DIY Kids Furniture

Since it's really been to hot here in Kansas to do much cooking (or anything else for that matter), I thought I would share with you how I made my favorite piece of furniture in my entire house. 

It's my favorite for a few reasons: 

1) ORGANIZATION! Allie has always had a knack for sorting things (almost an obsession) so she does an amazing job keeping all of her toys organized and in the bins. 

2) FUN! She loves having a mirror to sing and dance into... although we do have to be a little careful with our drama queen. We have actually had to put a blanket over the mirror a couple of times because she practices her fake cry in front of it. 

3) SUPER CUTE! She loves decorating it and hanging all her things up. She asks me to change out the little figurines on top every couple of weeks which also helps keep them from being on the floor and getting stepped on.

So here;s how I did it: 

I had purchased the cubby shelf a couple years ago at Target (Check it out here!). They normally sell for about $50 (but I got mine on sale for $30) and come in different sizes. You can also buy the bins there too (usually about $7)... but if you keep an eye out in the dollar section they have them there for $2.50 on occasion. They are a little less sturdy but work just as good.

The mirror was in the house when we moved in. It looks like it had gone on a dresser at some point but the dresser wasn't here. It sat around in the storage shed for a long time because I couldn't bring myself to throw it out. When Allie started dancing I thought she would like to watch herself in the mirror so I taped the glass off and spray painted it white (it was black). It took a few layers and took me ALL day because I had to let it dry between layers. The mirror then was attached to the wall at floor level for awhile until I started running out of space in her room and decided to combine these two.

I knew right away that I was going to love this! 

I found some brackets in the tool chest and attached them to the top of the mirror and then to the wall. 

I realize they aren't that attractive but they are WAY above my head so I don't really care.

I'm sure you could find some way to hide them if you needed to. 

My main concern was safety... this mirror is seriously heavy and I don't want it tipping over on anyone. 

I added some of these nifty little hooks to the sides of the mirror to hang necklaces and other fun things from. Even more storage!!! YAY!!

Added all of Allie's toys (okay, not ALL but seriously can fit most of them in here) and 

VOILA!

Anytime her toys start out growing the bins and shelves we go through and thin them out. I throw away the broken ones or ones that are missing pieces (I usually do this without consulting her). I talk with her about the ones she doesn't use much anymore and let her decide if she wants to donate them. She will actually come to be on her own sometimes and say "Mama, I think we can give this toy to another kid because I don't need it anymore."

Family Night (cheaper version)

The advertisers for Disney movies has struck again. These people are seriously good at their job. My daughter has been BEGGING for over a month to go see "Brave" and it just came out in theaters this past weekend.  

Taking just a 4 year old to the movies is a fairly simple thing... add in a 4 month old and it's virtually impossible. So this summer our solution is the Drive-In. The huge negative of the Drive-In is that the movie doesn't start until 9:10pm. This doesn't seem to be too much of a problem for Allie and Chris... but Elizabeth and I tend to be ready to fall asleep by the time the opening scene is over. 

In an attempt to make the best of it and still give Allie a great "movie-theater" experience we put our plans in motion for a family night out to see "Brave" followed by "The Avengers".

This is the second time we've been to the drive-in this summer (the first time Allie was not interested in the movies and it did not go so well). Last time we bought popcorn there and it really wasn't good. So this time we decided to pop our own. Allie LOVES air popped popcorn... but hates the noise it makes when popping.

So I sent her in the other room to "decorate" the popcorn bags. She's been practicing her writing skills so she asked me to write "popcorn" on a piece of paper so she could write it on the bags. *Had I planned for this a little better I would have given her the bags earlier in the week to decorate... Maybe get a lesson plan in there somewhere?*

Once the noisy part was over, Allie rejoined me in the kitchen to fill the bags. 

I had stopped in at Target on my lunch break earlier in the week and picked up a couple candy snacks that everyone would like. I'm not a big fan of giving a child candy this late at night... but like I said, we were trying to make it special for her since she wanted to go to the movie theater instead. I busted out some cups with straws and made some kool-aid for Allie and I... Chris refilled his water bottle, so we were all set on drinks too. 

