Family

Did you know that the sunflower seed in your snack mix is actually alive? It won’t be sprouting into a sunflower anytime soon, though. The conditions just aren’t right. So what does it take for a seed to turn into a plant anyway?

Kathy Schaefer and her daughter Hannah Schaefer, 18, are organizing a prom dress drive in Liberty Lake with donations from neighbors who have formal attire just stored away.

Among the many indignities endured by Ramona Quimby is a midyear progress report sent home by her first-grade teacher, which informs her parents that she is a busybody.

Buttercups are among the first blooms each year. Since 1967, the Dishman Hills Conservancy has been inviting people to come look for buttercups and other early wildflowers each spring.

My friend David Atkinson is really curious about the solar system and told me more about it. He is a graduate of Washington State University and now works at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

During a recent chat with a psychologist friend, I was asked how I would describe each of my children. It's not easy to settle on one word or phrase to break down my kids.

I did it. I survived the winter season. The snow pants have been washed and put away. The piles of perpetually damp gloves have been lit on fire (just kidding, but maybe that’s not a bad idea).

It takes some effort to travel to Hawaii during the pandemic, particularly the Island of Hawaii, aka the Big Island. Hawaiians are doing all they can to keep COVID-19 off their islands. 

More than 200 children decorated Easter eggs for The Spokesman-Review's spring coloring contest. The judges could tell that many of the young artists were excited about spring. 

April Fools’ Day is Thursday – do you have a plan? If not, you still have time to think up and prepare some great pranks to have a bit of mischievous fun with the family. Here are a few prank ideas that are certain to cause just enough confusion and chaos to give the whole family a good laugh.

Along with greener grass, expect to see another seasonal sign return across lawns now through summer: bright message boards for yard or garage sales. Such neighborhood transactions were scarce last year.

It's spring. In Spokane, that means it's time to train for Bloomsday. "In deciding to do Bloomsday this spring, one of the things we wanted to do was keep tradition," said race director Jon Neill.

Our planet is home to all kinds of different plants, and they help make a lot of the oxygen we breathe. To find out how plants make oxygen, I asked my friend Balasaheb Sonawane.

The teen dating game has changed, but it has also remained the same. It's been an app-driven world for my eldest, Jillian, 22, and Eddie, 18. When discussing dating, Eddie looks at me like I've just risen from the Paleolithic era.

On her guest room bed, my mom has a pillow that was given to her by one of her best friends, Janet. It reads: "A good friend is like a good bra: hard to find, close to your heart and very supportive.”

Raised in Yamhill, Oregon, Beverly Cleary, the beloved child author of the "Ramona" books, along with titles that include "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" and the epistolary "Dear Mr. Henshaw," leaves behind a literary legacy. 

Beverly Cleary, the celebrated children’s author whose memories of her Oregon childhood were shared with millions through the likes of Ramona and Beezus Quimby and Henry Huggins, has died. She was 104.

April is known for its rain showers, but where does all that water come from? How does it get in the sky in the first place? And after it falls to the ground and forms rain puddles, where does it go? These are examples of water in various steps of Earth’s water cycle. Spring is the perfect time to learn about the water cycle because this rainy season provides many opportunities to see the water cycle in action.

A 5,000-square-foot studio opens this weekend for artists in a cooperative membership, but organizers plan outreaches with public schools, veterans and nonprofits.