Many times parents are not sure what to do the first day of kindergarten. To begin the process of working together as parent and teacher, here is a list of helpful suggestions to make that big day go as smooth as possible for all involved.

DON’TS

1. Don’t get into an argumentative situation with your child before arriving at school.
2. Don’t be late.
3. Don’t overwhelm the teacher with information about your child.
4. Don’t make promises to your child that you cannot keep.
5. Don’t linger around after school starts.
6. Don’t leave school without saying goodbye, have fun or I love you to your child.
7. Don’t monopolize the teacher’s time. She has many other students and parents to welcome.
8. Don’t allow your child to bring toys to school without prior permission from the teacher.
9. Don’t forget to bring extra clothes for your child. Accidents do happen.
10. Don’t bring anything to school that contains nuts of any kind.

DO’S

1. Do provide your child with a healthy breakfast before school and a snack for the end of the day.
2. Do arrive on time.
3. Do introduce your child to his/her teacher.
4. Do label everything your child brings to school.
5. Do make sure the teacher is aware of any allergies your child may have.
6. Do dress your child in the appropriate attire for kindergarten from head to toe.
7. Do bring your camera for that first day of kindergarten picture.
8. Do reassure your child that you will be back at a given time.
9. Do a quick campus tour with your child. Check out the playground, classroom, cubbies, their special seating area and the bathroom.
10. Do stay calm, put on your happy face and hold back your tears.
11. Do remind your child to listen and follow directions, to use their manners, to play safe, and to remember rules of taking turns, sharing and cooperating.
12. Do reassure your child that his/her teacher will help him, give him a hug if needed and answer any questions he/she may have.
13. Do tuck a special note or drawing, from you that expresses your love, in their backpack or lunch box.
14. Do leave a note for the teacher of any personal concerns you may have.
15. Do encourage your child to do his/her best and to have fun.

I can still remember the day we found out we were pregnant. I was happy but reserved; I didn’t want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed again by a loss. We didn’t tell anyone you were coming until we heard your beautiful heartbeat. Because we didn’t want to be responsible for deciding which parent should be told they were going to be grandparents we simply mailed out the ultrasound picture and just waited for the phone to ring.

Watching you grow and develop inside was a remarkable feeling and it was funny watching you stretch and poke to create more room inside. Now look, you are five years old and what an amazing 5 year old you are!

It was obvious from the beginning that you would be independent and “strong willed,” in fact you came on your own terms a little early just to prove who was in control. You were a tiny 5lbs 5oz but strong as can be. Here you are just hours after your arrival.

When you were first introduced to the computer, now you can navigate my laptop and iPhone with ease.

One of my personal favorite pictures of you.

Your first birthday!

I will never forget the day you ate all of Daddy’s Chipotle dinner even after you already had your own. He was so hungry too. This was our first sign that you would be a Chipotle lover. So much that you can now eat an entire bowl by yourself if we let you.

Your 2nd birthday…

Your little afro…

A diaper on the head…

Two days after Christmas – you were such a trooper that year. Mommy just wasn’t in the Holiday spirit.

The first signs that you loved to pose for pics…

Happy 3rd Birthday…

The first time I got your hair done at the salon.

Another one of my favorite pictures of you and one of the first I took with the Canon XS DSLR…

And the poses began…

and again…

Happy 4th Birthday…

Playing with Mommy’s lipgloss…

You’re headed off to Kindergarten this year and we are so proud of you. Happy Birthday Miss M!

We love you, always and forever.

Children today seem to be growing up way too fast and exposed to “real life” so much sooner than before and internet and television has a lot to do with. Sure you can limit the amount of television and internet access you allow your children, but after watching this interview it’s obvious the kids are easily getting around their limitations. Some even go so far as setting up a secret Facebook account that mom and dad don’t even know about.

This week on LifetimeMoms.com you can learn how to monitor kids without being helicopter mom read Is Your Child on Facebook.

We were driving home from work/school and she asked what was for dinner.

Me: Chicken and Rice

BB: We bought chicken and rice?

ME: Left over chicken and rice from yesterday. You don’t like my chicken and rice.

BB: No Mommy I do like your chicken and rice. It’s just a little bit yucky.

Gee thanks kid. You gotta love her honesty i guess.

