Family

We’ve lived in LA almost a year, but there are still so many areas we haven’t explored. Last weekend, we decided to check out Abalone Cove Shoreline Park and their tide pools. It was such a gorgeous drive, with amazing views. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, you should definitely check it out and here is everything you need to know.

I recently partnered with Hasbro on a sponsored Instagram post, so they sent me two Simba toys for my kids. Simba is an interactive, robot-style animal that is so much fun to play with. He instantly became like a family pet for us. They were so generous to send us two Simba toys, that I wanted to give one of them away to a lucky reader or follower. To enter, all you need to do is click the link below and choose your preferred mode of entry.

“Mom, what activity are we doing today?”, my son asked, with genuine interest. What I wanted to say was, figure it out. Instead, I started to think that maybe its time I figure out how to encourage unstructured play in my children.

Are you a pumpkin spice fan? It’s one of my favorite flavors. I love fall because it means I get to bake with as much pumpkin spice as I want. I absolutely adore all things pumpkin spice. If you follow my recipes, you know that I’ve created a lot of pumpkin spice recipes over the years. (cookies, ice cream, coffee cake, bars, pancakes, just to name a few). This year, I wanted to try something completely new. My cousin-in-law recently made these pumpkin spice shortbread cookies, so I knew I had to give this recipe a shot – and my own spin.

Did you know that October is National Bullying Prevention Month? Now that both of my kids are in elementary school, I’m becoming more aware of bullying. Although so far, my kids haven’t experienced any bullying, I still want to be prepared. It’s equally important I teach my kids how to be kind to others. Just as I don’t want my own kids being bullied, I’d hate for them to be the ones who are unkind. Both real-life and cyberbullying are major problems that my kids will likely face. They are still pretty young, but I want to be prepared. So, I am working on teaching my kids how to be kind through real-life actions that will someday translate to online actions.

Last week, Disneyland invited me to attend their opening night of Oogie Boogie Bash at California Adventure Park. I’ve never been to Halloween at Disneyland or Disney World before, so I had no idea what to expect. What I did learn was that I definitely want to visit Disneyland every single Halloween, it was that special.

I’m so glad it’s Halloween season! It’s definitely one of my favorite holidays. Who doesn’t like dressing up in fun costumes and getting free candy? Next to Christmas, Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday. To get in the spirit, I decided to try making these fun Halloween spider cookies and I’m SO excited how they turned out.

Summer is all about slower days, more time with my kids, and all the ice cream we can eat. Well, not really – I’m not that nice of a mom. But I do keep more ice cream in the house in the summertime than the rest of the year. Enjoying a cold treat with my kiddos on a summer day is one of the few times when I actually slow down and can really be present with them. If you’re anything like me, I struggle to find that down time, even in the summer. We’re rushing from one activity or summer camp to the next, planning another road trip or family adventure. That’s why I decided to write this post about 5 simple ways to slow down and spend some quality time with your kids this summer.

Have you considered the benefits dance class for young kids and whether you want to sign your child up? When my daughter turned two, I signed her up for ballet class. At the time, I thought it would be so adorable for her to be in a little tutu. Ballet was something I always wanted to do as a child but just never ended up doing. I did a lot of organized sports, but not dance.