When you live somewhere hot like I do (southern Arizona), you don’t hibernate in the winter. You do it in the Summer. When its 100+ degrees, there really is nothing worth doing outdoors (unless you have a pool, which I don’t currently).

Nothin.

This is a real bummer because about the time kids are out of school and have free time on their hands, the temps are in the triple digits. And as a work-at-home mom, I need to keep the natives busy.

So every Summer we come up with a list of things to do so we don’t get board, watch too much tv, and have sibling mayhem by Week 2. Here are a few things we did this Summer to escape the heat…

1. JumpStart Wii – JumpStart has been a part of our family since my Oldest was 6 months old. Now, 13 years later, they have entered the world of active video games with JumpStart Get Moving: Family Fitness for the Wii, released just a few weeks ago and retailing for $29.99. Teaming up with Brooke Burke, and kinesiology experts, they have successfully created games designed to get the whole family up and active. There are over 15 fun challenge games like dodgeball, football and pinball. And here’s the fun part; you can play underwater, on a farm, in Egypt or in 8 other exotic locations. The favorites in our house are the football themed games (no big surprise there…).
   Scroll down to enter to win a copy of your own!

1. Wii Fit and the Balance Board – Another great activity to get the booty moving is the Wii Fit with the Balance Board. There is a lot of activities for kids, which was a little surprising to me. Some of the favorites here are Hula Hoop, Basic Running (are these my children??) and Ski Jump.
2. Molding Clay – Who would have thought a $2.50 purchase would provide so much fun? My kids were never big play dough fans…maybe because it would dry out so fast. But molding clay will keep them playing together, nicely, for hours. Literally.
   
3. Homemade Marshmallows – Mmmm, yummy. Try this recipe from Ina Garten. Its easy and fun for the kids to help. But you’ll want to share with the neighbors or use them up immediately because although these are super tasty, they don’t store very well…from my experience.
   
4. Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag – Another fun and tasty activity. Be sure to rinse the bag before eating or you’ll have “Salt Ice Cream”.
5. Banana Grams – My kids don’t have summer reading assignments and frankly, I’m totally fine with giving them a break from academia for the summer (especially since we have such a short summer with year-round school). But, they don’t realize how much their little brains are working with Banana Grams. On the recommendation of a friend, I bought this game and we had plenty of fun with it. Usually, dinner dishes was on the line, so you can imagine the competition. Other game favorites were Uno Flash and electronic Monopoly.
   
6. Cheap Theater – We have a nice “cheap theater” in town that has $1.50 Tuesdays. We saw some fun, “cool” movies this summer: How to Train Your Dragon and Clash of the Titans. Waiting a few extra weeks to see them was worth the savings…and a nice escape from the heat for a few hours. Many theaters run summer specials; check out your local theaters for some real savings.
7. Video Camera – We have an old, small video camera that we have deemed the “kids’ camera”. Its always interesting to see what cinema creations they come up with. They usually involved personal diatribes, chasing of a dog, and tours of dressers and closets.
8. Roller Skating – Its deja vu each time I visit a skating rink. Remember those days before the internet and cell phones, when you went to the skating rink with your big hair and leg warmers? Its changed a bit, but is still a lot of fun and my kids love it. (And it was a special little bonus that they had free WiFi for mommy.)
9. Balloon Ball – When I was young, my friend and I “invented” balloon ball. Its basically volleyball with a balloon. String up a net (or string) dividing the living room basically in half and blow up a big balloon. Same rules apply, minus the broken vases and lamps.

WIN IT! Enter to win your own copy of JumpStart Get Moving: Family Fitness for the Wii. Winner will be chosen randomly.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Comment on this post telling me how you have entertained your kids this summer.

2. For extra entries, tweet about this giveaway up to once a day and/or subscribe to this blog.

3. Entries must be made by Friday, August 13 at 11:59 p.m. MST.

(This post includes affiliate links. I received a copy of JumpStart Get Moving: Family Fitness to review.)

