kids

Easy, Beautiful, Inexpensive Teacher Gift

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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

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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!!!

Old Navy on the Cheap

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I had to take a small break from blogging, our youngest had  her tonsils and adenoids removed and her recovery took some time.  She is now totally healed and hopefully on the road to gaining weight and her blood levels normalizing.

In the mean time I have am still doing well with not buying new clothes, aside from the few categories mentioned here.  This has been a bit a challenge lately with the changing of the seasons and all the great deals popping up and new styles and prints in stores.  Especially for the kids, it would be so much easier to just purchase everything they need in their size at one store in one day and Done.  However, easy is not always the path to conservation and resourcefulness.

That being said, I did partake in the Give and Get sale at Old Navy this past weekend; 30% your entire purchase.  I use a Gap Visa card to pay for many of my eBay retail purchases and also larger purchases that I than pay off when due.  This garners me Gap Rewards that come in $1o increments.  I hoard these until close to the expiration date, thus making the pile rather substantial.

So I printed of my G&G email and took my $100 in rewards that were due to expire the end of May, and bought some essentials and a few items that will be listed in my eBay store.  Raiven got an new pair of shoes that she desperately needed.  I also bought each child a reusable cup and lunch container for our road trip to Montana over spring break.

What do you think I paid for all this loot: ??????

Total:  $16.96!!! 

As I looked over my receipt writing this post, I noticed that the St. Patty’s Days shirts rang up at $7.50, they were supposed to be  $0.97, so I will have to go back and get a refund, which will actually bring my total to a negative amount!!!  Just a tip for Gap and Old Navy when they price kill an item, it will usually end in 97, and most times they have to override the price, so watch to make sure they do this.  I have had to go back a few times, they are always glad to do adjust the price, but I do not like to have to make the extra trip.

Unintentional Rule Breaker?

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I lieu of my resolution to upcycle/recycle clothing and ditch the consumption of new clothes from  retail stores, my shopping and treasure hunting need in full swing, I headed to Savers with my brother before he left for California and found some great items.  On the rack of treasures I found this dress:

I thought” how cute will this be for Miss A?”…check the tag and there it is, the Savers tag and the retail tag.  Oh the irony!  (But check out the sweet price!)

Well I snatched it up and than wondered, am I breaking my own rules?  Sure it was donated and technically I am reconsuming this dress , but it IS new.  So I let A try it on……done, it’s a keeper.  First addendum to the rules, no first hand new clothing;)

Snowed In Reindeer Craft

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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

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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.