mom blogs | best mom blogs | preschool kids

raise money for your child’s school…

A woman I recently met and had the pleasure of chatting with asked me if there was some way I could help raise money for her child’s preschool/elementary school. My response was an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

I like to believe teachers are eternal optimists, believing in the potential and promise of all the students under their care. They teach addition and subtraction to the future actuaries, how to read and spell to the future writers and authors, the golden rule to the future leaders of our country.

Central to my mission is to nurture children’s dreams, nourish happy minds, and inspire a love of reading and discovery in children. Anything I can do to help further teachers’ and schools’ missions of nurturing the potential of children, I will do without hesitation.

With this woman’s children’s school, I suggested an Author Visit via Skype (hugely popular nowadays, with over 17,000 teachers signed up on Skype In The Classroom) so kids can learn and ask an author questions, coupled with a portion of all book sales going to the school.

Would you like me to help you raise money for your child’s school?

Let me know if I can help… ~YiShaun

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by YiShaun on October 17, 2011 · 0 comments | in activities, educational, for kids, ideas and inspiration, shine your light

bright kids rooms…

Growing up, I had white furniture against a white wall next to a white dresser and a white desk. Even though the trend now is apparently to have “pale rooms, sucked free of distracting reds, blues and yellows,” I think you can add so much more whimsy to a child’s room with bright bursts of color.

What kind of kids rooms do you like to see?

I love the little airplane hanging from the ceiling. What a great way to spark your child’s imagination… ~YiShaun

{via Babble}

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by YiShaun on October 14, 2011 · 0 comments | in design, for kids, ideas and inspiration, lifestyle, rooms

easy infant Halloween costume ideas…

These easy but very American Halloween costumes for babies are so cute and funny. To conjure up some American folklore, why not dress your baby up as Paul Bunyan? Find a blue stuffed animal to tuck under your baby’s arm to serve as your little lumberjack’s blue ox sidekick.

Or, to recall American patriotism back during World War II, dress up your little lady as Rosie the Riveter. Teach her how to flex her right arm. She’ll be a hit as you take her and her baby bicep door to door.

What are you dressing your kids up as this Halloween? What are some cute and funny Halloween ideas you’ve seen?

I can’t wait to see all the creative Halloween costumes that come parading by in a couple weeks… ~YiShaun

{via Parenting.com}

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by YiShaun on October 13, 2011 · 0 comments | in clothes, for babies, ideas and inspiration

cobra weave exploding sticks…

Have some time with your little ones and a lot of popsicle sticks? Try to create a cobra weave chain reaction with these Instructables instructions.

Somehow, by interlacing the popsicle sticks together like that, there’s just enough tension so that when it’s released, the chain “explodes” while looking like a cobra with an arched back. I am very impressed by this family’s amazing feat of using 1000 popsicle sticks for their cobra weave exploding chain reaction. I wonder how long it took them??

I love how excited the kids are, and I’m sure that this family activity will be a cherished family memory for years to come… ~YiShaun

{via The Kid Should See This}

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by YiShaun on October 12, 2011 · 0 comments | in activities, creating cherished family memories, for kids

kids book | On The Farm…

This is my first foray into creating a video narrating my entire book and uploading it onto Youtube to share with the interweb world. Writing 8 rhyming children’s books has been an amazing creative journey, and I’ve learned so much over the past year!

Do you have any questions I can help with? It can be on writing a children’s book, entrepreneurship, how to make a simple video…

The book I’m narrating in this video is the AdoraPet’s Pima Puppy and Pico Puppy On The Farm book. Living in Manhattan, I know how rare of a chance it is to be able to go visit a farm if you don’t live anywhere near one. I grew up in Southern California, where we’d drive by farms just driving down the 101 Freeway. Actually seeing the food you eat coming out of the ground is a pretty amazing sight, and I hope this book is a nice introduction for your little ones on where some of the foods they eat come from… ~YiShaun

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by YiShaun on October 11, 2011 · 0 comments | in a is for adorapet, b is for business, c is for children, children's books, food, for kids, hi, i'm yishaun

get ready for school checklist…

There have been big changes happening here at AdoraPet. I’m so excited to share with you that I received the advance review copies of all 8 AdoraPet children’s books! I know I’m biased, but I think the books are so cute. I can’t wait for you to see them and share them with your kids!

