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Affordable Summer Activities for Kids

By: Stephanie1 Comment

 Great affordable activities for kids. Everything on this list seems really doable.

You don’t have to spend a fortune or spend hours scouring Pinterest to make great summer memories with your kids. Some of our favorite things to do are cheap and simple. Here are some of our favorite affordable summer activities for kids, no special crafting skills necessary:

Free

1. Our library system has a great summer program. They partner with the county parks and arrange a geo-caching type of treasure hunt. Kids get a book full of maps and clues go around to local parks trying to find the stamp that the library has hidden in each park. They do a stamp rubbing in their book. Once they have collected a certain amount of stamps, they can cash in for a prize. Our library also has a whole calendar of events that they sponsor throughout the summer. Yours probably does too! 

2. Geocaching is basically like treasuring hunting. People hide little trinkets and you try to find them and/or leave things for other people to find. There are some great Geocaching sites all around the country.  

3. You could always just go to the local park. That’s free too.

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4. The hose. (Hook it up to a sprinkler if you are fancy. When my kids were toddlers I would just take them into the back yard in diapers and hose them off. They loved it.) 

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5 & 6. See if there are any airshows or truck touches in your area. These were a big hit when Nick was little and they are usually free.

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7. Frisbee is always fun.

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8. Or if you are lucky enough to live near the water like our families, fishing and crabbing are great memory makers.

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9. There is also a completely FREE summer camp in our area called Tennis For Kids. This is the first year one of my kids is old enough to participate. It’s for kids ages 7-16 and they meet three times a week. They have more than 20 locations in central PA. Nick is loving it.

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$1 -$5

10 & 11.The dollar store has great summer activities! Our favorites are bubbles and sidewalk chalk.

12. Regal Cinemas offers a fabulous summer movies program. Dates vary by location, but the movies start at 10am and each ticket only costs $1. Kids under 2 are usually free. We like doing this on rainy days. I can get myself and all of my kids into a movie for $4 and change.

13. Sometimes we go to McDonald’s or Chick-Fil-A and get ice cream from the value menu and the kids get to play on the playground there for a while.  

14. Berry picking is one of our favorite activities. This year the strawberries at our favorite spot are $2.20 per pound. You could pick a couple of pounds for under $5. We like to do blueberries too.

blueberry picking

15. The kids also love helping to make (and eat!) frozen desserts. My grandmother’s chocolate snowball recipe is our favorite. 

chocolate snowball dessert

What else do you like to do for less than $5 in the summer?

 

If you liked this post, please join me on Facebook or Pinterest! 

 

You may also like: 

How to keep your grocery budget for the week under $30 and create a meal plan that will feed a family of four

Get Schooled with American Public University

By: Stephanie4 Comments

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of APU as a sponsor of the BlogU conference.

Something you should know about me?

I’m a nerd. A big one.

I love school.

I can’t help it, it’s just my thing.

Some kids are good at soccer or art or music.

I’m good at being in school. 

I went to college on a full academic scholarship, graduated early, completed my Master’s degree in one year, and was accepted into and began a program to get my phD. That all happened before I turned 22.

Unfortunately, that’s where that story ends.

This was about a decade ago, before online post-graduate programs had really come into their own. 

My school did not have online options for completing the phD program, so when I got married and moved to a different state I let that dream go for the time being. It’s not dead, just resting for a few years. Like Sleeping Beauty.

I do wish that continuing my education from a remote location online would have been an option, so that the work I had completed and money spent up to that point would not have been lost, but that just was not in the cards for me at the time.

It wasn’t until my dad started working as an executive officer for a company called American Public University that I realized that it IS an option for some people. In 2014 earning your degree entirely online really is an option.

Earlier this month I was honored to be able to partner with APU to put on the BlogU Conference. “Get Schooled” wasn’t just a cool catchphrase. It’s a way of life.

They are accredited and offer more than 180 degree and certificate programs.

I think it’s really cool that they offer classes starting monthly, so you can start whenever you are ready, and that the classes are completely online and in an asynchronous format, which means you just log-in and work whenever it is convenient for your schedule. 

You can see a quick video from one of their students here:

I’m completely jealous that she was able to move to Florida and complete her degree- because that is exactly where my story stopped.

If you are considering an online degree option, definitely consider American Public University. They cater to military families, working moms, and entrepreneurs. I’d be willing to bet they have a program that could work for you.

 

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of APU as a sponsor of the BlogU conference.

My grandma’s chocolate snowball recipe

By: Stephanie9 Comments

  old fashioned chocolate snowball recipe

chocolate snowball

chocolate snowball dessert

This was the very first recipe I ever learned to make. I remember being in my Mommom’s kitchen and helping to stir it up. I remember constantly opening the freezer door to see if it was ready.

