Preschool Planning

I decided we are taking the jump this year. 

Andrew is trying to write letters on his own, he can recognize most letters and numbers and other milestones. I am gathering plans and getting ideas together to get things printed off and ready for preschool. 

I plan on doing two to three days of school a week. If we don't get that many, we don't. If we get more, we do. He's only four, so we are still early and don't have to buckle down. 

We will do a letter a week or every two weeks, that part we will play by ear. I have collections of free printables for letters, letter books and bible stories and coloring pages to go along with. You can find most of those on my Pinterest boards. I'm working on getting all the preschool pins consolidated into one board, but haven't gotten there yet except with new pins. 

I plan on doing blog posts for the different because a lot of my resources I have gotten from many wonderful bloggers who are kind enough to share their worksheets and I want to give them credit as I share, this will be done much easier if I do a week by week blog of what we are working on. I also have a preschool activity workbook that you can pick up at pretty much any major retail for around $15. I'm honestly not sure where mine came from, but it's here and unused.

We will do a Bible story with each letter, a coloring page to hold Andrew and Eva's attention while I read the story. Letter work will include learning letters, names and fun activities. Numbers will include the same along with shapes and colors. I will also print off worksheets to help him learn how to write his name, phone number, address-the repetition will also help him learn it. 

My greatest resource for art supplies will be Dollar Tree. They have a great variety of everything-including containers to keep it all in, so when I get my supply list together and I have checked my craft cupboard to see what I already have, it's off the Dollar Tree we go. 

Shopping Trip July 17

So I started making my shopping list..and hubby kept adding to it... So it's his fault! LOL 

In all fairness, we did get some good sales, so yes, I went over.. And at the two week mark I'm going back to shopping for a month. 

Fareway Food Stores
Red Grapes 2.24 lb at .99 a lb 2.22
Green Grapes 1.51 lb at .99 a lb 1.49
Hormel Little Sizzler Sausages 4 for $5 5.00
Oscar Meyer Bacon two at 5.79 each 11.58
Nutty Bar 3.89
Yogurt .50 each 14 7.00
Sweet Cream Butter 2 at 3.99 each 7.98
Spaghetti Sauce 1.49
White Grape Juice 3 at 3.29 each 9.87
Apple Cider Vinegar .99
Parmesan Cheese 2.99
Ground Beef at 1.99 a lb One tube of about 10 lb was 19.97, one tube was 20.04
Pepperoni 3.29
refried beans 2 at 1.69 each 3.38
Total of 107.25


Bakery Outlet
6 loaves of bread .75 each
3 packages of hamburger buns 1.15 each
Total of 7.95


Dollar Tree
Paper Towels 3.00
hot Tamales 1.00
Chocolate Covered Raisins 1.00
Whoppers 1.00
Spaghetti Noodles 1.00
Coffe Filters 1.00
Tortillas 2.00
Animal Crackers 2.00
Total 12.72


Total for the Day was 127.92
Total for the month was 375.88

And that is why we decided to go back to once a month-although, in my defense, hubby added yogurt and we got some meat sales. 

Happy shopping!

Ads are out! Shopping Trip July 17

Ads are out and I'm loving these sales! 

Normally I would just stay in town and save the gas, but since I went shopping on a holiday I couldn't go to the bakery outlet. So we are in need of bread. 

I have three stores on the list this week-the bakery outlet, Fareway Foods and Dollar Tree.  

Fareway had some awesome sales on ground beef-$1.99 a pound with the coupon in the ad-so make sure you grab that ad on your way in the door! 

Here's the ad links. Have Fun! 

HyVee
Fareway Foods
Sunshine Foods

Shopping Trip July 4

I know I'm way late with this post. You were probably wondering where it went. 
I didn't get to it last week because I was out of town, and my parent's don't have unlimited internet so I didn't take my computer to be able to write a blog post or two while I was down there.. So, here it is, a few weeks late lol. 

As expected, there were many stores closed on July 4th. A good thing about this is that you know what stores actually care about their families and employees of such, makes me want to shop at Fareway and the bakery outlet all the more. 

Also a side note to my readers who use coupons. Please-for your sanity and the store's, read the coupon policy and adhere to it. Don't ask the clerk checking you out to violate this policy 'just once', don't make a big deal out of it.  Just follow their policy. That clerk violating that policy 'just once', could make them loose their job.... We were unfortunate witnesses to a disgruntled blogger who was also ad shopping with coupons-she threatened the clerk that she would leave a bad review, all because SHE wouldn't follow the store's coupon policy and wanted the store to waive the policy just for her. Those extreme couponing shows have made stores set many limits-that is one of them. So if you use coupons, make sure you know the policy and follow it. That's all, it's not that hard. 

I was able to go to Sunshine Foods, Sam's Club and Hy-Vee. 

