Free Summer Fun!

Every summer to curb boredom, I pack our schedule with a variety of fun activities to keep the kids busy and entertained.  Otherwise we get one of two scenarios: 1. Kids stare at the video games or tv all day - or - 2. "Mom....there is no one around, nothing to do...can we play video games?"  My kids do not seem to have the same scope of imagination that I had as a kid.  I remember inventing this one game where we would throw these large, colorful toy coins all over my lawn and race each other to pick up the most.  Sounds thrilling, right?  Hey, at least it kept us entertained.

Well, instead of throwing things around your yard, here are a bunch of free activities you can take the kids to to keep them happy (and keep you sane!)

Home Depot offers FREE workshops that are great for kids ages 5-12 and they run the first Saturday of every month from 9 am until about noon.  These activities are first come, first serve, so make sure you arrive early to ensure your child gets a kit.  You can also register here   Kids will receive a kit, apron, and pin to show that they participated.  

Lowes also offers their Build and Grow clinics for kids on select Saturday's at 10 am.  You can see their full schedule here.  Classes are typically every other Saturday and are usually focused around a recent DreamWorks movie.  Apron and hammer are provided and the kids receive a badge for participating.   You must pre-register and parents must sign a waiver for their kids to use a hammer. 

Disney Store is hosting daily Summer Play Days from June 3-September 1st.  Each week a new button is given out for free.  Check your local store for times and details.  These fun days are for ages 3 and up.

Pottery Barn Kids is hosting a Summer Reading Challenge.  Kids can read books from their list to earn a free book.  PBK also offers Story time from 11-11:30 on Tuesdays.  Certain days are themed, like the July 1st Hero Day.  Check your local store for more information.

Learning Express offers Story time every Tuesday and Friday at 10 am.  Story time is followed by a fun craft and a snack - all for free!  Check your local store as times may vary.  

Kids Bowl Free This is something we look forward to every summer!  Register your children and they can play 2 free games each day during the summer, shoe rental not included.  

Kids Skate Free This is the same idea as the bowling, preregister your kids and let them have a great time roller skating.  This is for kids ages 12 and under, skate rental is not included, but is not expensive.  

Westfield Malls - If you are lucky to have a Westfield Mall near you, check their events schedule as they offer a host of fun activities for the family.  My local mall sets up an outdoor "theater" with free movies and snacks for purchase.  

Barnes and Noble Kids can earn a free book by logging the 8 books they have read, and returning the list to their local B&N store.  The prize?  A book!  It is the gift that keeps on giving. 

Local Library - check your local library for story times and other events.  Our's has many fun, free activities to participate in and even hosts a reading program with prizes.

Many cities also offer free movies in the park and concerts throughout the summer.  Check your city calendar to see.  Just last Saturday, I took the kids to watch "A Bug's Life" at a local park and halfway through the movie the sprinklers came on!  It definitely made for more adventure!

Check with your local zoo and museums as well and see if they are having any free days.  Places like the Exploratorium in San Francisco offer several free days throughout the year.

I am so thankful that businesses provide events and activities like these to help my boys stay busy, entertained, and learning while they are out of school.

What free or inexpensive activities does your family do during the summer months?

{365} Challenge: Learning toys for the baby

How often have we heard it said that giving a child a cardboard box would be better than the toy inside?  

There is so much truth in this.  Babies and children seem to love containers and textures and random items and engage with them with more curiosity than the electronic toys we put out for them.  Don't get me wrong, we have a few electronic baby toys that Baby B loves like her Fisher Price Vanity and Learning Table.

To help Baby B explore the world around her, we have filled her toy basket with items to allow her to learn textures, work at problem solving, build creativity, and work at hand-eye coordination.

With the weather getting warmer, we have been spending some time outdoors in the beautiful weather.  I was able to score a turtle sandbox from another mom for $10 to start off our outdoor play area for Baby B.  She really seems to love the sand and watching it go between her fingers and toes.  I will end up putting some "treasures" in the sand (plastic animals and other like items) for her to unearth and discover.

I created a sensory basket for Baby B to play with.  In it are bits of different types of ribbon, lace, felt strips, a Christmas bow (with the sticker-tag removed), bits of fabric, and a toilet paper roll that I reinforced with duct tape.  I figured this would stop her from chewing through it, and so far my idea has been successful.  She can run the ribbon through the roll and as she gets bigger, may be able to start threading the ribbon through the holes in the basket.

