Free Scaryface Pancake at IHOP

Legoland California

Our family was due back for another Legoland trip. The last time we were there was on my oldest 4th birthday. She is now 7 and my youngest is 4. We decided to come and celebrate both their birthdays since they are 6 weeks apart. Our day was spent half driving and the other half at Legoland. It took us 2 1/2 hrs to get there and an excruciating 4 hrs. to get back which included a dinner stop at In & Out, YUM! Even with TVs in the car the girls managed to complain the whole way home. Still, we did save money by not staying in a hotel.

I never pay full price for any amusement park; so I got some coupons on ebay to get the kids in free with adult admission. We saved about $120! We also brought sack lunches to eat inside to save even more.

Legoland was decorated for Halloween with pumpkins everywhere, a giant lego pumpkin to take pictures in, a giant ghost, hay stacks and other festive items. It was not crowded at all. The longest line was about 5 min. long at the Dragon roller coaster. This was my oldest favorite ride along with the horses that take you along the track. My youngest went on that horse ride 6 times and still wasn't tired of it. We even saw a guy roller blading along the pathway. That's how few people there were. You can't do that at Disneyland! My oldest was in heaven at Mini Town. She loves Playmobil and has a world of it in her room. Her eyes lit up when she saw several towns of miniatures.

I wish I wasn't so frugal so I could have bought the Granny Smith Apple Fries with Vanilla Cream on top. It looked soooo delicious; but it cost $5! I had to walk away.

Overall, it was a fun day at Legoland.

Mini Golf Mix-Up & McDonalds

So, I got these coupons at the Kid's Day event and told the girls we would all go mini golfing at Mountasia. The day had come and right before we left to Mountasia I noticed that the coupons had expired yesterday! I thought that kids 3 and younger got in free, so I would just need to pay for my oldest. We got down there and were ready to pay when the employee said that kids 2 and younger play free. I was not planning to spend $14 on golf; so I told the girls they couldn't play. Yes, there was a meltdown right in the middle of the place. I came up with a compromise to spend $5 on games and they could use their McDonald's gift certificates to eat dinner at McDonalds. They were happy with that and even like this idea better. Whew! $5 of games lasted a whole 15 minutes and then we were off to an early dinner at McDonalds.

Since it was so early we let them play in the play area. Those play areas are pretty disgusting. There are kids standing on table tops with dirty bare feet, climbing on poles, and food on the floor. One girl even dropped her chicken nuggets on the floor, picked them back up and threw them in the trash. Then, apparently the mom didn't want to pay for another meal, had the girl go back to the trash and get her nuggets. Yuck! We got the girls out cuz we couldn't stand being in there anymore and ate dinner.

We actually didn't even save that much money from the original $14 golf price. Hubby and I got a couple items from the $1 menu which was about $4 plus the $5 on games. We ended up only saving $5. A couple days later I had found another Mountasia coupon that expired the day we went and it was in the car the whole time!

Kid's Day

Today we spent the afternoon at the Newhall Park for the annual FREE Kid's Day event. The girls were entertained by various vendor booths, many of which had a game or craft for the kids. A few of our favorite vendors who give out free admission tickets were not there this year; but we did get some coupons for free mini golf at Mountasia. My youngest spent a lot of time at a preschool booth, playing with all their learning activities. The girls also expelled some energy at the bouncer and at the park playground. We ate free hot dogs, free Chick Fil A chicken nuggets, and snowcones. We also participated in a free raffle to try to win Disneyland or Magic Mountain tickets. We had to stick around for 2 hours to see if we won but of course we didn't win anything :(

L.A. County Fair

Today is fair day! My daughter always has the 3rd Friday off from school which we designate as L.A. Country Fair day. Fridays are great because you get free admission if each person brings 5 Ralph's brand cans. Our 1st stop is always Fairview Farms to see the pig races, look at all the animals, run around in the hay stacks, and get some chocolate milk at $2 each for both girls. Believe it or not the milk is the only thing we bought here.

