Happy Sunday

Just stopping in to see if anyone would like to participate in a Kid's Book exchange with Maggie and me. I need 5 more people. All you have to do is send out one book, and if everything goes right, you'll get 36 books in return. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!
Send me an email at sbereznay@gmail.com with any questions or if you are interested.
Hope you're having a great day!


Sarah

Campus Book Rentals & Operation Smile

Now I know we have a FEW years till the Magster heads off to college, but I'm not going to lie that the thought of her going and us having to pay for it, is one on the list of things that keeps me up at night. Tuition alone is a nightmare, but then on top of that you have to buy books. Well at least you did when I went to college....Nowadays, you can rent your text books!

I wish there had been a Campus Book Rentals when I was in school! It would have definitely saved me some bucks!

Some perks include...
-save 40-90% off of bookstore prices
-free shipping both ways
-can highlight in the textbooks
-flexible renting periods

On the website it links to Amazon and shows what you would pay to purchase the book and then shows what the cost of renting would be.

Here's an example. Wow that is quite a savings on a book that you only need for a short time and would have nothing to do with it, once that time is over.

As if that wasn't enough, Campus Book Rentals also donates a portion of the each book rented to Operation Smile.

"Since 1982, Operation Smile — through the help of dedicated medical volunteers — has provided more than 2 million patient evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities."

So not only are you renting your textbooks for a great price, but part of that price is going to a great cause. If you are or someone you know is looking for textbooks for school, check Campus Book Rentals first!

Hope you're having a great Thursday!!!

This post may contain affiliate links.

20 months old

Well hello! Hope you are having a great week so far!

To catch up, the hubs and I had a date night on Saturday. Maggie had a sleepover with Nana and PopPop. I was anxious, but we all survived. Oh and "Hunger Games" was Ah-mazing!!!! Go out and see it now!

But yesterday, my little itty baby turned 20 months. Um....that's only four measly months until the big "2". Huh? And this girl isn't letting us forget it either. She is a full fledged toddler, now, thank you very much. She can do it herself, she can tell you all about it and she knows what she wants.

Yea the majority of the time, if we're not feeding our self we are not a happy camper! And like the majority of toddlers, we like to fully experience our food and make sure that our hair, entire face and all our clothes, are included.

But here are the photos from the actual day....

These pictures brought to you courtesy of me encouraging her to say, "Oh Toodles" and "Meeska, Mouska, Mickey Mouse". The girl is a tad obsessed. It looks like she has moved on from Elmo, although she did talk about him a little bit today. Oh the fickle toddler....

Proof....

Oh and here's a little nugget from last week....guard your ovaries....

Oh just a little taste of what's it's like to be out and about with this little extrovert....



As always, my little sweetie, this month has been a whirlwind and a ton of fun! Everyday you continue to amaze and amuse your father and me. You make so many people happy and they just can't help but smile around you! You are MY sunshine! Love you the mostest!!!

Hope you're having a great Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

1st day of Spring/ Free Rita's water ice

Oh and in case you were wondering....the mullet is in FULL effect!

Monday Mingle

Well we survived.

"What's that?", you say. Oh no biggie, I just took my first solo trip down to my parents with the Magster this weekend. I know, I know....I shouldn't make a huge deal about it. People do it everyday, but I had a bit of anxiety over all the logistics, but we did great!

Friday, I wanted to get gas through the Giant rewards program, so I had to drive to a different town, and I thought we could go first thing and stop at a bagel shop and have breakfast. I was a little concerned that Mags would be super hungry and therefore fussy, but she was super excited to be going out! We couldn't find a bagel shop, so we ended up at a little restaurant and we just got a bagel. I felt kind of silly, but that is what we wanted, so that's what we got! Maggie charmed the entire room and loved saying, "Hi!" to everyone (multiple times).

After breakfast, we ran home, finished up packing, and headed out a little earlier than I had planned! I had planned to listen to my Iphone with the hubs radio tuner, but it wouldn't work. I was pretty bummed because I had thought that we could listen to "my" music until Mags got fussy or was feeling cramped, and then I would put on some toddler tunes and that would placate her. Luckily, I didn't need it at all. Mags was content just hanging out for the first hour, and then she fell asleep for the second hour and basically by the time she woke up we were almost there!

