A Time to be Thrifty

There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up. ~Prov. 21:20

A friend of mine has a blog where once a week she posts what she was able to get at the thrift store for $5. I love this because I love a good find at a thrift store or tag sale. One of the best finds we ever got at a thrift store was our LLBean kid carrier (the back pack kind) for $6 and it was in brand new condition. We still have it and use it! This past weekend Ben and I stopped at some yard sales and went to the thrift store...it was a luxury for us to stop at yard sales because we were alone for the weekend and this is something that is NOT fun to do with all the kids. My best tag sale find this weekend was a brand new pair (never worn because her kid out grew them before he could wear them) of Nike sneakers that will fit Noah this fall for $5!! Pictured below is my $5 thrift store finds!

1. Rescue Hero (which we collect here, the boys love them!) $.10
2. Melissa & Doug Pirate's Bounty floor puzzle $1.99
3. Unfinished wooden tabletop bowling set from millstores (I thought it would be fun for the older boys to paint these on a rainy day) $1.00
4. Ripley's Believe It or Not Book (Noah loves these fun facts/informational-type books) $.10
5. A Yankee Candle topper (which matches things in my bedroom perfectly!) $.99
6. An old-school deck of cards the CU used to put out. I remember these cards from my grandparents house and these were new in the package so they come with a little nostalgia for me. $.50

A Time for Cake Stands

In Columbia Falls with Robin
& Tony

A couple of weeks ago we went up to Columbia Falls, ME to stay with some friends for the weekend. Robin is into antiques and her home is amazing. She took me out "antiquing" to some different places around their area and in talking she mentioned to me a craft making cake stands she and her grand-daughters do. I fell in love with the idea and decided to give it a try myself. As soon as we got home I went to the flea market down the road from our house to get some supplies.

I remembered this particular flea market has tables full of dishes and odds and ends all for $0.25 a piece. What you need are plates, any kind that you like. Then find candlestick holders or something similar for the base. I found what you see pictured. I tried to find plates that reminded me of someone to give it to them as a gift once it's made. To get started find a plate & base then you'll need a strong glue. I used amazing e-6000 that I found at Walmart for under $4. 

I chose this plate because it made me think of my aunt, Joyce, who now lives in GA. She entertains a lot and I thought this might be a fun piece for her to have to serve a desert of some sort. And if she ends up not liking it then it only cost me 50 cents to make!! 

Once you've made your selection make sure you wash the plate and base well and dry it before you begin. Take the glue and cover the rim (the area the candle would go in) of the candlestick holder with the glue. The tricky part is getting the base even on the plate so that it's centered. Apply light pressure to the candlestick once you've placed it on the plate for a few seconds to get the glue to hold. Leave it for a few hours before you try to pick it up. 

My finished product

What I love about this craft is you can be so creative as there are so many different kinds of plates and candlesticks. I love looking around flea markets so I'm really looking forward to the challenge of finding just the right base for just the right plate! If you decide to try this craft I would love to see your finished product!

A Time to be Forgetful

Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy

 righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? ~ Psalm 88:12

This handsome little boy LIVES in the "land of forgetfulness"! If any of you have any ideas on how I can get him to not be so forgetful that would be great! The nice jacket you see him wearing in this picture was lost on the playground a couple months back. He got hot and took it off and left it on the fence. We keep checking the lost and found but it hasn't turned up. I'm really bummed because I had this plan. The plan was to buy an LL Bean jacket so that it would be good quality. I bought it for him a little big so we could get 2 winters out of it. Then when he was done wearing it I could keep handing it down to his brothers. I'm really bummed my plan didn't pan out and I'm left having to buy another coat for next winter with no jacket to pass onto the younger ones. Then yesterday as I'm going through Noah's school folder I find a note his teacher made him write me that said, "I can't find my glasses" with a side note from her saying he hasn't had them all week. Ahhhh...seriously! So I spent a good part of the morning tearing his bedroom apart hoping to find them. No luck but we're not giving up hope. Is this is a boy thing and I have this to look forward to 4 times over? I don't think I can handle it! :)

A Time to Get Creative

Free from the dump!

I don't know how the black flies are at your house but at our house it's awful! The kids last about 20 minutes out there before they're begging to come in because they are being eaten alive. This morning was particularly bad so after being outside for a little they wanted to come in. I felt bad because they have these really cool metal dump trucks to play with in the dirt. This spot keeps my boys busy for a long time, they love it. My friend has been doing this thing on her blog where one day a week she takes $5 to the Goodwill to see what she can get. I love this because Ben and I love thrift shopping, but even more than that...DUMP shopping! This is an activity that was passed down to my husband from his dad. I'll admit the first time my husband came home with something off the side of the road (which is basically like getting it at the dump) my pride wanted nothing to do with it. It was a wooden clothes drying rack in perfect condition. After years of warming up to the idea and realizing that ones mans trash really can be another mans treasure I'm much less resistant to the idea. The metal trucks that you see in the picture are the perfect toy for boys and all of these we got free at the dump. A couple of weeks ago we acquired two more because someone was giving them away...along with a hose reel that I have been wanting for about 4 years now. Every Mother's Day I would ask for one but my husband thought that for the price he'd rather get me something else. FINALLY I have one and it was free! 

Because the the boys wanted to come inside I decided that I would get creative so they could still play with construction vehicles but not have to deal with all the all the flies. I took two old cookie sheets and covered them in dried beans. I gave each of them a pan and they got to push around the beans, load them in the truck, on the trailers, etc. They had so much fun doing this and the clean up was really easy and not messy. It sure beat getting eaten alive although I am hoping after nap time to get out there again and enjoy this beautiful day! 

