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by: Kara Noel Lawson

Get some Green in your house… quick! {How to make a Shamrock Garland }

In case you didn’t get the memo, tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day.
If you haven’t adorned you home is shamrocks there is still time 🙂
Make this adorable shamrock garland in minutes:
(you can see my belly getting bigger!! I’m 24 weeks preggers!)
I’ll be making the traditional corn beef for dinner and I’ll do a drop of green food coloring in our Martinelli’s. Dessert = green cupcakes.
One of my friend’s family traditions is to have green pancakes!
Any other fun family traditions?
Please share!
Shamrock Garland

by: Kara Noel Lawson

Pretend City – Wordless Wednesday

(Enter to with the Family 4 pack of Pretend City tickets here!)
The contents of my purse emptied onto the passenger seat to clear room before going into Pretend City. (no wonder it weighs 30 pounds!)

Eli in the midst of play inside Pretend City…
Because we all know Firemen buy eggs at the grocery store in full fire gear then sit in the middle of the park to count them!

2-for-1 admission to Pretend City on Way to Play days:
March 12th (this Friday), April 9th, May 14th, June 11th, July 9th, August 13th, September 10th, October 8th, November 12th & December 10th!
(Click coupon below to print and redeem to get the 2-for-1 deal)

For more Wordless Wednesdays visit Angry Julie Monday and here.
Don’t forget to enter the Pretend City giveaway for a Family 4 Pack of tickets!

by: Kara Noel Lawson

Pretend City – Good To Go!!

(awesome giveaway at the end of post!!)
Where is this?
Nope, not my kitchen!
It’s one tiny section in the amazing expanse of warehouse known in these parts as
Pretend City.
If you’ve never been, I’ll walk you through a day there and tell you about their awesome Good To Go From Head To Toe, Family Fun & Wellness Fair happening this Saturday March 13th!!
You gotta go!!
REALLY!
(aside from all the awesome stuff they’ll have at the Fair, kiddos get in for free!)
Start your day with a healthy breakfast…
Get into the “City” and claim your vehicleof choice. Eli loves the police car and Cora Jane seems to always gravitate to the mini Mercedes Benz… of course!
One of our favorite places is the Marina.
I let them get soaked.
And they do!
Through the Good To Go program you’ll learn all about child development through play. Cora Jane just loved the folks from My Gym in Yorba Linda! Check out their March Calender for all the info!
Pretend City has a little eating area for you to have lunch. Complete with microwaves for Easy Mac!
(not that I ever eat that stuff… he he he!)
Of course I was running late and didn’t pack a lunch. Thankfully LuLu’s Creperie Cafe was there to save the day! I got a sandwich and it was delicious (healthy to boot)!!
Some things mommies should know… 
~Guests aren’t allowed in without a kiddo, but there is no parent/child matching system. I was assured that the “typical” child abductor usually doesn’t have children with them. 
~There is no definite child barrier (i.e. stanchions, child gate…) on the front door but someone is supposed to be watching the front door. 
~There are lockers to stow away diaperbags, lunches and purses so parents’ hands are free to play play play!!
~On a busy day it can be hard to keep track of more than one child at a time. 
~They have family bathrooms with a little table to put all your gear. One of my personal pet peeves is when a bathroom doesn’t have a place to put my 30 pounds of… whatever it is I carry around everyday!
Another REALLY cool thing about the Good To Go deal-e-o is the free screenings! My kiddos got to see Tina Azin DDS a specialist in Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics to make sure they have no cavities and all their teeth.
She was great with the kiddos and they are healthy as can be.  
Why am I so happy in this picture? 
We were at Pretend City from 9am-1pm and the kiddos are guaranteed to have a LONG nap.
P.S. Pretend City is ideal for a one-on-one Daddy Date Day. I got this picture while Hot Hubby and Eli were there. Eli still can’t stop talking about how much fun he had at the “fancy place” with Daddy!!
Don’t you want to go!! 
Ticket Prices: Infant-12 months is $2
Children and Adults are $10
Military and Family Members are $8
OR
You can win 4 FREE tickets to Pretend City right here!!

