Attention all deal-lovin' Chicago Mamas!

If you are a Chicago-area mom who loves saving money on ALL OF THE STUFF you buy for your kids and family, then I have great news for you. There is a new mom-centric, daily deal site in town called mamaloot.

Mamaloot generally operates like the other big daily deal sites in town (like Groupon, You Swoop, etc.). You subscribe to the mamaloot email list and receive emails offering discounted deals from family-friendly businesses.

If the deal interests you, go for it! If the deal doesn't ring your bell, click delete and move on with your day. That's all there is to it. And you can unsubscribe at any time if you find that these deals aren't for you.

The big difference between mamaloot and the other daily deal sites is that they are going to offer you deals for things that moms actually buy. I don't know about you, but I'm not really in the market for tickets to sketch comedy shows or go cart racing (no offense to those of you who go crazy for discounted go cart racing).

To start, mamaloot will be featuring businesses from Chicago and the surrounding suburbs but will soon showcase a variety of mom and kid centric internet services and retailers as well. The site officially kicks off today with its first deal -- 50% off a session with a local family photographer.

I love this business idea because it is totally mom-driven and mom-focused (and these are Chicago moms so that makes it even better). Lindsay Cohen, Co-Founding Mama of mamaloot says, "We cater exclusively to moms in everything that we do. Our deals, our writing, the way we partner with local businesses all exude a mother's touch. We are excited about bringing new customers to local businesses and educating moms about appealing products and services in their area."

So how do you get in on these deals, head over to mamaloot.com and add your email address to the list. And let the deals begin!

Disclosure: Mamaloot is a new sponsor here on A Hen and Two (now Three) Chicks. You can check out their cute new ad over there on the right-hand sidebar. To be clear, I am working with mamaloot to spread the word about their launch (and by working, I mean services in exchange for money).

Scenes from our summer

The view at the new Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

The baby and the Bean at Millennium Park.

At the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pond in Lincoln Park.

Wow. August really snuck up on me. The clock is really ticking on summer 2010! We've been busy checking off activities on our summer must-do list. If you click on the links above, you can see expanded accounts of our most recent adventures.

My Magical Green Beans

My little backyard garden is a source of a lot of happiness. Today, I thought I would share some of my special gardening "secrets" with you. {cough, cough, giggle giggle}

First, I plant way too much stuff in too little space. I start with good compost-rich soil, but then I forget to ever fertilize and rarely weed. I water -- but in a lazy, distracted way.

My trick is to basically ignore the plants, allow children to trample them at will with their flip flops and soccer balls. And somehow despite all that, most of my little seedlings actually manage to grow. I am always sort of amazed when I root around out there and find things like zucchinis and jalapeno peppers.

This year, I really outdid myself in the overcrowding department. We've got:

• 3 tomato plants (2 grape and 1 big boy)
• 3 basil plants
• 2 poblano peppers
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 jalapeno pepper
  
• Lots and lots of haricot vert (pictured above)
• Thyme
• 3 basil plants (pesto, pesto, pesto)
  
• Lemon verbena (which is totally amazing --- hoping to have a lemon verbena tea recipe to share soon)
• Oregano
• Sage
• Chives
• Rosemary
• Cucumbers (the tastiest, little thin-skinned things)
• Zucchini
  

And that's not counting the lettuce, spinach and 2 varieties of snap peas I grew in my Earth Boxes in the spring.

Today, I found myself at the Home Depot filling my cart with arugula, Romaine, and Bibb lettuce seedlings for our fall salads. I need to exercise some self control.

So the truth is that I am no master gardener. But I can grow green beans in my backyard in the middle of Chicago and my three children devour every single one on their dinner plate.

Doesn't get much more magical than that.

Smooches

Who could resist him?

The Artists in Residence

A masterpiece.

Go Brendan Go!

About 10 days ago, David took the training wheels off of Brendan's bike. And then without any instruction, off he went. Within minutes, he was circling this parking lot like a pro.

It is as though he just knew how to ride (for this, we credit the Strider PreBike that he has been tooling around on for the past few weeks). Brendan was ready. He was just patiently waiting for us to get around to taking off those training wheels.

In related news, while we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa a few weeks ago, I took his swim vest off -- intending to give him a little lesson. Without any intervention on my part, he basically swam the width of the pool by himself.

Kids can really surprise you sometimes.

I'm still here. Are you?

I know that it seems like I have fallen off the face of the blogging world. I can assure you that I am still here -- just trying to do too many things all at once (as usual). Bogged down with all of my blogs, I guess.

I've been working on a special summer project over at ChicagoNow that has been keeping me busy. I am writing a blog called School's Out! about family-friendly activities in and around Chicago (and also chronicling our family excursion up to the Wisconsin Dells). And of course, I've been continuing with Wee Windy City as well. So if you are looking for fun things to do with your kids in Chicago this summer, I'd love for you to take a peek at these sites to get some (hopefully helpful) ideas.

I have all sorts of posts in my head that I still want to share here -- and I hope to get to them in the coming weeks. You're on summer schedule too, right? (Say yes).