The 413 Mom

Happy Halloween! Hope you had a spooktacular day!

So grateful that our elementary school celebrates Halloween with a pumpkin carving activity and an old-fashioned costume parade. Makes our holiday so special. Our neighborhood also wins at Halloween every year with amazing decorations and elaborate haunted houses. #pubilcschoolproud #community #halloweenwin

Trick or Treat....Smell My Feet...Give Me Something Good to Eat!

Do you let your kiddos trick or treat alone? My girls are still too young. However, I don't think I will ever let them go alone because I love, love, love walking around the neighborhood and visiting with everyone. I love the sense of community on Halloween night. However you handle the big night, here are a few trick or treat tips from our friends at Ira Toytoa in Tewksbury: 

Simple, no cost, last minute Halloween costume ideas #simplify #betterwesternmass

Remember the good ol' days when Halloween costumes were simple, homemade, and didn't have to be Pinterest-worthy? (Like Eden's Underdog ensemble shown here). Sigh. Me too. We were talking all about simple, FREE, environmentally-friendly costume options today on Western Mass News. If your kid hasn't insisted they need a heavily-marketed store option yet, you can check out our ideas in this clip. #halloweencountdown #diycostumes

Road Trip Worthy: Pumpkintown USA (East Hampton, CT)

If you're looking for a fun and festive fall field trip, where you won't have to worry about the skittish ones getting scared -- set the GPS for Pumpkintown USA located on Route 66 in East Hampton, CT. 

Pumpkintown is just what it sounds like -- a little village made up of over 70 pumpkin heads. There is nothing scary or gory, just fun 'day in the life' scenes. Kids can freely explore the little houses and scenes in a fenced in area including a fire house, barber shop, fast food restaurant, church, and others. Some of the houses have interactive elements such as the fire house where kids can clamor through a simple maze and end up at a little fire pole they can slide down.

My girls' favorite activity was the Pumpkintown Post Office, where you can actually send a post card postmarked from Pumpkintown USA. (Stamped post cards can be purchased in the harvest shop for $.75). There is also a kids' hay maze and tire bounce area (bouncing around on inflated inner tubes) included in the village admission. Although Eden, 9, had a great time, Pumpkintown is really geared toward the littlest set -- some of the activities are for those under 54" in height. 

Heading to Pumpkintown on a weekday is an absolute steal -- admission is only $2/person. On weekends, the price goes up to $6/person. The weekend fare includes some additional activities such as face painting, a bounce house, and a sling shot game. There is also a mile-long wagon ride you can purchase for $7/person any day of the week. The ride takes you through the forest across the street from Pumkintown to see additional pumpkiny scenes. 

The Pumpkintown area is quite small so it is easy to keep an eye on more than one kid at a time. On the other hand, I can imagine it gets pretty crowded on weekends. If your little one gets overwhelmed easily, it is probably best to make the trip on a weekday. There are tons of cute photo opps scattered throughout the site, not only the pumpkin displays, but lots of wooden cutouts that kids can stick their heads through and become part of the scene. There is also a farm stand and harvest shop on site where you can purchase apples, pumpkins, corn on the cob, and other local delights. 

Pumpkintown USA is located at Paul's and Sandy's Too, 93 East High St., East Hampton, CT -- just about 45 minutes from the lower Pioneer Valley. It is open daily from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (weather permitting), through Halloween. 

 

Memorial Day Weekend Discounts for Military Families!

