This year we did a few things to save some bucks. First of all we are going to reuse a few of her supplies from last year. Her backpack was in very good shape from the year before so we are using the same one. That saves us some money right off the bat. We are also saving on pencil cases and a few of the reusable items.

Now for the other hand, there are items that must be bought new. Stores become quite competitive this time of year with school suppy wars. Just checking a few circulars will give you the information you’ll need to choose the best places to shop. Keep in mind that dollar stores could have what you are looking for at a fraction of the price.

Our school supply shopping this year ended up being very cheap! I didn’t feel the hit to the pocket book as much a years past…

Ideas? Let me know!

I remember being a kid and the days started getting longer and longer. The hotter it got outside, the less chance of me caring what was going on in school. This went not only for elementary school but all the way through college.

So before you know it the kids will be climbing the walls of your homes looking for something to do. Do you have a plan?

Now is the time to get the kiddos in swimming lessons, or any structured activity for that matter. The rec centers are full of classes for the kids during the summer.

What’s Mommies plan of action? I plan on having something planned for every day. Whether it be taking a walk around the neighborhood or painting, we’ll have something planned.

Got some good ideas? Share em!

Honestly, they are well made, sturdy, and something that any boy (or man, my husband included) would find interesting. They have already won the Oppenheim Toy Best Toy Award. One thing to keep in mind is that these aren’t for kids 3 and under.

Anyhow, check them out, as they get my Mommies Home endorsement!!

Take in a new park – Find a park close to you and explore it! Around us there are probably 10 parks, we’ve only really been to about 4 of them. This is a cheap and fun way to spend a day.

Recreation centers – These are fairly cheap, especially if you go to the one in your city and take advantage of the resident discounts. They can offer swimming, basketball, volleyball, running, you name it.

Skating – Right around any break off school, we end up with free coupons to go skating at the local skating rink. This is cheap and fun for the kids.

Zoo – You can get through the zoo fairly cheap if you bring your own food and don’t partake in any of the extras that they offer. It’s still a great day without the cost.

Volunteer – There are always places that need volunteers, now more than ever at food banks and the like. It’s a good way to spend time with the family and help others at the same time.

Do you have some ideas?? Let me know, I’d love to hear them!

Last night our daughter pulled yet another tooth out of her mouth. She’d been messing with it for some time, trying to wriggle the little thing from her mouth. But for us, it wasn’t as exciting as her first, or even her second. While we were happy that she pulled it without a huge ordeal, we must not have been impressed enough to remember being the tooth fairy…

I was supposed to remind my husband to put make the cash switcheroo, but I’m lucky if I can remember to turn off the oven, or let the dog out of his crate in the morning. Thus the switch wasn’t made and she awoke to a big surprise… the tooth fairy didn’t come.

So at 6:30 in the morning I hear a crying kid and my husband comes in to let me know I’d forgotten to remind him about it the previous night. I told him to tell her that she has to put it in an envelope or the tooth fairy won’t know what it is. I guess she had put it in a little toy box under her pillow. That seemed to calm her down.

Then the thought came “How long do we keep up the fiasco?” I asked my husband and he didn’t have a clue. I have a suspicion that she knows Santa isn’t real, as she let something slip about Daddy and Santa. I’m wondering if she knows about the tooth fairy too?

Looking around at others opinions, there are those that think it’s mean to tell kids there is a tooth fairy, as that’s lying. There are those that never tell their kids there is no tooth fairy, they just keep up the fiasco. And then there are those that just tell their kids around 7 or 8.

To be honest, I’m under the viewpoint that she can be told, but we’d still give her money for her teeth. Just like if she figured Santa out, she’d still get a Santa gift. The only thing that would worry me is her telling her younger two brothers. My mom loves to tell the story about how I told our next door neighbors children about Santa when I was little, so I’m sure she’ll hear something or other at school.

What are your views? Is there a good age to let them know?

I was reading through a magazine the other day and came across an article on how to get your kids to eat vegetables. It didn’t go into tricks on how to get them to eat veggies, instead it had these recipes to try on your kids to get them to eat veggies.

I’m all for new recipes, but there’s this new trend on the “trendy” food. It made me laugh, as the following recipes were included:

Minty Peas (basically frozen peas with mint mixed in)
Red Pepper soup (pureed red peppers with garlic)
Cauliflower Popcorn (sprinkled with Parmesan cheese)
Curried Acorn Squash

While these sound like things that I could serve at a dinner party, I’m not really sold on the idea of serving it to my 20 month old. My daughter might try them, if we bribed her enough, but not my son.

