FREE Admission to a Garden on Friday

Did you know that Friday, May 11th is National Public Gardens Day? To celebrate Rain Bird & American Public Gardens Association are offering free admission to participating gardens. Those in Illinois can enjoy free admission to the Chicago Botanic Garden, The Morton Arboretum, Cantigny Park, Elmhurst College Arboretum, Klehm Arboretum, Nicholas Conservatory, Rockford Park District. . We've been to the Chicago Botanic Garden, Morton Arboretum and Cantigny Park. We love it all!! See my reviews here. If the weather cooperates, we may just have to visit The Morton Arboretum again.


What a great way to celebrate Mother's Day a little early!

LivingSocial: Nibbles Play Cafe

I was excited to purchase this deal from Living Social. $10 for 3 admissions ($23 value) to Nibbles Play Cafe in Wheeling.  It's best for children 0 - 5, and amongst other things they've got a train table for my train obsessed toddler. I've been wanting to check out this place for a long time, and this is the perfect opportunity.

FREE EVENT - Soldier Field Eggstravaganza

It's Easter time and you'll find lots of fun activiites to do with the little ones. This Saturday, March 31st at 9:00 a.m. you can enjoy the festivities at Soldier Field. Last year, we went to the Solider Field Eggstravaganza.It's free, fun and best of if you are a die hard Bears fun - you get to walk/run on Soldier Field. You can even take in a breakfast beforehand (additional cost).

The Nitty Gritty: We went here on a cold, Saturday morning for their Eggstravaganza egg hunt in 2011. There was no cost so had to just pay for parking ($10 then, $12 now)

The fun: When I heard their was a free egg hunt at Soldier FIeld, we were all over it. My husband is a die hard Bears fan, and the fact that you could actually go on the field was all he needed to know before agreeing to come to this event. We came about an hour after the event started and there was a line just to enter the stadium. There were sections divided by age range, and we waited our turn to get on the field where candy was waiting for us. The event could have been organized better as we weren't even sure if we were in the right line.  Once they set us free - everyone (and I mean parents included) ran to get their candy. It seemed sort of chaotic.

Son's fav moment: Grabbing (or trying to grab) the candy.

Parent's fav moment: Do I even need to tell you? Getting to walk/run on Soldier Field.

Bottom Line: Would come here again but we would make sure to come earlier and in warmer weather.

Tip: If you bring a stroller, you would have to park it as you cannot bring it on the field. There were TONS of strollers and the paranoid mom in me would not trust my stroller and belongings just out in the open.

Family Fun Day @ The Museum of Science and Industry

The Nitty Gritty: Admission was about $15 each adult. I purchased a Groupon for $30 for membership to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.(Review to follow) By doing so, there are certain museums that give you 50% or free admission. The MSI gave free admission for me and my husband. Since we saved on admission, we "splurged" by buying tickets to the Dr. Seuss exhibit ($5 each). Parking was $18 in an adjoining parking lot.  Stroller friendly. Bring a lunch - there is a cafeteria!

The fun:  This was our second time visiting the museum in a year. We were compelled to come here again to check out the Christmas Around the World exhibit and also to check out the Dr. Seuss exhibit. We kept hearing great things about the holiday trees that we had to check it out. Plus, our 17 month old son had developed a love for trains and this time could enjoy them. Not to mention his love for the Cat in the Hat. We had to check out the new Dr. Seuss exhibit. It was a no brainer to come here again.

I've never been here around Christmas time but have heard rave reviews of how pretty is is with the Christmas Around the World trees. It did not disappoint. Lots of picture opportunities and even a gift shop where you can purchase ornaments.

The last time we were here was sometime in March. We spent about 3  to 4 hours here, though could have definitely spent the whole day if my son could last that long. The museum is huuuuge so pace yourself. DH and I usually frequent this museum as it's one of our favs in the Chicagoland area. We always make a point to check out the ice cream parlor. If you have older children (without a stroller) go to the coal mine.

As always, we had a great time. My son could have spent hours looking at the model trains, but we had to pull him away to check out the Dr. Seuss exhibit ($5 ea person). The exhibit itself was a little smaller than I expected, but nevertheless it was interesting to learn about the writer. There is even a play area for the kids. I loved how colorful the room was and was tempted to take pictures, but had to resist because of the no photography rule.

Son's fav:  Do I even need to tell you? He LOVED the model train exhibit. We could not pull him away from there. Every time we passed by, he would take a detour over there.

Parent's fav:  Storm exhibit & learning more about Dr. Seuss.

Bottom Line: Definitely recommend the museum but especially during the holidays. I would definitely splurge on a museum membership because there is so much to do and see!

Tip: There is a Japanese Garden south of the Museum though did not visit because it was a little too chilly. Maybe in the near future!

Lorax freebies!

Are you excited to see The Lorax coming out March 2nd?

