Can you believe that summer vacation is almost over? I am in denial – Eben really can’t be starting 4th grade on Tuesday? At least, I now live in a climate where it is warm year round. I am glad that I won’t start getting the ‘Oh My Goodness! What do you mean that winter is almost here and it will stay until June?’ panic, come the end of September. Whew! Well, to celebrate the end of an era – summer that is – we should all make these fantastic layered frozen ice pops. Don’t you agree? You can find the Martha Stewart recipe and directions via Butterfly Foodie, you can use the organic version of all of the ingredients too, and it wouldn’t hurt to add a little fresh fruit!
What are your favorite type of frozen treats?
Do you make your own? Do you have a favorite recipe that you follow?
Do you have an inspiration board or a family bulletin board? Wouldn’t these do it yourself button thumb tacks look fabulous on it? I love Carolyn’s idea of using vintage buttons. All you need are buttons, thumb tacks and glue and viola! How lovely is that?
Does your family use a bulletin board? How do you keep your families schedules, projects, artwork organized?
Yesterday afternoon, we decided to take a little adventure and visit Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach. Wakodathatchee is a Seminole Indian phrase that means “created waters.” The Wakodahatchee Wetlands was constructed by Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department next to the existing Water Treatment Plant. This project has significantly enhanced about 56 acres of former percolation ponds into a thriving wetlands habitat. It has been one of our family’s favorite nature spots since Eben was an infant.
Wakodahatchee is a thriving wetlands Eco system where you can observe a large assortment of animals and plants. Our favorites are the alligator’s (we saw 3 yesterday including a juvenile), several different types of turtles and the numerous types of birds. Since Eben really wants to be a photographer for National Geographic when he grows up, he took all of the pictures yesterday and here are some of our favorites.You can see all of Eben’s pictures here.
Does your family enjoy nature walks?
Does your child know what they want to be when they grow up?
The Sweet Greens Family loves, loves, loves to read. Since we are getting ready for back to school, I picked up the perfect book to remind Eben of how to behave at school. How to Behave and Whyis the children’s classic from the best-selling author of Ferdinand (another Lyon Family favorite) – Munro Leaf.
How to Behave and Why reminds us that no matter who you are, there are four main things that you have to do if you want to make and keep good friends forever. The four things are: You have to be HONEST. You have to be STRONG. You have to be FAIR. and You have to be WISE.
This book gives fun and sincere lessons in the virtues of Honesty, Fairness, Strength and Wisdom with simple, yet sweet illustrations that will delight you and your little ones. My favorite parts are on Strength and wisdom – I think this is a must have book for all family libraries.
What books do the members of your family adore?
*Book Adventure of the Week is a new weekly series here at Sweet Greens, where I would love to share some of the books from our own book shelves with you. If you have a book to recommend, I would love to hear about it, please send me a message to mysweetgreens@gmail.com.
Eben will be starting 4th grade next week, so it’s time for a new backpack! We want to choose one that is nice looking, Eco friendly and can be used for several years. Here are some of the options that I found.
This Land’s End Backpack is made of 100% recycled fabric and has a locking system for attaching an Eco friendly stainless steel water bottle. I like that it is made for kids so it would be the right size and that 100% recycled fabric is fantastic! It can also be monogrammed, which I think is a fantastic way to make sure that you can find your child’s pack if lost at school.
This backpack by Mobile Edge made from an Eco friendly canvas and has a lifetime warranty. I love that it has a lifetime warranty, that would be great since it would be used by a child.
This Osprey Pack is made from 72% recycled materials including buckles made from 100% reground buckle scrap. I love that this is a perfect dual purpose pack, could be used for school during the week and hiking on the weekend.
Or, if you are crafty, you can make one like the first photo from Make Me Studio. Wow! I would love to make a backpack like that.
I think we will be ordering the Land’s End pack, it has everything that we are looking for, including the ability to have it monogrammed and will look super cute with his shoes!
What type of backpack does your child use for back to school? Do you use the backpack for other activities as well? Would you pay more for a backpack if you knew it would last longer?
