An Unpaid Endorsement of My Holiday Haunts

by Ilina

With the holidays creeping upon us and beckoning us to the big box retailers, there are more than a few ideas brewing my
head to keep it local this year. I'm making my list and checking it twice. Who am I kidding? I'm
not checking it at all. It's all I can do to write the list down on a
scrap of torn envelope from my daily ration of junk mail. There are
some places I will hit this holiday season for sure. Keep in mind this
is not host of paid endorsements; these are independently owned
business that I happen love. I would love to know some of your faves, especially since mine are clearly Raleigh-centric! Here are a few of my favorite Triangle things.

Tookies Toys: Independently owned toy store in Cameron Village that carries an awesome selection of Playmobil
and other European brands. The wall of games is great, and the beefed
up science section leaves my six year old drooling. The best part is no
crazy testosterone laden shoot 'em up flaming, bursting, wheeling toys
that some "experts" think boys must play with. And hands down the best
looking wrapped gifts to boot! Did I mention free gift wrapping?

The Lollipop Shop: Did someone mention candy? This is a newcomer to North Hills that carries a mouthwatering buffet, I mean array, of old school candy and new fangled
treats. My sons love the wind up toys and teddy bear accessories. Deal
recently chose a fire chief hat for his little sidekick "Beary." Bird indulged in colorful rock candy and German-made gummi bears. The rainbow of M & Ms and wall of Jelly Bellys make me feel like, well, a kid in a candy store!

Marbles Kids Museum and Museum of Life + Science:
Wonderful places to wile away the hours, rain or shine. A museum
membership makes a dandy holiday gift (and a fantastic present to a kid
who's going to be a big brother or sister!). There are times we go to
Marbles twice in a week just because the boys want to embrace their
inner Scurvy Dog and Black Beard on the pirate ship or bang the drums
in "Brazil." The Life + Science Museum never disappoints. The bears are
always a kick, and the remote control sailboat racing makes us all
captain for a day.

Moxie Kids:
This is where the cool kids shop. Or in our case, this is where the
cool kids' grandfather shops. If you happen to see my sons looking
particularly snazzy, it's because they're sporting some Tea Collection
or Charlie Rockets garb from Moxie Kids. The store is chic and cute without being pretentious. The girls clothes are simply
breathtaking. It's almost worth having a baby girl just to shop there.
Almost.

Cameron Village Library: Forget Cheers, this
is the place where everybody knows our names. When Bird turned one we
donated copies of his favorite books to the library to commemorate his
birthday. If you, like me, see the magic of books, donating to your
local library is a fine fine gift. Talk about the perfect gift for the
person who has everything and the gift that keeps on giving all wrapped
up in one handsome cliche package! Look for The Cat in the Hat at Cameron
Village Library with Bird's nameplate pasted in the cover.

One last thing...

Over the holidays and randomly throughout the year, we take a batch of cupcakes or brownies to the fine fire fighters at Station 6. They've come not once, but twice to save my little Deal (once when he was choking and a second time when he did this).
They literally saved my son's life. Twice. A few doses of sugar fail
miserably as a thank you, but think about it, nothing is grand enough
to show our gratitude for the best gift we have ever gotten.

Ilina blogs about her musings and sons' escapades at Dirt & Noise and supports local businesses in her off time. If you want to follow her non sequitors, follow her on Twitter @ilinap. She also somehow manages to run iFactor, her own marketing consulting business, and cooks home cooked meals every night. Almost.

Didn't you know they sell magic at Target?

It was one of those my baby is so cranky we will both explode if we stay inside kind of days. My son, Oscar has been waking up early from his afternoon naps which results in an earlier bedtime. This of course means we all get up at the crack of dawn and the cycle repeats. So, I thought we would go for a nice long stroll at North Hills. We started at Chick-Fil-A, because 1) Ahem, we live in North Carolina, and 2)They were doing a food drive for free sandwiches. 

I'll trade my cans of Tuna for a chicken sandwich ALL DAY LONG. 

And can I stop right there and talk about how I LOVE that little fake grassy area outside at North Hills? I never understood why they didn't just put real grass there. I mean I guess it is easier to maintain. But it always seemed odd to me that there was astro-turf outside. However, now that I am the mom of a very curious crawler, I thank the Lord for synthetic nature! I can let him crawl and roll around to his heart's content. And crawl he did! It was a beautiful day. 

