Whether you are looking for some old fashioned carnival fun, have been counting the minutes to the Harry Potter release, or if you are in the mood to party, this weekend has some great options. We are pleased to bring you our Family Fun List for this coming weekend, July 29-31, 2016, in and around Westchester County, NY. Enjoy! 
​

Aloha! Kick off your weekend with some tropical fun. Friday night is Tiki Invasion at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck. It starts at 6pm and is free. Entertainment includes a live band, fire dancers, bon fire, hula hoops, Limbo contest, food trucks, cash bar with tropical drinks and an outdoor screening of “Joe Vs. The Volcano.”

Calling all animal lovers! The Putnam County 4-H Fair is a 3-day, old fashioned country fair running  Friday through Sunday. While this fair does not have the usual carnival rides you would expect, there is plenty of entertainment. Think animals, games, crafts, music, food, exhibits, a horse show, barbecue and more. Admission is free.

Have an itch for funnel cakes and bumper cars? Then head to the Spring Valley Carnival. You will find all the things you would expect at a traditional carnival. Wednesday through Sunday, evenings only.

You can make a difference by attending the Ossining Family Fun Day & Music Festival. This event will support the Gullotta House, an organization that helps people in Westchester facing hardships. Starting at noon on Saturday there will be food, drinks, vendors, face painting, crafts, bands and music.

Celebrate Irish culture at the Irish-American Cultural Heritage Celebration. The day will be filled with live entertainment, music and dance, arts and crafts, history and culture, and food. The festivities begin at 1:00pm on Sunday at Ridge Road Park in Hartsdale.

There are many more events happening this weekend, find them all on our Community Calendar. You can also visit our Indoor Fun and Outdoor Fun guides for additional ideas. Have a great weekend!
​

We’ve all been there. We put our child to sleep, only to seconds later hear them call out for us. Perhaps they need another drink of water, a hug, or to be convinced that there’s no monster under the bed. My personal favorite was when my own daughter said, “I need something!” and when questioned what, she replied, “Ummmmm” while tapping her chin. There must be a better way!

Now for the good news: there is!  As a Certified Sleep Consultant, I often work with families who face huge bedtime battles, at times lasting for hours, causing anger and frustration, a lot of tears, and sometimes even children running around the house while tired parents try to catch them.  No one is winning these battles.  With a few very simple tools, we’re able to establish a calm, peaceful bedtime for the family.


You’re the best!!
The most important thing to remember is, our kids want our love!! They want nothing more than to spend time with us and any battles that ensue are attempts to gain the attention that they desperately crave.  Let’s be honest, there could be an additional 10 hours in every day and our kids would still want to spend every free waking minute with us (and perhaps sleeping minutes too, but that’s a topic for another article!).  One of the keys to a calm bedtime is to make sure you’re giving your children the attention they’re looking for in the hour leading up to bedtime. Do everything in your power to have your bedtime routine be calm, quiet and loving. Have lots of cuddle time as you read books and re-cap your days.  Spending a few extra minutes BEFORE bedtime can save many minutes AFTER bedtime!


Containing your Jack-in-the Box
Regardless of how lovely your bedtime is, some kids will still test their limits after you put them to bed. Sleep Consultants often refer to them as a Jack-in-the-Box.  Every time you tuck your son or daughter into bed, it just seconds before POP, out they come again.   

It’s my opinion that it’s ok to need something after you go to bed. Your child may legitimately need another trip to the bathroom or be worried about a shadow on the wall.  We should respect them and give them the flexibility to express their needs, but within set limits. Children require concrete limits to know where they stand.  Anything wishy-washy with too much talk and not enough action will quickly backfire, as kids realize they’re really the ones in control.

My favorite tool is to have my clients give their children 2 coins before bed (if you don’t like the idea of money, it can be 2 of anything small, like 2 stickers, or 2 legos). If the child needs “something”, they must turn in one of their coins and in return, they’ll have their request met.  (Let it be known that the coins are to be used only at bedtime, not in the middle of the night. It is unlikely that a child who regularly sleeps through the night will suddenly start waking, but if the attempt is made, silently walk them back to bed.) If they don’t use their coins, they can keep them (for children Kindergarten age and up, you can use this as an opportunity to teach about money; younger children just get a thrill out of putting a penny in their piggy bank).  Once the 2 coins have been turned in, they’re done, and so are you.  Any further requests should not be answered, and if children come out of their room, parents are instructed to silently return them to bed and leave.  No conversation. No more hugs. Even if there are a few tears.

