Archives for August 2011

How I Spent My Summer Vacation!

August 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Union Station was one of the places we visited in Kansas City

(via PhotoCommunity)

I haven’t written for Kids Ain’t Cheap for a couple of months now. I was on hiatus while Brian was busy moving and making improvements to the site. I am glad to be back and I can’t wait to jump back into doing my weekly posts here.

So what exactly have we been up to this summer? A lot of things — including becoming very coupon savvy, which I promise to write about in a future post.

Kansas City, Missouri

My family and I also did a little traveling. Our first trip was to Kansas City, MO and then down to the family homestead in southern Kansas. I had never been out that way before and it was such a treat! Not only did the boys and I get a chance to meet family we had only heard about; we also got to spend a lot of time with my husband’s grandparents. It was wonderful!

Kansas City was amazing! I loved the old buildings and rich history of the city. We visited Union Station. It was so neat to hear Chris’s grandfather describe what is was like when he stepped foot in it for the first time at the tender age of 17. We then visited a family fun place called Deanna Rose Farmstead. It was almost like stepping back in time. There was a one room school house – very similar to the one my husband’s grandfather attended in Kansas. The boys got to fish, ride horses, bottle feed baby goats (yes, it was as adorable as it sounds), see all kinds of animals, go on a hay ride and a lot of other fun things.

While we were in KC we also enjoy lunch delivered by train. I kid you not — a train drives on a track above the restaurant patrons and drops off the food. If you want to see what I’m talking about visit Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant. Just scroll down to see the video; it’s pretty cool.

Kansas

We then took a road trip down to visit the old family homestead in southern Kansas. It too, was rich in history. The home that we stayed in, is over 1oo years old. The boys each had their photo taken in a 200 year old chair, which made its way to Kansas via covered wagon. There was a lot of family around, fun times to be had, great food to eat and interesting stories to hear.

Back at home the boys and I have been spending a lot of time at our local parks. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I only knew of a few parks in our area but we have explored quite a few this summer. I had no idea there were so many fun parks! We have enjoyed meeting friends and even going on our own. Parks are definitely budget friendly and kids have so much fun!

We have also participated in a summer reading program through our library. The boys don’t know how to read on their own — but our local library has developed a fantastic way to let younger kids participate. Each month you go to the library and get a flyer with about 20 different activities to do with your child and they also want you to list all the books you have read together. The boys love it! After they have completed a form I take them to the library, where they proudly walk up to the librarian and hand it in. Then they get to choose a prize from the prize box. It’s all very exciting — and free!!!

Idaho

Our next trip was to Idaho where we took in a baseball game, ate yummy food and spent time visiting with family and friends. It’s so nice to relax and enjoy being with family. We always look forward to our Idaho vacations. Since my husband and I are both from there it is also interesting to see all the things that have changed and the things that have stayed the same.

Wow! I can’t believe summer is almost over! We still have some other things planned but the boys start school in a couple of weeks. Even though we haven’t had a lot of summer weather out here; I am really looking forward to fall. It’s my favorite season!!!

Stay-tuned for articles which will include recipes, not so crafty crafts, information about couponing and other ways to save money, I’ll probably talk a little about football (just because I love it), and much more!!!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Did you do anything special for the summer?

Kindergarten….WHAT!!!!

August 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment

I can’t believe Harrison, my oldest boy, is going to Kindergarten in one week! If you read my last post you know there are a lot of changes going on. Shortly after Kindergarten starts, we are going to be moving to a brand new house, a brand new school district and a brand new Day Care. It’s a lot of changes for these two little guys to deal with. Luckily, our new school district is letting Harrison start even though he won’t be living in the school district for a few more weeks.

I spent part of today looking for tips on getting kids ready for school and I found this list of articles to be pretty helpful.

Do you have any tips for when your child starts kindergarten?

Yaaaa, We Sold Our House… We Hope

August 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Since the house sold, we don't need these for-sale signs anymore

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you may have read one of the posts about the years we spent fixing our credit, the months we spent slaving away fixing up our house and getting it ready for the market and then finally listing it for sale. It’s only been on the market for 2 months but all that work paid off. I am very happy to report that we have accepted an offer on our house and will close in time for Harrison to start Kindergarten in our new school district.

