Category: Events

The kids and I had so much fun in NYC last week at the @BirdsEye #Playwithyourveggies event! The girls got to meet Nick star Jennette McCurdy! The event was to show kids how fun it can be to eat their veggies. The host was Nickeloden star Jennette McCurdy and Birds Eye Chef Michael Christiansen was on hand to showcase and help create recipes and play games. As you all know I cannot cook so it was nice to taste the recipes and have them available afterwards. The event was set up in stations reminding parents and kids to Re-write the dinnertime rules this summer!  Here are some of the fun stations and photos!

Summer is flying by! It is especially busy this week as my girls birthdays are 5 days apart. Where does the time go? Birthday parties can be challenging in the summer (hot days, kids away, moms exhausted!) but as I have learned they can be easy to plan. Here are my top tips:

·       Get outside – if you have a winter b day this can be challenging but use the warm weather to your advantage.  Summer is the best time to have a party at home because the kids will not be in your home! Set up stations outside – one water (drip, drip drop!) one creating something (that will keep them occupied)

·       Creating something – this is always good if you need to occupy time during an at home birthday party. I used to have kids over for HOURS, but now the standard is less than 2 hours.   My favorite creative ideas are making flip flops with fuzzy strips of fabric, duck tape creations, putting teams together to create something (newspaper dresses??). Find something that will occupy their time while you set up the pizza, cake, goodies.

·       Make the theme easy – it’s hot and not a lot of kids like to run around after a busy summer day. We love movie nights (as the party will start after 5:00 when most kids are home from camp) and end when the kids are tired and ready to go back home!

·       Save the sleepover – We have done the big sleepover once for each child. It is so difficult to keep them occupied, settle them down (try that with 12 girls) and usually with girls some drama will occur.  If it’s a big birthday and you want to have the sleepover (or should I say…your child wants to!) Limit it to a smaller group, set the ground rules in front of the parents and the kids (no running around at 2:30, or use the dog as an excuse – no more noise or the dog will freak out!)

·       Plan the Birthday off-site – especially during the summer there are so many options for having a birthday somewhere other than at home.  Especially when the kids are older a trip to a local water park, movie theatre, or amusement park (with adult supervision of course can be a blast) Check out our photo from many years ago on a trip to the American Girl doll store – even an afternoon at the mall can be an adventure!

 

Happy Birthday Summer Babies!

The 4th of July is almost here! Each year we try to gather items that are red, white and blue. Check out the ponytail holder.  Of course painting our nails a fun color is a must. With young kids I tried to keep it simple! Enjoy the festivities!

Our town has this event where all the kids walk down the center of town in their prom attire. It is such a nice community event and my girls wanted to go see their babysitter and neighbors all dressed up. Times have changed – I do not remember the dresses being that fancy when I went to the prom. The colors and styles of the dresses were so beautiful and they all looked grown up!  The boys attire was just as fancy.  Speaking of the prom when did it start to be referred to as just prom and when did “the” get dropped? Makes me feel old!  Just another fun event in the June Juggle month of activities!

It has been a while since I went to a concert. Clearly, as everyone was waving their smart phone lights instead of bic lighters! Things have changed a lot.  My husband and I took our girls ages 8 and 11 to the @Kiss108 concert and we saw lots of kids without parents. The majority were tween girls ages 14-18 wearing very little shorts and t-shirts! yikes! Luckily our kids still like to spend time with us (sometimes for the 11 year old)

When I was young we were not allowed to go to a concert with friends. My sister took me to see Rick Springfield when I was 13. (she is a lot older than me so more like a mom) Here are the things I was most surprised about.

1. The line to get in the actual parking lot (and to leave) – I just don’t remember this stress when I was young. My husband had this great idea of tailgating but the traffic was so bad we had a few lemonades, a handful of chips and ran to the entrance.

2. This was a LONG concert – especially for the eight year old – but I was surprised to see kids even younger than her there and without ear plus. Am I the only one with ear plugs?

3.  The attire. Oh gosh…I am not looking forward to the teenage years. The rule should be if you can see the pockets hanging out of the front of your jean shorts then….they are too SHORT – same is true if you can SEE your butt cheeks…….  Also, why wear a tank top if the sides are open or see through?

4. The parking spaces are not marked not even a letter to remember what isle you parked in. So REMEMBER where you parked your car.  Our goals was to leave as the last performer took the stage and watch/listen to her first song as we headed toward the exit, that way we would avoid the foot traffic and the car traffic exiting. But we both really did not pay attention to where we parked and ended up running around and panicking while swarms of people were exiting and we were just looking for our car!

5.  The cost of the additional items – Be prepared to buy the t-shirt, the water, the snack, the pizza etc.,  So bring LOTS of money. Or have them drink lots of water before you go in. The price of bottled water was almost $5.00! Ouch. The two t-shirts were $50.  But ahhhhhhh…. the memories they will have!