July 3, 2011- Summer activities update, menu and ramblings

We are discovering new ways each day to enjoy frugal fun this summer. Yesterday we walked around the fabulous Farmers Market here in town. We picked up a few items for a delicious all local dinner for tonight. We then drove towards home and stopped at several garage sales. We found items to add to our back to school box for the fall as well as a couple of items on our wants list (such as a flour sifter!). On our way home a friend called and asked if we wanted to head out to the beach with them. OF COURSE! We stopped by the house and threw some snacks and drinks in the ice chest and headed out.

Washington State passed a new law that requires a Discover Pass to park in State Parks. We have not yet picked ours up so that excluded our favorite beach. Our friends showed us a public county beach that we didn't even know existed! We had a fabulous time before heading off to church!

This week is going to be a hectic week. School starts for me on Tuesday and my oldest daughter has a soccer tournament this coming weekend. July also brings additional challenges of expenses of youth group camp and dance camp. With the busy schedule and additional expenses it is very important to stay ontop of menu planning and being prepared. We also need to make sure that we keep our activities free or low cost to avoid financial stress, which personally, I feel is one of the worst kinds of stress.

With that, here is our plan for the week!

Sunday:
B: Cereal or egg/toast
L: Chicken drummettes and leftovers
D: Garlic scape pasta with Alfredo sauce, salad and chibatta bread (all from the local farmers market)
S: Fruit (grapes/cherries)
Activity/craft: Movie day or the park depends on the weather

Monday:
B: Waffles
L: Hamburgers
D: At friends BBQ
S: Fruit bars
Activity/Craft: 4th of July BBQ with friends

Tuesday:
B: Cereal or bagels
L: Sandwiches & chips
D: Chicken, stir fry veggies, rice
S: Popcorn
Activity/Craft: Park and thank you card(s)

Wednesday:
B: Blueberry muffins
L: Cheeseburger spaghetti, salad
D: Pork ribs in cp, coleslaw, rice a roni
S: Ice cream cones
Activity/Craft: Library

Thursday:
B: Cinnamon rolls
L: Chicken & vegetable summer tostadas or bean/cheese tostadas
D: Steak/egg salad or hotdogs/chips
S: Popcorn
Activity/Craft: Giant bubble wands and homemade bubbles. Family game night.
Friday
B: Cereal or egg/toast
L: Sandwiches & chips
D: Pizza after soccer game
S: Cookies
Activity/craft: Soccer tournament/playground

Saturday:
B: Cereal or yogurt/fruit
L: Packed from home picnic for soccer tournament
D: Grilled kabobs, grilled "baked" potatoes, salad
S: Packed stuff from home for tournament
Activity: Soccer tournament/playground

Menu and Shopping Trip Week of 6/26

I have planned out Sunday-Thursday of this week and will finish out the week when the sale ad is available. I did our grocery shopping last night, with the kids so a few extras made it into the cart. Hmmm not sure HOW that happened :)

Sunday-
B: We ate at camp. We sauteed leftover potatoes, peppers and onions in a cast iron pan over the camp fire and fried up eggs to go with it.
L: Sandwiches & chips
D: The two older kids had a BBQ for youth group and I treated the two younger kids to dinner at Billy McHales on Sundays their kids meals are 1/2 price!

Monday-
B: Leftover muffins from camping
L: Mini corndogs/french fries or sandwich/chips
D: Grilled chicken, grilled potato/veggie packets, salad
Snack: Smoothies
Activity: Family movie night

Tuesday-
B: Eggs, bacon, hashbrowns
L: Tacos
D: Slow roasted sticky chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies and salad
Snack: Popcorn
Activity: Dance classes. The dance studio where my youngest daughter takes classes is offering drop in classes on Tuesdays over the summer. Both of the girls are going to try some different kinds of dance this summer. My youngest son is going to reluctantly give Hip Hop a try :).


Wednesday-
B: Biscuits/gravy and sausage
L: Sandwiches & chips
D: Spaghetti, french bread and salad
Snack: Ice cream cones from a local dairy farm
Activity: Library and farm for ice cream cones

Thursday-
B: Cereal or eggos
L: Sandwiches & chips
D: Grilled burgers/hotdogs
Snack: Crackers/cookies etc.
Activity: TBD

I didn't take a picture of my shopping trip but here is our list of purchases for the week:
2- Eggo Waffles $3.98
2- Apple Juice $3.78
2- Whole fryers $7.73 (one is for our family and one for a family we are providing a meal for)
1- shredded cheese $2.50
1# bacon- $5.71
Sausage links $3.49

Total: $27.52
I will pick up our CSA Farm box on Wednesday and that adds in more veggies. We are still using what we received last week as well!

