Have you been to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum lately? If not, let me remind you how entertaining and fun it is for kids! For our birthday girls, if they don't have a "kid" birthday party (which, admittedly, I'm not always keen on doing), they get a "mom and me" or "dad and me" day at a local museum (or sometimes the mall, ahem, tweens) complete with lunch. Yesterday's day with my 6-year-old was especially poignant because as the middle child she is rarely (OK, never) not in the company of another sibling. It was a day all about her. We settled on Betty Brinn as the venue of choice …

Recently, we re-joined the Southwest YMCA. We had a membership a few years ago and had been members for years, but, when our income changed, it was one of the first things we cut out. It was disappointing and we missed it and we are glad to be back. So, why is it so good to be back? Here are 10 reasons I love the Southwest YMCA: 1. Huge variety of activities for pre-school aged children. Everything from art to dance to movement to swimming.  2. Large variety of swimming lessons for many skill levels, many time slots and different types of schedules (like weekly, daily, etc.) 3. The small pool…

Well, we have a week of summer vacation under our belts and you might be wondering, "How is it going?" As to be expected, some good and some not so good, but we took full advantage of the free programs at the Greenfield Public Library.  The Days of Dreaming program Monday afternoons at 1:30 p.m. kicked off with a magician! La Bak performed all sorts of tricks and magic and taught the kids a trick or two while he was at it. His show was geared at the grade school set and they were the ones most attentive and in awe. I think you have to know what is not supposed to be possible to appreciate the…

When I write this column, I tend to focus on what happens to be on my mind at the time in relation to my kids and family. There's no way around it, right now the recent reports of violent acts in Greenfield are on my mind. With the latest incident taking place only a few blocks from my children's school, it is especially worrisome to me. Not necessarily because I'm afraid for their safety, but more so the likelihood that they may have friends and classmates affected by these incidents. I generally take a passive role when it comes to media reports of disasters and violence. We do not watch …

My kids have a lot of stuff. Admittedly, so do I, but I have three kids and they all share one room in our tiny little house. What would be the third bedroom is used as an office/storage room. It stores toys (theirs) and sewing supplies (mine). Plus, my husband needs a room to work in, so that's it. As for the kids, the smaller they are, the bigger their stuff. Bouncy seats, swings, strollers, car seats, pack-n-plays, play mats, big plastic toys. You and relatives buy all the latest and greatest, and invariably what they love the most is your magazine and the tag on their blankets. When they …

What to do with the kids all summer? This is the time of year that thought starts running through my mind. I love summer vacation and the lack of schedules and places to be. But I also dread the "I'm bored" and inevitable bickering between the kids. I have found that the kids expect to go somewhere every day. I prefer to spend some days not going anywhere, days of running through the sprinkler, reading books and riding bikes. It's a constant battle. We do like to go to the park, the library and the wading pool, and occasional trips to the beach or Cool Waters. We take at least two week-long …

Last week I talked about the field trip I went on with my fourth-grade daughter and her class to the Capitol. Today, I'm going to revisit a field trip with my kindergartner and her classmates.  I want to say again how much I like volunteering for field trips. It's really nice to get to know the other children in the class and their parents. I am fortunate that I do not have to take off of work to go, but I have done that in the past. It's worth a personal vacation day to me to have this experience with my girls. The kindergartners can be a bit of a handful. You can imagine their excitement …

Last week, I tagged along with the annual fourth-grade field trip to Madison. I do like to volunteer for field trips for both of my school-aged children as much as possible. It's a great way to get to know the other students, teachers, aides and parents. They are almost always fun, though sometimes a bit stressful (I'll tell you about kindergartners and the zoo another time). The fourth-grade class took a yellow school bus to Madison to visit the Capitol building and the UW Geology Museum.  I am happy to report that though there were a few cases of motion sickness, they were quite mild.  …

Last Sunday, the Wehr Nature Center  held an Earth Day celebration. Located in Whitnall Park, it's an easy drive down Forest Home Avenue to the park. Even when there aren't special activities, it's a nice place to go with the kids to do a little hiking and wildlife viewing.  Admission to the Earth Day activities was an economical $3 for parking plus $1 per person. A few of the activities (face painting and button making) and refreshments had additional costs of $0.50 or $1, but some of the best activities - like paper making, seed planting and guided hikes - were free. We each planted some …

In yesterday's Mom's Talk Q & A, we're talking about how much fast food you allow yourself and your family to eat. I answered the question there, but I'd like to elaborate on some mealtime tips and ideas on how we avoid fast food when we're feeling rushed and/or tired.My family rarely eats fast food. There are several reasons, probably the biggest of which is we are vegetarians. Our choices are limited and the kids really only like Taco Bell when choosing between that and garden burgers or subs. For us, fast food is an occasional treat.I have a few examples of easy, quick, child-friendly …

