One of the highlights of my family’s winter every year is to see what surprises are in store for the new production of Sesame Street Live….and of course, every year I get roped into adding a new Sesame Street Live cast recording to my CD collection

This year, kids attending the show are invited to come to the theater a hour early and play in a super fun PlayZone consisting of props and stage settings from Sesame Street. The fact that my daughter got to play on a piano like the one from Elmo’s world made running into the Subway early on a Sunday morning almost worth it

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And then on to the show!

This year the theme of the show is imagination, which was right up our alley.

The characters from Sesame Street take the audience on an imaginary adventure on a ship, to summer camp, on Safari, under the sea and more…singing lots of fun Sesame favorites and 80′s classics along the way.

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If you want to jump on the Elmo bandwagon, 1, 2, 3 Imagine is at Madison Square Garden through February 26th (they added an extra week of fun!)

And…because there’s no reason to pay full price, use the code NYFAM for up to 40% your tickets http://ht.ly/8YwcV . Your welcome

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photo of oscar Play Zone Photos: TM/© 2012 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved. Photographs courtesy of VEE Corporation. Photos provided by Bruce Silcox.

group cast photo Production Photos: TM/© 2012 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved. Photographs courtesy of VEE Corporation.

**Disclaimer: I received tickets to the show for my family to facilitate my honest review**

Colorful tushies advertising something…

I met Peter Yarrow!

Disturbing toy

Amy Mascott aka teachmama

Glitter tattoos!

Heroes in a half shell are back!

If you’re on twitter, copy this tweet to win a your very own Spark Shark Fish Hunt:

RT to win! @peekababy is getting this awesome shark from @MelissaAndDoug img.ly/e1wB and I want one too! #tf12

A random tweeter will win their very own shark toy from Melissa and Doug

I love stuffed vegetables and my kids love eating them because they’re so much fun to dissect on your plate.  A lot of recipes take a lot of work, a lot of time or both.  This one requires neither! It could be served as a side dish, but we eat as a main dish with some roasted vegetables (like cauliflower) on the side.

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Israeli Couscous, Apples and Cranberries

1 acorn squash

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

2 small onions, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 small apple, chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 cup uncooked israeli couscous (also called Pearl Couscous)

1 1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 cinnamon stick

1. Wash squash and pierce in one or two places.  Zap in the microwave for 7-8 minutes, until it is squeezable.  Carefully cut in half and let cool.

2. When squash has cooled sufficiently, scrape out the bulk of the flesh of the squash–leaving about 1/2 still in the shell.  Chop and set aside.

3. In a medium saucepan, heat oil.  Saute onions for 5 minutes, until beginning to become translucent.  Add apples and cook for another 5 minutes.

4.  Add cranberries and uncooked couscous, cook for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

5. Add vegetable broth and cinnamon stick. Stir well.

6.  Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover pot and simmer 8-10 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed. Stir in reserved squash. Season with sea salt to taste.

7.  Stuff couscous and squash mixture into the squash shells.  Place in a lightly greased glass baking dish.  Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, until top is lightly browned and just beginning to get crunchy.

It turns out that there are a whole bunch of cool coffee shops in Brooklyn at which the most-hipster-y of hipster parents can order a mini-decaf cappuccino or steamed milk for their little ones…so many, in fact, that the term ‘babyccino‘ was coined and can be used to order such off-the-menu craziness.

Let’s set aside the issue of giving your child actual coffee, which aside from an occasional taste of the milk foam from atop an adult’s drink is a pretty terrible idea. I actually love steamed milk. I love it even more with cinnamon or honey, and I’m sure that my kids would love sipping some in a coffee shop as well, assuming I could get them an ice-cube to go along with it.

The idea of giving it a name seems kind of icky though.

Am I overreacting?

My kindergartener is definitely becoming a trivia buff…he wants to know everything about everything. generally at the exact moment the question pops into his head.

As a teacher, I also have an affinity for random tidbits of information. No knowledge is bad knowledge, right

With Presidents’ weekend coming up, I was pretty excited to have a list of random president-related facts appear in my inbox. While I don’t think my kiddo will really care which president was which, you can never have too many interesting things to say about teeth or alligators on the playground…

Fun Facts about the Chief Executives:

A minimum of 300 billion portraits of Abraham Lincoln have been created – that’s how many pennies have been made since 1787.

Sixth President John Quincy Adams had a pet alligator that lived in a bathtub at the White House.

The first President born a U.S. citizen was Martin Van Buren.  His birthday was December 5, 1782, making him the first president born after the Declaration of Independence was signed.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the only presidents to sign the Declaration of Independence, and they both died on its 50th anniversary, July 4, 1826.

Nine presidents never attended college, including Washington and Lincoln.  However, Lincoln was an avid reader and self-educated.

