Friends, I was so happy to walk in yesterday's March for Babies (which had an impressive turnout despite the downpour preceding the walk), and am enormously proud of all of the funds raised by Team Boston Mamas & Friends. We raised $7,762 for the March of Dimes, and I am especially grateful to my sister Stephanie (our runaway top fundraiser at $3,915 -- she matched her donations dollar for dollar!), and to Carissa, Angela, and Christina, who all raised $500 or more (I was also thrilled to meet my personal fundraising goal). Amazing efforts all around and we couldn't have done it without the generosity of many people. Thanks to everyone who supported our team!Friends, I was so happy to walk in yesterday's March for Babies (which had an impressive turnout despite the downpour preceding the walk), and am enormously proud of all of the funds raised by Team Boston Mamas & Friends. We raised $7,762 for the March of Dimes, and I am especially grateful to my sister Stephanie (our runaway top fundraiser at $3,915 -- she matched her donations dollar for dollar!), and to Carissa, Angela, and Christina, who all raised $500 or more (I was also thrilled to meet my personal fundraising goal). Amazing efforts all around and we couldn't have done it without the generosity of many people. Thanks to everyone who supported our team!
Today, Kate shares a couple of leads for kids who go bonkers for balloons:
We've never been one for big birthday celebrations in my family, and we've kept my daughter's parties similarly low key. For her most recent birthday (her 4th), I wanted to do something special that would neither break the bank nor cause too much fuss, and settled on the idea of hiring a balloon twister. I love balloon animals, and find the people who make them to be artists with nerves of steel, always moments away from having a creation pop in their hands (and in front of their young audiences).
Today, parent educator Hetti Wohlgemuth of Alphabet Soup 4 Parents shares a favorite local family picnicking spot:
For some reason, my girls always called our favorite outdoor ice cream stand Dairy George (instead of Dairy Joy) and the nickname stuck in our family. In fact, the formal name of the stand is Cedar Hill Dairy Joy, but no matter how you say it, it makes for an excellent spring, summer, or autumn outing.
Given that I spent the majority of my childhood free time toy-free and playing outside, I have always been concerned about curbing material excess in Laurel's life, and aware of how important it is for her (and us) to be active outdoors. I thus was happy and honored to be invited to be part of the National Wildlife Federation's Founding Mothers, a group of women writers who will work to mobilize families outdoors in partnership with the NWF's Be Out There campaign.
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Perri via Facebook:
Hello Boston Mamas, I'm (relatively) new to Boston and am looking for a great photographer to take some photos of my one year old. I'm looking for color and black & white, maybe some shots at Boston Common, and yes, at least one with the [Make Way for] Ducklings statues. Any suggestions?
I'm not sure what it is with kids and face paint, but when I mentioned to Laurel that there would be a face painter at Down:2:Earth, she immediately was on board about coming with me. Face painting was, in fact, our first stop at the expo and I was impressed with Jill Reed of Baja Face Painting. Friendly yet gentle in approach towards my initially shy girl, Jill queried Laurel on favorite colors then went to work on creating a fantastic full-face monarch butterfly with sparkling accents (to complement the costume Laurel put on in anticipation of said face painting).
Today, Kate shares a great lead for fledgling and experienced crafters:
My mother was once a knitter and a sewer, as were my grandmothers. I dabbled in both a bit as a child and young adult, but I lacked the creativity and patience to give myself the time to let the skills grow and become something more interesting and more meaningful. I'd get interested, buy the supplies, work on a few projects that were over my head, get frustrated with my mistakes, and drop it all, once again convinced of my own inability to make anything beautiful or useful with my own hands. But I retained the familial sense that fabric crafts could be something ennobling and meditative, something worth pursuing if I could ever get myself into the right frame of mind for them.
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Jan via e-mail:
We are visiting Boston this summer (from Ireland) with 3 kids (12, 10 and 5) and are looking for recommended kid-friendly restaurants, some free activities, best ice-cream, best toy shops, etc. We will have 10 days in Cape Cod then 10 days in Concord. We will have a car, and the house we are staying at in Concord is close to the train station so the plan would be to take the train into Boston.
