Science Birthday Party ~What a hit!~

Today was the big party day for our oldest son (11). His birthday is just before Christmas. Typically we wait until January to have his party. This year he asked for a science party. A friend of ours, Brian, came over for the afternoon to be the scientist. He was amazing! I had a program on my son's laptop that was supposed to greet each kiddo and welcome them into our laboratory. My son was going to do an eye scan with a glow stick while the program talked. Big glitch! The program would not load. When it finally did....most the kids were already here and they were ready to start eating lunch. We had bologna sandwiches, cucumber & cream cheese sandwiches, jello jigglers, potato chips, and tang (with dry ice in it for a super cool smokey effect).  My husband and I had decorated the garage last night. But, as you know, it rained! Why was that a problem? Well...we just learned that our garage floor is not sealed. So, moisture came up through the floor. Our streamers had been perfectly hung and now they were sagging and looked like they had been soaked in water all night long. Ugh! What's a parent to do? We decided to pull them tighter so that they were no longer hanging from wall, to knee, to rafter level. Trust me...it looked amazing last night and this morning it looked like we hired a toddler to decorate. No offense to the toddlers out there.
Our scientist had so much fun with the boys. I think he was from Germany...or was he related to Schwarzenegger...it was hard to tell. His accent was so unique and the kids loved it! They liked that he counted in German. Their favorite was the number 5...funf (fuenf). I received a glare at one point because I broke one of the rules. I was talking while it was his turn to talk. Lol!
The kids did a lot of experiments. I appreciated that he had them in groups and they talked amongst their group. Why did that happen? What do you think is going on? It was really neat to hear the ideas that the boys had. Their explanations were quite interesting. Here are some of the experiments that they did:
1. Two empty soda cans and a straw. They were using the straw to blow cans across the table. The cans cans were to stay connected as they went across the table. If you accomplished this...it made "music". Hmmm...I thought that "music" was right up there with fingernails on a chalk board or a fork scraping a metal bowl. But the kids loved it. One kid was able to get it right quite often.
2. Next they had a bent straw and a cheese puff. There were a lot of cheese puffs. The kids were challenged to make the cheese puff hover in the air above their straw. We saw a lot of cheese puffs in the air...a few kids were able to get theirs to hover.
3. The kids were each given a piece of aluminum foil. "Al is your pal!" See - I was listening. They made boats and were asked to put them in a bucket of water to see if they would float. The name of our scientists boat was the USS Sinkalot. One of my sons made a flat boat. He called it the USS Laptop. Guess what....it floated. Then they crumpled them up and tested again to see if they would float. Last, they stomped on their aluminum crumpled up boats. Then they tested it again to see what would happen. You want to know...don't you? Too bad...guess you will have to try it yourself and see what happens. : )
4. Two liter bottles were attached at the neck. He had beads and glittery stuff in them. The kids made whirlpools/tornadoes with them. They observed the motion of the beads and glitter. They had a great conversation about air pressure.
5. My son was sent into the house to grab his highest amount bill. He came back with a $10. He handed it over to our scientist who set it on fire. And....it was just fine. But, the price on my son's face was priceless.
6. He asked my son for a $1. They had a deal. He was going to walk through the dollar bill. If he could not walk through the dollar bill...he would give my son $2. If he could was through the dollar bill...then he would just give it back to him. He then proceeded to cut the $1. He tried to walk through it and decided to have my oldest son give it a try. Brody was able to walk through the $1 and he received $2 in the end. He is now the proud owner of a $1 necklace.
7. Two eggs in separate containers of water. One sunk and the other...well...it eventually floated up to the top.
8. Diet coke and mentos! Need I say more? The kids loved it!

My son asked for cupcakes. He wanted neon frosting on the side; so that the kids could decorate their own cupcakes. We also put sprinkles and chopped up cookies into neon colored test tubes. The kids had so much fun. I could not believe how quickly the time flew by. It was "ultra epic cool" according to one of the boys at the party. I'm sure this party will be remembered for years to come.

1-15-2011 Saturday

Today was filled with pricing more items around town. Made my list of prices at Winco for items that I tend to purchase. I keep this in my coupon binder. That way I know when I am getting a good deal. I still want to make a trip out to Cash & Carry in Parkland and price things in their store. It really does save you money when you take the time to price groceries. I don't price everything....only what we use the most of.

Here is an example from my Costco price list:
flour $0.28/lb, 25 lb sack, $7.10
sugar $0.60/lb, 25 lb sack, $14.99
brown sugar $0.813/lb, 4 lb bag, $3.25
dill pickles $3.69/64 oz.
bisquick $0.51/oz, 4.92/6 lbs/96 oz.

The price list that I care the most about is my staples: bread, milk, eggs, flour, sugar, pickles (yes, pickles are a staple in our home), dried beans, rice, tortilla shells, chicken, beef. I don't bother with pricing things that I'd normally not purchase.