We walked around the plaza for a bit and headed back down to our parking spot, conveniently located next to Target. OK fine, you're twisting my arm, I'll go inside the store! I grabbed a couple super cheap items for myself off the clearance rack (because nothing in my current wardrobe cost more than $3.74) and headed for the Cheerios. At this point Oscar was starting to get cranky and I realized we were almost an hour past nap time. He had been really good and my plan was working, so we walked toward the checkout. 

Just then, in the home section I heard the loveliest music-box rendition of Jingle Bells and I had to find it. Lo and Behold there was a snow globe with a reindeer inside and the music was playing. I shook it and thought, I bet Oscar would think this is neat. I leaned down and wound it up and shook the globe and there he sat, absolutely entranced. His eyes lit up and he was tracing each little snow flake with his fingers. We looked at a few more, each with their own Christmas Carol and it occurred to me that even though I have known this is his first Christmas, I hadn't really considered what it would be like for HIM. He is the perfect age to really have fun with it and for the first time, I understood why parents get so into the holidays. It's not about the latest greatest toy. It's about the magic! Watching his eyes get wide and excited was just about the best thing in the world. I can't wait to create that magic for him as the holidays draw near. That day, I found magic at Target. And yes, this December Oscar will be unwrapping his very own snow globe.

An original Triangle Mamas post. When Andrea is not getting all mushy in the home goods aisle, she can be found blogging at Lil-Kid-Things or gabbing away on Twitter. 

Halloween 2009, Triangle Mamas Style

In no particular order, here are some of the adorable children of the Triangle Mamas.

This is Abigail in her mama's German dirndl from when she was two.  NIkki says, "I like to think of this as her dramatic reenactment of Gretl's 'So Long, Farewell' exit in The Sound of Music."

Here are Juni and Pip, Cyndi's little ones. Buzz Lightyear here even had "Andy" written on the bottom of his shoe. Very authentic.

What might have been a dragon on the hanger became a dinosaur on Linus. Abby's little man was rawry scary.

From our newest Triangle Mama, Kelly, whose inaugural post will be live Wednesday, we have Mr. Wyatt.

Little Bird was a Little Bear for the day. Marty and her sewing machine pulled off a handmade Halloween again this year, but only with a couple of hours to spare.

Cindy's little dino was so excited, she had the costume on in Target the day they were picking it out.

 

Ilina had a handmade Halloween too. Here is Super Deal and Ninja Bird in all their glory.

Welcome to fall, y'all. Bring on the turkeys and the trees!

Fourth Festivities

Even if you aren't heading to the beach for the holiday weekend, there is still plenty of fun happening right here in the Triangle. Here in Durham you even have parade options for the younger set.

Your first option is to participate in a 60 year running parade of children over in the Watts-Hillandale neighborhood. Bring your bikes, wagons, or strollers all decked out in red, white, and blue and join the parading masses as they celebrate the independence of our country, the spirit of children, and the comfort of good neighbors. Festivities begin at 10AM at the neighborhood's park in the 2200 block of West Club Blvd and will continue following the parade in Oval Park.

If your a bit more of a procrastinator, like me, you can opt to join in the less historical but just as fun Central Park Children's Parade. To participate, just bring your wagons and bikes to Central Park. The good folks from The Scrap Exchange will be on hand with plenty of re-purposed supplies for turning your tiny transportation into a spectacular Independence Day float. Central Park and The Scrap Exchange is located in the 500 block of Foster Street. Decorating begins at 9:45AM with the parade scheduled to depart at 10:45AM from the corner of Foster and West Corporation.

Both options are loads of fun and last just long enough to make sure that your baby, toddler, or preschooler is home in time for a quick lunch and afternoon nap. They are definitely gonna need that nap, and you too, if there is any hope of them staying awake to enjoy fireworks.

For other 4th of July activities going on around the Triangle, check out MyNC where they have a round up of the local festivities.

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Abby, an avid pie baker, is hoping for a long enough afternoon nap to throw together a cherry pie. Of course, if she gets too involved in blogging or Twitter, she'll get nothing done. You can read about all of her projects at her personal blog, My Sweet Babboo.

