Channel your inner mom boss Kris Jenner and whip up delicacies like Giada and Ina, with Williams Sonoma’s new celebrity-inspired spatulas. This new line features spatulas and tea towels designed by Dolly Parton, Kris Jenner, Giada De Laurentiis, Ina Garten, Kristen Bell, Molly Yeh and more notable celebs. And get this: a portion of the proceeds are donated to No Kid Hungry. Read for the scoop (literally).
To date Williams Sonoma has raised 10 million dollars for No Kid Hungry, an organization that aims to end childhood hunger in America. Thirty percent of the retail price of each spatula will go directly to No Kid Hungry.
Curious about the spatulas? Designs include whimsical illustrations of cookies, kangaroos and leaves, and catch phrases you may find familiar like Kris Jenner’s, “you’re doing amazing sweetie.”
Spautla retail for $14.95 and tea towels retail for $12.95. Scroll down to see some of the designs and scoop up your favorite celebrity-designed spatula or tea towel by visiting williams-sonoma.com.
Outdoor ordering? Check. Grab-and-go setup? Check. Perfect summertime outing with kids? You bet. Whether you’re craving authentic soft serve or churros à la mode, here’s the scoop on where to find the best frozen dessert trucks in Los Angeles.
Back in 2014, CVT Soft Serve brought traditional, ultra-creamy ice cream to LA, via a retrofitted Mr. Softee truck. The initials in the name stand for chocolate, vanilla and twist—the only three flavors CVT dishes out. When it comes to toppings, CVT similarly keeps it classic, offering rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles and sea salt. Most weekdays, you'll find the CVT truck in Sherman Oaks or Burbank. Follow them on social media for exact times and locations.
Indulge in small batch ice cream (with flavors like Early Grey, Creamy Mocha Swirl and more) from Recess Truck. In addition to ice cream, Recess also serves up ice cream cookie sandwiches, sundaes and the one-of-a-kind french toast sandwiches (ice cream topped in the middle and topped with maple syrup and powdered sugar).
Online: recesstruck.com
Enjoy a perfect combo of creamy ice cream and crispy churros, courtesy of Ridges Churro Bar in San Gabriel. The truck will also make home deliveries in the San Gabriel Valley area. Follow them on Instagram for all the details.
As the name implies, this food truck specializes in bite-size churro treats, including an à la mode option perfect for summer. The truck has been known to park in the Arts District and Monterey Park. Check them out on Instagram for exact locations and times.
It's the ultimate summer treat: a fluffy ice-cold snowball in flavors like pink lemonade, watermelon and cottony candy. You'll usually find the Breezy Freeze truck parked around Granada Hills—follow them on Instagram for details, plus the scoop on regular deals and freebies.
Take your love for Super Mario beyond the screen. The LEGO group just revealed the full product portfolio for its LEGO Super Mario experience. Fans can expand on the LEGO Super Mario range announced in April with a whole new range of Expansion Sets, collectible Character Packs and Power-Up Packs.
This unique partnership between LEGO and Nintendo will reinvent the way people interact with Super Mario in the physical world. The products announced today give fans the chance to build Mario’s house, search for treasure hidden by Toad and defeat a Koopa Troopa in the Guarded Fortress.
The partnership was announced earlier this year, and in April the fun-packed Adventures with Mario Starter Course was revealed alongside two Expansion Sets. The Starter Course is key to unlocking the entire play, being the only set to feature the interactive LEGO Mario figure that collects coins in game levels created with LEGO bricks. LEGO Super Mario brings new interactivity and gameplay to the traditional LEGO brick experience.
All sets come with their own series of unique challenges and characters for fans to play with, or to play against friends. In addition to the Piranha Plant Power Slide Expansion Set and Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle Expansion Set announced in April, the Expansion Set line-up includes: the Guarded Fortress Expansion Set, the Mario’s House & Yoshi Expansion Set, the Toad’s Treasure Hunt Expansion Set, the Desert Pokey Expansion Set, the Whomp’s Lava Trouble Expansion Set and the Boomer Bill Barrage Expansion Set.
Also announced today are ten collectible enemy characters that are available in blind bag Character Packs, adding that extra level of excitement. Each pack will contain a buildable character and action tag to play with – it could be a Paragoomba, Fuzzy, Spiny, Buzzy Beetle, Bullet Bill, Bob-omb, Eep Cheep, Blooper, Urchin or Peepa.
