Frugal Friday: Surviving Thanksgiving Break

Projects to teach about Thanksgiving:
Thankful 4's. Cut out the number 4, one for each plate. When you sit down for dinner, every person takes a few moments to write down 4 things they are thankful for on the back of their 4! Then, as you eat dinner, you take turns sharing what you are thankful for.


Thanksgiving Mission
First, have the kids make a piece of stationary with their art supplies. These can be as simple as tracing their hand for a sweet background or more elaborate if time permits.
Second, have each child write a note/letter of "THANKS" to someone in their family and leave it on that persons pillow Thanksgiving morning. Children could also be encouraged to do a kind deed along with leaving the note, such as: make that persons bed, set the table, tell them that they love them. Kids can look forward to reporting on their "THANKSGIVING MISSION" at Thanksgiving dinner.

Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Decor:
Nat Geo actually has a really cool placemat idea here.
They had kids trace their hands and decorate a turkey.  Other good ideas would be drawing pictures of what you're thankful for or listing what you are thankful for.  Then you can cover them in clear contact paper or take them to kinko's to have them laminated.  This would be a fun way to do name cards for a kids table!

Check out the fabric section of JoAnn's and you'll find Chalkboard Fabric!  Use this fabric as a table runner or table cloth for the kids table.  Provide a bucket of chalk, thanksgiving stencils and they can spend time decorating their own table leaving time for the adults to visit.  If you have teenagers or older kids- you can turn it into a Thanksgiving pictionary by providing notecards with Thanksgiving related items to draw as the other's guess!




Games to keep them occupied while you cook:
"Fill it in"  Thanksgiving story.  The oldest kid (who can read) can ask the other kids to fill in the blanks (without reading the story).  Once they fill in the blanks, they can read it aloud and get some great laughs!  This would also be a good activity if you have one kid and need to interact with them while cooking.  The kid can ask YOU to come up with the answers and write them in for you. 

Thanksgiving Bingo.  Print a Bingo board full of thanksgiving clipart.  Print the same clip art on 5x7 prints and hide them around the house.  The kids can walk around the house and look for the pictures.  For early readers, print words instead of pictures for them to find.  Then they have to match the words to the pictures to get BINGO.  First one to get Bingo and Blackout get prizes! (it's pretty easy to make you're own- but you can also print one from the link)

When they finally say "We're Bored" send them to this link for free Thanksgiving computer games!
http://www.primarygames.com/holidays/thanksgiving/games.htm

Cecilia the Celiac

It has been one full year since our then 13 month old began the long process of being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. 

Celiac Disease is intestinal issues caused by gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley

Cecilia was anemic at her 12month well-child exam.  I started giving her iron drops daily.  She became very constipated several times during November and December 2009.  Between these bouts of constipation, she began have extreme cases of diarrhea.  By January and February 2010, she was in so much pain with everything going on in her stomach and bowels she began waking up for 2-3 hour stretches in the the night screaming inconsolably from the pain.  I also noticed an almost glassy look on her face after eating, sometimes it was accompanied by very rosy cheeks or frothy vomiting.  I had no clue what was wrong so I started asking everyone I knew what they thought could be going on.  My friend Jordan had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child.  Although her symptoms were not exact, I took her in for testing.  The Doctor made me feel like a crazy, overbearing parent.  I hated that so, I continued researching at home and was determined to figure this out without our Pediatrician's help.  My friend Danielle had colon cancer in high school and again last year.  As she was going through that, I was probing her medical mind.  She thought maybe it was an egg allergy and let me borrow a book about allergies and such.  In April 2010, I was pretty sure I knew what the problem was.  I realised Cecilia threw up every time she ate animal crackers or goldfish for morning snack.  We were going on 6 months of NO weight gain, actually she had lost quite a bit of weight.  She weighed 20lbs at her 12 month well-child and was down to 16lbs at her 18 month well-child.  The weight loss, constipation, vomiting, diarrhea, tummy troubles through out the night pointed at ONE thing: GLUTEN.  Gluten was causing my baby all these problems.  May 2010, Our pediatrician ran blood work and told us to start the Gluten-Free diet.  Within days, she wasn't throwing up.  Within weeks, she was no longer having diarrhea/constipation.  Within 6 months, She had gained 7lbs and had no signs of tummy trouble what-so-ever.  The initial blood tests came back "inconclusive".  We kept her on the diet because it was working!  At October 2010, 2 years old, she was healthy, happy and weighed a normal weight for her body!  Her new pediatrician (we switched but that's a whole 'nother blog) re-read the blood work from May 2010.   We should have received a diagnoses of Celiac Disease 6 months prior!  So, it took one full year, but now we know Miss Cecilia has Celiac Disease.  She will be a on Gluten Free diet for the rest of her life.  She is doing very well on it and at 2 years old know that if something has gluten in it - she can't eat it.  It's almost funny when we are eating green beans and she looks at us and says "mama, it has gluten- I can't eat it!" 

