Spring has sprung! I won't belabor the fact that it's barely been winter, since lately I seem fixated on the weather in my Mommy Poppins NJ missives, but, seriously, I hope you've left your house these last few months, because it's actually been quite nice out. Moving on. Spring! We're big fans. It's always a pleasure to step out the front door into a perfect 70 degrees, and even after thirty-several years on the planet, there is much delight and surprise in the first pink blossoms fluttering in the wind.

I like to kick off my spring activities stories with a quote, so this one is for my NJ kid, my spring addict, who loves to be barefoot so much, she'll fight about it every day. 

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.  ~Nadine Stair

So go on, there's so much to do. Take deep breaths. Soak it in. Maybe take your shoes off. Here's a list of NJ spring happenings, including hikes, strolls, walks, gardening, and happy discovering.

This ridiculously mild winter has been running heaven, not too cold or too wet. I mean, I didn't run of course, but I assume those of you that do this sort of thing felt heavenly. Now that we are heading into what will either be a gorgeous spring or blizzard season, it's time to use all those great work-outs and your natural altruism, to get your 5k on. Lest you worry that this might be precious time away from your children, fear not, all of these also feature family fun runs for our active NJ kids, and one even comes with a baseball game. So lace up! Gird your quadriceps! Tie your tot's sparkly laces! Convince your mate that they love running, too! Run, mamas, run.

As fans of movies from Studio Ghibli, particularly those directed by anime master Hayao Miyazaki — Ponyo, Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky so far — my daughter Violet and I were excited to see The Secret World of Arrietty (opening today in 9 NJ locations). Arrietty is written and supervised by Miyazaki, but directed by first timer Hiromasa Yonebayashi. The film's glorious color palette, attention to nature, and charming details are enchanting, particularly since Arrietty (voiced by Bridgit Mendler) is a Borrower, and very tiny. The pair of earrings used as climbing tools, sticky double-sided tape for scaling a cupboard, and rain drops that cling to Arrietty's clothes like snow globes, are quite captivating, as is Arrietty herself, with her scrappy personality, cute dresses and Julia Roberts' hair. The story, however, never brings the magic.

I realize that we all feel stuffed from the holidays and either inspired or offended by all the happy magazines encouraging us to get fit, eat less, declutter and so on, but the good news is that in a couple weeks we will all forget how much we ate and be ready to hunker down with some good wintertime eats. I love, love, love spending the day in my kitchen with something simmering away in the slow cooker or on the stove for hours, while I bake bread or help the kids in and out of their snow gear eighty times (it used to snow, I think…). It’s the most peaceful, contented perfect way for me to spend a day, so I’ll indulge the magazines, take a breather and then resume the comfort of comfort cooking.

This year will be my 5^th Annual Holiday Cookie Extravaganza. We make the treats, we package them all pretty, and then we drink wine, eat soup and chex mix, and take home a nice big bag of baked love. The kids decorate gingerbread people, and get too close to the tree. It’s a sparkly, twinkly, cheery way to welcome the holidays and I’m ever so grateful for the friends that keep coming back. Here’s a few of the greatest cookie hits. Happy baking!

I could go on and on about how much I love books — reading them, shelving them, smelling them, quoting them, remembering them, sharing them. I could wax nostalgic — who? me? — about the abandoned little board books at the bottom of our bookshelf, that have been taken over by Harry and Hermione and Tumtum and Nutmeg. I could do all that, but really, wouldn’t you rather hear about the loads of wonderful children’s books from 2011 that make perfect gifts? Those special tomes that send young minds off to another world of water horses, New Orleans Jazz and magical tollbooths? Indeed. Let’s do that.

This list owes much to the goodness that is New Jersey’s independent bookstores, with their impeccable taste and steadfast devotion.

I love baking with my kids — except when I don't. Saturday morning I was rushing to finish some desserts I needed to take to our school party, and my eldest was hovering. I said in my sing-songiest, sweetest, most patient voice, 'Please scooch, honey, I can't let you help right now.' Obligingly she scooched over a half-millimeter, and in my rushing was elbowed in the head, and then she cried and I wasn't so sing songy anymore. But still, I do love to bake with them, when I have the extra 83 hours required, and especially with anything apple or pumpkin.

Now that the kids are back in school, it’s time to start driving them all over the place for swimming, soccer, and pogo-stick practice, or if your kid is artsy, ceramics, beading and sewing. A recent rise in the popularity of crafting — knitting, it’s not just for Great Aunt Bertha anymore — means many kids are a part of the trend and NJ has no shortage of captivating shops. Some are drop-ins, some are multi-week courses, and they aren’t cheap, but then neither are Junior’s sword-swallowing lessons.