Ideas + Advice for Families – Page 11 – Tiny Oranges | OC Mom Blog | Inspiring moms with juicy ideas for sweeter family living

Personalized Board Books – New Title from I See Me!

* Disclosure – we were lucky enough to receive a sample book from I See Me! to facilitate this review *

We have been VERY big fans of the personalized children’s books from I See Me! for a loooooong time. In fact, Jennifer highlighted their products in a post back in 2008 when Tiny Oranges was just getting started… see the post here!

They are always my go-to gift for a cute, personalized gift for a baby shower, new baby or a little one’s birthday. I am a big believer in practical gifts (and who doesn’t love a personalized gift?!) and when you combine that with reading?? WIN. There are tons of titles to choose from and each page has the child’s name not only in the text, but in some of the pictures as well.

I See Me recently debuted a new title to add to their collection – It’s my NIGHT NIGHT Time! personalized board book. My little guy just LOVES his new book… “It’s GAVIN’s NIGHT NIGHT Time!” We are GIVING AWAY one below! make sure to enter!

Heartlake City Opens at LEGOLAND!

Disclosure: My family was invited to attend LEGOLAND California to preview the new Heartlake City LEGOLAND opening.

Heartlake City opened last week at LEGOLAND California and LEGO Friends fans will be delighted with this sweet new addition to the theme park!

My girls and I had the opportunity to preview the new Heartlake City, located on the west side of the Park in between Fairy Tale Brook and DUPLO Village.

When we entered the Heartlake City gate we were greeted by Olivia, Emma, Stephanie, Andrea and Mia singing LIVE on the Friends Forever Stage, which rotates to provide different backdrops for the 5 – 6 different live shows per day.

Adorable Teacher Gift Ideas

Okay mamas, we’re in the home stretch. You know what I’m talking about. The beloved tradition of counting down the number of schools days left until…SUMMER! We.are.so.close. And it’s not too early to start thinking about teacher gift ideas for the end of the year. Because if you think we’re tired…they have to be exhausted!!! Let’s show them our love and appreciation.

Recently our “Thanks for Helping Me Grow” end of the year succulent gift was featured in a round up of DIY Thank You Gifts for Teachers, so check out those cute ideas, and here are some more adorable end of year teacher gift ideas to celebrate your child’s teachers this year!

An Important Skill to Practice This Summer!

My daughter is currently in 3rd grade and going through state testing at school. For the first time in California’s history, the online assessments to measure how well students are doing on curriculum aligned with the Common Core are done on a computer, where students are expected to type on a keyboard and navigate the online test.

There was a practice test online that she showed me and although I knew the test was taken on the computer, I was shocked when I realized she had to TYPE in some of her answers!

Now, I know this is a totally different day and age, but I didn’t even learn to type until 7th grade, and here my 3rd grader is typing answers in on a keyboard! Crazy!

When I voiced my surprise at what 3rd graders were expected to be able to do on a keyboard to a teacher friend of mine, she said,

“That’s why the best thing you can do for you kids over the summer is have them type, type, type!”

What’s in a name?

Choosing a baby name is one of the most important decisions you will make for your new little one. Baby names are a huge deal, for example, millions waited to hear what the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would name their new baby girl (no pressure!) – and I for one, absolutely love the name they picked…Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. Certainly fit for a princess!

Which leads me to my next question – what’s in a name? How do you choose a baby name? There are so many decisions that go into picking a moniker for your child, and sometimes it can be a bit more complicated than just picking up a baby name book.

What if you and your partner can’t agree? Are there family names to take into consideration? Do you like all variations of the nicknames? Do you tell people the name you’ve chosen before the baby is born…or after? Wow! Lots to think about, right??

Agreeing on a baby name

Let’s tackle the first, and perhaps most obvious, challenge – both you and your partner should love (at least like?) the name. Oh boy (or girl)!

I’ve had my baby names picked out since I was a kid – yes, seriously. Especially my girl name – Elizabeth. My mom loves to tell that story that I named every doll I ever owned “Elizabeth” my whole childhood. And when my husband and I got married, he knew that if we ever had a girl, it would be our Elizabeth (Thankfully he loved the name too, and it happened to be a family name on his side. Win-win!).

Here’s the deal we made……..