Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Baby and Mama bento lunch

Yesterday I was looking at all my pretty bento gear. I felt bummed because I never bento anymore. Well, that is something I can change! I'm low on bento food. Plus my cheapo thrift store rice maker is broken. Its took me forever to find that thing!

BentoBaby has green beans, sharp cheddar cheese, onigiri, and sliced grapes.


I have onigiri, carrots, sharp cheddar, grapes and hummus.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Weekly date night

Hubby and I knew tonight was date night. Our plan was to play Mario Party on the wii. Its my favorite game. We used to play it regularly before we became parents. We haven't played it since. However last night we were both too worn out to do anything besides veg. That is so sad! Too tired to play a game? Sad! Now we had to come up with alternate plans, and fast.

I looked through the available stand up comedy titles from Netflix's instant queue. Hubby made us Mimosas using the $11 bottle of champagne from this post. In a matter of minutes we had an improvised date night together. Thankfully we had orange juice in the fridge. We never did find a new super funny comedian but we still had fun flipping through the different ones.

Netflix comedy shows $0
Champagne $11
Orange juice $0 already in fridge

Date night total $11

Saturday, October 16, 2010

$6 sensory rice toy.

When I knew BentoBaby was going to need at home sensory activities I had to think about how I was going to present them to her. The sensory table was out. And our big ball pit box works great for large, easily cleaned up items. Small items, like rice would be a major pain to clean. I decided to put her smaller items in individual boxes.
Empty herb shaker $0

Measuring toy spoons we already had $0

Snack cup we already had $0

Toy spoon we already had $0

Toy truck we already had $0

Fake spider rings huge pack for $1

Sparkles we already had $0

Rice we already had and we don't like $0 (this is brown rice, with a little dyed green rice mixed in. I like short grain rice)

Plastic box to hold everything $5


Total $6


What if you do not have toy spoons or a toy truck no one is using? Thrift store. I picked up a TON on small toys at the thrift store. A sandwich bag full was .45. But I should tell you, Bentobaby's favorite toy is the shaker. She loves it.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Freezer stock up

I haven't been devoting much energy to stocking the freezer. It is almost empty. I did find a huge 10 pound bag of frozen chicken breasts for $20. That is $2 a pound, the top of my buy price for chicken. However prices have gone up and I have been unable to find chicken breasts for $1.76 a pound. chicken is the main protein of our diet, its a must!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Sand and Water table $60

We had to purchase Bentobaby's sand and water table new. I could not find any used ones. Since 'sensory' tables are far outside of our budget (but man they have some cool ones!) we went for a toy store's version. BentoBaby LOVES her table. She giggles and laughs while playing with it. When we walk past it she yells 'Splash!' trying to pull us over to it. And she can't use the extra features yet. She's too short to play with the toys that attach to the lid. Here is our sand and water table. Some brave souls keep their tables inside, I am not that soul. I did place it on our covered porch so Bentobaby can play even when its raining. The day hubby and I were heading to the store to purchase her table we received a coupon for $10 off a $75 purchase. Since I was planning to buy her a bunch of my favorite on the go fruit snack anyways we used the coupon to get our two koosh balls ($8) for her ball pit for free. Awesome!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Variety ball pit for less then $45

This is Bentobaby's ball pit. The container sells for $14 at Walmart. It is designed to slide under a bed. Since the sides are low my toddler can climb into it and sit to play. When she caught her first glimpse of the ball pit Bentobaby laughed and yelled 'fun!' We purchased a big pack of regular plastic balls, designed for a ball pit. $9. This was my incentive for bentobaby. She loves plain plastic balls. (i used less then 1/4 of the big bag, this could be easily split with another family) At first we didn't have such a variety of balls in the pit, i've slowly added them. Mainly from the dollar store or the dollar section of bigger stores.
She has a soft squishy dog ball (with squeaker) $1, a 3 pack of water bombs $1, a loofa $1, a 3 pack of waffle balls $1, an orange squeezie ball $1, purple spikey ball $3, two Koosh balls $4 each $8 total, 3 pack tacky balls, $1. I gave her a shoe box $0, a halloween bowl $1, and a plastic box $1 for scooping and dumping. $28 in play supplies plus the $14 for the box. $42 total. Am I done adding things? Nope. I could be, Bentobaby loves her ball pit the way it is. But like to challenge her.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Sensory toys on the cheap

