Our DIY Advent Countdown

Yesterday we started our countdown to Christmas.  In typical me fashion we had to do two days to get caught up but it worked out.  If you are like me and are late, you can rest assured that it's not too late to get started with a countdown. 

And I'll show you how. 

A little history of our countdown calendar: 

When Emma was two and Calvin was one Nick lost his job.  It was hard and tough and horrid.  We had $200 in our savings account.  Fun times were had by all. 

Not. 

One thing we vowed was that the kids wouldn't know what was going on.  We didn't want them to not have a Christmas or to notice that they had less.  

So I came up with this countdown during that time.  

That first year I took string, tacked up some socks and mittens I found and put things in them that were around the house...a couple of stickers, dimes, candy canes, whatever.  I put them in before I would go to work at 4 IN THE MORNING! And then they had that day's sock or mitten waiting for them when they woke up with Daddy.  

And they still ask for this every single year!  My kids are all about traditions.  In fact, Nick and I even purchased them Playmobil advent sets because they had been BEGGING for them but in the end when I asked which they wanted to do, Playmobil parts or surprises every day they chose our old fashioned surprises method.  So the Playmobil's are going back I guess :/. 

The thing I love is you can really make this as simple or as elaborate as you want. It doesn't have to cost a lot but if you want it to, you can.  It's all up to you! 

Okay, so I'm going to walk you through what you need to do the countdown how I did it this year: 

Supplies You'll Need:

-String, twine, ribbon. I've used all of them through the years.  This year I am going with twine for a rustic look. 

-2 Nails or Hooks to hang the string on.

-Socks, mittens, little stockings.  I have a mixture of these.  Truth be told a lot of these are ones that were cute but we had lost their mate.  So I kept them.  I also love to see how little their tiny hands and feet were when they were babies so I used a lot of their infant-wear :) See how cheap this is by using what you already have?

-Clothespins, Binder Clips, Safety Pins, or Paper Clips to secure socks to string. 

-Numbers. In previous years (I think you can see some from last year on the socks in the previous picture) I printed numbers out.  I've used just plain stickers.  This year I found these cool gold stickers that were for 25 days.  Perfect!  They were a little pricey ($4.99!, I know, I'm pathetically a cheapskate) but I had a 40% coupon so it worked out.  Emma loved the stickers.  I got them at Hobby Lobby if you are looking for them.  They are super thick and super sticky so I'm hoping the numbers will last more than one year.  But again, use anything!  I've used post-it notes before.  

-Optional: A Honking Bag of Junk to use. I bought all of this stuff for 90% off last year after Christmas.  If you don't have your own honkin' big bag of stuff, it's okay, you can just put in there whatever you would like! 

How to Set Up Your Advent Calendar

Hang your wire, string, ribbon, whatever.  I just used two nails and tied it on there.  I tried to make it as tight as I could because the weight of everything will make it sag a bit.  The above picture is what mine looks like before I hung everything.  I then went and scrubbed my wall as you can see dirty clay fingerprints from us making ming bowls for our history lesson. 

Then hang your socks, mittens whatever.  I use some of the kids smaller socks, their baby mittens, and some of those little stockings people give you every.single.christmas.  Now you have something to do with them all! 

After I took this picture I went and peeled off that piece of tape that is on the wall.  This is real life people! I use small clothespins from Hobby Lobby to hang our socks but you can use anything you want.

This is the finished layout I have.  I tend to hang them all up and them move them around so I don't have all mittens clumped together or 4 red socks side by side.  Make it look how you want, whatevs. 

I then put the numbers on.  You can o this however you want.  I put 25 on one side and then 24 on the other side and then work my way towards the middle.  So odds are on one side and evens are on the other.  This works great because then I don't end up with one side of the advent calendar empty and the other side sagging from everything in the socks.  This is from trial and error that I've figured it out.  Also because we have two kids and they like to take turns opening the advent sock, one basically ends up with the odds and one with the even days and so they know which side to go to when it's their day. 

Here is another thing I think I do weird but I'll share it with you.  I make a column of the days and then next to it I figure out how many days there are till Christmas.  Then we open that corresponding day.  I know a lot of people do it the other way where if it's December 10 then they open 10 but we open 10 on the 15th when there is 10 days left until Christmas.  Get it?  Are you confused?  You can set it up like me and then have a mini panic attack every day when your kids open it and you're thinking "what?  only 21 days until Christmas?  Yikes!" but to your kids you can be all "yeah!  Only 21 days left!" because that's what cool moms do. 

Okay so you saw my weird list, I then start to fill it in with what I'm going to use every day.  I started doing this because the first year I kind of ran out of ideas so we had a million days of candy canes towards the end.  Lame.  Don't get me wrong we have plenty of candy cane days but I try to space them out.  

So I write down what events I know we are doing and what we will be up to so if there are things I can tie into that I can plan.  One night we are going to a local Holiday event where they always want to buy something so I will put a little bit of money in the sock for them to each be able to shop for a souvenir. 

Another idea is I will figure out when we can watch Polar Express at home and I'll put "train" tickets in their sock so they know we are watching the moving and it will be special. 

After I've written down events that I know we are doing and things I can coordinate to those I fill in the dates left.  This is where I pull out my honkin' bag and see what I have to give them.  Again these are all things I got super cheap, for real: 

I wait until Target has 90% off and then I buy whatever I can find.  So this kit was $0.20!  Seriously, I can handle 20 cents.  And it makes them work together and it gives them something to do for a while.  

I try to space out events, candy, a toy, money, and craft days.  

As you can see here, Day 25 they got candy canes!  And they were super excited.  It's the little things around here! 

Day 24 I had puzzles to give them but they wouldn't fit in the sock so I wrote this note and stuck it in the sock. They love the little hunts and running to see what they will find. 

