Want to be the talk of your backyard bbq? Make and bring this Blueberry Crumble Recipe. It’s easy to throw together and tastes delicious too!
We recently went blueberry pickings, which I have to blog about. Since then, I have a ton of blueberries, but not a ton of different recipes. When talking about what to make, I knew I had to try a crumble.
Believe me… I’m happy I did!
This dessert was so easy to make and tasted so fresh. We picked them one day and made this the next. It was amazing.
I have a feeling this will be another staple dessert I bring to parties in the future.
Here’s what you’ll need to make this Blueberry Crumble:
2 cups of blueberries
sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup quick cook oats
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon cinnamon
First, preheat your oven to 375 F.
While it’s heating up, spray your crumble pan with cooking spray or spread water. Then, add the layer of blueberries at the bottom. Sprinkle sugar on top of the blueberries.
We used red colored sugar for ours!
Then, mix the crumble topping (sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, and butter) in a bowl. When it’s all combined, spread on top of the sugared blueberries. To give it some extra flair, you can sprinkle some extra cinnamon sugar on top.
When the oven is preheated, place the blueberry crumble in for 25-30 minutes.
We took ours out at the 25 minute mark and added festive sprinkles. Then baked for an extra five minutes.
Serve this delicious dish warm with whipped cream or ice cream!
What’s your favorite food item to bring to a cookout?
If you’re looking for some books to read this summer, these 5 Summer Reading Picks are a great start.
Each book was picked by a mermaid-loving four year old!
With school out, it’s important to keep kids reading and learning. Switching up books and ‘shelfies’ can help keep them interested and excited to read!
Mila has accumulated a TON of books in her four years. She has a few favorite picks — but it can get redundant reading them 1000 times. To help keep things fresh, I love to show her themed books and have her pick out her top picks.
I laid out ‘summer’ books that included zoos, weather, and other ocean animals. Of course, she was instantly drawn to the mermaid ones!
Here’s all of Mila’s picks:
The Little Mermaid
This was my book when I was a kid, but Mila is in love with it!
It’s the classic tale with beautiful images. Since Mila knows the story, she likes to pretend to ‘read’ to me. I love seeing what letters and words she is beginning to recognize too. If your kiddo loves “The Littler Mermaid” the movie, you’ll love the book too.
This is one of Mila’s favorite series! She loves the story and trying to figure out how the characters are going to catch the mermaid next. I love the rhyming and how it gets her brain thinking. Mila always finds new things in the pictures too. The last time she read it, she pointed out a big fish I had never saw!
This series has how to catch a unicorn, leprechaun, and the Easter Bunny too! It’s a series I’ll always recommend for any occasion you need.
If you’re interested in this book or series, check them out!
That’s Not My Mermaid
The “That’s Not My” series has been a staple in our home since Mila was a baby. They let kids feel different textures and understand what the words mean. Plus, there’s a hiding mouse that kids love to seek too.
Mila absolutely loves the mermaid one in the series. It’s one she has by her bed all summer long. She loves reading this one to me and showing me she remembers all the words.
Last year, “The Rainbow Fish” was Mill’s favorite summer book. It’s a great story about sharing and being mindful of others. We made the cutest paper craft (pictured above) and Mila recognizes thee cover image any where she sees it.
The bright colors are so perfect and I love this classic tale. This will be one boo I always have on hand.
Mila got this book earlier this year when Our Generation Dolls gifted us a few dolls and accessories. She saw the book and we’ve been reading it in chunks since! It’s a fun story of Coral and her passion for surfing.
The doll that came with this book is adorable too. Mila is constantly playing with her and her friends. I’d totally recommend them to anyone looking for a good doll!
Reading is such an important way to learn and imagine. It makes me so proud Mila can pick out her favorites and enjoy our time reading together. We’ll never get this time back, so we’re making every second count!
We can’t wait to show you more summer activities and fun that we’ll be having this year! Stay tuned.
