How to turn everyday baby moments into discovery
      Whether trekking to the grocery store, tackling laundry or racing to a meeting, today's parents are busier than ever. As the frenzied pace of daily life becomes the acceptable norm, parents feel it is increasingly difficult to spend quality time with their children, especially infants.
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Practice makes perfect
      LEARNING ABOUT SAFETY- Brandi Porterieko of Thousand Oaks hands her daughter Annie, 5, to a Ventura County firefighter as part of a home fire safety evacuation exercise. The drill took place during last Saturday's Family Day at the Park at T.O.'s Community Park.
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Mothers love variety of gifts
      It's a day for breakfast in bed, bouquets of flowers, special gifts and simply saying "thank you." For all the work mom does throughout the year she deserves to be pampered on Mother's Day. So what do moms really want the most?
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May's the month for gardening
      Flowers, vegetables and lawns are entering their maximum growing months and backyard gardeners can do much in May to help them thrive, say experts at Agromin, a Camarillobased manufacturer of premium soil products.
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Skip through the sprinklers on a sunny day
      H2O=PURE HAPPINESS- Graham Lyons, 2, of Thousand Oaks teaches those willing to watch and learn that all someone needs to have fun is a little water and a lot of imagination. Top left, a water spout fountain at the Janss Marketplace is an amusing playmate last Sunday. Top right, the disappearing friend leaves the boy wondering where it went.
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Possibly worthy of a purchase
      FANCY FABRIC- Rita Sweeney of Newbury Park selects a piece of hand-dyed 100 percent silk at the McGrath Family Farm booth. She attended last Saturday's Camarillo Celtic Fair, a free event at Constitution Park in Camarillo. It included Irish dancers, Irish music, Irish food and vendors selling- you guessed it- Irish-themed goods.
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Saving costs too much
      I recently put $50 worth of gasoline in my car. I don't have a monster truck or a Hummer or an SUV. And I don't have two gas tanks in my car or some huge vessel that holds enough gas to last four months. I have a small 4-cylinder Mazda hatchback with a gas tank equivalent in size to some pieces of Tupperware.
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Al Simmons to play in Thousand Oaks
      Performances to Grow On will present Canadian singer and comedian Al Simmons at 7 p.m. Sat., May 17 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Simmons fills his shows with gadgets, costumes, songs, vaudeville-inspired routines and puns.
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