The key to success: Consistency!
The most important aspect of this plan is that you follow it strictly. Any deviation will show children that their coins have no value, and neither does your word. Our kids are smarter than we give them credit for! They’re going to try to push your limits; they may ask for extra coins or promise you that their one additional request is AN EMERGENCY! It’s not. Actions speak louder than words.  Hold your ground. They had their 2 chances. In a few days they’ll also realize that two is more than enough, and they may even decide to start saving those coins! Then you can go pour a glass of wine and enjoy some well deserved peace and quiet!

Lauren Lappen is a Certified Sleep Consultant and co-founder of Wee Sleep Solutions.  As a mom of daughter Ellie and twins Rebecca and Kira, Lauren recognized the importance of self-care and sought to instill healthy sleep habits in her children so that she could ensure her own rest and be at her best as a parent, wife and friend.   
 
Lauren studied under Deborah Pedrick, a pioneer in the field and founder of the Family Sleep Institute (FSI) and International Association of Child Sleep Consultants. She is thrilled to be able to educate families on the importance of sleep and to empower parents with the knowledge and ability to teach their kids to love sleep as much as her girls do!

As summer continues, we find another weekend chock full of great family-friendly events. Here are a few that looked like fun to us! For a full listing of all events, and for more information, please visit our Community Calendar.

Head to an Italian Festival. 

Cool down with the breeze at the beach. 

Enjoy a show.

Check out Family Fun Day at the Katonah Arts Museum.

Enjoy some music.

Play with animals.

Go to a Farmer's Market.

Check out a Splash Pad Park or a pool.

There are many many more events happening this weekend, find them all on our Community Calendar. You can also visit our Indoor Fun and Outdoor Fun guides for additional ideas. Have a great weekend!

Few activities exhaust me as much as shopping with my kids. When my youngest learned to walk, such excursions reached an all time level of craziness that hasn’t really subsided since. The expression “kids in a candy store,” certainly applies; when stores display toys in their aisles, my frustration level hits an all-time high. You know the drill, a fifteen-minute trip turns into an hour plus, ending with me blindly grabbing things from shelves, carrying my children out of the store kicking and screaming. OK, most of the screaming probably comes from me.

“Never again” I remind myself at the end of each and every trip. “Never again.”

With birthday parties scheduled weekly from now until pretty much eternity, I try to shop exclusively at Amazon and YoYo.com for all my gift purchases. I read reviews, try to make smart choices, and the quality of my gifts has improved since the early days. Yet, inevitably life gets away from me and I realize in a panic on a Friday that we have two parties on Saturday and no online retailer can deliver on time.

If I could just figure out what I wanted before arriving at the store, I could manage everything. But, wait? What’s this tab on the website? “In-store pick-up.” Genius! The new scenario: with kids in tow, I calmly walk to customer service, show them my email verification of the order, shove a snack in my kids’ hands, and exit the store. Whaatttt? Game changer.

In-store pickup is online shopping without the delivery. Obviously, not all retailers offer this service, yet more and more do so every day. Personally, I have picked up purchases at Nordstrom, Macy’s, Staples, Toys R Us, Home Depot, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Sears, Target, and Kohl’s.

IN-STORE PICKUP SAVES YOU TIME AND MONEY. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

1. Store policies vary. Most retailers alert you within an hour or two that your item is ready to pick up, usually at the customer service desk. Check availability before ordering.
2. Search online by checking the in-store pickup tab. Although, you may have somewhat fewer choices, the big retailers still offer more than enough items to make it worth your while.
3. Use online promo codes. Disclaimer: I am not a paper couponer. If it’s not on my iPhone or has an expiration of never (Bed Bath and Beyond), chances are I won’t have one. Or, I will, but would have forgotten it at home. Online shopping makes using coupons so easy.
4. Use Ebates (more on this in a later blog post) or other rewards programs to find coupons and get additional savings, up to 6 percent for the stores I mentioned.
5. Stores generally have lower online prices for the exact same product at their brick-and-mortar stores!