They had tractor pulls for the kids that my girls wanted to try. My youngest wasn't able to do the pull with all the weights added; so she sat out while the oldest gave it a try. She was the 1st one to go with another 9 yr. old boy. The boy won by 1 foot and my oldest beat all the rest of the kids who were even a few yrs. older than her. They passed out ribbons to everyone who participated. She was so proud of herself for coming in second place that she wore her ribbon all day.

After tractor pulls, the girls had to go to their favorite part of the fair which is the Ralph's grocery store and farm area. It is very cool how they put it all together by planting seeds in the ground, milking a cow, getting a chicken egg, and picking corn, veggies and fruit. They get play money for supplying the food they grew and then use it to go grocery shopping.

We then went to see a ariel circus performance, played in the princess kitchen, saw some sharks and then to the dino area and back to the Ralph's' grocery, farm area.

We didn't spend money on any rides or games; but the food was the most tempting part! We said we would get one fair food for all of us to share. We settled on chili cheese fries and began to search for them. We found a couple vendors who had them for about $7-10. I was not going to spend that much on a fry snack. It was close to dinner time and the smell of fair food was getting the best of us; so we left to forge outside of the fair for our own fair food. For dinner,we got $5 pizza from Little Caesar's and got my chili cheese fries at Weinerschnitzel which was all less then the fries at the fair.

Zimmer Children's Museum - Free Admission

On the 10th Anniversary of the attacks on 9/11, we decided to take a breather from all the memorial services on TV by going to the Zimmer Children's Museum for FREE. We had never been here before and had to go since they were offering free admission today.

The girls had a lot of fun playing in the waterway exhibit and swimming in a shipwreck ball pit. They spent the most time in the grocery store shopping, cleaning, organizing and eating. There was also a synagogue, a bookstore and a bagel shop which they didn't spend hardly any time in these areas. They did have fun playing hopscotch in the pretend park area. It was a good couple hours of Free fun!

The museum does have another Free admission day on Sunday, September 25th, 2011. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is also that week. So they are throwing a big party! Join them for a day of reflection and celebration as they welcome a new year with friends and families of the Zimmer! There will be activities for all our Zimmer families to learn from and share with one another. The Zimmer will be open normal Sunday hours from 12:30pm – 5:00pm.

Free Breakfast Entree at Chick Fil A

There's still time to get your free breakfast entree at Chick Fil A. Promotion is going until Saturday, September 10th. Click here to make your reservation.

Homemade Applesauce

In trying to ditch the fruit in can, bag, jar and cup with high fructose, I made applesauce.

Sarah's Applesause
I peeled, cored and chopped just 2 apples to start and put in a sauce pan
Then added 1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
and cooked for 15 min. covered until tender.
Then put it in the food processor.

The warm cinnamon applesauce tasted and smelled delicious! My oldest said she didn't like warm applesauce; so I put it in the fridge to cool down. After a few hrs. I had her try the cold applesauce but it was too cold. This baby bear wanted something to be just right at room temp. Ugh! The rest of us loved this recipe warm or cold.

I then tried to just simply slice up the apple for my oldest. She loves them! She now is off the sugar filled applesauce cups and eats the fresh stuff. She loves them even more when the apples are peeled.

Banana, Mango Smoothie

While I was at the grocery store, I was pondering over just how much processed foods there are and everything has a ton of fructose syrup, sugar and preservatives. I always buy the canned fruit, fruit cups and jarred applesauce because they last longer and so my daughter doesn't have brown apples at school. My goal this trip was not to buy fruit in a can, bag, cup or jar and try to get them to eat fresh fruit.

My 1st stop is the produce section. Believe it or not, half of my shopping cart gets filled with stuff from this section. This time, I actually put a mango is my shopping cart! I never had a mango before. My youngest sniffed it and didn't want anything to do with it; but in the shopping cart it went anyway.



Strawberry, Banana, Mango Smoothie
I got home and unloaded all my fruit. I love smoothies and decided to make one. I threw in my blender...

1 cup strawberries,
1 banana,
1 mango,
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk.

