Frugal Friday 163

Happy Frugal Friday!

Here is how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:

- Mark worked one night at his part time job.

- I babysat for a friend.

- We celebrated Annabeth's birthday with Mark's family by combining it with Luke's on the first. Luke and Cassidy hosted the cookout and we helped bring sides and a cake for Annabeth. I made a homemade cake, which I haven't done since her first birthday, and enjoyed decorating it with her.

- Sunday we had a friend party for Annabeth. After looking at quite a few options, we decided that her first choice of her dance school was the most affordable. The dance school covers everything but food under one umbrella cost. They provide a one hour dance class, all of the decorations, paper goods, and party favors. It was very affordable. Annabeth and I made homemade cupcakes for this party. We did splurge on Shopkins (her party theme) cake toppers from Etsy.

 Thank you to Nana for the Shopkins shirt.

Shopkins bow by Emma's Bows for a Cure.

 - Annabeth had her followup eye doctor appointment on Tuesday. The good news is that her glasses are really helping! Her eyes are not having to work nearly as hard. We are so glad that we caught her vision problems early as she is SO much happier doing schoolwork! We resisted the urge to stop for lunch on the way home - a big accomplishment since we got home around 11:45 which is way past our usual lunch time and I still had to prepare the food. Both kids were quite grumpy but I was glad to save the extra bit of money.

- We made a quick grocery trip on Tuesday for her birthday foods. (In our house, the birthday person selects the menu for the whole day and I had been waiting on a recipe from a friend so we could do one shopping trip) We stuck to our list, no small feat in our amazing, HUGE, new Kroger!

- Wednesday was Annabeth's 5th birthday! She chose our activities and meals for the day. We enjoyed a Starbucks breakfast, playing at the "snail park," the kids had Happy Meals for lunch with "Auntie Rose" brownies for dessert, and then a restful movie afternoon. We did have our usual Wednesday evening of three hours of gymnastics/dance classes with a quick lunchable dinner in the middle.

Playing at Blue Heron Park 

aka "Snail Park" thanks to the orange snail toy there. 

- This fall I have traded out storytime with the kids. Annabeth went from 6 months - the end of PreK in her own, age appropriate storytimes. After Owen was born, I have just been taking him along to Annabeth's. As he has gotten older, it has gotten harder. He does not want to sit still through the longer stories and crafts. I decided this fall, I would switch and Annabeth would tag along to Wonderful Ones with Owen. He is so cute and happy with kids his own age! He loves all the songs and getting to hold him own board books! I am so thankful for our local library and all of their great programming!

We had such a wonderful week! We are loving the warm, sunny days!

Happy Savings to All!