Got a tween at home? The new Disney Channel Playlist CD is like some tween dream with tunes by Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, et al. Yeah, yeah, we know. We can hear the screaming from here! We’re giving away this little disc of happiness and it can be yours - all you have to do is click “comments” and tell us, who is your kids’ (or your) favorite musical star? Are Jonas Brothers posters plastered all over your kid’s room? Or are you an all-Hannah all the time fam? We’ll draw a winner’s name next Monday.

P.S. Congrats to Abby, who won last week’s DVD giveaway!

NOTE: This contest is now closed - congrats to Kimberly, who won the CD!

“Living with Threes and Fours”
Sept. 8 from 7 to 8 p.m. at Bananas, Oakland
Meg Zweiback, RN, leads this workshop for parents of toddlers.

“Booties Camp: Baby Brain Development”
Sept. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bananas, Oakland
Another in a series of five classes for new and expecting parents. This session covers baby language and brain development.

“Childhood Matters: Grandparents to the Rescue”
Sept. 13 from 7 to 8 a.m. on 98.1 KISS-FM and streamed live on Childhoodmatters.org. Rona Renner, RN, and Dr.
Lenora Poe of Grandparents as Parents discuss grandparenting today.
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San Mateo’s Hillsdale High was evacuated this morning after a pipe bomb exploded on campus. Police arrived on the scene after a teacher reported spotting someone with a gun. The explosion occurred shortly after police arrived. No one was injured, but some 1,200 teens were evacuated to a middle school nearby and parents were notified. Meanwhile SWAT and police bomb squads continue to search the high school. According to KTVU-2, a second device has already been discovered, and a suspect is in custody.

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If you’ve been wanting to watch a little Jane Austen, but you can’t get wrestle the remote from your Harry Potter-obsessed kids, guess what? Tell them “Sense and Sensibility” features nothing but Hogwarts actors. I watched it last weekend and my kids kept hollering out, “Madame Pomfrey! Cornelius Fudge!” It’s true. The Jane Austen movie stars Professor Trelawney (Emma Thompson) as Elinor Dashwood, Madame Pomfrey (Gemma Jones, above) plays her mother, and Snape (Alan Rickman) is positively dashing as Col. Brandon. Add in Fudge as Sir John Middleton and the “fat lady portrait” of Gryffindor Tower as Mrs. Jennings. And the moment you hear the high pitched giggle of Mrs. Jenning’s daughter, you’ll break out in shudders. Good god, it’s Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). My kids want to know if England has any other actors.

Spotted any other Hogwarts actors elsewhere?

Ah, the car trunk. That ubiquitous mess of jumper cables, sports gear, unrolled paper towels, madly rolling flashlights and assorted debris. So, say our buddies at Family Fun Magazine, take a large cardboard box and flatten it so the kids can decorate it with markers. Then reassemble the box, leaving the top open and sealing the bottom with strapping tape. Then, with a craft knife, cut two Xs in each end of the box and thread a length of rope through. Knot them on the inside to make handles and there you go, a frugal, adorable Tidy Trunk Tote.

Other ideas we love: Read the rest of this entry »

“Adoption Book Group”
May 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Bananas, Oakland
This month’s topic is “Debating Race,” by Michael Eric Dyson.

“Childhood Matters: Raising Strong and Healthy Families”
May 30 from 9 to 10 a.m. on Green 960 AM and streamed live on Childhoodmatters.org. Rona Renner, RN, and panelists discuss parenting issues.

“Childhood Matters”
June 6 from 9 to 10 a.m. on Green 960 AM and streamed live on Childhoodmatters.org. Rona Renner, RN, and panelists discuss parenting issues.
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Our intrepid guest bloggers, Linda Zittel and her teenage son Adam, report in from Washington DC, where the kindness of strangers prevails and gets them a primo spot for viewing the ceremonies. Also, chocolate. And overwhelming emotion.

From Linda…
It was a day unlike any other day. Almost anything could or did happen. An estimated two to four million people descended on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the inauguration of Barack Obama. The city didn’t know what hit it.

5:15 a.m. We’re up and getting dressed. Our friend has made scrambled egg and cheese roll-ups for us. Lucky thing. We won’t be eating much today.

6:15 a.m. We’re on the road to the Marc Train Station at Baltimore Washington International Airport. There are patches of snow on the ground.

6:45 a.m. We arrive at the station. It is full. There is no place to sit down. Everyone is in a good mood. A woman walks around handing out little chocolate bars to everyone, saying, “Things go better with chocolate.” Soon we are on the train to Union Station.

8:15 a.m. There are people all over the mall, walking in many different directions. There are policeman stationed at intersections, giving directions and advice. There are signs telling people where to line up depending on the color of their tickets: blue, yellow, and silver. The problem? We don’t have tickets.
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We had so much fun counting down to Halloween and other holidays, we’re going to do it again. Join us on Friday as we start our 12 day countdown to the big winter holidays! We’ve got recipes, cookie ideas, crafts and gift ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah and … OK, not Festivus, but the other ones.

The “Twilight” craze is far from over. The debut of the “Twilight” soundtrack from the upcoming movie just bounced AC/DC out of the No. 1 spot that the Australian metal band had held for two weeks. “Twilight” sold 165,000 — 5,000 more than AC/DC’s Black Ice — to become the first soundtrack to debut at No. 1 in two years.

Anyone care to venture which soundtrack was tops in 2006? Jack Johnson’s Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies for Curious George — yeah, that would have been worse for AC/DC. The “Twilight” soundtrack features new singles by Paramore and Perry Farrell, as well as Muse. But let’s face it, Paris Hilton could have a single on this soundtrack and still it would have hit No. 1. Don’t doubt the power of Edward Cullen, his pretty gal Bella and the vampire mania that has swept almost every tween and teen girl in America.