2nd Annual GeTogethers Valentine PuTogether
Sweets, Raffle, Prizes, Kid Crafts and FREE Valentine Cards!

Sunday, January 31
3:00pm – 5:00pm
Terrace Club House
50 Jordan E
Irvine ,Ca 92612

In addition to finding sweet new GeTogethers products guests will be introduced to some innovative and creative specialty items from fellow OC Mom-entrepreneurs, all of which can be conveniently coordinated and packaged with GeTogethers style for any event or occasion.

All valentine guests will receive:

*  3 FREE Cards

*  Enjoy selecting three complimentary GeTogethers Valentine Cards and any combination of coordinating “sweet” icons, papers and envelopes, to PuTogether while sipping punch, nibbling festive goodies and winning prizes!

*  FREE 4×6 Photo- As a complimentary gift, from 3pm-4pm Jennifer Ramos of image32photography can capture the sweet love of your little one(s) and send you home with a lovely 4×6 valentine portrait. Additional prints will be available for purchase and can be applied to any GeTogethers Valentine Photo Card order.

*  10% OFF any purchase or order placed during event

SWAG BAG

Take home a goodie bag full of treats, samples and special offers from GeTogethers and other supporting and participating vendors.

{Proceeds from GeTogethers Raffle will benefit American Heart Association}

For details & to RSVP by 1/27/10 please visit www.GeTogethers.com

Happy weekend everyone!!!!

{GeTogethers is a Tiny Oranges Sponsor}

I think I might lose my mind this week.   Correction, it might already be gone.  Emma and I both have colds, which means that between the rainy weather and the sniffles we have been house bound for three straight days.  One day is kinda fun, two days is okay, but by yesterday morning I thought I might lose my mind.

What to do? I Googled “rainy day activities for kids” and found this site and the “masking tape house.”  Supplies needed? Masking tape.   Easy enough, I thought, so we got the tape out and started designing our floor plan.

All you do is stick the tape on the carpet to make “rooms.”   Emma had a lot of fun finding items to decorate our house.   We took her play kitchen and table and chairs and made a kitchen, took a little chair and baby bed from her room to make the baby’s room, and I found myself making a bathroom out of masking tape.  She found this quite funny.  I had to reiterate, “you know this is a PRETEND potty, right?!”

So, if you are losing your mind this week like me, this was a pretty easy and cheap activity that entertained us for the better part of the day.

And, if you are not up for construction, but looking for an indoor outing, check out Frogg’s Bounce House in Fountain Valley!  Great place to get that energy out!!!

Can you even believe the weather this week??  I can’t remember the last time it rained this hard in Orange County.   My patio furniture was knocked over, rain started pouring in a leak in our sliding glass door, and I was afraid the tree in the neighbor’s yard was going to end up splitting in two and landing on our roof.   It didn’t. Nothing like a little weather to freak out us OC residents, huh?! We are not cut out for this!

There was actually a tornado warning in my area.  Tornadoes?!   What on earth? My girlfriend sent me an email from South County wanting to make sure our house was still standing.  I told her it was.  Then she suggested an emergency preparedness post. Awesome idea!  Thanks Melanie!

So, I hopped on over to www.redcross.org to find some info.

{If you head on over there, consider making a donation to the Red Cross Haiti relief efforts.    And, just so you know, you can also text “HAITI” to 90999 and $10 will be donated to the Haiti relief fund.}

In any case, here is a great PDF you can download with easy information on how you can prepare your family just in case.  No time like the present.  Click HERE to download it.  You can also Click HERE for emergency fast facts.

Stay dry out there and be safe!

I am sure there are many of you out there, like me, that have watched the coverage of the devastation in Haiti and heard the stories of the people, children and babies in need, and felt your heart just ache with empathy.  I can barely watch the footage of the kids and babies who have lost their parents or the parents who have lost their children.

Do you also sometimes feel helpless?  Like, you want to do something, you just don’t know how or which organization to turn to?  I was watching the local CBS news last night when I heard this story, and it just spoke to my heart.

Two local moms, one of which is Lori Coble, who so tragically lost her three children in a car accident three years ago, and has since started the Coble Kids Foundation with her family to honor their memory, have organized an effort to collect necessities for the children of Haiti.  Click HERE for more information and the news story I saw last night.

Starting now and for the next two weeks (through Sunday, 1/31), they will be collecting basic necessities.  They are asking for your donation of the following items:

Diapers, wipes, formula (especially formula), bottles, NEW basic clothing, socks, pajamas, etc.*  They also accept cash donations.
{*Basically anything your child uses on a daily basis}

You can drop your items at the following location:

Toy Town
25632 Crown Valley Parkway, Suite #B-5, Ladera Ranch, CA 92694
949-364-8697

Hours:
Mon – Thurs: 9-5:30, Fri 10 – 6, Sat 9 – 5 , Sun 11-4

If you don’t live in South County, and don’t have time to drive to Ladera Ranch, I live in Costa Mesa and can coordinate a time to collect items here and then I will drive them down to do a big drop off.

Please email me at jennifer@tinyoranges.com if this is more convenient for you.  Thank you for your help in this amazing effort!

I have had this fabulous park in queue to post for awhile.  Flo Jo Park or more officially, Florence Joyner Olympiad Park, has lots of fun things for kids of all ages.  Lately, my daughter  loves nothing more than running in large open spaces, so the huge grassy areas in front of the playground were a bit hit.   

The equipment is fantastic, lots of great structures and interesting features .  The lower area has a cool ship structure and fun things for little ones, and the larger structure up a little incline, has a fun spiral slide for older kids.

Adjacent to the playground are lots and lots of shaded picnic tables and a restroom.   My girlfriend and I were able to sit and eat lunch and still keep an eye on our girls.

Visit Fun Orange County Parks for more information on this park and lots of other great ones in OC!

22760 Olympiad Road
Mission Viejo 22760
Click HERE for a map!

Happy Friday everyone!  See you back on Monday!