The summer is almost over and kids are headed back to school, but there are still some fun activities to do on the weekends! Happy Back-t0-School!
Watch the video here.
The theme for Theo’s 8th birthday party was pretty unique. Our local Utah Children’s Theater holds a Shakespeare Festival for kids every year, and this festival happened to occur right at the same time as Theo’s birthday. We had to take advantage!
As part of the theater, they have a private room where you can hold parties. They offered a “Breakfast with Shakespeare” party where they served made-to-order waffles so we had an early morning birthday party!
We baked our own birthday cakes this year — something I hadn’t done since his 1st birthday! We used a regular waffle iron and cooked many layers of cake batter “waffles.” Then we frosted them one on top of the other until they were cake-shaped. We ended up with three different cake flavors: chocolate, strawberry, and funfetti!
After the breakfast/eating waffles portion of the party, the kids were treated to a special abridged Shakespeare performance. It was quite funny and the kids were all well-behaved in their theater seats.
For the party favors, I wanted to emphasize the literary theme of the Shakespeare party, so we gave each child a small notebook and personalized bookmark. It had a great Shakespeare quote, “I count myself in nothing else so happy as in a soul remembering my good friends.” Months later, I was volunteering in Theo’s classroom and saw that one of his classmates was reading a book using his bookmark from the party! I was so happy to see it.
Here are the topics that I mentioned on the air today. You can watch the video here.
You can watch the video here!
One of my main goals as a parent is to raise Theo to be an ally for LGBTQ+ issues. Theo’s uncle (my brother) is gay and married, and having two uncles is normal for Theo. He also has classmates and friends at school with two moms and two dads, so it’s just a part of regular life for him. One way to show our support to this community is to attend the annual Utah Pride Festival which is now in its 41st year!
The image above (from the Pride Festival’s Facebook page) includes a lot of the information that is relevant to families and kids, but one event I want to highlight is a Children’s Book Reading to be held on Saturday, June 4th from 3-5pm. Storytellers from The King’s English Bookshop will be reading picture book favorites at the Library Outdoor Amphitheater at Library Square during this time.
Bring your family and have some fun this weekend! Remember that kids 10 and under are free with an adult, and adults can buy their tickets to the Festival here.
Here are the topics that I mentioned on today’s segment:
Granger High School
3580 South 3600 West
West Valley, UT
(NOTE: This is a different location than the one I mentioned on the segment)
To watch the video, click here.
On today’s segment, I discussed three performances that kids will love:
Watch the segment here!
Happy Spring! Here are the topics I mentioned on TV today.
These are also some fun activities happening this month that I didn’t have time to mention on air:
To see the video, click on this link.
Courtesy of The Salt Lake Tribune
As I type this, I’m looking out my windows into a haze of nondescript gray haze. It looks much like the photo above of the Utah State Capitol, which is at the same elevation as where I live.
I downloaded the Utah Air app for my phone and watch with increasing dismay at the hazardous levels of air quality in our city. Theo’s school is keeping kids inside for recess during the day. I have a scratch in my throat and congestion that I fear is due to the conditions outside rather than a virus. It’s sad to say that it’s come to this, but I’ve started to do a little research about face masks, especially for kids.
Here are a few choices I’ve discovered:
I think there’s definitely a trade-off between what a kid (or adult, for that matter) will actually wear vs. the effectiveness of the mask.
Of course, getting a mask at all is just putting a short-term Band-aid on the overall problem of our poor air quality. During days like these when the air is literally in our face and we can’t ignore it, consider learning more about groups like Utah Moms for Clean Air who are working towards a healthier environment for all of us.
Adventures with Theo 