ParentSphere

Recess Monkey Interview

Amy — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:13:44 +0000

On the third day of Kidzapalooza, (I like the way that sounds) I sat down in the shade with Drew, Daron and Jack of the Seattle family band, “Recess Monkey“. These three kindergarten teachers are really an awesome group of guys that play catchy tunes and have phenomenal dance skills. They can also tell a mean knock-knock joke or two. Check them out for yourselves:

Recess Monkey interview 8/8/10 from ParentSphere on Vimeo.

Watch for more Kidzapalooza footage soon, including interviews and live music!

Kidzapalooza 2010 preview: The Candy Band

Amy — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:46:18 +0000

Who can make you rock? The Candy Band can.

Seriously. I wish my mom would have been in a punk rock band when I was a kid. How cool would that have been?! Pretty cool, I think. I mean, it’s cool when your dad is in a band…but…YOUR MOM? Seriously freaking cool.

There’s just something that makes me smile from ear to ear when my one year old tries to scratch off my Alkaline Trio or Hot Water Music tattoos. Like, I know I’m a cool punk mom on so many levels. Other than having tattoos that show my dedication to a couple of my favorite bands, you wouldn’t be able to tell by my appearance but it runs in my blood. I just wish I was talented enough to be in a band.

Who’s in a punk rock band? YOUR MOM IS IN A PUNK ROCK BAND!!!

Ok, I think you get the picture. It’s obvious that I think The Candy Band is pretty freaking rad. I kinda want to be best friends with them. Check them out:

Even if you don’t have kids, you should come by Kidzapalooza this weekend and check them out…because you know you wish your mom was as cool as these moms.

The Candy Band performs twice this weekend at Kidzapalooza:

Friday, August 6th at 1:30 pm
Saturday, August 7th at 12:30 pm

Check out The Candy Band online here.

For daily updates on performances and activities, follow Kidzapalooza on Twitter

(The Candy Band image above is from The Candy Band website)

Kidzapalooza 2010 preview: School of Rock

Amy — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 04:12:35 +0000

For those about to rock: The Chicago School of Rock will be performing at Kidzapalooza this year.

Every town and every city should have a School of Rock. Music education is so important for kids. Have you ever watched The Heart Is a Drum Machine? We are music. It’s everywhere around us, all of the time.

School of Rock has 58 schools in 23 states across the nation. Their mission is to “inspire kids to rock on stage and in life.” The staff at School of Rock in Chicago consists of professional musicians (guitarists, drummers, voice instructors, bass players, etc.) who seek to teach and inspire our kids.

School of Rock will be performing twice at Kidzapalooza:

Friday, August 6th at 12:30 am
Sunday, August 8th at 11:30 am

If you want to learn more about the School of Rock (in Chicago) click here.

For daily updates on performances and activities, follow Kidzapalooza on Twitter

(The School of Rock logo and Chicago image above from the School of Rock website)

Kidzapalooza 2010 preview: The Happiness Club

Amy — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:08:21 +0000

The performance line-up for Kidzapalooza 2010 is pretty fantastic. I have spent some time checking out all of the bands and I’m stoked to highlight them all. Better yet, I’m stoked to have the chance to see them all this coming weekend at Grant Park in Chicago at Lollapalooza.

First on my list is Chicago’s very own, “The Happiness Club“. This group of young and talented Chicagoans has got the moves, the rhythm and the energy. They radiate positive vibes and inspiration wherever they perform.

Check out their performance of “So Hot”:

You can catch The Happiness Club performing twice at Kidzapalooza:

Friday, August 6th at 11:30 am
Saturday, August 7th at 3:00 pm
and also
Sunday, August 8th – Dance Exhibition at 3:00 pm

View the group’s performance calender here.

For daily updates on performances and activities, follow Kidzapalooza on Twitter

(The Happiness Club image from The Happiness Club website)

Rubbermaid Premier food storage containers

Amy — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:05:42 +0000

I recently posted a video review over at SheSpeaks for Rubbermaid Premier food storage containers. Check it out:

Rubbermaid Premier food storage

The Veggies Go Princess: Sweetpea Beauty

Amy — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:49:06 +0000

Even before my eldest daughter was just a twinkle in my eye, I liked these dorky vegetables with eyes, noses and mouths that can talk and sing. I find them really quite funny and adorable. I mean, have you seen Lord of the Beans?! How about Lessons from the Sock Drawer?! They’re pretty funny and educational and good, people. Each episode of VeggieTales contains a great moral message for the littles and that’s cool with me.