What are some summer inspired books you’d recommend? We’d love to read them.
If you’re looking for a fun way to get your kids outside and interested in bugs, make this DIY Bug Catcher.
The best part, I reused everything to make this!
Mila is slowly getting interested in bugs. She can tell you all about the butterflies life cycle and can identify different bugs too! Mostly, she’s excited about catching lightening bugs this year.
Even though I know she can, I don’t think she’ll want to use her hands. Cue another light bulb parenting moment…
We decided to make a DIY Bug Catcher so we can see lightening bugs and whatever else she catches. Like I said before, we got to reuse items to make it too!
Here’s all that it took to make this:
Parmesan Cheese Bottle
Stickers
Pipe Cleaner
Googly Eyes
Hot Glue
Tulle
First, take the label off and clean the Parmesan cheese container. I don’t think the bugs would mind the cheesy smell, but it needed washed out.
After, I hot glued tulle on the smaller hole side. This way the bugs can get fresh air!
I then put stickers that said, “Mila’s Bug Catcher” on it. When I was done with that, I let her put whatever stickers on there.
While she was decorating her bug catcher, I made the bug face top. I just used the colored googly eyes Mila told me to use and a pipe cleaner for the antennas. All I did was use a little hot glue and it worked perfectly.
Once you’re finished, twist the lid on and your DIY Bug Catcher is complete!
I’ll make sure to update with our bug catching adventures. Which bugs did you like catching as a kid? Let me know in the comments.
If your child is interested in flowers and putting them together, they’ll love this Kids Floral Arrangement Activity.
With a few supplies, kids will make different arrangements for a long time!
Mila is obsessed with flowers. When she sees them at the store, we have to buy a bouquet… or two. I’m usually fine with it. We smell them and love bringing life into our home.
One day, Mila told me she couldn’t wait until our flowers were done growing so she could make her own bouquet.
Cue the light bulb moment!
I thought about all the fake flowers we had recently bought and that she could do just that. Over and over again.
Here’s all Mila used to make her Kids Floral Arrangement.
Fake flowers
Colander
Vase
Wire cutters
To start off, I only had the flowers to prep! Since they’re usually bundled all together, I wanted to cut them. There’s wires underneath fake flowers, so I just snipped them all with wire cutters.
Then I put them on a plate for Mila to choose what she wanted.
I did ask her to plan and put the flowers in a colander. This way she could work on her motor function skills. It was fun to watch her plan and be creative with the flowers. She especially loved the fake butterflies!
After she had it all planned, I told her to put them in the vase. She again, fluffed them and put them exactly how she wanted.
In the vase, I added crinkle filler paper so the flowers stayed upright.
Now we have a bouquet of flowers that will never die on our kitchen table. She is so proud of what she made and I love that we can do this activity again and again.
Here’s to all my seasonal floral arrangements being made by Mila!
Do you like getting fresh flowers or are you more into plants?
With spring flowers here, we’re ready to learn about as many of them as we can! To do that, we created a DIY Flower Book.
Although we only started off with one flower, I’ll make sure to update our other flower pages.
Since Mila picks flowers all the time, we had to press and keep them for a while. I thought it’d be cool to see everything in a book for us to review and go over at the end of summer.
All we had to do is start with a base. Here’s the supplies we used:
Cardboard
Scrapbook
Modge Podge
Pipe cleaner
Paper
Stickers
Flowers
For the actual book, I ended up using cardboard from a brownie box. It was easy to cut and I liked how it was thin cardboard too. Then, I used modge podge to paste scrapbook paper on to the cardboard pieces.
After it was dried, I used stickers to write “Mila’s Flower Book.” Then I hole punched the top corner to connect the book with a pipe cleaner.
For the inside flower pages, I just used computer paper. You could definitely do thick card stock paper or other scrapbook paper too. I’ll probably use others with some of the other flowers.
I figured we’d start with tulips since the ones we picked are starting to die.