Friday night I went out with my best friend and Mags spent time with Grammy and Poppy. We went out to Cheesecake Factory (my first time), had some delish nachos and then some sinful Reese's Peanut butter cup cheesecake. After that we went over to Barnes and Noble and spent more time talking an catching up.

Saturday, we went shopping and my mom got me an awesome dress for a sorority luncheon that I am going to in April and Mags had her first experience at a mall play area. She was in heaven.

There were tons of kids and they were all just running around, and Mags joined right in. After that, we headed home and my grandparents came over for dinner.

Sunday, we went to church, had a yummy breakfast and then soon after that, Mags and I headed out. We sailed home and made awesome time. Daddy greeted us when we got home and we were so glad to see them. Mags had some trouble sleeping/napping over the weekend, and I think that it might have had something to do with missing her Daddy.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I am glad that everything went so well!

How was your weekend? Hope you are having a marvelous Monday!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Mingle

Nope, not claiming to be an expert here (this is only my second Easter with my little sweetie), but I am pretty proud of how I accomplished Maggie's Easter Basket and that I was able to do it without breaking the bank.

I think the biggest lesson that I have learned with any type of holiday that concerns presents and gifts, whether it's Easter, Christmas or what I consider a holiday, Maggie's birthday (oh yes, the 2nd birthday plans have been in the works for quite some time...), is to start looking early.

My first Easter Basket score happened to be through the deal site Eversave. Back in January, Easter wasn't really on my radar, but then I got an email that they were having a crazy sale on Sesame Street read along books and Cds. For $10 shipped I got three really nice books.

Then, we decided to save a gift card from Christmas and I struck while the sale iron was hot. We got all this loot for under $25 and it didn't hurt the budget, since it didn't "technically" come out of our pocket!

Next up, the good ol' Dollar General, where I snagged some coloring books, activity books and flashcards for a grand total of $3.50.

As you can see from our first pic, we had to get the good stuff from the Target Dollar Spot! Seriously, that place can be a gold mine and this time I hit the jackpot!

You might be able to tell from everything, that we have a little one quite obsessed with Elmo. I am very interested to see what she makes of all this stuff!

And then last, but surely not least, we stopped at our local discount grocer, Dollar Bottom grocery for a tiny bit of chocolate. I figured this could be her first year with a chocolate bunny and I found the cutest one for only $0.88.

So in total, I spent under $25 on this basket and as for the basket itself, we will be using the same one that we used last year. My mom got Maggie a really cute basket liner last year, and we hope she can always use it!

Hope that this helps if you aren't sure what to fill you little one's Easter basket with. Have a great Monday!

Your Three Words

Stream of Consciousness

It's Friday...Thank Goodness!

If you need a pick me up, listen to this album...specifically this song. Makes me think of the beach and relaxing summer afternoons...

And then there's the crazy weather we've been having...I am convinced we are going to have a blizzard on Easter or maybe even after. It was almost 70 degrees yesterday! At the very beginning of March...insanity!

So here's a little Iphone collage of our outdoor adventures in the warm weather....

As you can see, we like to walk. We don't really climb on the equipment at the playground or swing on the swings, we just do laps. Hey, whatever floats you boat, kid!

Still super stoked for "Hunger Games". We are going the Saturday of the weekend it opens and I am probably going to pick up the tickets tomorrow. I got some gift cards for Christmas, but they don't work online, so I have to go get the tickets myself....lame (oh what a first world problem). How much do you love this video?

Speaking of Easter, someone's basket goodies are all just about bought. I'm not sure if we are going to be on the same level as last year, but it's only the beginning of March....so you never know...LOL. Honestly, I have a budget and I am sticking to it!

