2/17-2/19 Mardi Gras Celebration

23rd Annual Mardi Gras Celebration
February 17-19 & 21!

Mark your calendars for the best Mardi Gras Celebration in Los Angeles! Join us for a weekend full of traditional New Orleans and Zydeco music, bead-throwing, strolling parade bands, arts and crafts and face painting for kids, authentic Cajun food, beer, and much more! Grammy-nominated Lisa Haley & The Zydekats return along with other Market favorites including, T-Lou & His Super Hot Zydeco Band, Eddie Baytos & The Nervis Bros and Lula Afro Brazil!

Kick off the weekend activities with our annual Mutti Gras Pet Parade & Costume Contest! Dress up your pooch for a chance to win great prizes and treats! Registration is free. Call Three Dog Bakery at 323-935-7512 or visit them at stall #710 to register your four-legged friend.

Click here for a complete Mardi Gras schedule.

The party continues on Fat Tuesday, February 21 with traditional New Orleans tunes with Eddie Baytos & The Nervis Bros on the West Patio from 6:30-9:30pm.

All activities are free!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The girls were very excited about today because it's a holiday where they can get more candy! Like they need any more candy. They are still working on candy from Halloween. Besides eating candy, they look forward most to our annual tradition of having a picnic mac and cheese dinner in the living room. I generally have a no food in the living room rule; so this makes a special treat for them.

In the morning, I took my youngest to her weekly library story time. They brought out different instruments for the kids to play while listening to music. The kids paraded around the room having fun making all kinds of noise. My daughter got the triangle. She was not too happy with her instrument and was not interested in parading around the room. She did enjoy the stories that were read and she always enjoys making her craft afterwards and putting together puzzles.

After story time, I went to my older daughter's class to help with their Valentine's party. The kids quickly ate their Valentine's cupcakes and then passed out their Valentines. They were finished so quick, we had an 1 hr and 30 min. left to spare. The teacher was scrambling to find projects for them to do. She found a heart frame craft from Oriental Trading from a previous year and happened to have just the right amount for all the kids. After that, they played a quick game of Mad Libs and painted lots of Valentine related pictures.

The girls picked to have their mac and cheese for dinner. Their favorite is the kind from the box that has Scooby Doo shapes. I couldn't find Scooby Doo shapes this year, so they settled for Madagascar. While I was slaving over the stove boiling water the girls excitedly set up their picnic blanket, decorations, stuffed animal friends and centerpieces in the living room. After 15 min., dinner was complete and we ate dinner while watching a Peanuts Valentine's Day show.
After dinner, we all enjoyed a giant chocolate chip Valentine's Day cookie for dessert.

2/11/12 -Target Free Family Saturday: Ready, Set, Go!

FREE ALL DAY at the Japanese American Museum!
http://www.janm.org/events/familyfestivals/

Learning, crafts, and fun for the entire family! February’s theme is healthy living. Generously sponsored by Target, these special Saturdays are filled with fun activities giving families unique ways to learn, play, and grow together.

ALL DAY CRAFT ACTIVITIES:
Hop, skip, and jump on over to the Museum to embellish a jump rope.
Make a recipe holder for your favorite healthy recipes. We’ll have some recipes from Kidding Around in the Kitchen ready to go along with your creation!
Ruthie’s Origami Corner: An apple a day, keeps the doctor away! Make an origami apple with Ruthie.

SCHEDULE:
11AM – Doors open

11 AM – 12:30 – Chef Naoko Moore teaches you how to eat healthy by making onigiri (rice balls)! (1st come 1st serve, limit 15 students)

1 – 2 PM -- Chef Sonoko Sakai teaches you how to eat healthy by making delicious miso soup! (1st come 1st serve, limit 15 students)

1 - 4 PM - Kidding Around the Kitchen is happy to show families how to make their own Ready Set Go Delicious Kebabs

1 – 4 PM – SPECIAL! Artists from our Drawing the Line: Japanese American Art, Design & Activism in Post-War Los Angeles exhibition will be in the galleries talking about their work.