Every Expansion Set and collectible Character is made to be used with the Adventures with Mario Starter Course, for an enhanced play experience. The entry point set features seven action bricks for different interactions with the LEGO Mario figure, which has LCD screens in its eyes, mouth and belly to display instant reactions to movement, color and action bricks. In May, the LEGO Group and Nintendo also announced a series of Power-Up Packs – including Cat Mario and Builder Mario – to help boost gameplay with a variety of suits for LEGO Mario that each reveal new features and powers.
“With today’s announcement, 16 LEGO Super Mario sets have been introduced and I am really looking forward to seeing how people’s play expands with these and the unique Power-Up Packs,” said Takashi Tezuka, Executive Officer and Game Producer of Nintendo Co., Ltd. “Each player’s preferences and imagination are different. By adding already owned LEGO bricks onto the Starter Course, and different LEGO Super Mario expansion sets, we hope that people can create various different Mario worlds and continue enjoying them indefinitely.”
“The reaction to LEGO Super Mario has been incredible,” said Jonathan Bennink, Digital Design Lead on LEGO Super Mario, the LEGO Group. “Super Mario is such an icon – and fans have been highly anticipating the release of the full details of the product line. Our entire range – from the Starter Course to the Power Up Packs, through to the Expansion Sets and Character Packs – have been built to bring Super Mario, his friends – and his enemies – to life. We love how creative Nintendo and LEGO fans are, and can’t wait for them to unleash their imaginations in how they interact with Super Mario in the real world.”
Fans will also love the free LEGO Super Mario app created by the LEGO Group, a supporting feature to further enhance the physical play experience. It keeps track of scores to encourage continuous rebuilding, as well as providing digital building instructions with zoom and rotate viewing tools to make building easier, suggestions of other creative ways to build and play, and a safe forum to share ideas with friends.
The full LEGO Super Mario assortment will launch Aug. 1, but fans can preorder the LEGO Super Mario Starter Course on www.LEGO.com and from select leading retailers around the world now (subject to availability).
Congratulations! Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik are expecting their first baby. Hadid confirmed the good news during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“Obviously, we wished we could have announced it on our own terms but we’re very excited and happy and grateful for everyone’s well wishes and support,” Hadid said.“Especially during this time, it’s a nice silver lining to be able to be home and be together and really experience it day by day.”
She also shared her pregnancy craving, everything bagels. “I eat an everything bagel a day,” she said.
Hadid posted a bunch of photos from her 25th birthday celebration on Instagram including shots of her cake, which, was shaped like a bagel made by Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro.
“I don’t know if it was my hormones right now or just like quarantine emotional-ness, I cried every five minutes for an hour every time I thought about how Buddy made my cake,” she said.
“I totally failed today,” I said through tears to my husband. “I felt like I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. The house is a mess. We hardly did any homework. Why is there always a huge pile of crap on the stairs that noone brings up? I need a maid just for folding laundry. What kind of mystical people actually get to the steps of folding it and putting away? Where do they live? We need disposable clothes for the children and disposable underwear for you too, while we’re at it! Why do I clean when y’all still live here? What is the point? Tell me…WHAT IS THE POINT?!”
The struggle is real! There are some days where we can totally rock the multitasking super mom role and some days where even a chef, maid and magical fairies couldn’t help us keep our act together.
But you know what? That is okay! I promise you that there is not a single one of your yoga doing, Pinterest-worthy birthday party throwing, organic snack feeding, no dark circles under their eyes Mama’s that have it together all the time.
We all have days where we are so tired from being up all night with a sick kiddo or teething babies, that Netflix has to ask us, “Keep Watching?” Yes Netflix…thanks for checking and making me feel bad. We are still watching episode #25 of Boss Baby!
Every Mom has a day…or every day of the week that she lives in sweats and hides when someone rings her doorbell, lest someone she knows sees her looking like she hasn’t showered in three days. Maybe she hasn’t…don’t judge!
Each Mother around the world has days where they feel like they’ve blown it. We think that the one time we gave our kids goldfish instead of Annie’s naturally colored and flavored GMO-free bunny crackers is what’s gonna cause them to revolt against all healthy food and set the pattern for their dietary habits when they’re in their 30’s.
