August 2014 – Page 2 – Tiny Oranges | OC Mom Blog | Inspiring moms with juicy ideas for sweeter family living

How to Make Cleaning Up Fun for Kids

Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up…who has this song stuck in their head 24/7?? Are your kids over it, too? Here are my tips for how to make cleaning up fun for kids.

Make it a friendly contest

My first go-to attempt is always, “Who can clean up the fastest?!” Oh.my.goodness. My kids go nuts for this. Both are highly competitive, so this tactic works well in our house. If both stare at me with blank faces, I’ll jump in and start furiously cleaning, saying “Look, mama is winning!” Boom. That gets them up!

1st Day of School Traditions

I am one of those mamas who cry on the first day of school. And, the night before the first day of school. I can’t help it. Today, I’d like to share my special 1st day of school traditions. The kids love it. Their daddy and I love it. And, I love having a way to commemorate and celebrate their new year in school.

Kid Interviews

An Evening at the New Irvine Improv

Last weekend my husband and I were treated to two tickets to see one of our favorite comedians, David Spade, perform at the new Irvine Improv in the Irvine Spectrum shopping center.

The show happened to fall on my parents 45th wedding anniversary, so we invited them to join us and had the BEST NIGHT EVER!

I had been hearing lots of good buzz about the new Irvine Improv and its fab new location attached to a super cool Umami Burger (the biggest in OC) across from the Edwards IMAX movie theater in the Spectrum.

Keeping Your Sanity in the Back-to-School Madness

Recently I was perusing this post on 31 Writing Prompts for August to get my creative juices flowing and #5 hit me before I could even read on, it asked, “How do you respond to change?”

My immediate thought?

Not well.

And, this is the time of year my response to change stares me right in my anxiety-ridden face: back-to-school.

The anxiety starts to kick in a couple weeks before school starts and culminates with me feeling like I am losing my sanity come the second week of school.

BUT, I want to try to do things differently this year. Handle the school year transition with a little more ease, which inspired this post on how to keep your back-to-school sanity….

How to Keep Kids Entertained on an Airplane

When is the last time that you had little ones with you on an airplane? It can be good…bad…or downright ugly, right?! Today, I’d like to share my top tips for entertaining kids on an airplane.

First step – fill their backpacks!

It’s all about packing the right airplane tools in their backpack, so to speak. If they are as comfortable as possible, they are more likely to be in a happy mood and entertained. And that takes preparation! Good to start a few days before your trip, so that you’re not scrambling the night before (when you’re already scrambling to pack the whole family to leave!).

Besides the activities, games and books you plan to pack your kiddo, make sure each kid backpack has…