Here’s How You Win…
*****MUST be a Southern California Resident or willing to travel to Orange County, CA to use the tickets!!!*****

You don’t have to have a blog to win! Just be sure to include your email address when you comment!
 Main Entry (Mandatory)- Visit the Pretend City site here and leave a comment with one thing you learned or like about the Good To Go From Head To Toe Programs!
For loads of extra entries:
~Follow Pretend City on twitter here. (1 entry)
~Become a Fan of Pretend City Children’s Museum here. (1 entry)
~Follow Eli’s Lids on Twitter here. (1 entry)
~Tweet about the giveaway. Copy and paste: “Visit @ElisLids to win 4 free tickets to @PretendCity Details: http://bit.ly/9ABkzk” (1 entry can be done once a day)
~FB about the giveaway. Copy and paste: “Sol Cal Familys!! Eli’s Lids to win 4 free tickets to Pretend City Children’s Museum Details: http://bit.ly/9ABkzk” (1 entry)
For every extra entry, be sure to leave a separate comment on this post! 
i.e. If you follow Pretend City on twitter and FB about the giveaway, leave 2 separate comments.

***Giveaway open one week! Ends Tuesday March 16th 9:00pm PST***


And don’t forget to visit Pretend City on March 13th for the Good To Go From Head To Toe Family Fun & Wellness Fair!!
Kiddos involved in the Wellness Fair get in for free that day!!
Oh, and Wild Wing will be there!

by: Kara Noel Lawson

Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss!
My all time favorite quote is From One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.
“From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things are everywhere.”
I really do think about this quote when we are having one of those days. Like this morning when I dropped the glass jar of jam on the tile and jam and glass flew everywhere.
It stunk… but was kinda funny at the same time!
Dr Seuss is great for car trips.
See:

The TV show (aka – the kiddos’ Valentines Day gifties)… not one of his greatest accomplishments.
Eli insists that a song in Pontoffel Pock & His Magic Piano goes something like this, 

“Blow-up Boobie Bag! Blow-up Boobie Bag!”

As much as we love the books, those DVDs will disappear in a couple of weeks!
Here is a clip of good old Pontoffel Pock. If you can stomach all 10 minutes, let me know if you can figure out where the “Boobie Bag” song comes from. 
We’re stumped!

by: Kara Noel Lawson

Wish it was a Taga ride…

Confession: I’m kinda a lazy gal. If I can get more than one thing done at the same time, I’ll do it!!
We had a wagon walk with 3 objectives:
#1 Get the kiddos out. (Cabin fever from the two days of rain… we are so weather spoiled in the OC!)
#2 Errands at the grocery store.
#3 Exercise for mommy.


 Objective #1 Get kiddos out – COMPLETE!
Kiddos were out and running. We climbed and played and got sufficiently worn out for naps. (Also, a little too worn out for a “pleasant” shopping experience… more below.)
Eli always picks me flowers. I can’t wait to give him to his lovely bride someday. If he is anything like his daddy (and he will be) he’s gonna be the best hubby ever!

Objective #2 Errands – Complete. But with casualties…
We did make it to the store. But I kept knocking down displays with my hard-to-maneuver wagon and the kiddos kept hopping out to climb on the patio furniture. At one point, unbeknownst to me, Cora Jane was standing in the wagon and I gave it a firm tug.
She ate it! 
Then screamed the whole rest of the shopping trip. Not fun.

Objective #3 Exercise- INCOMPLETE! Arrgggg!
Since we played and walked at about .3 MPH there was no exercise for mommy. I probably did burn calories in the store trying to get everything as fast as possible with Cora Jane screaming. BUT that was counterproductive because the stress/embarrassment probably took a couple of years off my life expectancy!

