A couple times a month (usually on a Friday after a long week) we like to plan a family movie night. We frequently make homemade pizza or pop popcorn, then we set up a kids’ table in the family room and put in a movie. It’s a lot of fun! (And yes, I know eating in front of the TV is a bad idea, but if you only do it once in a while it’s a great treat.) The only tough thing about family movie night is picking the movie. My husband and I insist on an actual, full length movie- not a series of episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine or something like that. My daughter likes Barbie movies, my son likes Bob the Builder. My daughter enjoys involved plots but thinks characters like Jafar from Aladdin and Ursula from Little Mermaid are too scary. My son falls asleep if there isn’t enough action. So how do we find common ground? Through recommendations from friends and memories from our own childhoods, we’ve come up with several that make everybody happy. Here is a list of our favorites in no particular order.  Read the rest of the story...

Several days ago, my sister-in-law sent me an email, a forwarded message from her neighborhood email network. A little girl in her neighborhood had lost her beloved stuffed animal, a brown rabbit named Bun-Bun. The author of the note was looking for any information on the whereabouts of Bun-Bun to help out the “very broken-hearted little girl.” The message broke my heart, too. My son has a beloved stuffed animal, a pink rabbit who’s name is also Bun-Bun.  Read the rest of the story...

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It is not uncommon for my daughter to come out of her room in the morning with an outfit that will make us gasp. Maybe it’s leggings, a tiered skirt, shirt and 5 necklaces all in various, uncoordinated colors, or maybe it’s a sundress paired with fleece pants and a long sleeved shirt (to combat the cold). She’s creative when it comes to her fashion, that’s for sure! Now there is a website that may be for her and girls with similar, uh, gifts. We’ve played with websites that let us pick an outfit for a character (human or pony), but Fashion Playtes lets girls design clothes and purchase their creations.  Read the rest of the story...