Providing Baby B with a variety of textured balls will also help her learn and play.  Just gather up a variety of different types, sizes, colors, etc.  I really need to find a small football!

One of the best toys I have found, was a basket of vintage wooden blocks.  These are played with more than anything else in our home right now.  They were a great thrift store find and they will be staying with my family for years to come.  I have also learned that babies who play with blocks with their parents for at least 20 minutes a day, score higher on language tests and are less likely to watch tv.  Score!

I also like taking random objects around the kitchen and letting Baby B just play.  We give her wooden spoons, cups, bowls, utensils (without sharp edges!), measuring cups, and anything else clean and lying around.  Sometimes it is fun to put a little water and ice in the bowls and cups and let her splash and play on the kitchen floor.  You can take empty Crystal Light containers, fill them with just about anything, glue the top on, and presto - instant rattle!  I used some tiny chip clips that we never use.

Surprisingly she left the animal water bowl alone

Lastly, I wanted to share our new favorite books.  The Indestructible books are amazing!  Baby B LOOOOOOVES paper and these books offer her the pleasure of crinkling and biting on them without destroying anything or getting some extra fiber in her diet.  I recently scored a few at BuyBabyDeals.com for just a few bucks each.  I have also seen them on Amazon and at Buy Buy Baby.

This post is linked up at Inspire Me Wednesday's

You can catch up on my challenges here.

Card Table Makeover

This last weekend was my lucky weekend!  Maybe it was the St. Patrick's Day magic in the air, but more than likely it was God placing me in just the right positions to score big.

Not only did I score the FREE BOB jogging stroller, on Sunday morning while messing around on Facebook, another deal popped up.  Are you familiar with any of the yard sale sites on Facebook these days?  I love them!  I have been able to sell a bunch of stuff to set  money aside for our Walt Disney World trip.  As I was looking at one of the sites I am on, a local lady posted that she was giving away some junky card tables for free.  I am in a Bunco group and we often have parties or yard sales where extra tables come in handy so I NEEDED these tables.  I hopped in the jeep and hurried over.  Thankfully, I was the first to arrive and took both of the card tables.  They actually were not in bad shape and I knew immediately that these would be great makeover stories.

To do this you will want:
a card table (duh)
1 1/2 yards fabric
1 1/2 yards 4 gauge clear vinyl
staple gun with short staples (I used 1/4")
screwdriver
scissors

Start to finish (if I do not include being interrupted by mommyhood) was under 2 hours.  Almost everything I needed I already had at home.  The only thing I felt I should get was 4 gauge vinyl, to protect the top and make it "waterproof."  JoAnne's sells this for $2.99/yard and I used a 40% off coupon for the yard and a half I purchased. So for $2.70 was all I spent on this project.

My husband took the top off the first table before I took a picture, but the top only had a few snags in it.  First thing was to remove the top which was really easy.  Just locate the screws and remember to place them in a safe spot so you can reattach the top later.

You may want to wipe down the frame and pull off any tape that is stuck on it.  Mine had duct tape on two of the legs from holding down a tablecloth at some point.  After it is clean enough for you, spray paint it.  I prefer the spray paint that does a double coat since it requires less work.  I chose a light pink that I had on hand.

While that dries, lay out your fabric.  I had this amazing pink tattoo flash print that I have been holding on to for YEARS that I decided to use.  Trim it to fit, leaving a good inch all the way around.  Now you will staple it to the underside of the table.  I folded mine under so it looked nicer.  Of course, I forgot to take a picture of this step.  After that is done, repeat this procedure with the clear vinyl.

That is basically it!  Now you just reattach the top to the (dried) frame and you are good to go!

I just love how my table turned out!  It suits me perfectly.

Cleaning Your BOB Stroller

So, the other night we were exhausted from a double-header day of baseball, 6-months photos for the baby, and just general cleaning around the house.  I was not in the mood to make dinner and had forgotten to toss something in the crock pot that morning.  So, the kids and I loaded up and headed out to grab some dinner from Chick-fil-A with the stack of free food coupons I won awhile back.

As I started the drive, I decided that the 15 minute drive was too far so I went to grab a pizza instead.  This turned out to be the best decision ever.

This particular pizza place is next door to a Goodwill Donation Center.  As I was backing out, two men were attempting to drop off some strollers - including a BOB jogging stroller.  Goodwill cannot accept these items because of the sheer number of recalls placed on children's equipment.  So, I mustered up some boldness, rolled down my window, and asked if they needed to get rid of the strollers.  The men eagerly responded with, "Yes!  Do you want them?"

