Pensacola People to Know: Jay McElroy

May 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

This is the second edition of our new feature, Pensacola People to Know! Every so often, I am going to share a Pensacola Person to know with you. Each week I share our own opinions with you and I thought it would be fun to bring in some other opinions! Are you a Pensacola Person to Know or do you want to nominate someone? Let us know!

I am excited to introduce my pal Jay to you. Jay is a middle school teacher and is owner and operator of Life of the Party Mobile DJ Services. You might recognize his name because he has written some guest posts for us in the past. He shared his experience on the Olin Marler, a dolphin cruise, and also shared his favorite place to watch the Blue Angel beach air show.

Favorite playground or park? Mine or the kids??? I grew up over on Homewood Road, across the street from Scenic Heights Elementary, so I have always had a soft spot for Hitzman Optimist park (although they desperately need better restrooms). Now they have put in a disc golf course too, and I am looking forward to taking the kids over there to play!

The kids absolutely LOVE Perdido Kids Park (Jill calls it Princess Park because to her it looks like a castle) and Benny Russell Park over in Pace. They both have awesome play structures, but Benny Russell has more shaded areas.

Favorite place for a night out? A night out? What’s that? No…really. With my wife, Amber, working weekday evenings teaching, and me DJing weekends, we don’t get many nights out. We do like taking the kids to the movies or just out for pizza.

When it rains, what do you like to do with your family? We love to play board games! Some favorites are Sorry, Candyland, and Trouble, but any game that Jill (age 4) can play too is fine with us! We also like piling into our king size bed and watching a movie all cuddled up.

What local favorite do you want every new parent to know about? New parents as in with babies, or new parents as in new to the area? I don’t know from baby stuff, but for the folks with kids the ages of mine or older, I’d say 32 Degrees frozen yogurt by Cordova Mall. I know it’s a chain, and the kids love getting to make their own and add their favorite toppings! I would also say the parks I mentioned before, especially the disc golf at Hitzman.

What is your favorite Pensacola treat? I love the burgers at McGuire’s, the seafood nachos at Flounders, and dipped soft serve cones at the DQ on Scenic Highway!

When you want to escape Pensacola, where do you go for a daytrip or an overnighter? We don’t get away often, but we did love going to New Orleans! I love the history of the city and the kids love beignets and the French Market. The aquarium is great to get out of the heat, and riding the trolley was a big thrill for JT. Years ago when I was in the USAF and stationed in Panama City, I used to love to go to Seaside. That’s one place I am hoping to take the kids this summer.

What do you think Pensacola’s best kept secret is? I don’t think it even remotely counts as a secret, but a true local treasure is Pensacola NAS. I know lots of folks go to the museum, but when we go, we like to hit Fort Barrancas. Maybe the secret part is that they do really cool night time tours; hosted by guys in full Civil War dress who share the unique history of the fort. Being there at night with nothing but candles to light the corridors is fun with just a touch of spooky thrown in.

You are a DJ and a musician. What do you and your kids listen to in the car together? Well, in Amber’s car the kids love to listen to Kids Place Live on Sirius satellite. In my car, we usually listen to WABD (now that WABB is gone). JT loves Taio Cruz and Jillian is a big fan of Adele (“I set fire…to da wain!!!”). I like to stay as current as possible in music so I always know what the hottest new songs are to use when I’m working, and both our kids love to dance, so pop music rules in my car.

What is your favorite book to read with or to your middle school students and why? Well, since I teach reading to kids who are at a low reading level, sadly, we rarely get to actually read full length novels (no, I’m not kidding…most of the time is spent on short passages and teaching decoding and comprehension skills. Language Arts gets to read novels but Reading doesn’t…I’m teaching the definition of irony this week ;^). I loved reading The Outsiders with my high school kids when I was teaching 9th grade a couple years ago. This year I have been working on my first novel, a middle school age book, and reading the first few chapters of that to my 6th graders and seeing/hearing their reactions was pretty great too!

