Local Activites this Week 10/29

Trick or Treat at the Mall
Wednesday, October 31st

East Towne Mall will host the annual Trick or Treat on Wednesday from 4-5 pm.  Come dressed in your fun costume to receive treats and goodies from mall stores!

Join us at West Town Mall on October 31 from 5:30-8:00 p.m. for our annual mall-wide trick or treat. Ghosts and Goblins of all sizes can enjoy a safe and climate-controlled environment to stock up on their favorite treats!

A few reminders to make it a fabulous night:
Masks are allowed on children 12 years old and younger
No toy weapons
Costumes may only be worn during event times

Nice alternative to the cold weather trick or treating!

Museum Storytime, 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month, 10:30 am
1215 West Dayton St, Madison WI

Museum storytime is geared toward preschool-aged children and each week features a a book, museum specimens and a craft to take home. No reservations required, except for large groups (10+).

* I would suggest parking in the Union South Lot or on Monroe St and walking over a few blocks if you aren't lucky enough to find street parking near the museum.  (Monroe St meters require coins). 

Home Depot Kids Workshop, Nationwide
Saturday, Nov 3, 9 am-12 pm

Build a Turkey Napkin Holder for the holidays!

BUILD. LEARN. CREATE. HAVE FUN WITH KIDS WORKSHOPS!

• FREE hands-on workshops designed for children ages 5 - 12 offered the 1st Saturday of
  every month at all The Home Depot stores between 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
• Workshops teach children do-it-yourself skills, tool safety and instill a sense of pride
  and accomplishment.
• All kids get to keep their craft and receive a FREE Kids Workshop Apron, commemorative
  pin and certificate of achievement.

*Website says ages 5-12, but I called and they said any age is fine, with help from Mom or Dad.  My 3 year old had a blast!

Here she is with Dad, hammering her fire truck!  :)

 

Halloween Candy Trade-In Party

Saturday, November 3 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Meriter West Washington clinic, 345 West Washington Avenue, Ste. 100

From the website:  
Please bring your extra Halloween candy and join us at the Meriter/Physicians Plus Halloween Candy Trade-In Party! Kids can trade-in their extra Halloween candy for a fun, healthy treat – as well as drawing entries for great prizes, including a Schwinn bike! The more candy you bring in – the more entries you receive! All candy will be sent to U.S. Troops through Operation Gratitude.
Physicians Plus and Meriter representatives will be onsite to answer any parents’ questions or discuss the benefits of having a Meriter primary care physician.

Olive Garden: Dinner Today and Tomorrow

Through November 18th, Olive Garden is launching a new “Dinner Today & Dinner Tomorrow” promotion where you can enjoy two affordable meals during the week. Just choose one of the five participating entrees listed below for dinner today (served with unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks!) and you’ll be able to take a second entree home for dinner tomorrow – all for only $12.95!

Entrees include:
*Lasagna Rollatini with Meat Sauce
*Mezzaluna Ravioli with Five Cheese Marinara
*Spaghetti with Four Cheese Meat Sauce
*Five Cheese Ziti al Forno
*Fettuccine Alfredo

Be sure to contact your local Olive Garden to verify participation in this promotion.

Local Activities this Week 10/22/2012

This week in the Madison area, we get to start celebrating Halloween!  Yay!  When you have kiddos, Halloween is such a fun time, especially when they share their candy, right?  A lot of the activities this week are focused on Halloween.

Wednesday, October 24 • 10 a.m.-noon
Baby's First Halloween at Madison's Children Museum

From their website: " We’re thrilled to present our 4th annual Baby’s First Halloween event! Join us on Wednesday, October 24, from 10 a.m.-noon for your little one’s very first Halloween celebration. The festivities will include a costume contest, musical performances, and even a parade. This event is free with museum admission. Older siblings are welcome to join in the fun, too, so bring the whole family!"

Also at the Children's Museum: 
Friday, October 26 •  6-9 p.m.