We are so hard on ourselves, Mama’s. We worry about what people will think of our mess, of our missteps, of our mistakes…but we all make them.
And you are a good Mom.
You adore your children, even if you haven’t gotten to bathe the third one in a few days and maybe febreezed his clothes as he went out the door.
You love that teething baby, even if you wish there was a dye free, all natural permanently numbing form of orajel for those long nights.
You clothe them every single day, to include multiple outfit changes…who do they think they are, celebrities? Who do you think is going to keep up with your five outfit changes a day, little Suzie?!
You keep them fed the best you can and you added a piece of fruit with that bag of goldfish, dang it! Dried fruit…okay it was raisins…chocolate covered ones but whatever.
The point is, sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. Some days you have to just smile and survive. Some days you will gloriously thrive and others you will need every ounce of grace the good Lord gave you. Guess what your kids will remember?
They’ll remember that you loved them like there was no tomorrow, that you cuddled up next to them on that couch, after 2.5 hours of sleep and desperately tried to follow along with the ridiculous plot of Boss Baby. They’ll remember that when they cried in the middle of the night, because their tummy hurt or their toothies were coming in-you were right there or that you were the fun mommy who decided it was perfectly acceptable to wear their swim shorts all day…in public…because that was the last article of clothing in their drawer!
Give yourself a break Mom or hire a chef, maid and fairy so that you can take one for real!
The Redeemed Mama is a writer who had had articles published by The Today Show, Love What Matters, The Mighty, Faithit, For Every Mom, The Creative Child Magazine and more. She has 3 beautiful kids and resides in Southern Arizona and loves writing about parenting, life and growth!
If your kiddo is curious about her body, she’s probably asked you more than one semi-awkward question about anatomy. Today is National DNA Day, so it’s the perfect excuse to take the scientific discussion a little deeper by using hands-on building and fun ideas for teaching about the genetic code that makes your kiddo who she is Read on for our attempt you can totally (but not quite) copy.
photo: iStock
Who’s the Boss? Explaining DNA
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid and is one of the two types of nucleic acid in cells. We’re made up of many, many cells that we can’t see and each cell has a job. Some cluster of cells make up our muscles, some make up our bones—and all together they make our bodies! But how does each cell know what to do? That’s where DNA comes in. It tells the cells what to do.
DNA is like the boss of the company. It gives cells instructions that it passes down in the form of “codons,” which is a three-block code. These codes are made from a string of four different letters which have best friends they favor and prefer to hold hands with. A likes T and G likes C and when put together they become instructions for the cells.
Understanding DNA is kind of like understanding LEGOs. Imagine you have 80 LEGO bricks and only four colors to make a tower—the pattern you create will vary even though you only have four colors. Consider yourself the DNA and build, keeping two colors together at all times. You can create a short but wide tower or tall and thin one—all with the same blocks but just different combinations! The rules for those combinations come from mom and dad and the tower that comes out, the baby.
Need more tips on explaining DNA to kids? We love the way Owlcation explains it in this article.
Kids love to build, so building a model of DNA is not only a fun activity to do together, it helps children understand the concept. Using a simple illustration like the one above, find your materials and get building. Ideas include:
LEGO bricks
K’NEX
Candy (check out this cute how-to from Thought.co)
Grapes and toothpicks
Marshmallows and toothpicks
Pipe cleaners
Clay (and sticks or toothpicks)
Beads
Now that you’ve got a grasp on what DNA is, you can show the kiddos how these codes translate in real life by talking about a few common observable traits.
A Family Affair: Height Totes an observable trait: If two parents are tall, odds are their kids will be tall. And if both parents are short, they’ll be short. So you can blame (or thank) your parents for your stature.
Grab a tape measure and compare stats. If grandparents are around, measure them too, or call them up and have the kids ask their height. Get aunts and uncles in on the fun too. Of course kids won’t know their full height until they are all grown-up, but it’s still a great exercise in comparing the family’s DNA results.
Simply Irresistible: Dimples If both your parents have dimples odds are you will too, although it’s not a guarantee. Many people are born with dimples that fade over time.
Pull out the photo albums and take a peek at baby pictures of mom, dad, grandparents and other family members. See any dimples? How about mom and dad at school age?
