The blog's been quiet for a few months, as we transitioned from Washington, DC back to Austin. But we're HERE, and with a new M.O., to boot.

For daily updates on events, activities, and favorite places for kids in Austin, follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ATXKid.

For your browsing pleasure (and all two of you who are non-tweeters), our Twitter posts will also appear here.

It's Art Week Austin, today through Sunday the 26th, with an extensive lineup of visual arts events at locations around town. This weekend, you can bring the kids to Art City Austin on the banks of Lady Bird Lake, Saturday and Sunday between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Admission is $8 per adult, but kids under age 12 get in FREE. More than 200 artists, local and organic food producers, live music acts, and interactive art projects will all be part of this outdoor art fair. Check www.artallianceaustin.org for more info.

It's one of Austin's strangest, best, most enduring traditions...and you can take the kids. The 46th Annual Eeyore's Birthday Party takes place Saturday, April 25th from 11 a.m. to dark at Pease Park.

FREE admission, and live music performances from noon to 7 p.m. with Mau Mau Chaplains, The Reddies, Graham Wilkinson, and Guidance. You can also expect Maypoles (for the  young and young at heart), contests and prizes for kids of all ages, artists doing face-painting and temp tattoos, and many many bongos and other  unplugged instruments.

Most important to the spirit of this occasion: WEAR A COSTUME! Any costume. Sillier the better.

Several nonprofit community groups will be selling hot and cold food (including vegetarian), sodas, juices, spring water, and Texas beer - with proceeds benefiting their local causes/programs.

Heads up: There will be NO parking at Pease Park! You need to take the bus, walk, or ride your bikes!

Thursday - especially the first Thursday of the month - is a good day to head to the South Congress corridor of eats, shops, and galleries. Doors stay open late for shopping and special events/activities for all ages.

Our favorite First Thursday stop: Yard Dog folk art gallery, from which I bought my then long-distance NYC boyfriend/now husband a "first big gift" in 2002. We love, love, love the artists they represent, and with kids it's a great alternative intro to art appreciation.

Skip the First Thursday parking headaches by leaving your car at the FREE One Texas Center on Barton Springs Rd. to catch a ride on the FREE Dillo trolley - It runs every 10 minutes from 6:30 to 11 p.m. on First Thursdays. Your kids will probably find the trolley ride a destination unto itself, while you're also supporting public transportation in Austin!

One of my best Austin memories with my daughter (and a large gang of her young cousins) is the beautiful spring evening we spent at the outdoor stage at Threadgill's downtown two years ago, watching a show by Austin high school student and rising rock star Jenny Wolfe and her band (also Austin high schoolers). The music was great fun; kids of all ages danced up a storm and ran around having a ball; and the grownups got to enjoy some grownup beverages, Southern comfort munchies, and conversation under the stars.

Fast forward two years and the talented Jenny Wolfe is still rockin. She's got a new CD out, "After School," available at Waterloo Records, iTunes, Amazon.com, etc. And she's performing another fun, family-friendly show at Threadgills's this Sunday, March 8, as part of a fantastic lineup. For just a $5 per person cover, you and your kids can enjoy:

3:30-4:30 p.m. The Mitch Jacobs Band
5-6 p.m. the legendary Rick Broussard (of Two Hoots and a Holler fame, for those of you who've been in Austin a good long while)
6:30-7:30 p.m. Jenny Wolfe
8-9:30 p.m. The Freddie Steady 5

Enjoy!

This Saturday, a lineup of area kids' authors will give FREE readings at the Perry-Castaneda Library (PCL) on the UT campus. The event, entitled "Books for Kids," is an extension of Explore UT-"The Biggest Open House in Texas"- and is being hosted by the University of Texas Libraries.

Featured authors include Brian Anderson (author of Commander Zack Proton), Jane Peddicord (Night Wonders) and Liz Scanlon (A Sock is a Pocket for Your Toes). Author Chris Barton will debut his first book, The Day-Glo Brothers, set to be released later this year. Readings will feature presentations projected onto a large screen in the Student Learning Commons in PCL.

Open to the public. For more info and a schedule of "Books for Kids" readings, visit www.lib.utexas.edu/books4kids.html.

It's almost SXSW time. And on the family-friendly lineup this year are a few FREE shows at the Auditorium Shores stage @ Ladybird Lake.

On March 21, check out Atlanta-based Daddy A Go Go, brainchild of former TV news producer (and - don't hold it against him - Sooner) John Boydston. We concur with the reviewer at Nashville Parent magazine in our adoration for Daddy A Go Go's rockin' version of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."

Same day, same place, catch Joe McDermott, Biscuit Brothers, and Jambo.

There will be food and arts/crafts for sale on-site. What not to bring: No food or drinks - EXCEPT food and beverages made specifically for babies and children under the age of five. (I.e., If you've got a baby bottle or a sippy cup, you can slide on by.)

SXSW music badgeholders can show your credentials for admission to the private Registrants Hospitality Area at Auditorium Shores. You fancy folks get bleacher seating, complimentary snacks, and beer for the grownups.

Tickets are on sale now, starting at $27, for Ballet Austin's "Cinderella," coming to the Long Theater Mother's Day weekend, May 8-10, with both matinee and evening performances.

We also love Ballet Austin Academy's creative movement and ballet classes for ages three to 12, with both weekday and Saturday class times. And they offer summer camps and classes for all ages, and summer intensives for older students. Classes are centrally located, downtown at 501 W. 3rd St.

Fantastic Statesman column from Anne Elizabeth Wynn: Top 10 things to do with your kids downtown.

A quick synopsis:

1) S'mores @ Halycon in the Warehouse District.
2) Eating @ the Driskill Hotel's 1886 Cafe & Bakery, followed by a carriage ride or (for older kids) a stroll to the Alamo for a movie.
3) Fancy dinner @ Kenichi - a tabletop cookout.
4) Free live music @ Austin's City Hall, Fridays at lunchtime in the front plaza's amphitheater.
5) Saturday mornings @ the Austin Farmers Market, located at 4th & Guadalupe.
6) Sunday gospel brunch @ Stubbs.
7) Classic films and all-time faves @ the Paramount's Summer Film Series.
8) In October and November, Movies in the Park @ Republic Square. Bring a picnic!
9) Dia de los Muertos Procession/Parade hosted by Mexic-Arte Museum around November 1, complete with bat-winged chihuahuas.
10) First Night Austin on New Year's Eve

We love Wynn's suggestions, which include many of our own downtown faves. Enjoy.

The Texas Book Festival has launched its 8th Annual Fiction Writing Contest, open to all junior high and high school students in Texas.

Submit your original fiction, no more than 2,000 words in length, to be judged by a panel of fancy-pants Texas authors (some of whom will appear at the 2009 Texas Book Festival, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 in Austin).  This year's theme: "In My Own Backyard."

What are the judges looking for? Excellent use of dialogue, character development, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Work will be judged in three divisions: Grades 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12 (as per the 2008-09 school year).

The first place winner will receive the award and read the winning story at the Texas Book Festival in Austin this fall. Get busy, aspiring writers!