Happy Friday everyone! I apologize for being light on posting this week. I was in Chicago for a couple of days to serve as part of the media team to kick off a really wonderful charity initiative and my editorial planning went a little off the rails since I wanted to make up time away from the girls when I returned. Anyway, enjoy these 21 weekend events, lovingly curated for your consideration. And be sure to check back for the April vacation mega-roundup!

1. A swashbuckling adventure and pirate mystery. (Amherst)

2. Spring food festival on the Greenway. (Boston)

3. Become a junior ranger. (Boston)

4. Book reading with illustrator Renee Kurilla. (Boston)

5. Children’s performance of The Diary of Anne Frank. (Boston)

6. Nothing stinks about the sense of smell day. (Boston)

7. Meet the string section of the New England Philharmonic. (Boston)

8. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about composting. (Boston)

9. Marathon weekend kicks off. (Boston)

10. A Saturday jam with Ethan and the Jamberries. (Brookline)

11. Harvard celebrates the Boston Marathon. (Cambridge)

12. All about vernal pools. (Gloucester)

13. An Earth Day family festival and FREE admission. (Harvard)

14. A day of outdoor scientific discovery. (Lincoln)

15. An open house and sheep shearing. (Princeton)

16. The Revere Spring Carnival. (Revere)

17. Hammer, clamp, saw and paint your own wooden creations. (Salem)

18. An interactive journey around the globe using stories, music, dance and poetry. (South Boston)

19. Celebrate spring and prep the fields the old fashioned way. (Sturbridge)

20. So much to do outdoors this weekend. (Various locations)

21. Contemporary artists explore samurai in popular culture. (Worcester)

Image credit: Old Sturbridge Village

I recently shared about Gabrielle Blair's brilliant new book Design Mom: How to Live With Kids: A Room-by-Room Guide (which, by the way, is the #1 best seller in Home Design & Construction on Amazon!). And now I'm cordially inviting you to Gabby's Boston book tour stop at Trident Booksellers & Cafe Tuesday, April 21, 7pm. I'll be leading a Q&A with Gabby and there will be goody bags, treats, mingling, and you can get your book signed by (and no doubt snap a selfie with!) Gabby. Come join us for a fun evening!

Image credit: Seth & Kendra Smoot

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a lovely weekend! It was insanely wonderful to spend so much time outdoors this weekend -- going for a long run without 20 layers on, buying flowers and mulch at the garden store, helping with our school's spring spruce up, and enjoying our first grilling and outdoor dinner of the season. Yay for simple pleasures! Meanwhile, it's time to kick off the week. Enjoy this roundup of events via the Weekly Blueprint:

April 13: Navigate your way from diapers to diploma. (Acton)

April 13 - 17: It’s the Week of the Young Child so brain building is in progress. (Boston)

April 13 - 18: Take an interactive journey around the globe using stories, music, dance and poetry. (Boston)

April 15: Toddler story time on the farm. (Waltham)

April 15: Even adults love to play with Legos. (Somerville)

April 16: Get outdoors with baby on board. (Natick)

April 16: Get your your bangles and legwarmers, it’s art and the 80’s. (Salem)

April 17: Special night at the museum for families with children on the Autism spectrum. (Easton)

April 17: The Art of Baseball exhibit opens. (Concord)

Image credit: Gore Place

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you're having a great week! It's been a busy one here and we've been wrestling with more plague but I'm hoping that the forthcoming warm up (according to the forecast, 60+ degrees several days in a row!) will signal the turning of a corner and the last of the winter plague. And on that, let's turn the corner towards the weekend and enjoy this roundup of 22 weekend events, lovingly curated for your consideration!

1. An evening at the museum for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. (Acton)

2. Magic show with Rupayan Neogy. (Acton)

3. Step into spring with a family hike. (Belmont)

4. An interactive journey around the globe using stories, music, dance and poetry. (Boston)

5. Learn about architecture, design and construction and build a city from the ground up. (Boston)

6. Check out a collection of over 2000 dolls from around the world. (Boston)

7. Amazing showcase of musical talent and performances. (Boston)

8. A performance by the Boston Children’s Chorus. (Boston)

9. Week of the Young Child kicks off. (Boston)

10. Meet the woodwinds of the New England Philharmonic. (Boston)

11. An engaging day focusing on research and conservation. (Boston)

12. It’s Alex the Jester. (Brookline)

13. The Magic Soup and Other Stories puppet show. (Brookline)

14. Rock out with Karen K and the Jitterbugs. (Cambridge)

15. Daytime bedtime stories and hands on history. (Concord)

16. Let’s go fly a kite. (Essex)

17. Engage deeply with some art. (Lincoln)

18. Create sculptures fit for adventure. (Lincoln)

19. Ben Rudnick show and bake sale. (Littleton) 

20. Get down and dirty cleaning up the trail. (Medfield)

21. What goes on with amphibians after dark? (Norfolk)

22. Slow down and take a look at some art. (Salem)

Image credit: Mass Audubon 

Can you believe the Red Sox open at home next week? It’s hard for me to wrap my head around this fact given that we still have a snow pile on our tiny front yard! But yes, it’s true, and, as a Boston lifer + Red Sox fan, I’m looking forward to working with the Red Sox this year as part of their Red Sox Moms program. A few weeks ago I met with the team that is working hard to make Fenway family-friendly, and I wanted to share 6 ways they're upping their game in that department.

1. FREE TICKETS! With the support of Hood, the Red Sox have a new program called Calling All Kids, in which kids can join Red Sox Kid Nation for free. The first 25,000 kids registered for Red Sox Kid Nation will receive a free ticket to a 2015 game. And yes, you can of course make sure they line up with tickets you are purchasing. So go sign up!

