BEING A FRUGAL MOM

I was recently visiting with a friend and we were discussing how I manage to afford things for my twin girls. Besides the amazing help of family and friends, I tend to buy lightly used clothing, toys, and other items from a variety of places. There are several consignment sales in the spring and fall, thrift stores that will often have some amazing toys, but you have to be patient when looking. Craigslist is great for buying and selling, if you are safe when doing transactions. Of course yard sales are great too! Dollar stores are also a fun resource for craft supplies, coloring books, play dishes, etc. Feel free to comment with your favorites stores or places to find good bargains.

Seasonal Consignment Sales:

KMOM – Keystone Mother’s of Multiples

http://www.kmom.us/

PA Kids Market

http://www.pakidsmarket.com/

Tykes to Teens

http://www.tykes2teens.com/

Local Thrift Stores (non-consignment):

Salvation Army Stores

Harrisburg – Union Deposit & Rt. 22

Camp Hill – Trindle Road

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

Thrift Stores USA – Volunteers of America

Harrisburg – Paxton St.

Mechanincsburg – Carlisle Pike

http://voapa.org/Services/Thrift-Stores

Community Aid

4833 Carlisle Pike
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
(717) 412-7706

Craigslist

Check the Baby & Kids section or Toys & Games section

http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/

Yard Sales

Find out where local yard sales will be.

Try to go to Community Yard Sales, they are the most time saving since you can drive around to various homes within close proximity. Or check the description of yard sales to see if they are selling specifically baby/kids thing.

http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/gms/

Fall Crafts

I hope to be posting several Fall crafts in the weeks to come. We were just at Wildwood Nature Center this morning and got some great craft ideas there. I highly recommend visiting the actual nature center and talking a walk. They have lots of visual and hands-on activities, all free, inside the center. Some things you can do there, and others you can take home.

This craft came from "Toddler Busy Book". They are meant to be bag pumpkins, but at the age of two, my girls can't quite stay focused enough to color a specific thing, so we made them fall decorative bags.

Take a brown paper bag, and allow the kids to color or paint on them. Once dry, allow them to stuff with newspaper or leaves, and then twist the top, and tie off. If you want to do a pumpkin, just have them color the majority orange, and then draw on a face. The top gets green, and stuff and twist just like above.

My girls are loving carrying these around, and they actually are cute decorations.

The Word is Out

The word is out, Baby #3 is on the way. Being pregnant with just one baby this time around has been tougher than being pregnant with twins. You wouldn't think so, but having fatigue and nausea along with two active two year-olds is exhausting!

We are excited, just praying that the 2nd trimester will bring some relief and more energy!

And Time Goes By

I've heard every parent say it, "they grow up way too fast". And I found myself saying it as I watched and helped my husband convert my girls' cribs to toddler beds. It was sort of surreal to think that they are old enough to be in 'big' beds. We could have waited a while longer since they weren't jumping out of the cribs yet. But they are always so excited to jump in our bed and pretend to sleep, snuggling under the covers. And in another couple months we hope they'll be ready to start potty training, so this was an important step to take. The one photo is of the girls when we laid them in a crib for the first time. And now their beds look so grown up! Treasure the moments.

"My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Colossians 2:2-3

Beach, O' Beach, Where Art Thou

Summer is ending and our family missed out on the beach. For the last 6 years we've been blessed with a free place to stay. This year it was sold, so we didn't make it out there. But there is no need to miss out on some of the fun. This girls played in the little pool this weekend, which will likely be the last time for the year. And I made them 'Sand' for dessert. A white version of 'Dirt'!

The pudding layer is pumpkin pudding, and then ground Golden Oreos, a half cookie and some Reddi Whip to top it off. It was a hit!

Revelations 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,
“who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Twin Beds!

We are currently gearing up to convert the girls cribs to the toddler beds. At times I don't realize how different my life is having twins, but in this situation double means double $$$.

I've been looking for bedding for their new beds that will get them excited to sleep in them and make them feel like big girls! The prices are kind of crazy and then go and double it. OY!

So I was quite excited when a plan came together today. I went to Gabriel Brothers store and found a twin comforter that I liked for $15 (and it rang up for only $9)! I then got a queen sheet and a set of pillow cases. And to top it off, I found two large fleece blankets. All this for under $50.

When I got home, I cut and sewed the comforter into two toddler size blankets. The sheet became two flat sheets and two pillow cases. And we get to reuse their crib sheets with this set. So overall I'm quite happy with the outcome.

3+ Maybe Not

As the girls grow, I'm finding that I need to make more judgement calls on what they can play with. For example: Play dough says that it is for 3+ years. However, I know several people who started playing with play dough with one and two year olds.

This weekend I decided that the girls would enjoy trying it out. So Will and I both sat down to play with them. They had a blast, and actually didn't try to eat it. That's quite amazing!

There have been others toys that say 'Small Parts, Keep away from young children' and we've let them play with those toys, because the parts were not too small.

There have been other things that should be fine that I have withheld. Like a 'G' rated movie. Not all of them seem reasonable for every young child to watch. There are often scary moments. I for one don't want to be dealing with the nightmares from that.

