Three Kings Day on Tech-Free Thursdays

Epiphany - Three Kings Day January 7th 2011

The Epiphany just happened to fall on a Thursday this year, so that was the theme of our Tech Free Thursday this week. I did some research to find some good ideas, as I didn't have any gold, frankincense or myrrh laying around to show the kids. I found a great blog Motherly Loving that had some great ideas that we used. She included blessing for your house and the blessing for the piece of chalk that you use in the blessing. I remember back in Grade School doing this blessing throughout the school classroom doors. I had forgot about it. I remember dressing up as "kings" with two of my friends Kit and Jean and going around to all the classrooms with the chalk and blessing the doors. I know I have a picture of us three dressed up somewhere in my house, and searched for it, but was unable to find it. When I do, I will scan and post it. I think it would have been fun to show my children too.


Here is Ali doing the blessing over the front door of our house. I went onto Nick.com and found more Epiphany ideas including making your own crowns. I printed the ones that you can download from their site, but was not the happiest with it. So we cut them out and covered them with tinfoil and added our own decorations to them.


Matt did the blessing over our mudroom door, which lets face it, is the most used door in our house. We tried the Lamb's Wool recipe on the Motherly Loving blog, but I have to admit, we didn't care for it very much. But it made the house smell real good with the baked apples.

Timmy, being a little shorter than his brother and sister, got to bless our patio door to the deck. He was not tall enough to write above the door, so he stood on the chair and blessed the side of the door. We kept telling him that this is the only time he will be able to write on the walls. Other Epiphany ideas I read about were spice cakes. I just happened to have a box of spice cake in the house, so we made that up also. We hid a Hershey Kiss in the cake for the prize. When cutting it up the boys were so excited to see who was going to get the chocolate, because that person is blessed with good luck throughout the following year. Jeff ended up getting the chocolate, and was hoping that the good luck would start right away.

This was a wonderful night filled with many different activities all centered around the three kings finding the baby Jesus. This is a tradition that we will be doing every year from now on.

Electronic Free Thursdays - Sledding

What do you do after over 16" of snow falls the weekend before? Why you go sledding on your Electronic Free Thursday!

We were lucky enough to finally get a good snow fall in the Twin Cities over the past weekend. Sure everything came to a stop for awhile, but it made for great sledding conditions. My daughters Girl Scout troop was planning a family sledding adventure, and we went to enjoy the crisp 12 degree night.

All the kids had a great time on the lit sledding hill in the neighboring town. We even ended up the evening with a bon fire, smores and hot cocoa. Little chilly at the end, but my kids said that they had a blast. It was nice to do a physical activity rather than a Christmas craft during the month.

I have attached a video for you to see just how crazy some of the kids are. What a great time, but the snow won't stay around too long. After a good snow fall everybody heads out to the hills, and it gets warn back down to the grass pretty quickly. Glad we had the opportunity to get our sledding in.

Electronic Free Thursdays

We finally got into a groove of doing our Electronic Free Thursdays!

We planned to start at back to school time, but with two boys in football and my daughter in tennis, there wasn't a free evening that we were all home at the same time. So in comes December. What a perfect time to get Christmas crafts and projects done around the house!

This past Thursday we did paper ornament crafts:

These are the finished projects, Origami Paper Wreaths and Paint Sample Balls.

Paint Sample Balls what you need:

8 Paint Samples (large & solid colors)

Large circle punch, or a circle cutter

Tacky Glue

Clothes Pins

Start by cutting all eight paint samples into the largest circle you can by either using a punch or circle cutter. Then on the back sides take a dull exacto knife and score a triangle into the back of them. I did not measure, which is why ours didn't match up perfectly, but I didn't mind. Fold the triangle parts up to make flat areas for gluing. Start gluing one flat section to the next clothes pinning along the way. We found that two clothes pins per side worked the best. Glue four sections together to form a bowl, then do the other four sections together. It is then easier to just combine the two bowl shaped pieces. Let them thoroughly dry and glue in a ribbon for hanging, or just place them on the branch. Each one will be unique depending on the paint colors that the kids pick out.

Origami Paper Wreaths what you need:

2 sheets of 12X12 scrap booking paper

Glue

Paper cutter

I didn't take individual pictures of how to make these, but they are basic origami triangles. I learned how to make these from Martha Stewart with On Demand Programming. You can also see how to make them from this You Tube video. She very nicely shows you the same fold that I taught my kids. I was unable to find the directions on Martha's webiste, but be sure to check OnDemand if you have that service.

