Nothing Says Summer Like...

... Shoving all the school curriculum onto their appropriate shelves and throwing away all the used workbooks.

... Packing the game drawer.  I don't know what normal families use their end table for, but in our house it is just another place for games.   During the school year I keep logic games for the boys to choose from, but now that school is over I have cleaned all of that out and have restocked.    You can find card games like Phase 10, UNO, Scrabble Slam and Slap.    There are also games like Bananagrams, Rummicube, Dominoes and Rack-O.    After Christmas I pick up daily calendars which feature puzzles.  I keep stacks of these in the drawer too so that the boys can play Hangman or word games.    

... My husband says he knows it is summer when I make his favorite frozen orange salad.  He loves it.   I made one last night and put it in the freezer.   Every night after supper he will pull it out and get a piece until it is gone.  

Donald's Favorite Frozen Orange Salad

Ingredients:
60 Ritz crackers, finely crushed
1/4 lb. margarine, melted
1/4 cup sugar
zest of one orange
1 (6 ounce) can unsweetened frozen orange juice
1 (12 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 (11 ounce) cans mandarin oranges, drained
8 ounce carton Cool Whip, thawed

Directions:
Mix together the crushed crackers, margarine, zest of one orange and sugar. Reserve a few crumbs for garnish and press remaining crackers into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Blend thawed orange juice with condensed milk. Fold in mandarin oranges and thawed Cool Whip. Pour mixture over crust. top with reserved crumbs. Freeze until serving. Return to freezer to store.

... Sitting outside with the boys at night until we can't stand the mosquitoes anymore.



... The "summer list".   We haven't started the summer list, but we are going to get to it soon!

What says summer to you??