Shop It To Me! Personal Shopper

I just found this website in Woman's Day and I signed up. Shop It To Me is a website designed to shop sales for you- in the companies you want in the sizes you need. And when you sign up, if you get 10 friends to sign up, they will give you a $10 gift card. They have services for women, men, and children- shoes, jackets, pants, shirts, etc! I will let you know how it works out and if I get any good deals!

Free Veggie Tales DVD

Betsy at Florida Coupon Girl told me about the free Veggie Tales DVD. You choose from 3 DVD's and pay $2.99 shipping if you sign up for the e-newsletter. That is a deal! You can get it for your little one or give as a gift to another little one. Thanks Betsy!

Free Kids Music LEGAL

I think I posted this website months and months ago with free mp3 music files for kids. They just did an update on May 20, so check out the new music.

Individual Horizon Milks Cheap!

My son loves to drink chocolate milk at school for lunch, but I could not think of him drinking the chocolate milk the school provides... it is so sweet! And really, he does not like the taste. I buy the 3 pack of milk when we travel or go to Disney, but I did not think of buying them for school. Then I found them on Amazon- not only can I buy the pack of 18, but I can get them at a 15% discount when I use the subscribe and save option. When you log onto Amazon for Horizon Organic Reduced Fat Milk, 8-Ounce Aseptic Cartons (Pack of 18), click on the Subscribe and Save feature and choose how often you want the 18 pack delivered. Then subscribe and get 15% off. That makes the milk $.91 a piece- much cheaper than I can even get at Walmart! And I know he is getting good milk for lunch (and it does not have to be refrigerated!)

Amazon has lots of subscribe and save items that can save you money and get free shipping. We get the following and get 15% off:
Kashi GOLEAN Bar, Crunchy! Chocolate Almond, 1.59-Ounce Bars (Pack of 12)
Cascadian Farms Organic Chewy Granola Bar, Chocolate Chip, 6-Count Boxes (Pack of 6)
Back To Nature Apple Juice, 10-Count, 6.75-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 4)
And you can cancel the subscriptions at any time!

UP- Activities and Trailer

My kids watch the trailer for UP a few times tonight! They cannot wait until they get to go see it (I get to see it twice this next week on a field trip for 7th graders). Then my kindergartner printed the adventure book and cut and paste it all together. There are more printable pages at the Disney site.

BTW- I then got hooked on taking a few of the Disney quizzes--- too funny!

Which Disney mom are you? (I was the mom dog on the dalmatians movie...????)
Should your family live in Fantasyland? (mine was in Adventure land... again ????)
And which celebrity mom are you? (I was Reese Whitherspoon... I can see that!)

Experience New Things

Recently we were able to attend an air fest at the near by Air Force base. While my little one was actually able to sleep through some of those loud planes, my kindergartner was fascinated with the interior of all those large military planes. It was a great new experience, plus it was free. Security was lots of fun, but that was the only difficulty- as it should be! We were on a military base! It seemed so much like 1950's family fun... we were all sitting around outside in our chairs enjoying the military display. Next time we will even bring a picnic.

The great part was seeing the Thunderbirds! We were all awe-struck!

Spring Break

We had a great time during Spring Break exploring Florida- at least central Florida and the east coast. We were able to go to Cape Canaveral and Disney during the week. It was not too hot, did not rain too often, and the crowds were not terrible (until Wednesday at Animal Kingdom). It was such a needed break from school!

Christmas Traditions: Having Their Own Tree

One of our new Christmas traditions is allowing the kids to have a Christmas tree in their room. Two years ago, we got them on clearance after Christmas. They are 3 feet tall. We bought them their own ornaments and allow them to use some of the family ornaments. They love decorating and redecorating them. Our daughter takes the ornaments back and forth from the living room... it is so sweet. We do have ornaments that are durable and can be moved. We would not do this with anything breakable or sentimental. Mostly, they are Disney ornaments and non breakable balls. The best part is that they love having their own tree and they love getting to decorate! It gets us all in the spirit!

Santa's Nice List Video

Disney Family has this great FREE video that is personalized for your child to see if they are on the "NICE" list. You upload the picture and the name and it plays back with Santa checking his list twice! Make you own video here. My children were amazed and relieved they were on list! What a tool to keep them in line!

Start Christmas Cards Early

I just ordered my Christmas cards from Shutterfly. I am a little early, but so much better than being late. I will be able to mail them right after Thanksgiving. Plus Shutterfly has free shipping (code ship25) right now which saved me $6.99 on 50 photo cards. And they have the best selection of cards for around $.55 each, with up to 9 photos (I did three photos on mine). Check it out! (No affiliate here, just great info!). I will scan the card when I receive it.

Here is one of the Christmas photos I used. You can see some more on my Mom Blog. Aren't they just so cute???

Making Halloween Costumes

I actually made my kid's costumes this year! I am quiet proud!


My little girl has never worn the costumes we have purchased, so my plan this year was to make her costume more like clothes than a costume. She wanted to be a tiger, so I purchased the ears and tail and made the rest. Using a pair of her brothers old black jeans, I sewed some marabou to the bottoms to make them girly. Then I used an orange t-shirt, cut slates in it to resemble tiger stripes, sewed marabou onto the bottom, and put a black shirt on underneath. She looked pretty cute!

For my son, he wanted to be Curious George. I dyed some old pants and a new white shirt brown and found a great brown ski cap at Walmart that had a bill. With some felt and glue, he had a great Curious George face. We added in a balloon at the last minute and Dad went as The Man With the Yellow Hat. Too cute!

