Free Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Here is one more free magazine offer for Martha Stewart Living that I thought I'd pass along from Money Saving Mom.  Click HERE to take a short survey (took me about 1 minute) to receive your free subscription!

Sentimental

This morning while I  loaded up the dishwasher and Anna Cate sat at the table, finishing up her breakfast, I had a wave of emotion that was bittersweet flood over me.  Not too long ago, she sat in a high chair while I fed her baby cereal.  I know one day, sooner than I even realize, I will look up and no longer see a silly little monkey eating a banana in her footy pajamas at my kitchen table.  I had to get my camera to take a picture so I'll remember one day what my mornings were like. 

 Sometimes, I feel like each day goes by so painfully slow as we follow our same little routine.  I wonder how many times I've sung "The Wheels on the Bus" or the "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  I realized what a horrible person I was when I hid her book, The Ants Go Marching, for a day because I thought I may go insane if I had to read it " just one more time."  I know one day, I will give anything to have her want me to read it to her, but she will be gone and involved in a life of her own.  So for now, I'll cherish every single moment I have with her and remind myself how incredibly lucky I am to be at home and stuck in the same 'ole daily routine.

Free Magazine Roundup

I know many of you who check this blog are also avid followers of Money Saving Mom, but for those of who aren't familiar with that blog, I wanted to share some great freebies that Crystal highlighted on her blog last week.

I keep meaning to do a post of frugality to share the different ideas and ways we save money so that I can stay at home with Anna Cate (because I get asked that question all the time!) but I just haven't had the time to sit down and compile it all into one post. 

However, I did want to mention these great deals for free magazine subscriptions before they expire.   (There were two others last week for Women's Day and Wondertime Magazine, but those are no longer available).

I do know that these are VALID offers and that you will never receive a bill.  I signed up for all of these last year and have thoroughly enjoyed my free subscriptions!  All of these are parenting magazines, but I'll keep you posted if any others become available.  This past year I also was getting Self, Country Home, Veranda, and some other decorating magazine for free, but I can't remember when I signed up...

For now, just click on the links below if you are interested in signing up for any of these free magazine subscriptions!  Enjoy! :)

Click HERE for your free subscription to KIWI Magazine.

Click HERE to sign up for a free subscription to American Baby & BabyTalk.

Click HERE to sign up for a free 2 years subscription to Parents Magazine.

Funny Picture for the Day

This picture was taken on Christmas Eve and it is so funny I laugh out loud every time I see it. Hope it makes you smile too! :)

The Kitchen Reveal!

Will surprised me after Christmas by telling me to go pick out my paint because he was going to tackle the major project of painting the cabinets and paneling in our kitchen during his week of vacation the week after Christmas!!!! 

I was totally surprised and caught off guard.   

It was the BEST SURPRISE EVER!!! 

And what a project to tackle.  It literally took him all week.  He had to sand all of the wood and take down the cabinets before he even started painting.  His time was well worth the effort (and soooooo appreciated!) because now I LOVE being in our new kitchen!

BEFORE:

AFTER!

The white totally changes the whole look of the space and it turned out even better than I expected it to! :)  The pictures don't do justice to how much it feels like a totally different house.  

He also finished this table for us in November, but I hadn't posted a picture of it yet.  We used a hand-me-down table in our old house and had been borrowing a table from my parents when we moved.  We are excited to finally have our very own kitchen table after 4 years of marriage! We purchased the table and chairs from Goodwood during a 50% off sale, and then he stained them a dark walnut color.  It turned out beautiful!

Murder Mystery Dinner in Margaritaville

Charlee thought of one of the most creative and fun Christmas presents for my parents this year!  She planned a Murder Mystery Dinner for us to have together with our family friends, the Talberts.  On December 30, we all got together for a special dinner in "Margaritaville," an island resort owned by Coconut Joe (aka my dad).  

Before we arrive, Charlee gave us a folder with our character's info explaining how to dress and act that night.  After we arrived, we enjoyed the fabulous island dinner she had prepared.  

The guests included (from left to right):   

Surfer Joe (Maddy)  Izzy Islander (MC) Coconut Joe (Dad)  Starbright (Miss Karen) the Constable (Charlee)  Candy Cotton (Mom) Lifeguard Sam (Rhett) Cabana Bob (Mr. Jim) Callie Cocktail (DD) and the bartender, Jack Daniels (Will) 

At the end of dinner, Jack Daniels (Will) suddenly collapsed and died from a poisoned margarita.  It was then up to the rest of the guest to figure out the guilty party responsible for this crime!

Examining of the evidence collected from the crime scene. 

The Constable (Charlee) interrogating Lifeguard Sam (Rhett)

Surfer Joe (Maddy) and Lifeguard Sam (Rhett) sharing a secret they just discovered.

Starbright (Miss Karen) and Candy Cotton (Mom) piecing together some of the evidence...

AH HA! Starbright has solved the crime!  It was Lifeguard Sam who poisoned Jack Daniels! 

Who me?  

Anna Cate was somehow taken into custody and handcuffed before the night was over. 

Thanks Charlee for all of the hard work you put into planning this party!  It was a night we will all remember! :)

Tea for Two

The other night, Anna Cate came running into the kitchen, excitedly babbling something about Silar.  I followed her into the den and found that she had served him some tea and a cookie.  He looked up at me as if to say, "Do I really have to play along?"  He was a good sport about the whole thing and let her play tea party with him for about 5 minutes before deciding he had enough fun for the evening.  I think he's hoping #2 is a boy so he can play cowboy or fetch instead of putting up with all of the girly stuff. ;)

If there is anybody out there that still checks this blog, I apologize for the lack of posts!!  We have a ton of pictures from December that need to be posted, but until I can get motivated enough to sort through all of them,  I thought I'd share these from today.  We have really enjoyed playing outside with all of this warm weather!