Birthday decorations

I will post party pictures later,

but I decided to post photos of these decorations now.

Tomorrow is my baby's 4 birthday.

A princess party.

So, here are our directions

(on a shoe string budget!)

In our windows, we hung her princess dressses.

(This is, sadly, only some.)

We pulled out her princess vanity,

and she enjoyed practicing...

We pulled her pop-up castle from the basement

and put it in the living room...

There are a few hidden gems...

like this Cindy shoe with a pillow.

And there is Ms. Pots!

I think she will end up on the table...

I will post a few more later, but here is a start!

Bowling

We signed up for Kids Bowl Free

because of a friend who suggested it to us.

All we had to pay for was shoe rental!

And when the shoes are that cute,

who minds paying to rent them!

Eden loved it! From watching,

to eating the bowling alley pizza,

to hiding under the chairs!

Daddy was able to come with us...

and he loved helping Eden.

Here she is knocking pins down.

Oh yeah, I bowled too.

While it is over for the summer,

check it out for next year!

http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/

a cute idea...but...

So my baby brother went to college this year.
(Apparently not so "baby" any more.)

And we love to give him mail.
We found some amazing cards at CVS.
They have a whole line of "going to college" cards.

But I found these boxes of his favorite pop-tarts
for only a dollar a box.
What a deal!

I thought I was really clever and I would just mail him the pop-tarts.
Wrapping up the side with awesome mailing tape,
I was sure the good old USPS would take them.

And they did.
For $5.50, I could mail ONE BOX to my brother
about 30 minutes away.
$5.50 each.
Seriously?

I paid $1 for a box.

Next time I am mailing him a $10. I would save money.

But don't they LOOK cute?

ABC stamping

This Melissa and Doug ABC stamp set

was on sale at the mall a couple of weeks ago.

I couldn't pass it up.

(I am a sucker for Melissa and Doug stuff.)

And Eden loved them.

She did a whole page of x's!

I love that it has both capital and lower case letters.

This is going to be fun!

saving money

I am all about saving money.

Especially at the grocery store.

And our family is all about tater tots.

Classy. Right?

Just takes every meal to the next level.

(really, we eat them because I can

with my weird diet and Eden doesn't complain!)

To save money, I buy the

BIG bag of tater tots.

(Now watch the price.

Sometimes the little bags are cheaper if they are on sale.)

I divide them up,

scooping them into gallon freezer bags.

Not only does it mean that they don't get wasted

when I open the bag and then try to reseal it,

but it also MAKES me eat the right portion size.

(Okay, I am stretching the truth here a bit.

The correct serving size is 9 tater tots per person.

But really. Who eats nine? I do about 12 a person.)

Then when I am ready to make them,

I pour them out on the sheet, ready to go!

What are your money saving techniques?

this is my girl

This is my girl.

Sweet.

Silly.

Super.

My girl!

What a girl!

recylced toys

I have a great love of Coke!

So I had a bunch of these glass bottles around.

We made a musical instrument!

We filled each with water and made beautiful music!

Fantastic!

(ignore the pop-tarts!)

Bravo Eden!