• The Blue Star Museums program will start up once again on Memorial Day and run through Labor Day. This National Endowment for the Arts program grants FREE admission to all active duty personnel (including National Guard and Reserves) and their families to over 2,000 museums nationwide. All you have to do is show your current proof of service ID and the active duty member and up to five family members are admitted for FREE. The best part is that the family members can include parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and of course spouse and children. It's important to note that the active duty service member does not have to be present in order for the family to be granted free admission. Some of the local venues include the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Springfield Museums, EcoTarium, the Mass Audubon wildlife sanctuaries and so many more! You can find out more about the program here. 
• Canobie Lake Park (Salem, NH): Active US Military, veterans and dependents (with ID) granted $10 admission May 27-29. Everyone age 12 and over must have their own ID. 
• Connecticut Science Center (Hartford, CT): FREE admission  to all active, reserve, and retired military, fire, police, state troopers, and EMS personnel (with ID). Accompanying family members admitted for half price. May 27-28. 
• The Dinosaur Place (Montville, CT): FREE admission to all members of the military with a military ID or proof of service. Guests of military members receive 10% off their admission. May 27-29. 
• Edaville Family Theme Park (Carver, MA): FREE admission to all military members, immediate family members receive 50% off full priced admission with a valid ID at the gate only. May 27-29. 
• Interskate 91 (Springfield): FREE admission for military families (with ID), May 29, 1-5 p.m.
• Mystic Aquarium (Mystic, CT): FREE admission for active and retired military personnel May 27-29 (with ID). Discounted rates for family members with ID. 

 

How are your meatless Fridays going? Find Lenten dinner inspiration here....

Need some Lenten dinner inspiration? Especially after a long week when you'd still like to honor meatless Friday but haven't got the energy to cook. Here are some easy take out options that will wash away any thoughts of tuna noodle casserole. (Does anyone even suffer through that meal anymore??):

Did you know Big Y has fish & chips every day? Actually, they have a huge variety of fried seafood options that they will cook-to-order in canola order, with zero trans fats. You can choose an individual plate of haddock, or a family size Fisherman's Platter, and many options in between. You can even substitute sweet potato fries for a small fee. The Fish and Chips and Other Fare menu is available for pick up at all Big Y locations except Longmeadow and Adams. 

If fried seafood is not your thing, Big Y also offers prepared steamed seafood meals ready for pick up in including salmon, crab cakes, and stuffed haddock. Not to mention their ginormous seafood department where you could pretty much pick out any any type of fish filet, steamers, mussels, lobster, or even sushi to prepare at home. Actually -- if you don't want to, let's say add any aroma to your kitchen -- Big Y will even steam your choice on site for FREE! 

Maybe the kids are not thrilled about seafood Friday? Order them a cheese pizza or vegetarian pizza from Big Y as well and make only one stop to pick up dinner. No cooking after a long week. All you have to do is serve and clean up afterward. Let the weekend begin!

Doesn't get any easier than that. Sorry, Grandma, no more tuna noodle casserole here. 

Photos courtesy Big Y

Lenten Project Ideas #lent2017 #giveback #raisethemup

Lent is upon us once again. No scrambling for unique ideas for how to make the season meaningful for the whole family this year. I've searched around the blogosphere for some of the best and easiest to implement Lenten projects out there. Here's a round up of some of my favorites:

 Create a Lenten Acts of Service Jar (Not Consumed): 

 

Create a Lenten Prayer Chain with 40 links (Free Kids Crafts):

 

Participate in the 40 Days 40 Bags Challenge (White House Black Shutters) and donate the items to a local charity:

 

Participate in 40 Cans for Lent (40 Cans For Lent) and donate to a local food pantry:

 

Practice the Jelly Bean Prayer (Mama Jenn):

 

Print and follow a Lenten Calendar (Autom):

 

Instead of "Giving Up" a particular item, give through a Lent Collection project (Calderwood Baptist Church) and donate the items to a local organization: 

 

I love these Odd Lent Lessons for Students (Youth Specialties): 

 

How does your family honor the Lenten season? I'd love to hear your ideas too. However you choose to honor the season I hope it brings your family closer together. 

 

Keeping the kids entertained so you can enjoy the Big Game #supersunday #supereasy

While Super Sunday parties may be super fun for us adults, it can be a total bummer when the kids are not so into the game and are constantly interrupting the show. I've hunted down a few tips to help keep them occupied and well fed so that they'll be on their best behavior.

