Our daughter developed an interest in owls when we painted an owl mural in her little brother's nursery.  For months she made us take her in his room and lift her up to each one on the wall so she could give it a kiss.  We are past that point now, (which is lucky because she is pretty heavy for her age and some of the owls are up pretty high), but she is still fond of them.  When I came across this book I was sure she would enjoy it. . . . And I was right.

Poor Owl is just trying to get a little shut eye, but he is constantly disturbed by various noises of daytime animals. Buzzy bees, nut-cracking squirrels, cooing doves, pecking woodpeckers all seem to all be working ...

We usually wait until the day before Halloween, or sometimes the day itself, to buy candy for our trick-or-treaters.  We deliberately put if off because we know if it sits around for too long we will just have to have a piece or two, (or five) ourselves. Our sad lack of will power and recalling the extraordinary amount of candy our daughter collected last year, started me thinking about going another route with trick-or-treaters this Halloween. We certainly don't want to see any disappointed little faces but there are so many alternatives to candy that kids would love.  I'm sure they will still get plenty of sweet treats.  Here are 15 of our favorite non-candy ideas:

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We seem to have a great many spiders in our house and our daughter, who is otherwise a fan of creepy crawly critters, shrieks at the sight of them. When I came across the book I am highlighting this week, I thought it would either ease her arachnophobia a bit, or she'd refuse to hear it at all. Luckily she loved it.

Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks, author/illustrator, introduces a lovely spider who desperately wants to be a family pet.  This clever spider tries everything it can to impress it's desired family. She is a great dancer, she is very clean, she can even feed herself.  What more must a spider do?  The book is illustrated with bright, lively images, full of expression and charm and is a ......

We are big fans of monster stories around our house and what better time of year to get into the monster spirit than now?  My favorite time of day is story time and we have recently added a new favorite to our list, called I Need My Monster (written by Amanda Noll and Illustrated by Howard McWilliam), a fun twist on the traditional "monster under the bed" story.  The humorous plot revolves around young Ethan and the night he looks under the bed for his monster "Gabe" to find he has gone on a fishing trip. He interviews replacements but they just won't do.  However will Ethan fall asleep without his monster?  I won't spoil it for you, but we love the story and the beautiful ...

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McKenzie

We've recently discovered that both of our children absolutely love watermelon.  I have always been a bit indifferent to it myself, and since I do most of the grocery shopping for our house, we didn't often have it around.  Earlier this summer while enjoying an afternoon at the home of some friends, our kids discovered big slices of juicy ripe watermelon.  Even our daughter who generally only eats from a list of about five things, wanted to have some.  Both of our children indulged that day and ate an almost embarrassing amount of watermelon.

Since then I've been buying the popular melon quite frequently, but we seem to be stuck with a watermelon dilemma.  The small melons...

by

McKenzie

Our daughter Blake has been in a baking phase for quite some time, but her range of interests in this area do not seem to broaden.  While she insists on helping me with a number of culinary projects, if it were up to her we'd make nothing but cupcakes, cupcakes, and more cupcakes. I'm not sure if she finds more joy in the baking process or the eating process, but I try to indulge her occasionally. However, a family (and a waistline) can only handle so many cupcakes.  This weekend I thought our "bakery" or as her father cleverly refers to it, our "Blakery", might whip up something a little different.  We cooked up our own playdough in red, orange, yellow, and green and we...

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McKenzie

When my husband and I were expecting our first child, I didn't go crazy reading mommy or parenting books.  I read the old standby What to Expect When You Are Expecting and watched a few videos.  I read the parenting magazines in my OBGYN's waiting room, and picked up a copy of Jenny McCarthy's book Belly Laughs when I happened to see it on a discounted table at Borders.  However, I do remember reading a book of stories of Mothers with grown children, recounting their parenting experiences.  Some were happy memories, some were helpful tips and some were regrets. There was one in particular that has lingered in the back of my mind through the years. ...