So far, we have three Sesame street books with read along CDs (that I got for $10 shipped through Eversave...score!). I used a Christmas gift card from Old Navy (therefore, not included in my budget...bonus) when they were just having a 30% off sale, and got a sun hat, 2 pairs of flip flops and a Disney princesses shirt. Then I got a Mickey Mouse clubhouse coloring book, Sesame Street activity book (50 cents) and two packages of letter and numbers flashcards at Dollar General, all for $3.50. My final stops will be to the Target $1 spot and the Dollar store. I'm not going to do much in the way of candy or treats. I figure I'll let her have some on Easter, but she doesn't need it otherwise.

Also, I would love to put together a little Easter egg hunt for her at Brian's grandparents house, where we are going for the day. We agreed that she is too little for a "real" Easter egg hunt with other kids, but I thought it would be cute to just hide a few eggs around their yard, filled with stickers and other little toys. If nothing more than a cute photo opp....As long as we don't have that blizzard I'm predicting....LOL

What are your plans for this weekend? The in-laws are coming over this evening to hang out with Mags and us, Saturday I'm getting new tires (isn't being an adult fun???) and Sunday I'm going grocery shopping for the next two weeks, since I won't be in town next weekend (heading South with the Magster to my mom's, by myself, for the 1st time....wish me luck).

Hope you have a great Friday and a relaxing weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Oh Maggie...

Just a couple of anecdotes from our precious little one....

- I think it was last week, Maggie was whining and whining, and finally I asked, a little sternly, "Maggie, what is wrong?". She stopped, looked at me with a huge smile and said, "Hi!".

She totally "Stewie-d" me.

-The other night at dinner, there was a pause in conversation and we both looked at Maggie, she looked at us and calmly said, "Pee-pee".

- That same night, I was talking to her about our upcoming Disney trip (I'm so excited I can't help it). We were talking about going to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Now, Maggie has a small point of reference in regards to the Disney characters, because in an effort to help familiarize her with them, we rented a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse dvd for her to watch a couple of weeks ago. She seemed to like the dvd ok, but it was no Elmo...

So we were talking about Disney World and she was saying "mouse" and we were encouraging her saying, "Yes, Minnie and Mickey mouse". She started to get really excited. We got her down from her high chair and she ran over to the tv and started saying, "Mouse, mouse". Um yea, she had understood our conversation about Disney to be about the dvd, and she thought she was going to watch it. She got a little upset as we explained that we didn't have a "Mouse" dvd. Luckily, Elmo saved the day, but I guess we are going to have to get some "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" dvds.....LOL

Hope you're having a tremendous Tuesday!

19 months

Oops, mommy blogger fail....completely missed the actual date to post this update, but I did take the pictures on the real date, does that count??

Oh my little silly one, you are 19 months old. So much has happened this month, I hope I can remember all the details.

- You had your 18 month checkup and it was not a fun time. You DO NOT like Drs. Nurses, eh...shots, you seem more offended than upset....the Dr., no way jose, I think you would rather eat nothing but vegetables for a week. And there was no white coat and the Dr. was a woman, so I have no idea what the issue is. You were fine talking to the Dr., but the minute she started examining you, you would have thought her hand were made of acid. You squirmed and bucked so much I had to almost restrain you. To say it was nerve wracking, wouldn't even begin to describe it. I told Daddy that he gets the next appointment at 24 months, but by that time I'll the trauma of this visit will be a memory and I'll probably go. As for the stats, you are 25 lbs, 31 inches and your head circumference is finally out of the 90th percentile (LOL). You are creeping up in the height percentile and going down in the weight, I think the constant activity is slimming you down. But you are still pretty petite, and when I tell people how old you are they are surprised you are that old....that is until you open your mouth.....

-O.M.G....you are TALKING! We are almost having real conversations these days. You are still quite the mimic. From the minute you wake up in the morning to the minute you lay your head down at night, you are chatting. When you wake up, we talk about how there is an Elmo cartoon on your diaper box, then we sing songs as we change your diaper. Once that is finished you normally ask for water, but I always remind you that you have milk for breakfast and you get excited. Then you get situated in your high chair and it's "WEEEEEE" as I push you into the kitchen. Some mornings, it's waffles for breakfast and you love saying that word. And the majority of the mornings you eat your breakfast with a lot of "Yumm num yum". Then you ask to "Pay" (play). And on and on it goes....

