Poets and Saints
…and the moms who try to be both.Archive for Frugal Fun
Savoring Seasons
We have been doing wonderful, beautiful things heading into this glorious fall–eating lots of fresh produce thanks to our CSA program and our own garden, as well as biking, making our outdoor space a little nicer, and just enjoying the beauty that the end of summer brings. What an incredible place our God has created and yet we miss the beauty in the hurry of our days.
Summer, I’m sad to see you go. I love how things slow down. Lazy summer days don’t make me feel guilty the way lazy winter days do. I think it’s because summer is so short and the beauty so fleeting, I feel like summer deserves to be a bit slower and the days are meant to be enjoyed. Laying on the hammock on a perfect summer day should never be frowned upon as idleness. It should be encouraged!
But now that the fall schedule is upon us, I’m enjoying getting back into routine. It’s motivating for me and I’m looking forward to Fall’s joys: a new bible study, Fall festivals, back to the homeschooling-preschool, and the sheer wonder that Fall brings. Fall, I’m glad you’re here. Now if I can only stay sane enough to stop and enjoy the season. The campfires and s’mores, the fall colors, the apples and cider and pumpkins and pie, of course. There has to be pie.
P.S. I’ve had a lot of people asking me about our weekly pizza night and what our secret is to great pizza. (Here is a bit about the recipe.) I plan on sharing a little more about the family pizza night tradition that we’ve included in our own life as a way to create community, make friends, and share a special night of food with others. Coming soon…
Garage Sale Deals
Our neighborhood had garage sales this weekend. Since we had some visitors from out East for the weekend we decided to hit up the sales and see what we could find. Garage sales are so hit-and-miss for me. I feel like some weekends I can go through a whole neighborhood and not find one good thing. Other times the trunk ends up full of treasures. This weekend, we struck gold.
I got:
- 2 beach chairs (I was going to buy these new, but for $1 a piece, I couldn’t resist)
- 1 very small fish tank (for free)
- two sweaters for me (summer is the best time to buy these even though it feels wrong to buy thick clothes in heavy humidity.)
- some clothes for my daughter
- 1 backpack (free)
- two cool chairs (we got a 2-for-1 deal on this. So we gave one to our company since they liked it so much)
- baby elmo (free)
- a saxo-flute (It’s a build-your-own instrument kind of thing. It ends up resembling some sort of horn out of a Dr. Seuss book and my daughter loves assembling it into all different shapes.)
- Some lemonade from a children’s lemonade stand. It was a little watered down, but who can resist the joy this brings the child who is running the stand?
Plus we went home, treasures in hand, without spending a fortune.
Goodbye July, Welcome August!
Summer’s beautiful days don’t last long and we’ve been soaking up as much time outdoors as possible. It’s almost a shame that we pack so much into three months: outdoor concerts and festivals, farmer’s markets, pool and splash park fun, zoo trips, picnics, bike riding….the list goes on. All this fun means there is very little time to be bored. Just plenty of time to watch the flaming colors of my flowers, sit in my hammock and enjoy a red ripe tomato fresh off the vine. Ahh, summer.
My little fish standing directly under a spray of water at the splash park.
This one makes me feel old. My baby riding a bike! I don’t care if there are training wheels still on there, I’m going to go in a corner and sob my heart out.
Loving the farmer’s market booth for children. Art activity + fresh produce = one great morning.
Summer brings new life and new nephews to hold. Welcome to the world baby! I just want to pinch those cheeks and hold that little tiny bundle of love. My heart is melting…
That’s me up on that rope. Just a little hobby of mine in my spare time. (Okay. I couldn’t do that even if I were on the ground with a crew of spotters helping me. Apparently my daughter was convinced of the same thing, because she told me that mommy could not do that, but daddy COULD.) Our city’s first “Buskerfest” celebrated the street performer. We enjoyed balloon sculpting, moving statues, stilt walkers, jugglers, live music, taiko drumming, hip hop dancing and more. All for free.
Enjoying blueberries from our local picking patch, under an umbrella, in the middle of our sidewalk. Beautiful summer…please don’t end.
Fun and Free Family Activities
What is it about summer that makes me want to lay by the pool everyday? Of course it would help if I had a pool (and I’m not counting the kiddie one). Since I can’t be at the pool, I look for summer activities that are kid-friendly and low cost. Here are a couple ideas I’ve learned that have helped me plan plenty of summer fun to keep the little one from getting bored:
1. Come up with a “Family Fun” calendar. We use ical, where we can color code each individual calendar (my calendar, my husband’s calendar, our family fun calendar, etc.) and keep track of events. Usually our newspaper comes out with a “summer event guide” that lists all festivals, art fairs, town celebrations, and more. We use this resource, circle the events that interest us and then plug them into our calendar. We have found this essential for keeping track of free events. When we rely on our memory, we usually forget and miss the event. I can’t emphasize how important it is to come up with a calendar that lists these events next to your other daily calendar. You can check out ours here but please note that not all activities are free. My husband takes any and all activities that look interesting and sticks them on our family fun calendar.