Sunshine Food Stores
Cottonelle 12 pack 5.98
Mozzarella Chunk 2 at 1.67 each 3.34
Cheddar Chunk 2 at 1.67 each 3.34
Old Orchard White Grape Juice 2 at 3.99 each 7.98
Marshmallows 1.50
Bar S Franks 4 at .88 each 3.52
Marinara Sauce 1.99
Baking Soda 16 oz 3 at .89 2.67
Nutty Bars 3.99
Baking Cocoa 3.59
Big Buy Bacon 4 lbs at 2.99 a pound 11.96
Rice 9.46
Ground Beef at 2.39 a pound. I got two family packs which were around 4 pounds each. Total of 18.72
Lettuce Head 1.99
Total of $84.85

Hy-Vee
Sweet Cream Butter 2 at 1.98 each 3.96
Hungry Man Meals (hubby needed something to eat while I was gone) 6 at 3.28 each 19.68
Whipped Cream 2 at .88 each 1.76
Tortilla Shells 2 at 1.98 each 3.96
Hamburger Buns 3 at 1.28 each 3.84
White Bread 4 at 1.28 each 5.12
Popcorn kernels 3.58
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 16 oz 4.98 (plus a .01 off per gallon of gas)
Total of 49.69

Sam's Club
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast 10.23
Sun Chips 11.66 with a 3.50 off coupon 8.16
Angus Hamburger Patties 16.98
Chicken Patties 10.98
Shaved Ham 5.98
French Fries 6.98
Vinegar 4 gallons at 3.58 for 2 gallons 7.16
Sugar 3.98
Chili Powder 5.28
Eggs 3.59
Flour 4.69
Hamburger Buns 2.99 with a 1.00 off coupon 1.99
Pop Tarts 6.15
Mayonnaise 2 pack 5.78
Granola Bars 7.93
Total of 112.48

Grand Total of $247.02 
That leaves me $52.98 to spend at the two week mark.. Since I couldn't go to the bakery outlet I do plan on spending the gas and going this week, I just have to finish my meal plan and go from there. 

Ads are Out! Shopping Trip For July 4th

Yes, you read that right, I'm shopping on the 4th of July. Am I crazy? Yes. But, in all fairness, it's mostly my husband's fault.  LOL He's getting extra hours in at work Friday so we are shopping while he is working. 

I was really hoping for some good deals seeing as it's a holiday, but I guess good deals are out the window anymore. HyVee has a great deal on ground beef at $2.99 for a pound chub-hopefull they won't put a limit on it before I get there. Sunshine beats that deal at $2.49 a pound. Fareway and Sunshine are having two day sales on the 2nd and 3rd, but not the fourth. 

My biggest hurdle this week is seeing if Eva will get over the pox by shopping day. She still has a few blister that haven't popped. 

Here's the links for the ads. Enjoy!

HyVee
Fareway
Sunshine Foods

Chicken Pox!

Well We've got them. Good ol' chicken pox.  It's just my two year and baby, but my boy is gettin fever sweats, so we are waiting to see if he is going to get them or not.  

I had planned on going to get calamine lotion to help with the itch for the girls, but Eva discovered that coconut oil works just great-plus we already had it in the house, so we are happy that it works for more than one reason. 

Eva has probably gone through a cup of coconut oil in the last day betwee putting it on the blisters and eating it, she's my little coconut addict.  

So we found another use for coconut oil.  At any rate, I'm glad she's getting some relief from the itchies.. 

After some family fireworks, my sister found this site.. At a risk of starting a debate.. I'm posting the statistics on contagious period..

CDC Chicken Pox Information

I find it very interesting that the vaccine that they say is supposed to protect us from this, makes those who get it contagious for longer than the actual disease. 

At any rate, if you are faced with the chicken pox, get some coconut oil and let them go to town. 

And from the words of my two year old 'Mommy, I have chicky dots on my butt'. :D

Cherries Cherries Cherries!!!

I think I have mentioned before that we order from a Fruit of the Month Club. 

Well, technically my mother-in-law is the member, so we give her the money and then sometimes take her to get the fruit. 


This month the fruit was cherries. We got 12 1/2 pounds of fresh picked cherries.  We picked them up Sunday after church and I was in a hurry to get them taken care of so they didn't mold on us and didn't get a picture. 

I scrubbed the sink then soaked them all in a vinegar and water solution, about 1 cup vinegar to a half a sink full of water.  I let them all soak for about ten minutes, then started working on them. I read somewhere that they remain juicier when they are frozen whole (that, and I had a grumpy baby so was just trying to get them done).  

I froze ten pounds of destemmed cherries in one pound increments in freezer bags, labeled, of course. The rest was destemmed and stuck in a bucket lined with paper towels with paper towels in about three layers throughout the bucket to catch water drips to keep moisture out.. I need to redo this today to help keep moisture away. This method worked with the strawberries we got and I was able to keep fresh strawberries in the fridge for a week and a half. The vinegar soak kills bacteria any fruit fly eggs that might be lingering on the fruit. 

The kids have been enjoying them-although Eva is very unhappy to find that her shares are limited as she has an allergy to beta carotene.  

Now what I'm going to do with those cherries still remains to be seen. I know I'm saving some for cherry pies when it gets colder out. 

Also on the menu is mulberries, we have at least two known mulberry trees in the yard, one we are pretty sure is a mulberry, but not positive. My husband is not sure about this, but I plan on winning him over. :)