It was delish. Smoothies are a great way to get a lot of fruit into you, even that mango! My youngest loved it. My oldest spit it out :(

Escaping Carmageddon to See Pirates

We were not planning to go anywhere near the 405 freeway this weekend. Instead we headed in the opposite direction to Ventura and spent the day with the pirates including Capt. Jack Sparrow. The pirates entertained us with sword fights, action shows and sing-alongs. The treasure hunt and visiting exotic birds are fun too. The kids also really enjoy getting ice cream at Coastal Cone and playing some games at the arcade. It's also a great escape from the heat although it has not been terribly hot these days. Escape Carmageddon and see some pirates!

Pirate Days, Saturday & Sunday, July 16-17, 1 to 4p.m.: Return to the mystical times when the pirates roamed the seas during the 6th Annual Pirate Days Festival. The event features professional pirate live-action shows, pirate themed activities, magic shows, treasure hunts, pirate costume contests, pirate vendors and much more. Admission is free. Free shuttle parking available on Harbor Boulevard.

No Free Slurpees For Us

The girls were excited to go and Slurpees after lunch; but I told them we would not get them if there was a huge line. So off we went to 7-11 for free Slurpees around 2:00. We still had 10 hrs. left on this freebie; so we took a chance. There were many cars driving into their parking lot; so I had my doubts on there being a not so long line. To my surprise, I got a parking spot right in front. Then I looked up. On the door was a sign that said No More Free Slurpee's. I told the girls the news and the disappointment grew and grew. I said I would still take them to get one. But as I got out of the car, a mom and her kids came out with disappointment. I overheard the mom say to them something like the Slurpee machines weren't working right.

Again, I had to bring bad news to the girls. I tried to make it up by getting ice cream or something else; but their hearts were set on Slurpees. Told them we would go back the next day when they could get a frozen Slurpee and not the nasty watered down syrup that comes out when the machines don't work right. Fast forward. The next day they shared a nice frozen half coke half grape (yuck) Slurpee. I was only out $1.50.

Free Slurpee at 7-Eleven on 7/11/11

Our Birthday, Your Bash
Stop by for a FREE 7.11 oz Slurpee drink, general merriment and a one-man dance party should you choose to start it. “Running Man” and “Raising the Roof” welcome. “Macarena” NOT welcome.


Time: Monday, July 11 at 12:00am - July 12 at 12:00am


Location: Participating 7-Eleven Stores

Solvang & Camping

Today is my birthday! After much discussion on what where to go and what to do, plans changed and we ended up planning something else up until the very last minute. I am not one for last minute planning; but it came together and we had a great time.

Two days before my day, we decided to go to Solvang for the day. The evening before, about 9:00pm, I realized that we would be driving on windy roads in the dark. To avoid that issue; I started looking for a cheap place to stay for the night. Everywhere was well over $100/night. I needed to find something much cheaper. Then came my bright idea. I said, Lets go camping! Hubby was was not too thrilled about the idea of going camping and looking in the garage for camping gear (just a tent and 2 sleeping bags) at the very last minute. He didn't complain too much because I think he was too tired to waste the energy and because it's what I wanted to do for my birthday. The girls have been wanting to go "real" camping somewhere besides our backyard. We didn't tell them we were going cuz I wasn't even sure they had space available.

It seemed impossible to get going in the morning. Hubby did realize the night before we needed stakes for the tent. We headed out to buy them when I asked, You packed sleeping bags, right? He gave me that look of, I forgot. At that moment, we turned around to get them. All he had to remember was a tent and sleeping bags and he forgets half of the items!

We finally get on the road to Solvang! We stopped Sunny Fields playground to eat a picnic lunch. After lunch the girls played on this awesome castle looking playground.


From there we rented a surrey from Wheel Fun for $25 and rode it around Solvang's danish village. The guy gave it to us for a little longer than the hr. rental time; but it only took us about 20 min. to ride around the village. So, we spent the rest of the 40 min. going around and around the designated streets.