Making the Curious George costume and using a t-shirt to make the tiger costume made these pretty low fuss costumes. And it was nice to have something original. I will do it again next year.

Ultimate Money Saving Tip

Joining Vicki in her Frugal Friday tips, I decided to post a tip just for preschool parents as well as my tip for anyone wanting to save money on my other blog.

For parents of young children, the smallest things can add up... clothes for the cooler weather, birthday parties, doctor's visits, etc., all add up to unexpected purchases. For a family with preschoolers, you have got to plan ahead in order to not get bogged down with these cost.

One thing is to shop ahead. At the end of the season, buy clothes in the next size up. While some children may growth spurt or not grow much, you can almost bet than most children will be one size larger by the next year (not exactly a science, especially for babies). Try to buy the things that are not as necessary to be in exact sizes- sweat shirts, coats, long sleeve shirts for winter- bathing suits, shorts, and T-shirts for summer. Try to store them where you will not forget them for the next year. At least you will be a little ahead on those new purchases.

You should also shop ahead for gifts. When I find books, toys, crafts, and other great birthday gifts on sale or clearanced, I go ahead and buy them and make a space in the closet with the items. When a party comes around, I do not have to run out and buy a gift, but I choose from those things purchased earlier at great savings. This saves the hassle of shopping the day of the party too. Try to buy gifts that are suitable for boys and girls so you can be ready for any party. This is a great idea for Christmas gifts too.

For unexpected illness (and what illness is not unexpected), cut coupons for over the counter medicines you may need in the future. When the time comes, you can buy what you need, and have a little savings. Shopping at drugstores like CVS also give you reward bucks for all purchases and prescriptions. They can be used later for purchases and also special sales they have (toilet paper is a great item to use the reward bucks, coupons, and their sale price to get a really good deal!).

Planning ahead for those events you know are going to happen is a great way to save money. Impulse shopping tends to be more expensive than shopping when you can stop and think or shop around for the best deal.

Great Preschool Website

My kindergarten son came home asking for Starfall.com. We found it online and instantly notice it was a quality site with great activities for a pre-reader/ emergent reader. And while that was exciting, my 3 year old preschooler is learning buckets of information! She is learning her letter sounds and some beginning word sounds. It has some great books that read to the children, along with lots more. And my 3 year old can navigate it herself! WOW!

Check out that site for your preschooler.

The 201st Post, A Bit Delayed: Meals Matter

I was so excited about my 200th post, and then I slacked off for a few weeks. It has been an adjustment to teaching all day, coming home and doing home stuff, and making dinner (the most dreaded of evening activities). I did find a great meal planner website that is perfect for moms of all ages and stages, Meals Matter.org. It is free and has lots of recipes to include in your weekly meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with things you can request or exclude. It was a little tricky to figure out some of the functions, but worth the time and effort. They even print a shopping list.

The only negative is that you cannot print a list of recipes, but have to print each individually. So take you time with that one!

And you know eating with your children is so important at any age. Making meals at home is not the most fun job, but worth the time when you sit down for that homemade food.

Hope you enjoy!

Plus, I am saving money by planning ahead and NOT EATING OUT!

It Was My Favorite Playdough Recipe

This was my favorite playdough recipe- for a day! The second day it got gooey. I added some flour until it felt better and that seemed to work--- just FYI!

Homemade Playdough Recipes

As we are home for Tropical Storm Faye, I thought it would be best to find something for the kids to do inside--- it is a bit rainy outside (and we are missing our second day of school!). My husband looked up a playdough recipe for me, because I am never sure how much of what to add. He found a great list of homemade playdough recipes, some I have never seen!

I think this is my new favorite (and I have been stocking up on baking soda for some other homemade bath products- you can get a huge bag at Sam's):

Rubbery Playdough

2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup cornstarch

Mix with a fork until smooth. Boil over medium heat until thick. Spoon onto plate or wax paper.

Ours was not rubbery, but nice and smooth. It did stick a little but rubbed right off. It is a nice bright white- not like the flour recipe (I use unbleached flour, so mine tends to be a cream color)- so I did not even add color.

This site also suggested using veggie juice for color! I love that idea.

The First Day of Kindergarten

Tomorrow is the first day of school for my little boy! I cannot believe it!

Although, I am not too nervous, since Dad works at the school as the dean... it makes it much easier to send him on his way.

But KINDERGARTEN! I feel like he was just in my arms yesterday!

And of course, since I am also a teacher, I do not get to take him in the first day... my little sister has volunteered that, which is funny since she is 19. She wanted to take him to his class. How sweet. They are kindred spirits since they have the same birthday. :)

As we pass this milestone, it makes you thankful for the time we have had this summer, the time I was able to stay home with him, and the great teacher he has this year!

Any one else need a Kleenex???

I will post pictures later.

A Free Story Podcast for Young Children

If you are looking for a free story podcast for your preschool, be sure to check out the Snuggles Podcast. There are a variety of recorded stories for you to listen with your children. There are archived episodes too, so you can listen to back episodes too!

Listening to stories help children to learn what reading sounds like. If you grab the book that goes along with the story, you can follow along with the words, teaching left to right tracking.

If you don't listen to these podcasts, read aloud with your preschooler! Any book will work, even the newspaper!

Let me know what you think!

OnTray- Make Grocery Shopping Easier

As I was cruising a blog carnival with great giveaways today, I came across the OnTray giveaway offered by The Giveaway blog, a great little contraption to make your shopping easier with little ones. Any mom with a preschooler needs to check this out. A great invention!