My 2024 Summer Book List for ALL the Beach and Pool Reading

I keep my annual book list updated as I finish each book throughout the year, but with the start of summer I figured I’d give you a condensed list of my favorite books so far to add to your TBR pile!

You can read my mini synopsis and thoughts if you click through to my 2024 Book List, or you can just take my word for it that these are the best of the best, and start reading!

Happy Reading!

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DIY Art: Cactus Canvases

You know how you can have the most awesome time on a trip, but when you come home the oddest parts stick in your memory? For example, when we took Jack to Disney World almost 10 years ago we did a ton of stuff, but one of the memories that stuck with me is having Jack on my back in his Ergo and me choking up crying while watching the magical fireworks over Cinderella’s castle.

Well, when it comes to our recent Arizona trips, a core memory that stuck with us all is when we decided that each type of cactus needed its own name. So, now we will forever have Bob, Steve, Barbara and Lil’ Jimmy. In order to commemorate those memories, I thought it would be fun to make little canvases of each cactus and then stick a super strong magnet on the back for fridge décor.

Here’s what I used for this project:

And look how cute they turned out!

First up, we have Bob – a saguaro cactus with no arms.

Then, his buddy Steve – a saguaro cactus with arms.

The beautiful Barbara – a barrel cactus.

And last, but not least, we have Lil’ Jimmy – an Arizona prickly pear cactus (aka a “high five” cactus).

The whole project of all four canvases took less than an hour and they make me smile every time I walk past our refrigerator!

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Another Slim Kid Shorts Hack

I’ve talked about it before, but Jack is one of those tall slim kids where it’s hard to get pants to fit in the waist AND the length. I wrote a post back in November on how I switch out the drawstring in his pants with elastic (find it here) and I did the same thing for his shorts this summer. Well, when we went down to Florida, I realized I was going to need to do something with his swim trunks and came up with a new EVEN EASIER way to do it.

Drawstring toggles!

If you’ve ever done that thing where you knot your kid’s swim trunks tight so that they won’t fall down and then have to deal with the freakout when they can’t get their pants down to go to the bathroom and the wet string is impossible to undo… you need these.

I purchased a 30 pack of assorted colors on Amazon for $9 and let Jack pick which color he wanted on each pair of this year’s swim trunks.

They also work out great for more *fancy* shorts. I had to purchase a pair of chino-type shorts for Jack (even though he HATES all non-exercise shorts right now) for some upcoming events and the drawstring toggle will work perfect for keeping them up around his waist without the constant tying/untying issues.

Fun fact: they are also great on shoes, for when you want the shoestrings to stay tight without retying them!

Also, this $9 pack will basically last us forever, since I can just steal them back off a pair of shorts when he outgrows them.

Disclaimer: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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