Favorite Things: Shutterfly Cards

It's that time of year!  Have you gotten the family together for the annual holiday card photo shoot yet?  We haven't taken ours yet but we just made plans to have our photo shoot done with a professional Santa this year!  We're very excited about it!  When we get those photos taken, we'll upload them to the computer and immediately head over to Shutterfly to get our Christmas cards finished up.  Shutterfly has an amazing selection of Christmas and Holiday cards for you to choose from.  Check our their selection here.

We've used Shutterfly.com in the past for many kinds of cards.  Some of our favorites have been Mother's Day and Father's Day cards.  My parents and my in law's both couldn't stop talking about how amazing our personalized Mother's Day and Father's Day cards were.  They are actually all still hanging up in their homes months after the date!  Check out their amazing Mother's Day cards- these cards are sure to make whatever gift you chose the perfect package!

This year we're going to pick a few different Christmas cards because we can't decide on just one! They are all so beautiful!  The two styles we're going with are Retro Wheel Green Christmas Card and Charming Holly Wreath.  I love the excitement of the Retro Wheel and the simplicity of the Holly Wreath.  Without a doubt whichever card our friends receive, it will be one of the most treasured cards this season.  Thank you, Shutterfly for the beautiful card selections! 

These are just a few reasons why Shutterfly is one of a Favorite Things!

Are you a fellow blogger?  Check out this AMAZING offer from Shutterfly too!  50 FREE Holiday Cards for blogging!

5 FREE christmas cards!

Frugal Friday: Indoor Winter Fun

Music with Mar
music class for preschoolers $7/family per class

Crown Center is a GREAT resource for free and inexpensive things to do with kids.
Hallmark's Kaleidoscope
Family Art Sessions
FREE
Check Calendar for session times

The Polar Express

Musicals for Kids @ Crown Center
FREE

Mr. Stinky Feet & The Hiccups - Saturday, Dec 11 Noon and 2pm

Dino O'Dell and the Veloci-Rappers - Saturday, Dec 18 Noon and 2pm

Toddler Town at the Sermon Community Center (Independence, MO) – for those under 5, 10am to 12pm, $1

Legacy Park Community Center has OPEN SWIM in their cool splash area!  M-F 11-12a $6/person (unless you have a membership) and 4 and under are FREE!  Check Calendar for other open swim/splash times!

Bosch Front Loader Washer and Dryer GIVEAWAY!!!

Washer and Dryer Giveaway

Easiest Giveaway ever!  just sign up to win and receive their newsletter via email!

The 8 Week Challenge

So, I have been getting tons of comments on how I have lost 18lbs in the last 8 weeks with no pills or tricks.  It's a secret but I will tell you . . . hard work, dedication and accountability.





Luke began this weight loss program in July.  I thought he was crazy giving up carbs and Mt Dew (you know in July I was still very much relying on Dr Pepper) and honestly, I thought it would be a phase and he'd move on.  Well, he didn't.  He's been on the program for 2 complete sets and has lost 90lbs.


The program isn't so bad, but coming from someone who didn't really watch what I ate and only worked out a couple times a week it seemed VERY intense. 

First of all, you can only eat Chicken, Sirloin Steak, Salmon, Tuna, Veggies (excluding peas and carrots), Sweet Potatoes, Mixed Nuts (excluding cashews), Protein Drinks, and NO carbonated beverages.

Secondly, you MUST exercise 40mins 6 days a week.  This includes 3 cardio workouts and 3 strengthening workouts.

Lastly, you HAVE to be honest and be held accountable for being compliant for food and exercise EVERYDAY.

It is a ton of work.  But it is so worth it!  So far, I have done pretty well!  If you are interested in reading how Luke and I are doing weekly- follow our blog:

Wordless Wednesday: YO GABBA GABBA

Free VeggieTales Christmas CD from Amazon.com

VeggieTales- The Incredible Christmas Free Download!

We LOVE VeggieTales at our house- so I was pretty excited to see this free download!  Here's a TIP! you can click download ALBUM at the top right so you don't have to download each individual song!