Author: Jenny Irvine

Money Matter

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Our lovely economy has many people down in the dumps lately and has really put a financial strain on many families. Myself included in this population. This has really bothered me a lot lately and although many things are out of our control I figured I would share some of the things I have been doing in an attempt to save some extra money. I am determined to make saving money my mommy job and will do the best job I can to provide my family with healthy food, and lots of family fun activities despite what the economy may do…

Some of which include planning others just common sense…

We have been using cloth diapers on our littlest addition to our family “Bum Genius 3.0” Yes, there are many skeptics on the cloth diapers vs. disposable, and even more opinions on the brand of cloth diapers to use. However, as an on the go, modern Mommy I can’t say enough good things about these diapers!! I love them!! We have also cut cost on wipes by using cloth wipes I have been using the “organic cloth wipes” with just water. Bonus there are a few less diapers in the landfill bc. of my baby 🙂 The sight I have linked on here is where I bought mine (great sight, super quick delivery, and awesome communication between the owner and myself!)

I do cook most meals at home and my darling husband will eat left overs for lunch the next day at work. That is not to say we deprive ourselves of the occasional out to eat experience it may just be a little more spaced out than some people. We have really found ordering Pizza on Mondays (1/2 price day) at one of the local restaurants by us is a nice treat the beginning of the week. I might also suggest checking out where your “kids can eat free“. This sight provides you with a list of restaurants and the days of the week they are free.

We have also joined a CSA for those of you that don’t know what that is it is a Community Supported Agriculture. We buy shares in a local farm and get seasonal produce (super fresh!) for 20 weeks out of the year. Our farm “Maple Creek” is certified organic and it is AWSOME! Plus has kept me out of the fruit market all summer leaving me less tempted to buy things I don’t really need. I have been able to freeze some veggies and already get a jump start on making my baby food. 🙂 Another great money saver.

I plan a weekly food menu to help with those nights when we just don’t know what to eat. This also helps with unnecessary spending.

Payoff those credit cards!! Or at least try to pay $5- $10 more than the min. balance. Yes, even if that means bringing your coffee from home rather than stopping to pick one up. There are many things you can do to spruce up your coffee from home. Buy the espresso beans and put them on your home to-go cup so that you feel like it is a special treat. Or add a shot of caramel flavor to your favorite cup of Jo to give it a sweet kick!

There are many other things we are doing in an attempt to save money…I will try to post more later. In the end it is all in how you look at things. With an economy that is everything but heading in the right direction it is easy to lose sight of the things that really matter. Friends, family, a roof over our heads, food, water. Those truly are the necessities of life. So the choice is yours learn to live a new way of life. One I might add is much more fulfilling than just take, take, take, buy, buy, buy!! Give a little….and believe me you truly can live with less!!

Fall Lesson

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We started the morning out writing #1, and tracing squares and triangles! A. did a great job she was very proud of herself and got a sticker on each one of her pages that she did. She was very excited about the new “Tinker Bell” stickers 🙂


A little practice with the squares…eventually they looked like circles but she got the point of tracing that was what mattered.

Then we took some time out to read some Fall books from the library and we began our lesson on Fall. We are in the process of putting our Fall lap book together.

After story time we went outside for a little scavenger hunt to see what interesting Fall findings we could collect. It was a bit chilly out but we enjoyed looking at the trees changing, the berries, and the different types of leaves.

Here was what we collected so far 🙂


For more exciting homeschool adventures check back with us soon and check out others that are participating in “Tot School” too!
Tot School

Starting Tot School

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Sunday officially started our first day of “Tot School” my intent was to start on a week day (very school like of me). However, Abby decided that Sunday was a great day for school. So that is just what we did. I had a few activities planned out for her and some were on the fly but none the less we had a blast! Our little tots are learning all of the time (they truly are sponges) they do not need a specific day of the week to be “school”!! So our “Tot School” started out Abby style of coarse with counting 10 M&M’s in a bowl.

After we counted the M&M’s we continued learning about numbers and made some sensory number cards. We used different colors of card stock, black magic marker, cotton balls, and glue. Abby put glue on the ink dots and then placed the corresponding number of cotton balls on each card.


Abby especially like the part where we got to push the cotton ball really hard to make it stick to the paper.

Our finished cotton ball cards came out great and we are having lots of fun working with them. We will be adding the actual numbers on the cards soon!!


After our sensory/number fun we decided that we would make our school board with the weather and days of the week. Abby had fun helping with the stapler and as you can tell she was a little frustrated when it came to putting the days of the week in the pocket.
We sang “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday” While we put the board together.


A. loves to cut so we practiced cutting the lines which in turn ended up being tiny pieces of shredded paper that she didn’t want me to vacuum up. Of coarse I did anyways!

A little fun with water colors. It was more water than color but she enjoyed it.

Last but not least we settled in for a bit of story time on the couch and then we ended with a little movement and music lesson at the very end. Overall it was a great morning and I think A. really enjoyed her first day of “Tot School”.


For more ideas about “Tot School” I invite you to come join us and other families in the fun!!