At 6′ 4″, Abraham Lincoln was the tallest U.S. President.  The shortest, James Madison, was 5′ 4″ tall.

When he became President, George Washington had only one tooth.  He wore dentures made of human or animal teeth, ivory and lead, but never wood.

George Washington is the only president that never lived in Washington, D.C. during his presidency.

Andrew Jackson was the first president to have been born in a log cabin, and the first  to ride a railroad train.

Ronald Reagan was the oldest president inaugurated (age 69); the youngest was John F. Kennedy (age 43)

Note: Spot the grammatical error in clip art and win….kudos from me

Thanks to Kiddie Academy^® for this list of fun facts (and for sponsoring this post)!  The company has been a leader in education-based childcare for 30 years serving families and their children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old, offering full time care, before- and after-school care and summer camp programs.  You can visit the KA Family Essentials blog and LIKE them on FB for additional information.

Today, February 16th at 3:00pm, marks the first moms’ fashion show as part of Fashion Week!

Hosted by fabulous supermodel mom Iman and brought to you by The Moms , Mom-entum  and Getting Gorgeous this fashion show should prove to be groundbreaking…

Real moms of all sizes will walk down the runway wearing affordable yet trendy mom-friendly fashions. There will even be a couple of moms with fabulous pregnant bellies as well as a couple of moms slinking down the runway with a stroller–the ultimate in mom accessory.

Though the moms on the runway will have to change out of their mom jeans and yoga pants to take part, the rest of us can watch the whole shebang in real-time while hanging out in our swanky sweats! BabyCenter will live stream the show on the BabyCenter LIVE tab of its popular Facebook page.  For those of us who may have work, school pickups or are otherwise barred from making it to the computer to catch the live feed, video of the event will be available in the same location after the show airs.

Those who are social media savvy, can take an active role from their couches by tweeting using the hashtag #StrutMoms before, during and after the show.

On February 8th, I was treated to a pop-up preview of the Philadelphia International Flower Show which will take place March 4-11.  The theme this year is Hawaii: Islands of Aloha.

That last picture of the pig wasn’t part of the show…he was actually a decoration at the hotel…but standing there by the elevator, he seemed to be smirking that he had escaped the luau

At Elmo’s 3 ½ year old birthday party (Monsters count birthdays differently than humans, natch), we were even treated to a musical performance from the real Elmo himself with his pal Leela, from Sesame Street.

Throw in a meeting with Elmo and you’ve passed happy and into the realm of completely awestruck. The only catch?  After seeing human sized Elmo impersonators for so long, try to convince the 2 ½ year old in question that the small red puppet with the man’s  hand in his tush is the ‘real’ Elmo. Though a little thrown off, my little one truly enjoyed her hug I was just hugely starstruck to meet Kevin Clash!

It was also pretty great for this mommy to get a chance to catch up with some friends : Esti Berkowitz of Prime Time Parenting and Onica Cupido of Mommy Factor, among others.

Not only were our goodie bags full of a whole bunch of great Sesame Street toys, but they included a copy of Elmo’s World: Elmo’s Favorite Things a two-hour DVD featuring 8 Elmo’s World segments (released February 7^th).

**This post was originally a guest post on themamamaven.com**

There are few things that make my head spin on it’s axis as much as coming face to face with a bold-faced liar. On the other hand, tattle-tellers also pretty much send me over the edge.

I often come face to face with this problem when I have to explain to my kids when fudging the truth is ok and when it isn’t. And then, of course, there is the sin of omission…which is sometimes the blessing of omission.

Do you have a headache yet?

Deciding when to tell the truth is hard enough for an adult, but how do you pass this information on to young children?

1. Give your kids kudos when they are honest–no kid is every going to admit that they did something wrong if they think they will get bawled out immediately thereafter. So, when your kidlet tells you that they accidentally broke one of your favorite objet d’art, try not to go immediately for the jugular.

2. Explain the difference between tattling and being honest–i.e. it’s not a good idea to tell on your friend/classmate/sibling when they’ve messed up in some way that is neither dangerous nor particularly harmful. Nobody wants to play with the kid who is constantly reveling in moral superiority.

3. This one is particularly tricky, but try to explain that white lies are sometimes ok if they spare someone’s feelings. “If your best friend just got a haircut that makes them look silly, but there is clearly nothing they can do about it, don’t tell them that they look awful.”

4. Try to find examples in the media of good Samaritans who have been rewarded for being honest. These examples are often hard to come by, but everyone knows at least one story of someone who returned a wallet or a purse and was monetarily rewarded for doing the right thing.

5. Most importantly, don’t be a liar yourself :p

How do you teach your kids to tell the truth?

I am currently working with Kiddie Academy to get the word out about their education-based childcare. Their proprietary Life Essentials^® curriculum, supporting programs, methods, activities and techniques help prepare children for life. Visit the KA Family Essentials blog for more.