Last month, the Care.com team joined over a thousand volunteers and fellow Bostonians for a day of service with City Year's annual Serv-a-thon. We worked on revitalizing an urban community garden, and it was a great day of weeding, cleaning, building benches, and painting murals—even in the scorching heat!

My favorite part about it, though, was that our kids all got to experience community service firsthand, and came away with understanding of what it is to give back to their community and to the environment.

For green-themed projects your entire family can enjoy while caring for our planet—not just during City Year, but all year—check out my list of favorites:

• GARDENING
  Ron and I spend as much time as possible in our garden, and love it when the kids want to help out and learn about growing. Get your kids involved by planting a tree, repotting plants or flower beds with organic soil or mulch, or grow veggies and fruit from seeds in repurposed containers to learn about germination and caring for different kinds of plant life.

• PAINTING
  Make a mural with low-VOC, milk or clay paints, or sand and seal a bench or picnic table instead of buying a new one—saving the planet and money!

• TRASH PICK-UP
  Pick up trash around your neighborhood, local park or woods, or local stream, lake, or beach.

• RECYCLING
  Visit a recycling center as a "field trip", and set up recycling programs at home or at school.

• ENERGY EFFICIENT LIGHTS
  Change light fixtures at home to LED or incandescent bulbs, and teach kids about the importance of turning off lights, appliances, and other plug-in devices when not in use to save energy.

• SAVE GAS, GET EXERCISE
  Walk, bike, or take public transportation instead of driving, and teach kids about the impact of fuel on the global economy.

• REUSABLE BAG CRAFTS
  Decorate hemp or organic cotton bags for use at the supermarket, or make your own out of old T-shirts, sheets and pillowcases.

• SAVE WATER
  Inside, teach kids to turn off the faucet and limit running water when brushing teeth, showering, or washing dishes. Outside, install a rain catch for use in the garden—and summer sprinkler fun! Teach kids about the effects of water conservation, especially in areas prone to drought.

• ALL-NATURAL BUGS-BE-GONE
  Make homemade bug repellent from non-toxic ingredients, saving your kids from carcinogens like DEET and the planet from harmful ozone-depleting gases and chemicals.

• ACTIVISM
  Write letters to local politicians and representatives about environmental issues close to your family's heart and values, either locally or nationally.

• OBSERVE
  Have kids start a nature journal, and take nature walks and hikes to learn about wildlife and natural habitats in your area.

• CARBON FOOTPRINTS
  Calculate your family's impact on the environment, and learn about ways you can make big environmental changes through little lifestyle ones.

• ALL-NATURAL FOOD
  Host an all-natural or organic bake sale to raise money for your favorite "green" charity or environmental cause. Or, if you want to start at home with more natural food, create an "organic test kitchen" with your kids, and swap out one food or snack item each week with one that's organic--making it a science experiment. Did they taste the difference? Compare nutrition labels and talk about ingredients.

• DETOX YOUR HOME
  Gather up all the hazardous chemicals in your house and switch to organic or non-toxic cleansers, or make your own! Also, you may want to wean off the plastic sippy cups, bowls, plates, and storage containers you've accumulated over the years. Many of these may contain dangerous PVC and phthalate softening agents, and the ones that don't may nevertheless have trace amounts of endocrine disrupters, all of which are harmful to your family's health.

• GREEN BOOKS & BLOGS
  For more ways to explain and introduce kids to environmentalism, grab a copy of The Down-to-Earth Guide To Global Warming, from the team behind Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, or 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, that you can read as a family, or encourage your kids to sign up for and get involved with PBS Kids' Zoom Team. I also found a fantastic blog to check out called The Green Guide for Kids you should check out and bookmark.

What are your favorite ways to teach your kids about going "green"? Share them with the Care.com community by posting a comment!

One of the fun parts about running a company that matches families with the best possible care providers is hearing the success stories from both sides and getting positive feedback about our service.

Earlier this spring, we recruited dozens of women—both working and stay-at-home moms—to join Care.com as a screening committee, judging the quality of our providers and serving as a gauntlet of sorts, deciding who gets to be a Care.com babysitter, nanny, home health aide, pet sitter, tutor or housekeeper.

We call them our MomForce, and they certainly are a force to be reckoned with!

These ambitious and passionate women carefully review each and every profile, and work with the individual providers to enhance their pages and standing within our service, also helping them to fill any gaps in their listed experience, qualifications, or references.

At Care.com, it's our mission to provide members with the best possible child care, elder care, educational help, pet care, and home care, and we couldn't fulfill this mission without the dedication and commitment of our Mom Force.

