activities for kids

Let it Snow at the Four Seasons Westlake! Last weekend my cute crew and I headed to the Four Seasons Westlake for their annual ‘Let it Snow’ holiday event. A family favorite year after year, the ‘Let it Sow’ event features a holiday wonderland with festive bounce houses, train rides, professional photos with Santa, cookie decorating and more. Oliver went completely nuts for the “More” portion: ELMO and COOKIE MONSTER. Need I say more? (Literally). No seriously, brilliant move on the event team’s part— nothing says holiday happiness more than those two characters. They don’t even need to be dressed in an ugly holiday sweater. That’s how loved they are. When you ...Read More
If you ask Jonah what he wants as a gift for his birthday or a holiday he’ll quickly tell you: “Something science-y.” I’m pretty sure his love of all things science started when we were flipping through the television and he saw footage of a volcano erupting… This led to begging to see more volcanoes erupt, which led to an interest in rocks, which led to an interest in the earth (and geology), which led to an interest in other planets and space. These days, we’re on to genetics. Yes, my 7-year old is now obsessed with DNA. For a recent birthday, (or nothing… because he has a family of adoring ...Read More
Exciting news! I’m now a contributor to Disney’s Spoonful, a fabulous resource for crafts, recipes and activities for parents and kids.  For my first post, I whipped up a little Oscar Party with some “perfectly partied” panache. Oftentimes, Oscar Parties are geared toward being “adults-only” fêtes. But since the Oscars are on a Sunday and everyone I know has kids under the age of 9, the days of lounging around the house in sweats, glued to the television for eight hours (with copious cocktails present), are a distant memory. That said, this is still very much a part of my DNA and a tradition that I can’t entirely shake. So ...Read More
A couple weeks ago, Peter and I took Jonah to Disneyland for his 6th birthday. In a recent post for Babble, I shared how this trip made me realize I don’t always need to be the Fairy Godmother of Fun… *** “Mom, pleeeeeease can we play? Can we do something fun? This is so boooring. Monday is soooooo boring,” my 6-year-old whined to me as I sat at my desk. Nine times out of ten, I would have called in the circus and pulled out my “let me entertain you” hat. Instead of letting him be bored and then sitting with my own guilt about having to work, steam broccoli, fold laundry, and ...Read More
Last year, I tried to volunteer at school as much as I could. Spending time in Jonah’s class -cutting paper, cleaning up, passing out goodies on special occasions, etc.- opened my eyes not only to the world of Transitional Kindergarten and public school, but also to the differences between boys and girls… At an early age, it’s clear that there is an inherent difference in attention to detail… Generally, the boys scribble fast, while the girls keep the colors (coordinated) and in between the lines. This basically results in Jonah coming home with a lot of projects that, well… look like… someone just wanted to get outside and play zombies ...Read More
01.14.13
1
Last week, I got my first “Hi, this is the nurse calling from **** School. Your son has a terrible stomach ache and his teacher would like you to come get him.” The call came in roughly 17 minutes after I dropped him off.  To be exact, the actually came in roughly two hours from (the first time) he told me he had a stomach ache and didn’t want to go to school… to which I responded, “A tummy ache… Hmm. Maybe you should use the bathroom…?” He said that wasn’t the problem. It was just his tummy and he wanted to stay home. In fact, he needed to ...Read More
In one of my many Wacky’s classes, we were told that telling a child how “good” they were or how amazing everything was that they did would actually be damaging. “Don’t label your child,” Wacky would say. Instead of them doing a “good job” when they built a tower of blocks, you should praise them for their efforts… their concentration… their architectural ingenuity. Blah blah blah. Here’s the thing, to some degree, Wackidoo has a point. If you’re constantly telling a child that they’re good, when they do something not so good, they will feel bad. And apparently, there’s something wrong about a child considering themselves to be “bad.” (like they ...Read More
Growing up, I was very lucky to have parents that knew about cool places in and around LA to take children. My weekends were spent taking drives to places like Santa’s Village or San Juan Capistrano or eating at dive taco stands that everyone in LA would/should know about like Titos tacos…. Anyway, now with a child of my own, I’m equally eager to explore LA and it’s surroundings with my little guy in tow. (Check out my interview with Red Tricycle about some of my favorite things to do). Of course, I must admit, big elaborate day trips and activities are not always easy to orchestrate week after week. Plus, even ...Read More
01.25.11
11
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post for Momlogic about the Top Ten Reasons Why I Hate the Park. Although there was a little truth to it (yes, I hate birds. Always will), I mostly meant it as a joke (kind of). Now that Jonah is older, I definitely do enjoy trips to the park more because he’s able to explore and play in a different way than when he was a toddler. I love watching him interact with children he doesn’t know and climb on equipment confidently…. That is, until bitches get in my way. Let me rephrase: Old bitches. Okay. I know that is going to sound ...Read More
Day 10 Wordless Wednesday – animal style.