Camping and the Beach

This past weekend we took our first camping trip of the season. While we were only about 20 minutes away from home, it seems like we were a world away. This is our 2nd year making this group camping trip with friends. We reserved a double site giving us lots of room for tents, tables, fire pit and the kids to play. We are just a short walk from the beach which is AWESOME. By splitting the cost among the families that went, we were able to camp for 4 days/3 nights for less than $40! Keep the meal simple and this is a very low cost way to have some family fun!

The beach is one of my families favorite places to be. Especially my youngest son. He can spend HOURS at the beach collecting rocks and shells. The weather was nice but the wind kept it a bit too chilly to really play in the water this trip. Except our last night there. Despite the cold water the kids were determined they were going to swim once this camping trip. So as we sat on the beach waiting for the gorgeous sunset, the kids swam.

One of the best parts of this camping location is the AMAZING sunsets.

This is our first year tent camping. We invested in a new 10 person tent. I was worried about setting it up for the first time. I have to say, this tent was probably the easiest tent I have ever set up! The hardest part was staking it down because the ground where we were was hard and rocky. We are so excited for our many camping adventures to come this summer!

This is a picture of 3 of my kiddo's and my daughters best friend. My oldest son seemed to have been MIA in all of my pictures LOL. I am sure that wasn't on accident on his part.

First Day of Summer

What a beautiful day! After such a dark, wet winter and spring it was a delight to have such a beautiful sunny day for the first day of summer. I have a two week break between spring and summer quarters at college and hope to make the most of it with the kids.

My youngest son was a little down the other day and when I asked him why, he had a very good point. The older kids had so much going on the past few weeks he hadn't had a day that was about him. So we made yesterday all about him and what he wanted to do. We had originally planned to go bowling (Free with Kids Bowl Free) but we opted to skip that for the outdoors and the park. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the park and playground. After the park, we headed to the library to check out books for the week. While we were there, all four of the kids signed up for the summer reading program. We stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream cones to cool off on the way home. Last night we had lasagna for dinner (his favorite) and ate outside in the back yard. Such a great way to spend the first day of summer!

There are alot of free options out there for activities. We participated in the Kids Bowl Free and the Summer Reading Program at the library last year as well. Even if you do not live in our local area, check your local library to see if they have such a program. The Kids Bowl Free website has a list of participating bowling alleys and suggestions if yours is not currently participating.

We are off for day two of summer vacation! Make sure to take time today to make some memories!!

Summer Vacation- Week 1

YEAH summer vacation has finally arrived. This summer, I won't be working but I will be taking 12 college credits. 7 of those credits will be online classes which allows quite a bit of flexibility. However, as with anything, routine is key. We started off the summer by creating a rotating chore chart for the family. By using this chore chart, it will take about an hour each day to get thru all of the daily "stuff". This allows us the entire afternoon for fun!

Along with chores, we have made sure to add in 20 minutes of reading time daily. I feel reading is very important for the kids as well as myself. It allows one time to relax and step back from the insanity of life, along with keep up on a very important skill. As I type this blog post, the two youngest kids are sitting here with their books :). Our local library offers a summer reading program that awards the kids for their reading and best of all, its FREE!

Our menu has been planned for the rest of this week along with fun activities. Here is a peek at our week :)

Monday:
B: Egg/toast or cereal
L: Leftovers
D: Pecan Crusted chicken, mashed potatoes and salad
Snack: Popcorn
Fun activity: Game night!
Craft: Chocolate covered strawberries (ok not really a craft but hey the kids are excited!)

Tuesday:
B: Blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs
L: Potato chowder and sandwiches
D: Lasagna, salad and homemade french bread
Snack: Free ice cream cones
Fun activity: Bowling and the library
Craft: Cards

Wednesday:
B: Omlets or cereal
L: Sandwiches & chips for those at home. Oldest daugther and I will be heading to a soccer BBQ. We will take cucumber salad and snicker salad.
D: Leftovers, steak bites with blue cheese dipping sauce, salad
Snack: Smoothies
Fun activity: Park
Craft: Sun visors

I will post the rest of the week later on!