Kids

Easy, Beautiful, Inexpensive Teacher Gift

Posted by

0

In the words of a dear teacher friend, “please no more coffee mugs…they are great….I love coffee…not that much”. So I asked her what she would really want from her  students as a thank you.

Gift cards to places like Barnes and Noble, this way she can buy books that she can add to her classroom. Also teachers like to read adult non-curriculum books during their break.

Gift cards, to places like Panera or other little shops so she can pick out a fun treat during the summer. Pick one out to a fun boutique in your town, does not have to be much even $10.00 is a treat.

Movie passes so she can see a movie during the summer.

A bottle of wine, or other spirit, perhaps a parent should bring this in, yes teachers like to relax a bit too.

A hanging plant or potted plant that she can put outside to bloom all summer, or get really crafty and put together a small container herb garden.

So here is what we did, we went to Savers’….of course, to buy a vase. There is almost a whole aisle full of flower vases that are donated, the budget 99cents. Whatever one they wanted.

Next stop, Trader Joes’, LOVE this place and their flowers are amazing. $7.99 for each bouquet.

We cleaned the sticker off the bottom of the vase, the kids all trimmed the flowers to fit their vases:

I helped Tanna with her cards…she hepled cut them out;

Solomon went out to the yard and got some Hosta flowers to fill his vase in a bit:

Then they made their own cards, this is truly the sweetest part. I think flowers brighten everyone’s day, I know they will be enjoyed for a bit, and not left on a shelf, and totally not included the paper we had here for the cards, 99 cents for the vase $7.99 for flowers plus a little for the taxman = $9.70….handmade card = priceless…of course.

Rainbow Birthday Party

Posted by

2

Our oldest daughter just turned 7, this is always a very busy time for us, all the kids schools are having music programs, and family picnics, it is a week before the girls dance recital and soccer practice is 2 nights a week with games in Saturday mornings.

I just did not have it in me this year to have a big birthday party at our house like we typically do.  So we decided to have her party at a local nature canter and a tour of the on site cave would be included.  We are all major nature aficianados as well as avid learners so this sounded perfect.

Right on cue a Parents magazine showed up in our mailbox, I am not sure why we get this, no complaints, jsut one of the wonderfully curious thigs.  So she deicdes this is the cake for her:

So also in this article they have little water bottles with skittles candy sorted by colored and layered as treats for the friends that come to the party.  This seems so easy, I delegate the Cake to Jon becuase he is really the domestic god of our lives and I take on the “easy” skittles job.

14!!! Bags of skittles later I had finally filled 20 tiny bottles with a rainbow of sugary goodness, maybe the cake was the easier job…or maybe it is the worker.

We set teh table with multiple colors of paperplates, cups, napkins and forks after we got back from the cave tour so I do nto have a picture of teh complete table but we used the bottles as a centerpiece and the cake was a huge success!

Everyone got to take one home, these were not the easy project I tougth they would be, but all the kids were thrilled to get them!

Jon’s cake….uuuuummmmazing!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Miss Raiven!!!

A new friend in the oraganic celery

Posted by

1

Hubby is up in the kitchen chopping and slaving away making soup for dinner.  I hear him say “Hay Tanna look what I found in the celery.”

I hear footsteps, it is quiet for a minute, “Momma come up here quick!”  I then here Tanna’s feet pounding down the stairs, guess she is going to find me first.  “Momma, we found a caterpillar in the celery!!!!”  I hear the the big kids bus roll up outside before I can comment, so I encourage her to share what she found today with the kids as they come in….”WE FOUND This IN THE CELERY” with hand gestures that are sure to win her an Oscar at some later date.

They look in her little plastic bowl…”oh cool”.

Two minutes later Tanna says a little less emphatically “it’s dead.”  

Well at least it lived a pesticide free life and boy was the end exciting.

Can’t wait for the table talk tonight over soup!

Toddler Thursday at Goodwill

Posted by

1

I walked into my local Goodwill, which I have not been to in quite awhile, I have been frequenting Savers mostly, and the friendly cashier says to me, “Today it Toddler Thursday all kids clothes and toys and 1/2 price.”!!!  I got a little giddy, so I asked what sizes were included thinking that toddler would hopefully go up to 5T which would cover Santanna and Avalon’s sizes, she said all kids clothes up to size 16!! 

