The Next Kid Thing

If there was ever a good time to walk down memory lane, this week would be it.  After months of waiting to close on our house, we’re still displaced.  Needless to say, it’s been a rocky road for our family this summer:  all of our stuff still remains in storage, our poor kid cries for his toys, my heart aches every time he begs to go “home” and all we can do is just wait…

But, throughout this trying time, we’ve had each other.

The week before we moved out of our apartment, we had a photo session with our favorite family photographer, Maegan Dougherty.  It was a fun time, which yielded another set of great photos that serve as a great reminder of what’s truly important in life.

I met Maegan on a message board I used to frequent, and was immediately drawn to her photos.  Shortly after the kid was born, Maegan shot our first session and made our memories that much brighter.  Her photography has graced our Holiday cards, were the source for our kid’s headshots, they line my mom’s refrigerator, and soon, after all this waiting, these photos will line the halls of our new home.

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Summertime snacks for our family are often synonymous with fresh, ripe fruit and chilled frozen yogurt or ice cream.  Actually, with all this heat we’ve been enduring this summer, anything cold sounds good right about now!

This post and activity was inspired, in part, by Healthy Child Healthy World’s weekly twitter party, and by a recipe I stumbled accross on one of my favorite kiddie cuisine sites, Weelicious.

Since we’ve been staying with family for the past few weeks, with three kids in the house and a Costco down the street, we’ve been stocking up on all the delicious fresh fruit.  And fruit from Costco…you know what that means.  We had a ton of it!

We had a surplus of strawberries and mangos; meaning, we had more ripened fruit than we knew what to do with!  Cue in Weelicious’ yummy recipes!

With all the extra fruit that was on the cusp of getting too ripe, I enlisted the two bigger kids to help me make some fun homemade popsicles!

I used:

1 set of Tovolo Groovy Pop molds, which yield 6 bigger fruit pops
2 ripe mangos, sliced into thirds and then cubed and pureed
1 cup of ripe strawberries, pureed
1/2 cup of blueberries, pureed
1/2 cup of Mott’s Medley’s juice

I mixed and pureed fruit for each pop, personalizing each flavor for each kid.  Since these fruits had so much of their own fruit juice, I only had to add a few splashes of the juice to help solidify the mixture once frozen.

It was fun to get creative with the kids and let them mix, then help pour each pop.  The making of the pops was a fun outdoor activity, and I’m sure it’d make a great (albeit messy) indoor or rainy day activity too.

The beauty of the Tovolo freezer pop molds is that each container is a good size and actually stays put.  I’ve used other molds in the past that used questionable plastic and the sticks never stayed in place.  Plus, Tovolo has a bunch of great shapes to choose from.

Looking for more healthy summer snacks?  Check out Healthy Child Healthy World’s Twitter Party (tonight at 9-10) and their site for more great ideas!

I’ve been reading some blurbs about the Licensing Expo that was recently held in Vegas.  Of the interesting information that was dispersed from the annual show that showcases all the hottest licenses in the industry, I was interested to see this one from Disney Consumer Products, which I’ll get into later.

Speaking of Disney, at the Time to Play Spring and Summer Showcase, Disney Consumer Products had a diverse selection of their latest toys.  Aside from the much-hyped Toy Story and the ever-popular Princesses toys, DCP had some new, but familiar faces.

DCP recently introduced Pook-A-Looz, a plush line of their classic characters who have received a modern-meets-vintage twist.  That probably doesn’t make too much sense, but according to Disney, Pook-A-Looz were designed to capture the personalities of iconic Disney characters in an edgy, offbeat way.  They’re said to be inspired by the urban vinyl toy culture, which began in Asia a decade ago.

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Some of the fondest memories from my childhood include the years that I was enrolled in dance class.  I loved ballet and jazz so much that I took my training and lessons with me beyond high school and even danced for several years in college.  And because it’s the end of the school year, it also means that it’s recital season for many little girls (and some boys, too).

With recital season in full swing, coupled with my love for dance, one show that comes to mind for Music Monday is, Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps, which airs on PBS Kids.  The show is based on the award-winning children’s book series by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craigre.  Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps debuted this past September in full CG animation, incorporating elements of choreography from top dance organizations from American Ballet Theatre to Alvin Ailey.

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On Monday, CNN via Health.com reported that a new study revealed what many of us already speculated about pesticides being linked to ADHD in children.

photo credit: maistora

The article said :

Children exposed to higher levels of a type of pesticide found in trace amounts on commercially grown fruit and vegetables are more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than children with less exposure, a nationwide study suggests.

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It might be raining and dreary here in NYC today, but I’ll be headed to Time to Play’s Spring and Summer Showcase, where Chris Byrne and Jim Silver, two of the biggest industry gurus, will be spotlighting this season’s hot toys.  If you can remember way back to last fall, I attended the fall showcase, where we learned about their holiday picks.

Must Have toys from the 2009 Holiday Season

Even though I just did Toy Fair a little over two months ago (and am still reeling from all of that information), I am a big fan of the Time to Play showcase.  It’s an intimate event where media representatives and bloggers can meet with publicists and company executives to discuss—what else—toys.

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Yesterday, our First Lady, Michelle Obama, unveiled the nationwide campaign Let’s Move, which aims to tackle childhood obesity. This campaign is geared to engage every sector that impacts the health of our kids, giving schools, families and communities the tools to help everyone be more active, eat better and get healthy.

Mrs. Obama unofficially initiated this campaign when she broke ground on the White House organic Garden last year. In a NYT article, Mrs. Obama said, the main purpose of the garden will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

Soon after, Mrs. Obama appeared on an episode of Sesame Street touting the importance of fruits and vegetables, as well as healthy eating habits.

The Let’s Move Campaign will emphasize four major facets, all of which underline the changes needed to combat childhood obesity:

Helping Parents Make Healthy Family Choices

Serving Healthier Food in Schools

Accessing Healthy, Affordable Food

Increasing Physical Activity

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The PBS Kids web property, Fizzy’s Lunch Lab, has launched a fun music video, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

“Give Your Heart a Valentine” is an ode to your actual heart, as in the organ that thumps in your chest. Just like all the interesting concepts that come from Fizzy’s Lunch Lab, the music video combines education and a little bit of fun. This new music video provokes kids to learn the significance of the heart and the benefit of healthy eating decisions.

In addition to all the sweet and lovey fun this week for Valentine’s Day, be sure to check out this video and give a little love to your heart!