Sweetpea Beauty is VeggieTales take on the ever-so-popular princess classics, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Sweetpea is a fair maiden…er…rhubarb…er…maiden that can truly see the beauty in everything and everyone. Queen Blueberry is quite vain. Per the mirror’s advice (can’t have talking veggies without talking mirrors!), she banishes Sweetpea from the kingdom because she’s worried about Sweetpea’s “physical” beauty getting in the way of her ruling the land. Sweetpea knows better and is on a mission to save the insecure queen from the evil mirror! Here’s a sneak peek:

Sweetpea Beauty: A Girl after God’s Own Heart is really a delightful tale. Hats off to Big Idea for this one. Something every little girl (and boy, eh, why not?) should see.

We have 5 copies of this brand new DVD to give away.

To enter, leave your entry comment on this post. Tell us your favorite veggie (the kind that don’t talk or the kind that do!)

Second entry chance: Go “Like” VeggieTales and/or ParentSphere on Facebook. Come back and leave another comment on this post letting us know you like them or us…or both of us.

Third entry chance: Tweet this giveaway. Here is the link to this post that you should include in your Tweet: http://bit.ly/amsVSy

Tweet what you want, just make sure it’s nice (because we like nice). Come back and leave another comment on this post including the direct link to your Tweet.

This giveaway is open to residents of the continental US and chances to enter will end on Thursday, August 5th at midnight PST. 5 winners will be randomly drawn from the comment section of this post and notified via email, Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page. Good luck and enjoy!

Jamba Juice in my freezer

Amy — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:14:52 +0000

My favorite smoothie place just came out with their very own frozen, at-home version. Things like this make me happy.

Jamba All Natural Smoothies

Add 8 0z. of apple juice and blend away. Each pack contains enough fruit for 2 – 8 oz. smoothies.

No artificial flavors, no artificial colors and no preservatives. Just a full serving of fruit, non-fat yogurt and Jamba’s antioxidant boost.

I love ‘em. The kids love ‘em. You can get them at these places.

By the way, have you heard about the new cheeseburger chill smoothie at Jamba Juice? Mmm. Mmm. Mmm!

SecuraTrac and Disney World

Amy — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 03:29:07 +0000

In May, I wrote about SecuraTrac, a company that specializes in GPS tracking. In June, I had the opportunity to put the SecuraPal to test – at Walt Disney World.

Before leaving for our trip, I signed into my account on the SecuraTrac website and created “fences” for the areas my family and I would be visiting while in Florida. SecuraFences are safety zones that you configure within your account. You can create an unlimited number of fences; for instance, I created a separate fence for each of the Disney World parks we visited. When you activate a fence, your SecuraPal will send you text and/or email alerts when the person carrying it goes outside of the area you created.

The SecuraPal (GPS tracking device) is small and comes with a case. It was easy to attach the device to my preschooler either by stringing her belt through it, hanging it from a belt loop with a hook or sticking it in one of her pockets. There were many occasions where I lost sight of her in the parks. Have you been to Disney World? It’s quite easy to lose sight of people. She wanted to be right next to her cousin the entire time, not her parents.

(From your account dashboard, you can see the SecuraPal’s exact location in 5, 15, 30 or 60 minute increments)

Honestly, it eased my mind a little knowing that if something should happen to separate us, she could press a button to alert us (triggering an alert via text message and/or email to one or multiple assigned contacts). We would also be alerted if she was “outside of the fence” we previously created and activated online. We could check our SecuraTrac account from the iPhone and pinpoint her location. Knowing that we were being proactive in finding her, helped me to not worry so much. We were fortunate that no one in our group got lost, though, the peace of mind that this little device gave me was priceless.

There are many ways you can put this kind of technology to use. Chris Holbert, SecuraTrac’s founder, suggested giving it to your teenager before he or she leaves the house. Who’s the cool kid that doesn’t have to check in with mom and dad? Attach it to your dog’s collar before he goes out to “do business”. Does he bolt, like our family dog? You can find him easy enough now.