We then got the girls some ice cream at $3 each for a kids scoop, emphasizing to be careful the scoop doesn't drop. Of course, 3 min. later my oldest drops her ice cream on the dirty ground. Since, I paid $3 for a barely eaten ice cream, I quickly picked it up and put it in a bowl for her to continue eating. I'm sure the 30 sec. rule doesn't apply to ice cream. I just told her to not eat the bottom that landed on the ground. That became impossible when the ice cream started melting. That's the last time they get a cone!
Solvang is famous for their danishes and cookies; so hubby and I had to get one. We didn't get the famous butter cookies. Instead we both got an apple filled danish cookie with almonds at $1.75 each. It was tasty! We stopped for photo opts of the girls in the wooded red shoe and at a windmill.





After walking through the village, we went to Classic Organic Farm where you can pick your own berries. My youngest loves strawberries and was so excited to be able to pick them herself. The oldest doesn't like strawberries; but they did have raspberries for her to pick. Everyone was happily picking berries. The owners are too busy working in the fields to take money from customers; so they implemented an honor system of what you take and drop your money in the barrel. We picked a pint of strawberries for $2 and got half a pint of raspberries for $2.50.

After berry picking, we went to Ostrichland! Ostrichland is a bunch of ostrich and emu wandering around a fenced in field waiting for you to feed them. So, for $12 the 4 of us got to enter Ostrichland. Hubby and I fed them rabbit food from a bowl which sits on a dustpan. You hold on to the dustpan handle with 2 hands, and the ostrich peck away. They were entertaining to watch for about 10 min. It was a fun experience to at least try once.



Since the famous Split Pea Andersen's soup was right down the street; we had to pay a visit. I'm not a huge fan of pea soup; but I do like it especially when it's in a bread bowl with all the fixin's added such as diced ham, croutons, cheese, chives, and bacon which was $9.50. The girls got their picture in the HAP-PEA and PEA-WEE cutout and we headed for the lake.


We got to the Cachuma lake around 8:45. Luckily they had quite a few spaces ($25/night) available. We drove around the dark trying to find campsite numbers. We picked a space somewhat close to bathrooms, a playground and showers. Hubby used the the car's headlights as he put together the tent. He got it up in about 5-10 min and I threw the sleeping bags and blankets inside. The girls were so excited to find out they were going "real" camping! We played a game of UNO and had somewhat of an uncomfortable sleep on the hard ground.


The next morning, the girls woke up before 7:00; super early for me, to use the restroom. Early bird hubby took them. He went back to sleep when the girls were hungry. I was still too tired to get up and had the oldest go to the car right next to the tent to get her berries to eat and some dry cereal.
Hubby went to the general store to look for firewood so we could make Smore's. We can't do
camping without a fire and Smores! But $10 for firewood and lighter fluid was too much. The girls wanted to collect twigs and put them in the pit. We started to light them; but needed fluid. As hubby was leaving for the store again; our camping neighbors had noticed our struggle of trying to make Smores and were very nice to give us a couple logs with some fluid. We had our fire and our Smores. Camping complete! After our Smore breakfast, I took the girls to the playground while hubby packed the car. We then stopped at their nature center before we left for home.

It wasn't necessarily a frugal birthday; but it was a fun birthday!

Free Father's Day Card from Tiny Prints

Get 1 Free Father's Day card from Tiny Prints. Enter promo code: FREEFD

Offer Expires 6/13/11

Natural History Museum

I'm not a big fan of history or museums ...yawn. But, my husband loves them and wanted to check out the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. It was the 1st Tuesday of the month, so we all got in free. I haven't been here in quite a while so I had an ounce of enthusiasm for things I may not have remembered seeing before. We also avoided the $8 parking fee by parking by the swim building. It was about a block further down; but it was free!

The 1st area we went to see were the minerals, gems, rocks. There were so many pretty gems to look at. The girls were also very interested in looking at them and had fun telling what each gem looked like. They would say, "Mommy, this looks like snow, like icicles, like ice cream with chocolate chips on it". They also loved looking at the jewels and the big diamonds. They are going to be typical girls when they grow up who love jewelery. Just the opposite of their mom. The only bling I wear is my wedding ring and a Tinkerbell watch I took from my daughter cuz I need one and she didn't wear it.