By spending a little bit of time putting this together I have peace and quiet in the house.  They worked on these puzzles for about an hour.  They helped each other, we helped them and it was so much fun!  

So I hope that gives you an idea of something you could thrown together and have lots of fun with your kids.  There's nothing really special about "here have another candy cane"  but the act of putting it in a sock or mitten in the countdown makes my kiddos so super excited.  Weird, I know, but it works.  

And remember you can make it as basic or fancy as you would like!  A couple of dimes makes kiddos super excited.  Or put Bible verses in each sock.  Or candy.  Or an event like "drive to see christmas lights".  

I know you'll do awesome! Let me know about your fun advent countdowns and remember,it's not too late to start making memories and traditions! 

---

2016 Update:

The kids are getting older (shocking I know!) so I was a little leary about using this again.  After all I started doing this when Calvin was a year old and Nick had been laid off...this was cheap!  But the kids are insisting we do it again this year.  When they were younger it was easier to stick small things in the socks and mittens...coins, candy, stickers, etc.  But as they've gotten older it's been so fun to incorporate clues and crafts into the socks. 

Have fun with it! 

White Elephant Gift Ideas Under $10

Our family every year has a white elephant gift exchange. As it goes, the theme every year is to try to outdo one another in the silliness department. So if you are looking for some serious silly or sass, here are some gifts for you to go with. These are all under $10 so you won’t break the bank.

I love this little planter which just happens to be a throne.

And who doesn’t love bacon? These Lady Gaga bandaids will be perfect for any carnivore.

Life feels weird now that I don’t know if mentioning a fanny pack will make you think that is funny or cool. I guess either way this is a pretty sweet deal, as Napoleon Dynamite would say.

Here you go, for the person who has everything.

Can anyone tell me why this highlighter set is so hilarious to me? These are great!

And finally you guys, a literal white elephant!

I hope this helps you guys! Our white elephant event always sneaks up on me so if you are last minute, most of these are prime items which will help a lot. And like I said, when I wrote this all of these items were under $10 so you won’t break the bank celebrating with your family.

Save for Later:

Week 1 Recap of Our No-Spend Challenge

This was a pretty tough week to be thrown into for our first week on the no-spend challenge. 

Although the weekdays went pretty smoothly.

Monday

We started school back up and that prompted Nick and I to have the discussion about how/if the challenge would affect the way we do our schooling.  We had said it wouldn't really before in our talks but it came up again when I introduced a new "motto" for our classroom to the kids.  Nick said I should enlarge it, laminate it, and hang it up in the classroom.  That prompted the discussion on if that was in fact a need or simply a want. 

The jury is still out on that one so we'll have to see what I decide.  It may in part be decided by the price of making the poster.  $20 for a poster?  No thanks...

But I think we kind of narrowed down that in terms of what the kids are learning and the core of what they need we absolutely will not waiver.  The fluff stuff we may reevaluate and see what we could use that we already have.

Tuesday

Calvin threw a wrench in our plans by declaring that instead of taking the train to Chicago for his birthday as planned, he wanted to go to LEGOLAND.  So after calling Nick and having him approve the change, I frantically hopped on line to try to track down as many deals as possible. 

In the end it proved to be way too much money to change our plans so we decided to stick with the original plan to go downtown for his birthday.

Wednesday

My best friend and I took all of our kids to Sky Zone (a trampoline park) to get the kids to shake out all their wiggles!  What a fun time we had!  It is so fun to have a friend with kiddos that my kiddos love! 

I know, I know SkyZone is in no way a "need" but thankfully the kids got giftcards to there for Christmas so we used those to go.  Hooray for fun things to do!

Thursday

Why do companies feel the need to try to get you to spend money after you just had Christmas?  Besides the fact that everyone went out and spent tons on gifts I know that we do not have any more room for more STUFF! 

These catalogs always get me!  Lakeshore Learning, an educational store gets me every time.  I always ooh and ah over all of the stuff that is in there.  Surely if I get all of this stuff the kids will learn more, right?  I rationalize to myself.  But the truth is that even though we've decided the no-spend year will not affect our schooling, we do not need any more supplies.  I've over bought as it is. 

American Girl was a difficult one (for about half a minute) to toss.  I don't want Emma to miss out on childhood because of the no-spend challenge.  But then I remembered that the dolls themselves are what make childhood so great, not the shopping, so I tossed them.  She needs to be grateful for the 4 dolls she has and not be shopping for more. 

Ulta always kills me. Do you see that?  Do you?  The one day sale thing makes me want to almost get up and run out of the house.  Almost.

I must buy the things!  But it is an almost feeling and so I restrained myself.  But it was hard! 

The Weekend

This past weekend was a blur!  We went to Chicago on the train to celebrate Calvin's birthday.  He turned 9!  How did this happen?  Can anyone tell me, please? 

I still feel like I am about 25 and have no clue what I am doing with motherhood.  Or Autism.  Or mothering a child with Autism.  There is still so much to learn, but anyway.

We realize that a trip to Chicago is not a NEED but we have a son who has talked about this trip for basically a year so then telling him last minute that he doesn't get his birthday trip due to his parents' weird challenge was not an option. 

We did however go through this weekend with a clear idea in mind of what we were going to buy and what we were not.  While these trips usually end up with us finding "deals" and stocking up on every little thing we see, this time, we did not. 

Dylan's Candy Shop?  We let them get a tube of candy and a small little something else.  Calvin got to pick one thing out at Lego as his gift.  We got Emma something at American Girl. 

For Birthday cake?  We decided on a couple of cupcakes from the Cupcake ATM rather than a whole cake. 

I saw SO MANY awesome things I wanted to buy mainly because there were gobs and gobs of things marked down on Christmas clearance. And it was really, really hard but we didn't get anything we hadn't planned. 

