Of all the scary things my kids might face on Halloween night, one thing looms most terrifying in their minds: the prospect of trick-or-treating at homes with no candy left to give. (Yes, First World Problems, I know.) Which is why this …
It took a while for me to get the appeal of no-carve pumpkin ideas. However every year, we grab some pumpkins in anticipation of carving them into fabulously silly or scary faces--then reality hits, and I remember that carving pumpkins i…
If you are juggling a needy infant or a get-into-everything toddler this October, the last thing you probably want to think about is spending hours creating a fancy Halloween costume for your little pumpkin. It's one of the reasons we lo…
With all the attack ads on TV, the l-o-n-g debates, and the lack of cartoon characters, it's no wonder that my kids aren't exactly enthralled with politics and the upcoming presidential election. But there's now a cool, non-partisan webs…
Listen up, partner. Even though they're cute as the dickens, those baby toes must go under wraps in this colder weather. And if you're going to cover those sweet things up, you might as well do it with something just as adorable, like th…
I developed asthma as an adult. So I can only imagine how scary it is for a young child to have to deal with the coughing, wheezing, and breathlessness that comes with the disease. Not to mention the fear of being "different" from all yo…
I've always loved early fall for the chance to go apple picking (and the subsequent homemade apple treats!) But long after the apples are gone from the trees, there will be plenty of ways to celebrate apple season with some adorable grap…
If I started today, I could probably create Halloween costumes by hand for my three, although it would cost me dearly in terms of time and sanity. But here's another thought: instead of sweating over fabric and glue, I could just hit "pr…
Though my kids are mildly amused by the stories of my youth ( what do you mean, there was no internet? ), they are much more fascinated by stories about kids from faraway lands. So I'm excited to find a new series of globe-trotting books…
Thanks to an Austrian grandmother and a healthy selection of Putumayo Kids music , my kids have been exposed to a fairly diverse tapestry of children's music...although I will admit that our knowledge of any music from East Asia is almos…
When my kids were really young, they loved to tell me long, adorably nonsensical stories about just about anything that crossed their minds. Now that they're a bit older, I miss their elaborate tales. These days, it's easy for tech-savvy…
I spent a lot of time looking for the "perfect" birth announcements for my three children--something unique and beautiful, and worthy of tucking away in a special place and not immediately hitting the recycle bin (gasp!). And if CMP favo…
Along with a housecleaner and a personal chef, what I really could've used when I was a new mom was a good laugh and a lot more funny parenting books. Because while I sat and rocked my newborn as she screamed, it was sometimes hard to no…
Avast me hearties, it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day ! And if you have a little landlubber who likes to plunder your desk drawers and yell arrrrrrr at all hours of the day and night, we have got the cutest little tee to add to yo…
Steve Denyes of Hullabaloo has the kind of cool Johnny Cash-esque voice that would be right at home in a honky-tonk country bar. Fortunately for our kids, he and his childhood friend Brendan Kremer have decided to make great kids' music …
When I was pregnant with my first child, my neighbor gave me a cassette tape full of traditional kids' songs, and I thought, This is what I'll have to listen to when I have a baby? Interesting. And then I sobbed. Maybe a little. This cou…
I confess: I have a love-hate relationship with planning birthday parties for my kids. While picking a theme can be fun, I also find it a little exhausting to sift through website after website looking for cool activities for a superhero…
We just returned from our third tent-camping excursion, and while I wouldn't call us back-country experts, I've learned a lot since that first trip when I was still nursing a toddler while trying to keep the other two from falling into t…
I've always been envious of those crafty upcycle types who can turn a cardboard box or egg carton into an adorable toy or trinket holder. I just don't have enough of the craft gene to make trash look like much more than...well, trash. Bu…
Back when I was shopping for baby gear for my now-tween, my choices for stroller and car seat covers were pretty blah: Solid navy, neutral plaids, and teddy bear. You new mamas have it so good, especially those of you with a penchant for…
Yes, the years are going by so fast, though I've never had one whiz by in 28.4 minutes, thank goodness. But if anyone can make that happen in a way that will put a smile on your face, it's the musical, yellow-hued cartoon Gustafer Yellow…
I still remember how much hard work it was for my kids to learn to read, with all the painfully slow sounding-out of words one-by-one. It sometimes seems that kids are so busy trying to figure out what the letters say that they can't eve…
It makes perfect sense that Caspar Babypants, the kindie music favorite whose song titles include My Flea Has Dogs and Stompy the Bear , would create an alphabet book with prose way beyond A is for Apple . But what really makes this pict…
As a mother, here's a program I'm so happy to be able to tell you about: for the next few hours only , you can help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in a significant way by barely lifting a finger. In fact, you will quite lite…