The 2nd areas we went to were the animal dioramas. Rather than looking at these dioramas, I could have seen most of these animals alive at the zoo. My 3 year old was wondering why the animals didn't move as she zoomed past all the dioramas. She did have fun guessing what all the different animals there were. She did give a lot of deer answers which I would have too for the caribou, elk, black tailed deer, white tailed deer, mule deer, etc, etc. I think we had seen quite enough of the deer species.

We then went into a bird exhibit; which I guess is a little interesting if you like birds. There were some exhibits with buttons that did things and the girls loved pushing all the buttons. It quickly became annoying when you hear all kinds of bird noises at once for a period of time from them button pushing. So, quickly moving on to...

The Dinosaur area. This is what hubby was most excited about. It turned out they had the main dino area closed for a bigger area to open later this summer. We did see them working on a couple huge fossils in the dino lab.

The Insect Zoo was interesting to see and the girls enjoyed looking at various specimens under the microscope in the Discovery Center.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't pay to come here. Heck, I wouldn't even come back for another free Tuesday visit for another long time.

Painting & Creepy Puppet Show

Today, there were a few different free activities going on; so we decided to them all!
First, we went to Home Depot's Kids Workshop to build a valet organizer for Father's Day. This would actually be very useful for hubby. My husband always comes to help; so this was not going to be a surprise Father's Day gift. Plus, the girls had other plans for their organizer. The oldest wanted to use it as a museum for her Playmobil set and the youngest wants to use it for her doll house. So much for being a gift for dad!

After the girls got home and painted their organizers; we stopped at Beverly's craft store for their rock painting event. They were showing them how to paint a ladybug. Of course, my youngest had to go against the flow and wanted to paint a puppy. Hubby helped her with that while I browsed the store.

Our last free outing of the day was to the Puppet Festival. The outdoor festival had a variety of puppet performances which included marionettes, ventriloquists, and a session where kids could play with different types of puppets. There was also a couple craft tables to make butterfly and caterpillar puppets which the girls enjoyed.

A giant 15 foot scary lookin' pink fairy puppet thing came walking around on stilts from time to time. It was definitely an attention getter; but not our cup of tea.

The shadow puppet show was the grand finale of the night. They encouraged people to stay until the end to see this award winning show and we were looking forward to watching it. Then they mentioned the performer had based the story on her survival of cancer. Since, the majority of the audience were children, I thought it would be a celebratory story. A story that might include butterfly, birds or some type of friendly,renewal images. But nooooooooo! It turned out to be CREEPY. The performer came around the seating area waffling this awful incense around. Then, the show began with eerie organ music. The 1st shadow image was a bird, a friendly image, then a tree (OK, not so bad). Then, she started talking about herself getting sick, she needed to find a doctor, she was being eaten up inside. She was dying, dying, dying as a shadow of an old lady that looked like death appeared during her narration. That's when I said it was time to leave. We were the 1st of several families with small kids who left. I don't know who decided to show this material at a place where kids are the majority of the audience. Aside from the giant pink fairy & the shadow performance, the festival was entertaining.

$10 for $20 worth of clothing from Old Navy and Groupon
For $10, you get $20 worth of graphic tees, dresses, and other summer apparel at Old Navy. This Groupon expires July 30 and can be combined with in-store promotions.

$5 off Coupon at Supercuts

Click here for a $5 off coupon for any haircut at Supercuts.

Memorial Day

On the evening before Memorial Day, we headed to LA Canada Park, Flintridge to watch their firework display. They started about 20 min. late; and the girls were getting impatient. It was more of a goofy impatience than being cranky. They had just come back from playing in the playground and kept their energy as we waited. The fireworks were about to start when I got out the glow necklaces. Ooooo! To our disappointment, they didn't even work:( I had a package left over from last year and apparently glow things have an expiration date. So, on with the show!

On Memorial Day, ALL of us dressed in our red, white and blue. After making my husband feel guilty to show respect and wear the colors; he then participated. We went back to the same park, where they had FREE activities. The girls enjoyed playing in the bouncers, blowing bubbles, coloring, the petting zoo and the playground. We had a picnic lunch and paid $3 for snow cone treats for the girls. For dinner, we BBQ'd hamburgers at the house. Yummo!

