Outside 365 | July 2016

I recently read a post about lazy parenting and I have to confess that this is a parenting philosophy that I lean toward. The idea is that my laziness will cause my kids to develop independence and skills sooner than if I just did everything for them. Or maybe I've just confessed to the internet that I am lazy. Either way, if you are a parent, the post is worth a read.

 

We have just wrapped up our 7th month of intentionally spending a portion of every day outdoors. As I write, Isaac is napping and Jack and I are enjoying a cool morning on our back deck. The month of July has provided some much needed rain in our area of the country, and we have taken advantage of the cloud cover and breezes that have blown our way. And sometimes we just go play in the rain.

We kicked of the month of July outside as a family celebrating our country's independence. We took a trip to Florida to see cousins where we were able to spend a day at the beach. We hung out at playgrounds and swam with friends. We saw a play at a local outdoor amphitheater. And we took family bike rides. Our most exciting news is that Jack taught himself how to ride a bike.

Lazy or not (I guess that is relative to each person), it was another good month in the books.

A Look Back at Project Outside 365:
January 2016 ⎮ February 2016 ⎮ March 2016 ⎮ April 2016 ⎮ May 2016 ⎮ June 2016

October Traditions: Annual Hayride and A Halloween Party

I am still playing catch up with my blogging, so this post is a couple of weeks late. Last month I wrote about our tradition of going to the pumpkin patch. In addition to this tradition, we attended our Life Group's annual hayride and then met up with some of our friends (who have toddlers) for a little Halloween party (unfortunately we missed Trunk or Treat this year due to our busy schedules).

The hayride was cold. As in 33ºF before the windchill.

Standing around the campfire eating chili and smores before getting on the hay wagon wasn't too terribly cold; but riding around behind a truck at those temps was really chilly. Thank goodness we wore lots of layers and brought a blanket to snuggle under. Jack had fun, even if he was cold. He enjoyed eating his first smore and excitedly pointed out the stars to us while we did the hayride thing.

On the actual day of Halloween it was warm and rainy. A perfect recipe for a possible tornado. Thankfully there were no tornadoes... or really bad storms for that matter. 

We gathered at a friend's home in Huntsville for chili (do you see a theme?). Before eating we attempted to take a group shot of four almost-two year-olds. Two of the kids sat complacently for the photo op. However Jack and one of the other little boys were just not into it. Basically Jack was focused on playing and Hudson didn't want to be stuck in a costume... maybe it will go over better next year?

Since these kiddos are not quite two we decided to skip the trick or treating. The kids don't know what that is and it was raining. Instead the adults enjoyed visiting and we let the kids run wild have fun playing together. I'm pretty sure they were all in toddler heaven. It was a great way to wrap up the month of October. We are going to miss these get togethers once we are officially moved to Tennessee, but hopefully we will make more friends once we are settled.

You might have noticed that we recycled Jack's costume from last year. Since he was almost 1 last year, we opted to buy a 2T costume (it was last minute, so it may have actually been our only option). So this is the second year that Jack was a cow. My philosophy is that he doesn't know any better and, as parents, we can do whatever we want. Maybe we will start a tradition of him being a cow EVERY year. Who knows. He was more interested in playing with toys anyways.