1. If you don’t own your own camping gear, ask around to see if any friends or relatives have tents, sleeping bags, etc. that you could borrow or rent.
2. Consider camping mid-week or off season. Many campgrounds have cheaper rates at these times.
3. Find a place that’s not too far away, as gas prices can make your expenses go up in a hurry.
4. Choose a location that is near a water source or hiking trails. Find a place with ‘free’ activities nearby. Throwing rocks into a river occupied The Boy for nearly 2 hours on our most recent trip.
5. Consider just going away for one night. It seems like the work involved with getting organized for a camping trip is too much for just one night away, but you’d be surprised. You don’t need to plan as many meals. You could just throw some left-overs (and s’more fixings of course) into the ice chest.
6. Make your own block ice. Block ice lasts longer than cubes or crushed. Start a few days ahead of time freezing your own blocks of ice in tupperware.
7. Ask around to see if any friends or local businesses have free or inexpensive firewood. If you plan to have a campfire, try to find wood before you go. Buying wood from a campground host can be mighty pricey.
8. Cut down on your laundry work when you get home. Store all the dirty clothes separately from your clean clothes.
9. Take along rags to use instead of paper towels. (I must say that I never follow this one. I love a big roll of paper towels and pack of wet wipes to use when camping.)
10. Get together with friends for a camping trip. Share the costs of the campground space, food, firewood and other gear (stove, ice chest, etc.).
11. If you do own all your own camping gear, consider keeping it stored all together. This will make your unpacking much easier when you get back home. We have several camping tubs that live in our garage. It is so easy to pack and unpack for a camping trip this way. Our camping list notes the things that live permanently in the tub and the things that need to be added each time.

Come for the saving money tips, stay for the great health advice!

The National Wildlife Federation has some great magazines for kids. Our personal favorite for toddlers is Wild Animal Baby, which comes in a board book-type cover. Highlights also has some great kids magazines available. Amazon is a great place to find out about magazines and sometimes has special deals or offers. Be sure, however, that you follow through on your gift and check with the recipient to make sure they have received their first copy.

At first, though, I was at a loss as to how to cook all these vegetables. (The fruit is easy. The Boy eats fruit with almost every meal.) I shopped around and finally settled on From Asparagus to Zucchini; A Guide To Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce. This cookbook is amazing! It is organized by vegetable, with at least 4 recipes for each. Most of the recipes require other ingredients that are also currently in season. In addition to the recipes (we have yet to find one we really don’t like), each section has a brief history of that vegetable and cooking and storage tips.

Really, who knew there were so many delicious ways to prepare beets or how delicious a carrot almond cake could be? Pasta Pie with Fresh Greens anyone? How about Garlic Parsley Pesto or Penne alla Zucca (Roman Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce)?

f you are thinking of trying to cook more with seasonal produce or if you have a plethora of squash and need some ideas of how to use it, this is the book for you. If you want to introduce more vegetables (and not just the mainstream veggies you find at the supermarket) into your diet, this is the book for you. If you like to shop at Farmers’ Markets, but just don’t know how to fix that kohlrabi, this is the book for you. Happy Cooking and Happy Eating!

Luckily, there is a webpage that can help, imagine that? Here you can learn about how to keep fruits and vegetables fresh and prevent spoilage. It lists a bunch of common fruits and vegetables and where you can store them and for how long. For example, celery can go in the fridge but garlic should always be stored on the counter. A great resource for keeping your food fresh and not having to throw it in the compost pile.

Circles: Cheerios
Squares: Chex, Quaker Oat Squares
There are more shapes in some sugary cereals (Lucky Charms comes to mind). If you don’t want to buy an entire box, consider buying the little one-serving packs and letting your kids glue the shapes onto paper. Or just eating a small serving for a special treat.

And of course, there are other foods that come in basic shapes. Some crackers are triangle or rectangle shaped. When you start looking around your kitchen, you may find little teaching opportunities everywhere!

Younger kids might enjoy the counting and colors books and older kids will like to see the dinosaurs go to school and play with their friends. The silly, rhyming text is accompanied by great illustrations of dinosaurs with human parents. These are fantastic books for older kids who are into dinosaurs too.

We have ratty books, brand new books, books that make sounds, books that have lights and require batteries, puzzle books that come apart, cloth books, velcro books, old classics, new soon-to-be classics and possibly even lost library books. But how to keep track of them all and be able to share that list with relatives and friends so you don’t end up with 6 copies of Pat the Bunny?

Enter the website, LibraryThing.com. You can create a free account and start entering all the books you have by title, author or ISBN. When you are done you get a fairly simple looking URL that you can send around to family and friends. This lists all the books and you can even see how many people also have a certain book on their list. Over 2000 for The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein!

