Found a cute blog - "Kidmade"

I just happened up on a new blog that I think I'm going to love visiting often. It's called Kidmade and features the "things that kids make". Here's the information I found on their website.

Kidmade is all about kids and the things they make. The whole crafty blog world is such a great place to show off the sewing, knitting and other crafty projects we all do. Many of us share the projects we do with our kids on our own blogs. Kidmade is a place for kids to share their projects, whether it be art, music, poetry or just a really great block creation (there is no limit!). This is the place where kids get to tell us about their work in their own words.

Here's the vision, step by step:
Your kid makes something they are really proud of.
You say, "Hey would you like to share this with other kids?"
Your child responds "Oh, yes Mommy! That would be wonderful!" (or "Uh, okay.")

So.....
1. Take a picture [of their creation] & have your child write a nice little bit telling about what they have made. (It's okay for mom or dad to do the typing if they are not writing yet.)

2. Mom or Dad sends an email to kidmadeATyahooDOTcom and they will post it. Everyone you invite then visits the Kidmade blog where they can oooo and ahhhh about the project, leave great feedback in the comments, or just get a bit of inspiration.

Now for the fine print:
1. The artwork or invention/craft really needs to be kid made and kid inspired.
2. The post should be in their own words. We really don't care about grammar.
3. Not sure how many will be submitted so a reply will be sent to you when an entry is posted to the blog. Some sent projects might be saved to go along with a like theme. There might be cases when all poetry submissions are saved so they can be posted together in one day or in a week's dedication to the art. The same might go for photography, sewing, etc....
4. There is a 1 submission per month rule.
5. The blog probably won't be updated everyday.
6. More fine print to be added as this is all figured out. We're flying by the seat of our pants here!

By the way, they will also be having a Kidmade challenge on a regular basis! This month the challenge is a self-portrait.

Box Tops & Campbell's labels

Ever notice those box tops labels on various name-brand items in the grocery store (Ziploc, Cottonelle, General Mills, Betty Crocker, Viva, etc)? Did you know that each Box Top label is worth $.10? Many schools participate in the BOX TOP program where they collect as many Box Tops as they can throughout the year and then mail them in for a full redemption to benefit their school. My son's school participates in this program and, being that it's a very small school with only 80 students, a check was received last year for a little over $300! Just think what that money could be used for (music art, library, P.E., lunchroom, computer lab, etc.....). You can go here to find out more on this program.

Also, Campbell's has a similar program but, instead of receiving money back to your school, you can redeem the mailed labels for anything in their catalog that your school might need- from something small like a stapler to something larger like a new copy machine. The entire label on the can isn't needed (at one time, the company wanted the entire label or just the front of the label)....just make sure you clip the entire UPC code. Sometimes it's the typical white and black UPC code and other times it might be a higher value 5 points UPC, yellow in color. My son's school is accumulating their points so they can purchase something large and much needed. You can click here to find out more on this program.

If your child's school doesn't participate in any of these programs, you might want to consider clipping these items anyway and giving them away to a school (or student) who does. If you homeschool, this would be a great activity for your children to take part in as they clip and then give them away.

Freebie with purchase

I don't know if I'll get a chance to visit D.D. tomorrow to get this deal but I wanted to share it with all my coffee-lovin' friends (that would be you, Melissa, Sarah Z., and Mad).

Money Laundering

Ok, I stole this idea from Megan over at, plumpudding. Click on the collage below for a larger view with details. The boys were itching for something to do inside this afternoon since it was suddenly too cold to play outside. Their cousin, Ella, has been playing with us two days of each week so she got in on the cleaning action, too. There are two FULL piggy banks in our house so I drug out the pennies for this project. The little ones soon lost interest after the bubbles began disappearing from their containers but Andrew stuck with the entire task, rinsing off his coins, scrubbing and drying them with a paper towel, and then laying them out in a "choo-choo line-up", as he called it. He is growing up. He is focused and finishes what he starts. I can't believe he's already four years old. *sniffle*sniffle*

Coupons & info

Want some coupons & event info?

REDBOX: One free rental night/movie. Promo Code - ALVIN12 (this is different than last week's, ALVIN14)

TARGET: click and then scroll down - careful of the expiration dates!

WALGREENS: (manufacturer coupons) check the boxes on the ones you want and then click to print.

STAPLES: FREE after easy rebate on Pentel retractable highlighters or permanent markers.

PETSMART: Birthday Party for your pet (this one is for you, Tera and Chrissy M.!)

Benefiber for free

Coupon to Victoria's Secret

Ok, I'm going to restrain myself on this one and just use it once! Click here for a coupon to Victoria's Secret for a coupon for a free full size Victoria's Secret Sweet Daydream Body Scrub with ANY purchase! Thanks to the The Centsible Sawyer for such a great find!

See you at the mall, Hilary & Leslie P.!

Pizza kit & freebie picture

Dinner tonight was so delicious that I think I'm going to have to make the Chef Boyardee Pizza Kit a weekly staple at our house. Mitch and I loved it and the kids did, too! Looks like every Friday OR Saturday night will be designated "pizza night". It's cheap, quick, and simple to make. However, the kit doesn't include enough pepperoni or cheese so I just grated up some mozzerella as well as grabbed some extra pepperoni from the fridge. Now, I just need to find some coupons for this item!


Here's a picture of the free items I got at Wal-Mart today. I love the Scotch Brite wand! Also, after eating that pizza tonight, I had to pop a Zantac to heed off the heartburn I knew would be coming. Lovely. If you want to get the Zantac for free, you will need to choose the smallest package of the Maximum Strength, containing 8 tablets. You can print the Scotch Brite coupon here and the Zantac coupon here (scroll to page 3).

