Great idea… silly putty in bed. All that I have to say is olive oil works well to get it out of hair, nothing helps to get it out of bedding, and Kade is very lucky that Ted survived the incident. His HULK jams were not as fortunate.
Next Sunday, November 23, is another installment of Rock-n-Tot. This one will be held at MOCA, mixing in Arts and Culture. The kids are excited to go back. We attended one of the events last Spring and had a great time.
At a Rock-n-Tot event, you will find a dance floor, kid-friendly music, art exhibits and coordinating educational activities, crafts, products that encourage learning and safety. We also provide spa services for parents/adults (because caregivers need to know that they are appreciated) as well as storytelling, facepainting, and more.
Naomi was very generous and provided a discount for Kade’s Preschool. Hopefully we can pack the house and the kids can rock it out with all of their friends.
I think the difficult part about throwing a Rock-n-tot event would be finding kid-friendly adult music. You know, good dance beats, clean lyrics. One parents’s clean lyrics are another parents devil music. I tried to offer up some suggestions for some tracks:
Mike Doughty – I Just Want The Girl In The Blue Dress To Keep On Dancing
Mike Doughty – 27 Jennifers
Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You
MGMT – Electric Feel
Paolo Nutini – New Shoes
Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks
Port O’Brien – I woke up today
The Ting Tings – Great DJ.
I also thought some kids songs that are parent friendly could be good.
Peter Himmelman – My Green Kite
anything from They Might Be Giants
JJ Grey and Mofro – Orange Blossoms
I am personally pretty excited about next weekend’s event and the kids are already practicing their moves. Hopefully they don’t get stage fright and can show their moves to all of their friends. See you at the show! Get your tickets online!
Tomorrow is the South Euclid Perfect 10-miler and of course Erika will be running in it. The race starts at 7:30 am and we will try to catch sight of Erika at mile 5/7 on Belvoir Road and then see her finish.
This year, the kids are going to participate in the Kid’s Fun Run too which takes place at 9:00 am on the football field at Korb Field, Brush High School’s stadium. The kids are excited and it is fun to see them get involved in a sport that mama loves so much. This could be the start of their running careers too.
Sometimes it is nice to sit out in the backyard while the kids pull every toy out from the garage on a weeknight in June. They are able to release some energy while I kick back a little bit. Tonight, Erika met up with her Medtronic rep, Sarah, to learn how to use her pump/CGM and download the data. The info can only be downloaded via a PC, go figure, so she met her at a coffee shop and downloaded the first batch of data to her minimed carelink account. I am sure there will be a future post on this.
The kids and I cleaned up after dinner and then went outside for a little bit. Kade practiced his batting and Liv removed and placed her crocs back on the wrong feet repeatedly. They love the new rubber mulch made from recycled tires under their playset and slide.
Looking forward to taking off from work on Friday and spending the day at Cedar Point with the kids. Who knows, I may just go camera-less.
Mom had an appointment this morning at Cleveland Clinic and I am glad to say she got good news. They also brought the kids back after their long weekend in Sandusky. Erika’s parents had them a couple of nights and then, my parents had them Sunday night. We are very grateful to have our parents so close and willing to watch the kids. One of these days I will have to write a post about all of the reasons to live in Cleveland.
After I got home from work, we had dinner together, the kids had their popcorn snack and then Nana and Papa headed back to Sandusky. It was good to hear a good report on the behavior of the kids for the weekend and it was nice to have the kids back home and it felt like they had changed or grown up a lot in the mere 3 days.
We finally had the opportunity to attend Rock-n-tot. Kade loves to dance at home, as does Liv, but he was a little leery of the whole dance party idea when I first told him we were going. After we got there and he warmed up, he showed some nice moves out on the floor. Liv loved it too. She did her head-bob-dance all over the place. I am going to have to youtube some of the moves.
Rock-n-tot is a monthly dance party that provides children up to the age of 12 a chance to get out on the town and dance. But it is a lot more than just music and dance. This month’s event was held at The Velvet Dog in the Warehouse District in downtown Cleveland and was held in the afternoon from 2-5. We had the pleasure of meeting the brains and brawn behind RnT, Naomi, who explained the concept how the whole event came to be. There are airbrush tattoo stations, complimentary snacks, magic shows, a story time area, a live band and a dj in a separate dance area. Liv freaked when we tried to get an airbrush tattoo applied, but other than that, the kids were well behaved. There are also nice features for the parents including mini-massages, paraffin wax dips and a nice environment to socialize with other parents. Nursing areas are also available and the club’s bathrooms are also equipped with changing stations.
We had a great time and by the time we left both kids were tired and sweaty from dancing. On our way out we were given a goody bag. We look forward to attending another one of the RnT events in the future, next time we will have to bring some friends along.
After a long Sunday of setting up the new playset, here is the results of our hard work.
