Science Experiment

This week at our house, Petra had her first impromptu science experiment.

It was a relaxing Sunday; I was trying to get lunch fixed before laying the children down for a nap. Now first of all, you must understand that usually this time is not relaxing. The bad thing about Sunday is by the time we get home from church, it is already past nap time. Then add on to this the complications of having to cook and eat, and usually the children end up laying down about 2 hours past their usually nap time. This whole equation looks something like this: hungry + tired = CRANKY and screaming.

But this Sunday was different. Jasper had fallen asleep on the car ride home. And Petra appears to be getting old enough that an hour here or there in change doesn’t really affect her moodiness.
So while I was making a quick lunch of spaghetti, Petra wandered off and found a box of tea in my overflow stash. Quietly she lay on the floor and began the process of trying to take the plastic off the box. This took a good 5 minutes. I was absolutely relishing the quiet time. By the time she did open the box, I figured I better take it away from her so that I didn’t have a zillion tea bags thrown on the floor. So, I swooped in and grabbed the box, leaving her with one tea bag to investigate.

She looked a little confused as she studied it. She took off the paper. She tried to open it. I am sure she wondered the purpose behind it all. So I grabbed two clear glasses, filled them both with warm water, and sat her down to investigate further. She dipped and dipped the tea down in one glass and we talked about the changes in the water. Then we compared the two glasses —the one with the clear water, and the one with the stained water. And then we tasted the difference between the two. It was all in all a very simple, but fun experiment for a two-year-old and her mom.

Lving Frugally

This post seems well timed considering that Thomas and I are making decisions everyday to live more frugally. There are several reasons why we are doing this. But most importantly I think its to assure that our family stays focused on the things in life that are most important. In addition, we are working hard to pay off debts so that one day, we will be debt free.

We have made small adjustments over the last year.

For instance, we are making all of our cleaning supplies. (That of course was spurred by Jasper's allergy to detergents) And since we bought our home we are gardening more and trying to grow more of our own food. We have looked for ways to cut our budget so that we are living on less. And it is really tricky.

To date, we have probably saved the most on groceries. Through couponing and just being very conscious about what I buy and why, we have cut our grocery bill down to about $350 a month. And I will striving to get that down even lower.

Our small adjustments are gradually turning into larger adjustments. This year the garden will be bigger than ever before. And, we have decided....to turn off our cable....completely. This will be my last post from the comfort of my own home. We don't watch much TV at all so that won't be the issue, but Thomas and I can be addicted to the computer at times. We check our email very often. We surf the news. We surf blogs. And honestly, not only does it take away time from our family, but it is expensive. It has a lot of perks to let it go - it will save us about $850 this year, and we will have more time with each other. And truthfully, we both have access to the internet during the week at work so we should be able to handle this change. But in some ways, I still feel like I'm cutting off my right hand.

In the future, anytime I update my blog or any website, it will probably be from some store that offers free access. So, there will definitely be fewer posts in the future.

A good friend this week asked for a list of suggestions to save money when grocery shopping. I thought I would share what I sent her. Maybe you all do these things, but below are some of the ways I have saved money.

• Our dinners usually cost us about $4-5. Plus there is almost always leftovers for lunch the next day - so aim for this.
  

• Make a price list – so that you can see the costs of goods and compare prices across stores. This will help you keep in check so that you don’t spend more than you should on an item – esp at bulk stores where things can be deceiving. To make a price list:

· Gather several of your last grocery receipts and circle your 20 most expensive items to see where you are spending the bulk of your money - start with these

· Keep your receipts and add them to a spreadsheet/book when you get home – start with 20 items, and then aim for adding just 10 items each time you shop (if you want more help with this let me know – I have detailed directions)

· To save time, only track those items you buy on a regular basis or those most expensive items you must have

• You usually save more by making things from scratch, rather than buying prepackaged foods.
  

• Couponing - Remember some stores double, and others let you stack coupons so you can stack a store coupon with a manufacturers coupon, buy when items are buy 1 get 1 and use a coupon for both items
  

• Don’t buy lunchmeat – it costs at least $5/lb – instead buy chicken breasts – I can get chicken breast with bone in for 99¢/lb or less on sale and then cut up for sandwich meat. Or make chicken salad out of it. So I end up paying about $5 for 4lbs of meat, rather than $5 for 1lb of meat. Even if you buy boneless chicken breast at Sams for $1.99 lb you are still saving a ton of money. Or buy tuna when it is B1G1 at Publix.