Blockbuster - Free Movie Rentals

Just rent one of Blockbuster's newest releases for $2.99 and enjoy unlimited movies priced $1.99 or less for FREE through July 4 (1-day rentals, 1 at a time).* Download Coupon Here.

Versatile Blogger Award

I got a blog award from The Steady Hand!
Thank you very much for this fun surprise!

Here are the official rules:

•Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
•Tell your readers seven (7) things about you.
•Give this award to fifteen (15) recently discovered bloggers.
•Contact those bloggers and let them in on the exciting news.

Okay 7 Things about me:

1. I love 80's music, especially U2

2. I love fish crackers! My parents get me a big box for my birthday and Christmas

3. I check Accuweather.com everyday for weather updates.

4. My favorite time of day is when the girls go to bed; so I can relax.

5. I don't like to go shopping! I do like to shop online.

6. Wish I had more time to clean my house

7. Like to visit new places and try new things

15 other Blogs I think you should have a look at:
1. Crafty Kids 101
2. Fun Frugal Mommy
3. At Home with Michelle
4. The Simple Buffalo Life
5. And We're Off Too...
6. Coffee & Camo
7 . Melomamma
8. Mom Blog of Two Little Misters
9. Sounds Like Crazy
10. From the Mudroom
11. Joyful Mommies
12. From New York to Italy
13. Jenny Sulpizio
14. My DIY Life
15. My Cup 2 Yours

2 -for -1 Movie Tickets

Movies are always better with a friend, so treat yours to 2-for-1 movie tickets available exclusively through this page for Visa Signature cardholders.

2-for-1 tickets must be purchased on a friday and used the same day. One offer per card per month. Offer valid for a limited time and while supplies last.

Placerita Canyon Open House

My husband had a meeting in the morning/afternoon; so I decided to take the girls to Placerita Canyon's open house. My youngest got to wash clothes like they did in the Pioneer days. They also gave opportunities to saw wood and make a quilt. We saw all kinds of animals, such as snakes, a porcupine, opossum, hawks, and even a baboon who was grooming one of the docents. The girls wanted to go on a hike. We did the same hike we had done a couple months ago; but we had a different docent leading us. So we got some new info and he took us to the stream to look at tadpoles. After about an hour of hiking, I paid $2 so the girls could pan for some fool's gold.

Butterflies on Mother's Day

I had bought my daughter the Insect Lore Butterfly Garden Kit for her birthday last year. The weather was finally the right temperature to order the caterpillars. We have been watching them transform into their chrysalis. I thought it would be fun to go to the Butterfly Pavilion in Los Angeles and check out the butterflies on Mother's Day.

By the way, this turned out to be not so much of a frugal challenge but a rip off instead. First we had to park at the Natural History Museum's parking lot. That was $8! I was not expecting to pay to park in that lot. I thought there was free parking about 8 years ago when I last went. I guess, I should have expected something to change in 8 years :)

We had a picnic lunch at the park right next to the parking lot and headed over to the Butterfly Pavilion. The cost for the 4 of us was $7. I did expect to pay that price; but I did not expect to have both girls screaming at the top of their lungs because they were afraid of butterflies flying at them. It was pretty embarrassing; but I paid an outrageous $15 to get here and they were going to stay until I was finished looking. After about 15 min. of being in there with screaming and complaining girls, we left.

We walked next door to the California Science Center. This place is free! We spent a few hours over there finishing up the areas we did not have time for last time. We all had a great time here.

Our day ended with the usual KFC dinner take-out per my mom's request every year. Finger Likin'Good!

Money Scrounging for Cinco de Mayo

A Cinco de Mayo celebration at a park in Santa Monica was this weekend's free pick. Our first obstacle of getting there was gas. The gas light in the car had been reminding us for about 10 miles before we were ready to leave to get gas. I wasn't near the cheap gas station by our house; so I went to gasbuddy.com to find the cheapest gas on the way to Santa Monica. We found an Arco that was $4.19 a gallon in San Fernando. We stopped only to find out that was the cash price. I was not about to pay the fee to use their credit system or ATM. We had $6 cash with us in which all of it went to get about 1 gallon of gas.

