Kids and comics go together like, well, kids and comics. But many of today's graphic novels--even the generally tame mainstream comics we grew up with--are a bit edgier and adult these days. I recently bought my son (9 years old) a Batman graphic novel--he's obsessed with Batman. He's DC, I'm Marvel -- go figure. I'd flipped through it at Borders and it seemed harmless enough. Some mild villian-bashing, few weapons, no blood.

How many times have you heard people say or have thought to yourself "it's just too expensive to truly feed my family healthy foods?" And now that we're experiencing a horrible time as a nation with many of us struggling to keep from being laid-off and really watching every dime we spend it's hard to justify paying three dollars for a pound of grapes.

Babble's Susan Gregory Thomas has posted a good article titled "Is There a Heaven?...Uh". She offers valid reasons for why you need to have a prepared and practiced answer to the whole heaven/god question and "how to explain God to kids, no matter what your beliefs." She convincingly explains, "I do know one thing: I am not alone. Many people of my age are dumbstruck by the whole God thing and what to tell their kids. Why?

Come to cool kiddie hangout Play this Saturday for a family style morning of art and music. From 9:30 to 11am kids can explore their artistic side, every medium imaginable at tot fingers tips at bright and early Messy Art session. Imagine art without sacrificing your clean house. Then stay for a special CD release party for LA local kids' musician Scott Wheatley at 11am.

Ellen of The Long Thread has so generously complied a list of her picks for the "Top 100 Tutorials of 2008" and boy has she hooked us up big time. Some of the tutorials mentioned, namely Oliver + S "Lazy Day Skirt" and "Take along fabric dollhouse", I've actually made and have fallen in love with myself.

Geffen Playhouse's popular family theater program Saturday Scene is back this Saturday, January 10th with their first family performance of the 2009 year. Join them as they present the classic Pinocchio.

Feeling bad about the ten rolls of gift wrap you blew through this past holiday? Well, make up for your global destructiveness by tossing those empty wrapping paper tubes to the kids for oodles of quick cheap thrills. Marie from awe-inspiring family site Make and Takes has put together a fun little list of clever ideas for upcycling those empty wrapping paper rolls.

Come celebrate the New Year, namely Oshogatsu, the Japanese new year, this Sunday, January 4th at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). In honor of the new year the museum is offering free admission all day and a free Oshogatsu Family Festival from 11am to 4pm. The festival is going to be one nice size family bash including a crafts area where kids can make their own

You have this last weekend of winter/family vacation to escape the holiday rut you've been stuck in for two weeks and get out and do something fun and meaningful with the kids. The Getty Center in Los Angeles just might have that certain activity to help you break free for a few hours of quality family time before you're thrust right back into that humdrum day-to-day routine for good. This Saturday and Sunday the museum is holding their Family Art Stops program.

Amy from Let's Explore has a simple yet grand idea for repurposing all those holiday cards into a fun activity for young kids. She's provided a fast and easy tutorial on how to make a "Christmas Card Puzzle Game". I can't wait to make a set or two of these puzzle cards for my own 2 year old daughter. It's such a basic, clean matching/puzzle idea that I know my detail obsessed little girl is going to go crazy over.

Out with the old, in with the new includes that crispy evergreen, half a day away from being a serious fire hazard, sadly sitting in the corner of the living room among the holiday rubbish. Now that you're beginning to regain the strength that's been sucked dry from too many champagne toasts, sugar cookies and cabbage rolls on New Year's Eve you're more likely going to want to pack away the holiday cheer for another year this weekend. But what to do with the dead tree?

So your kid didn't get that pony she so desperately wanted from Santa to bring them year? Why not make up for the disappointment by taking your mini jockey to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank this Sunday, December 28th for their annual Equestfest? From 11am to 3pm your family can "Meet many of the Equestrians you will see January 1st in the 2009 Rose Parade.

Kaboose has quite a few nice little kid-friendly Kwanzaa crafts available on their site. Musical instruments, Mkeka mats, cards, gifts and games are a few of the ideas represented. Most of the crafts require easily accessible and recycled materials that you probably have laying around the house. My favorite ideas include the

"K is for Kwanzaa"by Jwanda Ford is an excellent introductory read for young kids learning about and celebrating Kwanzaa.

Bowers Museum in Santa Ana is holding a really great Kwanzaa Family Festival this Saturday, December 27th for families looking to learn more about the holiday or just looking for s a nice way to celebrate the holiday together. According to the site "Join us in a cultural tradition that celebrates the best of African thought, practice, and culture, the well-being of family and community, the integrity of the environment and our kinship with it.