I’ve been updating the website and blog for the last couple weeks and transferring them over to a new server, so things have been spotty… That’s why I’ve been MIA for the last couple of weeks: I couldn’t log into my account! But I think I have all the kinks worked out now for the most part…

During this time, I’ve been busy thinking up all sorts of goodies for you to share with your family. Drum roll please… My first printable gift for all you AdoraPet Insiders out there: a Get Ready for School with Pima Puppy and Pico Puppy checklist!

When you sign up on our mailing list, you’ll get a link to a full-size, 8.5″x11″ checklist that you can download for free just because we love you for loving us. And to show just how much we love you, when you sign up, you’re automatically entered into our Free-Book-A-Day giveaway, where I randomly pick one of our mailing subscribers each day for the rest of 2011 and send the winner a free book! Oh, and did I mention that you also get a coupon code and a chance to win a $100 Barnes & Noble gift card also? Yes, we love you lots.

I got this email from a mom who shared our checklist with her kids: ”We looked over each item and talked about it. And my 4 year old started making his bed because of it! He never used to make his bed before and when we were going over the checklist and I said that Pima Puppy is making her bed, he asked me what that meant and asked me to show him, so I did. So he’s been making his bed ever since! My sons loved the pictures and they liked that they can relate to it and it’s things they can do themselves! I am glad too that my 4 year old is making his bed AND his little brother’s bed…” -Andreea A., Colorado

That email seriously made my day. I love how kids love learning and mastering new things. All we have to do is show them how.

If you were to win our Free-Book-A-Day giveaway, which book would you pick? ~YiShaun

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by YiShaun on October 10, 2011 · 0 comments | in a is for adorapet, b is for business, c is for children, activities, for kids, lifestyle

storage with a twist…

Living in our little shoe box in the sky in Manhattan, creative space and storage ideas become even more important. I loved this DIY idea I found from Centsational Girl where you use garden planters as little storage nooks for kids’ books and toys.

How do you store your kids’ books and toys? I’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions!

Storing upward like that due to little space kind of reminds me of Manhattan and how homes are built upward because of little space… ~YiShaun

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by YiShaun on September 23, 2011 · 3 comments | in design, for kids, ideas and inspiration, rooms

with a twist…

The Alphabet 2 from n9ve on Vimeo.

I saw this very quirky video from Italian director/producer/designer, Alessandro Novelli, that is a play off of the traditional A is for apple, B is for bike, C is for cat… lessons we teach kids.

What do you think of this video? Is this something you’ll show your kids?

I give this video a Q for quirky… ~YiShaun

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by YiShaun on September 22, 2011 · 0 comments | in design, ideas and inspiration, to watch

wear this, dress baby in that…

Now that the weather is cooler, and I just found My Maya Made, a woman who makes handmade knits for both women and babies, I thought it would be cute to have a “Wear this, dress baby in that” post.

I love white, elegantly floppy hats for some reason. I have no idea why, but it just conjures up the perfect mix of winter coziness, effortlessness, and stylish statement for me. And, I have a special love of winter whites.

These little booties immediately caught my eye. Maybe I was nostalgic for my favorite childhood character, Strawberry Shortcake? Either way, I think your little girl will look like a doll with these little shoes finishing off her outfit.

Do you remember Strawberry Shortcake? Did you like her when you were growing up too?

I would love to see pictures of your new Fall outfits… ~YiShaun

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by YiShaun on September 21, 2011 · 0 comments | in accessories, clothes, for babies, for women, hi, i'm yishaun

astronaut adventure…

One of the children’s books I wrote that is coming out in November 2011 is the AdoraPet’s Pima Puppy and Pico Puppy’s Astronaut Adventure. In it, children get a visual treat of watercolor pictures of the Solar System based on NASA images, and they also get to see how the planets compare to each other in size. I think that is so cool to discover and find out, especially for a young child!

On one of the pages, Pima Puppy, Pico Puppy and the children on the space ship with them have broken out of Earth’s atmosphere and see Earth as a distant planet they just left. I thought it was a great way to show children what it would look like to actually fly into outer space, and I’m so excited for you and your kids to see the book when it comes out in November, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon.com.

In the meantime, this is a time lapse video of photographs taken from the International Space Station as it orbits Earth at night. The white flashes in the clouds around 0:20 are lightening flashes!

Do your children dream of becoming astronauts? ~YiShaun