I love that you started a Poetry Open Mic Night at your school. What is the one poem that you hope your children know by heart when they are older? Great question! I would have to say, “If” by Rudyard Kipling. It’s not easy to find that much wisdom in one place. In that piece, Kipling gives life lessons that are easier to read than to live, and nothing but good could come from remembering them.

How can parents support good homework habits for their children? Do you have any tips we can implement at home? Oh boy…you done went and did it now! Never ask a teacher for advice on homework…because we’ll give it.

The first and foremost rule is that homework starts before anything else (games, snack, etc.) and is not finished until it has been checked. My wife does JT’s homework with him when they get home and checks it, and I when i get home from work, I check it over again. If what comes out is sloppy or poorly done, hold your ground and make them do it again! They will learn to take their time and do it right the first time! JT struggled with writing neatly, but he has improved greatly in the last couple months. His writing content has been great all along, but it was difficult to read. Now he takes his time writing and takes pride in writing neatly so it can be read. Also, don’t let homework time happen alone; sit with your kids while they do it. Show them that you think it is important and worth spending the time on. I have spent a lot of hours at the dinner table with JT this year working on 1st grade writing assignments (he has to do a paragraph every week), and my next tip is: Teach your child to pre-write! Before JT is even allowed to touch the paper that gets turned in, he has to have all his thoughts written out on a scratch page; not really a rough draft… more like outlining his thoughts. This makes him have to think through what he is going to write, rather than just grabbing the pencil and going at it. It also gives me a chance to help correct spelling.

Are you a Pensacola Person to Know or do you want to nominate someone? Let us know!

Filed Under: Pensacola People to Know Tagged With:

Pensacola People to Know: Amy Pinney of Amy Pinney Photography

May 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I am so excited to introduce this new feature to Pensacola with Kids. Every so often, I am going to share a Pensacola Person to know with you. Each week I share our own opinions with you and I thought it would be fun to bring in some other opinions! Are you a Pensacola Person to Know or do you want to nominate someone? Let us know!

 

First up is Amy Pinney of  Amy Pinney Photography. I like to read Amy Pinney’s photography blog, not only for the beautiful pictures, but also to get some great photography hints. In one of her latest posts, Kids Naturally, she shares how to capture great pictures of your children.

 

Photo courtesy of Amy Pinney

Favorite playground or park? The Tiger Point Athletic Complex playground. We also like the little park/playground on Tippin with the giant caterpillar. That one is right next to Granny’s so we dip in for a snack and a visit.

Favorite place for a night out? Anywhere we can get great food. Carrabbas is probably our favorite, but really, with two (amazing) small children, we just enjoy opportunities to spend time with just us.

 

When it rains, what do you like to do with your family? Craft. We like to make bird feeders for the Cardinals and gifts for the grandparents.

 

What local favorite do you want every new parent to know about? Confetti Couture Events–precious birthday parties!!!

 

What is your favorite Pensacola treat? The beach! If you mean food…McGuires! The artichoke dip is killer….we actually served it at our wedding reception in ’06.

 

When you want to escape Pensacola, where do you go for a daytrip or an overnighter? Orlando

 

What do you think Pensacola’s best kept secret is? Hmmm…I don’t know, honestly!

 

You are a family photographer…will you share your favorite location to photograph families? In their homes, or anywhere with meaning to them. Of course, I always love a classic beach shoot, especially when the family is creative with it!

 

Are you a Pensacola Person to Know or do you want to nominate someone? Let us know!
Filed Under: Pensacola People to Know

Swimsuits for Easter

April 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Easter is on Sunday and if you celebrate, were you like me? I, er…I mean the Easter Bunny, was running around trying to find those last minute basket fillers without breaking the bank.

We always get each child a new swimsuit for the bunny to bring.  Even though my children are only 5 and 7, they are already wondering what kind of swimsuit the Easter Bunny will be bringing them. By the time Easter rolls around in Pensacola, we have gotten out last year’s swimsuits and worn them a few times already. We know they aren’t going to last into the summer.  Some years, we get dressed up in our new swimsuits and head out to the beach to spend Easter Sunday together building castles in the sand.

