Hot Spots: Kidspace Museum

If you live near Pasadena and have kids under 10, you should check out Kidspace Museum (http://www.kidspacemuseum.org). It is the best place for kids. My son adores this place and we can spend hours playing and learning.
Right when you walk in you see a large open area (Galvin Physics Forest). Everything inside is to be child initiated. My son loves the air cannon, ball bounce and bottle rocket.
Inside there are real bugs (in cages), a human ant hole (which will entertain your little one for hours), a new art studio, and a nature exchange among other things.
Behind the building is the trike area, water area for the summer months and a huge garden.
We stopped by for a visit during snow days as well as their Noon Year's Eve event (which was crazy crowded but a ton of fun). A few pictures below.

Snow Days

Ball Bounce

 Air Cannon

 Special Event: Giant Blocks

 Igloo Making During Snow Days in the Art Studio

 Friends Climbing Up the Ant Hole

 Balloons and Crowds Before Noon Year's Eve

 It Is Noon: Balloon Drop Begins

The Joy of a Child

Hot Spots: Sky Zone

If you have kids between the age of 2 and 22, you are going to want to check out Sky Zone in Van Nuys (http://www.skyzone.com/VanNuys). It is a trampoline park and you pay by the hour. They have multiple trampoline set-ups, which include jumping into a foam pit, dodge ball courts and of course the basic trampoline run.
My 4-year old son and I went and it was amazing. A great workout for mommy and a good time for him. We were both exhausted at the end of our hour.

Home Redesign: Before

I am kicking off my home redesign project. I had three goals when I started this project:
1. Figure out how to better use my space
2. Update colors to grey from browns
3. Take back the room - hide/move all those kids toys
I hired a designer and she helped me determine the right flow for the space. As she said "I want to give you an adult space and your son a kid's space."
Below are the BEFORE photos of my space. Excited to share the developments and final product over the next few months.

This is the view from the corner of the room where the fireplace is located toward the front door.

This is the view from the hallway after you walked through the front door looking toward the fireplace.

This is the view from the kitchen door looking toward the backyard sliding glass doors.

 

This is the view from the sliding doors that go to the backyard.

Frozen Inspired Valentines

If you have kids, then you are probably experiencing all things Frozen like me. From dress up to sing alongs this movie has invaded our lives. So I was super excited when I found this cute class valentine on Pinterest from One Creative Mommy (http://onecreativemommy.com/frozen-olaf-valentines/). I knew my son would love to create these for his friends. After printing the bag toppers, we headed out to buy our supplies.

Items needed:

regular marshmallows

small marshmallows

pretzels

brown mini M&Ms - we bought a bag and my son sifted through to find all the brown ones

cheetos - we could not find candy corn anywhere in January

bags - we bought these at Michaels

Step 1:

Place 2 small marshmallows, 3 regular marshmallows, two pretzels, two brown mini m&ms and a cheeto into each bag

Step 2: staple bag topper

Step 3: share with friends

And one of Olaf after he was built since my son had to bring him to life and then informed me that he had no face. Oy.

Baby Love

So I am totally obsessed with baby rooms these days. My facebook status seems to be overflowing with new arrivals for friends. And while I am not pregnant myself, I do know a few people growing babies right now. So today I am sharing a baby room I would love. If only I lived in a huge house and had room and an actual baby to live in the room. But since I don't, I will share my imaginary life.

First stop on the imagination parade: Wallpaper on the ceiling. Babies spend so much time on their backs, I just love the idea of this gorgeous wallpaper. The silver stars are beautiful.

Second stop wall art. I love the wall art I created for my sister (http://www.craftynotartsy.blogspot.com/2013/05/wall-art.html) but I also love the idea of showcasing a few of your favorite outfits. I like how these are all the same color and would be so cute in white or grey for a boy. Of course to do this well you need to buy them at the same time.

More wall art featuring those tiny baby parts. I was amazed at how fast these small parts turn big. Who doesn't love tiny ears, hands, etc.

More stars. Not sure why, but I am loving the grey of this wallpaper. Probably too much to go in the same room with the stars on the ceiling but perhaps next to a grey/white striped wall. And how cute is that toddler bed. When my son was ready for a big boy bed we jumped right to a full skipping the whole toddler bed stage.

Chalk wall. I have this now in my son's room and while we don't use it a ton, I love the concept and creativity it allows. It also grows with your child. When he is older I will move the Matchbox Wall tracks and add a desk and he can use the wall like scratch paper.

So whether you are getting ready for a new baby, taking a baby room to a toddler room or just dreaming like me, I hope you enjoy these ideas.