We got down to our destination to find out they charged for all their activities such as bouncers, slides, and games. We had gone there about 2 years ago to the same event where they had games and crafts for FREE. So, I was a little disappointed they charged. I steered the girls to the playground area of the park and the water fountains. It was a 90 degree day; so the girls had fun getting wet. After swinging for about 15 min. they were quickly dry and scooted around the park in their scooters. Since I wouldn't pay for bouncers or games, we decided to try to the girls ice cream from the ice cream truck. We spent our last amount of money on gas; so we had to scrounge money from my wallet. We found $5 of change which we bought ice cream with having left over change. I was happy that we were able to make it to Santa Monica and back to my cheap gas station on about 1 gallon of gas.

Off to Disneyland!

Thanks for the fun day!

Pictures, Bowling, Eggs

For the past 3 weeks my oldest had been asking when Easter was coming; so that she can color eggs. The day finally came; but she had to wait a little longer until after dinner. No particular reason to color them after dinner; just they way we've always done it plus we had a busy schedule during the day.

First thing was to take the girls annual Easter pictures at JC Penney. About 2 years ago, I found this great coupon on free sitting fees up to 4 people. It expires in June; so I'll be sad to not be able to use it for this year's Christmas pics.

After pictures, we went home for lunch and then back out for 2 games of FREE bowling! We got there at a perfect time because they were starting their Neon Lights hour (where house lights go off and music and lights come on). The girls LOVED this and began dancing around. My oldest said "This is the Life!" HA HA

Then, FINALLY the egg decorating began which was great for the time being. We just used the basic PAAS kit that costs about $1. I told them they could put stickers on the next day because we had to wait till the eggs dried. The next day came and the meltdown began because the stickers wouldn't stick. The eggs still had moisture from being in the fridge. I tried to dry them with a paper towel; but then the coloring was coming off. The blow dryer seemed to work; but I was not about to blow dry over a dozen eggs. So, my oldest got one egg to put stickers on. The youngest didn't care to much. I think this is the reason why I had not given them the stickers in the past. Now I know for next year.

Flubber Recipe

We discovered Flubber at the kids' day event. The girls loved playing with it! Here's the recipe.

Flubber

 

Mixture 1:

1 ½ cups warm water

2 cups Elmer’s Glue

Food coloring

 

Mixture 2:

3 tsp. Borax

1 cup Warm Water

Stir mixture 1 together in 1 bowl.

Mixture 2 in another bowl.

Make sure both are mixed well.

Pour mixture 1 into mixture 2.

There is no need to stir the mixture but you can if you want because it is the chemical reaction that actually makes the flubber. When it is in a glob work it for 2-3 minutes. Initially it feels wet but it eventually dries up to the final product.

Kids Play Day

Our local college, College of the Canyons, hosted a free play day for kids. We have been there once before and the kids had a good time. This year, it was so hot when we got there. Despite the heat, the girls enjoyed making crafts such as hand print flowers, ladybugs, a cape, squirt bottle painting. They played games such as a bean bag toss, ring toss, and spin the wheel for prizes, They hula hooped, watched a volcano erupt, played in sand and water boxes. One booth had this stuff called Flubber. It feels and looks kind of like slime. They hung it on a strawberry basket and it just oozed out of the holes and came down so the kids could cut it, roll it and use cookie cutters to make things. The play day is mostly geared towards the preschool and Kindergarten age; but my 6 year old really enjoyed it.

$2 Baja Fresh Bowl

After David Kim, the CEO of Baja Fresh, appeared on Undercover Boss; he learned how hard it is to work front line of the restaurant. He is using his pain for our gain in giving us a Baja Bowl for just $2. I don't know how much these bowls normally cost - maybe around $6? Looks like this deal is pretty good! Click here for your coupon. Expires Apr. 24th.

More Crafts and Ice Skating

I only had to go into work for half day today; so I was able to go and take the girls to another Michaels craft day of decorating Easter pails. They spent quite a bit of time making their pails looks beautiful.


