Late night conversations with Ben

Scene- Driving in the car with Brad on the phone

I don't quite remember how we got on the subject of Woodchucks, but we did. 

Me: Are woodchucks even a real animal

Brad: I think so.

Ben: Yeah they are, y'all just don't remember because your brains aren't fresh.

Me: Then what are they?

Brad: :not speaking because he's busy using google:

Ben: Y'all just don't know, I know, but y'all don't. Yall's brains aren't fresh anymore and you can't remember, but I just got out of school like 2 or 5 years ago and I know that they are a real thing because my teacher told me so. 

Me: Ben- you just got out of school a few weeks ago. 

Ben: I don't know my time ok, I don't know years or months of days yet but I know that woodchucks are a real animal. 

Brad: They are the same thing as a groundhog

Ben: See I told you, they are the same thing as the animal that tells us if we have to deal with more snow. 

Adventures of Pet Sitting

My youngest son, Ben, and I are house and pet sitting for my mom while they are out of town. 

We come in late last night and get the animals fed and take them outside to potty. When they came back in, mom's little chihuahua mix dog, Dylan, has brought in a friend. In her mouth is a live locust. The locust is screaming as loud as it can for its life. If you have never heard a locust scream, they are painfully loud, almost like the horrible static from a radio station. So Ben is freaking out because he is terrified of these bugs. Patches, mom's cat calmly looks at Dylan, walks up to her and just whops her right on the head. In turn, Dylan spats out the locust and now it is flying like crazy all in the kitchen. Charlie, mom's older, more 'over it' dog makes eye contact with me, and at that moment I swear I saw her roll her eyes. 

So, pause. In this chaotic moment, I try to freeze my memory to capture this moment in my mind forever. My son is terrified and screaming, yet he has the biggest smile on his face. He is frozen in the air from jumping out of the way of a poor locust that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is holding onto the back of a chair that is about to topple over from his reaction.  Patches is sitting up looking down on Dylan with her paw still outstretched from whacking her across the head. She has a determined look and is certain that locust will be hers.  Dylan's look of confusion with her paws outstretched frantically trying to recapture her prize but she is facing Patches with such a funny, raw expression of "what the heck just happened', and she is just not able to quite grab the locust back.  Charlie, sitting in the middle of it with her eyebrows arched up high and looking for me to figure out what to do, perhaps it was a silent plea for help. And me, I don't know what my expression was. Maybe it was panic, there are a lot of breakable things at moms house. Maybe annoyance, because chaos seems to follow me. Maybe though, just maybe, and I really do hope, that I had a smile. Because looking back at this moment forever in my memory, however chaotic it was, will always remind me that we lived last night. We giggled last night. We had fun and even though we didn't know it at that moment, we made a memory last night.  

Side note: We also do not know who ended up with the locust or where he flew off to hide, as we never heard his shrill scream again. We can only hope he found his way back outside. 

 What I learned going to the movies with my youngest 

1. Choose a seat on the outside of the row

    Why? Because there will be many trips to the restroom and quite frankly, having to ask the 6 or so people to move their legs back while pushing up on the people's seat in front of them to squeeze by to get to said restroom, well....all I could think about was my butt in these peoples' faces. I'm so sure they enjoyed that view instead of the view they paid for. 

2. Bring wet wipes. 

    Yes, even for a 6 year old. Why? Because although they advertise they clean the auditorium to the highest of expectations, my child still found the one gummy candy that was partially melted and stepped right on it. Then, said 6 year old proceeded to put his feet in his chair to "make himself taller". See where this is going? Gummy, sticky candy was smeared EVERYWHERE. Being in the time that we are, we were not 'allowed' to just change seats, so we were stuck, literally, to the seats we chose before going into the auditorium. 

3. When they offer to bring your drinks and snacks to your seat for you, allow them. 

    Have you tried to juggle two drinks, a large popcorn and a purse because your child is carrying the booster chair that you know they won't even use. If you haven't, feel blessed. Having a strong willed child is not for the faint of heart. We made it, but not without losing a few popcorn pieces along the way....maybe more than a few. Just use their deliver to the seat service. 

