Can you believe the school year is over?  The 2nd half of the year just flew by for me!  Lisa has older kids, so her summers are much more fun filled then mine have been so far!  I love my stage of life, but I do know it is going to be rocking awesome when my kids get older and we can go do some of the fun stuff that she gets to do with her boys during the summer!

Being that I am going to have a fresh newborn this summer, I have enrolled Nathan in quite a few little summer camps to help keep his summer fun!  My little Jeffrey (well not so little anymore – he did just turn 3 after all) self entertains a thousand times better then Nathan does.  We’ll of course go to lots of Splash Pads and do some swimming!  My hubby is planning a camping trip with the boys that will be a blast and let me have some one on one time with my baby girl!  All and all I’m still planning a pretty fun summer!

We’ve (mostly Lisa) have shared some fun stuff the past summers here on OTBM, so I thought I would highlight some of Summer Fun!  Let’s start with some of the FUN stuff!!

First off, don’t forget to check out our NEW Summer Chore Charts and Summer Fun Calendar!

What are some of your summer traditions?

Hope this helps get you all geared up for summer!  I have some new Summer Printables coming out soon too – so watch for those!

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Frozen roll dough (about 16 rolls) or you can use refrigerated biscuit dough cut into pieces

1 small package coconut cream pudding mix

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup butter,  melted

Grease a Bundt pan and add a layer of roll dough.  Mix the pudding mix and brown sugar together. Sprinkle half of the sugar/pudding mix over the dough. Layer a second roll of dough and the rest of the sugar mix. Pour the butter over the top and then sprinkle with coconut. Cover with greased saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes and invert onto plate.

Enjoy!

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Grandpa was a major golf enthusiast so the tags have a masculine golf feel to them! You can download the tags as a blank file or with the golf embellishments.

Check out some of these other cute ideas they came up with! They used his golf cart as the ice station! They also filled one of his golf bags with a trash bag and a bunch of ice and used it as a cooler for the drinks!

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This one is so easy too! You only need 5 ingredients. It almost has a strawberry cheesecake flavor. I found the recipe here at Taste of Home but the measurements are kind of funky. Here is what you need:

Fresh Strawberries

1/2 cup butter

3 oz cream cheese

2 tsp vanilla

1 yellow cake mix

ice cream

Cover the bottom of a 11×14 baking pan with a layer of fresh strawberries.

Soften butter and cream cheese. Add to mixer, add vanilla, and cream. Add cake mix and mix until combined. Place small heaps of dough over the strawberries until combined. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until it is browning on top. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. The ice cream  gives it just enough sweet to cut the tartness of the berries.

You can download the recipe in printable form.

This is the perfect recipe for summer or for the 4th of July!

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I decided to hurry and make a simple Summer Board for the top of my entertainment center, before baby Dylan comes. I needed something to fill the space this summer, because my focus for sure won’t be on keeping my home decor rotating and changing!

As I have in the past, I’ll be sharing a printable version with you. Be sure to check out my Fall Subway Board, Halloween Subway Board, Christmas Subway Board and Winter Board for other printables for your home!

With my to-do list still pages long, I kept this one pretty simple. I just painted a simple white coat first, then put on a green coat and topped it with a greenish yellow paint (I think it was called Appletini). On call the layers, I did really random brush strokes. Changing my direction all the time and not worrying about covering the board perfect. Then I applied the reverse vinyl and painted the lettering a blue color. Before letting the lettering dry all the way, I removed the vinyl. And, that was it! Pretty quick and easy!

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Lisa’s Menu

Asian Glazed Chicken Drumsticks

Breakfast for Dinner

Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup

Ranch House Crock Pot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Pioneer Woman Penne

Teacup bird feeder from Just Imagine

Baseball Oreos from You have your Blog we have Aars

Crab cupcakes from Clean and Sensible

Fathers Day Room Service from Seven Thirty Three

Rolo Ritz Treats from Lick the Bowl Good

Here is what you need for the salad:

• Noodles
• 2-3 Chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
• Good Seasons Salad Dressing packed mixed per directions but using olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Red onion
• Green onion
• Red Pepper
• Green Pepper
• Cucumber
• corner Olives
• Shredded Parmesan Cheese
• Garlic Salt
• Lawry’s Seasoning Salt

First I cook the noodles and the chicken. If you let the chicken set for a few minutes before shredding it, it will stay more moist. Shred the chicken and mix the dressing. I add the chicken to the top of the noodles and add the dressing right over the chicken so it soaks up a lot of the dressing and vinegar flavor up. Add whichever vegetables you have on hand or like and toss with the noodles.  Season to your tastes with garlic salt and Lawry’s and refrigerate for several hours. Taste and add salt as needed.

One of the best things about this salad is it almost better the second day so its easy to make a day in advance! So excited summer is coming up right around the corner!

