Corte Madera's new family-friendly Brick & Bottle restaurant is offering Marin Mommies readers a free dessert for the table! Just mention that you heard about Brick & Bottle on Marin Mommies.

Read our review of Brick & Bottle here.

Reducing waste and promoting environmental resposibility in their children is a priority with many parents. One way to help with this is to use a product like Fabkins, cool reusable cloth napkins for kids that are perfect for a child's lunchbox and at-home use, too. Fabkins were created and designed by Marin mompreneurs Joyce Raffo and Paige Rodgers. (We interviewed Joyce and Paige in 2008 about their product and business; you can read that article here.)

Useful as both napkins and placemats, Fabkins encourage good table manners, and help reduce waste by eliminating the need to use paper napkins both with school lunches and meals at home. They are made of 100% certified organic cotton, and embroidered with fun designs in themes ranging from Prima Ballerina and African Safari to Xtreme Sports and Beach Bound. Fabkins retails for $10.95 for a starter set of two organic napkins, or $19.95 for a set of four, and can be purchased at numerous retail locations throughout the Bay Area or online at www.fabkins.com. Marin Mommies readers who order online can take 20% off their Fabkins purchase with the coupon code MM20 through August 31.

Our back-to-school Yubo lunchbox kit giveaway is over! Congratulations to Melissa D. of San Rafael, who chose the blue lunchbox with the cool shark faceplates (those are the ones that my son likes, too).

We’re giving away a free Yubo Deluxe Kit lunchbox of your choice (choose color and faceplates—not personalized) to a lucky Marin Mommies reader! Send an e-mail with "Yubo lunchbox" in the subject line to contests@marinmommies.com by midnight (Pacific time) this Sunday, August 15, 2010.

One winner will be selected at random, and we'll announce the winner on Monday, August 16. Good luck!

Read our review of the Yubo lunchbox here.

Last week we had a chance to try out the restaurant Brick & Bottle, which recently opened in Corte Madera in the spot Izzy's once occupied. At the helm of Brick & Bottle is acclaimed chef and Marin resident Scott Howard. Locals may remember his previous efforts at the highly regarded Fork in San Anselmo, and Scott Howard in the city. Brick & Bottle offers what it terms "simple California cooking" using super fresh local ingredients (no processed or frozen foods here) in a warm, family-friendly setting.

The staff at Brick & Bottle really go out of their way to make families welcome, although the restaurant is elegant enough to make a great "date night" spot as well. On this trip, we took the children along.

Upon arrival our kids were given coloring sheets and crayons, and we were seated in the cozy (but somewhat dark) main dining room. We all got a look at the open kitchen on the way to our table, with special attention paid to the wood-burning pizza oven. The kids were also given temporary tattoos with the restaurant's logo, which made them happy, as did the Shirley Temples that we let them get in lieu of the normal milk or water. These are all-natural, concocted with house-made grenadine and seltzer and devoid of any corn syrup. Grown ups can partake of numerous local wines, including wines on tap, and beers, if they're so inclined. We both got pints of Kent Lake Kölsch from Fairfax's Iron Springs Brewery.

I noticed today that Sweet Potatoes–the stylish kids' clothing store in downtown Novato—is having a $5 summer sale. Yes, all their summer clothing items are only $5 each! Sweet Potatoes offers clothing for newborns to size 6 for boys and girls. Go check it out—they have a lot of super cute things (especially in newborn to infant sizes).

Sweet Potatoes is located at 857 Grant Avenue in downtown Novato. For more info, call (415) 898-8234. Happy shopping!

We just got our hands on one of this season's coolest back-to-school accessories—the Yubo lunchbox. Some would argue that a good lunchbox is a necessity for the well-equipped student, and the Yubo should make any kid or parent happy.

What makes it different from your garden variety lunchbox? Several things, actually. Yubo can be personalized with interchangeable faceplates in a wide variety of designs. Cute dinosaurs, flowers, and fairy princesses will make younger children happy, while older grade-school kids will like the cool shark, surfer girl, and skater designs. To make your Yubo truly unique, you can add your child's name to selected designs, and even upload a photo or your child's artwork to make a custom faceplate.

Yubo lunchboxes are made of BPA-free, anti-microbial, and recyclable plastic. The whole thing is dishwasher safe, so if your Yubo gets grubby the way kids' lunchboxes do, just pop off the faceplates, snap off the rubber handle, take off the lids, and put the whole thing in the dishwasher. Yubo is truly a well thought-out and designed product.

Looking for something fun to do during these last few weeks of summer vacation? Why not visit the San Francisco Zoo, especially since all children ages4–14 are admitted free during the month of August?

This offer is good from August 1–31, 2010, all children must be accompanied by a paying adult, and each paying adult can bring up to four children into the zoo for free (so you can take a whole carload of kids if you want).

This summer we made time to plant a vegetable garden in the backyard. It's something the children immediately wanted to help with, perhaps due to the eternal mystique of playing in the dirt, and we were happy to accomodate them. We haven't seen any veggies yet—we got a bit of a late start since we moved at the end of June—but the tomatoes, radishes, sunflowers, herbs, etc. are growing like crazy, even with the cool weather we've been having.

Are you a mom who has trouble getting enough sleep? You're not alone! In this guest article, Dr. Lisa Brent offers some facts about insomnia and what you can do to combat it and get the rest you need and deserve.

“Sleep when the baby sleeps” is advice many mothers receive when they bring a new baby home. This is a really great idea, but it is not always so easy to do. For many women, sleep does not come easily, even when they are completely exhausted by the daily (and nightly) demands of motherhood.