That was a big concern of ours. Harrison isn’t as sociable as his younger brother and we really didn’t want to have to start him in one school district and then pull him out and have him finish in another school. I know at that age it’s not a big deal but as parents, we didn’t want it. We wanted Harrison to start on even footing with the rest of the kids.

In this current housing marketing, we couldn’t be happier with how quickly our house sold. We live in a semi-detached house on a busy road. It’s a great starter home but still, being right on a major road, we had our work cut out for us which is why we put so much effort into getting it to look as good as it possibly can. Based on the feedback we received from the people who walked through the house, it definitely paid off.

When we got the news the house was sold

What was even more special is when we got the news. We were on vacation with my wife’s family when our Realtor called. We were down in North Carolina at the Outer Banks. It was great, throughout the week people came and went but most of the immediate family was there. Her Mom, her sister, her sisters children, her cousins, her aunts and uncles, it was great. Some husbands would find that to be a nightmare but I love her family and get along quite well with them. My own parents didn’t get along with their in-laws and I always hated it. When I met my wife I told her pretty early on I wouldn’t get serious with anyone if I couldn’t get along with their family. Luckily for both of us, we both get along with each others family splendidly.

So, what does that have to do with us selling our house? Well, we are buying my Mother-In-Laws house and what is even more special is most of the houses in the area are the relatives we were on vacation with. Stephanie comes from a good farming family. They aren’t all farmers but some of them bought pieces of the farm property and built houses so they all live on beautiful pieces of property surrounded by loved ones and country landscape. We got to immediately celebrate the news with the person we were buying the house from and our new neighbors all at once. It was great and everyone was so excited.

I can’t wait to move on to this next chapter of our lives. Let’s just hope everything goes smoothly with settlement.

Have you ever sold a house? What was your experience with it?

The Learning Tower, a Review

August 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment

I have been running this site for nearly a year and for some strange reason it has taken me all this time to review one of my wife’s favorite items: The Learning Tower.

I used to be a regular attendee to Toy Fair in New York for the eCommerce company I work for. It’s an event for anyone in the toy industry (sellers, buyers, reporters, etc…) and my wife would typically take off for a few days and come with me. She would help me navigate the huge convention hall, take notes, and just act as my assistant. In the evening, I would take her out to a nice dinner and we would enjoy the city. It was always a great couple of days for both of us.

Toy Fair is massive and there are things hidden away in aisles where you wouldn’t typically expect to find them so we would hit every aisle and every booth to make sure we didn’t miss anything. That may not sound difficult but Toy Fair is HUGE!!! It takes up the entire Javits Center in Manhattan as well as several other buildings down town. The business I am in sells licensed and pop culture items so it’s actually a pretty small segment of the overall toy market but part of the fun was the challenge of hitting everything to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

The first time we went, my wife was pregnant with my oldest son, Harrison. We had a lot of fun going through the baby and little kids sections even though it had nothing to do with why we were there. We got to see stuff we might want for our son before a lot of it was released to the market. Also, we got to see stuff that was already on the market that companies were trying to push to new buyers. It’s a unique situation where you get to talk directly to the company and in the case of smaller companies, directly to the owner/creator.

What is the Learning Tower

One of the items that really interested us was the Learning Tower by Little Partners. The product had been around for a year or so before we ran into it at Toy Fair but our excitement was fresh as we had never seen it before. The Learning Tower is the perfect kitchen companion for anyone that likes to cook with their children. It’s not just for the kitchen but that seems to be it’s most popular application. It’s the ultimate step stool that brings your children up to counter height and keeps them there safely and securely.

Nothing at Toy Fair is for sale to the the general public, meaning, you can’t walk through, hand your card to someone and walk out with it. Buyers can put in orders for their companies but the products are shipped to the company/store they were bought for and not available to walk out with. I tell you this simply because if it was possible for us to leave with a Learning Tower that day, we would have.

Why We Love the Learning Tower

My wife LOVES to cook and bake and always fantasized about cooking with our children. In addition to loving to cook, she is also a safety professional. Her job is to make sure the workers at the company she works at, work safely. The need to keep everyone safe is a big part of who she is and one of the things I love about her. The Learning Tower appealed to her need to keep her soon to be born child safe and her desire to have our little one active and in the kitchen helping Mom cook.