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A few weeks ago I was about to leave to take my son to preschool and my sister showed up to deliver me some strawberries I had ordered.  I had COMPLETELY forgotten that I had ordered them and that they were being delivered that day.  These were local Organic Strawberries and when they were delivered were completely ripe and needed to be used within a a day or two.  I really wanted to do some freezer jam out of them, but I wasn’t sure I was going to have the energy.  So, being that we make a lot of Smoothies, I decided to do some of both!

Here is the best way I have found to freeze strawberries:

 Start off by washing the strawberries good!

Then you’ll want to trim up your strawberries.  Large strawberries I like to cut in half. I then stick them on a paper towel and let them air dry for a little while (like 20 mins).  I then just take additional paper towels and dab the top to get any remaining moisture.  You don’t want your strawberries to be wet when you stick them in your freezer.  If they do, then they’ll get a little frost crust on them.  They don’t have to be perfect, but you for sure don’t want them considered “wet.”

 Cover a pan in plastic wrap and then lay out your strawberries in a single layer.  I’ve tried other liners to cover the pan, but I’ve found that they stick the least to plastic wrap!

Put in the freezer for a minimum of 1 hour up to overnight!  I usually just do mine for a couple hours.  Then, divide them up in Freezer Ziplocks and Freeze away!!

The day I was going to go freeze the strawberries I woke up and one of the blogs I follow daily, Food Storage Moms, had posted this NO SUGAR – NO PECTIN Freezer Jam Recipe.  One of the reasons I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tackle Freezer Jam, was because I knew I did not want to use the recipe I had made in the past that used an extreme amount of sugar.  We have really been trying to eat smarter in our home – and the regular freezer jam recipe was not that.

I hadn’t prepared to make any Freezer Jam, but this recipe only uses the Strawberry Puree, Honey and Lemon!  Only 3 ingredients – sign me up!  And, I had everything I needed on hand!  So, I dug through my tupperware cabinet and fished out a bunch of random some containers I could use to store the jam in!

For the full recipe and directions – head over to see Linda’s tutorial HERE!

With my last 1/2 of crate of strawberries I decided to just puree the strawberries, so that next time I needed to make my family some Jam I would have the strawberry puree all ready!

So, in total I ended up with 4 Gallon Ziplock Bags of Frozen Strawberries, 2 batches (12 cups) of Strawberry Puree and 7 pint containers and 3 1/2 pint containers of Jam .  Not bad for a few hours work!  Again, a major thanks to Food Storage Moms for the awesome Jam recipe!  I’ve been super super happy with it and my kids have totally loved it!

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Nutshell Library

Beauty School Dropout

Matchbook

Carnevalee Freakshow

Brannboll

Blue Highway

Seaside Resort

Honey Script

Governor

Blessed Day

Dalle

Just click on the link to go to the site for the free font. If you want to learn how to download free fonts, we have a tutorial here. Please be sure to check that post for ways to protect yourself from downloading a virus. Always use extreme caution when downloading anything onto your computer!

Check out all our other free font collections here!

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I feel sorry for this next generation of children growing up.  It seems that our generation as parents are terrified of depriving our children of anything or allowing them to feel any disappointment whatsoever. I look back at my childhood and recognize that the hard times I went through made me such a better person, a stronger person. My husband says the same thing. The trials we went through prepared us to handle disappointment and the monotony that sometimes life has to offer. I wish life could always be fair and kind to our children but the reality is – it can’t be. If they never experience any sort of disappointment until the age of 18 how in the world will they be able to handle it! Life is not fair and it’s selfish of us to teach our children that it is.

My Mom always told us she went to mean Mom school. She was strict and she made us work. Sure there were times I hated it as a child, but now I feel so blessed because I know how to work hard. I can problem solve and I’m not afraid to fail and keep trying. I once had someone tell me that they were surprised that me and my brothers did not rebel against her strict rules and hard work ethic. I finally found what I believe is the answer is in a parenting class at church. The teacher said –“Rules without a relationship will equal rebellion.” It hit me like a freight train. My Mom was strict and probably by today’s standards somewhat “abusive,” but she loved and played with us just as passionately. She was the “cool” Mom that took us toilet papering and everyone in the neighborhood played at our house and liked to be there. She was fun! For me that has become the key and the model I am trying to follow. I am strict, but I am also a whole lot of fun!

I have added my own little part to the saying:

You can also download it as a vintage poster:

Don’t be afraid to be a good parent and break some of the scary directions parenting is taking us right now. It’s okay to say NO to children. It’s okay to make them work. Just remember it’s just as important to love and praise them!

I don’t have all the answers, but I do know this, being a parent is hard. I don’t love some of the changes I have seen in parenting norms. I am breaking a lot of them by being mean, making my kids work, holding them responsible for their their choices, and heaven forbid correcting them when they are wrong. I want strong and resilient boys, not boys who can’t handle the challenge of life. I have experienced criticism for it at times, but hey I’m strong! At least I can handle the haters! And for that I thank my mean Mom!

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