Savvy Shopping

I'm proud to announce that today both of my little bookworms completed the Summer reading scheme.

Both of the girls worked hard on their reading over the holidays. The certificates and medals have been carefully displayed on their shelves for special things. 

We look forward to doing the next one! And Anya has shown an interest in joining the junior book club now she's a big girl of 7. 

To celebrate the girls reading success we treated them to an item each in our favourite church charity shop.  

DD2 picked a cool Peppa Pig microphone toy. It plays music and makes the sounds of different characters. 

DD1 picked a new poodle soft toy for her collection. She has around 5 now and I'm expecting a real life poodle to be on her Christmas list this year.

Gman fell instantly in love with a plush minion backpack. He refused to take it off for the rest of the day and filled it with toy cars. 

I also picked up a replica football shirt (4-5), a Jasper Conran baby blanket and a hideous owl ornament for a Halloween project.

 The entire trip cost us  £2.50! 

I'll be popping in regularly between now and Christmas to get my little family a nice stash of Christmas gifts. 

I'll let you know what I find.

X x X

September planning

 Things are changing in the Frugal house. I can't say to much yet, but the next few months are going to need some careful planning and organizing to keep things ship shape. So next month I am taking a leaf out of the awe-inspiring Brandy at The prudent homemaker and planning a to do list for September.

 Food;

*Eating out the freezer and cupboards - I seem to have a lot of "bits" stashed away from other meals. Never enough for a meal alone but to much to waste. I'm planning to clear some space in preparation for Christmas. Expect some odd combinations!

*Harvest - I want to make the best use of the all the garden produce as it ripens. Hopefully starting to make some preserves for Christmas (chutney, mincemeat etc)

Home and Garden;

*Deep clean the lounge - including washing the sofa covers and pulling out the cupboards.

*Garden upkeep - stay on top of the picking, watering and weeding.

*Winter planning - check the winter quilts and blankets are in good order. Wash any heavier things that need freshening up before the weather changes.

Children;

*Donate old toys - Now the birthdays are finished for the year it's time for the pre Christmas clear out.

*Plan for Halloween- Start collecting resources and ideas for activities. Planning costumes and looking out for local events.

*Check through wardrobes for anything ill fitting or stained. Replace as needed. Check winter jumpers/cardigans fit etc.

Craft;

*Knit a baby outfit for a friend who's expecting.

*Make some Halloween decorations

*Plan and source things for Christmas decorations (collect and dry pinecones, collect bottle lids etc)

Homemade frugal surprise eggs

Are you familiar with surprise eggs? Or blind bags? Shopkins? Numnums? 

Tiny plastic collectables that you break out of eggs, bags or containers, are my girls latest obsession. 

They watch footage of others opening them on YouTube. Sadly they are often very expensive to buy some like lol dolls are almost £9 each!

Not a budget friendly hobby but luckily I have a plan.

To make your own surprises you will need a few simple things.

* Small plastic toys that can survive water

* Small plastic containers 

* paper drinking cups/clean food cans/plastic tubs

For this batch I have a small selection of Duplo figures, plastic dinosaurs, shopkins and some small figures. They have all survived the freezing process before so I'm happy to use them again. 

Next load the tiny toys into the eggs/containers. My girls insist it is very important they can't see their prize until the last moment so the extra layer is crucial. You can skip this step if it doesn't bother your children.

Fill the paper cups about 1/3 to 1/2 with water.  The idea is to stop the containers floating at the top of the ice block and being to easy to retrieve. 

After an hour or so of freezing top them up to the rim of the cup to submerge the rest of the container. 

Frozen surprises are best opened in the bathtub/paddling pool or garden. They can make a great mess of puddles lol. When the weather cools down  a bit I'll share some alternative ideas of making surprise eggs. 

X x X

A morning in the kitchen

I had two small helpers this morning in the kitchen. I use that term loosely, I always seem to use a lot of extra ingredients when i have helpers. Raisins for example disappear at incredible speeds lol.

We made a delicious batch of (slightly) raisin scones, and then some open sandwiches.