All we did was dry the flowers, have her draw them, me draw them, and we went over the letters in tulip. It was a fun learning experience for her!
We can’t wait to get started on the other flowers. I think dandelions will be next and some of my Mother’s Day flowers too.
What’s your favorite flower that we should study? Let me know in the comments.
Looking for a fun sensory activity your child can do outside? Try this Flower Potion/Soup.
Not only does it get your kid independently playing outside, it’s a fun sensory experience for them too.
Flowers are Mila and my favorite part of spring! All the pretty flowers make me smile and she loves to pick them. We try to incorporate them in a lot of play activities.
Another element Mila is obsessed with is water! I learned early on in parenting that water calmed Mila down. No matter if it was a lot or just a little.
This kid activity is a perfect mix of the two!
Everything you need is either in your backyard or your kitchen:
Flowers
Jars
Water
Big Bowl
Sticks
Water Dispenser
This activity is really child led. I did ask Mila to collect different flowers that were in our yard. Then I set up the potion/soup station.
I let her know that was her mixing bowl and she could add whatever in there.
She really took over after that!
Mila pretended she was a witch making potions the entire time. She let us know what the potions would do and who they were for. As always, I love hearing from her creative mind.
What’s your favorite spring kid’s activity? Let me know in the comments.
Mother’s Day is almost here and we’re busy making DIY’s for all the special moms in our lives. If you’re looking for an easy one, this DIY Fingerprint Flower Jar is just right for you.
We love making presents for our loved ones. It makes gift giving more personal and shows how hard we worked on it too. Mila is always so proud when she sees something she made up in someone’s house. She’ll get a huge smile.
Since she loves to pick flowers and put them in vases, I thought this would be a perfect gift for the loved ones in our family!
There’s not a bunch of supplies you need for this DIY gift. We had everything already at home and were able to reuse an old olive jar!
Jar
Paint
Modge podge
All you need to do is get an area prepped for paint. Then I showed Mila what I meant by finger painting flowers on a jar. I just did it on the brown paper that I prepped the area in. This way she could see she was allowed to use her fingers as a paint brush.
Then I let her go!
She did a few alone, but then she felt better when I held it up and twisted it for her. I don’t think she wanted to smudge the flowers she already had done!
Once they’re finished making flowers, coat the jar in modge podge. I just did a thin layer so the flowers don’t go off in the future. This step isn’t required, but if you want that added protection, I’d suggest it!
To finish it up, you could add letter beads like I did or a yarn bow too.
We filled ours up with flowers, but you could add your loved ones favorite candy or even a tea light candle too. Either way, this jar is something special and easy a mom in your life will really love!
If you’re looking for more Mother’s Day DIY’s, check out these ones Mila and I have done. Let me know which one is your favorite in the comments.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! If you’re looking for a crafty way to celebrate the day and one of their most favorite painters, try this DIY Frida Flower Crown.
Not only will you learn a little more about Mexico, it’s a lot of fun to pretend play!
Mila and I LOVE Frida Kahlo. I even have a tattoo of her on my arm. She’s a feminist icon who went through so much during her life. Her beauty and pain shine through her work. She has inspired Mila and me in so many ways.
On Cinco de Mayo, we like to honor Mexican culture and our favorite girl with fun crafts.
Since we’re in a pretend play kick, I made Mila a Frida inspired flower crown and gave her a unibrow. Here’s all we used to make this iconic crown.
Scrapbook Paper
Paper Flowers
Staples
Hot Glue
First, I cut the base of the crown out of green, floral scrapbook paper. I had to staple to pieces together to fit Mila’s head.
Then, I used paper flowers that was in a floral garland from Mila’s birthday party. I then attached them to the crown with hot glue and fluffed them up. You could make your own paper flowers or use fake flowers too!
After it was all connected, I used eyeliner to thicken her eyebrows and bring them together.
It was such an easy DIY! I showed Mila pictures of Frida and had her do different poses. Then, she drew a self portrait of herself.