We had a lot of fun throughout the weekend, everything we got was a deal or at least a planned expense, and we were able to come home and not feel completely janky because we had spent way too much. 

It was a nice feeling. 

One of the not nice things about this weekend was how my view could get so a skewed by all of the nonsense of the stores in Chicago.  We stayed downtown so there was plenty of walking past stores like Cartier, Tiffany's, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, and more.  We came back to our hotel after a night of shopping and I couldn't believe how burdened I felt about those things.  Was it Jealousy?  Envy?  I don't know but after talking about it with Nick I boiled it down to the fact that when we are at home I feel content with what we have but when I am in Chicago I start to realize everything that I could have.  Do you know what I mean?  It was not a nice feeling.  In the end I reasoned with myself that that could forever be a never ending cycle.  If I had a new Tiffany ring I would want a Cartier or a newer one or a bigger one.  This could go on forever. 

---

So I am learning from this that it has to simply be the fact that you have to make the decision to be happy with yourself and what you have whatever that may be.  Sometimes it is a lot easier said than done.

I can't believe in the short time of one week how dramatically altered my viewpoint has been. I now go through our home looking at things with hushed tones and gentle fingers...it's all a reminder of how amazingly blessed we are. 

And while I could probably say, "let's go back to how things were, we're changed already" I don't think I can say that yet at all. I want to go through a hot, sticky day and teach kids the value of cold hose water; the joy of hard work and how good it feels to lay in bed after a long day and feel content and pleased with the work you've accomplished. 

It was a great week.  A difficult week at moments but a week that made us feel perhaps even more grateful for gifts and possessions than we would have.  For that, the difficulty has been worth it. 

Zulily has Jelly the Pug on Sale!

This blog post may contain affiliate links that help offset the cost of running this blog.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Eek, I couldn't wait to jump on here and let you know the news...

Now through the 19th Jelly the Pug is on Zulily! 

Jelly the Pug is my absolute fave brand for Emma!  Especially as she is getting older and more vested in what she is wearing each day, Jelly the Pug has really helped to keep the peace between us.  They sweet brands are "sassy" as little Kazoo says and the details like ankle ruffles, knee patches, or bows really help her feel like she is wearing something that is cool and far from boring.

I think that this dress has to be my favorite and it is on sale for only $17.99!  Regularly $48.00 you can see why I love Zulily so much!

I also am in crushing on this dress, the Hot Pink & Teal Love Birds Hannah dress. I love all of the patterns of fabric that they use and they way they mix them together. This dress is $17.99, on sale from $44.00!  So cute and ruffley. 

And if you are looking for a great Easter outfit or for a Spring tea I think this is just darling.  I love outfits for things like Easter egg hunts because they can have fun and they don't have to worry about sitting like a girl or bending over.  My Aunt calls these hippie pants and so does Emma now but we still think they are the cutest!  This is the Peach Sweet Heart Brandy Top and Pants.  This outfit is $19.99 and was originally $48.00.  Hello, you beautiful bargain you! 

So those are some of the Jelly the Pug over on Zulily that I am a bit obsessed with right now.  But hurry because the sizes and styles sell out really quickly :(.  If you are new to Zulily it is a bargain website that has new deals every day.  You have to be a member to shop but it's free to join! You can click here to join today and get to shopping for so many cute things...including Jelly the Pug!
 

Happy Shopping, sweet friends!

This blog post may contain affiliate links that help offset the cost of running this blog.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Shutterfly for Valentine's

I love Valentine's Day! 

Isn't it just so fun?

It always reminds me of the giddiness I felt when I was a little girl getting valentine's in a mailbox made of a milk carton or something at school.  Conversation hearts, glitter, lace hearts, I love it all. 

We don't do a ton for Valentine's but we get each other something small every year.  A lot of times Nick and I will go away for the weekend.  This year we are going away for the week after Valentine's to Wisconsin.  Nothing says love like the Cheese state, right?  Actually Nick has a work thing up there that week so it just made sense that if I went we could hang out at night.  And during the day we are staying in a hotel that's one of our fave's so I'm envisioning lots of bubble baths, reality tv show watching, and shopping at the nearby stores. 

Anyway, the week before Valentine's we send Valentine's packs to family members. This year I ordered Valentine's from Shutterfly.  They are so cute and I can't wait to mail them out! My grandfather passed away a number of years ago and his funeral was on Valentine's Day so I always make sure we send my Grandma something special for that day.  I think these will brighten her day!

Isn't this the most adorable card?  It could be because of our cuties :)  I sat the kids down and took these pictures before dinner a couple of nights ago, downloaded them, and found this cute card.  I love it! If you see from the card and the whole blog of mine, pink and blue are a color combo I love!  I gravitate towards it!  So these were perfect!

Anyway, since Nick and I are going away for Valentine's we won't really get anything from one another but I did want to get him something.  He's in his busy season with work so I decided to go ahead and get him something he could take with him on all of his business trips.

I made him this super cute luggage tag with an A.A. Milne quote on the back.  He always gets so lonely when he's away from us so I thought a little reminder from us of how much we love him would be nice. 

Check out Shutterfly for fun gifts for Valentines.  They have a really fast turn around and have so many cute layouts and backgrounds.  They have a deal going on now that home décor and gifts are 40% off, hard cover books are 50% off, and everything else is 30% off. 

This blog post may contain affiliate links that help offset the cost of running this blog.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Jane.com: Betty Necklace $8.99

**Update: This deal is over. Sorry, friends! *

Through Saturday, January 30th, Jane.com is offering This adorable Betty necklace for only $8.99 in 6 different colors!   

What a fun necklace to add to your collection! This necklace features a variety of beading making a unique and fabulous look. It has a great quality and will be one that you with tons of things

It is approximately 19.5" long with a 3" extender.

