywork) web-app, The Notebooking Publisher™
• Receive a $100 e-gift Bonus Bundle from various homeschool publishers
• Earn a chance to win some great prizes … an iPad mini, $100 Amazon.com gift card, LIFETIME access to The Notebooking Publisher™, and a LIFETIME membership to MomsToolBelt.com.

Right now, This Reading Mama has a free Garden PreK Pack. It is full of printables perfect for this time of year.

Until May 21, Homeschool Survival is celebrating their launch week with freebies and giveaways. The freebies include audio downloads, books, a membership and a planner…worth checking out! Even better than all the great gifts is the content on the site. There are moms from all sorts of circumstances sharing how they were able to homeschool through hard times.

1+1+1=1 which is one of my favourite sites for free printables has a really cute pack right now that is centered on colouring and has a Beach theme. This Beach colouring set would be ideal for taking on trips this summer.

We Choose Virtues, which is the character program we use with our kids is offering a discount code for 15% off. Just use the code MOMTIME15 for 15% off your full order. We love, love, love We Choose Virtues!

Educents has Italian and Mexican Cookbook kits from Handstand Kids for $22.50 which is 55% off.

They are also currently offering an Algebra and Geometry bundle for only $4.90.

Meet Penny is offering Summer Reading Bingo Printables for different age levels. This is a great way to encourage reading with your kids over the summer and keep it fun!

3 Dinosaurs has a Fun Pond Pack with over 85 pages of activities and it’s FREE!

Blessed Beyond a Doubt has a free family printable for Intentional Summer Goals.

Enter to win a week for your child to go to Summer Camp.

Amazon deals:

(Please be sure to double check the prices on these before you purchase. These are sale prices and are subject to change at any time.)

Easy Slow Cooker Recipes – Delicious Chicken, Pork, Beef and Pasta by Samantha Parker is currently Free (please be sure to double check the price before purchasing in case the sale has ended).

Goodnight, Little Monster by Helen Ketteman is on sale for $1.97.

Coming up this week on The Chaos and The Clutter…

• I will be continuing my quest to de-clutter by participating in Crystal of Money Saving Mom’s Clutter Busting Challenge.
• Summer Bucket Lists are making the rounds this week and I will be contributing one that I’ve made as a challenge to myself.
• I will be sharing our favourite sappy children’s books.
• I will be offering a giveaway for ONE lifetime membership of Notebooking Pages as well as sharing a notebooking project the kids and I have been working on that is close to my heart.
• I’m excited to share with you a resource that we have found for music as an awesome supplement for the kids’ piano lessons.

I’ve also shared…

About our week last week (Mother’s Day, a trail run, piano recital, field trip, and more) over on iHomeschool Network.

What I learned about homeschooling through adoption transition over on Homeschool Survival.

With very little effort at all, I am still not having any problem finding 7 items a day to get rid of in this Clutter Busting Challenge. Yesterday’s items all came from Granola Girl’s room.

3 stuffed animals, a purse that looks like a stuffed animal, another Veggie Tales book, a broken lid, and a piece of wood. Some got thrown away, some was added to the giveaway bags.

a lone slipper with a hole in the toe, some fabric scraps, broken sunglasses, broken science goggles, 4 pairs of paper glasses from our Birthday Sensory Bin. I found these today in one of the bins in the playroom.

The rest of the house is feeling as cluttered as always but the playroom is actually starting to feel as if it has less “stuff” in it. It is a great feeling! I wish I had more time every day to devote to the de-cluttering so that it would feel that way through all the house.

This is such an easy Summer craft! All the supplies you need are:

• two pieces of paper in different colours
• pencil with an eraser on the end
• one or two pony beads
• a glasshead pin

First fold each paper down to form a triangle and cut off the excess. This will make the paper square. If you are already using square paper, you can skip this step.

Next, glue the paper together using a glue stick. Now you will have one piece of paper with one colour on one side and another on the back.

Fold the paper the other way to form a triangle again and unfold so that there is now a centre where the previously folded lines cross. Draw a circle around this spot or place a coin there and trace around it.

Cut along the lines just to the drawn circle. Fold every second corner into the centre to create a pinwheel.

Place a glasshead pin through the centre being sure to go through each piece of paper there. (younger children will need help with this step)

Put one or two pony beads through the back of the pin and then insert it through the eraser on a pencil. You can then bend down any bit of the pin that is sticking through the other side or use wire cutters to snip off the end.

I’m linking with Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers, Show and Share Saturday, After School Link-Up, and Sunday Showcase.

Today all of what I found went into the garbage. I didn’t go through much or find any big items but I keep telling myself that every little bit counts!

lid, bib (haven’t had any babies around here for a long while!), scrap cloth, a pom pom, some papers and a few crafts the kids made months ago

more nebulizer parts…I knew I would find more extras! There were also some odd things in this bag like a broken night light, micro seashells and a tube of Polysporin without a lid

Have you joined in the Clutter Busting Challenge? What have you found so far?