• Buy beans, rice, oatmeal, popcorn, flours, and spices in bulk – you can cook beans ahead of time and freeze so that if you need on a moment’s notice they are already cooked and ready to go.

• Make your own hummus with the beans you buy in bulk

• Make 1 batch of muffins each week from scratch – the cost is very minimal – and it will be an easy breakfast item or snack through the week.

• Make 1 batch of cookies/brownies each week from scratch for treats – great to send with your hubby for his lunch

• Only buy fruits and veggies that are on sale that week - we only eat grapes when they are 99¢ per lb (my only exception to this is that I buy bananas every week for the children)

• Stock up on onions and peppers when they are on sale – cut them, sliced or diced and store in freezer until you need them for a recipe. I love it when I can find peppers for 50¢ each!

• Stock up on meat when it is on sale – try to get enough to last until the next sale time – our meat sales repeat every 4 weeks for some items, every 8-12 weeks for others. I just can’t afford to buy organic meat – but I really have considered at buying half a cow – it is cheaper than buying organic at the store but still more expensive than buying sale priced regular meat. I really need some friends who would be willing to go into this with us. (Our best prices in town are $1.49 per lb for ground beef (20% fat, so I must drain and you can even rinse the meat to get off the fat), 69¢ lb for chicken leg quarters, 99¢ lb for split chicken breasts, $1.69 lb for boneless chick breast, $1 roll of sausage, $3.99 lb for ribeye or NY strip steaks)

• Today I bought the following for $52: 2 lbs sausage, 3.5 lb beef roast, 5.5 lbs ribeyes (6 thick steaks), and 13 lbs of ground beef. It’s a lot to spend on just meat in one week – however – it will be enough red meat for this month plus probably some for next month. My most expensive meal with this will be the steaks – but once a week if we pay $9 for a steak dinner for the family it’s not that big of deal – esp. when you compare to what it would be if we ate out. The total before savings was $100.

• I rarely buy anything special for a recipe – sometimes I just exclude an item – but most of the time I just avoid recipes with lots of little ingredients. I’m currently putting together a list of recipes that has items that I usually keep in stock – my plan is to sort them with an index by ingredient that is quick and easy for reference.
  

• Make all breads and muffins and pie shells from scratch. I made 4 loaves of bread for $6 this past month – the bread had no hydrogenated oils, no white sugar, no white flour, and had additional benefits from things I added. It did take about 1 hour of my time.

• I buy canned veggies when they are on a great price since they aren’t really that good for you – but the ease of them is wonderful. So I buy when they are about 35¢ a can. And then I stock up on our favorites, i.e. green beans and creamed corn for cornbread.

• I almost always buy Publix brand organic milk in a gallon – it’s cheaper than any other varieties of organic milk here in town
  

• Use cloth napkins and kitchen towels whenever you can – the only time I regularly use paper towels is for grease

• Reuse Ziploc bags…unless you stored raw meat in them – I even reuse bread bags.

• There is no reason to buy sour cream or buttermilk - unless you can get it super cheap - both are fairly easy to make from either milk or yogurt

• Buy a freezer so you can stock pile effectively – the savings you create over 2 months will most likely pay for the freezer

• Check ethnic stores and meat markets for better prices on items – for instance sesame oil & soy sauce you might could find cheaper at oriental market

• Grow fresh herbs – just a couple should be fairly easy if you have a good window – or you can put them in a flower bed outside – I would recommend parsley, basil and rosemary for starters(and any others you really like.)

• Grow some of your veggies – you can do some in pots in a sunny spot. For container gardens consider tomatoes, eggplant, lettuce, bush beans, and onions.

• I spend a ton of money on organic milk, and eggs – I don’t have a solution for this – we’ve talked about getting chickens and a dairy goat. Obviously I can’t have a goat where we live– but we are allowed chickens (not roosters). I still have to do a price comparison on this - but we usually eat at least 6 eggs a day.
  

