"So these two muffins are in the oven," my sister, The Interminable Professor, began. The Big Kahuna's eyes were wide with anticipation, his cheeks sucked in as he stifled a giggle. He knew his favorite aunt had something amazing coming at the end of the joke.

"And the first muffin turns to the second muffin," the Interminable Professor continued, her fingers creeping up the Kahuna's side, ready to tickle at a moment's notice. "And he says, 'Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?' And the SECOND muffin says...

She paused for effect, glancing sideways to make sure her audience was still rapt. My five-year-old son was barely breathing as he waited for the punch line.

"OH MY GOSH!" the Interminable Professor suddenly cried. "A TALKING MUFFIN!"

There was a moment of silence as the Big Kahuna took it in, then a startled, delighted gasp, and then the giggles. Gales of giggles, from both of them, and a dissolution into tickling and mayhem. Such is life between my sister and my f

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My son woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible stomachache. After several hours, he finally fell back asleep only to wake up again with a severe sore throat and fever. As I wondered what bug he'd picked up, I recalled a notice sent home from his school last week; the form letter said he'd been exposed to strep throat. Boo.

My kid is miserable today. But when we hit that unavoidable in-between time -- when he's feeling better but not well enough to return to school -- I'll need to be ready to make his time home a little more comfortable.

Movies and video games get old. A few years ago I started to keep and old-school "Get Better Box" for sick days (hat tip to Mbutterfuge). Beyond little toys, I've added a few items to that box. The key is to make sure the kids only see these things during sick days. And once they are healthy and back at school, don't forget to clean everything in the Get Better Box!

Here are a few of my favorite (and parent-tested) Get Better Box items

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I realize that this isn't one of the best pictures ever taken of my kids and me, but I love it all the same because it shows my kids doing one of their favorite things: reading books.

I myself can't imagine life without reading. We have bookcases filled with books, and we still don't have room for them all. At our house, one can easily find books stacked next to the bed, stashed between the couch cushions and even, (shh!) in the bathroom.

Yet I still found myself worrying: how do I translate my love of reading to my kids without forcing it down their throats? I have four kids, ages nine to one (those are the two youngest in the photo), and, so far, they all seem to gravitate pretty naturally to spending at least a part of their day reading books. Here is what I've learned that I think has facilitated that outcome.

1) Keep a wide variety of reading material readily available.

We have a basket with library books in the bedroom. Bookshelves overflowing with books are in the toy roo...Read More »

THIS WEEK IN M.O.M…is your child sporty? Watch and smile as we show you some awesome videos of kids trying to be adorably athletic! From passing the football to swinging a golf club and even riding a snowboard…these youngsters may be cut out for the pros in a few years! Keep your eyes on these future all-stars moms and dads!

Do your kids have a favorite sport? Tell us about it by leaving a comment below and sharing your story with us!

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In 1973, my father-in-law roused his young son from a deep slumber and together, they crept into the predawn darkness of the backyard. The cold air was sharp but the boy was excited. He had never before been up so early! The neighborhood was quiet. "Is that a plane?" the boy asked, straining to see overhead. "No," said the father, "what you're seeing is Skylab!"

Perhaps it was then that a lifelong love of space and physics was born. Certainly it was then that a father-son moment etched itself into a young boy's memory.

The sky was the same black the morning of December 10, 2011 when the boy, who is now the man who became my husband, crept out again and gazed skyward, this time with his own two sons. My father-in-law, now in the heavens, must have been watching as his son and two young grandsons burst through the quiet that is 5am on a Saturday and noisily settled themselves on lawn chairs in the chilly front yard to watch a total lunar eclipse. Binoculars and Google Sky Map at the

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