I should mention that I still believe in shopping locally as much as possible to support the mom-and-pops of our community. Unfortunately, more and more of these businesses close their doors daily, and in some areas, you simply can’t find that cute toy store anymore.

What are your experiences with in-store pickup? Do you wish more stores offered this option?

Michelle Platt is a local blogger and mom of two. She writes about trying to maintain her sanity and her savings in suburbia using technology, apps, and life hacks. It’s a little bit MacGyver meets Oprah’s favorite things, mixed with the brutal honesty of motherhood. 

Read more from her at her blog, My Purse Strings

When you become a parent, it seems as though you’re inundated with an endless amount of tips for how to make bedtime as easy as possible. Read on to find out some tried and true tips for how to make bedtime a blissful experience, for both you AND your baby or toddler!

1) Short and Sweet

Don’t be fooled into thinking your bedtime routine needs to be some long and drawn out process with multiple steps including baths, massages, books and more! Ideally, your bedtime routine (including feeding) should last no more than 30 minutes tops. Many families can get away with routines as short as 15 minutes.  As long as your baby is ready to go to sleep, and you are using auditory and visual cues such a white noise and darkness, your baby’s body will do the work of getting itself ready to go to sleep. All you need to do is make sure your baby is well fed and properly dressed in order to sleep soundly. In fact, you don’t even need to give your baby a bath every day since bathing infants and toddlers a few times a week is more than enough to keep their skin healthy.  

Once you know your baby is ready for bed, feed him in a bright room so he won’t get sleepy or drowsy during the feeding, continue with whatever else you’d like to be a part of your routine (bath, pajamas, books, etc), and then put your baby down for bed.  Many women nurse their baby to sleep or do a bottle as last part of the routine in dim lighting, why not do that?

2) Calm and Quiet

As mentioned above, you’ll want to make sure baby is fed in a bright room so that baby doesn’t get sleepy, however, after your baby’s last feeding is complete - strive for dim lights, calm, quiet. Using low lights and low voices for the pajama and book reading portion of your routine (for example), is helpful to relax baby and help her get ready for sleep. In fact, playing in a room with a 15 watt light bulb, and white noise going in the background for about 10 minutes before bed can help even the most active baby’s body get bed-ready to transition into the sleep state. Going back to bath time in tip #1 above - keep in mind that some babies find bath time very stimulating is there a certain age for this?, which is the opposite of what we’re looking for before bedtime. Just remember, after baby's last feeding - keep things calm and quiet, and be sure to turn down the lights to ensure your baby is ready to go to sleep.
​

3) Mind the Temperature

Most parents don’t realize that it’s always better for babies to be cooler, rather than warmer, in order to sleep safely and healthfully. Babies aren’t able to efficiently cool themselves via sweating like older kids and adults, so it’s important to never over-dress them for bed. Keep their bedroom between 68 and 71 degrees year-around, and dress them in a single layer in warm months for bedtime and naps. If their nursery is notoriously cool, use a sleep sack over pajamas, but never a blanket to help them stay warm, because of SIDS. Besides being safer, sleeping in cooler temperatures prompts the body to fall asleep more easily and stay asleep longer, so be sure to err on the side of cooler temperature for sleep time.

4) Do it at the RIGHT Time

Generally speaking, bedtime should be between 6:30pm and 8:30pm for babies 4 months to 4-years-old. The younger the child the earlier the bedtime, but often times older toddlers, like for example a 3-year-old who no longer naps, may need to go to bed as early as 7:00pm. If your family’s lifestyle permits, aim to have your baby down as early as they seem tired. Once they start to get fussy anytime after 6:00pm, that’s the best indication of when your child wishes they were already sound asleep in their bed. If you happen to know more or less what time your baby seems to be fussy each day, start your baby’s bedtime about a half hour prior to that time so that they are ready to go to sleep by the time the tiredness hits.
​

