I haven’t written an Addie Day post in a LONG time.
Addie is all about projects and I am all about observing weird sorts of holidays!

On Saturday, both of these aspects of our personalities collided in a delightful way. Addie was watching one of her favorite YouTubers, Dana from Made Everyday and she came to me—as she frequently does—with a new project idea. I had just produced a podcast episode and talked about National Paper Clip Day—which it was—so when she asked if we could go get what she would need I thought, “Yeah, this could be FUN!” I watched enough of the how-to video to get the gist of Addie’s project and said, “I LOVE it! Let’s go now!”

After we shopped for fabric and trim, I blindfolded Addie and took her to Staples so she could pick out any package of paper clips she wanted. It was a quick and personality rich adventure—AND—we now have a homemade swimming towel with pom-poms!

☀️ IF you have a tween girl—THIS is a super fun and not-too-hard summer project/process—and the result is 100% adorable and useful.

Tips: Do be very careful to measure and cut your fabric and Terry cloth. Both pieces need to be the same exact size—and when Dana recommends using safety pins to secure the middle of the would-be towel, listen to her. She’s the expert, ha! Because I (mostly) skipped the sizing step and used straight pins our towel is just slightly “skeewampish” and sewing up the edges was a wee bit painful as I was poked several times by those pins!

☀️ I’m reminded that it does NOT take hours and tons of effort to connect with a child. Just decide you do have time and you will. What’s interesting is that Addie knew immediately she was in Staples—this led to a conversation about our senses. When one sense is blocked we pay more attention to the others.

Did you know that your nose knows where you are much of the time?

Staples has a distinct smell!

I sure LOVE this girl of mine. She is quite literally my BEST FRIEND. We do pretty much everything together. When we get ready to leave the house I generally say, “I’ve got my phone, my watch, my water and my daughter!”

🚴🏼‍♀️🚴🏼‍♀️ We’ve now completed our homeschooling for the year, but we still want to do a little math and language arts during the summer. On June 1st, we decided that we will be starting each Tuesday with a long looping bike ride—from our home, down to the Spokane River at the Harvard Street trail head, along the trail, exiting at Barker Road and back home. We’ll stop at the bench along the river and do one lesson in language arts. And then we’ll head home. We live on a pretty big hill, so this means riding UP the hill at the end of our ride. By then end of summer, we have a goal to make it ALL the way up the hill without stopping!

I’m publishing this on a Tuesday (back-dated for June 1st) so we’re anticipating our third Tuesday loop in just an hour or so. I’d LOVE to hear about a recent project you’ve started or completed and about any goals or ambitions you have for summer. Do share!