COLORS

• Coral

• Cream

• Gray

• Red

• Turquoise

• Yellow

I think I'm going to order the red.  I have quite a few items that would really make the color pop.  Remember these are only available through Saturday and you can check it out HERE.

Save Money by Making a Children's Clothing Inventory

If you read my previous post about girl's fashions you probably gathered that I am bit obsessed with children's fashions.  I love dressing our kiddos, especially Emma, but it is super fun to dress our handsome little man too. 

As much as I love dressing them and finding cute clothes the thing that makes me way giddy is finding deals on clothes for them!  That is why I love shopping at resale events! Have you ever been to these?  They are amazing and they are popping up all over the country. If you are interested in finding one there is an amazing website called Consignment Mommies that has a directory of resales around the country. 

The resale that is near and dear to my heart is getting ready to launch March 12! 

At our sale I am selling items this year and I will also be shopping. The sale is a Spring and Summer sale only so I am only shopping and selling things for those two seasons.

Since our sale is coming up I am currently getting items ready to tag to sell.  I realize that everyone does this differently but I thought I would share with you what I do to get our items ready to sell and to prepare myself for some serious shopping!

A couple of months before the sale I make a list of every type of clothing and shoes the kids have. As you can see I am clearly an old-school, write it down kind of girl.  You could always type it out and print it or just keep it on your tablet or phone.  But then you don't get to write with a purple pen so seriously, where's the fun in that?  :)

This serves as my master list for two different purposes.

The first way I use it is that we go through it and try on clothing by category.  Emma is old enough that she knows the way the list works, will look at it and decide what category to try on.  If she's feeling it we'll try on a two or three categories just to get through it. 

So here's what we do: We're at the stage of the game right now that they try on at least one category every day, we put everything that doesn't fit in a bag, and those things go into our guest room which is where I stage everything that needs to be tagged to sell. Some items get donated or I separate for family members but regardless, the too smalls go to the guest room to clear space. 

The things that do still fit get written down on the list so I know what clothes we have for the upcoming spring and summer. 

I then cling to this list like Rose to shipwreck. I mean, this sucker goes with me everywhere.  So when I am at the resale and I am looking at shoes I can pull out my list and see if Calvin already has a pair of leather flip flops or if he outgrew his.  Or with sweats.  Or bathing suits.  Or whatever. 

And I don't take the list with me just for the resale but also to Target or Gymboree or when I am looking on Zulily, or wherever.  I can pull it out and see what we need and what we don't.  I circle categories I really need and that reminds me to focus my attention on looking for items in those categories. 

These are the categories I use for a girls wardrobe (I'm assuming you can't read my chicken scratch in the picture there):

• sandals
• flip-flops
• flats
• Athletic shoes
• Slippers
• skirts
• Jeans
• Athletic pants (think track pants)
• Leggings
• Shorts
• Capris
• Tank Tops
• Short Sleeve
• Light Long sleeve
• Cadigans
• Sweatshirts
• 3/4 sleeve shirts
• Jackets
• Outfits
• Dresses
• Ballet Tights
• Ballet Leos
• Swimsuits
• Swim cover-ups
• Tights
• Camisoles
• Underpants

Of course you can alter this any way you see fit.  As I'm writing this I'm remembering that she will be in tennis this year and softball so I will need to add categories for tennis skirts, cleats, etc. As you can see on my picture above, I leave spaces based on what we have more of.  She has a ton of outfits, that's the way I prefer to dress her, so I left more room to list those.  You can tweak it however you want. 

For a boy's wardrobe these are the categories I use:

• Sandals
• Flip-flops
• Slip Ons
• Church Shoes
• Jeans
• Athletic Pants
• Pants
• Shorts
• Tanks
• Short Sleeved Shirts
• Polos
• Oxfords
• Long Sleeved Shirts
• Cardigans
• Jackets
• Sweatshirts
• Outfits
• Ties
• Swimsuits
• Swim Shirts
• Underpants
• Under shirts

So if you are planning on shopping at our resale or any resale, or anywhere for clothing for the upcoming seasons, you should make a list and write down the inventory you already have!  It helps you see what you already have, what you need, and how blessed you are by what you have!  It also helps you to not overspend because you won't be overbuying in areas where you already have enough. 

As an example yesterday I visited a Once Upon a Child and with the list I knew that Emma needed a new pair of sandals so I was able to snag some super cute ones for a song. 

Also as you can see I have these written right now on a pretty beat up old notebook which is perfectly fine.

I had this genius idea though!  I've been carrying a new journal around since September and I LOVE it!  I write everything in it...meeting notes, lists, business goals, etc.  So I will be transferring the lists over to the journal since I carry it with me anyway.  You can get your own here.  I LOVE Molly & Rex products, their illustrations are so sweet.  In my journal the pages are all decorated and so inspiring.  Love, love, love it. 

Happy Inventory Taking!

Field Trip Ideas for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Coming up on the 18th is MLK Jr. Day. In our family it tends to be field trip day.   The past few years we've been trying to go and experience different things on this day.  One we are all going stir crazy because it is the dead of winter and two, there are so many venues that have free admission so it is amazing to be able to go to these places where each of them would cost us upwards of $100 and we can go for free or simply with the cost of donations.  Amazing!

Not gonna lie, homeschooling gets expensive!  So with these places we feel so blessed to be able to go!  Last year we went to Indianapolis, Indiana and did a whole boom, boom, boom, event of seeing lots of different places.  First we started out at the Children's Museum, followed by lunch at The Tamale Place because it's our favorite place ever.  Ever!  It was featured on the Food Network and is simply amazing, fresh food.  

After a huge lunch we headed downtown to the Eiteljorg and the Indiana State Museum.  We then went to Conner Prairie before we decided to call it a day and head home. 

