Great Gallon Give--Got (Free) Milk?

Yesterday I attended my first blogger event of the year. Got Milk? sponsored a fun-filled afternoon at the W Hotel in Los Angeles. (This had me confused for awhile until I realized that the hotel was actually the same hotel in Westwood where I had gone for my mother's day massage last year. Even though I've been here for over a year and half, I'm still confused about LA addresses. Sometimes you have to write Santa Monica, sometimes Los Angeles. I think the GPS is as confused as I am.) The event launched the Great Gallon Give and revealed the latest celebrity spokesmom.

When we got there, R was hungry and attacked the remainder of someone's lunch left out on the W patio area. Someone clearly trying to keep their new year's resolutions because the fries were untouched, and before I could catch him, R ran over and ate some of them. That boy is super fast when it comes to food, yet he's still in the 15% for weight. Why? Because he doesn't drink enough milk. I'm still doctoring his milk with ovaltine and yogurt so I'm especially glad when there are events like this that feature milk and milk products. H, on the other hand, will drink strawberry milk over any other beverage. I'm not sure, but I think it's genetic. When I was growing up in Korea, all I drank was strawberry milk. When we came to the US and they asked me in school what kind of milk I wanted, I said strawberry. I thought I had moved to a very backwards country indeed when they informed me that that was not an option. Thankfully, the event yesterday was flowing with strawberry milk.

Rebecca Romijn was revealed as newest celebrity spokesmom. She spoke about the importance of milk to her as a mom and also described the details of the Great Gallon Give.The new program will give away hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk – the equivalent of more than three million servings – to help raise awareness of the important role milk plays in building strong families. The “Great Gallon Give” will also make it possible to help families in need by passing a virtual gallon of milk to friends on Facebook. For every virtual gallon passed, $1 will go to Feeding America, the country’s largest network of food banks that serves more than 25 million people facing hunger in this country. Go to whymilk.com to find out if the Great Gallon Give is coming to your town. Local events are planned for 20 markets from coast-to-coast. In total, more than 200,000 gallons of milk will be distributed. While there, you can register for a chance to win a year’s worth of free milk. The first 125,000 people to enter the contest will receive a downloadable coupon for free milk with purchase.

At the event, I noticed that Rebecca is incredibly tall. I'm sure she is drinking milk to make sure she stays that way and doesn't succumb to osteoporosis. She looked amazing for someone with infant twins. Her husband Jerry O'Connell was also there. At one point, I was standing five feet away from him. I didn't want to be uncool and start talking to him about how I was such a big fan and that I thought Crossing Jordon was an awesome show that was cut before its time. I didn't see anyone else go up to him to ask for a photo so I didn't bother him. But it was Woody, in person!

One of the activities at the event to teach kids good health practices was herb and vegetable planting. H planted rosemary and dill. Hopefully one of the 30 seeds H threw into the flower pot will grow into dill. H's favorite activity at the event, by far, was the ice skating on synthetic ice. His friend Chip ran out onto the "ice" and was dancing around like a natural. H could barely stand up. After a couple of times around I determined the problem wasn't his lack of athletic ability but 1) his skates weren't on properly and 2) the attendant had put them on the wrong feet. Once those two issues were taken care of, H was out there attacking the ice with Chip. It didn't feel like ice, sadly, but at least it was harder to fall so H and Chip could thoroughly enjoy their first ice skating experience. Unfortunately since I was out there on the "ice," I couldn't snap photos. And when I did get off and let H skate on his own, R was so upset he wasn't allowed to skate that I had to hold him to prevent him from running out there.

Anita Renfroe was also at the event promoting her new book, Don't Say I Didn't Warn You, but there were too many things going on and I didn't get a chance to talk to her. Check out her very funny youtube video. Anita sums up all the things that a mother says to her children in a three-minute song called "Momisms" set to the William Tell Overture.


The boys and I had a blast at the event. They were full up on chocolate and strawberry milk, vanilla milkshakes, and cheese at the event and didn't need an elaborate dinner when we got home. I am so glad I Got Milk?

December Halftime Report

At times this December it's felt like we were in the middle of a very intense rivalry football game like Army-Navy, Stanford-Cal, Yale-Harvard. As we go from activity to activity, play to play, we're fighting to keep our energy up so we can make it to the end zone. So far this December we've been to 9 different events, not counting playdates at the park and at friends' houses. It was all kicked off by the Got Milk? event on December 1 where H got the best face painting of his short life. I got to sample delicious lattes in between chasing H and R around the patio of Le Pain Quotidien. Everyone at the event got to go home with their own Got Milk? apron, a milk frother and CD of latte recipes.

Then it was four Christmas parties in the span of a week. H got to see Santa twice and R actually sat on Santa's lap without crying this year. I think giving him a big piece of chocolate right before he met Santa really helped. It's really strange, I never sat down with H and said, there is a man called Santa Claus and he brings presents with his reindeer on Christmas. Yet he somehow knew all about it. He kept asking Santa, "Where are your reindeer?" Santa pretended not to hear him. Before I knew it, even though I hadn't made up my mind whether I was going to have the boys believe in Santa or not, I was telling H, "Santa sees you, he only brings presents to the good boys." And before I knew it, H was crying and saying, "I want to be a bad boy, I want to be a bad boy." So at least I know he won't be tricked into doing something bad by a stranger with a present. Right?