After crafts, we went to take my oldest daughter to try out an ice skating class. She put on her skates and helmet, then hobbled over to the skating rink. I was nervous for her as she was stepping out onto the ice with an ice walker they provide as help for the newbies. She got onto the ice and they quickly took away everyone's walker :( Then, I got even more nervous. The teacher had them walk like Frankenstein with their arms extended out, walking very slow. It was kind of funny to watch the kids walk like that and fall all over the place. My daughter was doing great for her 1st time out on the ice; but I couldn't tell if she was having fun or getting frustrated. After the class was over, my nerves calmed down. My daughter said she loved the class! So, off to sign her up for a few days of ice skating camp in the summer.

Crafts & Cheap Movies

I didn't see any frugal fun things to do this weekend; so I thought we could go check out the "cheap movie theatre"; Valley Plaza 6 in North Hollywood. But, at the last minute, I saw that Michaels was doing a free craft day with Color Explosion Coloring; so we did that.


Then, I saw that Screamin Daily Deals had a deal on Ice Skating Camp. I had been looking into ice skating camp for my 6 year old for a summer activity. She has never stepped foot on ice and I wanted her to try it before I spent money on camp. We got down to the ice station to check it out. They said she could try out a class for $10; but the next class available was Sunday. My daughter was so disappointed she couldn't go ice skating right then and there.


We had a little bit of extra time in the day; so we decided to go to the cheap movie theatre. Tickets are only $3 each; but if you go on Tuesdays, they are just $1.50. They also have $1 hot dogs everyday! Pretty enticing, huh? I felt a little guilty spending $12 on movies; but it was the original plan for the day and the kids remembered the plan. And it is very rare for us to go the the movies; so, off we went.

I've never been to this theatre; so I was a little skeptical on what this theatre would look like since the prices were so cheap, didn't show new releases and located in North Hollywood. We get there, and its exactly how I pictured it. It's pretty run down. They take cash only and you pay at the concession stand. My girls had to use the bathroom. Ugh. What kind of surprises would I find in there? Just as I thought... filthy. They tried to repair a hole in the floor with a piece of cardboard taped on. But that patch didn't work, cuz it looked like someone just stepped on it and put a hole in the middle to expose a muddy, water filled hole. We finally get out of the bathroom and to the seats. The seating area wasn't too bad; but obviously it was no Kodak theatre. We saw Gnomeo and Juliet. It was cute and entertaining. Despite my review of this movie theatre, I would still probably go back because I can't pass up $3 a ticket. I just have to try my best to avoid that bathroom.

Free Fruit Pie

A nice warm FREE apple sounds good! The weather is supposed to be cool on Friday; so this dessert will hit the spot.

If you don't want to share the site with friends; you can also get the coupon at ralphs.com in their new electronic coupon page. I love electronic coupons! You don't have to worry about forgetting the clipped ones. Just click on the ones you want and they get loaded onto your grocery club card.

April Fools Dinner

My girls loved the April Fools dinner I gave them last year, which was an Oreo cookie dinner with a breakfast for dessert.

This year, I wanted to do something a little different using the same concept. My 6 year old wanted a fruit salad to be apart of the special dinner. I couldn't believe my ears. She actually asked for something healthy to eat. I made sure to incorporate a fruit salad into the dinner. Here was the dinner menu.

Appetizer: Fruit salad (bananas, apples and strawberries over angel food cake, covered with whip cream.

Dinner: Eggs (melted marshmallow with a yellow M&M in the middle) & bacon (a mini Milky Way smashed and stretched out. This idea was from Family Fun. (Picture above shows different ingredients to make the same dish)

Dessert: Scrambled eggs and an English Muffin

April Fools!

An American Hero

God Bless You and Your Family

The Cost of Freedom

Last weekend, the Santa Clarita Valley received a reminder of the cost of freedom. PFC Rudy Acosta—a child of Santa Clarita, born and raised here—laid down his life for our freedom. A sacrifice of this magnitude can be little understood. Only a brave few have an understanding of or willingness to undertake such a sacrifice. PFC Acosta was one of those.