These were the favorites of myself and the older kids. My youngest found it to frustrating and ended up just cutting our leftovers into smaller pieces, keeping him busy.

Happy Earth Day 2009

Get out there today on your walk, and pick up trash along the way.

Bring in your cans to the recyclers today.

Bring in your bags of clothes to the thrift store today.

Challenge yourself to see how much you can recycle today.

See how much water you can conserve today.

Change out your light bulbs to CFL's or LED bulbs today.

Make a difference today.

Earth Day E-Cards

How do you save paper while still sending your friends a great message about Earth Day? Send an e-card. No paper needed, just a few minutes of your time to create them.

Click here to go to WWF's Earth Day e-cards, and send them to all your friends. If they are eco-friendly friends, they will enjoy the thought. If they are not currently eco-friendly, maybe they will see how cool it is to become eco-friendly.

Help spread the word. Send an Earth Day e-card today.

Easter Basket Challenge

Here is my personal results from the Easter Basket Challenge. I took pictures off all three kids baskets, and priced out what they each got and how much I ended up spending on them.

Ali's basket: Basket - $.99 90% off clearance Target last year
Tank Top - Free Aeropostale coupon
Shorts - $1.94 clearance at Target
2 Goody hair elastics - $.12 each at Wal-mart with $2.00 off coupon
Small chocolate bunny $.33 3/$1.00 at Wal-mart
Wind up bunny - $1.00 section at Target
Peeps - $.88 Wal-mart
Giant cookie - $1.00 Wal-mart
Bottle lotion - $2.00 - Cub Foods with coupon
Laffy Taffy - $1.88 Wal-mart
Chocolate Bunny $2.99 - Target
Total for just Ali - $13.25

Matt's Basket: Basket $.99 Target clearance

Tag spray - $1.25 - Cub Foods with coupon

Big bag of Pony Beads Kit - $3.99 Wal-mart

3-pack Golf Balls - Free with coupon to local store

Bag of Tees - $1.99

Cadbury mini eggs - $1.88 Wal-mart

Giant Cookie - $1.00 Wal-mart

Mini Chocolate bunny $.33

Wind-up bunny $1.00 Target

Big Chocolate bunny $2.99 Target

Peeps $.88 Wal-mart

Aeorpostale hat $4.97 - 70% clearance

Matt's Total - $21.30

Timmy's Basket: Basket $.99 Target

3-pack Play-do - $1.88 Wal-mart

Giant cookie - $1.99 Wal-mart

Addition Flash Cards - $1.00 Target

Stuffed bunny - $1.00 Target

Small chocolate bunny $.33

Wind-up Bunny - $1.00 Target

Bubble Wand - $1.88 Wal-mart

Giant Chocolate Bunny - $2.99 Target

Peeps - $.88 Wal-mart

Giant Cookie - $1.00 Wal-mart

Bag of peanut butter cups - $1.88 Wal-mart

Timmy's Total - $16.82

I will post pictures on Monday with what the Easter Bunny does to our house in the morning. It's pretty funny, and the kids enjoy it more than the actual candy I think.

Cheap Way to Dye Easter Eggs

My family has been dying Easter eggs in this fashion for about four years now. I have to be honest, covering the kitchen table in newspaper, digging out old coffee mugs, and soaking color tablets in vinegar does not sound like a good time to me. Plus that much vinegar makes the house stink for a couple of days. A few years back I found out how to "Tye Dye" Easter eggs, and we have been doing it ever since.



All you need is a sink, a strainer, hard boiled eggs, vinegar and regular food coloring. Start by hard boiling your eggs, and let them cool completely before coloring. In a strainer over the sink place the first egg. Cover the egg in vinegar. Vinegar is so very cheap, and we all have it in our house already, don't be afraid to really cover the whole egg. Be sure to do it over the sink for easy clean-up.

Add drops of food coloring, one by one. You can do just one color, or multiple colors. Experiment with colors.

When you have all the colors you want, slowly and gently wiggle the egg in the strainer. The more you wiggle it, the more the colors will blend. The less wiggling, the more of a tye dye look you will get.

