Kristina Light

Kristina Light, Web Editor for KCParent.com, grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and is happily raising her family in her hometown. She and her husband, Ron, have three daughters. Kristina loves exploring Kansas City's treasured places and meeting the wonderful people who bring our city to life. Her hobbies include writing, public speaking, herb gardening, cooking, crafts with her girls, exploring museums, reading, learning new things, and MOPS.

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• Speechless...

  published: 3/8/2010 12:00:00 AM

  "I Choose You. - K"... this is the inscription inside my husband's wedding band. 

   

  Just three months before we met, I was having lunch with a co-worker who asked me several "trivia /getting to know you" sorts of questions... my answers were, "I'd never marry a computer developer - having worked in IT for so many years, they bore me, but what am I saying? I'll be single forever. I love the single life." ...

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• If you've Seen One You Haven't Seen "Them All"

  published: 3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

      This month as I've taken the girls on outings, I've come to realize how important it is to realize "if you've seen one you haven't seen them all..."

      For example, Kansas City is home to many fantastic nature centers, but the quality and quantity of exhibits varies significantly from one to another. Our FAVORITES are Burr Oak Woods in Blue Springs (their free programs are outstanding - check out Little Acorns for ...

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• Banana Bread Day!

  published: 2/22/2010 12:00:00 AM

      "Mommy, it's Banana Bread Day!," Emily declares upon discovering three bananas that are starting to brown in our fruit bowl. That's the tradition here: any bananas that don't make it into a banana split or bowl of cereal are mashed and baked into banana bread.

       As Emily (4) & Kayla (2) put on aprons and washed their hands, I realize that Banana Bread baking has changed quite a bit with the help ...

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• Joining the Band!

  published: 2/15/2010 12:00:00 AM

     We spent Friday night rocking and rolling with Mr. Stinky Feet at his Love Fest concert at the Plaza Library. My girls love his music and know the words to almost all of his songs. We own many of his CDs, and borrow the rest from the library.

      One of the things I love about Mr. Stinky Feet's Concerts is that he includes the kids in the act, asking them to stretch imaginary bubble ...

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• Snow Day!

  published: 2/8/2010 12:00:00 AM

      I have a confession that may not be popular with most KC moms.... I'm thrilled for a snow day today! Were it not for the snow, I would have been going from one commitment to another all day from 5am - 9pm... but thanks to the snow I get to spend the day enjoying my girls!

      I had a number of tasks and deadlines to meet today and I spent the last several ...

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• Valentine Traditions

  published: 2/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

      I love holidays and I especially enjoy fun traditions with my family. Here are  few of our favorites:

  • COUNT DOWN: I wrapped 14 books about love last night (i.e. "Guess How Much I Love You," "I Love You with All My Heart", etc) and Valentine's Day (i.e. The Peanuts' Valentine book, "Emily's Valentine Party" and others). Love is such a common theme in children's literature... you'd be surprised how many you have in your collecton. Target's Dollar ...

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• The Most Fun you can have for FREE

  published: 1/25/2010 12:00:00 AM

      This winter we've enjoyed several fun family field-trips that don't cost a dime. We adore Kaleidoscope and KidScape at the Johnson County Museum, but these are fairly popular outings so today I wanted to share five FREE outings that are also some of Kansas City's Best Kept Secrets!

  1. Lowe's Build and Grow Workshops (www.lowesbuildandgrow.com): On the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month, Lowe's Hardware Stores across the metro offer the BEST woodworking ...

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• Cabin Fever = We NEED to Actively Play!

  published: 1/18/2010 12:00:00 AM

      Since December 1, we've been home much more than usual - granted our usual isn't home much as we LOVE outings, but still.... between the birth of the new baby, the snow, a round of colds, and holidays... we've been "homebound" a lot. With my girls (4, 2, and now 1 mos), we do well with preschool at home, cooking, art, library books, games, activities, etc... but they still desperately NEED active play and ...

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• Children and Chopsticks

  published: 1/11/2010 12:00:00 AM

       For a fun and entertaining family dinner, we love Japanese Steakhouses. The chefs prepare a teppanyaki (Japanese stir fry) dinner on a hibachi right before your eyes, set flame to onion volcanoes or steam trains, juggle knives, and throw shrimp into the mouths of coordinated dining guests (Ron catches them about 75% of the time, I have a success rate of about 5%). If you’re not a teriyaki fan, each of these restaurants also ...

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• Top 10 Signs You Know You're a Mommy

  published: 1/4/2010 12:00:00 AM

      This weekend, my husband and I considered renting a movie. As I scanned Red Box for titles, I realized I hadn't heard of most of the films on the list... in fact the only movies I was familiar with were animated and/or starred animals. When did this happen? And then it occurred to me... this is only ONE significant change brought about by Mommyhood.

     This is my Top 10 List of Signs You're a Mom. How many can ...

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• New Year's Resolutions

  published: 12/28/2009 12:00:00 AM

      New Year's Resolutions... It seems there are many viewpoints on New Year's Resolutions. Some people like to set goals and check the successes off their list. Others make the same resolutions year after year, but never quite reach them often finding that around February/March the resolution is forgotten or they've simply given up.

      I like goals, I like resolutions... and some of them have been big successes. One of my favorite resolutions was the year ...

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• Celebrating Babies!

  published: 12/21/2009 12:00:00 AM

      Today we celebrate the one week birthday of our newest family member! Brielle Lyn Light (Brielle means "God is my strength" and we are thankful to say He truly is) was born on December 14 at a healthy 7lb 4oz. Before she came, as I was experiencing contractions and anticipating her birth, I kept remembering her sisters and all the joy they bring to our family... from our two-year-old's unique renditions of "Frosty the Snowman," ...

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• 10 Lessons from My Youngest Daughter

  published: 12/14/2009 12:00:00 AM

  Note: This blog was written eleven days after the "Estimated Due Date" of our third baby girl... who, as of yet, had not made her debut (12/13).

  1) There is a reason they call them "Estimated" Due Dates.

  2) Natural Induction is a myth...  Congrats to all the women who apparently ate Mexican food or Chinese food, or took a long walk  or tried any other "creative ideas" and baby came....  I'm convinced that it is 100% coincidence. Okay, I guess ...

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• The Trauma... a Hair Cut!

  published: 12/7/2009 12:00:00 AM

  My oldest daughter has beautiful long blonde hair. She loves it long, so we keep it long. However, she doesn't quite grasp that it still needs to be trimmed from time to time. Every time we go for a hair trim, she panics in fear that the beautician will "accidentally cut it short."

  Last week, as we awaited the arrival of baby sister, I chose to do a few fun things with my girls and treated my ...

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• "Last Holiday as a Family of 4"

  published: 11/30/2009 12:00:00 AM

      Thanksgiving 2009... it wasn't like ANY other I've ever experienced and yet it was REALLY great!

      My family lives in Kansas City, my husband's family is in rural Missouri about 2 1/2 hours away. With the baby due one week from Thanksgiving, travel was not on the agenda this year. Meanwhile, my mom decided to host our family meal on Sunday following Thanksgiving, leaving Thanksgiving Day to "the four of us." (Technically, we spent last ...

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