This year, each child is getting a new swimsuit, a cover-up for Little S and a rash guard for Big S, a movie, a LEGO minifigure (the new ones for 2012 have been released!), a Skylander (which is currently the favorite video game of the household). The kids love getting new items for the beach and I don’t end up buying them a bunch of junk they don’t need.

In addition to the gifts, I always add some of their favorite candies like Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans, Hershey’s Kisses, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs (our favorite!). Big S gets a box of blue Peeps and Little S gets a box of pink Peeps. I always sneak a bag of Cadbury Mini-Eggs. I may or may not have already gone through more than one bag of these.

Do you have any Easter basket traditions in your family?

If you are still trying to throw together some Easter activities or recipes, stop by Hershey’s Bunny Trail.

*Thank you to Hershey’s for the lovely Easter basket with a few of our favorite candies. We have already replenished the bags of candy because they were gone practically as soon as they were delivered!

 

Filed Under: Family Activities at Home

How to Take Amazing Pictures of Your Children – Part Two

March 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

At the beginning of January, I introduced you to our sponsor, Paul Portillo Photo.  Last week, Paul shared some simple guidelines to use for photographing your children.  They included the Rule of Thirds, Viewpoint, and Background.  I have already put some of these tips to work when I snapped some pictures of my kids this weekend.

If you are looking for a photographer, be sure to visit Paul Portillo Photo.

Framing

The world is full of objects which make perfect natural frames, such as trees, archways and holes.  By placing these around the edge of the composition you help to isolate the main subject from the outside world.  The result is a more focused image, which draws your eye naturally to the main point of interest.

Cropping

Often, a photo will lack impact because the main subject is so small that it becomes lost among the clutter of its surroundings.  By cropping tight around the subject, you eliminate the background “noise”, ensuring the subject gets the viewer’s undivided attention.

Additional Tips

Now that you know the guidelines, you can always break these rules.  They are only here to guide you.

When photographing children, keep in mind that posing may not be the way to go.  Let them play or just act natural when photographing them.  Sometimes, pictures will look better when they are not looking right at the camera.  If you choose to get them to look at the camera, don’t have them say “cheese”.  Have them say words like pizza, hot dog, cheeseburger, or fun words like fuzzy cheeseburger.  Words starting with the letter “p” or “f” turn up good in a photograph.  Remember, the most important thing is to have fun.  If children stop having fun, they will not want to take any pictures.  Also, make sure they have had their nap and have eaten.

Have someone help you (with toys) to grab their attention.  Remember you are using a digital camera so take however many pictures you need. Getting five good pictures out of fifty is not a bad thing.  This costs you nothing.

When it comes to lighting, I could write page after page about this topic but I will keep it simple.  If you are taking pictures indoors, use a window to light your children.  You will get this beautiful soft light.  Outdoors is always a better way to go.  There are certain times of the day that you can take pictures to get the perfect light but when it comes to children this may not always work.  Take your pictures when ever you can.  Use shade if the sun is above you.  Use your pop up flash as a fill flash (only use flash if you have to because your pictures are too dark).  You can have someone hold up a white sheet to diffuse the sunlight and create a soft light.

When it comes to clothing, you can have them wear anything, just avoid using clothing with writing, as this will distract people when viewing your pictures.

Good luck and have fun.  Capture those wonderful memories.  They grow up so much.

A word from Paul about Paul Portillo Photography:

Remember that we specialize in unique lifestyle portraits of toddlers and children, newborns and maternity, big kids and families, too, in the Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and surrounding areas.  No studio, our sessions are relaxed, fun, casual and are done on-location at your home or outdoors.  Unique photography for today’s world is our philosophy.  Customer service is also very important to us. We are in the business of capturing emotions, spirits, and phases of life. Because our goal is to capture the true essence of your personalities, we will rarely pose you or press the shutter only when you smile.  We strive to get a natural look, but our work is custom so if you want us to use poses, we can.