Right now your favorite words are "cool" and "yea". You also mimic your name pretty well. You have been saying Daddy, forever, but just recently you started saying "Mommy" and you actually understand that it is me, now. You love to yell it when I am in another room. Pretty funny.

- And the tricks keep coming. This month you started saying all the numbers, except for "1". Anytime we say one, you say two. We've shown you pictures and books with the #1 and you just say "2" after it. Funny and a little frustrating. The rest of the numbers go like this.."free", "fou", "fi", "sick", "sevvo" (our personal favorite), "eich", "non" and "te", with a big 'ol clap and "Yay" at the end.

You also, kind of randomly started singing the alphabet about two weeks ago. I mean I sing it to you all the time, but you have never tried to attempt it, until this week. I even got a little video of it. You still love books and being read to, but now you read the books aloud to yourself and anyone else that is listening. I love to hear your interpretations, because they are always quite spirited! LOL

You have a pretty good understanding of "please", "thank you", "your welcome" and "bless you", but when you say them, they all sound like "dat do", but it's the thought that count! And most of the time you say it without having to be reminded!

- You love your music class, gym class, and library story times. You are also starting to sing some of the songs that you have learned all over the place. You like to sing, "Twinkle, Twinkle", "You are my sunshine", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and of course the Elmo's World theme song. You also know some of the words to "Patty cake" and you love to "roll it".

You also love going to play dates. You don't really play with the other kids just yet (none of you do) but you are just content to explore a new house and new toys. Your biggest interaction with people is talking to them in gibberish, saying, "HI!" and "Buh-bye!" and of course, hugging and kissing everyone. Sometimes another kid isn't too psyched to have you invade their personal space and we are working on helping you understand that. It's ok if they don't want to be kissed and hugged all the time.

You also don't mind plopping down in another mom's lap to chill. It's happened twice, with me sitting right there and I have no idea what the reasoning is. The other day, at a play date, you plopped down in another mom's lap to read a book, until the mother's ACTUAL child got jealous, so you moved along. I was sitting five feet away and kindly reminded you that you could sit with your OWN mother, so you did. But after two minutes, you said, "No, no, no" and went back to the other mother's lap. Ouch, kid, ouch.

-You have been pretending for quite some time now, but you are honing the skill. You have the cutest pretend "eating" that involves making this little smacking noise and "licking" whatever you're eating. You love to mix up the food and share it with everyone.

We also started playing with blocks and you can stack them, but you would rather knock them down. You love to play with your dolls and kiss and love on them, but that is the extent of that.

- You are trying new things at your gym class, and last time, spent a good bit of free time going up the steps and down the slide. You really enjoyed it!!

That would be half whine, half "flash in the eye"...quite the combo

I'm sure there are things that I am missing, but for now I think that is it. My little, Magster, you are a joy. You are so happy and pleasant, and you make everyone around you feel happy as well. They can't help but smile and chuckle at your little antics. As always I am beyond blessed to be your mommy!

Your Three Words

11 things (About) Me

Thank you to Andrea for tagging me!

There are 5 rules:
1. post these rules.
2. post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. go to their blog/twitter and tell them that you've tagged them.

Yep, I'm a BAMF (nope, not even a little bit)

Ok some random things.....

1. I am OBSESSED with "Downton Abbey"! It is soooo good! The drama is nail biting and the insults are so back handed. It's all about Mary and Matthew in my opinion. Oh and, Thomas is the devil....

2. I am also slightly addicted to Instagram. I have completed the January and February photo-a-day challenges and it has been a ton of fun! Follow me @sbetteridge.

3. I CANNOT wait for our trip to Disney. It is going to be so awesome and I can't wait to share one of my favorite places on Earth with the hubs and of course, the Magster! Check out my Pinterest board for all the fun I'm planning...

4. Ok, so that stuff was pretty lame, want the real dirt??? I HATE pickles. There it's out, I feel so much better.

5. Oh what about this, the resort that we stayed at for our honeymoon in Cancun, gained some notoriety last year because the "Survivor" producer's wife was killed there....creepy, huh???