4. Don't expect to see the movie. 

    Picking a movie you really want to see? Might as well prepare yourself to know that will not happen. You will have a tiny human talking to you nearly non-stop in their oh so sweet whisper voice. Just be prepared to know you will have to rent it when it comes out if you really want to see it. 

Freebies on My Birthday

Tuesday was my birthday. Having birthday's when your on a budget feel like just another day. They are really hum drum and no sparkle. I have a secret though, I use every time to make sure that I get treated to something on my birthday! Okay, it really isn't a huge secret, in fact almost everywhere you go these days will ask you about this.

Rewards programs! Seriously though, every single restaurant and store you walk into will ask if you are a member of their rewards programs- Just go ahead and sign up (as long as its free, I will never pay to be a part of a rewards program).

I have a trick for them though. If I am at a restaurant, I will always put in my birthday, however if I am at a retail store, I will use a birth date that is relevant to the type of retail it is. For instance, If I am at a children's clothing store, I will put a date that is closer to the start of school or Christmas. Retail stores will usually send you a higher amount coupon on your birthday. So, that higher coupon will help out for back to school shopping or Christmas shopping.

I got several emails and texts yesterday from all of my rewards accounts, and I took advantage of three of them.  CEFCO gas station actually has a great program that will send you several coupons through out the week. Yesterday, I just happened to get one for a .25 cent large fountain drink. I loved this one because soda isn't something we purchase regularly, and they have the flavor add ins for their fountain machine! I stopped and picked up my vanilla Dr. Pepper and only spent .27 cents with tax. Then I drove down the street and took advantage of my Dickies BBQ free small sandwich, and had a chopped BBQ Sandwich.

With this, my 4 year old and I went to the park, he had his pre-packed lunch of PB&J, and don't feel sorry for him, that is his absolute favorite. He was excited that mama had a birthday sandwich and that we had a picnic.

After that we ran to our local library to return his books and find some more. While we were there, we stopped to play at their train station set up in the children's section, spent some time on the children's computer, then we stumbled upon a box that said 'free'. My son picked out a really cool boat and a rubber duckie all painted up like Buzz Light-year.  Seeing him happy, made me happy.

After we checked out our new books, we decided to use our ice cream coupons. He had one saved from his reading club and I had a special just for my birthday! We headed to sonic and picked up our shake and ice cream cone.

I also had a free 8x10 print from Wal-greens. I get those a few times a year from their rewards club, but this year it happened to fall on my birthday. I was able to get a print of my favorite littlest soccer player to hang on my wall.

I had several other offers as well, but these are just the ones we decided were really awesome. So next time your at your favorite eatery or retail store, take the extra minute to sign up for their free rewards programs. They can sometimes brighten your dull day by adding a little freebie sparkle.

Money Saving Monday

I love Clearance. I have a difficult time purchasing anything at full price, because I know that it will eventually be marked down. My favorite clearance is End of Season Clearance. I went shopping for the end of summer clearance at our local Wal-Mart because here in Texas, when the retail summer season is ending, we still have another month or so of really hot weather, which means we can still enjoy the hot weather fun for even less.

My big find this year for the end of summer clearance were these really awesome water balloons! Have you seen them? They have been around a while now, however I was skeptical the first time we used them because they claim to fill all of them at once and all you have to do is hook up your hose, then shake them off when they are full. If you have ever filled water balloons one at a time, then struggled to tie them off in knots, then you will know how time consuming that can be.  Let me tell you, these are amazing. They do what they say they do, and only take a few minutes of set up time so you can get to playing faster.

I used my Wal-Mart app as a price checker, and snapped a pic of their own price tag on the shelf to help save time- just in case it didn't ring up as advertised. I did this because the deal seemed way too good to be true. But to my amazement it was so true! At $2 each box, I was able to grab a few boxes for a fun family evening. I ran by my local thrift store that often offers up free items they don't use/need anymore and was able to grab 2 totes sans lids for free. They weren't in the best shape- but they held water, and that is all I needed them to do!

We filled our new free tubs halfway with water, then started filling our balloons, while the kids decided  that we would play a game of capture flag with water balloons. They picked teams (Parents vs. Kids), they schemed how they would overtake us (throw as many balloons at one time that they could while another child would sneak around to steal the flag) , and they creatively created flags (grabbed two of their little brothers shirts and decided that would do).