To the Zoo

One of the best purchases I've made in the last year was a Zoo America Membership for myself. It was $30 for a year and the girls are free. It's normally a $10 per person per visit entrance fee. We've made good use of it, going at least once a month, but usually twice. Zoo America may seem small to some, but with twin two year olds, it's just right! Their attention span isn't terribly long, so we can make it through in about an hour, and they still find the animals pretty exciting each time we go. It's fun to see which animal they get most excited about on each visit. Sometimes it's the turtles, sometimes the wolves, and this last time it was a Maarten.

Great Expectations

Whenever I decide to try something new for the girls, I just imagine that they're going to get crazy excited and just love whatever I've come up with. And don't get me wrong, they do tend to enjoy the various brainstorms I have, but don't seem to react the way I think they will.

One example, last week I thought they could probably handle watching a movie, so I rented "Mary Poppins". We watched it in three separate pieces and times. And each time they were so enthralled that they were signing and asking for more, very adamantly. On the flip side, we took them to the actual movie theatre this weekend to see "Winnie the Pooh". I really thought the size of the screen and the other kids would get them going. They were however very mellow about it all. I'm sure they enjoyed it, but weren't asking for more.

I strikes me at times how independent in their thinking they have already become, developing likes and dislikes. It's amazing how we are all created differently and so intricately.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
~Psalm 139:14

To Stay or To Go

I feel like I'm always asking this question: "To Stay or To Go".
- To stay home or to go run errands
- To stay home or to go to the gym
- To stay home or to go to an event
and on and on...

Why such a laborious process and constant question, you ask? Motivation or stamina on my part, temperaments on the girls part. Their is also their health status, weather conditions, timing, and many other considerations. These are the tough decisions as a mom :) Indeed there are much harder, but this one feels tough in the moments when I make the wrong choice.

Since the girls were 9 months, I've found sanity in getting out of the house to run errands or go play somewhere with them on an almost daily basis. I've really needed to get creative to make outings free! One friend of mine has impressed me with her dedication to visiting parks this summer with her four and one year olds. Others are consistently setting playground playdates.

Another struggle is keeping the girls and myself occupied when we stay home for the day. It's not for lack of toys! The girls minds are growing and expanding so much that they prefer to be learning and trying new things.

Still deciding for today, how about you?

Wrapping It Up

Well, we're wrapping up the Christmas in July week. We've continued to listen to Christmas music, play with the manger and all the characters to the scene. The girls have been coloring stories of Jesus' birth and we've been reading the story to them. It's been a fun week!

Hope you had fun with your family too!

Pasta Braclets

In the afternoon, yesterday, I taught the girls how to string beads. Well, the string was pipe cleaners and the beads were pasta, but it was just right for their 2 year old skill level. I put one piece of pasta on the end and secured it before they got up from nap. They've been carrying them around all day today!

We also opened our dollar store gifts last night. That was fun too! Will and I also each got a gift.

Hope you are enjoying Christmas in July if you are also doing it!

O Christmas Tree

Today we decorated a paper Christmas Tree!

To make it a bit more summery I pulled clipart into Microsoft Word and printed it on sticker paper. We had seashells, swings, balls, slides, and crosses to put on our tree. We also taped on some pipe cleaners. I believe the tree will evolve over the week as we add some rings cut from paper towel tubes, and other artwork we create.

Also to come later in the week: some fun dollar store gifts :)

Having a "Real" Moment

I felt the need to start this blog to share ideas I find or come up with, to challenge myself to do more with my daughters, and also to just be real about how it is to be a mom - from my perspective of course.

So here is my first "real" post or should I say honest. I mentioned to Will, while he has home for lunch, that I often breathe a sigh of relief after the girls are in bed. Anyone else out there do that? I know many of you do. And now I'm considering why I do that. It would be easy to say I'm exhausted and call it a day, but for me it's much more. I love being a mom and have always wanted to be, but it has literally turned my life upside down! I have always been quite independent, just ask my mom, used to dropping everything to go do whatever I wanted and whenever. I now have two beautiful girls who consume all but 2 hours of my day from 7:30 am until 8:30 pm, and they much prefer to be exactly where I am, trying to be involved in whatever I'm doing. I like to grab 'me' time when I can get it, but even that gets detoured with thoughts of them or buying them things or scrapbooking photos of them.

The reality is they are part of me and I of them, and that's that! No solutions or conclusions here, just another moment when we moms are in need of our Creator and Designer to re-mold us and re-shape us! Be blessed as you are a mom today!

Isaiah 64:8
Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

A Week or More of Christmas in July

I don't know about you, but we've been going crazy at our house. The temps have been in the 90's and heat indexes in to 100's! So we've been cooped up indoors just to stay cool.

This week I thought it would be fun to have a week (or more) of Christmas in July. Two days ago I filled our CD changer with Christmas music. Today I pulled out our Little People manger and a Christmas book that explains the story of Christ's birth. I also pulled out a music box that the girls love.

And tonight for dinner, I'm making Christmas tree ka-bobs! A little red (cherry tomatoes), a little green (zucchini & broccoli), a little white (mushrooms), and a little brown (pork).

It's fun getting my creative juices going again! Looking forward to tomorrow's fun project: Decorate a tree!