Here are some ideas for free events to take advantage of this summer:
2. Free concerts: These our great for our family! Many of the bands play oldies that are fun to dance to and there are families of all ages there. The music is usually louder than the kids are and we can enjoy the entertainment as we play in the grass.
3. Free festivals, art fairs, town celebrations: We usually enjoy just walking around, avoiding the junk food (if we can) and watching people, booths, street performers and more.
4. Farmer’s Market: These are springing up everywhere in our town. Some even include musicians, children’s activities, free food samples and more. Be aware that farmer’s markets sometimes “evolve” as the summer goes by. They can start out pretty bare and then once harvest hits, be full of yummy things to eat. I’ve been surprised how much my daughter enjoys going to the farmer’s market. Maybe it’s the free samples of fruit we’ve gotten or the library’s booth where she can do a quick craft. Either way, it’s a great way to spend an afternoon or evening where there’s nothing to do. Plus it encourages us to buy locally and enjoy the delicious and fresh local produce and fruits.
5. Library: This one might seem a no-brainer, but I often think that people go to the library less in the summer than other times of the year. Our library offers a great summer reading program, even for babies and toddlers. We got some amazing resources last year including a free CD and a book of finger plays. Plus my daughter read enough books to earn herself a free book. Our library also offers free programs, like a Clifford day, a puppet program, a mud sculpture art class and more.
6. Beach: You don’t have to travel to ocean to enjoy a beach. Children enjoy the simplest of beaches, even next to small ponds. Last summer I discovered Fox Island County Park had a small beach, perfect for building a sand city, sand rivers and pools. It does cost us two dollars to get in this park, but it still cheap fun for our family. There are also turtles, frogs, birds, walking paths, and a nature center to enjoy.
There are so many other great things to do in the summer too! Playgrounds, splash parks, biking on the trails and more. The best thing is that we can have lots of fun for very little to no money. Enjoy the summer!
Splash Night Family Fun
We recently had a very exciting night of family fun called Splash Night. Of course Splash Night conjures images of water all over my floor and wet pants and all sorts of things that don’t sound appealing to mothers and fathers. (It did not turn out this way, I just have an active imagination.) For a three-year-old, Splash Night is pure fun, loads of laughs and no whining. I love no whining! And the evening turned out remarkably mess-free (besides a few drops on the floor). An easy night of family fun…swim caps and bathing suits are optional!
Here’s what we did:
Sink or float activity: Get a bucket of water, and various objects and try to guess whether they will sink or float. We used an empty glass jar, a tupperware full of water, a bar of soap, an apple, a key and a penny. It’s a great science lesson too.
Bobbed for apples: This was my daughter’s idea. She asked me a few months ago if we could bob for apples (It was like the middle of the day or something…I was like, what? right now?) So I finally allowed apple bobbing as part of splash night. Guess what? After a few tries, she got it!
Made colored water and drank it. My daughter drank all of her water which was purple. What is it about purple water that makes kids want to drink it? Is clear water really so bad?
Created “water colors”: We drew on paper towels with markers and then misted them with water and let them dry. We used Crayola washable markers and they worked great. The colors spread nicely after we sprayed them with water. This activity was my favorite. I can’t draw anyways, so when the colors spread out the drawing instantly had that “artsy” flair.
Raced homemade boats: We took small tupperware, made a sail and then raced them in the bathtub by blowing on our boats. I only got beat once. I think it was all that good flute training. Or maybe I got lucky.
Pet Store Visit: Is it a fact of life that all children like pet stores? I think so. My daughter is ga-ga over pets these days, so we visted our store to find pets that splash. We also found plenty that don’t, but that was part of the fun.
Weekend Update
What a weekend! I had a garage sale that took up both Friday and Saturday. We got rid of some things and made some money. We are putting it toward some new mattresses for my daughter and a new lamp. We didn’t get our loveseat sold, even though we had lots of interest, so I may put it on Craigslist and get rid of it there. Besides the fact that it looks like a doctor’s office couch, it’s it good shape and has a very small pattern on it. And we are selling it for cheap! It’s a good buy especially if you’re trying to fit it in with other mix and match furniture. But oy! Is it heavy!
Today we have an appointment with our adoption caseworker from Agency #2. They’re trying to finish up the paperwork on us so it means one home visit. So I’m trying to straighten the house which is a mess from all the weekend neglect. My daughter is really into shopping bags and I find them all over the house with little things in them–buttons and pieces of paper. The tricky part will be trying to keep it all nice until 12:30, and then hope that my daughter is not too cranky before nap time at 1:30. A clean house and a happy girl? It might take some creative thinking to pull that off.
Plus, I’ll be posting this week about our latest family night…Splash Night! Lots of fun activities that have to do with water (without too much of a mess!)
Resurrection Eggs
Looking to make Easter more meaningful without adding more bunnies or sugar highs to the celebration?
This year we have been using a Bible teaching tool called Resurrection Eggs to teach about the Passion week. A small object is placed in twelve eggs to teach the stories of Jesus’ last week, from Palm Sunday to his resurrection. Children then open the eggs and a part of the Bible story is read. We are doing one or two eggs every night after supper since that is when we do devotions. Another mom used these twelve eggs as an “egg hunt” at home, then had her kids find and open them one by one while she retold the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Just don’t forget to number your eggs one through twelve!