I cannot go through a single summer without making it for my own kids.

I asked once where the recipe came from. Mommom said that she invented it decades ago. She read about something similar in the newspaper, but it had much fancier ingredients, ones that she couldn’t afford, so she made do with what she had. 

The result became a family tradition. I love that it perfectly embodies every memory I have of her: simple, modest, but totally satisfying and full of love. And fun for kids.

There are only two ingredients. She named it Chocolate Snowball because it was chocolate and it was cold.

  ingredients for chocolate snowball

It does not matter what kind of milk you use.

how to make chocolate snowball

Empty one can of chocolate syrup into a square freezer-safe baking dish. Then add one can of milk and one can of water. (Mommom used two cans of milk. My Aunt Charlotte modifies it to 1 can of milk and 1 can of water and I tend to do the same so that I don’t waste as much milk, plus it makes the end result easier to serve.)

Have some helpers stir for a few minutes until everything is evenly combined.

cooking with kids

making chocolate snowball with kids

Clear out a level surface in your freezer and very carefully transfer it there to freeze for at least 4-6 hours, preferably overnight.

chocolate snowball in the freezer

To serve, use a sharp knife to cut thin strips, then break each strip into small chunks and spoon into a dessert glass.

slicing chocolate snowball

It is almost similar to a chocolate Italian Ice from Rita’s.

chocolate snowball recipe

The customers are always happy.

adorable kiddos

That Time There Was a FIRE at Our House

By: Stephanie3 Comments

It has always been one of my biggest fears as a mom of multiple young children:

What if the house is on fire?

Will the older kids stay calm and listen to directions? What if we are on opposite sides of the house? What if I can’t get all the kids out at the same time? What about the dog?

Last week, the nightmare hit way too close to home.

Apparently some teenagers who clearly were not thinking lit our next door neighbor’s van on fire. It caught the vehicle next to it on fire too. Those vehicles were surrounded by trees and right next to a storage shed, which is separated from the neighbor’s home, but only about 500 feet from our house.

The scariest part?

There was a tower of fire 50 feet high only a few yards away from my children, and I had absolutely no idea. [Read more…]

BlogU was AMAZING!

By: Stephanie31 Comments

It was so fun to watch everybody #GetSchooled at #BlogU14 over the weekend!

This conference was a year and a half in the making, but this weekend it finally came to fruition, and it was FABULOUS.

It was surreal sitting at the registration table with Meredith and watching everything we had worked towards for so long transform into reality.

BlogU registration

Photo credit: Motherhood, WTF?

From the cocktail party on Friday night sponsored by American Public University, where everyone loved the Full Tilt beer tasting, the book signings, and especially the open mic portion of the night. My favorite part was that the attendees continued the open mic back in the dorm rooms until the wee hours of the morning.

BlogU open mic

Photo credit: Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

To the amazing keynote panel with Jen Mann, Karen Alpert, Ilana Wiles, and Susan McLean…

To all of the professional sessions. I only got to sit in on one for a little while, unfortunately, because I had a lot of running around and signing for deliveries to do, but I heard great feedback from all of the attendees. Two people told me that the graphics session taught by my dear friend Robyn was going to completely change the way they approach their blogs, and I can’t even count how many people said that the Pinterest and Instagram session taught by Anna and Ilana was “life-changing.” If you are not a blogger, that might seem silly, but the information shared in those sessions is the kind of thing that transforms hobby bloggers into professionals. 

Did I mention that we had a cupcake bar? Thanks, Macklin’s!

Or that the editors and content curators from NickMom and HuffPost Parents joined us for a lunch panel and told the attendees exactly how to get their work published?

Or that NickMom also sponsored the best retro prom that ever happened in the history of the world?

Because, yes, that all happened. I was also so proud to share my beautiful Alma Mater with everyone. The campus of Notre Dame of Maryland University made a gorgeous backdrop and did a fabulous job with all of the catering and guest services, as I knew they would. 

We wrapped up yesterday with a closing speech from Yours Truly and a fun awards ceremony for our attendees, sponsored by Trim-A-Rim.

But don’t just take my word for it. A bunch of other people thought BlogU was fabulous too.

I will leave this link-up open for the next month or so, so that the other attendees can link up their wrap-up posts and you can see all of their pictures and stories too.

If you were at #BlogU14 and have a post on your blog about the conference, please link it up here!

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Pina Colada Sticky Rice Recipe

By: Stephanie3 Comments

pina colada sticky rice recipe

Don’t tell him I said this, but my husband is a very picky eater. Sometimes I have to twist his arm to get him to try new things.