My older kids do everything but covering with vinegar. They add the color and wiggle the eggs. They also rinse the strainer between eggs to not mix the color to much. You must rinse between eggs, or they will all come out muddy looking.

Ta-da, tye dyed Easter eggs. This way is neater, just rinse it down the sink. Quicker, it took us about 30 minutes to do 24 eggs, 8 per kid. And I think they are more unique than regular eggs dipped in cups. You can still use the crayons to write on them, or rubber binders to make stripes. This is mostly just a different way to do the actual dying. Plus you don't have to spend the $4.00 to buy the dye kits anymore!

Our short video of wiggling the egg.

How do you dye your Easter eggs. Do you have a new way for us to try next year? Leave a comment and share.

Easter Basket Challenge

I know that Easter isn't just about eggs and tons of candy, but my kids would be shattered if they did not get a visit from the bunny. Every year I make their Easter baskets up from different thing I have collected throughout the year. Each child has a basket that is filled with unique things just for them. Only one year when we were getting back from a family vacation the day before Easter, have I ever bought one of those huge pre-made baskets. I enjoy the ones made with love in mind.

So this year I am posing a challenge to all my readers....an Easter Basket Challenge. Keep track of how much you are spending on one of your children's baskets. Try to keep it as low as possible. When the baskets are complete, take a picture of it and compose a list with costs of the contents. E-mail it to me & I will post them to share with everybody. I think it will be fun to see how everybody else does there baskets.

I already have the baskets (bought last year at 75% off) and a few stuffers. But Easter is only 50 days away, you better start thinking! You can leave comments as you go to keep everybody informed on how you are doing. Or post pictures on your blog and let us know they are there.

Happy Easter!

Free Say Yes to Carrots Lip Balm

Thanks to Money Saving Mom for this great lip balm deal. I went to Walgreen's today to get two tubes. I figure since they are called Say Yes to Carrots, I would put them into Ali's Easter basket. They even had a carrot flavor. I can't decide if that would be gross or tasty. Below is a copy from her post, by the way, I used Valentine's candy for next year as a filler.

Walgreen's has Yes to Carrots products priced at 25% off this week, making the lip balm approximately $2.76. Stack this $2/1 manufacturer's coupon with this $1/1 Walgreen's coupon to get free lip balm.

Note: because the coupons will take off $3 and the price of the lip balm is only $2.76, you'll likely need to throw in a cheap filler to enable your order to ring through properly.

Valentine Coupons to Print

These were always the most fun to make as a kid. If you have a computer and printer, they are cheap and fun to make. Make them for your kids...husband...friends...whoever. Just remember to have fun with them!

Here are some different sites to print off your coupon books:

About Homeschooling

Activities for Kids

Valentines Day A to Z

Valentines Games you can Print & Play

Family Fun "Check Blank" coupons

MSN's Printable Coupons

Happy Birthday Jesus!

I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas. May you enjoy your friends and family in a warm house with lots of food on the table. It is not about the presents you are unwrapping, but about the people you are sharing your time with. Merry CHRISTmas and God Bless you all! Michelle aka Mom is Broke

My Black Friday

I have to admit, this was the cheapest Black Friday I ever had.

Instead of shopping at the crack of dawn, my husband drove a car to Kansas City and back (15 hours round trip) while the three kids & I cleaned out our unfinished basement. It took us around 10 hours to sift through all the junk. We ended up with two full garbage cans for pick-up and four bags to go to the thrift store for donation.

We found things that we had been looking for, and Timmy found toys he had forgotten about. The kids can now roller blade and Timmy can ride his big wheel all winter long downstairs.

So while everybody else was fighting for the newest toy and getting upset about not finding parking spots, I had a lovely day with my kids and got a huge job finished. By the way, we finished up the night eating sugar cookies we made and watching Polar Express. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Black Friday.

It's Never to Early to Think About CHRISTMAS!

With all the great deals going on for school supplies, it got me to thinking about Christmas Shoeboxes. Samaritans Purse is a wonderful charity that distributes Christmas Boxes to underprivileged children all over the world. You can click here to get all the directions on how to pack your own Christmas box.

Step one:

Get a box.

If you shop at Target you notice that the majority of their shoes come in boxes. Obviously if you are in the market for new shoes, just use that box. But you can ask your Target cashier if he/she has any empty shoe boxes in their garbage at the lane. You can also go through the shoe department and pluck out boxes that are already empty. Lots of people don't want the bulky shoe box at their home, so they just take the shoes and leave the box. Be sure to ask if it is OK before you leave the store.