It's with great pleasure that I introduce you to just a small fraction of this powerful team.

Read on to meet the Care.com Mom Force and hear their stories!

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Petra Gianopoulos-Wise

As a stay-at-home mom to a beautiful daughter and stepson, nothing is more important to me than the care of my children! I have a bachelor's degree in Communications and worked in a publishing company as an editor for two years, before deciding to go back to school to become a massage therapist. Working in an office just wasn't for me.  Plus, I wanted to be able to stay home with my stepson, of whom we have full custody, as well as have the ability to have more children.

When my daughter came along in 2006, I was doing massage therapy and freelance editing, but I really just wanted to be able to be home more with the kids.  After searching every avenue I could think of for a job that I could do at home, I finally found Care.com!  It was such a relief to find something I could do that I enjoyed from my home, so I could be with my children.  There are few companies out there like Care.com that you can feel really proud to work for.  It really is a company I can get behind.  And I have used its services myself, so I know that it is a service I can honestly endorse!

I am thrilled to be a part of the Care.com team, helping other families with their care needs, as well as being able to spend quality time with my own!

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Kathleen Ryan

I am a stay-at-home mother and wife to my wonderful husband, Jack.  After graduating from college in 1991, I landed my first job in the banking industry.  In 1997, we bought our first house and soon after my daughter Emily arrived. Financially, I needed to work and enjoyed my job.  As a systems analyst, my supervisor was very supportive in allowing me to work from home three days a week, while my younger sister provided care for my daughter on the other two days.

In 2000, I decided it was time to stay at home to support my growing family, and my son Jack was born in 2001. As time went on, I desperately wanted to use my knowledge and skills and finally work again! Thanks to Care.com, I was given that opportunity. On a daily basis, I'm able to assist with reviewing provider profiles—which gives me the flexibility to work from home and take care of my family. What a great company to be a part of!

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Eileen Messinger

In September 2007, my triplet boys went off to kindergarten and I became a member of Care.com's Mom Force. As a mother of three rambunctious boys, a dog, a cat, and even a messy house, I review each profile as if I were looking for a provider myself.  I am happy to report I have come across many qualified providers!

Working at Care.com is a wonderful experience.  There is such camaraderie and the flexibility they offer keeps me available for my number one job as a mother!  Though I’m lucky to have family close by and a terrific babysitter right next door, I now know exactly where to go if I find myself in need of a quality care provider.

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Rachel Rottersman

I left the paid workforce when my second child was born. I found it difficult to give both my professional life and my home life the attention they deserved.

Now that my kids are in school, I have more time and energy to devote to other pursuits. I'm thrilled to have found a job with the Mom Force that allows me to rejoin the workforce while remaining available for my children.

It's even better knowing that what we do at Care.com enables more parents to work and play knowing that their loved ones are well cared for!

- - - - - -

Do you have any questions for me or the MomForce about how we screen our Care.com providers? Post a comment and let us know your thoughts!

This summer, we're very fortunate to have my Mama and Papa visiting us, and I realize that we sometimes take them for granted. While they're in town, I've decided we need to plan and do more things with them—especially for our boys, so they can really get to know, learn from, and bond with the elder generation while they have the time. Sound familiar?

I also recently learned that, from Mother's Day to Father's Day, we're now recognizing the importance of that family bond with National Family Month. Time is precious, and it's important that, as parents, we help our kids engage with their elders. Kids can benefit from these bonds with their grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and elder neighbors, who are important role models and connections to the past. To celebrate, I put together a list of fun activities for kids and grandparents to share together.

Please check them out, and share your own by posting a comment!

Fun activities kids and seniors can share together:

• MAKING A FAMILY TREE
  As well as being an educational and engaging project for kids and grandparents, creating a family tree helps put connections and bonds in perspective for the entire family. It also will encourage and spark stories your kids—and maybe you!—have never heard before about how certain aunts and uncles fell in love, about family vacations long ago, or about distant relatives you never had the chance to meet. Lacking the creative streak? Check out this great family tree keepsake box from UncommonGoods.com, which does the artistic part for you.

• WRITING LETTERS
  It's no secret in this digital age that letter writing has become a lost art. Teach your child to appreciate "snail mail," storytelling, and good penmanship by becoming a Pen Pal to their grandparents or another older relative. Kids will learn important communication skills, as well as have mementos and stories from family history to someday share with their own children, and the regular communication is sure to lift the spirits of their senior relatives.

