EVENT: 13th Annual Multicultural Book Festival at the Kennedy Center 11/1/08

The Kennedy Center invites all children, parents, and educators to the 13th Annual Multicultural
Children's Book Festival.

Held this year on two floors, to accommodate the growing attendance for this annual event! In the
Grand Foyer and on the KC Roof Level.

Celebrate Family Literacy Day and bring the entire family to meet your favorite authors, listen to celebrity book readings, and enjoy performances, participatory workshops, illustration demonstrations, and more.
Presented by the Kennedy Center Education Department.

FREE EVENT. NO TICKETS REQUIRED.

Oh Susanna! at Spill the Beans Grand Opening Celebration

News from local mama Donna Memmo, founder of Spill the Beans....

We're excited to announce our Grand Opening Celebration will be this Friday, October 31st! (yes, Halloween!)

The folks of Ft. Hunt Centre will be joining us in celebrating Halloween,
too! So bring your trick-or-treaters by and they can trick-or-treat their way
from Ft. Hunt Animal Hospital (Furry Trick-or-Treaters are welcome at the
Animal Hospital as well!), to Spill the Beans, to Ft. Hunt Dry Cleaners, to I
Love Nails, to Ft. Hunt Hair Design!

4 pm: Bring your kids in for another after school singalong with Mr. Skip!
What better way to start off your trick-or-treating evening than with a
singalong and a coffee to take with?!

While supplies last, on Halloween, will be featuring Bob's Famous Globs! If
you've not yet tried these fabulous cookies, trust us, they are worth the
trip!

Throughout the day, in celebration of our Grand Opening, we will be having
free Spill the Beans t-shirt giveaways and holding a Guess How Many Chocolate
Covered Coffee Beans are in the Jar contest, as well as other fun activities!

See you on Halloween!
Your Friends at Spill the Beans!

Playdates in the Kitchen: Family - Fun at Home

Over the last couple of months, I have been looking for ways to entertain my little ones while sharing my love for food and cooking while not feeling like I've been sucked into the Kiddie-ville land of random ball shaped foods.

Recently, we received a copy of Kitchen Playdates by Lauren Deen (Chronicle Books). It's a beautiful book with bright, detailed pictures and clear, detailed instructions. As a cookbook aficionado, I loved it, but after trying it realized that some of the recipes are a tad expensive and a touch too-exotic and "adult" for my little ones, 2 year old and 10 months. So I tried the recipes out on some of my favorite mamas and papas and they were hits!

Kitchen Playdates is a great starting point for some rockin ideas and fun way to entertain in a family-friendly way.

Available for purchae at www.amazon.com or www.chroniclebooks.com

See Kai Run's Big Blog Giveaway

Capitol Moms and See Kai Run have come together for a great Fall giveaway in honor of the change of seasons and the recent launch of their new Smaller line. To see previous CM coverage, click here

Here's how you what you could win:




Here's how you win:
Send an email to info@capitolmoms.org (info(AT)capitolmoms.org) with "See Kai Run" in the subject line. Tell Capitol Moms your favorite Fall Family Activity. Be sure to include your mailing address, desired size and contact information.

See more of their line and shop at www.seekairun.com
Good luck!
- CM

Ready to "Inform, Enrich and Inspire" local mamas - DC Mama hits the city!

Teia Collier, founder of Capitol Moms Motherhood Resource Service, has joined forces with the Today's Mama family to launch DC Mama coming live and in full force on November 10, 2008.

We look forward to celebrating Motherhood with monthly events, local mom-prenuer spotlights, exclusive partnerships, sales and deals with local and national shops and boutiques, exclusive family finds for the area that are sure to make DC sparkle. Look for The DC Mama Handbook coming in the fall of 2009.

To learn more, visit www.dcmama.com

CM Reads Review: City Walks with Kids DC - Enjoy the city like a tourist, only better.

We were looking for something fun and cheap to do with our kids, without leaving the city and without a lot of planning.... enter City Walks with Kids DC, a glove box keeper. City Walks actually makes it easy to pick a card, pack a diaper back and just go.

City Walks with Kids DC by Ingrid Roper Catron is a keeper for our family. It's a day trip in a box, well actually about 50 kid-friendly day trips with maps in a box. Each card is chock full of information for an easy family outing: 4 to 5 stops, touristy and local haunts alike plus a fun place for a treat and little snippets of trivia to make the trip lively. Our favorite component is the tri-fold map that connects all the trips together and prevents our favorite habit of getting lost in a city that we love.

It's a must for new families in the area or natives that have never been around to see the sites.

Available for $14.95 at www.Chronicle Books.com