This year we may go about the same route but I have found that the zoo is free so somehow we will have to work that in!  There are so many amazing places.  Here's some info that I found abnout the places in the Indianapolis area.  If you are in the Midwest these may be worth the trip for you as well:

Eiteljorg

The Eiteljorg Museum is free with the donation of a canned food item for Gleaners Food Bank.  The museum is open 10am-5pm. They have a lot of neat kid areas in the lower level of the museum and they have a huge Totem pole that the kids loved examining and trying to figure out what the animals were. They also have a cool winter wonderland diorama type display with model trains called Jingle Rails set up and MLK Jr. is the last day to see if to for the year!  It is so fun to explore and meander through. 

Indianapolis Zoo

is free with a canned good donation from 9 a.m. -4 p.m. weather permitting. The hardier animals will be out and the indoor exhibits are open as well. 

Indiana State Museum

Indiana State Museum is free with a non perishable food item and is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. They have a huge S.T.E.M. learning center that is so much fun and they offer crafts related to the Civil Rights Movement.  They also have Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech playing continuously in their theater.  Last year when we visited we were able to see the Emancipation Proclamation that President Lincoln signed.  We talked with the kids about what an important signature on that piece of paper was and what it meant in the time of Martin Luther King Jr. We discussed what was better and what still needed improvement then as well as today.  Check their website because other historic sites they manage around the state are also free so even if you aren't in Indianapolis you may find one that is closer to you.

Last year the kids (especially Emma) were obsessed with their Foucalt Pendulum clock.  It is so much fun to watch and wait for. Make sure you watch it when you are there!

Children's Museum

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis  is the best in the nation and it is HUGE!  If you haven't been there you can easily spend the entire day there.  Serious. Open 10-5 there is so much for kids to do I am sure you all will love it!

Conner Prairie

Conner Prairie in Fishers, IN is free on MLK Jr. Day.  Please note that this is just the inside exhibits...it would be freezing for all of the walking outside!  Still there was a ton for the kids to do last year and they got to experience all kinds of experiments with electricity, inertia, and other concepts.  It was so much fun!

Others

Some other free events include the IMAX Theater, the Indiana Historical Society, and the Rhythm Discovery Center

I am sure there lots in your area as well.  I googled "free Martin Luther King Jr 2016 Indianapolis" to get all of the ones above. 

Anyway, we usually study about Martin Luther King Jr. the Friday before the actual day.  I think it is a super important day.  We always watch the "I have a dream" speech video, discuss it and then do a craft,  One year we made wreaths of all hands made with all different colored construction paper.  Anything can be done to bring home the message of unity.  We then usually get books from the library about Martin Luther King Jr. and study his life.  Anyway, it helps to study these things before we go on Field Trip day so that when we see exhibits for the day the kids know what they are fore. 

If you find any other amazing places with free admission be sure to let us all know in the comments section below. 

Happy Field Trip Planning!

Super Easy Valentine's Gift for Your Mom Friends

Finishing up some sweet hosted gifts for our cookie day today

A photo posted by Lindsay - Super Busy at Home (@superbusylindsay) on Dec 9, 2015 at 7:36am PST

If you follow me onthe Instagram you may have seen this photo I posted back in December.  Am I the only one who calls it "the Instagram"? 

Probably. 

Like old people calling diabetes "the sugar diabetes".

Oh Lordy. 

Anywho, I think this is going to quickly become my signature gift because

a) it was so super easy

and

2) it's super easy to personalize between each person even if you are giving the same gift combo to numerous people and

c) it's super easy relatively inexpensive (ha I was on a super easy kick so just had to throw that last one in there!)

Upon looking at my picture I realized you may not even be able to see what the heck I am talking about so allow me to divulge...

I went to my Mother in Law's for a cookie making day with all of the ladies in our family and I made a little gift of a dish towel with a cookie cutter hanging from it.  Two things you can use in the kitchen.  I got the cookie cutter because it was cookie day but I was thinking you could do it other times too. 

For instance, if you want to steal my idea I am getting ready to get some together for Valentine's Day.  I mean, all of my friends have kids so everyone is always using cookie cutters.  And who doesn't use towels?  Unless you're a troll living under a bridge you use towels.  I bet trolls even use towels. 

Try saying that three times fast. 

I'll wait.

Anywho...

I was trolling Amazon (ha with me now!) and found these cuties:

Aren't these so cute?  These are $7.88 and are eligible for free shipping.  And it comes with 2 cutters so you could split it between two gift bundles or give them both to the same friend. 

I love this hot pink Mama!  So fun and cute and it is such a great size for cookies!  Plus it is on sale for only $4.50, 42% off plus it's eligible for free shipping. 

You could pair one of those cutters with one of these sweet towels.  Aren't they just adorable? They're 100 % cotton which is always important to me because they absorb so much more! And they are $15.50 for three of them.  That's $5.17 a towel, ya know :)

I love these towels too but they're a little salty for my cheap self :) They're $27.97 for the set with free shipping eligible.  So if anyone wants me to give me a gift here's an idea, wink, wink, nudge, nudge :).  This set comes with one cookie cutter and four of identical towels.  These are just the cutest ever!

One of my kitchen staples is baker's twine.  You can use it to tie boxes but I seem to use it a lot to tie gifts.  Towels with cookie cutters for example :)  Or if you're giving someone a bag of something (chex mix?) it's so cute to put it in a clear bag and tie it with bakers twine.  Fancier than a Ziploc, speedier than light.  If you don't want as big a thing of twine there are smaller ones available. 

So with those three things you can assemble an adorable gift.  I just take the cookie cutter out of the packaging, string it through with the bakers twine, wrap it around the towel a few times and tie it with a simple bow.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy friends! 

