This past month, New York celebrated the 30th annual Mermaid Parade. For those of you not familiar, hoo boy...where to start. Well, maybe this gorgeous children's book that will charm all mermaid wannabes , regardless of age. Or gender. …
We're about to head on one of our annual summer road trips , which means packing plenty of toys for the car. We try to avoid the DVD--and generally succeed if we've planned ahead. Here, some of my favorite toys for the car for toddlers a…
I love Fourth of July parties, but not all Fourth of July party decor. Beer, hot dogs, fireworks and vintage Americana are good. Red white and blue painted garden gnomes, not so much. I've tracked down these cool, classy options for fest…
Every summer for the past few years, my entire family makes a pilgrimage to the Jersey shore for a week of pure old fashioned beach and boardwalk fun. I spend the other 51 weeks of the year making solo trips to the beach... in my head. B…
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I take my Disneyland fix quite seriously and I love Mickey Mouse. So, you can only imagine my excitement when I was invited to check out the grand opening of the new Cars Land area of Disney's Califo…
I'm so happy to know that our recent post on appropriate swimsuits for little girls was so well-received! Also glad to know it's not just us that's thinking our girls can still be girls for a good while longer--there's plenty of time lat…
Fresh fruit is so glorious this time of year that sometimes whirling up a smoothie from a great recipe is the most I need to do with my farmer's market score. All you need at the very least is ice and a killer combination of seasonal fru…
Last summer, I shopped around for bikinis and two-piece swimsuits for little girls that didn't make them look like teens before their time . Our readers responded so positively, I thought I'd take a browse around this year and see what l…
It's not too often that I get excited about a beach towel for kids. Yes, I get it - some have cuter patterns or whatever. But in the case of Towelmate, they really did reinvent the beach towel for both kids and adults--and it's awesome. …
Memorial Day is this weekend, which in my world means the beginning of popsicle season. It's hard to talk diy popsicles without talking the Zoku pop maker , so it's a good thing they've given us something new to talk about!This summer, y…
My kids have tons of cheap sunglasses -- they're fun and perfect for when they're playing spies, but I know they're not ideal when we're in the sun. In fact, they always seem to "borrow" my expensive sunglasses when we're outside. Hm, I …
Around the same time our daffodils appear, the kids drag their big bucket of chalk out onto our driveway to create an elaborate chalk city. And while I love that we all get out into the fresh air, have you ever tried to help draw a road …
Even though we've lived in Atlanta for almost five years, we've yet to explore all this area has to offer. And really, the idea of a quick weekend trip without a long car drive is really attractive when funds are low and you're chasing a…
Spring is in the air (hooray!) which means summer can't be all that far behind. And while the word "summer camp" still fills my head with images of gimp and campfires, your kids' options now go way beyond the camps of my youth, with spec…
As far as licensed characters go, I am admittedly partial to Julius, the cartoon monkey from Paul Frank. My kids are partial to him too, but they call him Paul. So how could we resist a chance to get up close with him at a traveling part…
The first sign of summer for me is always my first mosquito bite. I always consider bug bites to be the price I pay for good weather and barbecues. But now that I have kids, I feel the need to douse them in something to ward off bug bite…
Though three kids doesn't seem like such a big family anymore, whenever we travel I'm reminded that our party of five was never meant to be the norm for hotel rooms. We've had to squish cots into a standard room, spring for two adjoining…
Does anyone else feel like buying sunscreen takes a PhD and two hours internet research? I do. And then I'm too tired to swim. That's why we're happy to share some family-tested sunscreens that we've thoroughly tested-- and we checked th…
Though I have not yet packed up my kids for overnight camp, I imagine that writing home will be the last thing on their minds. Too bad, since hearing from my kids will be the only thing on my mind. A little bit cheeky, the trio of Happy …
Around our house, homemade popsicles are the treat of the century--a huge score for mom since they're a relatively healthy dessert. Well, now that I've found this amazing new gadget, they're not just a treat for my kids. My husband and I…
There has been a perceptible increase of ice cream consumption in our home over the last week. In fact, once the weather gets warm, I don't think a day goes by without my kids asking for ice cream. (Yeah, it's for the kids.) The folks fr…
The first time I packed my kids up for a week of summer camp, I couldn't get believe all the stuff they needed, even for day camp. And everything, everything, needed a name attached to it, something I unfortunately left to the last minut…
With my kids racing around our hilly neighborhood on the Mini Kick scooters we bought for their birthdays, helmets are a mandatory part of their attire. But it's tough finding helmets that fit little heads well-- and aren't covered in ch…
My son has been totally into making pop-ups this week. Little paper springs, rainbows and jack-in-the-boxes are all over our kitchen table as I type this. (And a million tiny scraps of paper are still on the kitchen floor.) And now, your…