Celebrate The Small Things

Did you know yesterday was National Scrabble Day?!

A couple years ago my family and I decided to choose one of those obscure National daily holidays a month to celebrate, you know like Daniel Boone day or bubba yum bubble gum day (ok, I think I made that last one up, but you never know). At the beginning of 2018 I sat down and planned out what we were going to celebrate each month for the whole year. At the time my kids were in 4th and 1st grades and I was already feeling the sands of time slipping away with them, I thought this would be such a fun way to create more memories together. I decided if there was a regular holiday (Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day, Easter, Christmas etc) we would celebrate that during the month instead of an obscure holiday (I'm not completely insane). So we celebrated things like Paul Bunyan day (yes we did!), shark awareness, Harry Potter day, Mexican Independence day (not cinco de mayo though we celebrated that too, we can't get enough Mexican food around these parts). We also celebrated dia los muertos and national ice cream day to name a few.

This was such a fun year for us. My kids loved it. We kept it relatively simply, that's just how I roll. I like to do fun things, but I tend to not make it over the top. If you're an over the top kind of person by all means go for it, that's just not me. I would usually do a little fun decoration, and plan dinner around the theme. And we would dress as close to the theme as we could. For shark awareness we all ate in our beach attire and I decorated with my beach blanket and beach towels. For dia los muertos we colored sugar skulls and ate Mexican food.

I decided this weekend as we were celebrating Easter that a fun way to break up the monotony of social distancing would be to bring back the monthly obscure holidays. So I sat down to plan. ( I will probably continue this through the end of the year, because why the heck not?!) These are the holidays I decided on: national picnic day (4/23), my boys are star wars obsessed so star wars day must be celebrated (5/4), then we'll combine Flag day and national strawberry shortcake day on (6/14). July I will keep it simple with independence day (7/4) and national s'mores day in August. (8/10) My husbands parents are natives of Mexico, so we will celebrate Mexican Independence on (9/16) and Halloween in October. In November we'll get crazy and celebrate dia los muertos (11/1) and Thanksgiving and we'll wrap up the year with traditional Christmas.

We will showcase a fun holiday each week on our instagram, so if you're not already following @modernfamilydesigns you should. Yesterday we posted about National Scrabble Day on our Socials!

The point of this is to say, have fun with it. Make memories with your family and do something out of the ordinary to bring a little extra joy into your home this month. I will be sharing on instagram as the time goes on how our family is celebrating the holidays starting with National picnic day on April 23rd. We hope y'all will join in and tag us in your celebrations.

You can get your own Scrabble Board Game here!

AMAZON WEEKLY FUN LIST

Thanks to Spring, the days are now getting even longer! During this crazy time, that can be a good or a bad thing. The positive side to this means more sunshine hours and time to do fun things with your family after homeschool and work. The hard part can be deciding WHAT to spend that time doing.

I know I have been feeling like I have exhausted a lot of our usual at home activities and have been itching to find a few more to keep us all entertained. Below I have compiled a list of my current favorite Amazon finds that SHOULD ship within a week, right to your door.

ART & CRAFTS have been a favorite around our house and this idea is bound to change it up. Check out this Set of 8 Glow In The Dark paints! The possibilities are endless as you can use this on nearly any material with a white/light background. Paper, Walls, Canvas, Rocks, etc. It is recommended that you use a UV LIGHT to charge it in order for it to reach it's full potential.

WINDOW ART has become quite popular over the last few weeks. Sharing our creativity in a fun way that many are bound to see on their daily walks while we all practice social distancing. This Create Your Own Suncatcher Kit is a fun guided art project for those of us wanting to create something to add to our windows. You can choose from 24 different sun catchers with 12 fun colors to mix and match within your project.

FAMILY CARD GAMES are always a great way to pass the time and create a bonding experience amongst everyone. We have found this game, Sharks Are Wild, to be a great one for most ages. My favorite part is that you can modify it to fit the ability range of the players. You have the option to make it harder for more experienced players or very simple when playing with your littlest ones.

CLASSIC FAMILY GAMES brighter colors are some of my favorites! I love that this generic version of the original Jenga game boasts some of the brightest colored blocks out there. I also love that it will ship and arrive sooner than the original version via Amazon. I feel pretty confident that the bright colored blocks will draw in even your littlest family members and keep them interested in this classic family game that is suitable for most ages.

BUBBLES ARE FOR EVERYONE! I have found that as my kids get older, we all still LOVE bubbles, including the adults. What could make bubbles even more fun? How about HUGE bubbles?!?! This kit includes a bubble mix powder making it possible to create over 2.5 gallons of bubble solution using hot tap water and dish soap. It also includes a 90-inch-long fabric loop that is woven to absorb and release the maximum amount of bubble solution. This unique one-stick wand design with slide-control lets you create bubbles of endless shapes and sizes not possible with other designs.

GET OUTSIDE AND SHOOT SOME ROCKETS! As a parent, I know that kids LOVE sending things into the air or across a room. They also are balls full of energy. What better way to get your kids outside and using that energy than having to use their own body weight and energy to send a rocket flying into the sky! This Stomp Rocket Kit is capable of shooting up to 100 feet in the air, depending on the amount of force used. Assembly is quite simple and could induce hours of fun. I even smell some healthy competition among siblings/family members with this one. 2 kits may be better than one.

We hope that this blog post got your wheels turning on some fun activities for you and your family. We would also LOVE to hear your ideas as to what you have been doing and what products have kept your family entertained during this time.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I am feeling this age old saying on a deep level this spring. I am finding the symbolism of the cloudiness to bright flowers speaking to me. In my mind “April showers bring May flowers” is symbolic of health and healing. Turning the corner on this pandemic and holding out hope for days where we are no longer living with fear and emotion about simply going to the grocery store. It is symbolizing health and prosperity around the globe as half of the world is starting to slowly enter into warmer days ahead. It's seeing kids roaming the streets and playing with their friends and having birthday parties again. It is really making me reflect on how much I have grown to appreciate basic freedoms. Being essentially confined to my home and backyard, with an occasional walk or grocery store trip has made me appreciate the simplest of things, like going to visit my sister in a

neighboring town. I miss my sister and her family dearly right now. I will not take advantage of these simple joys. I am desperate for a walk on the beach and I know that is the first thing I will be doing once these restrictions are lifted.

I've thought a lot recently on the impact this will have for our world as we know it. No, I don't think we'll be getting back to our old life. I think we are all changed in ways, and we will never go back to life before. But I do think we will get through this time and we will learn a new way of life,

hopefully a better one. I hope for a renewal in our world. And I hope we can hold this time in our hearts as a time where we were able to come together with our families. To find joy in them. This time, while scary and uncertain is a gift. It is a gift to slow down and remember what is truly important. And though I will continue to hold out hope for health and healing during this time, I am also choosing to hold my boys a little closer. To cherish these moments where we have time to slow down and find joy together. I will continue to burn these memories into my soul and I hope that I will continue on in this way to an extent once we are through this. I hope you will too.

Links to the SVG image above can be found here or by clicking any image in the post.