I could use some help. I love routines for my children, especially for some of the most difficult times of the day: bedtime, getting ready for school and coming home from school. Some of our routines need some tweaking and I'd love to know how others handle them.Our bedtime routine consists of baths, brushing teeth and getting into pajamas. We sometimes run out of time for a bedtime story. We also eat dinner kind of late (around 6 p.m), but rarely watch TV. How do you fit in a bedtime story? Maybe I should move up dinner so there's more time afterward.After school is a tough time. The kids …

Art is a big part of our lives. We love to draw, color, glue, cut and paint. The art supplies in our home are stored next to our large dining room table, right where creativity takes place.We always have a large supply of paper on which my three girls draw and draw and draw. They each went through a stage, when they were about 2 years old, when they liked to use scissors. They would stand on a chair at the table and cut paper. And then they would glue those little pieces of paper to big pieces of paper. It was messy, but it kept them entertained for hours!Painting is a big hit too, but I must…

Oh, books, how much we love them! I was a voracious reader as a child and it seems I've passed along this love to my own girls, my 10-year-old especially. She tore through the Magic Tree House series years ago. She's on her second reading (third, if you include my reading-out-loud) of the Harry Potter series. As a matter of fact, she's read so many of the books in the school library that her reading teachers often lend her books from their own collections. She even likes reading books from old-time series like Nancy Drew and Little House on the Prairie. She recently finished The Hunger Games …

Did you like the thaw we've had the last few days? I'm certainly loving it. But every year it makes me think spring is here. I start planning the garden, cleaning up the yard, digging up the early weeds... and then... it snows. Or gets really cold. And it seems cold until June. Oh, Wisconsin, why do you tease us so? But garden-planning must be done and that is what I will do. We have two large, raised-bed vegetable gardens in our backyard and multiple flower beds in the back, side and front yards. It can feel a bit overwhelming at times, but as the girls grow older, their interest and help …

Grocery shopping is an activity that I try to do without a child in tow. My husband and I used to take turns getting the job done so the kids could stay back. It's so much easier to choose foods and navigate aisles without a little one begging for this or that. However, schedules have changed in our family and it has become increasingly difficult to find the time to shop child-free.My new strategy: take only one child, which means shopping while the older girls are at school. And, you know what? It's not that bad. Maybe it's that her temperament is different than the other two. She doesn't go…

Today I'm veering away from parenting in Greenfield for a bit to take a world view of childhood. After flipping through the book, Where Children Sleep, I felt it was important to share it with other parents. This book is a visual guide to the lives of children, rich and poor, throughout the world.Now I'm sure we're all aware that people struggle all over the world. I believe most of us understand that here in Greenfield, we are most likely among the more fortunate in the world. Sometimes it doesn't feel that way as we compare ourselves to people with more - people with higher salaries, bigger…

Every year, I look forward to the Winter Concert put on by the elementary school students in our school. Our school shares a music teacher with another district elementary school, so the schools taken turns (every other year) having the concert before or after Christmas. This year our concert was after Christmas and it was very well done by the two music teachers and our principal. (One teacher is part-time and works with the upper grades when the full-time teacher is at the other school). The concert was called Sing A Book and each group sang songs around a story. The concert took place at …

This time every year brings the same challenge when you have little ones: What to do outside? Of course in summer the kids are outside all the time, playing in the backyard, running around at the park, splashing in the wading pool, hanging out at the beach. Outside activities continue into the fall. The weather is perfect for running around, playing organized sports and jumping in leaf piles. When winter comes you can dress them up in snowsuits and put them in the snow to climb, roll around and make snowmen. But then comes the thaw. Dirty, heavy wet snow, mud, a little too warm to be …

Giving my little girls the chance to be dancers is one of my favorite parts of being a parent. Dressing them up in leotards, tights and tutus. Having them show me first position and releve. They really love dance class, too. They look forward to it each week. When I discovered the Greenfield Park and Rec's dance program I was very excited that I could afford to put both of my youngest daughters in dance (my oldest, too, but she currently has other interests). The very affordable program has a variety of schedules and levels teaching ballet, tap and jazz. I am also very pleased with the …

Greenfield students had a snow day yesterday and as the parent of two school-age children, the prospect of entertaining them was a scary one. Luckily, we only had one day to contend with so I didn't run out of activities. The huge amount of snow made it challenging yet fun to play outside for my two older girls (my 3-year-old disagreed). It's great to have a day where the sun is out and it's not too cold for snow play. The drifts around our house were over three feet tall, making for lots of digging, climbing and sliding.  Of course, eventually they got cold and tired and needed to warm up …