Cities on the Cheap

Found this new great cheap date, or well, just about anything you may want to do in a city resource. The Aquarium we would love to take the family to for Emily's birthday, so much cheaper thanks to this site. They have city specific versions, which may or may not include your city, but your chances of one day being in one of these cities for a vacation are pretty good. Go check out Cities on the Cheap.

Not What I Planned

Well, Christmas is almost here and I have accomplished none of the things I had in mind for this month. Mostly due to illness. I managed to feel good for a few days to scramble to get ready for our Christmas party, cancel one due to illness, have my parents arrive, and start feeling sick again. Yippee. At least my mommy was here. :) So now I am scrambling again to pull everything together. Spent the evening in the kitchen. I did get plates for the nieghbors put together as well as pecans for the family. Almost there. Last year, I was pregnant with two toddlers running around and doing stuff for the neighbors seemed very overwhelming to me. This year did not turn out much better. So, I developed a simplicity plan. The first year we did it with friends and we all brought stuff to contribute. I have to confess, I felt overwhelmed even then, but everyone pitched in, and it got done. That year was quite beautiful.

Now, I make chocolate chip cookies with holiday m&m's (oh so festive!), brownies (oh yes, from the box!) with sprinkles on top, and some filler: another festive cookie if I am feeling ambitious, sometimes we are given cookies from Gabe's office-especially the butter cookies in a tin, ginger snaps, or candy from the store. This year my mom had the idea to get pretzels (circle or waffle) put a striped Hershey's hug on top, melt it in the oven for a few minutes, pull it out and put an m&m on it. I think they turned out pretty well. The original plan was for my eager helpers to help out. Unfortunately, they started coughing up a storm and were banned from the kitchen, or at least from coughing on food on the counter. :)

Now if only I could finish my advent calendar before Christmas.

Kid to Kid Ideas

A friend and I were brainstorming kid to kid gift ideas the other day. Last year this friend very sweetly helped her daughter make cookiemen tree decorations and her daughter handed those out along with a cookie to eat to her friends. It was very sweet and thoughtful. Here is what we came up with two days ago:

• Playdough kit (the powdered ingredients and directions, maybe a bottle of food dye, and a cookie cutter)
• Cookie mix (and a cookie cutter if sugar and directions)
• Finger paint mix, and directions.
• This isn't something you make, but Ikea has these really cute animal dolls right now for about $1.50 each. They are adorable and dressed up like ladies and gentlemen. That would be something fun to let a child pick out.
• Bubbles! We have started saving our bubble wands to use with this or with the bulk bubble bottle. :)
  

I think mixes are a good idea. Its not an "I am making you do all the work gift" but rather an "I am getting it started so you can make it together with your sweeties." My kids love to make stuff with me and half the time I am too overwhelmed trying to figure out what I am doing, much less how to best include them in the project. This way, it is already there, all you have to do is follow the directions and be willing to get a pan dirty. The kids were going to pull it out for a drum anyway, may as well use it for something quiet. ;)