Water of Life

Here is a sampling from the CD you can enter to win by commenting on this post. You have until Friday at midnight to enter, and if you link back to our contest on your blog and leave another comment with the link, you'll be entered twice!

Win the Beauty of the North Carolina Mountains in Music and Watercolors

These days, a blog just isn't a blog unless it's giving something away. I've seen giveaways for countless toys and games for your kids, but rarely something just for Mom.

That's where we come in.

This week, we are giving away a copy of Bill Leslie's newest book and CD, Blue Ridge Reunion. Granted, if I want Christopher to go to sleep in the car, it's the first CD I go to. He's usually out by the end of the first track. And the book is a picture book . . . but not the kind you are used to reading before bedtime.

The pictures in this book were painted by Bill's father. He was a watercolor artist, much like Bill is a musician. On the side.

Bill's father owned a bookstore in Morganton, North Carolina. Bill says they carried a little bit of everything really. And after hours, his father would paint. Like his father, Bill pursues his artistic passions after hours. He is an award winning anchorman on WRAL in the mornings, and an award winning musician on the side.

The paintings in the book are incredible portraits of the North Carolina mountains. There is, in my humble opinion, no place on earth more beautiful than western North Carolina, and William Leslie captured that beauty in simple, pure, watercolors.

I don't have to wax poetic about the beauty of Bill's music. Plenty of people have done that already. Yo-Yo Ma called Bill "one of the greats in modern Celtic music" during an interview Bill was conducting with him, and author Jan Karon uses Bill's music on her website as the perfect musical backdrop. The CD has been receiving generous airplay on new age stations around the world, was number 1 on the world music charts in September and number 2 in October.

I cite my references as I glow about him because I am a little biased. Those are my backing vocals you will hear on the three vocal tracks. I laugh when I say that I'm finally doing music my parents enjoy, but it's true, and I'm proud of that.

Bill has generously given us a copy of both the book and the CD to giveaway here on Triangle Mamas. He has a soft spot for babies and for mamas. The three ladies he shares the WRAL news desk with have six children between them, Christopher attends our band rehearsals on my back in our Babyhawk, and our violinist will be bringing her nine month baby belly to our gig at the Grove Park Inn in February. 

That's Mr. Leslie just above there with a tiny tiny Little Bird way back when. . .

Pardon my distraction. He's just such a cute baby.

You want this CD. You want it with a glass of wine, a warm bath, and a husband who is watching your kids for an entire hour. The book is going to look beautiful on your coffee table, and I dare say we can even get him to sign it for you if you like.

For anyone who loves North Carolina, this is the perfect Christmas gift. Even if that "anyone" is yourself.

Leave us a comment. That's all you have to do to enter. Link to our contest and leave us another comment with that link and you get two entries. It's that simple.

Entries will be accepted until midnight this Friday, December 12. We'll post the winner over the weekend. Please make sure that we can get in touch with you via email in case you win!

This is an original Triangle Mamas post. Marty can also be found blogging at her personal blog, Don't Take the Repeats when she isn't slacking off on Facebook.

Pinpricks and Profanity

Two weeks ago, I made the kids commit to their Halloween costume plans and then went shopping. Apparently, however, two weeks before Halloween is a better time to buy Christmas decorations than anything orange and black. The aisles were bare or picked over with the only costumes remaining being ones made for dogs. My sons had two choices: dress like a slutty pirate girl or like a Golden Retriever dressed as a slutty pirate girl. I should have known back in August when I couldn�t find the back-to-school supplies because they had been cleared out to make room for the Halloween stuff. Next year, I�ll know better. This year, I needed a plan B.

Dean was easy. He was wooed by the chance to accrue accessories of the macabre � a Styrofoam skull and a plastic dagger. Logan, being two, doesn�t really care. A few days later, I stumbled upon a penguin costume in the correct size and on sale for under $10. Done. Jess is adamant that he will be a green dragon. A fire-breathing dragon, by the way. I thought that a dragon would be simple to create and that I was getting off cheap and easy. I would simply buy a green hoodie and some felt � done. Except about a dozen stores later, I still could not find a green hoodie, green felt, or a ready-made dragon costume (not made for a dog). And I did consider the dog costume wondering how dog poundage related to kid size but I felt $30 was a little steep for something made for a dog. So back to the fabric store I went and over $40 worth of materials later, I am sitting at my long-lost sewing machine making the whole damn thing.

