A movie is being made of the popular Rick Riordan "Percy Jackson" series. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" will hit theaters nationwide Feb. 12. If your kids are thinking about starting this series, now is a good time for them to read it so they can follow it up with the movie. Both… Continue

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will take visitors on a journey to the center of our Galaxy when it unveils unprecedented mural-sized images of the Milky Way’s core as seen by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory. The images will be unveiled to the public on Thursday, November 19.

Prior to the unveiling, join Michael J. Malaska of the Raleigh Astronomy Club at 6:00 pm in th… Continue

South Carolina author Tom Poland's latest column looks back at an interview he conducted seven years ago with a Georgia defense attorney named Bob Clyatt whose experience with an injured client motivated him to start a non-profit organization called Kids' Chance.

Kids' Chance's mission is to fulfill the dreams of children whose parents have suffered serious work-related accidents. These injuries often have devastating effects. Kids' Chanc… Continue

This weekend my husband's sister, brother-in-law, brother, brother's girlfriend and two dogs visited. The beautiful weather and desire to find something all of us -- including the dogs -- could do together, prompted us to hit the American Tobacco Trail. Since my sister- and brother-in-law are avid geocachers,… Continue

Halloween candy was too much this year. We need to double check our Dental Plan :). I have been thinking about the connection of food and our environment. While there is much green marketing for kids, I am not sure much of it has to do with eating healthy. I think if kids will learn to app… Continue

A friend recently emailed me to vent frustration over his grown son's seeming lack of ambition, gratitude and direction. As I typed my reply, it occurred to me that this may be something of which we all stand reminding. My reply follows:

"I understand your anguish completely. First, I want to tell you that your son belongs to a different generation than ours, and he is much aligned with many of his contemporaries. Like Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" shares, we will never follow them, nor their d… Continue

The kids and I attended a media event Wednesday night at a new 4,000-square-foot social gaming facility in Cary called RUaGamer, located at 218 Nottingham Drive next to the Kabuki Japanese Steakhouse. As soon as my kids peered into the large glass windows a… Continue

8 o'clock on Halloween night, my son pours his ghoulishly delicious loot onto my living room floor.
"149 pieces!" he proclaims, evidence of his hard work as a trick-or-treater.
Normally, a wave of nauseousness, then fear, would have washed over me...but instead I smile and say, "Enjoy!", because I know not all that candy will stay in my house.
C'mon, admit it. How many of you have loaded Easter baskets with leftover Halloween candy? It's just too much candy for one household to house.
For my son… Continue

If you are a grandparent who is raising or helping to raise your grandchildren, consider attending the monthly sessions that are held by Durham County Cooperative Extension at the DPS Staff Development Center, 2107 Hillandale Road. The Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support and Education Group will meet the second Thursday of the month through December. Those dates are November 12 and December 11. All meetings will be held from 6 until 7:30 pm at the DPS Staff Development Center, 2107 Hillan… Continue

Donors Choose, an online charity where community members can donate to classrooms, allows teachers to request funding and materials, and donors can search through different projects to support. To donate, simply visit the Donors Choose website. From there you can use the search engine to type in North Carolina and further define it by searching for your child's county and school. Y… Continue