My super big surprise for Allie was these cute little "Brave" bags. She had seen them on a subway commercial and wanted one SOOOOOOO bad. There were a couple days in the last month that I forgot, didn't have time or simply had nothing in the house to take for lunch at work so I ran to Subway and got a kids meal (which BTW is a pretty good deal and I can feel better about the portions).  I think the bags made up for the fact that we weren't going to the theater!

(Also, noticed what an awesome job she did writing popcorn?? She's not even 4 yet (next month)!!)

Elizabeth ate and fell asleep during the opening scene.... yay! It makes it much easier to enjoy the show when you aren't entertaining a 4 month old. Allie, Chris and I loved "Brave". The second feature for the night started at 11:15pm.... WAYYYY past my bedtime. So I crawled into the back seat and went to sleep while Chris and Allie started watching "The Avengers". It was so cute to hear the two if them talking about the movie... her asking him questions and him trying to answer them. She fell asleep about half way through. 

I have to say, if you have children the Drive-In is the way to go! Not only was it more relaxing for us (if the baby cries or the chatterbox won't stop talking it only disrupts us- not an entire movie theater full of people), but it was a LOT cheaper. Here's the break down on cost:

                                 Drive In:                      Movie Theater:

                                        Tickets:              $20.00                             $21.00

                                        Popcorn:             $ 0.20                              $ 6.50

                                        Candy:                $ 3.00                              $10.50

                                        Drinks:               $  0.25                             $10.00

                                        Sanity:                Intact!                              Lost at the concession stand :(

                                        TOTAL:            $23.45                              $48.00

We saved just over $24.... but let's be honest, we would not have been able to take Elizabeth to a theater anyway so only one of us would be able to take Allie... and then it really wouldn't have been "Family Night" would it have been? There was also the added bonus of a second movie. And while Chris was the only one who really saw the whole thing he had been wanting to see it and said it was a really good movie.

While the Drive-In will likely become a summer tradition for us, I'd like to know what everyone else does for family night so please share!

                  

Homemade Waffles

My oldest, Allie has always LOVED waffles. She eats them straight out of the toaster... no syrup or anything. They make for fast easy breakfasts on those mornings that we have to get out the door quickly or quick snacks when she gets home from school. We normally buy the frozen ones (usually store brand) but the other day we ran out. So with good intentions and excitement about my new adventure I pulled out the waffle iron and set to work. Here's what followed: 

First I signed in to pintrest and typed in "homemade waffles". The first picture that came up looked pretty good so I clicked on it and it brought me to "The finer things in life blog" and this post The Finer Things in Life- Homemade Waffles. The recipe looked pretty simple so my search stopped there. 

These are the ingredients from the box of waffles that were in the freezer... I can't even pronounce some of those ingredients! 

These are the ingredients from the recipe... feel much better about them don't you?

Now I realized that some of those ingredients that I couldn't pronounce were also in the flour and baking powder so to be fair I went through and compared and crossed out the things that were in my ingredients on the label: 

I crossed out sugar on accident because I thought it was part of the chocolate chips and I did not use them in mine... but then I realized that it was on there twice so I circled it. Bonus realization: there was NO sugar in the recipe I was using!

I followed the recipe to a "T"... my only problem was getting the egg whites to form "stiff white peaks"... they never did so I just folded them in peakless. I'm not sure how that would have affected the taste. 

This was the finished product! 

okay okay... this was really the finished product!

Allie was "super-duper" starving and while we don't usually have butter and syrup on our waffles I decided that "homemade waffles" was a special occasion so we both had one like this. (I'm not even going to discuss the nasty things that were in the syrup... I'm making baby steps here and real maple syrup is not as easy to come by here as it is back home.)

First I placed the waffles in paper towels on cookie sheets while they cooled (they were steaming up and getting soggy when I placed them directly on the pans). Then I took the paper towel off and put them in the freezer. I have found with all of my freezer cooking that it is worth the time to freeze things separate and then bag them up and freeze them together.

