Have You Read "Three Cups of Tea"?

Last year the the bookgroup I'm part of read the book "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson, and then we had a tea party to celebrate this wonderful inspirational story. Unfortunately, at the time, we were unable to procure any rancid yak butter, but a member made some fantastic traditional Chai in it's stead...omg, yum!

Synapse Institute, the progressive lab school my son attends, has been inspired by the book, too! The students have decided to put on a garage sale to raise money for Pennies for Peace, an organization put together by the author. The proceeds will be sent to help students in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This is a fun and interactive way to show your kids the spirit of citizenship in action, and heck, you might pick up a used Burberry bag for a steal ;0)

Located at 305 N. California Ave in Palo Alto from 8:30am-2pm this Saturday, March 20th.

Any donations to put up for sale are welcome, and can be dropped off at the above location anytime before Friday afternoon.

For the Facebook info page go here .
For more info go here .
For more info about the organization Pennies for Peace go here .

Why You Need a Network of Moms...

I have this group of friends who I've made over the years. We met when my oldest started Kindergarten and our children have grown up together through the years. Most of us had moved to California away from home and family. Our children now go to different schools, but we still maintain a friendship and connection. Together we created our own family of moms...we've grown together as parents and friends. We meet for coffee, we meet to discuss books, we meet at the park, we meet to discuss marriage. We've supported each other through hard times, and shared each other's triumphs and joys. We've cried together, and laughed together, and commiserated the pains of childhood and parenthood.

And yesterday, while I was hopped up on pain meds, and covered in ice packs I totally appreciated yet again how wonderful my network of moms is. They took the son, gave me time to sleep and recover, called to see how I was feeling...

Thanks ladies, love and appreciate you more than you can ever know :0)

Do you have a color-coded life?

Yes, I'm nuts. I know this, but not for the reason you'd think...

This is the ONLY way to organize all the things in my life. I used to write everything down on little scraps of paper and leave them all over the house. I still do this to some extent (much to my husband's chagrin), but I've massively consolidated over the years. From tutoring sessions to dentist appointments I needed a way to organize it all, and a way to have it with me at all times. Thankfully iCal syncs up with my phone and back again to my computer so I always have an updated copy of what is going on and when and where I'm supposed to be.

Still, I realize I look like a complete OCD nut when you see the picture. Seriously, if you saw my desk you'd know this is not the case ;0)

Don't Eat the Marshmallow!

This is by far one of my favorite lectures this year. Joachim de Posada explains the importance of self-control and life-long success. The little kids are pretty adorable, too ;0)

Check it out!

I'm going on a trip, and with me I'm takin'...

• 1 toddler (2.4 year old, 36-pound body of pure obstinate bliss)
• 1 stuffed panda
  
• 1 ultra-light FAA approved booster carseat with restraint system (I checked out the CARES restraint but it's not 5 point)
  
• 1 Cheeky Monkey Pac Back
• 1 fully loaded 64 GB, 6 hour run time iPod Touch with protective cover and headphones
  
• 1 Silver Cross Mini pushchair (to be checked at gate)
  
• 1 Patemm pad (airplane bathrooms are gross)
  
• 1 spill proof sippy cup
• 1 backpack stuffed to the hilt with wrapped, inexpensive treats, toys, and distractions.
• 2 Pre-filled Children's Benadryl packets (don't judge, it works for us), and a pack of Hyland's Calms Forte.
  
• 1 mini first aid kit (band aids, Tylenol, a few horse tranquilizers for myself)
• 2 plastic bags (vomit happens)
  
• 2 change of clothes (again, vomit happens)
• 3 magazines for me (it might happen, or at the very least he can rip them to shreds...might provide 10 minutes of fun)
  
• 5 organic lollipops
  
• 10 diapers and full pack of wipes (because you never know how many you'll need)
• Various snacks and pre-packaged favorite foods
• Cash

SuiteTrip.com

It's on! I'm lucky enough to count myself as one of the Trekaroo contributors for SuiteTrip.com. Fellow Treakroo writer, Esther Lee, and I join an awesome group of writers: Beth Blair, Jennifer Miner, and Kara Williams (The Vacation Gals), Grant Martin and Scott Carmichael (Gadling), Lisa McElroy (Suite Living), and fellow Bay Area Mom, Jamie Pearson of (Travel Savvy Mom).

Today SuiteTrip launched their site for all the world to see. Under the umbrella of Homewood Suites Hilton, the site allows you to check out awesome travel tips like budget vacations, family friendly destination spots, and what to pack!

Woops and Joy...

Okay, comments were down for awhile with the new blog design, but now back up again.

Alexi gave me a break today and was pretty much an angel baby (except for the last half of the movie we took him to, but that was kindof a given). Makes days like yesterday seem like a distant memory :0)

Terrible 2s...and then some

Seriously, where did my sweet, happy-go-lucky baby go? I want him back! From one moment to the next I never know what's going to set him off...a toy? a book? popcorn? I feel like I'm stuck with a manic-depressive ex-boyfriend (on speed) all the time. Help!

