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I recognize that not everyone has a lot of extra money to spend on holidays, whether it’s lack of funds or not wanting to join in on rampant commercialism of every known holiday or just somewhere in the middle. SO! Below is a list of inexpensive/cheap/free gift ideas for all the moms out there (these could be used for other holidays too of course).

• A photo frame of the kid’s that records their voices. How cute if they all said “We love you — (fill in person’s name here)” at the same time! You should be able to find those at Radio Shack. Walmart and Target may have them too.
• Join the Arbor Day Foundation, receive 10 trees and plant a tree in their honor. Especially touching if they have recently become a mom or for one that has passed away.
• A hand-print stepping stone can be bought for roughly $20 at your local craft’s store and some include letter stamps to make it easier to write your message. Or if you are really handy and have an old bucket and some concrete mix laying around create your own!
• Create a gift certificate book with options like “foot massage”, “I’ll cook dinner”, etc. Target it towards their likes/dislikes.
• Breakfast in bed is always nice but only if you clean up the mess too!
• Create a DVD of pictures of the kids and your family.
• A photo frame collage. You can pick up a small frame for around $5 at Walmart.
• A bouquet of wild flowers. Tying it with a ribbon or arranging it in a vase could even score you bonus points
• A colored picture or card from the kids

My brain is fried…What other ideas do you have?

Freebies 4 Mom had this awesome post today that I just HAD to share. Especially about Starbucks. Ummm where do you think I’ll be
Free Breakfast Tuesday

A big thanks to all the bloggers who told me about these offers! I don’t plan on taking advantage of either of these offers, but since both Starbucks and Jamba Juice are offering such wonderful freebies on the same day, I had to tell you about it!

FREE COFFEE @ Starbucks
What: Free “Short” 8 oz. Cup of Coffee, the new Pike Place Roast
Time: 9 am PST
Place: Find your closest Starbucks here

FREE BREAKFAST @ Jamba Juice
What: Free 12 oz. Breakfast Product
Time: until 10 am local time
Place: Find your closest Jamba Juice here

and get 31 cent ice cream! ICE CREAM!!!! Who can resist those two great causes together. Yes, ice cream is a cause people (especially to pregnant women).

When: Wed., April 30, 2008
Time: 5p – 10p
Check out Baskin Robbins website to learn more!

“Join us for 31 Cent Scoop Night at Baskin-Robbins®
and help us honor America’s firefighters.
Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice
cream scoops to 31 cents.* At some locations, you
may also have an opportunity to make a donation
to your local fire charities.”

If you are hanging around on April 6th (this Sunday) looking for something fun to do, check out below. After all, everyone loves our favorite sea mammal Snooty!

12noon-5pm Family Day at the Museum – Sunday with Snooty (Manatee) In collaboration with the South Florida Museum, in honor of Children’s Day, there is FREE ADMISSION for all children under age 12 and a $4.00 discount for all adults accompanied by a child! Families will have the opportunity to meet Manatee’s most beloved mammal, Snooty the Manatee and his friends, Little Coral, Baby Coral and Snitch. The entire museum will be open with planetarium shows, children’s scavenger hunts through the museum and manatee learning activities in the aquarium.

My SIL sent this to me today and although it is an email that may eventually reach your mailbox too I wanted to share it with you. It’s a nice reminder to enjoy everyday life! In fact, it would make a wonderful plaque or poem to give to that special someone with pictures of the two of you featured. Maybe use pictures of the kids with mom for Mother’s Day or dad for Father’s Day…
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, “I love you, and I wish you enough.”

The daughter replied, “Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom.”

They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, “Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?”

“Yes, I have,” I replied. “Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?”.

“I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is – the next trip back will be for my funeral,” she said.

“When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?”

She began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.” She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. “When we said, ‘I wish you enough,’ we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.” Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.

In an effort to amuse both of us since I am getting fatter (yea yea pregnant isn’t fat but tell that to pregnant women everywhere) and the weather is getting warmer I’ve been searching for arts and crafts to do with toddlers. My goal is to use stuff we have in the house already and it isn’t too messy or time consuming. So far I’ve done the playdoh and plan on trying the crayon trick when we have enough broken ones. BUT! BUT! This is a cool one – fun with scissors (duh the child-safe ones people) and paper. What’s not to love

After pondering it some more, I realized this may be somewhat advanced for Anthony’s age group but it is amusing to create the different critters online, print and assemble so check it out for yourself.

Everything4thebaby.com is holding a Baby Show & Expo at the Quorum Hotel, 700 N. Westshore Blvd, Tampa, on Sunday, May 18th from 12-4p. Tickets are $10 and they are running a promo if you buy 2 you get a $10 gift card, so essentially one of the tickets winds up being free.

Some of the exhibitors are: Jessica Dana Studios; A Running Stroller; ViaCord; A Healthy Start Coalition; local Doula’s and Ob/gyn’s; house cleaning services; and the American Red Cross.

If your kids love sand castles and don’t want to leave the beach – create one for keeps! 

You will need:                                                                

3 cups of sand (play sand or beach)

1-½ cups of cornstarch

1-½ cups of water

Newspaper

Old cooking pot

Large spoon
Sandcastle molds (optional)                                    

 

Mix the cornstarch and sand together in the pot, and then add water. An adult will need to cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly. When it gets thick, take it off the stove and allow it to cool to touch. Turn onto newspaper and create any desired shape. Decorate with shells, stones, beads, etc. (optional). Allow to dry and keep forever!

Get really creative and try this with the colored play sand available at any of your local mega marts and home supply stores. Great for class projects, girl (or boy) scout troops, sleep-overs, etc. Make a whole village – one per kid! Another good idea – make a Christmas-time village FL style. After all, our Santa wears sunglasses and bermuda shorts doesn’t he?

Just a FYI on an upcoming garage sale. I don’t really *need* anything but you can bet your sweet tush that I will be there with bells on. It’s so hard to pass up things like this, ok well it is for me anyway! I  may find that elusive something that I’ve been wanting for Anthony or the really cool doo-dad that the new baby just has to have

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The Sarasota Parents of Multiples club will be hosting its semi-annual GARAGE SALE, on Saturday, April 19th from 8am-1pm.  The sale will feature mutliple sellers and TONS of merchandise.
Address: 1811 Towering Oak Dr. in Colonial Oaks, Sarasota

Get your picture taken with the Easter Bunny at Walmart for FREE! That’s right folks – free! Get there early or go to an out of the way Walmart because I bet the line will be long! They are doing it 2 weekends in a row but I just found out about it so we missed last weekend. This might be worth putting in your calendar for next year as a heads up to yourself…

Pictures will be taken May 15 & 16 and May 21 & 22, 10am – 2pm