After a couple hours I bagged them up and popped them back in the freezer. Easy Peasy!

This recipe made 18 waffles for me (it said 20 but I only ended up with 18) minus the two we ate, I ended up with 16 waffles in the freezer... These will probably last Allie about a month.

Here's the cost break down: 

milk: $0.57

butter: $0.82

eggs: $0.29

flour: $0.27

Grand Total: $1.95 for 18 waffles

(I did not include the price of salt or baking powder because it would be very minimal)

Eggo waffles cost $2.00- $2.50 for a box of 10. 

Okay, so I'm not going to get rich quick making waffles in my kitchen. But every little penny counts. And while it did take me some time to do Allie loved helping me with these and when they were on the iron cooking we took advantage of the time we needed to be in the kitchen to get some extra cleaning done (we wiped down all the cabinets). So I accomplished my goal: cut down on preservatives and additives, save money, and have some quality time with my daughter. 

So what will I do different next time?

1) Omit the salt. I used salted butter so I don't really think it was necessary.

2) Cook them a little longer. My iron has a light that goes off when it's done. It apparently has no clue. I cooked them a couple minutes longer and was afraid to burn them. Only a few of them had that nice golden brown look to them, some looked downright not done lol. But when we toast them I'm sure they will darken up.

3) Decrease the butter a bit. Maybe 1/2 cup instead of 2/3rds. 

4) Add things! I used to add pureed fruit and veggies to Allie's pancakes to hide them... I think I'll use that trick again next time. Apple-cinnamon, strawberry, blueberry for fruits. Sweet potato and carrot for veggies (sounds gross I know but sometimes you gotta hide them wherever you can and they actually taste pretty good!)

My New Blog Adventure!

I wanted to share with you my inspiration for this blog. When my oldest daughter (now 4) just started eating baby food I noticed that the expiration dates on those little jars was 3-4 years out. Gross! What do they put in them to make them last so long?!?! And even more importantly, Do I want that going into my precious little baby?

So, I pulled the blender out from under the cabinet and started making my own baby food. It made me feel a little better about the situation. But as she got older and started on table food and our lives got busier I apparently stopped worrying about processed food with all those additives.

What's changed now? Well, a lot! Just before our second daughter was born I made a bunch of "freezer meals" to make my life a little easier in the weeks leading up to and after her birth. I AM SO HAPPY I DID! I found that not only were these SOOOOOOO much easier and healthier but they were saving me BIG MONEY on my grocery bill. Add in the fact that the little one is almost 4 months and starting on baby food soon... and the idea to mix my "freezer meals" with much healthier, cheaper, less processed versions was born!

The other thing that has changed is our finances. We are raising 2 children ... and we don't make a lot of money. While our finances haven't changed, the way we look at them has. Right now we rent... and we want to buy a house in a good school district before the girls start school (which is just over a year for the oldest). So we have weekly "budget meetings" to get on the same page and look at ways we can cut our costs. *On a side note, this may be the healthiest thing we could have done for our marriage*.  So for me this has meant really looking at our grocery budget and trying to cut it down as much as possible. I always thought eating healthy was expensive... I'm finding out that we can make small changes that are healthier and cheaper.

I am by NO means a health freak. I'm not big on organic foods- I have a strong agriculture backround and have worked on organic, non-organic and even kosher farms and I just can't be sold on slapping the word "organic" on somethings. I am however I HUGE supporter of "buying local". The food is fresher and cheaper, you can actually meet the farmers who produce and see their passion for it and you support the local economy.

Here's a run-down of the type of things I will likely be posting here (although I make no promises!):

Freezer Meals- cut out preservatives and additives, cost break down
Recipes
Menu Planning
Crafts
Fun things to do with the kiddos
And maybe someday when we buy our house I'll post some home do-over stuff :)

I hope you guys come on this journey with me! I know so many of you are in the same boat as me and have a lot of great advice to share so please do!