I was never much of a cook.  Never gave much thought to my diet, of what I put in my body. (Potato Chips are goooood!)

This all changed as I got older and the birth of my son reinforced my belief that my habits had to change. I had a specific plan of what I would allow him to eat and not allow.  Of course like most good intentions, this sometimes falls by the wayside, particularly if we are running late or on our way to soccer practice. (Nobody’s perfect!)

For the most part though, I try to feed him healthy organic foods as much as possible. With school starting next week, I would like to introduce some new foods into his diet.  Although he is not a picky eater and is exposed to many different ethnic foods he, like most kids, gets bored with eating the same thing.

I decided to invest in a couple of new cookbooks, and this one looked good to me. The Family Organic Cookbook promises exciting recipes that will entice the whole family. What I like about this particular book is that it has a specific section on ideas for lunchboxes and snacks that are quick, easy and of course, healthy.

There are even recipes for making you own condiments such as ketchup (a staple in our house!) It would be fun for a younger child, not yet in school to help whip up a healthy after school snack for his sibling with Mom’s help.

Let’s face it, we all try to do our best for our children, but sometimes we need a little help and inspiration.  I hope this cookbook does both for you!

eeBoo’s website promises to offer only “ beautiful, useful and well-made gifts for children”, and uses only the original art work of well- known, well- loved children’s book illustrators to create vibrant and original toys and gifts.”  I’m very excited about the wonderful products they have to offer, and I would like to share with you a few of my favorites.

eeBoo Spanish Bingo: A fun way to expose children as young as three to another language!

eeBoo Good Manner Flash Cards: Well, we could probably all use some of these.

eeBoo Fairies Of The Field Lacing Cards: Oppenheim Gold Award Winner, this is an old fashioned toy that has been updated with gorgeous illustrations and is a simple way to teach hand eye coordination to youngsters.

eeBoo Castle Sketchbook: For the princess in your life.

eeBoo Santa’s Flight Advent Calendar: It’s never too early to start shopping for Christmas.

eeBoo Poet and Astronomer Paper Doll Set: You can be anything you want to be.

I could go on and on, but you’ll just have to check out PriceGrabber for their extensive collection of fabulous eeBoo products.  Wrap one of these lovely items up in some pretty tissue or even some recycled newspaper and you will be giving the gift of creativity, knowledge and fun, all in one beautiful package.

I am just getting around to developing my pictures and assembling some sort of album for my son to remember this year’s family vacation. It seems like months ago we played and strolled on the boardwalk, yet it was only a few short weeks ago.

Memories that were so fresh in our minds are starting to fade as the summer months fly by. I found this Travel Notebook by eeBoo and thought this was a neat thing to take along on our next vacation. This 128-page book is designed to let kids create their own special account of their travels.   After your day’s activities, ask your child to write or sketch what they saw that was interesting or fun for them in the daily log. Or encourage them to send a note to their favorite friend or relative on the stationary that is included.

Be sure and check the itinerary for the next day’s plans.  Even a packing list comes with, so they can make sure they have everything they brought with them (we hope) before they depart.  Attach some of your favorite vacation photos to the journal pages once you’re home, and they have a scrapbook to show off to their friends!

This is an excellent way to teach organizational skills to children, and it offers a really great reward at the end.

Also from eeBoo, Scientific Notebook for the outdoor adventurer!

As a young girl, I fell in love with Laura Ingalls Wilder and her stories about pioneer life in the 1900’s. They were so popular, a TV show was based upon them and America fell in love too.

Therefore, I was happy to come across this compilation of books that I was so fond of as a young reader.

The Little House Collection comes in a boxed set and contains nine of Ingalls-Wilder best-loved books including the first in the series, “Little House In The Big Woods.”

Each book has beautiful lessons about family and giving and what’s really important in life without being preachy or boring. The content is appropriate for every age and these books transcend all race, gender and doctrine.  They are both thrilling and tender at the same time.

Kids like sequels, (Just ask Hollywood) so start them off with the first book and they’ll want to know more about life before cell phones or automobiles.  Lovely black and white illustrations accompany the captivating stories of the hardship and joy of the early western settlers.

These are easy to understand narratives the whole family will enjoy reading aloud or quietly alone, and are wonderful classics to add to a child’s library.

