smart summers

Continue summer learning for the kiddies with Summer Bridge Activity Books.  I bought two of these puppies on Amazon for $24.  They have activities for every weekday of the summer centered around math, science, fitness, social studies, reading, and language.  Well worth it and the girls love doing them!
Stickers, certificate and color flashcards are also included.

Free bowling

Oh... free feels so good. This summer kids + bowling = free. Sign up at http://www.kidsbowlfree.com, find your nearest lane, print your coupon, take the kids to local bowling arena, and throw some balls for nada.  Gotta love this.  Have an old bowling ball that you want to re-purpose?  Check out this cool way to spice up your garden. 

welcome to crayon town

My good friend Darlene has a crayon town. In her carport.  The little area is all recyclable refrigerator boxes which you can snag from Home Depot for FREE.  Then grab scissors for the windows and doors, crayons, and a little shipping tape to create tunnels and help the town stay standing.  Let the kiddies play, crawl, and draw while you sit and reeee-lax.  Check out these soy crayons or eco-friendly recycled star crayons.  Happy coloring.

slinging your junk

We had a g-sale a few weeks ago. I had the girls pick 10 toys to sell and they got to have a lemonade stand. I made eco-friendly sale signs from used cardboard boxes. When I have a sale, I price everything like it's 4pm and I want to go inside. Think dirty cheap. Most of my junk was a buck and the kid's clothes were 3 for $1. My tips on g-selling - Sell when your neighborhood has their annual sale, have your friend, siblings, parents bring their stuff over so you have a nice selection, spread your junk out so people don't have to dig, price it to sell, and buy a dozen donuts to sell for breakfast. I held my sale from 8am-2pm and then gave the rest to charity. Do not bring your cast-offs back into your casa. Here are some more tips on having a fabulous sale.

merry christmas baby

I am too creative and cheap to buy gift tags. So I went online and found some downloadable print and color Christmas Gift Tags, gave them to the girls, and let them add their special crayon touch. Very homemade, cute and inexpensive.

We also attended a kid's Christmas party. The hosts asked us to bring a canned food item for the local food bank and a dozen cookies per kid. At the party, we made tube sock snowmen, candy ornaments (I would not stop inhaling the gummy bears), and did some near the fireplace caroling with instruments. All of the cookies were spread out on a table and the kids walked around the table, choosing, eating and moving on to the next treat. The girls and I made and brought pink frosted shortbread cookies like Uncle Seth's and chocolate chip peanut butter cookies (we used organic chocolate chips and Trader Joe's organic peanut butter). The pink ones went the fastest but I am not sure they tasted the best. I loved the haystacks that Jayden and her mom brought. Here's the recipe. Merry Christmas!