This seems like a really great deal, the price points seem to be mostly $4.99, $3.99, $2.49, so these at 50% are a really great deal when you find things like Gap jeans and Gymboree shorts.  I came away with something for most of the kids, now the trick will be to try them on and see if they fit, what does not work I will just list in my ebay store.

One of the great benefits in my  commitment or resolution to buying all pre owned clothing is that they are already pre washed so shrinkage is not an issue, any colors that might have bled or faded heavily are not an issue.  As I said before however, Solomon’s size is a bit tricky I may have to look more to eBay for his wardrobe.

Here are some of my great finds:

For Raiven she picked out the top and the capris I found total cost for outfit $5.49!!!

For Avalon the sandals are new from Target!! The top is from Old Navy and the dot skirt is a Target store band, the skirt reminds me of Mini Boden and was only $1.49!!!

I also got the button down shirt on the left for this skirt if I want to make it a bit more dressy. Total for both tops, skirt and sandals, 7.44!!

This is a major find! It is a boutique baby outfit that is a 2T retail was $68.00 I got it for $7.99...it is too big for A but I am hoping for her birthday it may fit?!?

I may have just found a new Thursday morning habit!

Gearing the Kids Up For Spring

Posted by

1

I am gearing up for spring, it is a must, it is like getting closer to the light in the tunnel of dark winter gloomies.  I see swimsuits in the weekend ads, and it reminds me that warm weather is coming and our closets need to be prepared.  Keeping with my New Years Resolution, I think there is no time like the present to start gathering what the kids will need for spring, since knowing that is may be a bit of a challenge, I have noticed that boys clothes are harder to find, especially in Solomon’s size.  I know how hard boys can be on clothes so this is not that surprising. Below is the start to the list of what I think they will need:

Outerwear:

Raincoat

Rain boots

Mid weight jacket for chilly days

Tops:

2 or 3 hoodies

4-5 Long sleeve tops

6 -8 short sleeve tops…keeping in mind that spring is muddy and messy and we will be fully enjoying it!!

Bottoms:

3-4 Pants maybe a few more for Solomon since he does not wear dress/skirts;)

4-5 pair of shorts or capris for the girls

2-3 Skirts

3-4 Dresses

Footwear:

Rain boots…also listed above

Good pair of running shoes…these will be bought new

Good pair of Sandals…every year I buy each kid a pair of Keen H2 Newport Sandals they are hands down THE BEST!!!

Accessories/Misc:

Umbrella

Sunhat

Sunglasses

What did I miss?

Can everyone see in the back?

Posted by

3

The sisters at the hospital my husband works at were having their annual? semiannual sale, this past Monday, now normally I can pass these sales up, I do not need any more old heavy outdated furniture that I intend to flip in my spare time…who am I kidding?  Nor do I need any  vintage clothing, shoes or other randoms regardless of the phenomenal prices or intention I may have for any of the many relics that have been stored up for this sale.

However, hubby told me that there were overhead projectors at this sale!!!!!  Hold on, my inner child…the one who wants an oompa loompa NOW, was like yes please.  When hubby left his night shift he went down and purchased a cart, with  not one but 2 overhead  projectors and 4 boxes of the see though paper!!! 

Now for me I can clearly remember teachers having these slides all written up on the days lesson/spelling list and carefully sliding another non-transparent paper down so as not to give away what was coming.  I also remember very rare moments when a student would be allowed to come up and do a math problem on the overhead!!

I now possess two!!  I have the power…of light..on my wall….what to do???

Make up a game!  So 5 of us…Avalon is a bit small but still had a great time, chose small objects, carefully numbered them, covered them with a cloth and then revealed them and had everyone else guess what they were.  The kids had a blast.

Do you have an overhead?  What else should we do with this…I do not want to squander the power.

One more ……

My son can sew….so?

Posted by

2

 Anyone who has the privilege of playing the role of parent has at some time, I am sure of this, wondered what the impact of a hobby,  friendship, activity, preference..insert any other I may have missed, will have on their child.  I think often this is related more to boys than girls.  A girl who likes to play rough with the boys is assertive, who like to use tools in the garage a future independent woman.  But, what about the boy who chooses books instead of football?  Or,  will play baby dolls and house with his sisters.  Is he gay? Soft? Weak?  There are seemingly such positive connotations to the “tomboy” and not so positive connotations tagged to the opposite.