5) Give it Time

Sometimes when you put your baby down to sleep, it seems they just don’t want the mom party to end! Keep in mind that many babies may need to let off a few minutes of steam (via crying) before they settle down and go to sleep for the night. The most important thing to remember in the 1-2 hours before baby goes to bed for the night, is that you’re not helping your child become sleepy or drowsy (even during the bedtime feeding).  Aim to make sure your baby is completely awake in the 1-2 hours before bed, as well as during the bedtime routine. Spend a few moments calming your baby down right before you place her in the crib, then try to put her down calm but awake. Studies show that babies who independently put themselves to sleep at the start of the night, tend to have fewer wakings and sleep more hours through the night, compared to babies who have help from mom and dad to calm them down and fall asleep.

And there you have it! These tips and tricks should help you achieve your goal for a happy bedtime, and as a result - a well-rested baby or toddler.

Natalie Willes, Infant and Toddler Sleep Expert, has been working with families all over the world as an infant and toddler sleep consultant since 2008. Natalie has worked with over 1,000 families to help their babies sleep through the night and nap consistently. By offering custom tailored approaches to each family and child, Natalie draws from her extensive experience to make sure each family feels confident in their sleep-training journey. Natalie works with infants starting as early as 14-weeks-old through toddlers 3 years of age. She is based on the west coast and enjoys the outdoors with her two children Olive and Milo, and her husband Michael. Have any baby sleep questions for Natalie? She can be contacted through her website www.babysleeptrainer.com or at 310-279-9299.

• Jefferson Valley Mall to Host “KidX Safe Summer” (Saturday)
• Free Crafts for Kids at Lakeshore Learning Scarsdale: Colors of the Rainbow! Bookmark (Saturday)
• Kids Class with AI Friedman (Saturday)
• Happy Days at Westchester Broadway Theatre (runs through Sunday)
• Psychic Fair (Saturday)
• LEGOLAND® Discovery Center #LDCWSelfie Challenge (all month)
• Hudson River Museum (events and things to do throughout the weekend, several on our calendar or visit their website)

As a new mom, the most important thing you can do is to find a group of like-minded moms whom you trust. You will trust these moms with your new mom questions, your deepest, darkest mom confessions, and eventually, the care of your child.

I moved to Hoboken, New Jersey when I was eight months pregnant, about to embark on life as a stay-at-home mom, knowing no one. I describe this place, a tiny one-mile city, minutes outside of Manhattan, as magical, although I didn’t know it yet. Urban and completely kid-friendly, the streets runneth over with strollers and babywearing mamas. At the time, I had no idea how much support a new mom needed, but it was here in Hoboken, that I found my circle of moms, the women who got me through daily life as a first-time mom.

When we finally came up for a breath from mommyhood and realized how much more we could accomplish without children in tow, it was only natural that we decided to create our babysitting co-op together. At first, it allowed us to get that overdue haircut or make a doctor’s appointment, but soon we progressed to date nights with our husbands. This co-op proved so successful that I did not hire my first official babysitter until my son was close to two-years-old. And, with a sitter costing 12 to 15 dollars for one child, that added up to quite the savings.

WHAT YOU NEED TO CREATE A BABYSITTING CO-OP:

1. You need a group of moms that have similar parenting styles: Would you let your child cry-it-out? Do you limit your child’s TV viewing or diet in any way? Obviously, flaky friends need not apply. Reliability is key.
2. A group large enough to accommodate your requests. We had nine moms in ours, although I usually relied on the same two or three.
3. A method of “payment.” What you don’t want is one person becoming the default sitter. In our case, we paid in “gold” coins (available here on Amazon). Moms took their stash seriously, volunteering when their supply of coins ran low.
4. A clearly defined set of rules 

OUR RULES:*These were the actual rules used by our co-op 

1. Every participant starts with 30 coins
2. One 1/2 hour of babysitting=1 token
3. One hour of babysitting= 2 tokens
4. Night-time babysitting= regular token rate plus a “penalty” of 3 tokens. For example, if you went out for 3 hours, that would cost 6 tokens + 3 token penalty= 9 tokens.
5. Daytime: presume babysitting includes drop-off at “sitter’s” home unless otherwise requested
6. Nighttime: presume babysitting takes place at child’s home unless otherwise requested
7. Provide “sitter” with emergency numbers, including doctor information as well as a schedule of the nightly routine
8. No baths will be given
9. Requests for babysitting should be sent to the group as a whole (mainly to ensure that everyone is actively participating in the co-op)
10. (We lived in a city where we walked everywhere so this may not apply to you). If you return late at night, provide cab fare

Note: second child rate will be revisited at a later time.