You can even make other lists for yourself, but since you can fit about 20 children’s books in the space that Andrew Carnegie’s biography would fit, it is especially helpful for managing the ever growing kid’s bookshelf.

This program is amazing. It can watch your picture folders, adding new ones anytime you plug in your camera. It creates thumbnails of all your videos and pictures for easy organizing and editing. You can do a lot of basic editing, cropping, red eye reduction and a bunch more.

One of the best features is you can choose what format to print pictures in. You can have wallets, 5×7, 4×6, all the common formats. You can print out the best pictures and give to family members as gifts!

You can also have it resize images before you email them so you don’t clog your family’s email accounts with glorious pictures of your kids.

Once I discovered this, I threw out the horrible Canon software and have never looked back. And that was about 6000 pictures ago!

For the very young: Write thank yous for the gifts your young children have received on note paper made from their own drawings. Let kids fingerpaint or color on blank notecards or on regular paper that can be cut down or folded to fit in an envelope.

For toddlers and pre-schoolers: Let your child ‘write’ the thank you themselves. Then ‘translate’ the scribbles into readable English. If the kids are starting to write their own names, let them sign the thank you note.

For primary ages: Kids can draw a picture of the gift (wearing the sweater from Grandma or playing with the toy from Uncle Matt) and you can write the thank you words they dictate to you. By this age, though, many children should be able to start writing sentences. A simple Thank You Frame (see below) is appropriate for this age.

For older elementary kids and above: By the time your child is in fourth grade an above, they should be capable of writing thank you notes themselves. One strategy for getting kids to get thank you notes done is to not let them use the gift until the thank you has been written. Another idea is to set aside one morning or afternoon for thank you writing. Put all the supplies that kids will need (pens, pencils, paper, envelopes, stamps, addresses, gift lists) on the dining table. Sit down as a family and have everyone complete their holiday thank you notes. You can do yours at the same time and be a good model for your kids!

All Ages: Take a digital picture of your child with or without the gift and attach it to an email to the giver. Or print the picture on regular paper and use that as your stationary.

1. Hard-boil several eggs.
2. In a medium sauce pan, melt several Tablespoons of butter.
3. Add several Tablespoons of flour and stir to make a paste.
4. Add about a cup of milk and stir.
5. Stir in the hard-boiled eggs (chopped) and any extras (minced onion, garlic salt, salt, pepper).
6. Serve over toast and enjoy!

This recipe is great because it can be varied in so many ways. Throw in some left over chopped ham or ground turkey (in addition to or without the eggs). Stir in some chopped, cooked veggies. We generally have eggs and bread on hand, so this is a tasty, last minute, easy meal to prepare. If your eggs are already hard-boiled, the preparation takes ten minutes or less.

Re-live all your favorite toys and maybe get some holiday shopping ideas!

This is a great time of year to bake cookies, breads or other treats for gifts. The oven will help to heat your house and you won’t have to run the heater as much! Wrap up a nice loaf of bread or plate of cookies for your workplace, or your spouse’s. Give treats to your neighbors and friends. Wrap a paper plate with saran wrap, tie a festive bow around it and, voila!, you have a lovely homemade, inexpensive gift.

Break out those craft scissors and some tape to create homemade cards or other crafts. Use old magazines or calendars to do collages. Four greeting cards can be made from just 3 or 4 pieces of 8 1/2 by 11 paper. Visit websites or a local craft store for ideas.

Buy an inexpensive photo frame and paint it or embellish it in some way. Glue on beads or shells. This could be a lovely gift for a grandparent, especially if your kids helped with the frame.
Cross-stitch or embroider on fabric to make a bread cloth, table cloth or napkins. Knitted and crocheted gifts are treasured keepsakes in our home. Keep checking garage sales and rummage sales for unused cross-stitching sets.

Offer to babysit or pet-sit as a Christmas gift. Give another Mom a day to do her Christmas shopping by herself. You know I’d love a gift of time like that!

Your kids can help with most of these projects. This is a great time to teach them about creative giving. Maybe they will even have some gift ideas of their own.

There are plenty of worthy causes out there. Charity Navigator is one website devoted to helping you determine what charity is best for your own giving.

Our personal favorite charity is Heifer Project International. HPI has over 800 projects in 50 countries. They offer livestock, education and other resources to families facing hunger throughout the world. With each gift comes the requirement of ‘passing of the gift.’ For example, a family may be given a gift of a pregnant goat along with the education of how to care for the animal. This family, would, in turn, be required to give the next female goat born to another family, creating a positive ripple effect. The goat will provide milk and manure to be used as fertilizer. HPI focuses on sustainable agriculture development education for all gift recipients. There is a donation level for everyone. From a $10 donation toward a ‘share of rabbits’ to a $500 Heifer, you can help make someone’s life better. For each $10 donation you may receive an honor card to give to your relative or friend if the donation is a gift in their name.