So there you have it! 

Have fun putting these together!  It's so fun to give gifts to friends, isn't it? 

I'd love to know if you have a tried and true gift you love to give.  Comment below with what it is, I'm always looking for fun idea.

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Amazon.com: Over Half Off on this Doll Bike Seat Sale!

Emma has been asking for one of these forever and to be honest I've never seen one of these so complete and cool!  

Amazon.com has this set on sale today for 44% off!  Right now it's $24.95, regularly $44.95! 

It can go on the front or the back of the bike and it also comes with a water bottle, handle bar streamers, and a name plate to decorate.  So many cool things to put on a little girl bike!  

The bike seat fits all dolls and stuffed animals 18"-22", 

You can buy this set here! 

Note: This blog contains affiliate links.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Thanksgiving Printables Roundup

The week of Thanksgiving is a major drag when it comes to Thanksgiving.  In essence I'm supposed to be teaching them something but really my mind is preoccupied about making the turkey, and did I remember to get the heavy whipping cream and did I tell my mom to pick up soda?, and on and on.  

Basically I'm a hot mess any other day but Thanksgiving just kind of sets a 450 degree fire under me to elevate me into a bunch a lotta fun mess. 

But you still love me, right?

So we will be doing a lot of worksheets.  A lot of printables.  A lot of turkey, gratitude themed worksheets that will hopefully sneak some learning into my kiddos without them figuring it out.  Oh the twisted webs we weave...

So here are some things I've found on the world wide webs.  

Do you like how I say that like old people say "the sugar diabetes"? 

Of course you do. 

Here's what I've scrounged up for you...

I've been a fan of Free Homeschool Deals as long as the day is short and let me tell you, this time of year is no exception.  

This downloadable packet from Only Passionate Curiosity is perfect for those of us who more than one child because there are sheets on different levels. 

Then there's this entire e-book from Apologia that I can't wait to tear into!  Apologia is the publisher of the chemistry book we are using this year and so far I have been loving it! There are lots of little science snippets, printables, craft ideas, and more!  Super fun! 

Over at the Proverbial Homemaker she has a neat Thanksgiving Lego Challenge.  This set features lego challenges, copy work, memory verses, coloring pages, devotionals, and more!  So amazing for those of us with little ones obsessed with Lego! 

Confessions of a Homeschooler has a really great Thankful Turkey craft.  Lots of fun to cut everything, assemble, and talk about what you are thankful for. 

Confessions of a Homeschooler also has an adorable Thanksgiving Preschool Printables.  Full of different activities you can have fun with puzzles, pre-writing, graphing, and more.  I just love all of her products! 

So there you have it, my list of printables I have found! 

If you have others you'd like to share, please comment below.  I love all of your comments and read each and every one of them.  You guys are so precious to me and I am so THANKFUL for each and every one of you!  I hope these printables help ease some of the stress around the holiday so you can have a blessed time with your little ones! 

Note: This blog contains affiliate links.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

How Money Making Mom is Helping Me in My Quest for Awesomeness

Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity to be on a conference call with Crystal Paine.  And it was such a blessing.  

She is the creator of MoneySavingMom.com and is a New York Times Bestselling Author.  

Not to mention she wrote Money Making Mom which is being released November 3rd!  (but you can pre-order it now!!!  Go do it!  Click here  to go get it...I'll wait!) I am so blessed to be part of the launch team for the book and having read it I can tell you it is a-to-the-mazing! 

She's like Elvis to me. 

Like Spock to a trekkie.

Wow.  

So I figured I would only have the chance to listen to her but it would be neat so I did it.  And truth be told I almost didn't.  The kids had a harvest party at the exact same time but when I was talking to Nick in the morning he said "I really think you need to take that call."  So I did. Husbands are great for stuff like that. 

During the call, the moderator started reading questions that launch team members had written to ask Crystal; I was shocked when my question was read and then I had the chance to hear her answer it.  Later on in the call I indicated I had a question, never thinking that she would take my question. 

But she did. 

I felt like I was talking to Elvis. Or Alf, which is basically Elvis but cooler.  I'm not sure where I'm getting the hang up on Elvis, but let's just go with it shall we?

I asked her about keeping your self-confidence up and how to keep writing when self-doubt creeps in and you wonder why you should even write and/or you wonder who even cares about what you have to say. 

And the Lord must have known what I needed to hear because it truly felt like He was speaking through her.  She told me, "Lindsay, no one else has your story.  You are the only you.  The world needs to hear your story."  By the way I know what she said because I was frantically writing because I'm a dork like that.  You know it! 

Wow.  It was amazing and I thought she was such a good motivational speaker but as the conversation went on she didn't say "so and so's name, cool words, cool words, cool words" like she did with me.  It was truly heaven sent. 

Because if you've been paying attention it's been a little quiet on my end lately.  The self-doubt has crept in again.  I've been trying to fight it.  I've been trying my best to get the blog off the ground and running and trying to appear all cool when I'm not.  But I feel like I've been failing.  And if you've been around here, loitering for quite a while, then you know this is a broken record from me.  Lindsay writes, Lindsay feels like a fool, Lindsay doesn't write. And repeat. 

Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!

But I know this is a new page for me.  A new start.  Why you ask? Well...

I've been reading the Money Making Mom book and it has been simply amazing!  It got my creative juices flowing.  I've been lugging a journal around with me everywhere I go to write lists and hopes and dreams and just in general, to write. I love to write.  I always have.  When I was a little girl I used to BEG the teacher to LET me stay in from recess so I could work on a story I was creating. This book reminded me of that little girl: that I love to write.  It fuels me and makes me feel like maybe I'm not quite as awkward as I think I in real life am.  

