Kids in the Kitchen

We all have fun cooking in the kitchen with our little ones sometimes and other times it is a challenge!

Here is the best tip I have learned for cooking with the under 3 crowd in the kitchen: Have something else for them to "cook" until you get to the part of the cooking that they can really help with!

Toddlers really want to help, but life can be tough when they hear "no" or "in just a minute" over and over again...but of course maneuvering a toddler around a stove or oven often requires many "nos" and "just a minutes" so frustration levels between parents and children can peak pretty quickly. To solve this I have several "cooking" activities for my little ones to help with while I am at the stove or doing a more difficult task. Shown here is a the Plan Toy Fruit and Vegetable Play Set and Plan Toy Breakfast Menu , but two bowls of water and a spoon works wonders too!

I keep these toys and activities just for cooking so they are a special and don't loose their appeal.

It is nice to have him right there when I am ready to let him scoop the muffin batter or put pepperonis on the pizza, or any other appropriate task but not have to be frustrated with his "helping" either!

Black Tie Event!

Last night my husband and I were honored to attend a ball held to raise money for and to honor some undergraduate scholarship recipients. I was also able to meet the representative for the donor of my own graduate school fellowship which helps making attending school possible for me! I have been very excited and nervous about this event and one of the biggest concerns was that the event was black tie! Prior to this event the only place I have been to that required tux for the men was a wedding and still that was only for then men in the wedding party, a suite was just fine for everyone else. So I spent many hours contemplating my outfit of course and in true "Thrifty Jenny" Style doing it on a budget.

So if anyone else out there needs some black tie or formal dressing on a budget tips here is my rundown:

My Dress was 75% off!!! and came to $25 after tax!!! (on sale at Dillards!)- I found that even with this great sale if you choose tea length over full length you will save your self quite a bit of money.

I am wearing a shawl in this photo - it is still cold! (sorry the lighting is bad so it is had to see all the detail on the top of the dress since it is all black) the shawl was 50% off at $18 after tax!!!

The dress was very low cut and had quite a bit of cleavage showing. A the sales persons suggestion I looked for cami to under it since I really loved the dress. I looked and looked but found nothing that worked because I needed it to be cut strait across....until I remembered something I read on another blog (I am so sorry I can not remember where I read it) You can use your old belly band from pregnancy like a cami! I put it on like a tube top, put the dress on and it was PERFECT! $0

I had to buy some new pantyhose to go with the outfit and I wanted good quality so I used the JcPenny $10/$25 I posted a while back and bought 3 pair of pantyhose (they were on sale by 2 get one free.) plus I bought a pair of kids PJ's. The pantyhose came to $5 each after the coupon

My shoes too the most effort -6 hours total of shoe shopping- I hate shoe shopping! and they were the most expensive thing but you have to have shoes that fit well so they were from DSW and they were $44 after tax

I did have a cute little evening bag that I borrowed from my mom - $0

My husbands tux was paid for by a donor, but you can also save a little money on that too. Before we knew it would be paid we had set a price in mind when he went to pick it out they quoted him about $20 over that price and he just let them know what his price was they immediately said "ok" to his price. So there is wiggle room even there.

My total cost was: $92 (not bad for black tie!)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I just wanted to share how I had a fun and thrifty Valentine's surprise for my kiddos. The little books and toys are "toddler toys" from Chick-Fil-a and Burger King. My kids are young enough that they don't expect a toy when are eating out so I take the toys out before I give them the food and save them for special treats later. I like doing this because it is thrifty, but I also like it because they learn to associate the "unhealthy" food and fun toys together. I also put a Veggie Tales video I got for $1.99 and the candy and coloring book that I got for $0 OOP at Walgreens last week. Even the wrapping paper was free. So the total cost for the packages was $1.99. My kids loved it and with some Heart shaped pancakes this morning we had a very special day. I hope you did too!

