Blending Away...

I'm all for saving money.  I have to be.  With a family of eight, I admit and am no where near being ashamed to say that I will save a buck any way I can.  If there is a way...I will find it.  With that said, I follow several blogs from couponing to homemade gifts.  I also think it's funny how our society, trying to make things "easier" has almost made things more complicated.  A recent magazine I received in the mail had this thing-a-ma-bob that you could order, for only $14.99 to use to stuff the yucky food down the drain to your garbage disposal.  Nifty, ya...but really?  To me all that says is that I have one more "thing" to find a place for when it's not in use.  This brings me to what is known as The Magic Bullet.  it's a nifty contraption, but again.....really?  Sure, it would be nice to make single serve smoothies for myself (who am I kidding, the sound of it would be a call to my kids and I would instantly hear, "Can I have one?!") but there is a solution, and it was right up in my cabinet.   A common Mason jar MAGICALLY fits onto the bottom mixing part of my blender!  Now, I won't be making myself a personal smoothy....but I can customize everyone's with what ever ingredients they want (even though I may not choose bananas and lemon juice, but who's judging, right?).  Oh, ya...it's great for making baby food too, no deep blender pitcher to try to scoop stuff out from.

14 Days of Love at the Toms'

Within the last couple of months I have joined some pretty neat websites and followed some blogs that have ideas ranging from easy, quick meals to couponing.  Most of the sites are run by SAHM's (Stay-at-Home-Mom's) and I always have the intention of doing some of the ideas that they throw out there, but the reality of it is, I can't.  I have six kids, I can't spend a day and a half refinishing the bathroom cabinets or making pretty little costumes for my kids to play in for no special occasion.  Yet I still find myself "trying" to do some of the cutesie-pootsie things featured on these websites.  One thing that I managed to get done, though it's not as pretty as the ones I've seen, is I created an advent calendar that leads up to Valentines day.  Each day one of the boys draws out a heart shaped card from the calendar that coincides with the date and on the back of the heart there are instructions on one special activity to do for the day.  It ranges from "make a Valentine for Grandpa" to "Go around the table at dinner time and tell everyone one thing you love about them".  I even have to say, my husband was even in to it.  I of course systematically put certain things in certain days.  For example, yesterday the card that was pulled said, "Enjoy a Valentine Themed Breakfast"  So, we had heart shaped strawberry scones with strawberries and topping.  I had to save that one for a weekend.  There was no way I was going to try to make scones and get all the kids up and going during the week.  Each morning the boys are excited to see what the calendar has in store for them, and in the end, we are working together as a family.

Wearing Thin...

During grandma's visit over the holidays, she had purchased a couple new pairs of jeans for the boys.  Last night as we were picking out what to wear to school today, I caught Sutton admiring the 'scratch' marks or 'wear' marks on some of the new pairs of jeans.  "These are kinda neat", he said.  

With four boys it has become custom that Sutton, our oldest, usually gets the newer clothes and the younger boys, of course, are blessed with his hand-me-downs.  It's been a while back that I figured out why thrift shops don't usually have many boys jeans, but we have only recently run into this little 'snag'...holes in the knees.

Girls jeans can be quite simple to patch.  You can put pretty little flowers on them and they can become "stylish" or even cuter that what they were before.  This is not necessarily the case with boys.  

As I looked last week at the pile of jeans on my dresser that were otherwise in pretty good shape, and most importantly, still fit them, the light bulb over my head slowly but surely began to flicker.  

What if I put the patches on the inside?  So, with about 10 iron-on denim patches and about eight pairs of jeans I whipped out that thing that maybe gets used once every couple of months (twice if I'm feeling ambitious)...the iron.  I cut the patches to fit the holes (making sure to cut rounded edges on the corners), turned the jeans inside-out and made sure that those obnoxious white strings that now replace where denim had once been were straightened out.  

The pairs that were so worn and no longer had the strings were put into another pile for shorts for next summer.  The great thing about patching the jeans this way is that not only are the patches "invisible" but Sutton can still wear his favorite jeans and they are now also re-enforced with the patch.  It also works great with jeans that are starting to wear thin but haven't quite ripped yet because it serves as a reinforcement for them then as well.  The patches also tend to stay on longer as well, there's not as much to catch on or rub up against.  

I guess this could be seen as a way of being thrifty and trendy at the same time.  It has long been a joke at our house how, when I was a kid, my mom once refused to pay fora pair 'ripped' jeans when there were plenty my closet.  No, it's not the same, but it works...

Birthday Party on a Budget

With six kids we host a birthday party on average of every two to three months.  I don't want to short change any of our kiddos in the celebration department, but it can really add up.  Our oldest son, Sutton, recently turned seven.  During the couple of weeks that lead up to his birthday, he and I brainstormed to come up with a fun idea of something different to do to celebrate.  In the past we have done the big parties such as bowling or going to a kids fitness center but typically we have parties at our house and grill out with close friends and family.  I wanted to do something special for him, but keep it well within our tiny budget.   

Sutton made the list of who he wanted to invite.  There were four friends and I thought, even if we went to a movie and had lunch, by the time we bought the movie tickets, the popcorn, drinks, etc. we were still going to shell out quite a bit, and he still wanted to include his brothers in the celebration as well.  So we came up with the idea of a Drive Inn Movie night at our house.  