Aren't they mesmerizing to look at! They didn't last in the tubs too long. With 4 packages we had approx 400 water balloons, (a few did pop as I filled them)  and with all the children, that lasted a good thirty minutes. Don't underestimate the power of the clearance isle. We didn't pay full price, had a good thirty minutes of wholesome family fun, and possibly helped save thousands on future therapy sessions- as they kids were able to pelt each other and us with these balloons!

Sleep Over Sunday

Do you ever find yourself with extra children at your house? That may seem like an odd question, but it really is a thing. Once you have x amount of children, sometimes other children just kind of sneak their way into your home. Having five children between the two of us, its bound to happen from time to time.

I usually only do grocery shopping enough for one week at a time, and for the amount of people I know I will have at the house. Things happen though, and you end up with those extras. We live a good 20 miles or so from the nearest grocery store so jumping up early in the morning to run to the grocery store to pick up a few items just isn't always feasible.

I have found the breakfast item that all the children love, that's easy and really cheap to keep on hand.

Chocolate Chip, Blue Berry, Banana Nut or Mixed Berry Pancakes! Now, hang in there- I know your thinking that all of those call for a ton of ingredients, or will take a lot of time. Your thinking about finding fresh ripe blueberries, and lovingly folding them into the batter- but I can tell you- My trick is so much easier than this! It is really only 3 ingredients, 4 if you count the butter!

All you do is mix one package of muffin mix, with one egg, and about 1/2 cup of milk. If they are too thick you can add just a little more milk until you get the right consistency.  Then cook them just like pancakes! Its really that simple! So- even though we are pinching our pennies, our kids think they are getting a super special treat with these! You can get about 6-8 pancakes with each package depending on how big you make them. What's even better? If your out of pancake syrup or don't have enough to go around, you really don't need it with these. They are so sweet and yummy! Hope you enjoy! 

Sweet Saturday

Our youngest is also in sports. He just wrapped up his first ever soccer season, scoring the Defensive Player of the Year spot! If you have a hyper child that seems to never run out of energy, let me tell you, soccer is AMAZING. Our youngest is so full of energy that sometimes he even tells me that he 'doesn't know how to sleep'. Soccer is so fast paced for the little's and so much back and forth, that they run all their energy out and mom gets an extra hour while they nap afterwards! Our youngest always has games on Saturday mornings, and it seems the younger they are, the earlier the games are. So, there is no sleeping in on Saturdays for us, unless you consider 7 a.m. sleeping in!

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This is our little Soccer guy, photo credit to gowanphotography.com, the best photographer that we know! With soccer ending that means that basketball is starting up and although our Saturdays are free for a moment, soon they will be filled with early morning basketball games for this cutie.

With sports, also comes snacks. There will be a time, even if you really don't want to, that you are picked to bring snacks for after the game. This can be super stressful when you are paycheck to paycheck and you just scraped up everything you could find to pay for the child to play the sport.

There is no need to worry about it though. We were lucky to not have any allergies on our team, so we could basically bring anything. I'm not calling any names, but one week we had a mom (or dad) throw in extra Halloween candy! Hopefully you get on a team like that! Luckily all of the mom's on our team had multiple children and were over all the perfect, cutesy snacks that first time moms have to have. Trust me- Its not worth it- don't spend your extra time making a perfect snack for the little's that are just going to  tear into their bags and start munching away. They really don't care. Sometimes you just have to slow down and think "Will this cause my child to be in counseling one day?" if the answer is No- then really, really don't sweat it.

So here are our favorite go to ideas that are simple and affordable for even the tightest budget.

Water Bottles with a drink mix taped to it
juice boxes
capri-sun's

Pretzels                            

Chips
Goldfish

Oranges (although I had one mom complain they are too sticky)
Grapes (and I had another complain that we need to cut them up for our 4 year olds)
Bananas (again with the sticky)


So what's best about all of these options are that they are sold in bulk. You could purchase a giant box of goldfish, pour them into little baggies and save yourself a little money. Usually buying these items in the individual packages will cost more- especially since you already have the baggies at home. If not- Dollar Tree has them for cheap! So- when your at the store- just look for bulk items, its a plus if you have left overs to serve as snack throughout the week to your own crew.