Today is a day of Celebration


Wow! I can not believe it has been 1 year since the Nifty Thrifty Family Blog was created. I want to thank all my readers and followers who has helped make the Nifty Thrifty Family a wonderful blog. I could not have made it a year with out you all. I have learned so much about the blogging world and I have made so many new friends in the process.

I wanted to share with you the top 3 posts from the Nifty Thrifty Family this year. 

The Top Post for the year has to go to......Drum Roll....
Crock Pot Potato Soup I wrote this back in February. This recipe is so so good, I can not wait until cooler weather arrives.





Second Runner Up .... Can I have another Drum Roll...
Ranch Pork Chops - I guess I should get the hint that my Crock Pot recipes are usually a hit. I love cooking with my Crock Pot and this recipe is a must try for anyone who loves pork chops. Throw in some mashed potatoes and some noodles and you have yourself a yummy delicious meal that will not break the bank.



Third Place goes to the....
Gender Reveal Party. This was a great party. If you are planning or know someone who is expecting this is a great way to reveal the sex of the baby. My friends are still talking about it. No wonder this is one of my top post. My wonderful sister-n-law did a great job on all of the decorations. If I have to guess, this might be the top post within several more weeks.


Again thank you to all of my followers and I can not wait to see what the next year has in stored for this blog. I have many things planned to write about and several series to roll out.
Don't forget I am always looking for guest bloggers and advertisers.

My first adventure in school lunch making

Tomorrow starts a new chapter in my daughters life. She starts Kindergarten. I am nervous for her, but I am very excited for her. Tonight we got together her outfits for the rest of the week and I packed her backpack with all the school supplies that was requested. I also packed my first school lunch box. I want my daughter to have options for lunch.  I don't want her to think, just because I packed her lunch, she is going to be forced to eat it. So for the past week I have been prepping her on the fact that she has money in her school account for lunch. If she does not want to eat what is packed, she is more than welcome to eat the cafeteria food. The catch to this, is that she will only be able to buy extras, like ice cream and cookies on Friday's.
I wanted to make my daughters first day of school special and I wanted to pack her a cute lunch. I love browsing Pinterest pins about the Bento lunches. I have never been lucky to find the cutters that are needed for these sandwiches in stores, until now. I was browsing the baby isle at Wal-mart and guess what I found? Cute animal sandwich cutters! The lunch I packed holds no bearing to the cool designs of the Bento lunches, but I think my daughter will be smiling when she opens up her lunch box. I just pray that she will not be hungry after her 10:40 am lunch. (I think that is is way to early for lunch).
 
We had so much fun finding her lunch box. We picked up this lunch box at Justice. It matches her backpack and water bottle too.

How cute are these elephant sandwiches? My daughter is in the phase of liking Bologna right now.

Inside the compartment of the container, I have added carrots and not pictured is a small pack of ranch in the empty spot. I also added a few of her favorite chips.

I finished up her lunch with a squeezable container of applesauce and a Capri Sun. I also added a napkin too. 
I hope she enjoys her first day school lunch. Do you make school lunches for your little ones? Please give me tips on what I can pack for her. Sandwiches will get old really fast.

Oh No, my daughter starts Kindergarten in a few days.

My daughter starts Kindergarten in a few days. I thought I was ready for the start of this new phase in her life. But in reality, I am so scared for her. Today just thinking of her going to Kindergarten made me cry. I don't know if it was just pregnancy hormones or that it finally hit me full force that my little one is not so little anymore. It is time for her to show her independence, she does not need me holding her hand walking her to class anymore.
So within the next few days my daughter will be dropped off at the front door of this big school that houses Elementary, Middle and High school students.This is not going to be like Preschool. Where I got to walk her to her classroom and sign her in. Where I had the peace of mind all day knowing she was safe in her classroom. For the past three years I have placed her where she needed to be. In a few days I will only be able to do half that. I will be able to walk her or pull the car to the main door and watch her walk into this big school all by herself.
I guess I can't change my mind now on where she is going to school, with just a few days before school starts. All the supplies and clothing have been bought.  Many prayers have been prayed for her to get accepted into this school. I know it is where she is meant to be. I pray I will be able to walk her to her classroom the first few days school starts and have the opportunity to be waiting outside of her classroom for pick up. I know she will be nervous the first and second day until she makes friends, but in the end she will love it. Because the friends she makes in Kindergarten will be the ones that she graduates High school with. I will look back at this post at the end of her Kindergarten and High school career and laugh at my panic attack. I just wish the school would give better directions on drop off and school pick up since they don't have a car pool line. I go this Thursday for orientation, maybe all my questions and my nervous will be eased that day.

Kindergarten Brigance Screening

Today my daughter had to go for her Kindergarten Brigance Screening. Have any of your kids ever been tested for this? I have never heard of this test until a week ago, when I got the call to reserve her testing slot. I thought my husband was going to be the only one taking our daughter for this test, due to me having to work, but I surprised our daughter and showed up for the testing too.I just love slow days at work. I am so glad I went. We got to find out where her class room was located and we got to meet her teacher.
My daughter was very nervous about the test and I was nervous for her. As she was in the room being tested, I was able to hear all the questions and answers being said. I was proud of my daughter. She answered almost all the questions right. There was some questions where I could tell she was nervous on answering and she missed them.
So before today, I tried to research what type of questions would be asked during this test and there is really nothing out there. There was one site that said it would give you the questions as a free download, but then it asked for your credit card. Here is some of the questions that I was able to remember that was asked to my daughter. The questions were simple questions.

1) The teacher asked my daughter to write her first and last name.
2) My daughter had to tell her teacher what her address was.
3) The teacher asked for my daughter to say her birthday.
4) The teacher asked her to do her ABC's. My daughter told me the teacher would not let her sing them, she just had to recite them.
5) The teacher asked her to count as high as she could.
6) There was questions about drawing shapes. I am not sure if a picture of the shape was shown or if the teacher said the name of the shape. My daughter said she had to draw a square, traingle, diamond and a circle.
7) There is a section about parts of the body. I guess the teacher pointed to a picture. The teacher pointed to her finger nail and I guess she had on glitter finger nail polish. Because I heard my daughter say I have that nail polish. I think the teacher was trying to get my daughter to say finger nail.
8) There was a math section and my daughter informed her that she had never done math before. If I could hear correctly, my daughter was asked simple questions like how many dots are here. It was nothing like I pictured of math. I was expecting what is 2+2 and so on.
9) The last topic that they covered was about physical education. She told my daughter to stand on one foot, walk backwards. Just simple things children should know by just being a child.

As my child was taking this test I was asked to fill out a questionnaire. I guess this form is design to help the teacher understand the needs of her students.. The form asked me if my child could dress themselve, wipe after going to the potty and so on.
The test only took about 15 minutes. I think this test just helps the teacher understand where the students stand in the learning field. If your child has to go thru this test don't stress over, your child will do just fine. If you know any questions I left out, please let me know in the comment section, so we can help other parents who are curious on what to prep their little ones on.