Give us a few cold rainy days and my kids will be climbing the walls and snarling at all my attempts to cheer them up. So I'm stashing away the downloadable Monster Mania ebook from Make and Takes to help me out with a few easy craft ide…
I remember when the bands coming out of Seattle's indie music scene set the bar for what was cool, so it shouldn't surprise me that the most rockin' new kids' band, The Not-Its! , call that region home. Their debut CD, We Are The Not-Its…
My kids expected another silly cartoon as we settled in to watch Disneynature: EARTH on DVD, but their quiet focus told me that, even without talking zebras, the night's selection had been a hit. We had skipped EARTH when it first appear…
When I first heard of the MojaMix Custom-Mixed Cereal , I thought you'd have to be a pretty picky eater to need that. And then I remembered that I custom-order three different kinds of coffee beans to hand mix at home for my perfect roas…
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 real…
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'…
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 r…
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…
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-natur…
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 gre…
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…
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…
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 ,…
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 o…
Our New England summer started off as one big, wet petri dish for mosquitoes, meaning the buggers are now swarming even in the middle of the day. And there's no sign of it letting up until fall. I have no intention of mixing DEET into my…
You're lucky she isn't allergic to gluten. . .that allergy sucks , the guy at Whole Foods said, as I looked for milk-free treats for my oldest. And, I have to agree that in the world of food allergies, short of the real life-threatening …
Back in the day, sweaty dancing to live music, singing loudly and staying up too late was a given during my annual pilgrimage to the Lollapalooza music festival. I've had to tone things down a bit now that my hearing is shot, my bedtime …
We're a crazy homeschooling family, minus the denim jumpers and 65 children (Kidding! Kidding!) and I'm always on the lookout for ways to teach the kids things without boring them to tears with text books and lectures. The 6 in 1 Educati…
When the thunderclouds roll in, digging up rainy day kids' activities to keep the brood entertained indoors isn't so easy. Especially when all they can think about are beaches, bikes and bothering each other. So we thought it was high ti…
They grow up so fast, I've said a million times, and while they're still little I want to introduce them to the coolest indie-vibe kids' music I can. Like CMP fave The Sippy Cups' new CD The Time Machine . Mixing bits of "stop and smell …
Now that I've put my foot down on the whole no-DVD-in-the-car thing (the same way Liz had mentioned earlier this week), I better have something to keep my three occupied on long road trips. So along with all the great kids' music we play…
Now that it's still light at bedtime, my kids are bouncing off the walls when I try to tuck them under their covers at night. I need help, and I'll take it in the form of Sunflow's latest CD, the lullaby collection Under the Stars . It's…
At only 16 minutes long, The Hipwaders EP, Goodie Bag may be short but it's still the perfect little morsel of music for a quick drive across town, or to get us moving during a speed-cleanup session before company arrives. This Bay Area …
I've done enough seven-hour road trips with the kids to know that the right music can eliminate the fear of "are we there yet? " So before strapping the kids into their car seats, I spruce up our music collection with some new tunes for …
