by Heather
My friend Samantha shares some of her favorite mom and baby activities in her hometown of Dallas, TX. She has two little ones now, so we should really listen to her:
Monday — The Dallas Arboretum
The Dallas Arboretum
Pack a lunch and head out to the arboretum for Mommy-and-Me Mondays. Typically the event includes the usual – face painting, petting zoo, music, strolling, picnicking. But autumn is extra special because so many things are going on. The Ultimate Tree House Exhibit is on display featuring 13 “extreme” tree houses that kids can stomp around in. The pumpkin patch and hay bale maze are perfect for Halloween and Fall pictures. Hay rides are offered daily. You’ll have a tough time figuring out where to picnic because there are so many nice areas to choose from. Consider buying an annual pass because it’s the type of place you’ll want to visit again and again.
Tuesday — Chic-fil-A @ Central Expressway & Southwestern
If you don’t have kids, don’t bother trying to go there. It is mommy and kid central. Husband working late or out of town? Drop in for a quick and cheap meal and let your kids play in the play area. It has a nice clean indoor play area enclosed with glass so you can watch what your kids are doing while you sit with your friends and chat. The staff circulates the restaurant offering refills and balloons. They even provide little servings of cheerios lest you forget your own!
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by Whitney
Last weekend we had a joint birthday party for the babies in my mom’s group. I volunteered to do favors because the magnets I did the year before were such a hit.
This year, the favor was Mom’s Group Trading Cards.
What you need:
- Current pictures & stats: Ask the moms in your group to email you a photo of their child and a few trivia facts.
- The trading cards: Purchase business cards that go in an ink jet printer. Avery makes a product that creates eight cards per sheet.
How to make them:
- Use the word template that goes with your printable business cards. It says the number on the package.
- Input text and images into each card space. I put the child’s name in larger type and then the birthday and factoids in smaller type.
- Feel free to use my template to get started. We had 11 children, so I had to use two sheets.
- Now, print a full set for each family at your party.
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Then shuffle all the cards so they are not in order.
At the party:
Pass out the same number of cards as a complete set. Some people will get doubles or triples of one baby and none of another baby. Tell the guests to begin trading.
We had parents walking around saying “I have two Theos. I need an Ava. Who has an Ava?” Totally awesome.
by Heather
Holy crap, it’s fall! Here in California, the weather is still sorta summery, so I know I need to take advantage of a warm afternoon before I lose my chance. It’s time for a family picnic. (It is so much easier to clean up Cheerio crumbs when that involves shaking your blanket into the grass and leaving the rest to the bugs.)
I like to keep it simple by splitting planning duties with friends or just hitting the great outdoors with my lunch and my baby:
- Pack up the requisite baby gear during a naptime.
- Pick up your lunch at a favorite deli or take-out joint. In other words, don’t hurt yourself by cooking if you don’t have to.
- Head to your local park or favorite grassy patch with a blanket.
- Enjoy the first-rate free entertainment of light dancing through the leaves and cold, prickly grass. Watching other kids and dogs rounds out the fun. Holden can just sit there and watch a caterpillar (like for 30 whole seconds).
by Whitney
This activity is courtesy of Photojojo, where we read a tutorial for creating a photo journal that might help you “see your life in a whole new way.”
I think this is a great activity to exercise your ability to engage in other interests besides your baby. Or to capture your whole world, and not just your baby’s smiles.
Photojojo reminds me that it’s a way to document my haircuts as well.
If I was prepared better, today I would have taken a picture of the mailman who delivered Julian’s birthday present - a huge Radio Flyer wagon. This man really thought he was doing me a favor by carrying the package from his truck to my house. I would have liked to capture the deadpan look on his face as he told me, “This is a really big box.” Um, ok, mail carrier. Is this not your job? But I digress…
I’ll give you the first tip to push you along on Project 365, and you’ll have to visit the site to read the rest of them:
Bring Your Camera Everywhere
Yes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.
OK, you’re on your own now.
Link to Photojojo: http://www.photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/