Tickets: $10/MCM member; $12/nonmember; $6/Access member
For just one night, the museum comes bubbling to life with spooky science and zany Halloween antics. Costumed little creatures and parents will also enjoy arts and crafts, the science behind some of your favorite fairy tales, and some spooky surprises! Treats will be served, and additional refreshments will be available for purchase at the Roman Candle Sparkler Cafe. Activities include:

• Fusion Science Theater presents “Will it Glow?”, unlocking the secret to glowing light sticks
• Hands-on chemistry demonstrations with UW SPICE Chemistry Outreach Program
• Live creepy crawlies with UW Insect Ambassadors and Little Miss Moffett
• Try your (brave) hand at the Possible-opolis sensory challenge
• Make a souvenir family flipbook with Antics Flipbooks
• Visit our Hansel & Gretel House (Log Cabin) to enjoy shadow puppet stories, the science of sweets, and live music around the campfire
• Meet live creatures from Reptile Rapture and take a Jack and the Beanstalk tour of the Rooftop Ramble
• Enjoy classic silent short films with our Spooky Sound Effects team

Sunday, October 28th ---Halloween at the Zoo!

Dress up as your favorite goblin, ghoul or witch and head to the Zoo for a safe alternative to trick or treating. Halloween at the Zoo is a celebration for the entire community that includes free trick or treating, a Fun Activity Tent and live music. Walk to each treat stop location to fill up your bag with sustainable palm oil candy! This helps orangutan conservation and deforestation due to non-sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Event Details
10:00am - 4:00pm

Trick or Treating
Fun House Activity Tent
Education Animals
Kangaroo Hop Bounce Houses
Face Painting


11:00am-2:00pm

Ken & the Kenland Band


Festive Animal Fun:

10am: Blood popsicles for the bears (Bear Exhibits)
11am: Gibbons' gravestones (Children's Zoo)
12pm: Otters' floating pumpkins with ice treats (Aviary)
1pm: Meerkats' creepy crawly treats (Children's Zoo)
2pm: Capybaras' pumpkins (Aviary)

And lastly, and non-halloween related:

Night Walk: Under the Autumn Moon

Saturday, October 27 • 6:30 pm – 8 pm

On a night of the waxing moon, join the naturalist to enjoy nature in late fall.

Bathtime fun!

I have been finding a lot of fun things to do on Pinterest.  If you haven't checked out Pinterest, you don't know what you're missing.  Actually if you haven't, you probably spend lots of time doing other things...I am on there way too much!

Anyway, so one of the fun things I found on there was to try glow sticks in the bathtub.  Never would have thought of doing this on my own.  Irelyn thought it was fun, but it didn't last as long as I thought it would because we had to turn off the lights and she wasn't too excited about that part.

Sorry for the quality of the photo...she wasn't in there long enough for me to figure out how to take a picture of things that glow in the dark!

To go along with bathtub things...I also found a cool way to store bath toys.  We had previously had one of those net things that hang on the back of the tub with suction cups.  Problem was it kept falling. 

Enter Pinterest: 

It is just a tension shower curtain rod (this is an old one that we already had), with baskets from the dollar store and shower curtain hooks(also from the dollar store).  This literally cost me $3.  I would suggest getting baskets with holes on the bottom, as these only have holes on the sides and water sometimes pools at the bottom.  Nothing a drill can't fix, right.  :)

If you try out the glow sticks in the bath tub, let me know how your kiddo(s) likes it!

Upcoming Madison Library programs

There a lot of upcoming fall activities at the Madison Public Libraries coming up.  These include weekly art classes, music classes and storytimes.

Kidspages information can be seen here.  A lot of the programs are just starting.  So sign up today!!

1st Deal...Free shipping at Oriental Trading

Today and tomorrow only, 10/15 and 10/16, Oriental Trading is offering free standard shipping on ANY size order! Just enter the key code WCE3642 during checkout to see the shipping discount applied. Even sweeter, many Halloween items are on sale up to 50% off making for great deals!
Also, a great place to find little stocking stuffers and inexpensive Christmas gifts.

Just remember it's only good until midnight tomorrow!

Very excited...

So I am taking a leap and starting my own blog!  Why, you might ask (as if I need something else to do). As a mom to two beautiful little girls, ages 3 and 4 months, I am always on the lookout for fun things to do with them, and finding amazing deals on any and everything.  I love being able to share these things and thought this we would a fun, easy way to do so. 

I am constantly lurking on other blogs and pinning things on Pinterest.  I am currently obsessed with redecorating, crafting, and finding engaging activities for my 3 year old.  I also want to get back into taking more (meaningful) pictures, as that is also a passion of mine, hence the title of this blog.  And, I might add, doing all of these things as inexpensively as possible. (If you know me, you know I am cheap thrifty!)

I am so excited to be starting this new adventure and I hope you will find some useful information, deals, or just get a laugh on my adventures as an everyday mom.