The whole basis of the book, Money Making Mom is that all moms possess some star they can hitch their wagon to.  A God given talent that we can groom into something amazing.  I'm guessing (just guessing here) that we're not all going to come out of the gate making six-figure salaries a year but at least we can find something to do that will bring us joy or extra income to bless with or at least bring some grown-ups into our line of conversation before the monotony of cheerio scraping gets all seeped into our brains.  And isn't that what it should be about?  The blessing part, not the oat cereal goo that coagulates on high chair trays...you know what I'm talking about. 

I love this quote because it's not an inward, "what can making money do for me and my family?" perspective but rather an outward, God's love pouring out to help others through our talents perspective. That will help keep me pushing on when the walls feel like they are closing in and I lose sight of the talents and passions God has gifted me with. 

I really want to encourage you to go buy this book.  And if you're lazy like me and have dried glue on your sweatpants (I'm not even going to try to be cool today and call them yoga pants.  They're straight up, bought at K-Mart, sweats) from constructing zigurats then you can buy from Amazon.  That's how hipsters buy you know, so see?  You're one step closer to cool. I bet hipsters don't get dried glue on their skinny jeans.  I bet google would know...

And I bet that google knows that I'm back, Jack!  I've got a story to tell!! And it would tell you that Money Making Mom is a really good book.  Like I just did!  

In the meantime I'm working on conquering my fears and this doubt that Satan loves to bait me with.  And I'm working on understanding conference calls.  After multiple texts to my husband on the proper time to call in and how to do it and do I mute and this that and the other I realized that I have truly become a stay at home mom.  When conference calls seem foreign that fact kind of smacks you in the face like a good book.  A good book like "Money Making Mom."  You should go buy it. Work on it.  Amazon it.  Now.:)

Note: This blog contains affiliate links.  You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

31 Days of Living Well and Spending Zero Challenge

So I took the challenge this month from Living Well Spending Less' Ruth for their 31 day no spend challenge.  

She explained at the beginning that this would look different for every family.  For us we already had some things on the agenda that would mean we are spending money.  For example I know that we are entertaining and hosting family from out of state this month.  We went apple picking this month.  And I know we are going to run out of toilet paper before the end of the month.  All things we know we will be spending money on and have budgeted for so we are prepared.  

For us what this means is that when we are out and about we will not get the extras: the starbucks, the costco icecream, the dollar section at Target's toys, the anything else I can think of.  Also, we have a huge amount of food in our home so we will be eating from that and figuring out meals rather than going out to eat or running to the store for more food.  By the way, typing running to the store while we have this huge amount of food at home seems weird but that is exactly what happens.  Lame, I tell ya,lame.  

So on day 3, which was a few days ago she challenged us to come up with meals.  Due to my monthly grocery shopping I have lots to chose from.  And I still have over $100 in my grocery budget left for the month.  Meaning that if I can feed my family from what I already have rather than continuing to buy more then I can pocket that $100 plus for other things.  Hello start on Christmas shopping!  

While I have never joined a no spend "challenge" or anything formal before we have done these no spend times on our own before.  I usually do them when the kids have been driving me nuts about toys.  

I cannot stand when they beg and beg and beg for something, you buy it, and then they care so little about it by the time you get home from the store that they forget it in the car.  Or when they HAVE to have something or will apparently explode or something and then lose it and have no idea what you are even talking about when you ask what they did with it.  These are all true stories, folks. Sad but true.  

So I've put no spending into place when I want them to realize what they have.  And it shockingly works!  Are you bored?  Let's go over to this art area where we have a million and one art and craft supplies and you can find yourself something to do.  You have nothing to play with?  Why don't you play with the 57 Imaginext sets you have that you haven't touched for 4 months. 

And before you know it, they aren't bored, I've drilled into them an important lesson, and I feel like we are saving money by not buying things that we don't even need anyway. 

So there you have it.  I'm not spending any money this month.  How about you?  Would you like to take the challenge as well?  You can head over to her blog and read all about it for yourself. It's amazing and organized and you can even get emails daily from her on what to do.

If you decide to hop on the no spend express, please let me know!  I'd love to know who else I am doing this with and we can all offer one another encouragement along the way!  And in case you want to get caught up on what she has spoken of you can check all of the previous days and challenges out here.  

Hotel Life with Kids

Our family is a traveling family.  

Not a hand me a tambourine kind of family. 

Or a gypsy kind of family. 

This is the second year of my husband traveling for work and every once in a while the stars align and we get to go with him.  I think that is one of the best rewards of homeschooling...every place is our classroom and most times we can go with him on a whim to wherever the road takes us.  

Now I feel like I should say (in case any big whig corporate people ever stumbled upon this) that we are very picky about traveling with Nick.  We don't cost the business any extra.  When we go out to dinner, he pays for his with his corporate card and the rest of us are on our own ticket.  But when work is already paying for him to drive and stay there then why not take advantage of a deal for our family and snatch it up.  

*My disclaimer here is that upon accepting his position my husband made it clear that his family can travel and that was what he wanted.  They graciously agreed.  So if you are thinking of doing this with your family, please make sure it is okay first.  It makes you feel a whole lot better that you don't have to be sneaky or anything.  Moving on...

As I homeschool the children we are a one-income family meaning that I like to save money wherever possible.  And something about traveling makes the frugality in me come out.  Also, kind of the hobo in me come out.  Or the McGyver-ness of me come out.  Not sure but I start to feel like "give me a coffee maker and an outlet and I'll be good to go".  

I have spent a chunk of my life pinteresting and googling hotel living and while I have found some, I can't say I have been overwhelmed with helpfulness or anything.  

