The Intersection of Design & Motherhood
Knock Knock carries clever things. I like these bingo cards to entertain kids at a restaurant.
Do you eat out with your kids? What are your favorite kid distractions/entertainment while your wait for your food?
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New to Design Mom? Here are 10 posts to get you started:
What to Wear To Middle School
Napoleon Dynamite
Our Birth Announcements
Potato Print Clothing
Having Another Child
Young Einstein Birthday Party
Little Red LightHouse Outing
Porch Makeover
Waving Goodbye To The Atlantic Ocean
Build Two Toddler Beds for $75
Pimp My Ride: Family Edition
We love coming up with fun valentines to make and give. Here are some of our favorites (many are candy free!):
3-D Lollipop Valentines - Easy! And a big hit. Try it with crazy straws or pencils too.
Fortune Teller Valentines - with free printable!
You Blow Me Away, Valentine! - Everyone loves party blowers. : )
Wild Animal Valentines - Family Fun Magazine requested my idea for their latest issue.
Mad Lib Valentines - Family Fun requested this idea too!
Friendship Bracelet Valentines
And here are a few more ideas I've featured over the years that I bet you'll love:
- Fresh Fruit Valentines
- Color Theory Valentines
- DIY Scratch Off Valentines
- Shaving Cream Valentines
- Mini Valentine Boxes
Here's something fun. Our family was featured in an episode of House Hunters International! Spoiler: we choose the gorgeous French Farmhouse. It's called La Cressonnière and we take pictures of it all the time. If you're curious, try these links:
The Kitchen
Summer at La Cressonnière
The Halfbath
The Stairwell
The Neighbors
Ralph's Bedroom
The Studio
Springtime at La Cressonnière
The Living Room
Maude's Bedroom
The Artists
Oscar & Betty's Bedroom
The Exterior
The Floors
Olive's Bedroom
The Treehouse
The House: La Cressonnière
I hope you enjoy the house tour! Oh. And if you'd like to see the episode, you can find it on Youtube here (it's in four parts).
I write a weekly column called Inspiration Scout on Cafémom. Find new posts on Thursdays.
I write a daily post (Monday through Friday) for Babble's Family Style blog.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
We do eat out with our 8-yr-old daughter. She loves to play endless games of hangman!
I love those cards. We don’t eat out as much now, for a variety of reasons, but we still do on occasion with the whole family. It’s fun, we usually color, do word searches & talk about the day.
My kids like Wiki Sticks. I keep a pack in my purse for restaurant trips.
We’ve never limited our dining experiences just because we had kids. We taught them from a very early age what was appropriate behavior in a restaurant. But kids do tend to get bored and before we had nifty things like iPhones, we would play I Spy or TicTacToe on the napkins.
We have a two year old, so I bring stickers, coloring supplies and a book or two to help keep her occupied.
Awesome! We’re attempting our first dinner out with all 3 kids tonight…yikes.
We take our 18 month old out every Sunday for breakfast. We go to the same place every week (Em’s in Salt Lake City – yummy!) It is hit or miss but I am determined to get him to eat in a restaurant. I read in some parenting magazine somewhere that if you can teach your kid to use the toilet you can teach them to behave in a restaurant. The iphone, sticker books and sugar packets are all my friends.
I learned this from another mom and plan to use it for my baby. If you’ve ever been to a diner you know that they use paper placemats with advertisements on them. She would have her kids try to find all of one letter (for example A’s) in 1 minute and the winner had to choose the next letter! Her kids loved it so much and it stuck with them that they still play it to this day and they’re entering teen or are already teens! They taught me how to play it! =)
We advocate a healthy diet at home but when we eat out at a restaurant with a little one we order a dessert with our child’s meal. The fact that the dessert is sitting in front of them seems to keep them patient long enough for my husband and I to finish our meals.
My husband used to draw really detailed pictures for them. We’ve kept them and now have a lovely collection. Also, we didn’t take them out when they were tired or hungry or sick. Sometimes one would eat while the other would take the toddler for a short walk.
We don’t go out as often as we used to, but we take our daughter with us when we do. We try to go with friends so the adults and kids have company. But there’s always a coloring book and the handy iPhone for company.