I'm excited to invite you to a free advance screening of one of this summer's top family films, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, just for Mommy Poppins readers—yah!

I don't think there's a kid in New York City who doesn't read Megan McDonald's wonderful books about goofball Judy Moody—and to read them is to love them. Now the world of this gleeful third grader is coming to life in the new movie, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. The film looks like a lot of fun, and my kids and I are looking forward to checking it out at Mommy Poppins' exclusive (and free) advance screening. I hope you'll join us.

The screening will take place on Wednesday, June 8 at 5:30pm on the Upper West Side. We have an entire theater, but I expect these seats to go fast so RSVP ASAP if you'd like to go. Read on to get a behind-the-scenes peek at the making of the movie, as well as info on your chance to snag free tickets.

The locavore movement is expanding in NYC, and there are some great new ways to get fresh, locally grown meats and produce on your table. This year, we've discovered new CSAs that give you more flexibility and convenience, including ones that deliver to your door, or allow you to order à la carte rather than requiring you to purchase a full share.

If you aren't familiar with CSAs—Community Supported Agriculture groups—they are organized arrangements that allow consumers to buy food directly from the farmers. This helps give small farmers the financial support they need to make it through the planting season, and it gets fresher food on your table. Usually you buy a share (or a half share) of a farmer's output, and in return you receive a boxful of vegetables, fruit, eggs, cheese or meat every week throughout the growing season. If you're interested in signing up for a CSA, now is the time since spots fill up fast.

There are drawbacks to traditional CSAs: You have to pick up your food at a central location, you often have to put in volunteer hours and you don't know what will end up in your box ("you get what you get and don't get upset"). Plus, if you travel or go away on weekends during the summer, you'll miss part of your share, which is a drag since CSAs are kind of expensive. But this year, we've found some new, more flexible options.

The FDA announced last week that it will investigate whether there is sufficient evidence to link the consumption of synthetic color additives in food with hyperactivity in children. This comes after studies released last year showed that kids with the highest levels of pesticides in their urine also had the highest incidence of ADHD.

I find these studies to be really upsetting, and yet part of me is relieved to have this information. On the one hand, it is incredibly depressing that our food culture has gotten so off track that we are literally poisoning ourselves. On the other hand, I'm glad that we are starting to figure out the causes for the greatly increased levels of ADHD, cancer and other ailments that plague us.

Armed with this information, we can make educated decisions and changes to protect our families and our health.

We've been doing a series of posts on places to drop in for crafts in New York City. So far we've covered paint your own pottery, beading, places for toddlers, places on the UWS, best places for making gifts, FREE craft places, and even craft places for a mom's night out. Phew!

Crafts in the museums are a little bit different than the types of activities you'll find at other crafting venues. They are usually tied in to a current exhibit or museum theme, giving them a little educational slant, but making hem less open-ended than just going to a craft place where you can do whatever you want. Most of the major museums offer craft workshops too, but not regularly. The venues below offer regular craft workshops that you can drop in for any time.

Some people might not think of Indian food as very kid-friendly since it is famous for its spiciness, but you know, kids in India eat too and there are tons of very child-friendly foods that your kids will love. In fact, Indian food is my kids' favorite food and we eat it almost weekly in one form or another. I even send samosas in their lunch boxes.

You may have known that we had pages for New Jersey and Long Island already. In fact, we even do weekend round ups of activities for those areas, but the sites were not as complete as the New York City site. Well, we're working to correct that and, at the same time, we've added Connecticut to the fold. Now there are 4 Mommy Poppins sites, each with its own event calendar, newsletter and all the features you love about the NYC site.

Some of the sites are a work in progress, but we will be working hard to keep the event calendars full and start adding guides for classes, camps and parties, like we have on the NYC site. Shari is our New Jersey Editor and Marybeth is our Connecticut Editor. Feel free to shoot them tips and comments. We are still looking for a Long island editor if you know of anyone, have them email me.

In order to accommodate the new sites we did a mild redesign. Let me introduce you to our new features:

In my former life, I sat in on a lot of focus groups for moms and I can say with pretty good authority that one of the top fantasies of most moms is to have a personal chef. Face it, no matter how much you love cooking, making dinner for a family (not to mention lunches and breakfasts) is downright exhausting. Just thinking about what to make every night for the next 18 years is enough to make me start to shake.  

Kate's Carried Away is an in-home, Cordon Bleu trained personal chef who plans your menu, does the shopping, and then comes to your home, prepares 7-8 dishes for you for the week that you just reheat and have dinner on the table any night. Carried Away will customize your family's menu for your tastes and can make all type of dishes that you like, working within any dietary restrictions necessary.

Cheaper than having someone come to your home every day and healthier than take out, Carried Aways services might make sense for some families who don't regularly have time to cook. It is also a great idea for a baby shower gift, a Mother's Day or birthday treat, or for sudden emergencies, like extended business travel. [Or because you got it for 58% off from Poppins Perks. Read to the bottom to find out more.]

As of January 2012, this restaurant has closed.

As we left PSbklyn my husband turned to me and said, "if I had an 11 and 7 year old I would totally go back to that place so we could enjoy a nice meal, especially if they were getting on my nerves." I glanced back just in time to catch my eleven year old punch my seven year old in the arm as he screamed and punched her back. The brief reprieve we had enjoyed at PSbklyn, a new family friendly restaurant in the heart of Park Slope with a rec room in the basement, was clearly over.