I made the invitations on our computer and made them look like pillows and invited the kids to wear their p.j.'s, (this alone was nice because after the party was over, the transition for our kids to go to bed was already half done!).  There was one concern I had though, this was going to be the first time that I hosted a party where there were no other adults other than my husband and I.   I was trying to figure out, "How do I keep nine kids busy for three hours?"  I have to admit, it was a lot easier than I had first thought.  Each child had their own cardboard box that they could decorate to look like a car (I got the idea from Family Fun Magazine).  After gluing and coloring, their vehicles were complete and we moved on to the next project while my husband went to pick up the pizza.  

For the second activity, each child had their own white pillow case to decorate.  I wanted to keep it as simple as possible because we did have smaller kiddos that were participating so I bought a package of fabric markers for them to use instead of paint (less mess and less dry time).  I also had bought little plastic bowls for each child for fifty cents each and wrote their names on them with a sharpie.  The pillow case and bowl were part of their goodie bags that they got to take home with them.   After we ate pizza, sang "Happy Birthday" and had homemade cupcakes, it was show time!  While the kids "parked" their cars in front of the television I popped some popcorn and filled their bowls, ( I didn't realize this at the time, but with them sitting in their "cars" while they ate and watched the movie, it cut down on kernels on the floor tremendously).  I didn't even need to  rent a movie.  Sutton wanted to show his favorite movie, "Shorts", so that was easy enough as well!

All in all, I think the evening went rather well.  Sutton had the party he had imagined, there were smiles all around and laughter filled the house.  And we managed to only spend roughly $45, so averaging $5 per kid.  Now the next question is, "Will I be able to do it again next month?"

Cozy Cows and Questions...

The thought of going out in public with all of the kiddos is, to be honest, intimidating.  I have only done it a few times and with, if I may toot my own horn for a moment, rather good success.   Crap, I probably just jinxed myself.  Today was a golden opportunity for me to prove to myself that I will not let these three foot tall, loves of my life, angels that often seem hoped up on sugar, get the best of me.  

A couple of women from the MOPS group that I belong to organized a tour for us at the local Cozy Cow Dairy.  Now, I had always wanted to go there, but then, had let myself become intimidated at the thought of taking all of our children.  I thought today was a great opportunity because I would be around people that knew that I was not simply some crazy mom with "too many children" as I often get that look, but today, I would be amongst my peers.  

Again, my boys exceeded my expectations!  There was no fighting, no pushing, no kicking...until it was about time to leave, but that I was able to overlook.  They had made it through a 45 minute tour where we learned the ins and outs of a dairy farm!  I felt my heart swell a little when Pete immediately raised his hand when the tour guide asked us if we had any questions.  "I love cows and I love meeelk." he proudly announced.  (Jeff and I have always loved the way he says the word "milk".)

Following the video we had the opportunity to actually see the cows get milked.  I hadn't ever seen this before so I was excited to have the chance as well.  I was interested in so many of the facts such as that it only takes about five minutes to milk a cow and that the oldest cow ever milked on their farm was 16 years old (in people years that is, in cow years, she was ancient!)  Of course, Pearson did not miss a beat.  One of the cows did her 'business' and Pearson being Pearson had to ask, "Why did that cow poop?"  "Just because", I said.  That answer is never good enough for Pearson.  With me knowing that, one might think that I would have a better answer on hand.  Nope.  You can never tell Pearson, "Just because."  "BUT WHY!?!?!", he continued.  Luckily, right at that moment the milking process began and his attention shifted. 

After leaving the cows behind to finish up their milking we were able to feed some of the other animals on the farm.  We then headed inside to have our own taste of the dairy in the form of ice cream.  I do have to say that it was some of the best ice cream I have ever had.  I don't know if it was the heat of the morning that made it taste so good, the fact that I knew it was fresh or that I was just simply starving, but that was some dang good ice cream.  

With that said, I have to say that the people at Cozy Cow did a wonderful job in welcoming us to their dairy and showing us all that goes into being able to enjoy a simple, cold glass of "meeelk".  I'm sure we'll be going again real soon, even if it's just for a quick scoop of ice cream.

Windsor Family Camp Out

It was another wonderful night for a family camp out at Windsor Lake! No thunderstorms this year though! This was our 3rd year attending this fun event and the first time that Sutton brought along a sibling. However, Cyrus I don't think was quite up to the entire event of staying the night in a tent so we cut out a little early to sleep comfortably in our own cozy beds. The feature presentation was "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs", a much improvement over last years "R.V." with Robin Williams, which though it was funny, I don't really think the kids enjoyed it as much. We arrived shortly after they started the BBQ so we quickly found our spot with chairs in tow to where we would be hanging out most of the evening. After grabbing some dinner we went over to the docks while some friends gave their first try to canoeing. I would've been more apt for us to take on a paddle boat, but did not trust Cyrus in a canoe. I'm certainly not the fastest duck on the water should he decide to stand or rock the boat. So while our friends were enjoying the scenery from the water we trekked over to the 5th Street Malt shop which has become another one of our traditions that we partake in during this special event. By the time we returned from the malt shop the movie was just getting underway. I have to say the city of Windsor has done a wonderful job once again in organizing this event! I only hope that there are more families that attend it in the future so they don't have to miss out on some good 'ole family time, outside, away from t.v.'s, computers and video games!