It was a crazy day that started with Andy and I unpacking the swingset that they had purchased for Kade and Liv. Once we opened it all up, we could not find the hardware nor the instructions for assembly. After further inspection there were even more parts missing which made us throw in the towel. Erika and her Mother immediately got on the computer and phone trying to find out how to resolve the issue(s). It turns out the store that they bought it at in Sandusky told them to bring it back in for a full refund and they found a better set on sale up here in Cleveland. Andy, Kade and I were sent out to pick up the new set.
This new set was a lot heavier, but we loaded it up into Andy’s truck and brought it back to begin our assembly. Once unloaded, we carefully labeled parts and made sure that we had everything, which we did. It was about 11 a.m. at this point.
We took a break for lunch but other than that, we worked to complete the construction of this swingset. By 9:00 p.m. we were finished. Long day. Even though he still was not feeling 100%, Kade begged to stay up until we were finished so that he could swing and slide a couple times and he got his chance to do so even though it was almost too dark to see the smile on his face.
Since Sunday was all work and no play and the kids are feeling better after a week of being sick, I took the day off of work. Once they woke up, the kids wanted to get outside and play on their new toy, so that is just what we did.
Today was a rare day with nothing on the itinerary. Since it was a beautiful day (over 50 degrees with the sun shining) we decided to get outside for a little bit. We went to lunch, Kade would not have anything other than McDonald’s, oh well, sometimes it is not worth the fight. After lunch we decided to take a drive over to Beachwood and go to Preston’s H.O.P.E.. If you have children in or around Cleveland, this is a great place to go. It is free and open to the public and has so many things for the kids to enjoy.
The Inspiration for Preston’s H.O.P.E. came from very special friends and family of a little boy born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). They believed that if his dreams were to play in a park with all other kids, then there must be many, many other children with the same dream as well… they found out that there were over 26,000 kids in Cuyahoga County alone with some type of disability. Kids that wanted the opportunity to play with their brothers and sisters and their best friends… a place that was boundless. Many of these kids met one day and dreamed together the way Preston’s H.O.P.E. should be. A place where you could get up high, feel movement, play things you’ve never been able to, or just be quiet if you want. And that is how it all started.
View more photos from Preston’s Hope.
After Preston’s H.O.P.E. we headed back to South Euclid to see if our local ice creamery was open, The Dairy King. Well, we had no such luck. In fact, it does not look to promising to open anytime soon. So we drove down a little further to Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts. We got our ice cream and sat outside on the patio to eat it.
The kids, especially Kade, were very good. I think sunshine does effect people’s mood. Thank goodness the sun has come back out and it is starting to feel like Spring.
When kids shows bill themselves as Christian Cartoons you wouldn’t think that one of the characters would be a stereotypical mentally handicapped penguin, but have you seen 3-2-1 Penguins? We aren’t religious, but we have no problem with the kids watching shows like VeggieTales, however, 3-2-1 Penguins made me do a double take.
A few weeks ago the show came on after watching the morning news. The theme song started playing and it caught my attention. I watched as three characters were introduced… Zidgel, Midgel, Fidgel… then the mood took a turn and Keviiiiiiin was introduced. Watch it for yourself and tell me if it looks a little suspicious.
Kevin’s profile on the site:
KEVIN
Kevin is the ship’s … um, Kevin. No known use, but a special bird, nonetheless. He’s been known to “tidy up a bit” and, with Midgel’s permission, pretend to fly the ship. He may be clueless and often a bit behind, but make no mistake he’ll be there to answer the call of duty.
The worst thing is that the theme song and specifically, “Keviiiiiin”, is Kade’s favorite part of the show.
While attending one of the Chefin’ with Kids events at Bar Cento, Erika and I were made aware of a new family event here in Cleveland called Rock-n-Tot. Rock-n-Tot is a family event that opens up a night club in the day so that children can dance to DJ spun music with mom and dad. It seems like a great place to meet new friends for kids and parents alike.
We were not able to attend the first event since Erika was out of town and I did not feel up to being able to handle Kade and Liv by myself, so we are going to the next event which is Saturday, March 8th, 2008.
Here is a little more about Rock-n-Tot…
Rock-n-Tot . . . an “out on the town” experience for the whole family
~ ~ ~
Rock-n-Tot is here! An afternoon “out on the town” party for kids (through 12) and their parents or caregivers, Rock-n-Tot is a wholesome event for the whole family, adults and kids alike. Held on March 8 and April 12 from 2-5pm, Velvet Dog Nightclub will be transformed into a kid-friendly zone.The dj plays great adult music (clean lyrics!) and you’ll find complimentary face painting, airbrush tattoo artists, complimentary massages and other services for the adults, not to mention free juiceboxes and kid-appropriate snacks!
The founders of Rock-n-Tot have thought of everything – giveaways, nursing zones, changing stations, even an area to just get away from it all and rejuvenate with toys, books, puzzles and more.
Pre-walkers are admitted free, everyone else must have a ticket. $12/ticket, Cleveland.
For more info, or to purchase tickets: www.rock-n-tot.com