I have known moms who state that their husbands would never allow their boys to play with dolls, or dress up.  I am thankful that  I have a husband who has always encouraged the excitement of youth and creativity alongside me,  and never let the opinions of what might be deemed a “norm” break the spirit of any of our children. He is also very eager to show the girls how to use any tool in the garage.  I know that to some it may seem silly that this topic even has to be discussed, I agree, but we cannot pretend that norms are not still ever present, especially as parents.  

There is no gender balance in our house, the girls outnumber 4 to 2, however  that is where is ends.  Our oldest daughter Raiven just last week had her first sleep over away from our house, her friend was a boy, I never thought twice about saying yes,  I will reassess when she hits double digits! After my initial answer, I then felt the norms of society creep into the peripherals of my thoughts and wondered if this was “okay”.  Luckily the mom of this boy was equally fantastic, she of course had invited R and we talked about what this means and if there was any harm in this sleepover.  Now as a grown tomboy I have never thought that friends should be of same gender and that some friendships can be truly platonic .  So R had a sleepover and had a fantastic time and has found a great friend, who can match her speed and enthusiasm. Who cares if he is a boy.

On the flipside,  last weekend I sat down with a pile of felted wool sweaters from Savers, and was planning what fantastic homemade projects I could make from them, when Solomon asked if he could make something. Included in the task was sewing. By hand.  With a needle and thread.  Solomon spent most of his Saturday between reading  the book of the day cutting, sewing and embroidering his very own felted wool glasses case.  I have no worry that this will make him anything more than a well rounded young man. 

Today is Sunday there are football play offs, Raiven has her Steelers shirt on and will be actively routing.  Solomon will be reading, he has no interest.

I could not be more proud!! 

Solomon's glasses case.

 

Snowed In Reindeer Craft

Posted by

0

In case you have not heard, those of us residing in Minnesnowta have been pretty much shut in by a recent blizzard.  Even better is that the forecast claimed that we may reach a high of around zero degrees today!!!  Oh the joy.  So here kids is 4 feet of snow but with the wind-chill dipping to an excruciating -30 your chances of playing in all that great powder are about as probable as today’s forecasted high.

This is where my job becomes, fun.  time to plan activities that everyone will enjoy so that the house is not completely torn apart at the end of the day. 

So here is what we made today, “snow-deer”  sometimes called reindeer, but let’s face it, if it was rain we would have been splashing in the puddles.

The bonus to this project is that we can save it to remember each child’s foot and hands from this year.

I had them all gather a shoe , trace it and cut it out. 

Then I helped them trace each hand and cut it out…these are the antlers.

Next I got out my jars of buttons that I bought at a local antique sale that happens annually in a small local town and they all chose buttons for eyes, nose and of course an earring or two. This also led to discussions of how old the buttons were, and we imagined what person or outfit might have gone with these buttons.  We found one dated from the 1800’s.

Then Jon and I had a turn making  one, his had some lines on it from another project which he turned into a proper tribal tattoo.  I love how all of them reflect each person’s true self in a small way.

We also made bread, meatballs, and those little pretzel chocolate melts with the M &M’s what a great day!

Literature advent

Posted by

0

I am finding it more important to teach our children creativity and frugality through well thought out traditions, as well as everyday life. This year I decided that the advent calendar for our house would belong to everyone and be made from things we have at home.

I  had the kids run around and gather all the winter, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, etc. books from their shelves.

I  then wrapped each book in red paper, except for one, the books do not have numbers, giving the child whose turn it is a chance to choose the book.  The 24th book is wrapped in green and will be the last one to be opened…can you guess which one  it is? 🙂

Each night, starting with the oldest each child will take a  turn choosing one book from the shelf, they will get to unwrap it, pass a chocolate to everyone and we will all sit together and listen to the book they chose.  Who reads the book will also be their decision.

Things they will learn from this are that excitement can come from items you have around the house when given a new purpose. Patience and taking turns.  It also gives our family a chance to enjoy some of that precious together time.