Summer Fun 2013

My children still have a week of school left until summer break (got to love those New England winters!) I have friends in other parts of the country who's children got out of school in May. I can't wait any longer to make our annual summer fun list, I can't wait until summer break! This is the first year both my kids were in school all day and I've missed them terribly. Also like last year, most of "my" ideas have come from Pinterest.

I found this schedule from A Grande Life and really liked it, so I based a lot of our activities on this.

Make Something Monday

Shaving Cream Painting

In Lieu of Preschool

 

Pipe Cleaner Ninjas

Frugal Fun 4 Boys

 

Sun Melted Crayon Candle

...and chaos ensued

 

Baked Bead Sun Catchers

A little artsy & A little craftsy

 

Styrofoam Printmaking

The berry

 

Toilet Paper Tube Snake

Cheap Crafty Mama

 

 

 

Get Outside Tuesday

 

.......coming soon

 

What's Cooking Wednesday

 

........coming soon

 

Thinking Thursday

 

.........coming soon

 

Go Somewhere Fun Friday

• Local Zoo
• Local Farm to Pick Flowers
• Day trip out of state (maybe an overnight trip)
• Visit local battleship
• Letterboxing ( Letterboxing North America has resources to find local boxes)
• Local farm/petting zoo
• Beach!

 

Miscellaneous Fun

• Sundae Monday
• Bird Watching
• Movie Night
• Board Game Day
• Make scrapbooks with all out extra photos
• Have a picnic (or as my children say "Pick-A-Nic)
• Build a fort with blankets

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free and cheap things for kids to do in June

Here are some free and cheap activities to kick off the summer!

• For $2 an activity, kids can to a verity of crafts at Michaels like making a father's day duck tape frame on June 15th, or making silly shells on June 22nd. For a full list check here
• Buy a Nicole Crafts tote at A.C. Moore and decorate it with Simply Spray for free. Details here
• Every Saturday in June Lowe's build and grow will be making Monsters U items, click the link for more details
• On June 6th, Home Depot will have a Despicable Me 2 workshop. Full listing here
• In you have a Bank of America or Merrill Lynch debit or credit card, take advantage of their Museums On Us program. Free admission to over 150 museums across the country. Click here to find a museum near you.
• Select Regal Cinemas will be hosting Summer Movie Express starting in June. For only $1 you can watch movies like The Three Stooges and Ice Age: Continental Drift every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10am. Full listing available here
• Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday, Bass Pro Shops will offer a free craft for kids starting from noon-2pm on June 8th. Visit Bass Pro Shop for more details.
• Visit Petco on June 15th from noon-4pm. There will be a Meet and Greet where guests can interact with various reptiles. Pet parents can show off their reptiles in the Raddest Reptile Contest. There will also be fun reptile matchmaking games. Find your nearest Petco here

Hope you have a fun month!

Kids earn a free book

Barnes and Noble is offering kids in grades 1-6 a free book when they read 8 books this summer. Check here for all the details.

To Your Health!

Picture visuals are always more appealing.



Win a reusable bag!

Go here and enter for your chance to win an Earthbound Farm reusable shopping bag. I've won these bags in years past and they're great. Bigger than most reusable bags and very durable. Good luck!

Happy Earth Day!

Other than Christmas, this is my favorite time of the year! Everyone is talking about ways to save the planet, the weather is getting warmer, what's not to love? If you haven't started doing more green things, now is the perfect time to start! It's a lot easier than you think.

These only take a few minutes (or less) and cost nothing (most will save you $$)!
~Turn lights off when you leave a room.
~In the winter turn down the heat by two degrees.
~In the summer turn the AC up by two degrees.
~Drive the speed limit.
~Wash clothes in cold water.
~Use reusable bags

These take a little more time and cost a little more:
~Use your library! My library allows me not only to check out books, but magazines, movies, even video games.
~Buy local. Meat, veggies, clothes, ect.
~Buy second hand. Especially baby items, babies outgrow items so quickly that many times you can find items at a fraction of retail cost that have only been used a few times. Check out consignment mommies for seasonal consignment sales near you.
~Compost. Check out this post for a cheap idea on how to get started.

