In this household, summer months are very predictable year after year.  June is filled with enthusiasm, excitement, sibling fun and happiness.  July brings less enthusiasm, lots of excitement, little sleep, and less sibling love.  By August we are downright sleep deprived, sunburnt, and ready to throw our siblings under the nearest train.

Having been, ahem…unwise enough…to have three children with birthdays only 5 weeks apart, I have become a veritable expert a throwing parties that are low stress and low maintenance - it's the only way for me to survive "birthday season"!

Of course, the parties also have to be a hit with the kids...no problem. One of my favorite low-stress party strategies is to go for an animal themed party.  Truly, you can’t go wrong here – there are a lot of different ways to make an animal party memorable, fun, educational…and EASY!!!

Most summers, my kids have very few organized activities on their schedules.   They each pick one session of camp, and other than that, they focus on making an unholy mess out of our playroom and catching frogs in our stream.  Occasionally a frog gets welcomed into the playroom, but that’s for another post…

But alas, this is not most summers, as we are moving!  And in an effort to keep my three little banshees occupied, out of the house, and away from the moving mayhem, I’ve been somewhat maniacally investigating ways to keep them occupied.   Amongst the coolest activities that I’ve found are the many movies events offered in Fairfield County.    Most are free (always music to my ears) and some are even outdoors – very cool!