Five years ago when I left my paying job for the adventures of staying home with the kids, I initially put a lot of pressure on myself to be the perfect Alpha-mom. My sister was my roll-model and she is a firm believer in the essence of mommy-hood being in the making versus the buying of things - including the sewing of the Halloween costumes. So in my first stint home full-time, I made my sons� costumes. It was an easy choice to make since an Obi-Wan Kanobi costume in size 4T was impossible to find at the time. However, I firmly believe that if you can find something ready-made that is just as good as what you can make, it is more efficient and probably less expensive to just go ahead and buy. Because while it is nice to be able to say, �I made it myself,� it can be a little stressful. We often joked that if we ever hosted our own sewing show, we�d call it �Pinpricks and Profanity.� Sometimes the frustration of trying to make the sewing machine cooperate is just not worth the effort.

So while I don�t think sewing costumes is a �Mommy Must-Do� activity, I admit that I don�t have a problem with actually doing it. Except for the time wasted searching for the easy shortcut, I am quite happy to make a costume for my child. In fact, I have been known to make costumes for other people�s children and if I had just started the �from scratch� approach several weeks ago, we wouldn�t have been in crunch time this week. And my husband thinks I am crazy for making life harder for myself when a Halloween costume should not be a life�s priority right now. He wants to know why I didn�t just tell my son to choose some other costume so we can be done. Well, because two weeks ago, this did seem like the cheaper easier choice.

But here is where I pull the selfish card � yesterday as I gazed upon my kitchen table made-over into a sewing studio, I sighed with contentment. I realized that I like a project. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, I was eager to begin. Halloween is the one time a year that I can haul out the sewing machine and create something from start to finish, without feeling like it�s just my own little hobby. Like making cookies rather than buying the perfectly fine bakery brand, the satisfaction of having made it myself has been worth the trouble. And the mommy and son moments in making the costume together have been simply priceless.

"Pinpricks and Profanity" is cross-posted on Susie's personal blog At Home With Me where she chronicles her sewing escapades and other adventrues of being a mom to three boys.

Happy Halloween from Triangle Mamas!

Abby the beautiful lioness with her mama, Nikki.

 

Anna and JD, children of our soon to be introduced blogger, Tonya.

 

Linus as King Kong with his Empire State Daddy, and a shot from a Halloween party.

Just a tease from tomorrow's post from Susan. Here's her mom-made dragon costume.

  And finally, Marty's family of pirates. Arrrrrrgh.

Hope you all had a fabulous Halloween weekend! Stay tuned tomorrow for the saga of a sewing mama.

Pinching Pennies Pumpkin-style

Looking for a little Fall fun?  Feeling the crunch of tough economic times?  Look no further than Ganyard Hill Farms in east Durham.

Aside from your usual run-of-the-mill pumpkin patch fare (hayrack rides, corn mazes, cow milking), Ganyard Hill Farms offers plenty of adventure for your more stingy frugal economically conscience parents.

Start your fiscally responsible adventure with the petting zoo where you get to pet the painted plywood black cat.  Feel how soft fuzzy bumpy the kitty's fur is... nice, huh?  This beats feeding goats any day, right?

Next who needs a corn maze when you can try out the absolutely free wooden pallet obstacle course?  Test your limits by maneuvering over the pumpkins while avoiding getting caught between slats.

Now, that you're really having a good time, why not pass on the hayrack ride and take a trip on the Daddy Express?  Sure, you get this ride most every day, but here you can take in lovely views of the porta-potties, old barns, and of course all those other kids suffering through their time on the Hay Mountain.

Last but not least, don't forget to pick up a pumpkin.  Because your parents are cheap thoughtful, you don't have to wander through patch after patch before locating the perfect pumpkin.  Instead, you are presented with aisles of pumpkins similar to shopping at Wal-Mart.  Convenient, right?

Boy, oh boy, are you one lucky kid to have such tightwad adventurous parents.

(Author's Note: In all honesty, we highly recommend Ganyard Hill Farms and had a fun time visiting again this year.  We will definitely be sure to check out the more traditional activities next year when Linus is a bit older and able to actually enjoy the experience.)

Crossposted at My Sweet Babboo.
Abby is a stay-at-home mom of a one year old who blogs at her personal mommy
blog, My Sweet Babboo.