I went outside with my coffee to read the Bible this morning and the chill in the air felt like fall. I’ve been mourning the end of summer break ever since I went back to work last week. I love putting together posts like this because as I gather all of my photos, I’m reminded of how much fun we’ve had and the memories we’ve made.

One of my favorite things about this summer was watching Klara care for her first garden.

Homemade pizzas on the grill was one of our favorite family dinners this summer.

Our summer bucket list during the month of July is the absolute best thing about summer break. The kids come up with several things they’d like to do, I add in some surprises, and I turn it into a calendar. We start our lists in March or April so I have plenty of time to gather, buy, or order things we will need. Each day has its own activity because I’ve found that if I don’t assign something to each day, a lot of things that we want to do end up not getting done. Time is easily wasted, but the calendar allows me to be intentional with the days we have. When I have the calendar in my hands, I know what to expect for the week ahead and make sure it gets done. There are always a few adjustments I have to make because of weather, Kylan’s summer basketball schedule, or any appointments we may have, but it’s easy to swap things around to make it work with our schedules.

The first activity on our bucket list was our traditional kick off to summer breakfast. Pancakes and Pajamas has always been the first thing on our bucket list and we’ve done it lots of different ways. We have went to a restaurant at 6 a.m. in our pajamas and we’ve slept late and had a pancake buffet at home. You can make it as fun as you want! The possibilities are endless.

During the first week of our bucket list we also had Family Game Night, Family and Fireworks, a 4th of July bash, a family outing for froyo, Glow in the Dark Night, Hawaiian Day, and we played putt putt.

We celebrated summer with some special friends! I love creating invitations for every event. We mailed this cute invite to our friends and they showed up with chairs, blow up mattresses, snacks and drinks.

We had a popcorn bar for family movie night, ice cream sundaes, a yard sale, and one my favorite things we’ve ever done- a fancy formal dinner.

We had Milkshake Monday and Taco Tuesday. The kids loved them both!

One of our new traditions is Puzzles and Pudding Parfaits. We worked puzzles together as a family all evening and then we made pudding parfaits. I made chocolate and vanilla pudding and we used whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherries as toppings.

The kids always have their own special day on the calendar. Basically it’s their “yes day” which means whatever they want to do, we do it. They look forward to their day months in advance so it’s always a lot of fun to see what they come up with.

This year we had Pirate Day! Throughout the year if I’m shopping and see a clearance shelf of something I could incorporate into our summer, I will grab it and store it in our summer tote. I was strolling through Target one day and saw these pirate themed items marked WAY down.

I printed off a letter and treasure map for each kid, along with a treasure hunt. They painted their treasure chests and once they dried, I stuffed them full of chocolate gold coins and jewels, then hid them where their treasure hunt would lead them.

We had Family Art Night, a Macaroni and Cheese Bar, and celebrated Kylan’s girlfriend on her birthday!

Me and Jordan went to see Zach Williams in concert! I love his music, but his testimony and love for Jesus is incredible. He had the crowd in tears as he shared how God has worked in his life. I am so thankful we had the opportunity to see him live.

Our family came to visit from Maryland and it was such a fun week. We made s’mores, went out for pizza, went shopping, and had family relay races with a trophy for the winning team.

I think all the kids would say that Christmas in July was their favorite thing on the bucket list this summer! This is something else that is super easy to do throughout the year. If I’m out and see something that the kids might like in their stockings, I go ahead and pick it up and keep all of the items I accumulate in a separate tote. Instead of hot cocoa and candy canes, stockings can be stuffed with water balloons, pool toys, and sunglasses.

We didn’t put up our 8 foot Christmas tree, but we put up a smaller one that we put in Kylan’s room at Christmas. It’s really easy to set up and is prelit. It’s perfect for Christmas in July. I made Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, had Christmas music playing on the TV, had arranged wrapped presents under the tree, and we spent the day watching Christmas movies.

We went to a trampoline park, out for a family dinner at Olive Garden, went to Kylan’s basketball games, and even painted our downstairs! I plan on sharing our room reveal in an upcoming post.

We’ve went swimming, the kids planned dinner and dessert and made it all themselves, and we had Backwards Day! Backwards Day is one of our favorite days because we wear our clothes backwards, eat dessert for breakfast and eat breakfast right before bed. There are so many other fun ideas for a backwards day- say “hello” as you’re leaving a room and “goodbye” as you come in, wear socks inside out, wear shoes on the opposite feet, spell names backwards, use your non-dominant hand all day, call everyone by their last name rather than their first name, and you can even do scavenger hunts or obstacle courses backwards. Since it’s Backwards Day, the person that comes in last place will actually be the winner. Don’t let them know that until after the races are done.

What are some things on your seasonal bucket list?