Anyway, since I have stayed in a hotel room with children about 4 times in the past year I feel like I've gotten pretty good at setting up a good base camp and keeping the kids occupied cheaply and easily. So I thought I would share some tips I have.  Whether you are staying a long time or just going somewhere for vacation these will hopefully be helpful to you: 

* Stay at a place with the following: 

-pool. Let's face it, anywhere with a pool makes it feel more like a vacation.  Plus what swimming kiddos can help but have a good nights sleep after swimming?  I pack two bathing suits so I can dry one while they swim again without a cold suit. 

-mini fridge. You can basically bring anything with a mini fridge.  I personally like to bring my own coffee creamer so I can fix my coffee how I like it at home.  When you go out to eat you can also take the leftovers back to the hotel for another meal.  Money saver!!!

-microwave.  Heat up the leftovers.  Bring along popcorn to munch while you watch a movie. Whatever...I'm guessing you know how to work a microwave so I'm moving on. 

-a coffee maker can be your best friend.  Here is what I've done with it.  Made coffee, ha!. Ran hot water through for hot cocoa.  Made hot water for Ramen soup. Made hot water and dumped it into a tub that had a temperature control so I couldn't get the water hot enough.  I am sure you could think of other things. Basically if it has to do with hot water, you could do it with a coffee maker.

-free breakfast. Read free breakfast also as: future snacks for your kids.  Most breakfasts have pastries, yogurt cups, and fruit which can all be brought back to the hotel room for a snack for later on. Another thing I will take from there are two coffee cups, packs of hot cocoa, and stirrers.  When we get back from the pool my kids love having hot cocoa to warm up.  I also love getting the hard boiled eggs from the little fridge for myself for a protein packed pick me up in the afternoon.  Also, when you have the mini-fridge you can put all of this in there.  Oh and I have to remind you to grab plastic cutlery!  It's hard to eat ramen without a fork or spoon.  It's very interesting to do!  It feels like some type of youth group game.  Anyway, get silverware. 

Just do it.  I mean it. 

Our two favorite hotel chains so far have been: 

Holiday Inn Express (we have had NO luck with straight up Holiday Inn hotels though)

Springhill Suites (A Mariott Hotel) 

These two have had all of the above necessities for us.  

Here are some helpful items to have/take: 

*Plastic hangers. When we go anywhere it always seems like they have those hangers with the little rod with a ball that attaches to the thing on the rod to become a hanger so you can't steal.  Which by the way do not work too well in the shower.  So I pack 5 little kid plastic hangers so I can hang bathing suits on them and hang them on the shower rod.  Amazingly this works so much better than trying to drape wet suits all over God's creation.  And they dry so much better.  

*A knife.  Not like a shiv or anything but a nice kitchen knife.  A lot of times the buffets have little cups of peanut butter by the bagels so a couple of those with a cut up apple makes for a great afternoon snack for little kids.  

*Plastic Bags. I try to bring a trash bag from home for dirty clothes.  It makes keeping the room tidy with four people so much easier when you can just chuck all of the clothes you've used into one bag.  When we get home that bag goes right to the laundry room and the rest can be put away. I also save plastic bags from take out, purchases, whatever that we collect while there.  I use them for trash.  Hotels must be really proud that they have the world's smallest trashcans because they are always inequitably tiny.  And with 4 people there for days on end it always ends up getting too full.  They are also good for dirty shoes, beach items, whatever.  

*Food.  I'm not saying by any means you have to bring bags and bags of groceries but a few items will save you some serious cash.  Here are my staples I bring and how they save me: coffee creamer (I don't run to Starbucks anymore!), microwave popcorn (saves you from running out for a snack), fruit (this REALLY helps keep my kids, shall we say, regular? while on vacation and eating junk food galore!), ramen noodle cups (we never eat these at home but at hotels the kids LOVE them). 

*A Netflix Account and a way to watch it.  One of our last trips we went to a small city and there really wasn't much to do.  There were playgrounds and a couple of fun outdoorsy things but it poured for two days straight and we were running out of things to do.  The hotel had maybe 5 channels on a good day and none of them were kid appropriate.  I have no idea what I would have done if I hadn't had our computer.  I set it up and we had popcorn and hot cocoa and watched a movie.  What could have been the worst, most boring day ever was turned into a rainy day memory save for the Netflix.  

Here are some organizational tips I have for staying in a hotel room with kids: 

*Unpack.  I mean it. Before we started traveling regularly we hardly ever used the dressers in hotels or even unpacked at all.  We would just take out what we needed as we needed it and then shoved it back in when we were done.  Wrong!  The best thing I have found to keep me sane is to unpack.  Nick still hates unpacking and most hotel dressers have 3 drawers so I use one drawer for my things and one for each kid.  I unpack everything from their bags and then find somewhere to shove the bags.  It's so great to not have those things to be tripping over.  In a couple of hotels I've even taken them back out to the car so we didn't even have to deal with them.  

*Set up stations/areas. In the area below the nightstand table I put all of our books and activities.  On the desk I put all of our charges, nooks, phones, and computer.  In the kitchen area I put all of the food (genius, I know).  In the bathroom I put all shower stuff in the shower and everything else below the sink. I put the bag for dirty clothes by the front door or in a closet.  It makes it easier to find things when everything's not just jammed together in bags in say, the closet area or somewhere.   

*Put your purse by the door.  And repeat.  When you're leaving it's easy to find.  If there's a fire it's easy to find.  It's just easy.  Don't put it by an open door but a normal, safe, closed door is just fine :) 

*I feel like Ross Geller from Friends telling you to do this but...Get a late check out.  Just ask.  We've never not been able to get a later check out.  It takes away some of the stress to get out the door and if the kids want to have a last minute swim it's a lot easier to get everyone showered, dressed, and out the door when you have an extra hour or two.  

So there you go.  I hope some of these help you and save you some sanity during your next trip with your kiddos!  Please feel free to share any tips you have...Lord knows I need all the help I can get! :)