Visit yescoloring  for a FREE printable Patriot's coloring page:

Or PlayPartyPlan for a FREE printable Super Bowl Commercial BINGO card:

 

I love this game idea from Play PartyPlan -- all you need is some tape, a piece of black poster board, a foam football, and some chalk: 

Don't underestimate the entertainment value of Patriots-themed partyware to make the kids feel included. Big Y has a great selection:

   

Let them use the cups to hold their snacks (less spills than balancing a paper plate) and set up a juice box and water bottle drink station where they can help themselves. 

Depending on how many kids will be hanging at your house, consider getting them their very own big game sandwich -- without the peppers, onions, tomatoes, or whatever else they'll fuss about and want to pick off. Big Y's giant 30" In-Vince-Ible Sandwich, which you can custom order with meats and cheeses is only $10.99. If you would like one for a Sunday party, you can call ASAP to custom order. Order your favorite adult version in addition to a kid-pallet-friendly simple sandwich. 

Same goes for the pizza. Big Y's party-size, baked fresh in-store pizza starts at $19.99 for plain cheese. Less than $20 for 40 slices. Cannot beat that price. (Each additional topping is $2.50). Order up a plain cheese for the kiddos and go wild with the toppings for yourself (pepperoni, mushrooms, red and green peppers, black olives, ground beef, and sweet sausage are all options). If you are ordering for Sunday, plan at least an hour's notice. 

The bummer about a Sunday night football party is that it's a school night/work night and you've got to do the cleanup in advance of an early wake-up. Prepared foods go a long way in reducing the kitchen mess. In addition to the pizza and grinders, Big Y is also offering prepared platters for wings, nuggets or tenders, ciabatta sandwiches, wraps, cheese and deli platters, and pasta and meatball combos. This looks like an amazing deal:

Not to mention all of their amazing desserts. Did you even see the Tom Brady jersey pull-apart cupcake creation they will have in store this weekend?

Unfortunately, with the food allergies in this house, the cupcake platter is out. However, I will be trying my hand at these super simple touches for dessert:

   
And of course, don't forget to dress the kiddos in their pajamas whether you are headed to or hosting a party -- if they fall asleep you have a better chance of plopping them in bed without waking. Better yet, make it a pajama party all around and then everyone's already got their elastic waistbands on to make room for all of the noshing.

Wishing you a super Super Simple Super Sunday!

I'm Not Taking it Down!

Any other holdouts? 

This is the longest I've ever kept the tree up. (She's a fake, you see, so there are no needles dropping). 

I just don't want to take it down. I don't want that dark corner in the living room. I don't want the Christmas feeling to fade. 

In past years I've been anxious to get the Christmas decorations packed away because I "needed the space." I couldn't stand the clutter after December 31 or so. 

However, this year I've made so much progress on clearing out the clutter. Not just in the house but in life. Our Christmas season was so fun and simple. We said 'no' to several long-standing commitments that were no longer working for us. I scaled back the decorations. I've gotten a lot better at intentional gift giving. Before I buy something I stop and question "where is this going to live in the house?" 

Yes, a lot of new items came into our living space this Christmas season but as we simplify we're in a continuous process of deciding which items we can do without. I was housebound with a sick kid today so another bag of donation items made it's way to my car trunk. I cleaned out two drawers and filled a recycle bin. 

Getting organized is not a one time thing -- it's an ongoing process. But once you get the hang of it you'll find it leads to so much more space in your life. Space for things you really love. Like keeping the spirit of Christmas alive for as long as you'd like and not feeling like you have to pack it away just to make space. Because you've already committed to making all the space you need. 

I feel like our beautiful little tree is testament to how much progress we made in 2016 in focusing on how we want our space and lives to be. I want that testament to glow a little longer. There was even some discussion at dinner the other night about decorating it with some paper hearts. That we could make together. With the time we've made in life for each other, instead of what other people might want us to do. So, we'll see. I think it could look cute with Easter eggs too. #familyfirst #priorities #cleartheclutter

LOVE!