So instead of making some crazy stuff I probably wouldn’t eat, how do you get them to eat veggies?

- Serve them up first. The beginning of the meal is when they are the hungriest and are more likely to eat veggies.
- Offer up dip. Kids think it’s fun and it’s usually a dip they love.
- Let your child pick the veggies in the store. If they are a part of it, they may be more likely to eat them come dinner time.

I feed my kids tons of veggies that they don’t know about, basically including them in sauces and most recipes I prepare. It’s a boost of veggies for the adults and the kids, both of which need the additional veggies.

So do you feed your kid gourmet type veggies? What do you do to get your kids to eat them?

I’ve been very lucky to have my husband home for a few weeks during Christmas. It’s been great. This morning he made breakfast for the kids, french toast. But while I was happy to have him make breakfast for the kids, he had the TV on for them during breakfast. I’m a strong opponent to that, as it just slows the entire process down, not only that but it breaks my morning routine that I have set with the kids. So as I sat and watched my 7 year old and my 20 month old stare open mouthed at the stupid TV during breakfast, I wondered how much they should really watch it.

It’s recommended that kids under 2 watch no TV at all. There should be enough things to entertain your child without using the electronic baby sitter. One thing I can say about that is that if I didn’t put our baby in front of Blues Clues every now and then, I couldn’t cook at some points during the day! Sometimes it’s a must!

For children 2-6, it’s recommended they receive only 1 to 2 hours a day. This still seems like an extreme, at least for a 6 year old. Our daughter gets 45 minutes when she gets home from school to just chill out from her day and that ends up being about it.

One thing for kids is that if you must plop them in front of the TV for a while, it’s best to have them watch shows that are age appropriate and that are interactive, like Dora or Blues Clues. These help kids at least take part in the show instead of just sitting there like zombies!

For adults it’s easy to just reach for the home espresso machine, like a Rancilio Silvia, but it’s not so easy to reach for the healthier option. Funny as it may sound, an apple has more of an effect of waking a person up than that big cup of Joe.

For children it’s the same way. If you can get them to eat part of an apple in the morning, they will be more alert in the morning at school. I give my daughter half an apple with her breakfast and then half an apple for her lunch. This keeps away the mid-day sleepiness as well.

Try it, they say an apple a day keep the doctor away, well it also keeps you from counting sheep!

-She wakes up at 6:30 and when she’s done getting ready, she’s done. If that only leaves 5 minutes to eat, then she only has 5 minutes to eat.

-If she doesn’t eat her breakfast, she doesn’t get a snack for school or desert at night.

-If she doesn’t eat all her lunch, she doesn’t get desert either.

What this is supposed to do is leave how much she eats up to her. Then I won’t have to get mad in the mornings.

What actually has happened has been the following: She does only leave around 10 minutes to eat, she has yet to eat all of her breakfast (or even half for that matter). She hasn’t finished her lunch, which is half a peanut butter sandwich and raisins. Usually she eats dinner, but it takes a long time.

Why am I still on the edge of insanity? She went from eating 3 good meals a day, plus snacks and desert, to pretty much nothing.

Yesterday she ate:
1/4 cup of honey nut cheerios
1/2 a peanut butter sandwich
kids milk
about 1/2 cup rice and chicken casserole
1/2 cup milk

Total calories = about 500

Is this acceptable? Not to me. But where’s the line between getting her to eat and just going straight crazy? We’ve been on this new plan for over a week now and she’s not getting better. Ugh, sometimes I’d rather pick insanity.

About an hour after everyone left, she was playing with her new toys. She had gotten a Nintendo DS, one she’d been begging for since last year. She played all four games she had gotten within about a half hour time span, which is fine. She seemed ok with it. I came downstairs to blog some and take it easy while the baby took a nap, as my husband worked on his computer as well.

Then I hear her little feet come downstairs and she says, “Can I play the Wii, I haven’t played it in a long time?”

Um. Um. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? I WENT TO WALMART (a store I loathe and hate) AT 4:30 IN THE MORNING ON THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING FOR THAT STUPID DS AND SHE WANTS TO PLAY THE Wii THAT’S BEEN SITTING IN OUR HOUSE FOR LIKE A YEAR!!!!!!! I was not pleased with this comment, my husband shrugged it off. I’m still floored at her response to presents, it blows my mind!

I’m pretty sure this is just a normal child reaction, but still, I’m not sure what to think of it. So what did I learn? Hmm, maybe that gifts don’t matter at all. A $5 gift would have had the same effect.

All in all, she had a great birthday party I think. Now onto Christmas…Ho, Ho, Ho.