2. A DEDICATED GATE. There’s a special new Fenway entrance just for families. Gate K is adjacent to Gate B, near the corner of Van Ness and Ipswich Streets.

3. A DEDICATED CREW. The Red Sox Kids Crew is a new dedicated staff for families; they'll greet kids as they enter Gate K, lead kids in games, and be on hand to help families at the park.  

4. KID NATION CONCOURSE. Gate K leads families into the new Kid Nation Concourse, with activities (games, balloon artist, face painter, etc.), kid-themed concessions, and more.

5. WALLY’S CLUBHOUSE. After you've enjoyed a couple of innings with your kids, you can hop over to Wally’s Clubhouse. Open from the 3rd to 7th innings, your kids can enjoy clubhouse offerings and take a selfie with Wally the Green Monster. (And yes, there's a TV there so you can follow the game.)

6. STUDENT TICKETS. Got older kids? As a longtime poor graduate student, I love that the Red Sox are making $9 home game tickets available for students 15 and older. 

So great, right? First and foremost, go grab your kids a Red Sox Kid Nation membership before they run out. And if you have Red Sox/family related questions, please drop me a line at editor@bostonmamas.com. I will patch your queries through to headquarters!

Image credits: Red Sox

Disclosure: The Red Sox Moms program is an experiential blogger program. I'm not paid to share information; I'm just sharing what I think is cool and useful for you all!

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a great weekend! Ours included lovely things like flowers, a long run (albeit a tough one!), an egg hunt with friends, a gorgeous family hike, and a visit to see my mom, in addition to getting our house back in order (oh the endless piles of laundry!) after last week's plague. I'm looking forward to this week, and am kicking it off with the Weekly Blueprint. Enjoy, and have a great week!

April 7: Autism-friendly afternoon at The Discovery Museums. (Acton)

April 8: Celebrate Sakura, the season for cherry blossoms. (Boston)

April 8: Sprout your very own garden. (Lincoln)

April 8:  All about sheep storytime. (Waltham)

April 9: Making silly circuits. (Easton)

April 9: Looking for somewhere to volunteer? Here’s the place. (Boston)

April 9 - 12: The Magic Soup and Other Stories puppet show. (Brookline)

April 10: The Concord Band Spring Pops Concert. (Concord)

April 10: Sing along with Ed Morgan. (Needham)

April 10: The magic of the beautiful vernal pool migration. (Topsfield)

Image credit: Boston Children’s Museum

Happy Saturday everyone, I hope you're enjoying this very welcome warm up! It has been so gratifying to see the persistent snow piles dwindling down! Anyway, it's been a fascinating week on the web this week, as you'll see from this week's Hey Internet, Keep Being Awesome -- enjoy! And also, you have until tomorrow to enter to win $500 for you + $500 for a friend via an Instagram giveaway I'm co-hosting with some lovely friends! Be sure to enter to win!

- A mom holds her kids accountable for their bad behavior via an amazing use of social media.

- The science of why you should spend your money on experiences not things.

- Four personal style lessons.

- Wonder Woman gets her own sneaker!

- You can play Pac-Mac inside Google Maps right now.

- Why kids are getting more agressive on the playground.

- There's a modern problem afflicting our friendships and it's time to talk about it.

- Getting girls excited about science.

- How to get kids interested in coding + 7 free resources that teach how to code.

- A 9-year-old's letter to Obama about putting a woman on U.S. currency -- and Obama's response.

- Why America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous.

Image credit: 9 plants you can totally neglect via Pinterest

Happy Friday, everyone, I hope you're having a great week! I have been sidelined somewhat by some kind of nasty head cold or flu, but I'm grateful to be coming out of the fog just in time for the weekend. On that, here are 14 weekend events, lovingly curated for your consideration! Also, if you're on Instagram, I'm co-hosting an awesome giveaway with some wonderful fellow IGers if you want to enter to win $500 for you + $500 for a friend. You should totally enter to win!

1. A musical celebration of the heroes and victims of the 2013 marathon bombing. (Arlington)

2. Make an Alfombra to celebrate Semana Santa. (Boston)

3. Solve the clues and find the eggs. (Boston)

4. Breakfast with the Easter bunny! (Braintree)

5. Spend the morning with Willy Wonka. (Brookline)

6. The tales of Peter Rabbit. (Brookline)

7. Easter egg hunt. (Cambridge)

8. Hunt for eggs on the Cape. (Chatham)

9. Embark on a sound safari. (East Boston)

10. Celebrate spring, new farm life and of course, eggs! (Ipswich)

11. An Easter eggstravaganza. (Leominster)

12. 6,000 eggs and one Mr. Bunny. (Roslindale)

13. Hop on down the bunny trail to Stone Zoo. (Stoneham)

14. Hunt for eggs out in the wild. (West Tisbury)

Image credit: Zoo New England

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a great weekend! Our Saturday was unusually full to the brim (including the joys of seeing Laurel ease into swim lessons and also discovering that Violet is a total natural on ice skates...of course, just in time for the skating season to wind down!), and then Sunday was delightfully lazy. And now, Monday! And OMG more snow! Let's kick the week off with the Weekly Blueprint:

April 1: FREE admission to explore the sculpture park. (Lincoln)

April 1: Gretchen Rubin speaks about her book, Better Than Before. (Wellesley)

April 2: Light it up blue for World Autism Awareness Day. (Acton)

April 2: Hey budding scientists, it’s mud season! (Worcester)

April 2 - 4: Peter Rabbit puppet show just in time for Easter. (Brookline)

April 3: FREE admission to The Discovery Museums. (Acton)

April 3: It’s the great banana hunt. (Cambridge)

April 3: Think with your hands and make some music. (Easton)

Image credit: The Children’s Museum in Easton