There are many worthy charities out there. Find one that works for you. Here are some more ideas: Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Toys for Tots, Cancer Research, Wildlife Conservation.

Or keep your donation local. Donate to your local Zoo, Animal Shelter, Library or School.

Handprint Wreath

1. Draw half a wreath on two pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 paper. Preferably green. Cut out the halves and staple together to form the whole wreath.
2. Trace your child’s hand onto some green paper. I used several different printed papers from a Christmas Paper Stack along with plain green. Cut out handprints.
3. Let your kids glue or tape (double-stick is the best) the hands to the wreath.
4. Make paper embellishments. Cut a ‘ribbon’ out of red paper. Or glue actual ribbon to the wreath. Cut out ‘berries’ out of red paper.

Handprint Christmas Tree

1. Cut a tree shape out of heavy card stock. It doesn’t have to be green, as the handprints will cover the card stock.
2. Cut a ‘trunk’ out of brown paper and staple to the bottom of the tree.
3. Trace your child’s hand onto green paper. Like the wreath, you could use plain green or several different shades/prints in green. Cut out handprints.
4. Let your kids glue or tape (again, double-stick) hands to the tree. It looks best if you attach the hands facing down and start at the bottom so they are layered to the top. Of course, I just let The Boy attach his willy-nilly, but it still looks good!
5. Cut out a star or angel and tape to the top of the tree.
6. Add ‘ornaments.’ We used stickers, lots of ‘em!

Be sure you write your child’s name and the date on the back of the crafts. In ten years it might be hard to remember which child/year it is from.

Read his entire blog to get some more great ideas about leaving a light footprint on the world.

I found this cheap, easy toy idea at Instructables.

A save the environment and save some money hint is to print the pictures back to back, or print on recycled paper that still has one side blank.

I haven’t tried the generic brand of Rice Krispies (Crisp Rice?), but I assume it wouldn’t be that much different than the Kellogg’s brand. And I always just buy the cheapest brand of marshmallow, especially if I am making the treats within a few days. Other than that, all you need is butter or margarine and perhaps some food coloring or other little ‘extras.’

Melting the butter and marshmallows needs to be closely supervised. We don’t want burned fingers or hands. Make sure you use a large pot so that it is easy to stir in the cereal after everything is melted. Once you have stirred in the cereal, it is easy for a young child to help press the treats into the greased pan or shape them.

I’m sure the ideas are endless, but you could add some food coloring to the marshmallow/butter concoction as it is melting. Add red and shape the treats into hearts for Valentine’s Day. Add green and shape into shamrocks for St. Patty’s Day. Add orange and make ‘carrots’ for Easter. I could go on. Shaping the treats is fun. Just remember to butter/grease your hands really well. Or use greased saran wrap to shape the treats. Add M&Ms or other candies before they cool to decorate. My favorite has been the carrot-shaped treats with green sour worm ‘tops.’

The Boy is not a fan of chocolate. (He doesn’t get it from me!) So these are a fun treat for him to help make and eat. If you wrap each square or shape in saran, they do last a few days, but of course, I think they are best when eaten right out of the pan!

A friend had made her son a cloth activity book a few years before and still had the pattern, so she lent it to me. The project was definitely more expensive than I had anticipated. I did, however, learn a lot and I have many supplies left over for future crazy projects.

The material was fairly expensive. I bought pre-quilted material for the cover and duck cloth for the inside pages. I used fabric scraps and buttons from around the house, but I did end up buying velcro, zippers, shoelaces, snaps and some other sewing materials. Oh, and heat-bond hemming material. Did I mention that I don’t have a sewing machine? (And don’t want one – that just opens up a whole new world of crafts that I don’t have time or space for.)

The heat-bonding took the longest. I had to heat-bond each page and most of the activities onto each page. I ended up using some heavy duty textile adhesive for the thicker pieces. All in all, if I ever attempt another one, I think I’ll spend a week with my mother-in-law and use her sewing machine.

However, if you know how to follow directions and like big craft projects, this might just be the thing for you. The book turned out beautifully and The Boy loves to play with it. I even got brave toward the end and changed a couple of the pages to suit us a little better.

There are many store-bought cloth activity books out there, but having the hand-made book really makes it more special to us. In the future, I can tell The Boy the stories behind many of the fabric scraps used in the book.

Happy Crafting!