Please tell me I wasn’t the only one!

Unfortunately my lack of hair styling skills hasn’t improved – but luckily I haven’t resorted to scissors on my own daughter’s hair. I actually resort to the professionals for her – but that’s a different story.

I was recently asked to review a recently released product line of dolls, normally I don’t talk about toys on Bizzie Mommy – but since there is an interactive website for the dolls I decided to investigate further.

So far I am very impressed with the dolls, my daughter loves playing with them, and they are very flexible and durable. The BEST part for me, oops I mean for her is that each doll has the ability to change hair styles.

No CUTTING, NO DYING (did I leave that part out) – just pull one “wig” off and plop on another one it’s that easy. You can instantly turn a blonde into a brunette or change from a curly style to a straight one. Each doll comes with an extra hair style but you can add plenty more to your collection. You can also purchase an array of accessories and outfits for the girls.

About the Girls
There are currently four dolls (friends) in the group. Sophie – the artist, Katie – the adventurer, Alexis – fashionable, Daniela – the super star. I received both Daniela and Alexis to review. My daughter loves both of the dolls and enjoys combing their hair and having them interact.

Okay so I bet you are wondering where the “techie interactive” part comes in right? Well after playing with the friends in person you can jump online to www.livworld.com and interact with the girls online.

About the Virtual World

LivWorld.com is a virtual world that you LIV in the world of Sophie, Katie, Alexis and Daniela – the Liv Girls. Using the code that came with your Liv Product, creating an account is free and easy and will have you playing within minutes. You can read their super secret diaries, watch home-made videos, play totally rad games, choose outfits from your own virtual closet and take snap shots that you can place in your own scrapbook and share with your BFF’s.

LivWorld.com is created for girls ages 5 and up. And your membership is free and lasts for one year with the secret code found in your Liv Product. While my daughter is still a little young she enjoyed watching the videos available online.

Liv Dolls are now available in Target, Walmart, Toys r Us and other major retail chains. For more information on the dolls visit www.livworld.com or www.spinmaster.com – for their complete toy collection

JOB TITLE : Parent

JOB DESCRIPTION :

• Long-term team players needed for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment.
• Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.
• Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities.
• Travel expenses not reimbursed.
• Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

• The rest of your life.
• Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.
• Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
• Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
• Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers..
• Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
• Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
• Must be a willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.
• Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
• Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
• Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.
• Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :
None.
Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :
None required, unfortunately.
On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :
Get this!   You pay them!
Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.  When you die, you give them whatever is left.. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

Giggles N’ Hugs, located at Wilshire and Barrington is a children’s restaurant that REALLY caters to children. From the décor to the eating utensils you can tell the owners had children on their minds. Before you sarcastically scream, “Great, another Chuck E Cheese!” STOP.

This is not Chuck E Cheese. The food is actually GOOD (sorry Chuck, but let’s be real here). They have a real restaurant menu, sure there is pizza but there is also a Chinese chicken salad, Spaghetti, Paninis, and even breakfast. What’s really unique about this restaurant is that you can request mom’s tricky treat pizza sauce which is made with pureed spinach or you can even puree some cauliflower in the alfredo sauce. Your kids will not be able to taste the difference.

If you are looking for a place that is both entertaining for the kids and healthy to eat, then Giggles N’ Hugs is a place you and your family should check out.

While the food is great, it wasn’t the main reason why we decided to check out Giggle N’ Hugs. I found out they offered free Wi-Fi to their guests, which is exactly what I needed to catch up on some work. We were disappointed to find that they only had one free outlet to use for our laptops; however the owner promised he was in the process of adding more to accommodate parents like us.

They also have a dedicated and friendly staff working in the play area to monitor and interact with the kids. I was actually worried about Bizzie Boy because he can be pretty shy. But he took them very well. On Saturday evening they have a special guest performing, this week was a singer that had ALL the kids dancing around happily.

We also ran into O’Ryan DelToro a local balloon artist. He was nice enough to make BP a pink dog and a red mouse with a blue nose. He’s available for hire, and he’s really good.

So you are probably wondering if it worked, did I get ALL my work done.

Not exactly, I didn’t get much done, this time around. But I think that was mostly because I was so worried about Bizzie Boy, I just had to check on him every few minutes or so. On the other hand Bizzie Princess had a blast; I never have to worry about her finding friends or entertaining herself.