Here are some freebies to tide you over until then:

On specially marked packages of Seventh Generation diapers, there are codes you can enter for a free gift. I just entered the codes and am excited to have a Lorax themed scrapbook mailed to me in 6 to 8 weeks. My son will have fun with this. Read more info here.

You can also download a Valentine, bookmark and an activity sheet here.

Stop on by Target on Feb. 25th from 9 - 11 a.m. where they will be reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. It will include free goody bags, activities and more. I am looking forward to bringing the kiddos to this event.

Challenge: Junk Drawers de-junked

Week 2 of the Challenge is Kitchen Cabinets. One area I wanted to focus on is our junk drawer attached to our portable kitchen island.


My first step was putting the pretty contact paper from the Dollar Tree in the drawer. Yes, this was only $1! I bought a bunch to redo all my cabinets.

Then I hopped over to Target and grabbed a clear acrylic tray to containerize the items. This tray was about $5.99

Here's what my de-junked drawer looks like now:

After going through the drawer, I've kept the screwdrivers, permanent and dry erase markers (for writing on freezer foods and writing expiration dates on packages), extra command hooks (LOVE), my recipe binder.
What a world of difference. I love opening this drawer and then seeing the pretty contact paper through the tray. Oh, how I am easily pleased.

Total Cost: $5.99 for the tray (Target), less than $1 for the contact paper (Dollar Tree) and I still have more left for my other cabinets

Now onto the rest of the kitchen!

Pinspired: Let's Play Hooky

As I am tackling the 52 Weeks to An Organized Home Challenge, I've decided to start small. I've been waiting to use these Command Hooks that I got on sale with a coupon at Walgreens awhile back. After being pinspired, I knew I could do these.

Source: abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com via Shel on Pinterest

Source: organizewithsandy.com via Shel on Pinterest

Source: iheartorganizing.blogspot.com via Shel on Pinterest

After just a few minutes I had these:

My island cabinet. I had originally wanted to install a rod here from Ikea, but it was too long. No worries, my hooks solved the problem.

Another close up. I absolutely LOVE the colors of the potholder on the left - it's actually my inspiration for my kitchen. I found both potholders on clearance at my happy place - Target - for about $4 each.

I've never had a place for my bibs - it would always be laying around. After seeing this from IHeartOrganizing I knew it would solve my problems. They are just inside our "kiddie" cabinet.

  

This genius idea for gloves. Before the challenge, I had forgotten I had bought these little pretties way back at TJMaxx ($3 bucks from what I remember). Now I can finally remember to use them and look at these beauties to remind me to clean. After all, cleaning is a chore and anything to make it more fun is a plus in my book.

Total spent: less than $2 (less than $1 each for each 2 pack of Command Hooks. I used only 4).

i {heart} IKEA even more! Free kid's meals on Tuesdays

My husband and I used to despise IKEA Don't get us wrong, we LOVE the store - the prices, design inspirations and more. It's the crowds that got us. We are true suburbanites where we can't stand crowds. Since I've been in a redorating/reorganizing mood, we decided to check out Ikea but on a Tuesday. Lo and behold - we heard crickets chirping. Not really, but it was a whole different experience. A calmer experience where we could actually look around without feeling like we were holding people up.

I digress - so we love Ikea even more because they offer free kid's meal worth $2.49 to children under 12 on Tuesdays. You can choose from the meatball, mac n cheese or chicken fingers combo.

Happy (and full) child + more time to shop = Happy Mom

We'll definitely be enjoying Ikea especially on Tuesdays.

Family Fun Day @ The Museum of Contemporary Art

In 2011, my goal was to go to have a "Family Fun Day" each month. We had so much fun that I've decided to continue it in 2012. Stay tuned for reviews of everywhere we went last year.

I've never been to The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) but have been meaning to since it's on my Chicago bucket list.  Boy was I glad to hear that they have a Family Fun Day once a month where any family with children under 12 get in for FREE. They said the magic words so I was glad to check it out. They have a different theme each month. This month's theme is "I Heart Art".


The nitty gritty: 

We went on a Saturday morning. It wasn't terribly busy so I was able to use my stroller around the whole museum (though they offer stroller parking also). There were stations located throughout the museum where kids could partcipate in a hands on activity. That was really neat.

Admission: FREE for families with children under 12

Parking: Located right next to the museum (about half a block). Be sure to validate your ticket and get $3 off.

Kid's favorites: The fish pond located at the bottom floor and the hands on stations.



Parent's favorites: Free food at the bottom floor - clementines, goldfish, fruit snacks, waters, juice. All for FREE! You can also bring your own lunch and snack here.

Tips: Be sure to stop by the basement for the free snacks. The Puck's restaurant offered a free kid's lunch with an adult purchase. We didn't get to take advantage of this as our toddler was getting cranky, plus the newborn was being a little bit fussy at the time.

Total spent: Just $$ for parking

Would I go here again? I would probably only come here for another family fun event. My son didn't really enjoy the museum per se. Even without the kids, I don't think me and the hubs would come again. I guess contemporary art just ain't our thang.