Truth be told, he wasn’t thrilled when I told him I was experimenting with my own version of a pina colada sticky rice recipe for dinner to go with the chicken he was grilling.

He took one bite and immediately told me I should put the recipe on the blog. Then he finished his rice and went back for seconds. So there. I think we have a winner. Here’s the recipe:

Pina Colada Sticky Rice

  • 2 cups of instant brown rice (I use Uncle Ben’s)
  • 1 1/3 cups of water
  • 2/3 cup of milk, with an additional 1/3 reserved. *
  • 1/3 cup shredded coconut (I used unsweetened)
  • finely diced fresh pineapple. About 1/2 cup
  • 1 Tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  1. Add shredded coconut to the bottom of a dry pot and cook on medium heat until lightly toasted.
  2. Add diced pineapple, water, and 2/3 cup of milk to the pot and bring the mixture to a boil.
  3. Add rice and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. (This is longer than the box tells you to. Don’t worry.)
  4. Turn off heat. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, and 1/3 cup of milk. Add more milk, additional pineapple, and coconut if desired. Let sit for at least 5 minutes in the hot pot.

*If I would have had it on hand, I would have rather used coconut milk.

Serves 4.

I have recently started doing Weight Watchers again. I count 1/2 cup of this rice as 6 points because of the milk and sugar.

We served it with grilled chicken and fresh, sauteed green beans, which made a really yummy 9 point dinner.

How My Blog Has Become a Small Business

By: Stephanie3 Comments

It’s wedding season, so over the past few weeks we have been attending more social events than we usually would. The question, “What do you do?” always comes up.

For the past 5 and a half years I’ve answered that question by saying, “I’m a stay-at-home mom.”

That’s still true in that I am at home and I am a full-time mom, but the whole truth is that I’m now a small business owner.

So I started answering, “I’m a blogger.”

That answer brings a lot of questions. My personal favorite was the slightly tipsy wedding guest who responded, “Wait, a blogger? Like for a living?! That is the s***!”

Yes, it is.

I was also featured recently in our local paper and a local magazine (it was the same article, they just ran it in two different places). So friends and acquaintances have been asking a lot more questions since they have read those articles. I thought I would use this post to answer some of them. [Read more…]

How to Clean a White Farmhouse Sink

By: Stephanie11 Comments

how to clean a white sink

One of my must-haves when we designed our kitchen was a double bowl, white farmhouse-style sink.

I love my sink. It holds a ton of dishes, it’s the perfect depth for me not to be constantly bending over, it holds large pots, and the double bowl makes it easy to have a “clean side” and a “dirty side” when I’m washing pots and pans. Plus, it was really affordable. Our sink is from IKEA.  It’s the DOMSJO Double Bowl. It cost about $300, which is insanely cheap if you have ever tried pricing out other apron front double bowl sinks.

The only downside to having this type of sink is that it can be kind of a pain to keep clean.

I learned how to clean a white farmhouse sink a few years ago from my friend Liz’s mom, Ms. Jeannie. We had a white sink in our last house as well. I’ve been cleaning my sink this way ever since I saw Ms. Jeannie do it to hers. [Read more…]

Lauren and Ryan’s Wedding

By: Stephanie1 Comment

with groomsmen

My childhood BFF got married over the weekend. Our family had the opportunity to play a very big role. I was a bridesmaid, Abby was the flower girl, and Eddie even got ordained over the internet and was the officiant for the ceremony! (He did an amazing job. Everyone was highly impressed with his matrimony skills.)

The ceremony and reception were at Running Hare Vineyard in Maryland. They also rented out a very cool nearby lighthouse property for the weekend. That’s where the rehearsal dinner and a meet and greet brunch the day after the wedding were held, and also where the bridal party got dressed and ready for the ceremony.

It was very cool to be a big part of this special day. Lauren and I would talk about our weddings when we were just little girls. I’m sure 7-year-old Lauren would have been very pleased with her older self. It was a beautiful weekend, almost like a destination wedding, but just a few hours from home. 

Now I will stop babbling and let you look at pictures. We don’t have a ton from the ceremony itself since we were standing up at the alter, but I love the ones we do have:

flower girl

 daddy

[Read more…]

Tomato Corn Chowder Recipe

By: Stephaniecomment

I made this soup when my in-laws were visiting the other day. I was running very low on groceries and it was just one of those “throw whatever we have in the pot” situations so that I could get some lunch on the table. The results turned out much better than I could have hoped. Everyone at the table really like it and Nicholas even went back for thirds!

Tomato Corn Chowder Recipe

Tomato Corn Chowder Recipe [Read more…]

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