For a guide on how to do this yourself, check this website. We made our egg kit at MOPS and had slightly different objects, but the idea was the same. You can also leave the last egg empty as a symbol of the empty tomb. This has been a fun family project, similar to our Jesse Tree at Christmas and helps prepare children for the celebration of Resurrection Day. (Hint: We will be talking about Jesse Trees this year at our church and encouraging people to make their own. If you want to get started on it early here is a great resource.)
Have a wonderful and blessed Easter! He has risen indeed!
It’s time to sign up for a CSA
CSA: community sponsored agriculture
A CSA program is like having a gigantic garden in your backyard without any weeding, watering, or picking because someone else does all the work! I happen to like gardening, but with the size of our lot being so small and having one huge shade tree in the back, I can only have a few garden boxes, which means I can’t grow a whole lot of veggies. This is the downfall of living in the city, because even if we move, we are likely to end up with an even smaller lot than the one we have.
A few years ago I signed up for a local farm’s CSA program where I received a half bag of fresh organic produce every week. That got me hooked and now I love getting my fresh bag of seasonal produce throughout the summer. It has stretched me as a cook (kale, anyone?) and an eater. Plus it is so good and healthy for you.
If you live near me, check out these local farm’s CSA programs:
(If you’re having trouble with the above link, try this one.)
Talent Night Family Night
On Friday we ventured up to my mom’s house, which is a little over an hour away. We decided that after spending so much time fixing the toliet the weekend before (a two hour job which turned into a 2 day job with three trips to Lowe’s and still not fixed) we took this last weekend off. An overnight at my mother’s might not seem extravagant or relaxing, but it really is a nice break. We stayed up late and watched Australia, went antique shopping the next day, and spent some time with Grandma.
We still tried to continue some type of Family Night even though we weren’t home. ”Talent Night” was the theme, with Grandma’s stash of great dress up clothes (mostly vintage from her era). Then we sang songs, danced, played the piano and harmonica and cheered a lot. We kept it very simple–it was all spur of the moment, but dressing up made it extra fun.
I’d like to try this again when my daughter is older and we can actually plan a simple “show.” She’s a little young for it now, but after seeing Dan in Real Life I think the family talent show can make for very memorable fun. The scene in the link above of Steve Carrell playing “Let My Love Open the Door” inspired my husband to learn the song. Let me add that Carrell’s solo verse at the end makes me a little teary, which I guess is the point of a talent show: to laugh and cry and maybe both at the same time.
If you’re interested in the book Family Fun Nights by Lisa Bany Winters, here is a link to Amazon.
Movie Star Family Night
Last Friday night we had some friends over. We decided rather late in the day to go ahead and do our Family Fun night in conjunction with having company, because we knew these folks pretty well and they are great about doing silly things with kids.
Our theme was “Movie Star Night.” I wore sunglasses and a feather boa and my daughter wore a princess dress with a “Gas and Diner” ball cap. My husband wore sunglasses and dog ears, which has nothing to do with movie stars unless you are Lassie.
Then we made movie star place settings which involved lots of glitter glue and a few markers. I’m sure movie stars are all about glitter glue. Movie stars and three-year-olds.
I didn’t plan a movie star menu because we can’t afford filet mignon or lobster, so we settled for our standard Friday night fare of pizza. Our friends were so gracious and brought a movie star appetizer: smoked salmon and cream cheese on fancy crackers. Mmmm…we ate a lot of crackers.
Thanks to the Family Fun Night book by Lisa Bany Winters, the games were the real treat but they may not work for young children. (Note: They involve a lot of silliness. I hope you’re okay with that. If not, then you’re in trouble if we have you over for a Family Fun Night.)
Game One: Making a Movie
Turn on the camera. Have one person pose or do something simple (reading a book, playing, sitting, sleeping) and film them. Turn off the camera, switch actors and have them doing the exact same motion or position. Then turn the camera back on. Be sure to keep your camera in the same position to get the right effect. When you watch it, it will appear as if one person switches into another magically. You can even switch a person with a stuffed animal in the same position. This one was pretty funny to the adults, but my daughter had a bit of trouble following the idea. What worked best was if she did the first pose and then one of us repeated her pose. The funniest one was when she stood in front of the camera sticking her fingers in her mouth and then one of our friends had to repeat it. Go with the flow and don’t worry about looking dumb. These movies are for you only, so just have fun!
Game 2: Movie Dubbing
This one is best for the quick witted person or someone who likes doing character voices. You turn off the volume on a scene in a Disney movie and then dub in your own character voices for the scene. My husband and our friend were incredible at this, but I was not very good. I’m also not sure that young kids can really participate, but our daughter loved watching the videos and hearing our voices.
Both of these games made for a really fun evening, but it’s partly having the right people who are not afraid of making fools of themselves. Since we do that on a regular basis, I guess we’re good candidates.