Today was chalk full of busy, busy ,busy! The kids raced their cars at the AWANA grand prix. While they were there, I went out to Puyallup to fill my ink cartridges. Then it was off to Winco to work on my price lists. Met a friend at RiteAid and picked up a space heater - borrowing it to heat my garage up for my oldest son's birthday party. Picked up my husband & kids from church. Went home to have lunch. Drove back out to Puyallup to pick up my ink cartridges. Drove back home. Cleaned up the living room. Practiced the piano for a solo at church tonight. Packed up and headed out the door for church. Came home and had dinner. Are you tired yet? Sometimes I wonder how we manage to do so much in 1 day! I'm worn out just typing all of it.

We had dinner after church. Sometimes that is how we have to roll on Saturday's. We had an easy dinner tonight. My kids wanted to make dinner. So, we had corndogs.

Dinner:
corndogs $0.24/each  = $2.64 We had 11 of them (picked up 1 extra kiddo for the night)
we drank water with dinner

Today's totals:
Food purchases: $0.00
Coupon savings on food: $0.00
Dinner costed: $2.64

Tally for January 2011
Food purchases: $57.90
Coupon savings on food: $49.26
Dinner costs: $24.01 (average is $1.60/dinner, $0.32/person)

1-14-2011 Friday

We had company over for dinner tonight. My grandparents came over to partake in some scrumptious turkey with the fixings. I know, you want to know my cost breakdown. We'll get there. As I like to say, "Hold your horses". Normally my kids respond with, "I don't have any horses to hold". To which I think...smartie pants! I'd never say that outloud. But, I do think that! I did go out and run some errands today.
Here is a list of what I picked up when I was out today:
Winco -
pop tarts...they were marked down because the box was slightly damaged...but it had no effect on the pop tarts. $0.50/box. I purchased 2. Spent $1.00
Maruchan beef yakisoba $0.24. I purchased 2. It was on sale and I had 2 mfr coupons. Spent $0.48
Hamburger helper $0.63/box. I only purchased it because the price was low. We'll use these on a busy Wednesday evening. I purchased 3 boxes and used a mfr coupon plus it was on sale. Spent $1.89
Uncle Ben's rice $0.85/each. There are packages inside that provide 4 meals per box. It was on sale and I had a mfr coupon. I purchased 3 boxes. Spent $2.55
Campbells cream of mushroom soup $0.55/each. On sale and I used a mfr coupon. Purchased 3 cans. Spent $1.65
Kens buttermilk ranch dressing (our family favorite!) $0.78/each. On sale and I used 5 mfr coupons. Purchased 5 bottles of dressing. Spent $3.90
Jolly time popcorn $0.28/box. It was on sale and I had mfr coupons. I purchased 5 boxes. Spent: 1.40
Total spent at Winco: 12.87
Amount saved using coupons: 14.65

Next I went to RiteAid and picked up 2 boxes of Motrin PM FREE! Not a bad deal at all. : )

Dinner tonight was turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, banana bread. My grandparents brought a salad. We did not have dessert. The adults drank water, my kids had milk. I like to cook my turkey in a roaster oven and I season it with salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary. I put some water into the pan to keep the turkey nice and moist. I cooked it at 325 degrees for 4 1/2 hours. It was amazing! Plus I picked it up last summer when it was on clearance at Safeway. It doesn't get much better than that. The price tag was labeled $0.19/lb and it was a 13.65 pound turkey making it $2.59. I can't even get a whole chicken for that price. Our potatoes were on sale at Summit Trading Post in Puyallup. I picked up 10 lbs for $0.49. I made the gravy with juice from the turkey and 2 TBSP of cornstarch. The banana bread had the bananas in it that I spent $0.10/lb on. Wow! Deals are out there...you just have to keep your eyes open.
By the way, we have more than 1/2 a turkey in leftovers!

Dinner cost breakdown:
turkey: $2.59
mashed potatoes: $0.13
gravy: $0.03
seasonings: $0.12
2 loaves of banana bread: $0.38
3-8oz glasses of milk: $0.19

Totals for today:
Food purchases: $12.87
Coupon savings on food: $14.65
Dinner costed: $3.44 (breakdown $0.49/person - remember...there were 7 at the table tonight)

Tally for January 2011:
Food purchases: $57.90
Coupon savings on food: $49.26
Dinner costs: $21.37 (average is at $1.526 per dinner)

1-13-2011 Thursday

Boy, time has consumed me and I need to catch up on this blog. We have been planning my oldest son's birthday party. It is just around the corner. Between that and pricing food at multiple locations. Gotta make sure that I am getting the best deal and I need to know when a sale is really a "sale".

We used the rest of our taco soup for making dinner. I cooked up rice. We heated up tortilla shells in the microwave. Then I filled them with rice, taco soup, and a dollop of yogurt. We each had an 8-oz glass of milk with dinner.

Our oldest had 3 burritos, middle had 2, youngest had 1 with a side of rice with taco soup on top, my hubby had 2, and I had 1 burrito. We used up all the rice and all of the taco soup.