The One Eyed Monster

This the name my mother had dubbed the television during my youth. When I was an adolescent she relegated "One Eyed Monster" to something else entirely, but we won't get into that.

The Hubs and I both grew up with limited to no TV for a period of our lives. My Hubs grew up in the Oregon wilderness so there literally was no cable to speak of, and I grew up in Europe for several years where all programming was in German. Don't get me wrong...we LOVE television. We love movies, and sitcoms, and even a few of the dreaded reality shows. But now that I have children of my own, the monster of my youth has returned. It sucks my sons in and glazes over their eyes over in just a few short minutes with banal gibberish and flashes of color.

To counteract the addiction we've taken steps to reduce the lure. We bought a TiVo about 5 years ago...that cut down a lot on advertisements. We got an AppleTV about two years ago, that made it easier to limit shows to educational programs and movies. We cut our cable about 6 months ago, and so far we'd seen a greater reduction in the amount of tube time all of us are exposed to. I bought volumes of Fraggle Rock and Scooby-Doo and Wallace and Gromit in a nostalgic attempt to recreate the programming of yesteryear.

Alas, we're still a techie family. The Hubs works for Apple, and we have iPhones and iPods and iCrap coming out of our eyes, but I think I've finally had it. I'll admit it...too long has the TV been used as my 25 minute babysitter. I'm going to have to come up with some more creative ideas to keep the kids busy while I try to do my own thing around the house. I'm pledging a week to not use the TV at all. I'm going to need help! Advice? I need some!

Plane Pains...

So I'm kindof addicted to Facebook and recently saw this defense comment response to a status complaint about children on planes:

"My kids have flown all over the place in both coach and first class, including Hawaii 3x and have been complete angels. It is all in parenting. You must have things to keep them occupied and entertained. Sorry you have had bad experiences, but it's not all children."

I've gotta say I totally relate to the complainer, not the defender. Having fulfilled both roles as a parent and innocent patron (who's had her seat kicked for 5 straight hours), I believe when it all boils down; traveling with kids via air is pretty awful. There's the packing of all necessities for the flight, the prepping to the airport, the crazy security lines, the medicate vs don't medicate battle, the actual flight, the lack of services to help parents with small children. I mean the list goes on and on.

Here in the Bay Area, with parents flying all over the place both internationally and domestically, would you take offense to this? Does bad behavior on a flight really equate to bad parenting? How could the airline industry help accommodate parents and non-parents alike?

Art Museum Musings

I grew up in museums as a child. My dad was in the military so we traveled all over, and we lived in Europe for several years. We explored places like the Louvre (the Mona Lisa is tiny), the Palace of Versailles (almost got kicked out for sitting on some old chairs), perfume factories, glass blowing facilities, old castles, zoos, planetariums, art museums, natural history museums, science museums, the list went on and on...and my sister and I complained the WHOLE time. "This is BORING! We want to go home! Why did you bring us here??? We want to go to Disneyland!" And over and over they told us, "Someday you'll appreciate this, damnit!" So now, as a parent, I realize the value in what they were trying instill in their unwilling, wretched children: Art and history and exploration is COOL! And Disney World, while entertaining, doesn't even compare to the real thing...


If you have relatively well behaved kids, I don't see why parents can't feel welcome to take them into "grown-up" museums. Docents following around kindergartners, begging them not to touch anything, are underestimating kid abilities and self-control. There is real intrinsic value in learning to appreciate creativity and imagination, and kids today are the ones who will be supporting these museums in 30 years!

The San Jose Museum of Art is a great kid resource in the south bay. It's not too big, they usually have a wide selection of different art mediums to look at, and the ticket admissions are more than reasonably priced. They also offer youth and summer programs that look like a lot of fun!

I've taken Matthew to see the M.C. Escher and Op Art exhibits in the past, and was recently there for an event opening of the Frida Khalo exhibit.


The DeYoung Fine Art is also a great resource for art exploration. The food is good, the art is plentiful and varied, and the Music Concourse is a great place to get some energy out after being indoors.

Common Ground Spearker Series

Common Ground is a symposium brought on by a bunch of Bay Area private schools to further enrich parent education. The speaker series brings in many experts from a wide variety of fields related to raising children, education, and health topics (many progressive in nature). All member school parents are free to attend any of the speaker series, and guests from an outside school can attend for a $20 fee. Even if your child doesn't attend a member school, the $20 fee is worth the free food (private schools have the best grub, seriously), and the speakers are pretty good, too ;0)

Some examples of past speakers:

• Dr. Robert Sapolsky a noted Stanford professor and neuroscientist.
• Dr. Denise Pope, another Stanford professor and author about stressed out overachievers.
• Richard Lavoie, author and special needs expert.

I'm a huge fan of Drs. Sapolsky and Pope, and was bummed to miss their lectures, but Rick Lavoie was entertaining, insightful, and I really enjoyed his book about social pragmatics and learning disabled kids.