Filed Under: Just for Fun

How to Take Amazing Pictures of Your Children – Part One

February 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

At the beginning of January, I introduced you to our sponsor, Paul Portillo Photo.  I am so excited today because he is sharing some simple guidelines for taking amazing pictures of your kids.  We like to get professional pictures taken at least once or twice a year, but what do you do during the in-between?  How do you snap that wall-worthy picture while playing at the park?  Paul helps us out with this great guest post that will be broken up in to two segments.

If you are looking for a photographer, be sure to visit Paul Portillo Photo.

Here are some simple guidelines.  Remember to have fun when photographing your children.

Rule of Thirds

Imagine that your image is divided into 9 equal segments by 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines.  The rule of thirds says that you should position the most important elements in your scene along these lines, or at the points where they intersect.  Doing so will add balance and interest to your photo.

Viewpoint

Before photographing your subject, take time to think about where you will shoot it from.  Our viewpoint has a massive impact on the composition of our photo, and as a result it can greatly affect the message that the shot conveys.  Rather than just shooting from eye level (for children, eye level works amazing), consider photographing from high above, down at ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on.

Background

How many times have you taken what you thought would be a great shot, only to find that the final image lacks impact because the subject blends into a busy background? The human eye is excellent at distinguishing between different elements in a scene, whereas a camera has a tendency to flatten the foreground and background, and this can often ruin an otherwise great photo.  Thankfully this problem is usually easy to overcome at the time of shooting – look around for a plain and unobtrusive background and compose your shot so that it doesn’t distract or detract from the subject.

A word from Paul about Paul Portillo Photography:

Remember that we specialize in unique lifestyle portraits of toddlers and children, newborns and maternity, big kids and families, too, in the Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and surrounding areas.  No studio, our sessions are relaxed, fun, casual and are done on-location at your home or outdoors.  Unique photography for today’s world is our philosophy.  Customer service is also very important to us. We are in the business of capturing emotions, spirits, and phases of life. Because our goal is to capture the true essence of your personalities, we will rarely pose you or press the shutter only when you smile.  We strive to get a natural look, but our work is custom so if you want us to use poses, we can.

Stay tuned next week for some photography tips from Paul Portillo Photo!

Filed Under: Just for Fun Tagged With:

Valentine’s Day Activities

February 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Here are some Valentine’s Day activities to do with your little ones this week!

Puzzles, Poems, and Printables

Paper Conversation Heart Wreath

Valentine’s Handprint Poem

Heart Shaped Finger Puppet

Heart Shaped S’mores Pops

Candy Rings

Cornstarch Hearts

Napkin Roses

Paper Love Bugs

How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day with your kids?

Filed Under: Learning Time

Valentine’s Day Card Ideas

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This week, we have gotten the notice that we need a certain amount of Valentine’s delivered to the school on February 14th.  We usually head to the store and pick out the little paper Valentine’s.  That being said, I spent a few hours exploring Pinterest and found some great ideas so now I am trying to decide if I should be adventurous!  Here are some of the ideas that I have found!  Stop by their websites for directions!

Tic Tac Toe by Shim & Sons

 

Butterfly Lollipops by Skip to My Lou (with a free template to download!)

Source: skiptomylou.org via Lori on Pinterest

 

Crayon Hearts by Cotton Candy Castle

Source: flickr.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

 

Photograph Valentine’s by Family Fun and Remodelaholic

 

What are you doing for Valentine’s Day this year?

Also, if you are on Pinterest, you can follow me.  I use Pinterest to save all of my favorite craft ideas and recipes, books I want to read, and more.

Filed Under: Crafts, Just for Fun

From the Archives: The Letter L

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Last year, Little S and I completed learning time activities each day.  It was a fun way to spend time together and I feel like she learned so much.  This year, she is attending a VPK but I am posting our activities from last year for those of you with little ones at home.  We have missed the past few Mondays, but are trying to catch up!  To see all of the learning time activities, go to Just For Fun>Learning Time.