Tongue Rolling Can you curl your tongue up into a tube? If so, you can thank your genes for that. However, nature loves to break the rules and this one can actually be influenced by your environment: that means you can learn to roll your tongue regardless of if you have the gene. (Unless, of course, you don’t want to).
Practice some tongue rolling skills, and take stock on who can do it and who cannot. Ask friends, teachers and family members and make a tally.
Are your kids looking for new ways to express their creative side? DreamWorks has launched a new creative hub filled with countless ways to entertain them. Download fun, interactive activity sheets, games, crafts, recipes and more from your favorite DreamWorks TV series and movies including Trolls, The Boss Baby, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Shrek, How To Train Your Dragon and more.
Create Harold and George DIY Sock Puppets or She-Ra’s magical sword, solve a Kung Fu Panda puzzle, Troll-ify yourself with a Trolls headband or try out a delicious Hand Pie recipe courtesy of Spirit Riding Free. Watch for new games and activities to be added soon.
The newest attraction-turned-movie from Disney is Jungle Cruise, and it’s scheduled to hit theaters in late July. If you don’t think you can wait until then, we’ve got good news. There’s also a new game coming in June 2020, and it’s based on a mix of the movie and the ride. We got a sneak peek, and not only does it sound like tons of fun for your next family game night, but there’s a special catch for Disney super fans! Keep reading to find out more.
What about the game?
Use your riverboat to transport your passengers (four families, one of which will be your new boss as overseers of the Jungle Navigation Company) and cargo safely through the jungle while overcoming challenges and obstacles. Will you get the right family to the right spot? That’s up for you to figure out, so be careful who you drop ashore before you reach your destination! Fans of the ride will recognize the boat captain’s punny jokes and the ride’s famous landmarks. For two to four players, ages eight and up, it'll have a retail price of $29.99.
So, what's the catch?
While at Toy Fair 2020, we were let in on a little secret—there will be TWO versions of the Jungle Cruise Adventure Game. One will only be available at the gift shops near the Jungle Cruise rides at Disneyland and Disneyworld, and the other one will be available for purchase pretty much everywhere else. The special edition will have a different board layout and different board and box illustrations for a unique collector’s item!
Hallmark Channel’s Christmas movies have long been a staple of the holiday season and now for the first time those celebrating Hanukkah can get in on the fun too.
Hallmark will be featuring two new Hanukkah-themed films as part of its highly anticipated holiday line-up this year. The “Countdown to Christmas” event, which has been airing on the Hallmark Channel for the last ten years, had 85 million viewers last year.
The Countdown to Christmas event kicked off at the end of October, but the two new films Holiday Date and Double Holiday will premiere to coincide with the Jewish holiday. Holiday Date, which airs Dec. 14, follows the story of a woman who enlists a Jewish friend to be her pretend boyfriend when she goes home to visit her family for Christmas.
Double Holiday, which premieres on Dec. 22, centers around a Jewish woman whose Hanukkah plans are turned upside down when her boss enlists her to plan the office holiday party with her rival.
“Celebrating holiday seasons in lots of different ways is important to every family across the United States, and we do our best to bring to light the different traditions and different things that are happening to people in their lives,” Michelle Vicary, Crown Media’s executive vice president of programming told the New York Post.
—Shahrzad Warkentin
photos: Courtesy of Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Allister Foster
Whether you stay at home or work full-time, being a mom is not something you ever get a real break from. It’s a 24-hour, seven day a week gig and mom of two Eva Mendes knows it’s no joke.
Mendes was a guest on the Kelly Clarkson Show where she opened up about just how hard being a mom actually is. “People are so sweet — they really try to warn you, prep you, when you’re pregnant, but nobody can prep you. Nobody.”
The actress is currently taking a break from her career to stay home with her two daughters, Amada Lee, three, and Esmeralda Amada, five, who she shares with Ryan Gosling. “Nobody told me it was gonna really be a job. And a job that I needed an incredible amount of skill for, in different areas,” she jokingly admitted to Clarkson rattling off some of the roles she’s taken on as a mom. “A chauffeur, a cook, a personal assistant to an abusive boss.”
Mendes also revealed the parenting style that she and Gosling take on with their kids. “We’re very controlling,” she said. “I think what the term is––we’re always laughing at these terms—I think we would be ‘bulldozing parents.’”
