Everything's Coming Up Green

Archive for the ‘Family fun’ Category

 

Well it is official. Samantha Jane was born March 1st at 11:12pm weighing in at 8lbs 14oz and 21 inches long! She is a beauty and a treasure! I will be taking a week or so off from blogging to get to know my new little girl and become aclimated to our now family of four. I will be post soon a list of the upcoming kids consignment sales in the Omaha area so stay tuned for that!

   Since all my energy is going to chasing after a one year old and keep house as I count down the days until baby girl is born, I don’t have the energy to make use of my creative juices. So instead I have been sitting at my laptop and collecting ideas, much like a gardener makes plans and collects seeds all winter in anticipation for spring. So as I wait for my spring, I thought that I would share with you some of the inspirations I have found out there is blogland. I hope you enjoy!

Birthday Party Ideas-All the links I have here are for girl parties. If you find any great ideas for boy parties please share!

Simple Sage Designs has some very festive and beautiful ideas- http://simplesagedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/02/birthday-bash.html

Giggles Galore has a beautiful princess theme- http://gigglesgalorenmore.blogspot.com/2010/01/party-fit-for-princess.html

Here is a very cute Abby Cadabby themed party-http://yourlittlebirdie.blogspot.com/2010/01/abby-cadabby-birthday-ideas-decor-and.html

 

My Current Favorites

Tea Rose Home has a tutorial on how to make a jean corsage- http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorial-jean-corsage-got-old-jeans.html

Smashed Peas and Carrots has a great post on how to make your own reusable produce bags- http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2010/01/reusable-produce-bag-tutorial.html

I want to make this sketch book for my girls when they get older-http://www.simplymodernmom.com/2009/12/kayes-sketchbook-caddy/

I am so going to make these marble magnets some day soon!- http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/marblemagnets/

I hope to share with you more inspiring ideas as I find them!

  Well Christmas is over. This year Joel and I tried to start some family traditions. This is not our first Christmas with Emma, but last year doesn’t really count since she was only a month old having been born the day before Thanksgiving. And the fact that I didn’t even bother to pull out any of the Christmas decorations for the same said reasons.

So this year we were establishing a few traditions with the hope that if we start now they will truly become family traditions and not just failed attempts.

Here are a few we tried this year, how well they worked, and what I would do different next year.

Family Christmas photo cards and letter. First I would start by taking said family photos earlier so that A) we can take advantage of all the great freebies that are available and B) so we can get them ordered and to us in a timely manner they arrived 3 days before Christmas and have yet to go out.  I also would not take the pictures so late. We decided we would do them when we celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents because we were putting up the Tree that day and thought it would be nice to have them taken in front of the tree. And since my brother is a photographer and would already be there it seemed it would all work out smashingly. But dinner didn’t start until 3:30 and everyone was tire after dinner so tree decorating got pushed off. By the time we got Emma dressed for pictures it was after 7pm and time for her to go down for the night. She didn’t really fuss but she didn’t really smile much either.

We will for sure be doing this next year. I just need to be prepared earlier, including starting on the letter sooner.

Decorate the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving at my parent’s house. This overall worked out well. We had gone out to my parents’ house the night before so that I would be there to help with dinner preparations in the morning. I had Joel get out the rest of the decorations and the tree from the attic the night before so that mom and I could sort through what we needed for the next day. In the morning I put up the Christmas tree with the help of my wonderful husband during lulls in the kitchen. Having the tree up and fluffed ahead of time really helped. I would try and have at least the lights on ahead of time next year, maybe even the garland. The guys weren’t too interested in putting ornaments on the tree but next year Emma will be old enough to really enjoy it. On a side note, my mom was so grateful to have family there to decorate the tree and some of the house. When you are a teacher who sometimes doesn’t get much time off before the holidays having time set aside to decorate and family there to help can be a huge blessing and gift. We will definitely be doing this for many years to come! 

