Poetry gets a really bad rap. Parents often shudder while remembering painstakingly combing through each line to dissect the meaning of a poem in high school. And kids? They just think of it as being boooooo-ring—which is pretty much the worst thing something could be for a kid.

But it doesn’t have to be!

Poetry can be really, really awesome and absolutely hilarious! Brightly (a great online resource to help moms and dads raise lifelong readers) recently published a post called Poetry Is Actually Kinda Cool: Great Poetry Books for Reluctant Poetry Readers. The list is fabulous and includes hilarious, well-loved poets like Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, and Roald Dahl. Since I loved their list so much, I thought I’d expand on it and offer you guys a few more funny poetry books for kids that you and your family will love—mostly because they’re laugh-out-loud funny and utterly ridiculous.

These poetry books for kids are great for reading together when you have little spurts of down time (like when you’re waiting at a doctor’s office), to giggle through on long car rides or to pull out when everyone is starting to meltdown. A little time out to read something super silly is the perfect medicine for moodiness (yours included!).

This post is sponsored by Pottery Barn Kids, but all excitement is purely my own.

For the last couple of years, my sister has been putting together the cutest little Christmas Eve box for my niece and nephew. The box usually includes some comfy pjs, a Christmas movie and a special little treat for them to enjoy while they watch the movie together. I’m a total sucker for Christmas traditions, and this year I finally decided to follow her lead and make Christmas Eve a little extra special in our house with a Christmas Eve box.

This post was sponsored by generationOn as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.

What a whirlwind weekend! My first Pajama Program fundraiser was on Saturday at The Dance Workshop—and it was awesome! We had 20 kids come out for an open mat event to practice their tumbling and acro skills. Each of the kids paid a registration fee that will go directly to Pajama Program and brought books or pajamas to donate to the organization. They also crafted their little hearts out, making bookmarks to donate to the kids Pajama Program helps and won books autographed by local authors.

This post was sponsored by generationOn as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.

“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” —Aesop

In hopes of talking less and doing more when it comes to helping others, I’ve started a series I’m calling Good Samaritan Saturday. On Saturday mornings, I’ll post a little something you can do to start your weekend out with positive vibes by helping to lift someone else up…

Slowly but surely we’re heading into that super busy time of year. You can tell by the way the holiday decorations are creeping closer and closer to the doors of all the craft stores (#notready).

I always have the best of intentions during the holidays. I want to teach my kids to be giving—not just to friends and family members, but to people who really need a little extra love. Somehow it manages to get lost in the shuffle of activities and to-do lists and the hibernation that comes along with snow and ice. But giving back to your community doesn’t have to be this huge, time-consuming endeavor. With the right resources and a healthy dose of knowledge, your family can spread acts of kindness even while hunkered down during a snowstorm.

Enter generationON, whose mission is “to inspire, equip, and mobilize youth to take action that changes the world and themselves through service.”

Um, yes please! This sounds like exactly the type of organization a well-meaning momma like myself needs to actually take action and get her kids excited to do the same.

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Carter’s. I received a complimentary gift card to facilitate my review and thank me for my participation. Cute children and opinions are all mine.

My girls are nothing if not fearless fashionistas. While their momma is perfectly content in a solid rotation of v-neck tees, jeans, and TOMS that smell like they’ve been worn all summer, these children of mine treat getting dressed in the morning as a ceremony for the super fabulous.

There is combing through closets. There are accessories. There is lipstick application and ballerina-like twirls in front of the mirror. I’m not allowed to touch their hair, but aside from that, getting dressed is a sacred ritual that is not to be messed with.

Ellie has even started quietly creeping out of bed like the bite-sized ninja she is and dressing herself fully (lipgloss, armful of bracelets and all) before shaking me awake and asking in her best Valley girl voice if she looks beautiful—where does a four-year old pick up a Valley girl lilt in the first place?!

As summer vacation rolls to an end, I started thinking about what this fashion obsession would mean for the school year. There is no way these opinionated ladies o’ mine will go from the absolute freedom of summer to a rigid wardrobe without a battle. It’s already been made clear that there will be no makeup and there will most certainly be daily hair brushing by mom. But the whole picking out their outfits and forcing them into submission thing? It’s not really worth the struggle for me.

These girls already see getting dressed as expressions of who they are. As long as it’s appropriate, why take that away from them?