Step Two:

Decorate the box.

This is optional, but it makes for a fun project for little ones. We have decorated our with everything from paint, contact paper, to wrapping paper. Use what you have around the house already. The wrapping paper doesn't have to be Christmas paper, just cheerful. You can also use old paper grocery bags and decorate with stickers. Use your imagination. Be sure to wrap the box "Hollywood" style, so you wrap the bottom separate from the lid of the box for easy opening.

Step Three:

Fill the box.

This is by far the most fun part. There is a detailed list of suggestions to pack on their web site.

This is the list of items NOT to include:

Used or damaged items;

war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures;

chocolate or food;

out-of-date candy;

liquids or lotions; (including Purell products)

medications or vitamins;

breakable items such as snowglobes or glass containers;

aerosol cans,

So aside from the above items, use your imagination again! Small toys, beauty supplies, school supplies, clothing, socks, hard candy, etc... Make sure it will fit into the box, and fit in as much as you can. You can also include a letter and picture of your family if you would like.

Step Four:

Drop off box.

My kids and I normally make a day of this. We talk about how these boxes will help children all over the world. They are even normally planning their boxes for the next year at this point. This is the link for drop off locations, they do not have the 2008 year updated yet. Drop off this fall is November 17 - 24th, so they can get them to the children by Christmas time.

What my family does:

I am always on the lookout for inexpensive toys and clothes to put into my box. I start shopping for our shoeboxes the day after Christmas. This year we have Target clothes (shorts & tops) that I got for $.74 each, harmonicas that were $.24 each, small stuffed animals $1.00 each, and countless crayons and coloring book for real cheap. This year thanks to discovering CVS, I already have countless tooth brushes, tooth pastes and deodorants. Go into your freebie stash to see what you can use too! If you are always looking for inexpensive toys and such, you can fill the boxes easily in the fall. I have a large box in my pantry that I keep putting the "finds" in. When it comes time to pack them, we sort through the stuff and see what fillers we need.

It is a great family tradition in my house, and teaches the kids to be grateful for what they have everyday.

So, while you are finding the great back-to-school sales on supplies, why not get a few extra crayons for a quarter and send them to some kids who would really appreciate them.

Getting Ready for the 4th of July

My kids and I just finished our craft project for the 4th of July. To check it out click here to my other blog: Michael's in my Basement.

Above is the picture of how things turned out!

One Week Until Father's Day

Here are some free or practically free ideas for Father's Day this year:

(That's my Dad above!)

Father's Day Screen Savers

Magazine Subscriptions:

Sportsman

Bassmaster

Total Landscape Care

Field & Forrest

If you are planning on giving a magazine subscription,

I suggest you make a certificate to tell him about it!

Coupon for Free Onion Rings at TGI Fridays

Duct Tape Wallet

Free Printable Greeting Cards

Father's Day Poems (to make your own card)

Father's Day Wallpaper (computer)

Father's Day Bookmarks

Kids Craft Projects

Father's Day Booklet to print

Coloring Pages

Songs for Kids to Sing to Dad

Family Fun.com's Fathers Day ideas

Virtual Tie to E-Mail

Father's Day Printable Coupons

More Coupons

More Coupons

Download Coupon Template here & Make your own

The kids are giving a bucket filled with free after rebate items we picked up at Menards. They are all tool type stuff, and I know he will like them. But what if you didn't get those? Do you have some men freebies you received in the mail? Target's dollar area has enough stuff to make a great car wash gift basket, with towels, mitts and even car wax all for a dollar! Dollar stores often have tool areas in them. Find a unique tool that he doesn't have yet, and didn't know he needed. And then there is always the way to most men's hearts......food. Cook him up a special dinner of all his favorites. Even if they don't seem to go together. Steaks on the grill with pancakes and tacos do go together when it is all the foods he loves. Just be sure to explain the concept to him while he is sitting down to dinner.

What are your freebie & inexpensive ideas for Father's Day. We all have one week left to get it all planned. Help others out buy commenting with what you are doing this year.

My Kids Teacher Gifts

It's that time of year again, Teacher gifts. My kids are on the 7 day count down now, and won't let me forget that they only have 7 days left of school.