Christmas 2009

Our busy time at work has officially started. So I will not be home as much over the next few months which really limits my time with the children and the time I can spend taking pictures of everything we do. Daddy and the nanny are both doing a great job keeping them happy and nourished.

So, here are some more photos from Christmas 2009 that I thought I would share.

Little Stars

Our little stars wanted to put on a performance tonight. It was so sweet to come back and watch these videos. I hope you enjoy them too.

Petra (26 months) absolutely astounds us everyday with everything she does. By the time I sit down to write about one thing, something else amazing and wonderful has happened. I feel like I couldn't possibly keep anyone up with everything. This morning she came down stairs and declared: "I want juice. (pause) I do not want milk." While we are still working on the pleasantness of her "requests," I was shocked that she so clearly put two sentences together.

Jasper is also surprising us in ways. He is still 15 months old - and he moves like an older child. He can walk on a balance beam now, he can climb up and down ladders ... and he can walk down the steps by himself! Are you kidding me? What 15 month old toddler can walk down steps? He can also crawl into his chair/booster seat and turn around and sit down by himself. If you want to see how this stacks up to what is developmentally appropriate - check this site - its what a child at 2 should be doing.

So, I thought it was time we try to capture a few things on video. Here are our little stars.

And Thomas made butter!

We were out of butter. Thomas' suggestion - I'll make some. As much as I try to make things from scratch - I never think about making butter.

Tonight he made a special treat - honey/cinnamon butter - it is mouthwatering. I found myself wanting to eat it by the spoonful...I had to restrain myself. Petra also had the same desire. She screamed when we wouldn't give her more.

I honestly sometimes think making butter may be his first real hobby. This isn't the first time he has made it - and its so good every time he does.

I baked bread!

I've been trying to rid our house of the following harmful foods:

1) white flour
2) white sugar
3) high fructose corn syrup
4) hydrogenated oil

And its not an easy job. One of the hardest things to find at the store is quality bread. So, I checked out the bread at the local co-op, and honestly I still wasn't sure what was in the bread. There were so many ingredients that I didn't recognize, that I was unsure about, and it was $5 a loaf.

So I decided there was no getting around it. It was time to make bread. And it turned out great. My family ate the first loaf in just 3 days ... the good news is I made 4 loaves at once.

The recipe I made was from a blog online called Passionate Homemaking. The lady who writes this blog had complete directions - including how to soak your grains in Kefir overnight for added benefit. Which I did. The recipe is here. The only thing I did different is that I did not use any white flour - only wheat flour - so ours is a lot heavier and denser than the bread you see in her picture. And I also added flax seed and sesame seeds.

So instead of buying bread at the co-op, I bought bulk organic wheat flour, wheat gluten, and honey. It is good, basic wheat bread. The children, especially Jasper, love it. And in total it cost me about $6 to make these 4 loaves.

Tot School

I feel like my life is made up of small changes. Maybe everyone's is the same way. But I think it is more. I think Thomas and I are are slowing changing some everyday more than the average family ... it will be interesting to see where God takes us.

And the first month of a new year has been no exception.

You may have noticed a small addition to this blog in the last 2 weeks. There is a new logo on the side with an elephant ...

One of my goals for the next year is to have focused learning "school" time for the children. After running across the website - Tot School - I'm a huge fan and I'm incorporating much of that style of teaching children into our daily lives. Tot School is largely about teaching children through play and fun activities. But what is great about this website is that is has a ton of ideas, resources, and links to help you plan out weeks of learning for your child.

I'm also going to pull some from another website - ABC Jesus Love Me - a more defined curriculum that has weekly lesson plans online for free.

In had some pretty reasonable goals set out for Petra. I largely wanted to focus on letter recognition, sound recognition, and number skills. And I've already failed in the sense that I set my expectations for her way too low. I was gradually working on letter sounds with her - just a few letters a week was the plan. However, with the help of Leap Frog's Letter Factory video, and about 8 times sitting in front of it to watch it, she knows every letter sound .... nearly. She was confused about the letter U - but I think I may have been able to teach her this one also. So here she is at 26 months and knows every letter sound...

But not every letter. When I ask her to tell me the name of a letter - she either doesn't know, she knows and tells, or she makes the sound.