The whole ordeal trip took over an hour.
I’m sure it didn’t help much that I had seen this little ditty at the Silicon Valley Moms Group event a week ago…

REALLY! 
I did it.
Here is a picture of the lovely Carla Duharte Razura of Baby JJ Design riding on one and the pic she took of me while riding… 
Can you imagine?
I’m riding my Taga.
We could stop off now and then for some nature fun.
I could convert that thing to a stroller when we got into the store. 
(STRAPPED IN!!!)
Quick in and out. (FYI – there is ample room for shopping goodies in the bottom of that thing!)
Then maybe off to the lake for a few calorie burning laps before heading home.
I could even use this for the too-far-to-walk-but-still-super-close-to-home trips.
You know the kind… It takes longer to load/unload/load/unload the kiddos than it takes to drive there!!
Sigh…
Too bad I was just imagining.
I want one!
Don’t you??

Follow them on Facebook here to get all the details.

by: Kara Noel Lawson

Ode to 5 Years of Bliss! (aka Closer by Jars of Clay)

(engagement 9/13/04)
I’ll drop out of the race for more personal space
Cuz the rocket’s we’re in, get’s so cold and I miss your skin
that’s just how I’m feelin.
(wedding 2/26/05 & 1 year anniversary in Hawaii 2/26/06 – few months preggers with Eli)
If you need more love, well you’ve got to get close to me
If you want my love, well you’ve got to get closer to me
(Going into labor with Eli 9/15/06)
No unreachable itch, if you hemorrhage I’ll stitch
You are tears, I’m a cheek, I’m a pail on your boat with slow leaks
out to sea for weeks

If you want my love, well you’ve got to get close to me
If you need my love, well you’ve got to get closer to me
Oh, if you want my love
(Cora Jane born 2/14/08)
I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I want your kite strings tangled in my trees all wrapped up
I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I’ll be the comets that are fallin’ from the sky you light up…light up
(Dancing the night away 12/6/08)
You’re my shirt iron-on
I’m the tick, you’re the bomb
You’re the L and the V, I’m the O and the E
Am I speaking clearly?
(4 year anniversary 2/26/09)
If you want my love, well you’ve got to get close to me
Ooh, if you want my love…
(Annual Pageant of the Masters 7/18/09)
I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I want your kite strings tangled in my trees all wrapped up
I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I’ll be the comets that are fallin from the sky you light up
(hot date in LA last week)
Because I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I miss the shivers in my spine every time that we touch.
Lyrics by Jars of Clay (Hot Hubby’s Favorite Band)
This is my favorite Love Song right now!
Listen to it here!
(The whole CD is amazing but this song is addicting!!)

by: Kara Noel Lawson

Is your birthday on a holiday?

I may have mentioned once or twice (or a million times) that Cora’s birthday is on Valentines Day.

Side Note: She was due on February 5th and the ONLY day I DIDN’T want her to be born was on Valentine’s day. Ha! Sure enough that little sucker came 9 days late, on V-day!

 After she was born I couldn’t help but be sad that she was going to get shistered on her birthday every year by her future husband or she would be one of those folks that has such a high expectation for their birthday that nothing could ever live up.
My idea to off set the future therapy factor is to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 13th. That way…
a) Cora gets her actual Birth Day to herself
b) Eli isn’t getting a gift on his sister’s actual birthday (because it is totally lame if your sibling gets a gift on your birthday… I mean shouldn’t they learn to be excited when someone else gets something special and not feel entitled to something themselves!)
c) If we do her birthday after the V-day festivities then (my thought is) the birthday is what will be most remembered.
What do you think?
REALLY!
I need to know.
Is your birthday on a holiday? (or near one?)
What did your parents do that totally sucked?
What did they do that was totally awesome?

So here is what we did for Valentines Day… you know… the one on February 13th!
 
 
I picked up these Dr Seuss DVDs for 5 bucks each after Christmas.
They love em’!
Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
The animators were most definitely high as a kite when they put together these shows.
Oh well!
What harm can it do?
 
 She already has the muchies!!

*update*
My grandmom brought to my attention that I may offend families who do sibling gifts on birthdays. If you do sibling gifts, don’t be offended. Be proud of your family tradition and think I’m lame 🙂