1. You avoid making sidebar changes because the idea of dealing with HTML makes you want to pull your hair out.
2. You have 35 plugins that are all out of date.
3. Your spam count resembles the national debt.
4. You’d rather floss your teeth than deal with your widgets.
5. You signed up for Twitter 6 months ago but still haven’t linked it in your sidebar.
6. You need to add a page to your blog, but it keeps ending up at the bottom of your to do list.

Well, guess what? You’re in luck. In an effort to better serve my clients, I’v decided to offer blog design retainer services. This way, I can offer very individualized services for each blogger. If you’re unfamiliar with how retainers work, its a fee paid up front on a regular, predetermined basis for certain services. Here’s what my retainer service looks like:

1. We’ll sit down and chit chat about exactly what you need. Everyone is different, but you’re probably looking at something around $75-$125 per month.
2. Your services can include database/core file backup (WordPress), platform updates, sidebar & page updating, email support, discounted or free a la carte service (like ad buttons, etc., depending on your preference and need), head of queue placement for a la carte services, and free access to How To Blog: Video Tutor library.
3. Each month you’ll be automatically billed via a PayPal subscription.
4. After 3 months, we’ll look at the hours vs. the cost and reevaluate if needed.
5. Retainer can be canceled at any time; no minimum number of months are required.

This is a great option for:

• new bloggers
• business bloggers
• review bloggers
• any blogger wanting to focus on the writing

Now here’s the catch. I can only take on so many retainer clients and I currently have 5 spots available. 5 spots, people! So speak up…if you want to consider this service, contact me!

Now off to the orthodontist…to pay for that other kind of retainer.

Client: Courtney

Blog: Pizzazzerie

Scope of Project: Blog Design

Focus of Blog: Event & Party Planning

Platform: WordPress

Check ‘em out…

To save, simply right click on the image(s) you want and select “save image as” and save it somewhere on your hard drive. You’ll notice these are extra “big” at 125×125 pixels and you probably wont need them quite so large, but you can easily resize them in a photo editor or when you upload them to your blog platform.

Enjoy!

Flights Of Fancy

Our Suburban Cottage

Lavender And Lillies

It was cute. It was meaningful and touching in all the right places. I felt like it kept in line with the Toy Story tone and message. The plot was clever and the attention to detail and graphics were indescribable, in true Disney style.

I could have done with about 30 minutes less of death defying escape sequences. And the whole inanimate objects given human emotions would have made me a little psychotic if I saw it as a child. All that pressure playing with my toys equally? Too much for this “feel responsible for everyone’s happiness” personality.

But all in all a great family movie.

Yet, the 3D experience? Not so impressed. First of all, I went expecting to pay around $5 per person for a matinee. I can stomach that. But at my particular Century theater, 3D (called XD to make it sound better, I guess) movies aren’t available at matinee prices. So rather than $5 per ticket, it was $14 for me and my 13 year old and $11 for my two younger ones…for a grand total of $50.

Choke.

Yes, the 3D effect was ok and the leather seats were nice, but $50 for a two hour experience is too rich for this mom-on-a budget’s blood. I’m more of a $9 a month Netflix kind of girl…where I can keep a movie as long as I want and I get a whole slue of movies and tv episodes instantly on my Wii (that was an unpaid advertisement for Netflix, thankyouverymuch).

And just for kicks and giggles (and rants…) lets just see what else $50 will buy you:

• More than 5 months of Netflix (as previously mentioned)
• A monthly city water bill
• 4 chickens for one or more families or 1 1/2 months of clean water, food, health care and education for a World Vision sponsored child
• A year membership at Costco
• A couple new outfits at the thrift store
• A Wii game
• A monthly orthodontics payment
• A good cut and blow dry
• Dinner with friends over

I’m totally aware that its all about what you value. If you value the 3D experience and that’s your thing, then by all means…enjoy. I really have nothing against that. I’m sure there are plenty of people who wouldn’t dream of paying for pre-grated cheese, DVR service and scrapbook supplies, like I do.

Its just seems that movie going isn’t much of a family friendly experience. You need to take out a small loan if you plan on taking the whole family, getting popcorn and…3D?

I’m choking again just thinking about it.

Client: Meghan

Blog: Spicy Magnolia

Scope of Project: Blog Design

Focus of Blog: Motherhood, food, faith and more

Platform: Typepad