Frugal Living

Easy Cheesy Broccoli Chicken Casserole

September 17, 2015 By Thaleia 1 Comment

Getting dinner on the table can be one of the most stressful times of day. If you are like us and have small children and work at home the day can be mostly over before you know it! That’s where a yummy recipe like this easy cheesy broccoli chicken casserole is a great find. Cooking your own meals from scratch will save you tons of money by not going through the drive-thru or ordering take-out!

This chicken casserole is super easy and quick but nutritious. Both Princess and Eldest could make this with very little instruction. The hardest part of this recipe is cooking the rice!

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Richland Carrousel Park Mansfield, OH

September 3, 2015 By Thaleia 1 Comment

We recently stopped in Mansfield, Ohio on our way to Punderson Manor Lodge. I knew that we had stopped in Mansfield before when Eldest was in first grade and Princess was in kindergarten a long time ago! It was November then but this time we took all four kids in September!

We had to buy a few sets of tickets so everyone could have their fill of carrousel rides. We just so happened to be there when a tour bus showed up. Out filed a dozen or so elderly people who were also very eager to ride the carrousel. A few were not so inclined but gave their tickets to Princess and Eldest!

History of Richland Carrousel Park:

Richland Carrousel Park opened in 1991 as the first new, hand-carved carrousel to be built and operated in the United States since the 1930’s. The Carrousel figures were carved in the style of G.A. Dentzel, one of the most revered carvers of the early 1900’s. All 52 figures were designed, carved and painted by Carrousel Works in Mansfield, Ohio.

There are 30 horses and 22 menagerie figures, including 4 bears, 4 ostriches, 4 cats, 4 rabbits, a goat, giraffe, lion, tiger, zebra and a mythical hippocampus…

If you get a chance to drive through Mansfield, Ohio then I would highly recommend stopping in and taking a ride at the Richland Carrousel Park!

Back to School Lunch Resources

August 28, 2015 By Thaleia 9 Comments

Not sure if your students are back to school or not but most of the kids around us are. We homeschool and aren’t quite ready to start officially just yet but we can still use a nice list of back to school lunch resources no matter what time of year it is. Everyone’s gotta eat right?

Back to School Lunch Resources-

Lunch Box Must Haves – Life, Love, and Thyme

5 Easy Ways to Make a Healthy Lunch -The Jenny Evolution
Free Printable Lunchbox Notes with Cow Jokes for Kids – Fantastic Fun and Learning
Pencil Box Lunch Box – Life, Love and Thyme
How To Pack a School Lunch Printable – While He Was Napping
Lunch Ideas w/many healthy options – Meet the Dubiens

Teaching Kids to Pack a Lunch – Rage Against the Minivan

Lunch Box Riddle Jokes – A Mom with a Lesson Plan!

School Lunch Notes – Reasons to Skip Housework

Little Miss Spider – Keitha’s Chaos

The Sneetches – Bento School Lunches

Pinkalicious – Bent On Better Lunches

The Giving Tree – Becoming a Bentoholic

The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eats Amazing

Free Printable Lunchbox Jokes -Paging Supermom
Tales of My First Lunch Box & Printable Notes – A Little Claireification

Felt Leaf Number Line Activity

August 27, 2015 By Thaleia 2 Comments

Does is feel like Fall in your neck of the woods? The local school district started school this week and temperatures have been 20 degrees cooler overnight then the last few weeks. I felt it was perfect to introduce a new fall counting activity to Big Red as part of Kindergarten. What could be more prefect then a felt leaf number line activity?

I had bought a handful of packages of some super cute felt leaves from the Dollar Tree a couple of years ago. I say a couple but probably bought more like 6 packages to divide and swap. I made an upper and lower case alphabet match game and still had enough big red leaves for more activities. I saw a border number line near our school desk and immediately thought of sharing the Montessori version of a number line with Big Red.

I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the 1-10 strip into 1-5 to start since we only had a small table to work on. I also didn’t have enough time to count the leaves to be sure I had enough to do the entire line. I’ll be honest I just wanted a quick activity that would keep my boys learning and occupied!

I want to try a number line activity again with smaller counting items so they don’t “run into each other”. I try to keep things real and FRUGAL! So use what you have. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write the number line out if you don’t have a fancy border like mine. Have the kids collect sticks or rocks from the yard or neighborhood if you don’t have felt leaves or store-bought items. Don’t let a small budget keep you from finding ways to teach your children new things!

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for more Fall themed activities as well as a Kindergarten blog post round-up! If you need more Fall activities TODAY then check out the following for some super quick and easy ideas:

Simple Fall Busy Bags

10 Fall Tot Trays

Free Apple Printable plus lots more Apple posts

10 Apple Tot Tray Ideas

Top 10 Free Apple Printables

August 20, 2015 By Thaleia 1 Comment

With Summer coming to an end soon and kids going back to school Fall things begin to come to mind. Apple picking, hayrides, and visits to the pumpkin patch followed by warm apple cider. It’s just about apple picking time which means it’s time to bring out all those free apple printables you’ve collected over the years. I have pinned many to my Fall Ideas pinterest board but wanted to share my top 10 with you today.