DD2 is great at grating cheese and Gman likes popping the slices of cucumber and pickled radish on top.

Lunch time was delicious.

X x X

Being brave

Yesterday our twirling group was invited to preform at a local church's summer fete. We've been practicing hard for a few weeks in preparation and it really showed in the arena.

That's me on the far right in pink, DD2 is on my lap and DD1 to my left.

Both the girls preformed their routines perfectly. DD2 needed a little encouragement but DD1 ran onto the arena with a beaming smile each time.

For the final routine it was my go, with my fellow twirling mums. It was one of the scariest things I've done in a long time but I'm so glad I did it. I've been on cloud nine today when I think about it. 

After our performance we took some time enjoying the rest of the fete and handing out some leaflets for our team sponsors.  We were all feeling lucky so surged on a few strips of raffle tickets. 

Half way through the raffle being called DD2 needed the bathroom. When we came back from the loo, I'd won a cordless vacuum! 

I wonder if it was Karma rewarding me for being brave.

X x X

Haircuts and presents

The summer holidays are racing past at a mile a minute! Today's adventure was a visit to the hairdresser. 

Above is the before photo.

Both of the girls love sitting in the chairs and being pampered. The ladies who sorted their hair were very sweet and gave them both the full works, including a little packet of sweets for behaving so well.

DD2 now sports a cute bob style. It should make the mornings a bit less of a battle when it comes to brushing. We also purchased some pretty hair clips for holding it back.

DD1 just wanted a trim as she wants her hair longer. As her haircut took less time than DD2s she had it put into a beautiful French plait. 

On the way back to the car the girls were desperate to show off their new looks. It was a good excuse to visit a favourite charity shop.

The ladies inside were very pleased to see us all and made ample fuss of the girls and their little brother. 

One of the ladies passed me a large envelope with a beaming smile. Inside was a Thomas the Tank jumper pattern! Knowing that Gman is a huge fan she'd tucked it away when it was donated early in the holidays. 

I'm going to have a very happy little boy once I've made one. 

X x X

Lots of adventure.

This week we've been enjoying a staycation. 

So far we've visited parks...

Enjoyed a birthday pub meal (my brothers)

Met animals in the zoo...

Make some fancy princess crowns...

Eaten lunch while trainspotting...

Ridden miniature trains with Nanny...

Met new friends....

Enjoyed visiting a Fort....

And even enjoyed a ride on Thomas the Tank himself!

And we still have the weekend to go! Phew!

X x X

Bedtime Bedlam

It's all been quite disastrous this evening. 

At bedtime DD2 begged DD1 for one of her special books to read as her bedtime story. DD1 very kindly said she could.

I helped  Gman brush his teeth (always epic with a helpful 2 year old) and went in to read with DD2. She was sat in the centre of her bed dramatically ripping out the books flaps.

Luckily I caught her finishing off the first page and she hadn't managed any further damage.

I've repaired the damage as much as sticky tape will allow. It's passable but delicate. DD1 sobbed her little heart out when I explained what had happened. My poor baby girl.

I will be having a big talk with DD2 in the morning about respecting other people's property  and working out an ample punishment. (Usually folding and sorting laundry) 

X x X

Accidents galore!

It's been a painful few days! First I almost broke my thumb on Sundays adult training session. After following the RICE advice (rest,  ice,compression and elevation) it's turned out only to be badly bruised. The odd thing is its only painful with certain movements. For example I can text with it, but not brush my teeth. And I can knit but not hold my fork at dinner. It's rather bizarre.  

After my thumb mishap, DD1 joined me with a black eye on Saturday.  She's been warned several times not to jump on the bed but refuses to listen. Funnily enough she's not done it since lol.

Mostly we have been rearranging the garden the past few days. DH has made me a little potting table from pallets, and a kind freegler gave us 4 old car tyres. 

I've planted mooli, mallow and spring onion seeds. Hopefully we still have a fair bit of nice weather to come and help them get started. I've also started some tyre potatoes in the hope we have homegrown spuds for Christmas dinner. 

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

X x X