For the more mature reader, the biography of Ms. Wilder’s life is available, and offers the true account of her marriage and life to Almonzo Wilder and their many adventures.

One of the most important purchases for new parents is a really good camera. No, that doesn’t necessarily mean one with multiple lenses and settings. Often you want one that is just portable, easy to use and doesn’t break easily.

Of course you may choose to augment that purchase with one with fancy lenses and a video camera and a few other accessories. But regardless, once you’ve obtained this vital equipment you’re going to want to start snapping away at every opportunity.

Whether or not you’ll have a scrapbook full of half missed moments, fuzzy images and finger-on-lense pictures depends on, really, how good a photographer you are. And I am not.

Though I happily snap away, I really am not that good at the art of photography. I generally leave important moments to my significant other. But, I try and I continue to learn which is why I was pleased to find this book, Professional Secrets for Photographing Children, which will, I hope bring me up to speed.

Besides the obvious tips on lighting, posing and location, this one discusses those all important aspects of, ah…shooting wiggly, disengaged little ones. Which means, how to bring out their personality, how to encourage cooperation (without threats, I assume) and even how to choose clothing.

Perhaps I’ll even be able to ditch the annual trips to the professional photo studio this year!

Our house is filled with books; children’s books, adult books, reference books. Much of our fact checking has now been relegated to the computer – often the quickest way to answer those inevitable questions that pop up: Do birds have teeth? How do fish breathe through their gills? Why is the sky blue?

Still, I think there is something to be said for having reference books lying around the house. I remember as a child leafing through The Time-Life Series of books and volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, looking at the pictures and reading any entry that caught my eye. So, we have lots of children’s reference books lying around.

One of the most important to have in our rapidly globalizing world is, I think, an atlas. I like this one from Dorling Kindersley, the well respected publisher of children’s books. This atlas features over 1000 photographs and child friendly text. Each continent is featured in a two page spread and divided by country making the organization of the world a bit easier to understand.

Updated for the new millennium, this atlas is colorful enough to interest the youngest child and packed with enough facts to make it a worthy addition to a school-age child’s library.

One of my colleagues at PriceGrabber brought this book, Safe Baby Handling Tips, to my attention. A light hearted look at life with a new baby it features a hilarious list of dos and don’ts for life with baby, complete with illustrations.

Though it looks like it perhaps dates from the 1950’s, this book is actually a recent addition to the, it seems, thousands of new books devoted to parenting. I’ve been reading over the reviews and am struck by the enthusiasm readers have about this book. Now, I want to get one or at least bring one to the next baby shower I attend.

This is one of those books that are met with such enthusiasm by readers that word of mouth spreads its fame from parent to parent and leads to a surprise reprinting. Buyers talk of laughing out loud in the store at line drawings of baby dos and don’ts – a picture of a baby placed safely in shopping cart – the do, followed by a baby stuffed on the shelf under the cart with a pile of groceries.

This sounds like my kind of shower present! So, rather than adding to the pile of organic baby clothes, baby wash and slings new moms receive…maybe I’ll bring a little humor, for levity during those 2:00AM nursing sessions.

One of the joys of childhood is opening the mailbox and finding something actually addressed to me! (Compare this to one of the joys of adulthood – finding something in the mailbox that’s not a bill!)

For kids, mail generally consists of invitations to birthday parties, thanks-you notes and cards from far flung relatives, but the occasional toy catalog usually generates an undo amount of excitement. Which is why I started looking for a magazine for my child to enjoy- since eagerly leafing through a magazine tends to be somewhat less expensive than leafing through a toy catalog – you see my rationale?

There are plenty of magazines available for kids, but too many seem to feature hoards of advertisements for a variety of goods I’d rather not buy and/or rather my child not own. That’s one of the reasons Kids Discover magazine is so cool – no ads.

Each monthly issue covers a different science or history topic and explains the subject in a fun and interesting way…for both adults and children. This month is Tornadoes. A few months ago we received Egypt. Before that it was Space Exploration. Loaded with photos and lots of little factoids, puzzles and projects, it keeps us busy.

Since there is so much information, we archive the issues and pull them out when a topic comes up in school. You can also backorder issues if your child shows interest in a specific topic.