But I’m sure we’ll be going again soon. It’s the first play area that catered to both our needs. And it was CLEAN too. Messes were picked up in a flash. The floor wasn’t sticky and the equipment looked clean.

Oh yeah, did I mention the food was edible?

Details:
Play area admission is $9 for first child, $6 for sibling and $5 for a second sibling. Staying for lunch or dinner, you can expect to spend $6 – $10 per person. Watch out for the valet, which is $3 for 3 hours, if you stay longer it spikes to $10!

Location: 11701 Wilshire Blvd #11, Los Angeles, CA 90025

Checkout some more of our adventures out in la:

• out in la: pumpkin festival
• out in la: thomas & friends live
• out in la: the land of disney

We are always trying to find something different to do with the kids. This past weekend we were invited to watch the Thomas & Friends Live! on stage. It was about Thomas and his friends and what they do when the circus comes to town. We went to the 11:00 am Sunday showing at the Nokia theater in Los Angeles and it was packed.

Bizzie Princess loved the show, she spent most of the time dancing about in front of her seat. I wish I could have taken pictures but no cameras were allowed at the show. If you want to see when the show comes to your neighborhood then check out the Thomas & Friends website.

Thank you Natalie from Mom Select for giving us the opportunity to see the show!

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• Plugging stuff time (mrsmogul.blogspot.com)

I TiVo his interviews on Ellen and Oprah so I can watch them when I get home from work. Even stayed up past my bedtime to see him on Jay Leno.

He has created an amazing brand for himself I would love to just sit down with him and pick his brain on how he did it. According to Forbes.com he is leading the pack as the highest paid actor in Hollywood. And he’s a parent too!

This morning he called into Ryan Seacrest show promoting his new film Seven Pounds. I’m drawn to this movie because even after watching the interviews and trailers I still have no idea what the movie is about. It’s that “Lost” feeling that makes me want to go see it. I’ll have to check it out over the Christmas holiday. I hope the movie does well for you Will!
During his interview he mentioned he said to “Read and Run and you will get everything you want.” Or something similar.

Interesting just reading and running that should be easy right. Made me want to just jump out of the car with my Women’s Health magazine and start running. It would be too hard to explain that to the CHP officer on the 101 so I decided to wait.

All jokes aside I can see what he is getting at; running gives you the private time to think and reading allows you to grow. That is a combination for success.

I plan on dusting off my running shoes in the New Year, how about you?

Oh by the way Will, if you need a script to read during your run, I have a couple you could read!

After the movie we took a stroll into Pixie Hollow, where all the fairies live. Bizzie Princess, who temporarily turned into a Fairy, no wait a Princess Fairy, got to meet Iridessa, Rosetta and of course Tinker Ball. It is similar to meeting the Princess, they talk to you and you get to take pictures with them. She was thrilled. So then we went to take her to see the Princess. She was able to met Cinderella, Pocahontas, Snow White and Aurora. It amazes me that she knows all their names because she hasn’t seen all of the movies. While she was meeting with one of the Princess I looked back and saw a guy “meeting the Princesses” as well. He looked about seventeen years old, it seemed odd to me. What do you think?

Bizzie Princess told Aurora that she was going to be a Pumpkin for Halloween. A Pumpkin? Did she forget about the two costumes we bought just the day before? Hopefully she will forget about the Pumpkin costume.

After several hours of meeting a greeting we decided to have some lunch and hoped on over to the Pizza place, which is pretty good for theme park pizza. The kid’s meal even comes with a bag of carrots and apples.

Bizzie Boy was dying to walk by now, so we found a spot he can roam around in. You have to watch him because the kid will put anything in his mouth in a matter of milliseconds.

Fantasmic was closed for rehab so we missed that show, but did get a chance to see the final parade. We only had time for two rides the entire visit. We rode Pirates and the Jungle Cruise, both kid and baby friendly. By the time the Jungle Cruise was over, Bizzie Boy was out. So we headed home. Bizzie Princess was out before we got out of the parking garage.

Check back soon for our next adventure of Out in LA with the Bizzie Kids. We are planning a trip to the Willowbrook Apple Farm.