Generic Formula vs Name Brand

If you have ever agonized over the choice of generic formula vs name brand than you need to read the post by Angie,over at Baby Cheapskate today! According to her Mead Johnson, (the maker of Enfamil Lipil) was just ordered to pay more than 13 million dollars to generic formula manufacturer PBM (who makes formula for Walmart, Target, Kroger, Sams, and others). A U.S. District Court in Virginia ruled in November that Mead Johnson had misled the public in Enfamil advertising by suggesting that store-brand formulas were not as nutritious as formula brands produced by Mead Johnson! Check out here post here to get the full scoop!

Thanks Angie!

Home, Finally! And Snow in the South West vs Snow in the Midwest

We are finally home from our long, but fun trip! It will probably take me a few days to get back into the swing of things. In addition to the the general "after trip chores" plus being tired from the trip, I have two kiddos that have the sniffles and are off their sleeping schedules (which translates to "I have two crabby kiddos"). Plus one of our to two doggies appears to have picked up an illness at the kennel during our trip.

We had tons of fun though and we got to experience real snow! My husband grew up in the Midwest so he knows snow. I and have lived in both Chicago and Colorado at different points in my life and we met in Colorado, but we live in the south now and that is where our kids were born so that is all they know. We did get one "snow storm" earlier this year and I bundled them up to go out and play and of course I thought it was a Kodak moment because it may not happen until next year or the year after! (although several parts of the south actually saw snow this Christmas and we even are getting a little snow today!)

Over Christmas we were visiting family in the Midwest and we had real snow for the kiddos to see. So I just thought I would post the comparison pictures for everyone to get a kick out of...

Snow in the South West...

And snow in the Midwest...

Christmas Craft and Recipe Resources

If you are looking for a few last minute thrifty gift ideas or some activities to do with the kids while they are out of school, or even if you just want to get a just start on next years gifts (you can buy a lot of Christmas crafting supplies 50% off the day after). You may want to check out these resources:

(Some will want an email address to get access to the eBooks I recommend using your "deal only" email address)


Free eBook: The $5 Dinner Mom Does Holiday Dinner Click Here

Free eBook: Angel Crafts eBook featuring 45-pages of cheap and easy angel crafts.
Click Here

Free eBook: Busy Woman’s Last Minuet Christmas Craft Guide Click Here

Free eBook: Kid-Friendly Christmas Crafts Click Here

Free eBook: Mason Jar Recipes - 34 Holiday Ideas for Gifts in a Jar, featuring 77 pages of wonderful gift jar recipes. Click Here

Traveling

Over the next 10 days or so my family and I will be traveling (driving) to see family for the holidays. I have some good posts scheduled for you and I hope to have access to the Internet off and on throughout the trip, but I just wanted to let you all know. If you don't hear from me as frequently I am fine, just having fun with family....hope you are all doing the same!

Happy Holidays!

(Also we are making a 14 hour drive with a 2 1/2 year old and a 14 month old so feel free to post your tips and trick for traveling with kids...it is much appreciated!)

Post- Halloween Post

We definitely had tons of fun this Halloween! We had a Sesame Street theme this year, my little girl is Abby Cadabby for those of you who haven't watched sesame street since you were little she is a new character. Basically she is a fairy who accidentally turns things into pumpkins!

I made 3 of our 4 costumes (the Elmo "vest" was purchased as is) and I attempted to be frugal by using what we already had on hand and by using thing that could be re-purposed later. Each costume has either pants or a shirt or both that can be worn without the "costume" part. The picture on top is from the local Halloween carnival we went to last weekend were we won most creative costumes and got a $10 in gift cards to an ice cream shop. We did not know they had a costume contest when we when, but considering we had a night of free family fun there, and the dinner for our family was $6 I consider it a fun and frugal success!

The final cost breat down for the costumes was:
Elmo vest: 18.31
Red shirt for Elmo: 4.33
Oscar: 16.84
Cookie Monster: 26.83
Abby Cadabby: 13.04



We also had a party last night and above is the pumpkin activity we did at the party. Later today I will be cutting, roasting, and pureeing lots of pumpkin! See the post here for details.