Archive for November, 2009
Nov
30
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Emily Michot, McClatchy Newspapers
My husband and I are photographers for The Miami Herald, and have faced some difficult assignments. But by far, the most challenging job we have all year is the annual Christmas card photo.
This year, our boys are 7 and 10 years old, and we want to include our chocolate Lab as well.
Over the years, we’ve had the boys run through hot sand and cling to coconut trees. We’ve tied them up in Christmas lights. There have been bribes, threats and the occasional tears (mine!) to get the boys looking happy and cute for the friends and relatives who expect nothing less.
When you get that card-perfect holiday photo, show it off in our Brag Book Holidays gallery so we can all be jealous.
I have found no...
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Nov
30
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
NEW YORK — When Lori Fowlkes first saw robotic Zhu Zhu Pets toy hamsters in September, she remembers her kids started jumping up and down and saying 
lease! Please! Can we buy them?:
Seeing a fully stocked shelf, she decided to hold off until Christmas.
That was “before I knew that the hamsters would soon be off the shelves and more scarce than an H1N1 vaccine,” said Fowlkes, 32. …
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Nov
29
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Tracy, New Jersey Moms Blog
My kid’s not going to college. That used to be a hard sentence to get out because people looked at me funny. During my son’s high school junior and senior year, friends would talk about where their kids applied to college, who they’d heard from and where they were going, maybe. And the plans, Oh! The plans. When they asked me I was honest, “My son’s not going to college.” My son’s always had other plans. The look I got was a cross between pity for me and embarrassment for asking.
My son is in a luthier apprenticeship. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know what that means; spell check doesn’t either. A luthier is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments; in my son’s...
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Nov
28
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
“Children’s Book of Art”
c.2009, DK
$24.99 / $29.99 Canada
141 pages, includes index
Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez
Your mother thinks she can remember the color of her refrigerator, but she’s not really sure. Before you were born, she knew … but ever since you’ve been old enough to pick up a crayon, that fridge has been covered by your very best work.
You love to draw, paint, color and sketch. Art is your favorite subject in school, and you’ve been told that you’re a creative person. But what do you really know about art? What do you know about other artists? Learn more in the new and very cool “Children’s Book of Art.” …
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Nov
27
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
Parents should always think before they speak, especially when it comes to dinner.
My kids are more than ready for dinner by the time I pick them up from daycare. Last week I made the tragic mistake of forgetting there was a cooked roast in the fridge.
“Mommy!,” my kids greeted me with enthusiasm and hugs. “What’s for dinner?”
Like most parents, our brains are constantly multi-tasking. I was running through my list of things to get done before the kids go to bed, things I could get done after the kids are in bed, things I had to take care of the next day and things that would need my attention throughout the week. Dinner? What’s dinner?
“Eggs and bacon,” I said as I counted my children, checked their folders and lockers and tried to discourage...
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Nov
27
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Mark St. John Erickson, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
My son Owen won’t remember his grandpa Edmund, who passed away unexpectedly about a month ago after 87 years of being one of the most colorful people on the planet.
But in the brief period their lives overlapped, these two souls separated by so much time, distance and experience shared some surprising connections.
Despite his age, 14-month-old Owen soldiered up admirably when his grandfather died, too, providing sympathy, some occasional but much-needed comic relief and indisputable proof of what the old adage makers meant when they said, “Life goes on.”
Toddling back and forth as his mother, uncle and aunts gathered to carry out the somber business of arranging...
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Nov
26
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By the Associated Press
CALABASAS, Calif. — Authorities say a 12-year-old boy assaulted by a group of middle school classmates in Southern California may have been targeted after an Internet posting urged students to beat up redheads.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Erickson says the boy, who is redheaded, was kicked and hit in two incidents Friday at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas. As many as 14 students participated in the attacks.
Erickson says the attackers may have been motivated by a Facebook message announcing that Friday was “Kick a Ginger Day.” The posting may have been inspired by an episode of the television show “South Park.”
The boy was not seriously hurt. Erickson says there may be other...
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Nov
26
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a study published Monday.
When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of the electronic baby sitter, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and a researcher at the University of Washington.
That’s double the TV time he found in a...
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Nov
25
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
McClatchy-Tribune
Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity for gathering as a family and sharing a traditional meal. But, it’s also a great time for families to spend quality time outdoors. Playoutdoors.com offers five great outdoor activities that every member of the family can be thankful for to feel a part of the festive fun.
- Take a family walk after the meal (if it’s snowing, get the whole family together to snowshoe in the yard)
- Create a backyard treasure hunt for the kids where they have to find Thanksgiving-themed items like: mini pumpkins, leaves, turkey, pumpkin pie, pilgrims, etc. These items can be made from construction paper or can be purchased at party stores.
- Start an...
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Nov
25
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Catherine Mallette, McClatchy Newspapers
If you’ve got a child on your list this year, undoubtedly you are wondering two things: What are the hot new toys? Which ones can I afford?
The good news, says Jonathan Samet, co-publisher of The Toy Insider, a four-year-old consumer toy guide, is that this year there will be plenty of great new toys with lower prices. Samet, who was in Dallas recently for the Toy Industry Association Fall Toy Preview (which he says is Fashion Week for the toy business), says that last year at this time, toy companies were promoting $300 dinosaurs and the like, “and then the market crashed and burned and companies got stuck. This year, companies are more prepared and have products at lower prices.”
Each year at...
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