5 fun things to do with your tot this summer

In case you haven't noticed from extreme heat that has blanketed all of California and most of the West, summer is officially here!

I have a love hate relationship with it, on the one hand we can finally get outside and enjoy the summer sun. But sometimes it gets so hot that all I want to do is go inside and enjoy my wonderfully cool air conditioned house.

Whatever your preference it's only natural with your kids home all summer they are bound to get bored, which is why I have come up with some fun ideas for you try this summer. Some of these you can do inside, some outside.

1.) Buy some play dough and get creative (or you can make it)! No really it's that easy! My daughter got a really cool play dough cupcake maker toy for her birthday when it's too hot go outside this is a great way to keep the little ones busy. We have made some pretty cool stuff. This is fun even if you don't have the cupcake maker toy. There have been plenty of times when I just grabbed a rolling pin and cookie cutter and got creative.

2.) Run through the sprinklers! We did this a lot last summer it was 6:30 pm after dinner and the weather had cooled down just enough to make it fun! The cool beads of water dripping from our skin felt great. The best part, it's FREE!

3.) Take your kids to the movies. There's a lot of great kids movies coming out this summer like Monster's University, Despicable Me, Turbo comes out later this month, and next month Smurfs 2, and the new Disney movie Planes comes out. With all those options your kids will have no choice but to sit there and be entertained. Best part you get to spend at least and hour in a nice air conditioned theater without anyone whining or pulling at your leg. That sounds like a win to me!

4.) Go to the beach or pool! Take advantage of the warm weather and get out there and swim with your kiddos. I admit I was a little hesitant to take my daughter back into the pool since the incident we had a few weeks back if you have no idea what i'm talking about read about it here the day my kid almost died. But over the weekend we went back into the pool, and it was tough the first day she didn't want to swim much, but I kept encouraging her. The next day was even better. With all this heat you got to take advantage of water whether it be a beach or pool.

5.) Try something new off of Pintrest. I know you all have a pintrest account, and if you're anything like me you have like over 100 craft ideas pinned to do with your kids. Well now that it's summer try one! I've already tried this fun moon sand pin with my daughter made of 8 cups of flour and one cup of baby oil. My daughter loved it and there was little to NO mess!

Whatever you decide to do with your kids remember to be safe and follow proper safety precautions. Let me know what you plan on doing with your kids this summer in the comments!

Photo Credit: Google images and myself

Is it Ok to take your young child to a late night movie?

I've thought about this a lot since I've become a mom, is it ok to take young children to see adult movies late at night? When I first started dating my boyfriend we used to see late night movies all the time, I think the staff at the local movie theater probably knew us by name because we were there virtually every night. I never would see young kids at the movies though, I just assumed it was something people didn't do.

When I had my daughter over a year ago it was hard for us to get out. I would be exhausted from breastfeeding nearly every 2 hours and wasn't getting much sleep, and I was too afraid to leave her alone. I remember once my mother offered to watch Milania when she was a little over a month old so my boyfriend and I could go out to eat we were gone maybe 2 hours but I could remember calling every 15 minutes or checking my phone to make sure everything was ok, it was awful.

My boyfriend used to joke and say let's take Milania to the movie's she is only 3 months old she'll sleep the whole time, and I would say, "Are you kidding? Who does that, that's rude, suppose she starts crying it will interrupt the movie and everyone else?" I just didn't think people did that, until last month when the Colorado shooting occured and I found out a 3 month old baby had be injured, among other kids. When I heard about it instantly my heart dropped, I felt sad for all the victims of the Colorado shooting but what stung the most is that there WAS kids there and they WERE injured.

I wondered, why there was kids at a midnight movie not because I'm judging anyone's parenting, I know how hard it is to be a new parent and to never get to do anything. I just hate that kids were there because I know had they stayed home they wouldn't have had to go through something so traumatic and they would be safe. 

The reason I'm posting this today is because last night my mom babysat our daughter so we could go see a movie, the movie was at 9:05 pm and there was a family that brought their 3 year old son with them. This was the first time I've ever seen that happen, and my boyfriend asked me, "Why would anyone bring their 3 year old to a late night movie?" I couldn't answer him, "I don't know." I will be completely honest having that little boy there was a little bit distracting. The movie was PG-13 but the language was iffy and there was A LOT of violence, that wasn't the distracting part though the movie was over 2 hours long and half way through the little boy started crying because he was tired.

At first it wasn't very loud but 20 minutes later it was a full on cry, it was hard to focus with him crying, part of me wanted to go over there and comfort him and tell him it would be ok. I wanted to tell him to relax and just let his little eyes close and fall asleep, I guess it was the mother in me. Obviously I didn't do that, but the other part of me wanted me to ask his parents if they could take him outside until he calmed down because his crying was disturbing my much needed date night with my boyfriend. 

Again I did nothing I just sat there and tried to ignore it. I'm not judging people who do, do this. I understand what it's like to be a mother and not get time to yourself. I just don't know if I think I could do it, I would be too worried about my child bothering others, or getting up and running around. And after hearing about the Colorado shooting I don't think I want to take my daughter to even a Disney movie past 4 pm. It's a scary world out there, 2 years ago a man was stabbed a during a late night movie at movie theater across town for answering his cell phone, after another man asked him to "get off the phone" when the man refused, the other man stabbed him.

I just don't think I could do it personally. So I leave it open for public debate, is it ok to take young children to late night movies? I would love to hear what others thing so please feel free to comment on this post.

XOXO