Stick it in the stroller when Grandma or the nanny takes the kids for a walk to the park. I know right where they are and when they’re coming back. Have a tween that likes to go to the movies with friends? Stick it in her purse before she leaves the house.

If it’s not already obvious, I think this is an awesome product and service and completely endorse it.

Kidzapalooza Chicago is one week away!

Amy — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:14:21 +0000

Alright. It’s about time we get a post up that is music-related. This family loves music, so we should be talking about it WAY more than we do. I suppose I should speak for myself because the hubs is always talking about music on his blog. I have a very good reason to talk music at ParentSphere right now and that is because Kidzapalooza is only a week away.

In case you really don’t know…Kidzapalooza is part of Lollapalooza. You’ve surely heard of Lollapalooza, right? If you haven’t, where the heck have you been?! Lolla was founded by Perry Farrell and has been around since 1991. It was the first, huge outdoor music festival that I attended and that was way back in 1995, when the festival was still touring the country. Since 2005, Lollapalooza graces its presence in one city each summer and lucky enough for me, that city happens to be Chicago.

I took the preschooler to Kidzapalooza in 2008 and we caught one of our favorite kid acts, The Terrible Twos (Matt from The Get Up Kids/New Amsterdams). Here’s a video from their performance:

It was Kidza that rekindled my love for Lolla (are you getting confused yet?). How many of us can say that we attended our first big outdoor music festival twice before we were 5 years old? My kid can.

Anyway, we’re stoked. We’ll be there on Sunday the 8th. We’re thrilled to feature Recess Monkey here on ParentSphere. We’ll be dancing with them, singing with them and interviewing them in just over a week. We’re equally as stoked to finally catch Dan Zanes. He’s been a favorite for a long, long time around here.

Here is the 2010 Kidzapalooza line-up for all three days:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6th
11:30–11:55 12:30–12:55 1:30–1:55 2:30–2:55 3:15–3:45 3:45–4:00 4:00–4:30	The Happiness Club School of Rock The Candy Band Tim and the Space Cadets Rocknoceros Ed Kowalczyk Recess Monkey
SATURDAY, AUGUST 7th
11:30–11:55 12:30–12:55 1:30–1:55 2:30–2:55 3:00–3:25 3:45–4:10 4:15–4:35	Tim and the Space Cadets The Candy Band Rocknoceros The Verve Pipe The Happiness Club Dan Zanes and The Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys
SUNDAY, AUGUST 8th
11:30–11:55 12:30–12:55 1:30–1:55 2:30–2:55 3:15–3:40 3:45–4:00 4:00–4:15 4:30–5:00	School of Rock The Q Brothers Recess Monkey Dan Zanes and The Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra Peter DiStefano & Tor thenewno2 Perry Farrell The Verve Pipe

Give us a shout if you’re planning on attending the festival and would like to guest post your review(s) here!

The summer vacation high

Amy — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:40:12 +0000

Sunset over Manitowish Lake, Manitowish Waters, WI

It’s already the end of July. This is right about the time during summer when I feel like we’re over the hump and heading quickly toward Fall. I can sense it in the air. I’ve been living it up for the majority of the summer and now that I’ve survived seven flights since May (four of those with kids) and 25+ hours in the car traveling to and from neighboring states, I’m ready to relax. I’m ready to stop living out of suitcases for a while and get some cleaning and organization done in my house (and my head).

There really is so much to talk about; from how I managed to do all of this traveling with kids and stay sane to the awesome products I’ve come to know and love that were so helpful to me on my travels. I feel like I’ve got some good experience under my belt now after spending some time in the Caribbean, Disney World and in the north woods with a one year old and a four year old. Even though it was quite hectic at times, I was able to ensure we also had a very enjoyable time on our adventures.

In the coming weeks, I plan on showcasing more of the products that we got some good use out of and revisiting some of the products from companies I’ve already talked about, like SecuraTrac, Little Honey, and butt-ums up baby to name a few. I’m also looking forward to sharing my ideas on summer travel with the family.

So, what have you done this summer? Have you stayed close to home or adventured out into unknown lands? I’d love to hear some of your do’s and don’ ts for traveling with kids.

Hope you’re all having a fabulous summer so far!