Celebrate Christmas morning at home with just us and the kids.  Well, this sort of happened. As many of you know the Midwest got a loooot of snow the night before and the day of Christmas. My parents live out in the country so we knew there was no way we would make it out there the day of Christmas like we had planned. So sadly we made a compromise. We had our Christmas at home with Emma in the afternoon on Christmas eve and then headed out to my parents’ house before things got too bad. Though it was not Christmas morning we still had a great relaxed time and enjoyed having family time with each other and Emma. Plus it was fun being snow in out in the country the whole weekend. Next year will be a different story. We rotate holidays with the parents and Christmas is in Kansas with Joel’s family next year. We will just have to be a little creative.We absolutely love this tradition and will be keeping it for sure. There is nothing that can replace intimate family time

 

Handmade gifts for Christmas.

I tried my hand at this with a couple of Emma’s gifts. I made her egg shakers with different items inside that made different sounds. I also made her jingle bell bracelet things. Basically it’s just ribbon sewn into a loop with bells sewn onto it. I had a lot of fun doing this. I have to fix both of the jingle bell bracelets since one of the bells came off and the other I didn’t sew it far enough in to keep it from pulling apart. I also have two egg shakers to re-glue. I used super glue but apparently it wasn’t so super after all. I may try a hot glue gun.

I want to do this again next year. I may even set a goal to make everybody’s gift. We shall see. I am addicted though. I know Emma’s gifts were simple but you have to start somewhere right?

 

Make Christmas Cookies.

Mom and I worked on this the weekend before Christmas. We made 3 batches of dough. Let’s just say it was a little bit of overkill. I think I ended up eating half of them myself (not good, but oooh so good). It was a lot of baking, but we had lots of fun talking and icing/decorating them. Having brightly decorated cookies everywhere made it really feel like Christmas. Emma helped me cut a cookie, but after she got her hands on a little piece of dough there was no going back. All she wanted to do was eat it!

What I would do differently- I had intended to give away way more cookies than I actually did. This was in part because we made them so late so I would definitely start earlier in the month next year. I also needed to have a better plan for who I was actually giving gifts to. This year I only needed them for gift boxes I was making for Joel’s work and a last minute Christmas part we were invited to. I also want to try using a “glue bottle” from a craft store filled with icing to decorate them. I saw it done on TV and their cookies turned out amazing!

In the end I think we will be keeping all the traditions we tried. Next year I want to add making a gingerbread house with Emma. I know she will only be two but I think she will enjoy it. I picked up a gingerbread kit after Christmas for just $2.49 and extra candy decorations for $.50 a bag. I also got a foam manger for us to assemble. Maybe that can be a father/daughter project, we’ll see.

What traditions do you have in your family? Did you try anything new this Christmas?

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Well we started kind of late this year on our baking day (last weekend to be exact), not that I can compare to previous years because this is the first time in my adult life we have had a Christmas cookie baking day. And really it was two days for us. Partly because we decided to have our baking day the day after my mom’s last day of school which was at the end of a very long week, and partly because, well, we thought we’d do a triple batch and we really only needed to do a double. But we got them done with a little one year old in toe to boot! Also during our baking extravaganza I made chocolate covered apricots as well as cranberry and pumpkin mini loafs. We had tons of fun cutting out cookies and frosting them. Emma even helped me cut out one. After that she was more interested in trying to eat the dough than help me press down on the cutter. Next year will be lots more fun though, and I can’t wait.

Why was I doing all of this you ask, because I had decided that I would do gift boxes this year for my husband’s boss and his business partner. I am one of those people that like to put together baskets herself instead of purchasing prepackaged ones. I like the challenge and as I have become better at couponing and, well, baking it has become even easier and more fun! You can go here to read my post about what I put in there and the cost of it all.

I am hoping to do some more cookie baking before the baby comes around Valentine’s Day so that I can bring cookies to the nurses at the hospital. They were so phenomenal when Emma was born that I would really like to bless them and say thank you. Of course this all depends on when baby girl #2 decides to grace us with her presence!