If you've got the time and money:
~Buy a fuel efficient car.
~When replacing appliances, buy the most energy efficient.
~Take public transportation or car pool.
~Buy organic. Clothes can be organic too!

There are SOOO much more, but I found these are a good starting point. Enjoy Earth Day!

Why I blog

Because I like too! Really. Ok, the real reason why I started a blog, just over four years ago now, was because I had all these ideas that I wanted to get out there. Yes, I could have just created a file on my computer, but I wanted it on the internet because, as they say, once its on the web its there for good! I've had one too many computers crash on me taking all my files with it. I haven't tried that hard to grow this blog because I have it more as a diary than a source of income. Full disclosure: I have not made a penny off this blog, ever!

I was looking at the first year of posts from 2008 and 2009 and I am surprised at how much my life has changed. The biggest changes have to be my decision to become a full time college student. I've never been to college before, and other than becoming a mom, becoming a student was the biggest adjustment I've ever made in my life! Another big change was my family's eating habits. I looked at the pictures of all my food deals and thought to myself "Wow, we used to eat crap!" Starting in 2009 we started switching our diet to food with less additives and preservatives. Then we added more organic foods. Next I cut out all red meat and pork.

Since I'm in school to become a registered dietitian, I like this journal to see how things have changed in my diet and life. It doesn't matter to me that I've never been featured in a magazine, or have thousands of followers, it matters that I can look back and see all the progress I've made in my life.

2012 in 2012: The outcome!

Since my last post, I purged 283 more items. Including 5 headbands, 8 movies, and 5 more magazines. Grand total for the year: 1245 items GONE! I ended up being 767 items short, but as I said in my last post, it has been a hard year. Since I made sure to follow the "one in, one out" rule I can say with confidence that my home is 1,245 items lighter, which is a great thing. I'm going to keep up with the purging in 2013, but I'm not setting a number goal to reach.

2012 My Year in Review

Well, 2012 was a very bad year for my family. We struggled with many things and even had two close loved ones pass away. The fact that we're still standing and moving forward is success enough for me! Even though I didn't meet most the goals I set out to accomplish, I'm not disappointed. But anyway, this is how I did:
Save $1,500 by using coupons and $3,500 by shopping sales: I spent 9 out of the last 12 months being a full time Honors college student, I didn't have much time to coupon. Oh well.
Read 10 books of my choice: This I did! I actually got to read 13!
Maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher: I am proud to say my current GPA is 3.85
Brush my teeth twice a day and floss: All I have to say is flossing sucks.
Eat breakfast everyday: Nope
Be physically active for 15 minutes a day: Not every day, but maybe 3xs a week
Implement a skin care routine: Nope
Eat at least one piece of fruit and one vegetable a day: Nope
Do some type of stress reduction activity daily: and Nope
Catch up with all my Dr.'s: Some, not all
Eat low fat yogurt daily: Don't think I ate yogurt at all in 2012
Be physically active for 30 minutes a day: no
Go to bed before 11:30 pm: Is that possible?
Eat more whole grains and less refined carbs: Well, I ate less fried foods...
Try a new exercise: HA!

35+ Stocking Stuffers Ideas for Girls!

Every Christmas I always think stocking stuffers will be the easiest gifts to buy. That is until I'm wondering around Target trying to think what I can stuff into those darn stockings. This will be the list I bring with me for my daughter:

• Candy
• Packs of Annies bunny snacks
• an apple and/or orange
• Hot chocolate mix
• $5 gift card
• fun socks
• hat and mittens
• bookmark
• stickers
• playdoh
• small doll
• baby doll bottle
• Barbie outfit
• Squinkies
• My Little Pony
• Easy Bake Oven mix
• headband
• hair clips
• hair brush and small mirror
• silly bandz
• markers
• crayons
• glitter glue
• small water color paints
• necklace making kit 
• lip smackers
• travel size lotion
• play jewelry
• fancy key chain
• bubbles
• nail polish (I love piggy paint)
• little note pad
• Hello Kitty or Princess bandaids
• batteries
• tiara
• paper dolls