My daughter has sensory processing disorder. A relatively mild form of it, thankfully. She does have tactile defensiveness. It took her forever to touch stuffed animals, and she rarely chooses to play with them. She is in a playgroup for kids with special needs. Its wonderful to have access to occupational therapists. However they only devote 15 minutes a week to sensory activities. 15 minutes. That will not do, its not nearly enough time. I had believed the playgroup would devote more time to sensory and was not working (specifically, sensory is everywhere though) on sensory activities with her. Its time for Mom to step up. There are many wonderful products designed for kids with SPD. I may even purchase some of them. Like our sand and water table that is now stationed on the porch. (allowing Bentobaby some playtime even when its raining) My goodness she loves that thing. But she also loves some of my homemade toys. I'm going to share my ideas with you. I'm not an occupational therapist, a teacher, or an expert. I'm just a mom, who wants my sweet daughter to learn and have fun without breaking the bank.

Monday, October 11, 2010

My $2 wreath attempt

I saw this post on Centsible savings. I'm not very skilled in the crafts area. However this wreath looked so simple I figured I could do it. I didn't want brown coffee filters since our living room is brown. I bought the foam circle and white coffee filters from the dollar tree. The ribbon was leftover from another project, so free. I think its pretty cute but it came out totally different from the one on Centsible savings. I like her wreath better. I might try and re-do this, for a different room.


We had guests last night. I asked if they could tell it was made of coffee filters. My guest (who would tell me) said she could not tell. However once i asked her that, she could see them. :) i have plenty of coffee filters left so a second wreath would cost me $1 plus the cost of ribbon.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Weekly date night

We kept date night low key and simple this week. Some weeks we're so tired that all we want to do is crash on the couch. A little snuggling, some soft warm blankets and a comfy couch were just what we needed!

Netflix rental (Backup plan, so funny) $0
Frozen chocolate silk pie $8
2 liter of Cherry Coke $2

Total: $10

Lets say you don't like frozen pies, and you don't have a netflix account. First of all I would recommend at least the minimal netflix account. One movie out at a time is $9 and you get unlimited streaming movies on your computer and XBOX or WII. Worth it.

However if you don't use netflix, check out a redbox dvd. $1 a night with free codes available online. Just take it back the next day! You can also make your own pie or cake for a lot less money then $8 if you watch sales. Same with the coke, we had to buy it at convenience store because our grocery store was out. They had a good sale going on.

The point of date night is to do something special with your spouse on a budget. If you don't like chocolate pie, buy what you do like. If hubby has to have soda, then find a good deal on it. customize date night to be what YOU want it to be. While on budget. :)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Bentobaby's bento lunch

My poor daughter is so angry. So hurt. She spent most of the morning venting her pain. 2 hours of screaming takes an emotional tole on her and me. Poor BentoBaby. To soothe myself while she sleeps I decided to make her a bento. This was after weeding and dead-heading my yard. I'm so blessed to be bentobaby's mom but her pain is not easy to handle.






This was made in her Dora bento box. She has raisins, cheese, blueberries, peas, a peanut butter sandwich, and tiny cookies. Bentobaby hardly every gets cookies, this is a real treat for her.


I pray the lord grants me strength, patience, and wisdom to help my daughter.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Freezer stock up

Our freezer now holds:
8 bags of frozen veggies $1 each = $8
2 frozen turkey breasts $5 and $6 = $11
1 bag frozen biscuits (I have been unable to make a good biscuit) $4
1 bag chicken breasts $5.62
2 packs ground turkey $2.50 each = $5
Total $33.62

Our freezer is still far from full but its starting to build up slowly. Losing everything from the freezer has shown me how convenient it is to have a deep freezer. I depend on it far more then I was aware of! I'm thankful the freezer did not break but was simply unplugged.

I have budgeted $200 to help fill it. I will still look for good deals of course!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Frugal date night

My hubby and I determined to have a special night once a week. We don't use a baby sitter. Which means our dates have to be at home, fun, and affordable. Yesterday's date night was one of our most fun to date!

Our most recent date night cost us $11. We laughed and teased each other the whole night.

We spent $6 on Sorry Revenge. This is our beloved game and the 3rd copy we have purchased. It is an amazingly fun game. I hate math, but i adore this game.

The other $5 went to a treat. We splurged on 4 Auntie Anne's cookies. This was a huge treat for me. I love Auntie Anne's cookies and rarely treat myself to them. Homemade cookies would be cheaper but Auntie Anne's cookies were more fun.

Thats $11 total. Our 6 dollar game was an investment purchase (assuming we can find this copy again!) that will bring us tons of fun.