I thought I’d share with you the recipe for the yummy cookies we made.

Butter Cookies

 

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

3 cups flour

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Salt

 

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour baking powder and salt and add to mixture. Chill 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-8 min depending on size of cookie.

Frosting: Mix milk and powdered sugar. Should be slightly runny. I added a little vanilla as well. Just add desired color and have at it!

   We are fast approaching Thanksgiving Day and though we are not hosting the holiday at our house we are busy with preparations for our trip to Kansas to celebrate with hubby’s family. We will also be celebrating our beautiful daughters first birthday which lands on turkey day this year.

   It’s amazing to me the laundry that suddenly appears when you are washing in preparation for a trip, and I am bound and determined to have the dishes washed and the house clean before we leave tomorrow afternoon. There is really nothing quite like coming home to a clean house. It is so much easier to start a new week knowing you are not behind the ball. I also plan on being well rested for this extended weekend. There is nothing worse than starting out the holidays out of town exhausted. We shall see if all my plans come to fruition. I’m not holding my breath but I do think it’s attainable. 

   My brother will be house sitting while we are gone but we will be sure to turn the temp down before we leave to save as much as we can on utilities. Every penny counts these days and with the cost of utilities going up you gotta make that penny sing. Now that E. is a little older and it is easier to add layers on her the temp is going back down a little, at least until kiddo #2 comes along in February.

Anyway, enough of my babbling. What are you doing in preparation for the holidays?

    July 30th is national cheesecake day! And who is proudly celebrating this glorious national holiday? None other than The Cheesecake Factory of course! This year to celebrate they are offering 1/2 off slices of cheesecake, any of their 30 flavor! You can go here to find a location near you.

Thanks moneysavingmom!

The kids still have a few weeks left before school resumes for the fall and I’m sure more than one mom out there wishes school started next week. So I have gathered a few options in several price ranges to make the most of whats left of summer and some that will potentially continue giving during breaks later on in the school year.

WHAT YOU CAN GET FOR…

$1 or less

• Check out AMC’s Summer Movie Camp every Tuesday at 10am this summer. For just $1 admission you can see a great kids movie. To find out if your AMC is participating and the movie schedule visit http://www.amctheatres.com/smc/.
• Or for an even better deal Great Escapes is offering FREE admission Tuesday through Thursday this summer for their Children’s Film Festival. Movies start at 10am as well.  Visit http://www.greatescapetheaters.com/Theater.html?zip=68110&theaterid=0&Submit=Get+Times for details.

Both theaters are offering similar movies but on different days so if you missed a favorite flick at one you might just get lucky at the other.

• Many Omaha Public Libraries are offering free event for all ages. Go to http://host2.evanced.info/omaha/evanced/eventcalendar.asp for details.

Under $25

• A Nebraska state park permit will run you $21 for the year. This has endless possibilities. You can go biking for the day, some parks even have pools. For a list of state parks and events go to http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/parks/parks.asp. 

About $50

• A year membership to the Durham Museum

  Basic membership benefits include admission for 2 adults and dependent children living in the same household or up to 4 grandchildren. This includes all traveling exhibits.

Around $75

•    A year membership to the Omaha children’s museum.

 Membership includes admission for two adults living at the same address and their dependants under the age of 18. At $7 a person, a family of four would more than pay for the membership in just three visits and with exhibits always changing there is always something new and educational to experience. This also great because its indoors this great to kill time during the winter months.

•  A year membership to the Omaha Henry Doorly  Zoo.

Membership is $73 if purchased before April 5 and $83 after that. I know its already July but think next year. For example my parents gave our daughter a family pass for Christmas. You could easily make it a family gift and give each child a small stuffed animal to go with to get them excited. Assuming that you have two adults( $11.50) and two children in the house under the age of 12 ($7.75) you would have the membership paid for in just two visits! If your children are 12+ it is an even greater savings.

Do you know of any great deals around Omaha that really stretches a buck?