Monday, October 31, 2011

Preparing for Winter

On occassion it actually does freeze here in desert. I hate going outside in the cold to cover all the pipes.
Taking my Dad's advice I wrapped the pipes. I used the foam from the old trampoline. Cut it to size, then up the middle and ducktapped it secure.  Cost: 0.00  Love it when we can use what we have.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Ribbon Bookmarks

A friend sent me this cute idea she found on Pininterest, simply adorable. Thanks Barb! We love to read and now have a great way to mark our spot!


Currently our family reading is in the spirit of Halloween Goosebumps The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb.  Mondays we add a short lesson on A Smart Girls Guide to Manners for our weekly manner lesson.  I found a note and a book on my bedside table. The Hunger Games, left by my daughter Teagan who said I should read this book for myself. Love it!   We have been enjoying our Halloween picture books, with the little ones too.  Today we are off to the library to check out new books!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Spooky Dinner

It doesn't feel like fall, didn't look like fall either as I enjoyed watching the kids play on the trampoline and play pool in their bathing suits all afternoon. 

One of our favorite traditions is our spooky dinner party.  Last night the kids insisted we do spooky dinner. I hadn't really planned it completely out..but the impromptu dinner turned out fun. We used some of our crafts we did over fall break as decorations:
Our Spider chandelier

Pinata ghost the girls made

Center piece..the kids loved the dry ice

Dinner Spider burgers

Thier favorite cookies with some friends
After dinner we did the pinata and played some games. My camera died but here they are:
1.  Glow in the dark bug hunt    2.  Wind up halloween toy races
We ended the night with a Goosebumps movie.   Happy Hauntings!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The Grocery Game



I thought I would join in on the linky discussion of keeping in budget at the grocery store. I believe Susie Orman stated one of the biggest wastes of money is at the grocery store.  Here are the ideas that work for feeding 6 jellybeans on a single paycheck! 

Use what you have first!
Stock up on what you use regularly when its on sale.
Try store brands
Try new cost effective recipes
 I use a $2.00 rule on buying meats. Trying to buy whats on sale under $2.00lb.
We plan meals with what is on sale and with what we have on hand.
If you use coupons: A binder method is fantastic.
Use it up if its getting close to expiration, that is what we use first.
Less meat, more beans and veggies.
Quality food, not processed foods.
Cook at home, cook and freeze. Make foods easily edible, cut up the cantaloupe, watermelon.
Using a crock pot allows for cheaper cuts of meat.
Lastly, those last few pieces of corn or greenbeans in the serving pans get saved into a bag in the freezer, for later use of "garbage soup"  a free meal that would have been otherwise tossed in the trash.

I wish there was some big secret, if  you know it, please share. Check out what other families do to save at the grocery store.  

http://raisingolives.com/

Monday, October 10, 2011

Big Sister Teagan

Teagan is the oldest of my 5 girls and I just need to take a moment to give her the thanks and praise she has earned. I say thank you all the time, but sometimes you just need to put it in writing!

Thank you Teagn for all the work you do without being ask to keep our home in order and the girls taken care of!  You are a blessing to me and to our family.

I admire Teagan for going outside of her comfort zone and being part of student council, signing up for Battle of the Books and striving to reach her academic goal.

Have a wonderful trip with Gma and know you are going to be missed by all of us, but especially me!
love your expressions! Caught ya
I'm proud of you and I love you more then words can express!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Jellybeans Race for the Cure

This morning we headed out to walk for the cure! We all had such a great morning to help such an important cause.  Be the Cure!
Heading to the race!



We did it!!


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Homework

I consider my self to be at least slightly educated earning my masters degree from ASU. Accept now I wonder if I could pass 2nd grade?  Think its just me? Give this a shot:

Directions:  Do the Sentence Correction Activity. Have your child read the sentences and highlight or box the exception sounds. 

1.  Which man is the best host?
2.  Wind up the top and let it spin.
3.  Jess has a bad cold.

How did you do? Seriously...so I had to get a tutoring session to figure it out, thank you Ms. Danbury for saving me!

Actually homework usually isn't so frustrating.  We play a variety of music during homework time, jazz, big bands, carribean.  The School Agers work on their homework or practice their math facts.
The younger jellybeans do learning activities. 


Ms. Pearson, does this look familar? We sorted by kind and then by color.

DeAnn


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta II

The wake up call came at 3am our body time, 4am Albuquerque time...yikes! The sacrifice of sleep was definately worth the glorious sights.  If you've never been to the fiesta, I strongly encourage you to experience 500 balloons from all over the world! 
Dawn Patrol lights up the "night" sky!  Stunning!!

It starts!

Love all the overlap and colors

Told you it was out of this world!
Folks come from distant galaxies!

The kids and I loved the special shapes

Now they all want to go up, up and away!

Albuquerque has a lot to do, we spent the rest of the day at the aquarium and the butterfly and childrens gardens. The girls really enjoyed this special day!  Thank you Colleen for inviting us out!