15 Things to Do With Your Kids This Summer

I've been a stay-at-home mom for five years now and one of the hardest things I've had to do is figure out things to do with my kids over the summer.

When they were younger, it was a little easier because we could just roam the backyard and they'd be fine.

Now that they're older, they want to rot their brains out with constant tablet time or watching tv. It can be so easy to let them do JUST that and there have been days when I allow it and then there are days when I'm bored or they're bored and things can get heated up and it's up to me to figure out different things to let my kids do because "Read a book" and "Do some chores" doesn't fill up their entertainment meter as long as we'd like for it to.

Using Silver Products to Help Mom Health

We're parents. We take care of all our little ones every day and our little ones can play and move and probably run a 5k with no problem because they are active.

Kids just have energy! So as moms and dads, our health is very important. If we are always sick or we are low on energy, parenting can sometimes be a chore. Lets face it, we don't get sick days off from being parents, either. It's very important for us to be healthy so we can raise our children to be the grownups we hope for them to be.

Soft Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I thought that I had eaten some great cookies, when I was growing up. My family would buy those soft bagged cookies from the store or purchase some cookie dough and we'd make it from that.

Honestly, I didn't know much about baking until I got married and so my cookies were always burnt or tasted funny.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I don't really like to eat buffalo wings unless they are boneless and an appetizer that I don't have to cook. Buffalo sauce never really appealed to me until I had kids. Maybe it was because I had craved spicy foods during my pregnancy with my first born: Spicy foods and chocolate milk. I also developed a craving for Diet Coke- which is weird because before I was pregnant, I only drank Diet Pepsi, and it was also torture because I didn't want to drink soda/pop while I was pregnant.

I had never really given buffalo chicken dip a try until someone brought some in for a potluck at work. Then it became a favorite of mine for every potluck and we really took advantage of having them every last Friday of the month because that was also our one dress down day.

After I left work to stay home with my kids, I actually missed eating buffalo chicken dip, so I found a recipe and tried it out. I was so happy I did because it was SOOO easy to make.

Related Post- The Start of Something New

Related Post- The Life of a Stay-At-Home Parent

Don't mind the scuffs in my table. We bought it when we only had ONE child.
Now we're waiting for them to grow up a little before we replace it. 

There are only five ingredients, which makes this so easy to make.

What you'll need:

2 cans of precooked chicken

3/4 cup of Buffalo Sauce- We like to use Frank's Red Hot Wings Buffalo Sauce

1 cup Ranch Dressing
2 Packages of cream cheese
2 cups cheddar cheese- We like to buy the bricks and shred them, but the kind that are shredded and bagged are fine, too.

Instructions

• Preheat oven at 400 degrees.
• Soften Cream cheese by leaving it out 30 minutes before you begin or remove wrapper and microwave it in a microwave safe bowl or plate. 
• In a mixing bowl, add chicken, cream cheese, buffalo sauce, ranch dressing, and cup of cheese.
• Combine the mixture until mixture appears smooth. 
• Add mixture to an oven safe pie plate or dip plate/pan.

• Sprinkle remaining cheese over the mixture.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese starts to brown. 

• Wait until dip has cooled to a nice warm temperature before eating.

You can use whatever you like to use for dipping. 

We like to use tortilla chips and cucumbers. Others use chicken crackers and celery.

Conclusion

As you can see, it's very easy to make this recipe and what's even better, is that if you want to bring this to a potluck, you can just throw these all into a slow cooker and after being in it on low, you'll be able to mix it easily and just keep it on warm throughout the day. 

It's super easy and very convertible.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, today and don't forget to check out our recipe tab for more!

Related Post- Appetizers and Sweet Ideas for Potlucks or Game Day

What If I Were a Dad, Instead of a Mom?

This morning was another one of those really stressful mornings where it might not have been so bad if I had my crap put together.

My son forgot to do his Friday letter on Friday, so I had to make him work on it this morning. Without his ADHD medication, he's squirrely and has a hard time sitting down to focus on it. It doesn't matter that he'll have his recess taken away for the day if he doesn't turn it in. To him, it's future him's problem. To me, however, I know that no recess might cause other issues because he wasn't able to run out that energy that he needed to run out.

Dad, This is What Mom Really Wants for Mother's Day

This title seems pretty bold. I'll admit that I can't speak for all moms, but as a mom, myself, I have a pretty good idea what I'd like, plus, it helps that I also asked other mom's what they wanted and the answers were very similar.

Let's face it, Dads... Some of you are really great at helping the kids pick out something for mom. Really, you're awesome at it.

Others of you, might decide that mom wants a candle or another piece of beautiful jewelry, which, ok, who wouldn't accept something so beautiful, but there are some things that mom would enjoy possibly more than all of those and this is what other mom's said:

How to Deal With a Strong Willed Child.

Parents of strong willed children, I really sympathize with you. I, too, have a strong willed child and some days I just want to give up and throw in the towel and let him just run the house and then there are other days when I'm ready to spar with him until he gives in because we're both stubborn and want to be the one who wins.

Our battles can be over anything, really. We might argue over whether this font color is blue, green, or gray or argue over whether tomato is pronounced tuh-mate-o or toe-mah-toe and EVEN IF, we realize one of us is wrong, it will take a long time for us to admit it, if we do at all.