I am an expert at exactly zero things. That especially includes this whole parenting thing. Anyone who claims to be a parenting expert is just a misguided fool asking to be blindsided by their kids’ wild and crazy misdeeds.

I’m not perfect and neither are my kids. But that doesn’t mean we all haven’t learned something valuable along the way. And while my house is a mess more often than not, there are a few little tricks I’ve learned to get my kids to help clean up with minimal resistance.

Last week I met my mother-in-law in Manhattan to take the girls to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So much potential for learning at a major cultural institution, right?

Yeeeeeah, that sounds nice and all and while it is true, I learned way more in the Life Lessons department than I soaked up in the art history department. For instance…

1. Plans are stupid.

Duh. I mean, I should have known this. Kids + plans = a regular laugh riot.

When Sam’s birthday rolled around last month, I decided we were way better off gifting her an experience than giving her more stuff. She’s got so much stuff. I knew that anything she wanted would come from family members and the friends who came to her birthday party, so we decided to plan a special family day instead of getting a ton of things for her to unwrap.

When my brother-in-law’s girlfriend mentioned a puppet show in Central Park, I knew I had to look into it. Samantha watched Labyrinth with my husband recently and loved all of the behind-the-scenes footage that showed how the puppeteers worked all of the puppets. Add that to the fact that a puppet show isn’t too old for a three year old to enjoy and I thought we might just be in business.

And I have to say, we had a pretty awesome day.

After being cooped up indoors after a long winter, the endless possibilities of outdoor fun sound amazing… and maybe the tiniest bit intimidating. If you need a little help coming up with fresh ideas to keep your kids busy through the summer, this list of 50+ outdoor activities for kids is for you. And for them. In fact, it’s guaranteed to make the whole family happy!

Spring has finally sprung and I can already feel summer vacation breathing down my neck (especially when my youngest keeps me up-to-date with a daily how many days are left of school countdown). My feelings about the situation can be described as a mixture of excitement and pure panic. While there are a bunch of fun things on our to-do list, my girls are so used to having all of their days totally planned out—back-to-back activities and friends and learning. Being home with none of the above spells trouble.

I think there’s a lot to be said for boredom and having to figure out how to entertain yourself, but there’s even more to be said about saving momma’s sanity. And being able to work. And maybe vacuum once or twice. Or at least being able to think about vacuuming without having my thoughts interrupted by the incessant drone of how bored everyone is.

So I looked to some fellow bloggers and compiled a list of things kids can do—outside. You’re welcome.

My soon-to-be eight year old is straight up obsessed with mermaids. It started with the Emily Windsnap book series (which are really well written, by the way), expanded into watching Mako Mermaids and H2O and exploded from there.

When it came time to talk about a birthday party for her this year, I was anything but surprised when she said she wanted a mermaid party. Since she thought the boys might not be as into mermaids as the girls, she decided to make it a mermaid and shark party.

This Pinterest loving momma immediately went nuts pinning anything and everything that could possibly fit under a mermaid or shark party umbrella. Since late June is always a busy time of year, I decided to focus on invitations first. I’m usually a totally last minute girl, so I’d like to take a second to pat myself on the back right here. GO ME. (Truth be told, Samantha climbed so far up my ass about getting these invitations done, I had no other choice. I feared she’d get lost up there).

I found a bunch of cute invitations on Etsy, but there was always something missing from them in Samantha’s mind. She sort of wanted a combination of all of her favorites. That’s when I turned to Google, deciding I’d design what she was looking for myself with the help of some free clip art.

I was spending way too much time sifting through mermaid and shark Google image results when Sam had an idea. “Mom? Why don’t I design them?”