Daytime sessions were essentially playdates. My son was not an easy baby. More than once, I would return to find my friend wearing him in the Ergo for hours on end. Still, I never worried, leaving him with such close friends.

At night, before we went out, we tried to feed our children and put them to bed before our friend arrived to babysit. I really looked forward to the nighttime sessions, to the peace of someone else’s home. Rather than spending my nights folding laundry, loading dishes, and thinking of all the other tasks I should be doing, I would watch TV, read a book, and organize my photos.

I should mention that once most of us got pregnant with our second child, this co-op, unfortunately, fell apart. As more and more of our co-op members fled to the suburbs, our original pool dwindled. As I sit here now, years later, I wonder if that wasn’t the case if this co-op could have continued.

In fact, revisiting this subject, I think a co-op could still work for me. Now that my kids are older and I live in the suburbs, I may just start one up again!

Have you tried a co-op? Did it work for you?

Michelle Platt is a local blogger and mom of two. She writes about trying to maintain her sanity and her savings in suburbia using technology, apps, and life hacks. It’s a little bit MacGyver meets Oprah’s favorite things, mixed with the brutal honesty of motherhood. 

Read more from her at her blog, My Purse Strings

Friday, July 8th- Sunday, July 10th
Dutchess County, NY

If you are ready for something spectacular and worth the trip, then head over to the Hudson Valley Hot-Air Balloon Festival. The Festival runs from Friday, July 8th through Sunday, July 10th in two locations.

Balloon Launches
There will be afternoon balloon launches at Migliorelli Farm (245 Guski Road, Red Hook, NY) on Friday and Saturday, each 4-7 p.m.  Admission is free. 

There will be sunrise balloon launches at 6 a.m., gates open at 5 a.m., on Saturday and Sunday at Barton Orchards (63 Apple Tree Lane, Poughquag). Admission is free for morning launches. Gates then reopen at noon for the festival.

Festival
Festival attractions at Barton Orchards includes both daytime and nighttime entertainment. There will be fireworks on Friday night, Moon Glow Balloons on Saturday night, a petting zoo, playground, farm animals, rides, inflatables, slides, games, haunted house, music performances, helicopter rides and much more.

Hours are as follows: Friday, Noon – 10 p.m.; Saturday, 5 – 7 a.m. & Noon – 10 p.m.; Sunday, 5 – 7 a.m., &  Noon – 7 p.m. Admission to the afternoon festival is $10 on Friday and Saturday in advance (a limited number of tickets will be available at the door for $12) and $5 on Sunday. Advance sale tickets are available, including an All Access Weekend Pass at www.balloonfesthv.com.

Full details for each day's events, directions and ticket information can also be found on the Duchess County Chamber of Commerce website. All balloon launches are weather dependent, so check for updates there or on Facebook and Twitter.

Saturday, July 9th 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Parkway Field, 48 Marble Avenue, Pleasantville
​
The Pleasantville Music Festival is an all day outdoor music festival. Enjoy live music, food and activities. It will be 9 hours of music, 15 bands, 3 stages plus food, drink, friends, families and fun. There will be activities for the kids and ways of cooling off. For the 21+ crowd, there will be a beer and wine garden.

Music begins at noon, gates open at 11 a.m. You can bring your own chairs, blanket and food. For more information you can read through the FAQ section on the Musical Festival's website.

​Tickets are $45 for adults (in advance through July 8), $55 at the gate, $25 for students (12-21) and seniors (62 and older) and free for children under 12 with ticket-holding adults. 
​
For more information, to view the lineup of performers, and to purchase tickets in advance, visit www.pleasantvillemusicfestival.com.

Sunday, July 10th 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Hastings-on-Hudson Metro North Station, Southside Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson

The Hastings Flea has it all! A beautiful view, shopping, food trucks, giveaways, yoga for kids, face painting, entertainment for kids and live music all day! 