You don't have to ask me twice!  I pulled up alongside the gentlemen and they helped me load a very dirty BOB into my SUV (thank goodness I had the room that day!)  We exchanged a few pleasantries and I went on my way.  I couldn't believe my luck!

Once home, I took a good look at this stroller.  It was filthy, but in otherwise great working condition.  There was shredded tarp wrapped around one of the wheels, cat fur and bark in the basket, spiderwebs and dust coated the whole thing, flat tires, but nothing I couldn't fix.  So I set to work.  Before I started washing though, my husband removed the wheels to get the shredded tarp off.

First thing when cleaning your BOB Stroller, you want to give it a good vacuum, to pick up any loose dirt and debris.

Next, pull out your car washing supplies.  These strollers are meant for the outdoors so this will not harm them.  We happened to be out of car wash soap, but I always have blue Dawn on hand for cloth diapers.  That stuff is magic!  I took the scrub brush and soapy water and scrubbed it all over.

After a thorough rinse, I placed it in the sun to dry.  It was a warm day, so this didn't take long.

Looking at it, it looks practically new.  The straps are in amazing condition and this stroller even has the cup holder attachment.  The stroller retails over $300 and the cup holder for over $20.  And I got the whole thing for free + elbow grease.  I'd say it was a good weekend!  I cannot wait to take this for a run and try it out.

National Pancake Day!

Today at IHOP restaurants across the country, each guest can get a free short stack of pancakes to celebrate National Pancake Day.  In exchange for the free pancakes, customers are asked to consider donating to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.  I say that is a great exchange!

This day is also called Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.  The idea is/was to use up all of the delicious food in your cupboards that you do not eat during Lent.  Will you be giving anything up?

Details regarding IHOP's pancakes can be found here.

{365} Challenge: Buy Enough for a Month

Today's Challenge: Buy Enough for a Month

We have a Costco membership because we can get some great deals on food for our growing family.  While not everything is a great deal, there is plenty there for us to get some bang for our buck and fill our tummies with good (not always the healthiest) food.

One of my bad habits though, is making several trips out there in a month.  I seem to go every week for eggs and other must-have items.  Not only does this waste my time, but it wastes gas and then I often end up eating more samples (oh, so tempting...extra calories that I do not need) and buying items that I normally wouldn't.  Don't tempt me VitaMix!

So, on Monday I went out to Costco as usual, but with one major change - I took a list that was double my normal list!  

My "Stock-up" List:

 - 2 bags of frozen chicken breasts (these are great, especially for quick, crock-pot meals)

- 5 dozen eggs (we eat a ton of eggs in our home and this is cheaper than 2 of the 24-packs)

- tortillas (at just over $2 for 30 tortillas, this is a great deal and we use them for breakfast burritos and taco nights.

- 2 packs of Spicy sausage (my hubby loves these for breakfast - sliced and mixed with eggs)

- dish soap (one giant bottle of dish soap lasts us MONTHS!)

- 36 pack of bottled water (with California in a drought, I pick up a case each time I go to Costco, to set aside in case of emergency.

- meat (I buy the big packs of meat and separate them and freeze them into "family-size" portions.

-Produce, lots of produce.  

While I am on the topic of Costco, Jordan at FunCheaporFree,com has some great tips on shopping at Costo.

You can catch up on my challenges here.

Starbucks: Buy 1, Get 1 FREE Lattes {2/14 from 2-5 pm}

Treat your love to some Starbucks goodness this Valentines day afternoon.  What a great mid-day pick-up treat!  Starbucks is offering the buy 1 get 1 lattes from 2-5 pm on February 14th.

And if you haven't already, get signed up for a Gold Card to get more rewards as you frequent Starbucks locations.  My gold card just arrived today!  Go here for details.

Kohls - Books and Stuffed animals $5

Head over to Kohl's and pick up one of these stuffed animals or hardcover Dr. Suess books they have for just $5!  Over the years Kohl's has sold books with matching character plushes, but I think these may just be my favorite.

Put Me in the Zoo is my favorite Dr. Suess book so I will be grabbing one of the plushes for this story.

These will make great presents for baby showers and birthdays or even to put in Easter baskets.






There are more books and creatures to choose from, including Fred from Go Dog Go!  Head over and take a peek!