1 PM – Cut a rug! Learn how to Bon Odori (style of dancing performed during a traditional Japanese festival)

2 PM – Palpitating Panthers Jump Rope Team performance and workshop

3 PM – Let HoopItUp teach you how to hula hoop your way to good health

4PM – Doors close

2/11/12 - Valentine Treat Bag Make'n Take

Valentine Treat Bag Make'n Take
Sat Feb 11, 2012 1pm to 3pm

Join us for a FREE make'n take event and create an adorable Valentine treat bag. Contact your local Beverly's for more details. Event not available at Carmichael location.

Free Toy's R Us Lego Friends Event - Feb. 4th

http://www.alexslemonade.org/lego-friends-event-toysrus-stores-february-4-2012

LEGO® Friends Launch N’ Build Event at Toys R Us
Friday, February 4 from 12pm to 2pm
Join us for an exclusive opportunity to experience LEGO® Friends - the brand new building craze - and create a complimentary lemonade stand to take home and add to any LEGO Friends set! For each stand built, LEGO will donate $1 to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation* to help fight childhood cancer.

Please note: This event is intended for children ages 5 and up. Parental supervision is required at all times. All event materials are available while supplies last and are distributed to participating children only. Limit one stand per child and quantities are limited. *Up to $10,000.

Free Museum Admission

Museums Free-For-All’ Saturday-Sunday, January 28th and 29th, 2012.
http://museumsla.org/news.asp

Participating Museums:

* The Annenberg Space for Photography - Both Days
* The Autry National Center - Both Days
* California African American Museum - Both Days
* California Science Center - Both Days
* Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles - Both Days
* Fowler Museum at UCLA - Both Days
* The Hammer Museum - Both Days
* The Getty Center - Both Days
* The Getty Villa**- Both Days
* Laguna Art Museum- Both Days
* Los Angeles Fire Department Museum and Memorial
(Both Hollywood & San Pedro Locations)- Saturday, January 28th Only
* The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) - Saturday, January 28th Only
* Museum of Tolerance - Sunday, January 29th Only
* Museum of Latin American Art - Both Days
* Pasadena Museum of California Art - Both Days
* Santa Monica Museum of Art - Saturday, January 28th Only
* Skirball Cultural Center*** - Saturday, January 28th Only
* Zimmer Children's Museum - Sunday, January 29th Only

*Regular parking fees apply. General museum admission only. May not apply to ticketed exhibitions.
**Timed tickets are required. Visit http://www.getty.edu.
***Timed entry to the Noah’s Ark exhibition will be on a walk-up, first-come, first-serve basis on this date.

LACMA - Free Kid's Membership

We headed out to the Zimmer Museum today because we had a Living Social coupon that was about to expire. We finally got there and were turned away because they were to crowded. They were very generous and gave us a FREE family admission pass to come back!!

The kids were disappointed, so we scrambled to find something else do in Los Angeles that was kid friendly. It was decided that we were close enough to the La Brea Tar Pits to pay them a visit. While walking, we spotted the LACMA museum. They were having their Family Sunday day where kids could make crafts. The theme was the Zodiac. My youngest made a headband and colored her zodiac sign of the pig. My oldest made a cute rabbit puppet out of paper and a Chinese take-out box. Her sign is not really a rabbit; but she liked it better than her sign of the monkey. When they were finished with crafts, I stopped at a sign-up table to get both girls free membership to the museum which included a free adult for each girl. Their membership is free until they are 18.

I'm not a big fan of art museums; although I do like some contemporary art. This museum had 4 art pieces that I really liked. Yes, just 4! One is a giant balloon animal shaped like a dog. Another was 2 animal floaty rings climbing a chain link fence. The best exhibit was the Metropolis (?). It's a giant speedway that has 1500 matchbox cars racing around a track along with 19 trains going around. That was pretty fun to watch.

It turned out to be a fun and unexpected adventure.