The Letter L

Monday

  1. Color the letter L.
  2. Trace the letter L.
  3. olor the Hidden Letter L.

Tuesday

  1. Read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle.
  2. Do a ladybug craft.  We are going to make the ladybugs with movable wings!
  3. Color the ladybugs!

Wednesday

  1. Read The Tawny Scrawny Lion by Kathryn Jackson.
  2. Make a lion mask.
  3. Watch Lion King.

Thursday

  1. Read/sing Mary Had a Little Lamb.
  2. Lamb Craft – On a sheet of colored construction paper, glue cotton balls in the shape of a sheep.  Draw the legs and eyes!

Friday

  1. Read a book about the library.  (Library Mouse and Stuart Little at the Library were two I spotted on BN.com)
  2. Go to the library and have a little scavenger hunt (I will post a scavenger hunt document late this week)!
  3. Check out some books!

Filed Under: Learning Time

Groupon Deal – Pretzelmaker and E-Mealz.com

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Pensacola Deal of the Day brought to you by Groupon is for$16 for a $35 dollar five-visit punch card for up to $7 per visit at the Pretzelmaker in the mall.

Hurry though…this deal expires in about 5 hours!

Each day, Groupon will list deals from your city with a limited amount of time to purchase. Many times, the deal can sell out before the time is expired.

Be sure to read the fine print before you purchase including (but not limited to):

  • Expires August 1, 2012
  • Limit 1 per person, may buy 1 addtional as a gift
  • Limit 1 per visit
  • Not valid with Pretzelmaker Loyalty Cards

E-Mealz.com

A deal for $29 for 12 months of Online Meal Planning ($58 value) is also going on right now.  This deal is good for another two days.  We actually subscribed to E-Mealz for a few months and I really enjoyed getting my weekly meal plan.  They make it easy for you with printable shopping lists, recipes for each meal and more.

Be sure to read the fine print before you purchase including (but not limited to):

  • Expires August 8, 2012
  • Limit 1 per person, may buy 4 additional as gifts
  • Must activate by 8/8/12, program expires 12months from activation date

To purchase either deal, click the link below:

A deal a day great things to do, eat, see, & buy in your area. Shop Groupon.com today!

*This post includes an affiliate link.  Please see our disclosure page.

 

Filed Under: Daily Deals Tagged With:

Good Grade Rewards in Pensacola

January 26, 2012 By 2 Comments

Report cards just came out recently and if your child made the A or A/B Honor roll you might have found some certificates in his or her report card.  Or maybe not.

After getting an email from a reader about good grades rewards (I love getting ideas from you all! Thanks!), I posted on our Pensacola with Kids Facebook page and got some great feedback about different good grade rewards that can be found in Pensacola.

Unfortunately as I started to call around and confirm the rewards, I found that many of the participating businesses only honor the rewards if your child received a certificate from his or her school.  Certificates included rewards from Fast Eddies, Baskin Robbins, Arby’s and more but if your child’s school does not participate, he or she won’t get the certificate or the reward.

In addition to the certificates, your children can bring their report cards to the following businesses to earn good grade rewards:

Krispy Kreme – For each A, your child will get a free doughnut up to six doughnuts.  (We are headed here this afternoon so I will update the post to let you know how it goes!)

Chuck-E-Cheese – Bring in your report card and receive free tokens for good grades.  Valid with a food purchase only and up to 15 tokens.

Cordova Lanes – Bring in your report card and receive a free game of bowling.  When I called, I was told that certificates were handed out but when I mentioned my son didn’t receive a certificate they said that they would probably honor the report card.  **Be sure to call ahead of time to confirm.

Sam’s Fun City – Bring in your report card and receive your choice of one complimentary Go-Kart ride, Lazer-Tag game or limited Arcade Tokens.  They also passed out certificates to participating schools but when I mentioned my son didn’t receive a certificate they said that they would honor the report card.  **Be sure to call ahead of time to double check.

Filed Under: Daily Deals, Just for Fun
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