Then we made our way over to the Treehouse Social Club in Beverly Hills for the HAMO playdate. The only packs of unopened diapers we had in our house were the Fisher Price ones we had gotten from Toys R Us on Black Friday at 6 am. I had never tried those diapers before but bought four packs because they were half price. Surprisingly high quality. I never even knew Fisher Price made diapers, but I will definitely buy them again. A long non sequitur, sorry. I told H that we were going to a place like Pump it Up Party because I couldn't really describe the TSC. Well, the TSC is nothing like PIUP. There is a giant treehouse in the middle with a slide and areas with different themes, like a game room (complete with Macs and Nintendo Wii), a supermarket room and craft area. H had a fabulous time, but when we were leaving, he said, are we going to Pump it Up Party now? What is it with toddlers and the fascination with giant inflatables? And why does the nearest PIUP have to be in the OC? I was exhausted after two hours of live children's music and running after R. H was ready for the afterparty.

Disney on Ice. By then I couldn't even remember to bring a camera. I had heard a radio message on KFSH that sometimes the best thing to do is just enjoy the event instead of trying to run around capturing the event. Yes, that's what I was doing! Except I wasn't really enjoying it because H ran away before the show started (thankfully he was found quickly by security) and R kept trying to run away during the show and we were asked by security to keep a tighter rein on him. I learned that the boys are, and I am, NOT ready to go to shows like this, at least not R for another two years. A few weeks ago, a friend forwarded me information about this product called Mommy I'm Here that you can attach to your child's shoe to prevent them from running off. I wish I had ordered it then! By the way, I loved the parts of the show I did get to see--especially the Tinkerbell portion in the second half. The flowers popping out of the sides of the rink were definitely an unexpected cool effect. You can still catch the show in various locations in the Los Angeles area. Read my previous post about the discount.

That brings me to this past Friday. (I have a good reason for the lack of updates, my sister-in-law was visiting the past five days and staying in the computer room so no internet for me!) Cookie exchange at the park. Umm...did someone forget to tell the weatherman that it is December and should be cooler than the middle of July? 85 degrees. R was sweating in corduroy overalls and H was drenched from wearing his bike helmet. Finally I just took off R's pants. Someone once said that a toddler can get away with just a diaper as pants until age 2. I wholeheartedly agree. At least if you live in the desert. It would probably be considered child neglect if you did it in the middle of winter in Minnesota. So, cookies exchanged, ensuing crashing from sugar high experienced, vow to never eat cookies made. Broken the next day.

I won't even mention the Christmas party yesterday except to say that I have now officially seen the worst white elephant gift ever. Worse than the poop tea given at the mom's club Christmas party, worse than the spool of half-empty blank DVDs at a previous church Christmas party, and worse than the enormous bottle of pickled peppers given two years in a row. I can't even describe it because it makes absolutely no sense, and yet it completely explains why 10% of the attendees at the party refused to participate in the exchange based on previous year's experience. What is the worst white elephant gift you've ever seen?

And somewhere in the middle of all these running plays, I've been fortunate enough to participate in some really great outreach ministries in our community, from putting together gift baskets for victims of human trafficking to filling toiletry shoeboxes for the homeless to getting up early to score $3 sweatshirts at Old Navy for the Fresh Brothers sweatshirt drive. Fortunate because it completes the message behind all the celebration during Jesus's birthday month, that he came to earth to help us all. Touchdown.

Got Milk?

From the time H was 11 months old to 2 1/2 half, he drank a lot of milk. He had always had formula mixed in with his bottle (never learned to latch on) so he had been accustomed to the flavor. R on the other hand, refused all bottles and wouldn't wean until 14 months. That is when all the milk drama began. He refused to drink plain milk. The doctor said that was the reason why he had dropped from being in the 70th percentile at six months to 10th percentile for weight at fifteen months. So I had to find creative ways to make him drink milk or risk him dropping off the chart all together. Yogurt, kefir, soymilk, yogurt drinks, chocolate syrup, and apple juice (not as gross as you might think) are only some of the things I mix in to get him to drink his milk. And of course, whatever R gets, H wants so now both boys are non-drinkers of plain milk. So when my friend @mintcool told me about a chocolate milk Halloween event sponsored by Got Milk?, I was really excited to go because that's one of their favorite food groups. (Both kids are not big eaters, but that's a story for another day.)

The event took place last Tuesday, the first day it had rained in Southern California since June. I would not be deterred by a little rain (especially since it was @mintcool who was driving us in her minivan). We made it to Paramount Studios in Hollywood in record time because so many people stayed off the roads to avoid the rain. It was my first trip to a movie studio since I had moved to Southern California and I was excited. We passed the Blue Sky and made our way to New York street. It was a great event filled with chocolate milk, treats and games for the kids.

We also got to see Got Milk? unveiling Angie Harmon's new milk mustache ad. There was an opportunity for us bloggers to take photos and talk with her, but like many of the women there, I didn't want to be photographed with my disheveled hair and sweatshirt (it was raining!) next to Angie Harmon. But I couldn't pass up an opportunity for R to get his photo taken with Jason Sehorn. Being most recently from New York, I can tell you that was a big deal for me. R shares his name with a certain NFL Hall of Famer so it was even more thrilling. Perhaps R will be the first Korean to make it to the NFL and one day this photo will be on his fan page!

Of course no blog is complete without a bit of drama. R ate and drank so much chocolate at the event that he threw it all up when we got home. But that's my fault for letting him overindulge because I was so distracted by my first blogger event. So we Got Chocolate Milk all over R, me and our living room couch. Totally worth it.