A Time for Preschool

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the 

fear of the LORD ~Psalm 34:11

Preschool at home that is! We have not sent any of our kids, so far, to preschool. It's not that we are against it we just haven't felt led to do so and since I stay home and am more than capable of teaching them the basics to prepare them for kindergarten, I do. Before you know it, it's time for them to start school and if you don't feel led to home school, which we don't, then they're off and it comes so fast! I just don't want to miss these precious years and feel willing to put in the effort myself to teach them while I still have them at home. Gabe is so excited to start Kindergarten. When Noah and Owen come home and tell us about their day Gabe will chime in and say things like, "yeah well you know what I did at school today..." When Noah and Owen politely tell him he didn't go to school today he insists he did because in his mind that's where he is. It's so funny!

Gabe and Will have their own backpacks now for preschool with a workbook, crayons, and of course, a snack! The workbook I am using is called Number and Counting for the preschool level. I really like these worksheets and they don't take a lot of time, which is good, because Gabe's attention span is almost non-existent! I happened to find my books at Marden's for $1.99, which was a steal! I also got one in Math for Noah and Owen's age group so that they can still keep up with their math over the summer. I did this last year with Noah and it seemed to help. A friend of mine also lent me the flashcards she used with her son called Hands-On Learning-ABC's. Her son and Gabe have similar personalities so she suggested doing what she did to keep him interested. She would hide the flashcards around the room and then tell him to find her the letter "A". He would then go looking for the flashcard that had "A" on it. I haven't done that part yet but we've looked at and discussed the cards and these are the best flashcards I've seen so far. They're great and I highly recommend them. The other preschool at home tool I recommend to help your child learn to read is the book called 100 Easy Lessons to Teach your Child to Read. I was able to borrow this book from a friend. There are other methods and books out there for doing this so it's just a matter of finding one that works for your child.
The other book I've been wanting to recommend is a devotional book my sister-in-law bought the kids called Fins, Feathers, and Faith by William Coleman. We read one devotional from this book in the morning before Noah and Owen go to school and all the boys really like them. 
I know a lot of people worry about their kids socialization but really for us not only do we have plenty of kids in this house for them to socialize with they are also at church 3 times a week with other kids, go to Good News Club with other kids, we have play dates with other kids, they socialize at the park, at the lake, at birthday parties, etc. There are so many opportunities in everyday life for our kids to interact with other people that I just don't feel the need to send them to preschool to get that and they were not at a disadvantage for it when they started kindergarten. Everyone has to do what best for their family but for us this has been the way to go and it has cost us a whopping $6 for 4 kids so far!

*TIP* For Noah and Owen I took the preschool workbooks that my sister had bought but never used then gave to me and ripped out all the pages I liked. Then I put each page inside a plastic protector and put that in a 3-ring binder. We then bought dry erase markers and so I wasn't using up paper. We would just erase it when they were done and it could be used again. I still have this and plan to use it later in the fall when Gabe is older and more responsible with markers, haha! For now he loves the idea that he has his own workbook and papers to stick on the fridge just like his big brothers!

A Time to turn One

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth ~Psalm 127:4

Jena's friend, Talia, who was born
2 days later. Happy 1st birthday
girls!

Jena will be turning 1 on May 3rd so we celebrated her birthday this past weekend. We are so thankful to all of you who came and spent the day with us. The pictures and video are for our family and friends who couldn't be with us. Enjoy! 

Will looking for eggs

Mmmmm, cake!

All the kids after the egg hunt

Uncle Dave made a surprise appearance!

Aunt Jenny & "Auntie" Lynsey

  

A Time for Jelly Bean Topiaries

Jena's 1st birthday is coming up and for the theme I choose to do jelly beans because we call her Jena Bean and because I didn't love anything the stores were selling. I do not normally go all out for birthdays. All the kids have had a 1st birthday and we always celebrate with family, sometimes extended family sometimes not. I honestly feel birthday parties have gotten a little crazy when it comes to how extravagant some can be. Then again, who am I to tell people how to spend their money!  I say all this to say that for someone who isn't usually into big birthday parties, I am going nuts with Jena's party. I think it's because she's my first girl and let's face it, she's spoiled and I'm a little obsessed with her. My mother-in-law sent me this link for instructions on how to make a Jelly Bean Topiary. I fell in love with this idea and decided I would make these for Jena's party. I tweaked it a little to make it my own as you can see. It was a little time consuming but so worth the effort. I love how they turned out. 


What You'll Need: (to make one)
Approx. 150-200 long pearlized pins
1 foam ball 
Long wooden dowel
A bucket 
Green foam 
Moss or colored grass
Approx. 3 bags of jelly beans
Ribbon (optional)
Rocks


I did not paint my foam balls, I left them white. Start by taking the dowel and making a small hole in one end of the foam ball. For the jelly beans any brand will do. It's up to you what color you want them. I happened to find the Jolly Rancher brand for $0.88 a bag at Marden's so that's what I used. Start pinning the jelly beans to the foam ball. You can do this however you want. I went in a circular pattern for one and for the second did a more random pattern. Stick a long pin in the middle of the jelly bean to secure it to the foam ball. Do this till it's completely covered. Place the green foam at the bottom of the bucket. When the foam ball is completely covered with jelly beans stick the wooden dowel into it then place it in the bucket using the green foam to secure it. I had to use rocks to weight down the foam once the topiary was in place because it was too top heavy. Then cover the rocks with moss or colored grass. If you like you can tie ribbon around the dowel. It's that easy!