On my other blog Michael's in my Basement, I have posted what my kids teachers are getting this year. They are lovely buckets filled with my deals from Bath & Body.

My good friend Michelle has posted on her blog Leaving Excess, about what she is doing for her kids teachers this year. Hers includes a recipe for bath salts that she has given in the past.

What are your kids giving their teachers this year? Do you give a gift card, or do you do something different? Leave a comment for others to get ideas too!

My Target Shopping Trip 3/30/2008

Well my shopping trip started out early today. I was scheduled to work 9-5 today, when I noticed alot of Easter coming through my lane. I did not know that Easter went to 90% this morning. I asked to take my first break early (before the after church crowd came in). I bought 22 stuffed animal Easter baskets! They were Spiderman, Transformers, Superman, Disney Princesses, and lots of animals like dogs, turtles, snakes and such. These will not only work great for Easter next year, but for Halloween Trick-or-Treat baskets this October. I can also use them for baby shower baskets, or for the kids to just play with! By the way all 22 baskets and a bottle of vitamin water.......$19.92. Now that's Easter shopping.

After work I hit the grocery part of the store. I ended up with:

8 bags of Goldfish on sale & using this coupon

10 microwave Campbells soups with coupons from Sunday paper

2 Apple Cider jugs on clearance

8 lunch sized Flat Earth Chips with these coupons

2 Clean & Clear trail sized with coupons here (and on clearance!)

1 bag Iams cat food with coupon here

2 small bags cat food with Sunday papers get one free coupon

1 Bottle of Windex with coupon from Sunday newspaper & Target register coupon

3 bottles of marinade on clearance

All total before discount & coupons $66.79

After coupons & discount $28.63

My kids were so happy to have so many flavors of Goldfish in the house. And my husband was happy for the different flavors of soup for lunch at work. And I did all that before even opening this morning Sunday paper. Now I have to go through that and see what else I need...like the Yoplait!

April Fools Joke Free Million Dollar Bill

Go here to get your free one million dollar bill! You read that right, free one million dollar bill. Wouldn't this be a great April Fools joke. Not sure how fast they ship them, but it will be fun if I get it by the first!

Saving $$$ on Easter

My how the kids have grown since last Easter. With the budget being so tight this spring, the Easter Bunny is going to have to be a little more creative with what he brings. First of all our bunny like to play little tricks on the three kids. He ties a piece of yarn to each child's bedroom door. Everybody has there own color. Then the yarn is bounced through the house where only bunnies could hop to. They are all tangled together and sometime even go outside. The kids wind up their yarn and follow it's path, and at the end is their Easter basket filled with all the goodies. The older kids have harder yarn mazes while the toddlers is quite a bit easier. Our bunny has been doing this for a few years now, and the kids are already asking if it is going to happen again this year. With the weather turning warmer (finally!) it looks like the baskets could end up in the back yard this year.

The baskets themselves are going to be stuffed with my coupon finds. From M&M's to Valentine kisses, free make-up to a CD I won on the radio. I also bought some t-shirts and clothes at 75% off at Target after Christmas. Their baskets are Easter buckets that I picked up last year at 90% off at Target after easter. I think I paid $.19 for them. I got Easter grass for $.29 and need to still get three chocolate bunnies, but after that I think I am done. I will be buying more for next year after Easter this year. Always planning ahead, as long as I don't forget where I hide them!

Here are some deals that I found that you can take advantage of:

Free printable coupons to stick into the baskets. They are kind of hokey, but could be fun for older children.

Here are some other free coupons to print out for their baskets.

The Disney online store has up to 25% off on many Easter items. No coupon needed but use coupon code MARSITE10 for 10% off your order on top of that. Go to this site to get in on the deal quickly before it is to late.

Print some free coloring book pages for the little ones while they wait for the Easter ham to finish cooking. The older kids can work on mazes, crosswords and unscrambles that you print from here to keep them occupied.

If you don't know what to do with all the candy in their baskets, here at Hersheys there are lots of craft ideas to use up some of that candy.

And don't forget the real reason we celebrate Easter. Here is a printable Easter story for children. You can print it and read it to all the children. I am going to make my older kids read it this year, they need the extra reading time due to spring break anyway. There are even questions at the end to ask the kids to get a conversation going. Make sure that your kids know that Easter is about Jesus rising for our sins, and not about a bunny giving us candy.