Homemade Marshmallows | the pixel boutique

UPDATE: The winner of this giveaway is #87, Melanie!

When you live somewhere hot like I do (southern Arizona), you don’t hibernate in the winter. You do it in the Summer. When its 100+ degrees, there really is nothing worth doing outdoors (unless you have a pool, which I don’t currently).

Nothin.

This is a real bummer because about the time kids are out of school and have free time on their hands, the temps are in the triple digits. And as a work-at-home mom, I need to keep the natives busy.

So every Summer we come up with a list of things to do so we don’t get board, watch too much tv, and have sibling mayhem by Week 2. Here are a few things we did this Summer to escape the heat…

JumpStart Wii – JumpStart has been a part of our family since my Oldest was 6 months old. Now, 13 years later, they have entered the world of active video games with JumpStart Get Moving: Family Fitness for the Wii, released just a few weeks ago and retailing for $29.99. Teaming up with Brooke Burke, and kinesiology experts, they have successfully created games designed to get the whole family up and active. There are over 15 fun challenge games like dodgeball, football and pinball. And here’s the fun part; you can play underwater, on a farm, in Egypt or in 8 other exotic locations. The favorites in our house are the football themed games (no big surprise there…).
Scroll down to enter to win a copy of your own!

Wii Fit and the Balance Board – Another great activity to get the booty moving is the Wii Fit with the Balance Board. There is a lot of activities for kids, which was a little surprising to me. Some of the favorites here are Hula Hoop, Basic Running (are these my children??) and Ski Jump.
Molding Clay – Who would have thought a $2.50 purchase would provide so much fun? My kids were never big play dough fans…maybe because it would dry out so fast. But molding clay will keep them playing together, nicely, for hours. Literally.
Homemade Marshmallows – Mmmm, yummy. Try this recipe from Ina Garten. Its easy and fun for the kids to help. But you’ll want to share with the neighbors or use them up immediately because although these are super tasty, they don’t store very well…from my experience.
Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag – Another fun and tasty activity. Be sure to rinse the bag before eating or you’ll have “Salt Ice Cream”.
Banana Grams – My kids don’t have summer reading assignments and frankly, I’m totally fine with giving them a break from academia for the summer (especially since we have such a short summer with year-round school). But, they don’t realize how much their little brains are working with Banana Grams. On the recommendation of a friend, I bought this game and we had plenty of fun with it. Usually, dinner dishes was on the line, so you can imagine the competition. Other game favorites were Uno Flash and electronic Monopoly.
Cheap Theater – We have a nice “cheap theater” in town that has $1.50 Tuesdays. We saw some fun, “cool” movies this summer: How to Train Your Dragon and Clash of the Titans. Waiting a few extra weeks to see them was worth the savings…and a nice escape from the heat for a few hours. Many theaters run summer specials; check out your local theaters for some real savings.
Video Camera – We have an old, small video camera that we have deemed the “kids’ camera”. Its always interesting to see what cinema creations they come up with. They usually involved personal diatribes, chasing of a dog, and tours of dressers and closets.
Roller Skating – Its deja vu each time I visit a skating rink. Remember those days before the internet and cell phones, when you went to the skating rink with your big hair and leg warmers? Its changed a bit, but is still a lot of fun and my kids love it. (And it was a special little bonus that they had free WiFi for mommy.)
Balloon Ball – When I was young, my friend and I “invented” balloon ball. Its basically volleyball with a balloon. String up a net (or string) dividing the living room basically in half and blow up a big balloon. Same rules apply, minus the broken vases and lamps.