Cost breakdown:
taco soup $0.00 (leftovers)
tortilla shells $1.08 (0.12 per tortilla shell)
rice $0.21 (bought it on sale at Winco and used a mfr coupon)
milk $0.31 (8oz serving per person)
yogurt (makes a great substitute for sour cream. costs less and can't taste a difference) $0.15

Totals for today:
Food purchases: $0.00
Coupon savings on food: $0.00
Dinner costed: $1.75 (breakdown is $0.35/person)

Tally for January 2011:
Food purchases: $45.03
Coupon savings on food: $34.61
Dinner Costs: $17.93  (average is $0.275/person per dinner)

1-12-2011 Wednesday

What a day! It seemed like there was never a dull moment in my day. From kids' dr appointments, volunteering at school, making dinner, laundry, dishes, filling in at Awana...whew! Somehow I managed to remember that we were borrowing tables from church and the space heater from another church member. Wow! I cannot believe how many things were on my to-do list for the day.
Enough about that. What you really want to know is...what was on the dinner menu for the night. Well, we had taco soup with game hens tonight. We all agreed that taco soup with the game hens was much better. There is enough left over to make burritos out of it for dinner tomorrow. I'm not sure how thrilled my family will be to have taco flavored dinner 3 nights in a row. Guess we will find out.
I did make a trip to the store today, but I didn't buy anything. However, one of my sons bought himself a box of capri sun and 2 lunchables with his own money. He knows that Mom doesn't buy those kinds of things.

Dinner cost breakdown:
navy beans: $0.65
taco seasoning: $0.15
homemade enchilada sauce: $0.20
2 cornish game hens $0.00 FREE from some amazing friends  : )
sour cream: $0.25
We had water to drink with dinner.

Today's totals:
Food purchases: $1.60 (lunch from Fred Meyers: roll, deli meat, apple juice)
Coupon savings on food: $0.00
Dinner costs: $1.25

Tally for January 2011:
Food purchases: $45.03
Coupon savings on food: $34.61
Dinner costs: $16.18

I just took my dinner cost for the month of January ($16.18) and divided that by the number of dinners that have been made (12). My average cost of dinner each night is $1.35 to feed 5 people. That comes out to $0.27 per person. Incredible! I am pleased.

1-11-2011 Tuesday

Is it just me or is it chilly outside? It must be chilly. It started to snow at our house this evening. I knew that I'd picked the right kind of dish to have for dinner. Tonight I made taco soup. I didn't have a recipe to go off of. I just started tossing things together. I had a few bags of opened dry beans and decided that I wanted to do something with them for dinner. So, out came the crock pot. I used dry kidney beans, black beans, and navy beans. I rinsed the beans, then coated the inside of my crock pot with pam.
Here is a useful tip: you don't have to soak beans when you use a crock pot. After the beans are in the pan, add 6 cups of boiling water.
After the beans and boiling water were in the crock pot; I added 1/4 c. taco seasoning, 1 tsp. salt, and about 1 TBSP of pepper. I kept that cooking on high for 4 hours. Then I browned a pound of beef and drained the grease. When I tried the soup, it was good...but it needed something. I quick whipped up a batch of homemade enchilada sauce and added it in. Then I continued to cook everything in the crock pot on high for an additional 2 hours. We had some taco shells that I baked and crushed over the top of the soup. We also put sour cream on top.
My kids & my husband had thirds of taco soup. I was fine with 1 bowl...which is unusual for me to finish. Normally I hand it off to my hubby. But not tonight! I was thankful that we filled my husband's soup thermos before serving dinner. There would have been none left for him to take to work. My kids are requesting to have this for dinner tomorrow night. They want to know what it would taste like with chicken in it. Hmm...I'll think about it.

Breakdown on dinner for tonight:
1 lb of dried beans $0.67
sour cream $0.25 (we used 1/4 of the container)
homemade enchilada sauce $0.20
taco seasoning $0.15
taco shells $0.44

Totals for today:
Food purchases: $0.00
Coupon savings on food: $0.00
Dinner: $1.71

Tally for January Totals:
Food purchases: $43.43
Coupon savings on food: $34.61
Cost of dinner: $14.93

1-10-2011 Monday

Last night I clipped all my coupons and organized my strategies for the week. I was set on getting 4 boxes of free cereal at Rite Aid. The only problem, they were out! Apparently I was not the only one out early to get in on the good buys or should I say...the freebies. That's okay! I was able to get 3 free toothbrushes (without a dental appointment). I also picked up 4 packages of pads and donated them to my kids' school. The sale was so wonderful on them - it was to hard to pass them up. Especially when I knew their school could use it. They really appreciated it.
My friend, Daniele, and her daughter, Brooklyn, came over to have breakfast with me this morning. We had pancakes and yogurt. Brooklyn just turned 1. It is so amazing to watch the transformation from rolling to crawling, crawling to walking. I can't wait to see her run! She is so adorable and has the cutest smile. Today I learned that she likes to get inside of boxes and just sit in them.
Dinner tonight was an easy one. We had plenty of leftovers from the split pea soup. Since we'd eaten up all of the homemade bread, I baked some potatoes to go with dinner.

Totals from today:
Food purchases: $1.08 (3 pkgs of Trident gum)
Coupon savings on food: $2.16
Dinner: $0.21 (potatoes)

Tally for January:
Food purchases: $44.51
Coupon savings on food: $34.61
Dinner costs: $13.43