6. I love to sing and in high school I was in all the musicals and even had a lead part my Senior year. Unfortunately, I am a horrible actor, so no future in that for me. Although I do love to throw down some karaoke!

7. I am not a big fan of things that mix sweet and salty tastes. I don't have a lot of super strict food rules, but this is one of them. Sweet should be sweet and salty, salty. Unless we're talking about chocolate covered pretzels, there I make an exception.

8. I come from a blended family and have quite a few siblings. I have 2 stepbrothers, 3 stepsisters, a half sister, a half brother and a brother...and a partridge and a pear tree.....

9. Speaking of a partridge and a pear tree, about ten years ago, we started this weird tradition with my dad that on our way to our extended family's Christmas celebration, we sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas". We NEVER remember the words, it always falls to pieces, we sing it over cell phones if we are in different cars, and for some reason one year my brother, Ben, started singing, "five golden rings...bumda bumda...." really loudly and now it's an official part of the song.

10. On the topic of holidays, Christmas is my favorite, but Thanksgiving is a close second, because of the two awesome meals I "have" to eat. At my mom's it's all about the dumplings and the dressing (dressing is stuffing that is baked in a casserole dish and was never in the turkey) and then at my dad's there are the amazing mashed potatoes. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

11. Drooling....that would be what the hubs and I do when we subject ourselves to such shows as, "Man vs. Food" and "Diners, Drive-Ins and More" (it's Dives, but when it was first on I kept saying more, and it annoyed the hubs to no end....love you!!!). Right now it's especially tortuous since I'm really trying to be diligent about losing the baby weight (and a good portion of the weight that was there before the baby)!

Wow, that was fun and a little tough. Pretty sure the minute I hit "post" I will think of a bunch of things that I wished I had written. Oh well...here are the questions from Andrea....

1. What is your favorite ever vacation that you've been on?
That would have to be our honeymoon to Cancun. It was all inclusive and we took full advantage! We also went on two excursions, one to the pyramids at Chichen Itza and the other to La Isla Mujeres, that were amazing.

2. Have you ever met a famous person?
Yes, while working in Disney, I briefly "met" Steven Tyler. I was laughing at something a co-worker said and he came up behind me and asked, "What's so funny?". I turned around and there he was and then he walked away. I don't know if that counts...Also, while in Disney, Lindsay Lohan butted in front of me on the ride "Test track" in Epcot. I wasn't sure who she was at the time (2001) but I realized later....

3. Who is your celebrity crush?
Ugh, this is a little embarrassing but I am Team Edward day and night, cause I love me some Robert Pattinson.

4. Red wine/white wine/beer?
I don't like red wine, only like sweet white wines and I love beer.

5. Do you have a secret talent?
Well like I said, I like to sing. I can also clap like a seal, as in I can do a one-handed clap, because I think my knuckles are double jointed or something. My father and brother can do it as well, but my mother can't.

6. How many animals live in your house?
We have one cat, Bella.

7. Biggest pet peeve?
Waiting....for the red light to change, for bad drivers, at Dr's appts....I wouldn't say I'm impatient, I just like things to be timely.

8. If you could travel anywhere for free, where would it be?
Ireland, fo' sho'. I have a lot of Irish ancestry and it just seems like a really beautiful place to visit. Also, I love Irish/British accents!

9. Favorite nail polish color?
I used to go for boring mauve, but lately I have been trying to branch out to brighter and somewhat trendier colors. Nothing neon, blue or green...not my style.

10. Chocolate or potato chips?
Both, but never together. Please see above.

11. Favorite book?
"To Kill a Mockingbird"- timeless classic, that gets me every time!

And here are my questions....
1. If you could love in a different time period, which would you choose and why?
2. What is your favorite color? Is it also your favorite color to wear?
3. What inspires you?
4. Who is the first person you want to call to share good news?
5. What is the one sense that you couldn't live without?
6. What's your favorite children's book?
7. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
8. How did you get your current job?
9. Why do you blog?
10. When did you first think of yourself as an "adult"?
11. If you had three wishes, what would they be?

And I tag Amanda, Lindsay, Kristi and Dawn.


Hope you're having a great Friday, and have a wonderful weekend!