• WALKING
  Depending on the age and fitness of your elder relatives, encourage your kids to take a walk in the park or around the neighborhood with their grandparents or great uncle. As well as being great exercise, a walk outdoors will promote conversation and communing with nature that can build bonds and great memories. Kids and their older pals can spot and learn about different wildlife like birds and plants, or just chit-chat about their favorite things.

• GAMES
  Nothing says summer quite like a classic  game like Scrabble or Parcheesi. Board games are a great way to get your kids and their grandparents playing together—although it might be hard to pry them away from their Nintendo Wii. Try a swap: have your dad teach the kids how to play Rummy or chess, and then have the kids teach Grandpa how to play Mario Kart or use the Wii Fit.

• READING
  Everyone remembers the heartfelt scenes in Princess Bride, where Peter Falk plays grandfather to a young Fred Savage and spends a "home sick" day reading his grandson an epic tale. While it might be hard to recreate scenes like this in real life, having your parents read books to your kids that they read to you as a child (or that their parents read to them, even!) is a fantastic way to expose them to family history and create shared memories. Classics like Anne of Green Gables, The Story of Ferdinand, The Hardy Boys, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Heidi are perennial favorites from generation to generation.

• COOKING
  If they're willing and able to safely, encourage your kids and parents to share and cook favorite family recipes. Baking Grandma's apple pie her way or learning the secret ingredients in Grandpa's grilling sauce are memories the whole family will cherish, while creating wonderful continuity of tradition. Take photos and write down the recipes—or, better yet, have your kids and their grandparents write and decorate the recipe card together—and then bind or publish them at a later date into a special cookbook to be passed down through the generations.

• CRAFTS & HOBBIES
  If your parents have a special hobby they enjoy, encourage them to show and teach your kids about it. Knitting, playing the piano, or dancing the Waltz can all be fun ways for kids to bond with their elders and to gain an appreciation for old-fashioned entertainment.

What's your favorite way to have your kids spend time with—and show their love for—the seniors in your lives? Share it with the Care.com community by posting a comment!

With gas prices soaring to an all-time high and recession buzz on the lips of every media source, finding affordable child care this summer is a priority for all parents, including me.

Whether you need a new nanny or babysitter on the fly, as Ron and I do (our nanny, Natalie, is expecting her second child later this summer), you're looking to fill the gaps between summer camp and family vacation, or the end of school just plain snuck up on you this year, check out my Top 5 Tips for finding—and saving on—child care this summer.

1. Use your dependent care FSA.
If your employer offers a dependent care flexible spending account (FSA), use it this summer for babysitting, nannies and au pairs, community programs, child care centers, or family daycares. These pre-tax dollars are earmarked for child care, and using them for approved types of child care can save you at least 5%. Check with your human resources department or FSA provider for a list of approved, reimbursable expenses and maximum contributions and deductions.

2. Ask your employer about working from home.
Most U.S. employers have become more flexible about working from home part-time, especially given the rising costs for commuters and the efficiency of modern technology. Many are even moving towards a four-day workweek, asking their employees to work longer hours per day but fewer days per week. If you have reliable internet access and a quiet, productive place to work, you could save a bundle on child care costs this summer by working from home part-time.

3. Organize a care swap or co-op with local parents
Other parents at your child's school or in your neighborhood are probably in the same boat. Send an email around to the parents of your child's friends—or to your condo or neighborhood association—to gauge interest in a rotating swap arrangement for the vacation weeks, with one parent or family taking the kids each week. Five days of the week divided among five parents or families equals only one day of commitment per parent or family. Bingo!

4. Join forces for a care share.
If everyone works full-time, think about hiring nannies or babysitters jointly to take care of multiple kids, and rotate the house at which house the kids are being watched. My rule of thumb for quality child care is that no single babysitter or nanny should watch more than 3 kids under the age of 6, more than 4 kids under the age of 12, and no more than 5 kids total of combined ages. Babysitters and nannies can be your best bet for recruiting a buddy, too: they have friends or siblings they might like to work with for the summer, and may offer a shared, discounted rate in exchange for the benefit of companionship on the job.

5. Hire a college student, local teacher, or academic professional
Most students and academic professionals either have their summers off or have more flexible schedules with "summer hours," meaning they may work fewer days in the workweek for the summer months, or have shortened hours each day throughout the week. Since travel has become so expensive, students and teachers may also be rethinking their plans to take the summer off, and may be looking for additional income to cover their own rising expenses.

Have your own tips or advice for saving on summer child care expenses? Share them with the Care.com community by posting a comment!