Not only was it fun to do, it was a great way for Mila to learn more about a Mexican icon.
How do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Let me know in the comments.
Lets bring on the May flowers and start this month off with a Gardening Sensory Bin.
Since kids need some type of play at parties, I thought a Gardening Sensory Bin would be great. It turns out… it was.
Although I haven’t posted about it yet, Mila’s birthday part was garden and plant themed. She loves plants so much, it was a perfect fit. All of Mila’s friends loved it and Mila kept playing with it for days after.
Just beware of beans flying everywhere.
For this bin, I used things that were around my house, but you can find everything at the dollar store:
Dried Beans
Fake Flowers or Produce
Gardening Accessories
Jars or Mini Pots
Sensory Bin
All you need to do is a fill a sensory bin with whatever kind of dried beans or rice.
Then, place fake produce and flowers like they’re planted in the ground. I loved the felt produce from Targets Dollar Spot or we use fake flowers from the Dollar Tree.
Next, place some jars or pots in the bin along with some gardening accessories.
Now it’s time to play!
Your child will know exactly what to do with this bin. It’s a lot of fun to watch them play and discover. I’ll have this sensory bin ready for whenever. It’s easy and has endless amounts of fun.
What are you looking forward to this month? Let me know in the comments.
Ohio is a state full of hidden gems. Our favorite local one is Dundee Falls in Dundee, Ohio. With a short hike, you’ll find a beautiful waterfall and peaceful scene.
Besides the view, I love that Dundee Falls is perfect to explore for people of all ages.
For our first adventure of the season, Mila, Josh, and I all went to Dundee Falls. Mila and I have been there quite a few times, but it was Josh’s first. My family has taken Mila since she’s been one and she’s always loved it!
It’s only about a mile hike from the start to the falls. Then another mile back. It’s not long at all and it’s shaded by trees. That makes it so nice for a hot summer day.
Some things I would suggest people to bring when they come to Dundee Falls are a change of clothes, water bottle, and sunscreen.
Since it’s the first time Mila and I’ve went so early in the year, I did not expect it to be as muddy as it was. If you’re planning on visiting in the spring, prepare for the slippery mud! It’s sort of everywhere.
This time, we went a different path from normal. We crossed the stream before the falls and went the long way around.
It was fun seeing them from a different view and just getting to explore. I did fall like ten times, but it was still a blast. We also got to climb over the river rocks and just get completely immersed in nature.
If you go the regular way to get to the falls, you do have to climb down a little rock way. This is normally somewhat slippery, but it was even more muddy which made it a little difficult to get up. I can imagine it was tricky to get down too. BUT there were so many people able to get up and down of all ages and ability levels. Just know it’s not accessible for those in wheelchairs or other limiting abilities.
Mila’s favorite part is actually getting into the water at the falls. She just loves to play and jump in it. She always looking for fish, frogs, and whatever else she can find too. At this time of the year, the water felt nice. I fell in the deeper water under the falls and was soaked. It wasn’t too cold for me to get back.
Our trips to Dundee Falls are so informative and an amazing sensory experience for Mila too. We loved pointing out wildlife and talking about cleaning up our Earth.
Speaking of… the trail and park in all is really clean. People who visit are mindful of their trash if they bring a picnic. They’re also really nice too. I’ve always had positive experiences visiting Dundee Falls. Some people even bring their dogs, which is always so cute!
The three of us had an amazing time Exploring Dundee Falls. Mila and I might have ended the trail completely muddy and soaked with water, but the adventure was worth every second.
Once you’re done visiting Dundee Falls, I would suggest making a short drive to the World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock. We go every time we’re near Sugarcreek! It’s Mila’s favorite.
Another place you have to visit is The Wallhouse. They have such great ice cream. It ends the day perfectly.
If you’re from Ohio, let us know some trails or places we should visit next! Or let me know your favorite place to go to where you live. Maybe we’ll have to go too.
Grey Skies & Rainbow Highs 