The event is a great way to enjoy some of the amazing local talent here in Westchester.  The music line up begins at 11 a.m. and includes: puppeteer and singer Flor Bromley, followed by Preschool of Rock (11:45 a.m.), Joannas ’n Bananas (12:30 p.m.), Andrea Saposnik (1:00 p.m.), "Best Kids' Music Class” by New York Magazine Songs for Seeds band (2:00 p.m.), kids yoga with trainer Meghan Covington of Mind Body Fitness NYC in Dobbs Ferry (2:45 p.m.), and singer Michelle DeAngellis (3:00 p.m.).

For more details visit www.hastingsflea.com.

For a full list of upcoming events, visit our Community Calendar. Or check out our Summer Bucket List for great outdoor ideas!

1. I want to cry over the spilled milk on my floor, on my couch, in my car, on my new dress..
2. I want a “time out” of one minute for each year of my age. 40 minutes sounds pretty good…
3. I want “bling” that is not made from macaroni or cheerios.
4. I want artwork that is not made with washable markers.
5. I want wine and not whining.
6. I want a day where I do not hear the words: “but, how come, why not, I don’t know, he did it, one more, and because…”
7. I want to wake my kids at 2am to get me water because I am thirsty then wake them again at 3am because I AM STILL THIRSTY.
8. I want to throw up on someone and have them clean it up…
9. I want someone to tell ME to take a nap!
10. and last but not least I want ONE MORE MINUTE PLEASE!

Marcie Gandell is a full time Westchester NY Mom to three boys and a part-time web designer. She is also a cook, housekeeper, chauffeur, handyman, expert negotiator and an excellent juggler! 

​Read more from her at her blog, Random Stupid Thoughts, a Mom's View of the World

​​Tips from Meghan Covington, Personal trainer, mom, and owner of Mind Body Fitness NYC
​

​Summer is here and the swimsuits are out! Mixed feelings about it?  In a culture that is drilling "bikini body" images into our heads at every opportunity, moms often feel defeated when it comes to their physical self. We are constantly putting our children’s needs before our own.  How can we take care of the kids, clean the home, cook the dinner, maintain a job, AND stay healthy and fit? As a personal trainer, I encourage my mom clients to take a realistic approach. It's not about maintaining your 24-year-old-bikini-wearing body. It's about living in your healthiest, strongest, happiest body RIGHT NOW.
 
Here are a few realistic ways to find YOUR summer body. I promise it’s not too late!
​

​Practice Mindful Eating
Do you catch yourself shoveling food into your face over the kitchen counter with the kids screaming in the background? Or do inhale your meal while binge watching your favorite show at the end of the day? Munching with distraction often causes us to overeat.  In these moments we do not allow our mind to process what the body is consuming.
 
Practice mindful eating. Put away electronic devices and wait for a quiet moment (without your kids around if possible). Savor each bite of your food. Notice the taste, the smell, and the texture. Remind yourself that each food is nourishing your body. By doing this we are better able to receive the message when we are satiated. We will also enjoy our eating experience on a deeper level.
​

Find an Exercise Buddy
Do you know a friend who may be ready to make some healthy changes with you? Finding a workout buddy can help you stay on track. Set a weekly workout date, share recipes, or sign up for new group classes together.  Not only will you be more likely to exercise, but you will have more fun doing it.
 
Another option is finding an experienced and knowledgeable health coach, nutritionist, or personal trainer (like myself) to guide you. It may not be as cost effective as using a friend, but it will ensure that you see results in a timely, safe, and effective way.

Good luck finding your summer body! I am happy to offer Westchester NY Moms readers 40% off their first 3 in-home personal training sessions. My team does amazing work with moms throughout NYC and Westchester. We are here to help.  We also offer virtual skype sessions at a fraction of the cost. Visit www.mindbodyfitnessnyc.com for more info.
 
Want to chat with me in person? Come to the Hastings Flea next Sunday, July 10th for 10am to 4pm. I will be giving away free sessions, doing fitness consultations, and teaching kids yoga! www.hastingsflea.com
​