by Christina Refford | Books for Kids
Even though I realize that the amazing Charley Harper Coloring Book is intended for younger audiences, it’s so sophisticated that I can’t help but want to save a couple of pages for me.American illustrator Charley Harper’s “minimal...
by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings
With all the building toys in my three-kid household, I find it amusing that their new favorite is a box of same-sized, non-painted, rectangular pieces of wood from CitiBlocs. You can almost hear all the other blocks protesting, “But I’m colorful!”,...
by Christina Refford | Entertainment + Media
On a recent drive to the beach, my kids and I glumly watched the black clouds rolling in as we all collectively whined, “Rain again?” Fortunately the CD I chose to turn on at that moment was Asheba’s totally fun calypso and world beat release, In The...
by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings
As a child, I’d spend three long days driving to visit my grandmother each summer and, out of boredom, would pretend my bare hands and feet were puppets. Pretty pathetic, but times were tough and it was too hot in our hatchback to go the sock-puppet route. So...
by Christina Refford | Food + Recipes
My kids are fruit-eating machines, which is great except for when we get the urge to make a smoothie and have only a sad spotted banana left on the counter. Short of planting my own orchard, I’m happy to have discovered the new all-natural Chiquita Smoothies...
by Christina Refford | Baby
Since I’ve become a parent, my delight with Peter Rabbit has been replaced with a desire to give him a time out for eating Farmer Brown’s veggies and disobeying his mama. He’s figuring out how to win we me over again though, by going green with his...
by Christina Refford | Cards + Stationery
I had three kids in under four years, but it’s the parents who have twins who earn my respect for living with double the chaos. Maybe that’s why I love B Designs’ minimalist letterpress twins birth announcement which conveys the joy over the new...
by Christina Refford | Entertainment + Media
There is no shortage of princess stuff around my two-daughter household, but that doesn’t mean their CD collection needs to full of sickly sweet commercial voices. In fact, I’m thrilled that they love listening to Mary Kaye’s Music Box, because her...
by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings
Of all the things my homeschooled kids miss about not going “back to school” in the traditional sense, it’s not having a daily ride on a school bus that ranks at the top. And now that they’ve caught site of this handmade Painted School Bus...
by Christina Refford | Entertainment + Media
When you hear my kids identifying a song from System of a Down, you get a pretty good idea of the the type of music I lean toward: Loud, fast and hard. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the polar opposite of hand-banging, and I offer up my love of...