Today, Kate recommends a great place to get messy with your kids:
"Although I generally enjoy apartment life, I do occasionally regret that we lack an extra room in which my daughter could give free (e.g., messy) reign to her artistic creativity. Given the chance, she loves nothing more than to cover herself in paint and glitter up to the elbows -- with some in her hair for good measure -- and we just don't have a space in which she can easily do that at home. Happily, the newly opened Muckykids Art Studio in the Porter Square neighborhood of Cambridge offers just the solution.
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Perri via Facebook:
Baby girl turns 1 this week and I wanted to find a cute T-shirt or onesie for her to wear on her special day. I saw a couple of cute (non-cheesy) items in Chasing Fireflies but unfortunately do not have time to order. Any ideas of local shops that might have some fun, cute, sassy, non-cheesy birthday gear?
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from @papaproducts via Twitter:
Hey @bostonmamas do you have ideas for places to go out to Easter brunch/dinner with little kids? Have you seen a roundup of spots anywhere? Thanks!
Today, parent educator Hetti Wohlgemuth of Alphabet Soup 4 Parents shares her five Boston area café faves to enjoy with or without the kids:
"I'm not a homebody. I never was; even having two daughters within two years, we were always on the go. Or if I got some much needed alone time, I'd head out the door and find a place to read the newspaper or write in my journal. My go-to retreats? Independently owned coffee houses. Here are a few of my favorites in the Boston area:
In Laurel’s 5+ years of birthday party going, we've seen a variety of home and off-site party ideas, but yesterday we experienced something very cool and different from the typical house or play gym party: a New England Aquarium On-the-Road birthday party.
Today, Kate shares details on Cambridge's new community hub:
The City of Cambridge is blessed with a beautiful new public library. After years of public debate followed by years of construction, the library building in which I spent many happy childhood hours has been largely subsumed into a welcoming, sunlight-filled addition.
When I travel, I try valiantly to stay hydrated and consume lots of fruits and vegetables, but despite my best efforts, invariably I crave a huge salad on return. And on Sunday after Jon and Laurel picked me up at the airport, we decided to celebrate the conclusion of a rather insane month of travel by going out to lunch. And you guessed it, I wanted a huge salad.
Today, Kate reflects on the beauty of ballet across generations:
Does the beauty of ballet call to every little girl at some point in her life? Probably not -- there must be at least a few who are immune to the magic of toe shoes, the awe of the light-as-air lift, the seeming impossibility of a dancer on pointe -- but the appeal seems to be almost universal. I remember my mother describing how as a child she would watch and re-watch The Red Shoes, an overwrought 1948 melodrama about love and devotion gone wrong among dancers, and though the film itself didn't do much for me, I fully appreciated the pull of the ballet scenes. I'm not sure whether it's the costumes, the immense strength and discipline hidden under layers of pink tulle, or the fairy tales recreated on the stage, but ballet got to me too, and now it's gotten to my preschool-aged daughter.
A couple of weeks ago I announced my plan to launch the Boston Mamas Have a Heart for Haiti campaign. I’m thrilled to share this group of talented and generous Boston Mamas mamapreneur network members who are donating a percentage of sales collected from February 1 - 15 to the campaign. Proceeds will be directed to UNICEF, which is absorbing administrative costs so that 100% of every dollar donated goes directly to relief efforts for children in Haiti. So please shop these vendors and shop them generously! Your dollars will do double duty by supporting local women business owners and relief efforts in Haiti.
I haven’t been to Lanes & Games since I was in high school, which was, well, a really long time ago. Earlier this week, however, I broke my (inadvertent) non-attendance streak with a group of friends and was reminded of how fun candlepin bowling is. The kids all went berserk over it, and Laurel was a machine out there, mowing down frames well beyond when others had lost interest.