What we did TODAY

Walgreens had a sale on their seed packets this week (normally the retail price is 5 packs for $1 but this week they were 10 for a $1). I've been meaning to teach the boys about planting and growing a few vegetables. Well, our Walgreens only had flower seeds available so we set out this afternoon to plant our own flower garden right outside our front door. Boys will be boys....they loved the digging part. Especially when little creepy crawly bugs started emerging from the soil. They began fighting over who got which roly poly, what snail shell was bigger, and who had the largest bug collection in their buckets. As we dug deeper, we found a frog skeleton...weird. It's now in a small ziploc bag, waiting to go to school with Andrew for Monday's SHOW and TELL. Anywho, I did most of the seeding myself but they happily helped to spread the dirt and lay the border of rocks. All plants need water to live, right? What better way than to water our new patch of dirt with nothing else but....water guns! They had so much fun.




Later, we took a light dinner to the local park and ate on our huge patchwork quilt (I'm so glad my mother-in-law didn't want it and decided to give it to me. It's so heavy and large. Great for spreading out food and extending our legs while eating). After finishing, Andrew decided it was time to put his new kite to the test. I love this picture of him looking up at the kite. There was a great breeze tonight! Notice the Bath & Body Works bag in the bottom picture. I have so many of these now due to all my recent coupon transactions! They are handy for outdoor adventures and ease the haul since I usually toss them once they become dirty or soggy from the load.

More free stuff at Walgreens

Walgreens - Tuesday, April 15 ONLY: 15 free photo prints with 7-day coupon (look in this week's Sunday circular paper or pick one up when you walk into the front of the store). Now this is something to smile about on tax day!

BTW, did anyone drop off a free roll of film last Wednesday at Walgreens? I did!

Tie Dye Discs

I finally cleaned off my nightstand. Oh, what a task...I like a clean nightstand but it seems to be the "catch all" to my books, journals, magazines, and random papers (I thought of you, Crissy S.). I came across too many Family Fun magazines that I've been intending to go through, ripping out pages to keep, filing them away in a nice binder with plastic sleeves, and then neatly organizing them in various categories. Well, that never happened....at least not as quick and orderly as I dreamed it might go. So I skimmed through them very fast and tore out only a few pages. What was left of the magazines ended up in our "blue bin" (as Andrew likes to call it) to be sent to the recycling plant.

Among the papers I pulled out, I found a science craft published in the June 2004 FF edition titled TIE DYE DISCS. So very easy and interesting!

Materials needed:

basket style coffee filters

markers

pen/pencil

scissors

cup of water

Directions:

1. Cut the center circle from the coffee filter

2. Poke a hole in the center of the circle

3. Draw a design around the poked hole

4. Take a wedge of the leftover coffee filter to fold several times, making a wick

5. Stick the wick into the center hole

6. Stick the wick into a small cup of water, balancing the edges of the circle on the rim of the cup.

7. Watch the ink spread to the edges of the circle

8. Pull the circle and wick out of the cup, remove the wick and let the circle dry

NEW RedBox Code

Are you a frequent visitor to your local Redbox machine? I am!

New code:

DATENIGHT2

Bloggy Giveaway

I love finding a great giveaway. I subscribe to various blogs that offer some really cool stuff for FREE! Jill, over at her blog, Live, Laugh, Blog, is offering a free giveaway of either personalized notecards or a bow writing pad. To enter, read her instructions carefully. She'll be randomly choosing three winners on Tuesday, April 15 (that would be TAX day....ahhhhh!). Careful....you will get addicted to her site. I know I am!

BOGO Krispy Kreme

Print a coupon here for the BOGO (buy one/get one) one dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts. This is a great offer for all those Sunday morning trips in the drive-thru to take doughnuts to church.

Bless her heart

Poor Abigail....

Monday afternoon she took a small spill on the concrete driveway.

She never complains about her toe getting cold when wearing these PJs.

I wanna be a cowboy

"I wanna be a cowboy and Mom can be my cowgirl..."

Walgreen's coupon

Good for this Friday only, April 11. It's $5 off $20 in-store purchase coupon. Click here to print the coupon.

Happy Birthday, cinnamon roll style.

We celebrated Andrew's birthday with a party almost two weeks ago (to avoid spring break) but this past Tuesday, April 8, was the actual day of his birth, four years ago. He asked for cinnamon rolls for breakfast so we popped them out of a can and stuck a candle in one. Like his bed head? We also promised him a trip to Walmart to purchase the newly released DVD of The Waterhorse. I took him to see it on the big screen back in February at our wonderful dollar theatre. He has been asking for his own copy to watch at home ever since we left the theatre that afternoon. It's a fantastic movie, clean and family friendly. Now he's looking forward to going back to school on Monday so he can take cupcakes and finally celebrate his birthday with his class. Becky, I feel like I need to go ahead and submit to doing what you do....an entire month dedicated to the birthday girl/boy since Andrew's celebration seems to be at least three weeks long!!

Free Cone Day @ Ben & Jerry's & Baskin Robbins

Get a free cone of ice cream at Ben & Jerry's on Tuesday, April 29th.

Get a free cone of ice cream at Baskin Robbins one day later on Wednesday, April 30th!

Free @ Macy's

Tee Hee....giggle, giggle.....hee hee....a pair of free panties at Macy's from May 31-June 6. Click here to print the coupon.

Free Scotch Brite

Scotch Brite wants you to try their disposable toilet bowl cleaner for FREE! Girls, we all know you have that filthy black water ring in your potty! Clean it up - NOW! Click here to print the coupon (not to exceed $4.99).

I'm on my way to get mine tonight and will return home quickly to get rid of the water ring in my own potty!