It’s so much more than a step stool, it’s an adjustable platform that safely brings your child up to counter height. The most popular application is in the kitchen but it can be used anywhere. It’s very well constructed and the platform can be adjusted so it continues to become useful as your child grows. It can hold over 200 lbs and has plenty of room for a second little one if you have more than one child. My 5 year old and 3 year old share it with no problems.

But Wait There’s More

What makes this item even better is you can buy accessories that make it more functional. You can get a kit that turns it into a puppet theater in minutes or a chalk board that hangs off the side for arts and crafts. It comes in 9 different finishes so there is sure to be a design that matches your decor.

At nearly $200, it’s not cheap but we believe it’s a great investment. We have had ours for 4 yeas now and it gets used all the time. It’s very common for used Learning Towers to sell on eBay and Craigslist for $100 so it holds it’s value really well. When our boys outgrow our Learning Tower we plan on selling it on Craigslist to recoup part of the expense of buying it but even if we didn’t do that, we have have more than gotten our moneys worth with this item.

For activities to do with your children that would include using the learning tower, check out this other great articles.

8 Simple Rainy Day Activities For Kids
7 Screen-Free Activities for Preschoolers
3 Life Skills Every Child Needs To Learn

We recommend the Learning Tower if you are looking to buy one.

The Learning Tower got some media attention a few years ago when it was featured on the Rachael Ray show. Check out the video below

Have you ever heard of the Learning Tower? What do you think of it?

What Can Animals Help Us Teach Our Children

August 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment

If an elephant and a dog can get along, then being tolerant of others should be easy

(via CBS Evening News)

It’s important to me that my children grow up to be tolerant and accepting of others. We have come a long way as a species but discrimination of all kids still runs rampant and will never go away. I firmly believe that acknowledging that it will never completely go away is the first step towards teaching your children to love, respect and tolerate the differences around them. There will always be people that pick on or dislike other types of people for irrational reasons. Whether it’s because they see a weakness they can exploit, a difference that makes them scared, a color that they aren’t used to or a way of life that seems weird to them, people are always going to discriminate, sometimes without even realizing they are doing it.

Teaching Tolerance to Children

So, how do we teach our children to not be discriminatory if we believe that sometimes these reactions are normal? I think that is one of the reasons why I use the word “tolerant” because it seems like a reasonable goal. It’s natural for people to react to other people in certain ways based on their experiences in life. It’s natural for the small shy kid that used to get beat up by the giant guy down the street to be leery and want to avoid people that fit the profile of the giant guy that beat him up. It may not be rational, just because one giant guy liked to beat up little guys, doesn’t mean they all like to but that doesn’t make the fear any less. As a personal example, I am not small but I was the geeky awkward kid that got beat up and picked on and at the age of 34, I still get intimidated by people that remind of the bullies that used to pick on me in High School. I believe, the key is to teach our children to understand this basic concept so when they get past their initial fear or discomfort, they can approach and treat the other person as another human being. I am using a fairly generic example but the same concept can and does apply to sex, age, race, religion and cultural discrimination.

My kids are only 3 and 5 years old and I am delighted by the fact that they rarely notice differences in people. They have friends of many different races and of both sexes and have never once appeared to have cared that their friends skin was slightly different. I think discrimination is something we learn over time from our life experiences and from the people around us that influence our thoughts and guide us in life.

However, just because they have not yet reached an age where they have started noticing differences or acting/thinking about the differences they do notice, doesn’t mean we can’t start teaching our little ones about tolerance and respect for others.

Using animals to teach tolerance

Recently, I have turned to the animal kingdom to show my children two very simple lessons in creatures that couldn’t be any different yet they accepted and loved the other creature without question. Animals are amazing for many reasons but one of the things you rarely see outside of the human species is that they don’t act cruelly towards others. Sure, there is plenty of death in the animal kingdom but it’s for a purpose. The two videos below warm my heard and make my kids laugh. They show that differences don’t matter and instant connections are possible and wonderful things.

The Orangutan and the Hound

Dog and Elephant Friends

Do you have any more examples of tolerance from animals? How have you tried to teach tolerance to your children?