Affectionately playing with their Miniature Dachshunds, Joey, Lisa Stapp and her son, Billy, praised the family pet after he rolled over on command.

Melissa Kahn has the regular season down.

Father’s Day gifts have morphed over the years. It used to be a tie, a golf hat or a jazz CD. But dads are more tech-savvy these days.

The scores junior golfers post make most weekend hackers shake their heads.

Leslie Patricelli didn’t keep junk food in the house when her three kids were toddlers, but the goofy, bald baby in her board book “Yummy Yucky” grins from ear to ear over chocolate sauce and cookies.
The prolific picture book writer also included pepperoni pizza as a positive, acknowledging in a recent interview that some of her empty calorie imagery for kids too young to seek out sugary and fatty foods on their own have earned her a kvetch or two from parents.
“If I were to do it again I would probably make a few different choices, but I don’t think I would leave everything out,” said Patricelli, in Hailey, Idaho. “All you have to do is watch a kid eat a piece of cake to know that they’re in heaven.”
Heaven, indeed, especially when it comes to an abundance of frothy pink cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies and candy in books aimed squarely at babies, toddlers and preschoolers who may not be intimate with the meaning of moderation.
But some authors and publishers are focused on creating alternatives to c-is-for-cupcake picture books for parents struggling to promote broccoli. Even Cookie Monster sometimes eats smarter, chowing down on celery and demonstrating smaller portions of his namesake treats in “Ding Dong, Elmo’s Here!” and other books from the folks on “Sesame Street.”
“Food is everywhere kids turn,” said Betsy Loredo, executive editor for Sesame Workshop’s publishing group. “So it’s natural for us to want to think of ways we can integrate that and make choices that are healthier. We try to go for at least equity.”
“Sesame Street,” with an appearance by obesity fighter and first lady Michelle Obama, took on nutrition and exercise as an initiative back in 2004. The effort expanded to other divisions and special projects that included distribution of kits to six million families and child care centers offering ways to eat healthy on a budget and educate parents on the difference between “sometime food” and “anytime food.”
With the childhood obesity rate tripling in the past 30 years to 1 in 3 children in the United States overweight or obese, books with healthy eating pictures and messages may not be everything, but they’re something, advocates said.
Sesame Workshop, for instance, concluded in a 2010 study that when children are shown fruits and vegetables linked with favorite characters from the show they choose those foods at a much higher rate and eat more of them, according to Sesame researcher Jennifer Kotler.
Even broccoli, she laughed.
“Something happens between 3 and 5 where there’s a growing awareness of what healthy means. Where 3-year-olds like the foods they like, 5-year-olds know things they might choose might not always be the healthiest,” Kotler said. 
David Goldbeck in Woodstock, N.Y., isn’t an absolutist, but he does care about what kids see in their books when it comes to food. He wants more of them to eat fruits and vegetables, so he co-wrote an alphabet book that puts broccoli and yams in equally healthy company.
The Michigan Fitness Foundation, which is home to that state’s Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports, uses Goldbeck’s “The ABC’s of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond” in take-home book bags that are part of a health literacy program in more than 400 public elementary schools, said Marci Kelly Scott, the organization’s vice president for health programs.
The book includes an alphabet format with illustrations (E is for eggplant!) but also history, fun facts and recipes for older kids. Scott ordered 500 of the books in 2008 and routinely reorders to keep up her supplies.
In this alphabet world, C is for carrots, D is for date, as in the “desert fruit found in Kuwait,” and O is for organic.


Gayle Dorothy Hadden (nee Buff), 67, of Ahwatukee and formerly of Wayne, N.J., passed away peacefully at home on May 27, surrounded by her family. Gayle worked for J.P. Morgan Chase for many years.
She grew up in Lyndhurst, N.J., and had lived in Wayne since 1968 before moving to Phoenix 20 years ago. Gayle was a 4-H leader, a Remax Realtor, a member of the Pompton Falls Fire Co. 3 Women’s Auxiliary in Wayne, a nursery school assistant, and a member of the Junior Women’s Club and PTA.
Gayle’s interests included sewing, knitting, golf, cruising in her convertible, great music, laughing much and having a great time. She loved traveling and loved life.
Gayle is survived by her husband, John J., of Ahwatukee; her children, Kimberly Hadden Massie, Robin Hadden, Christopher Hadden, all of Arizona, John Hadden of Hardwick, N.J.; eight grandchildren; and two brothers, Harold and Alan Buff.
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, N.J., on Sunday, June 2 from 2 to 6 p.m.

Cera Hassinan is one of those people who makes others feel uncomfortable with themselves.

Dear Mikey,

If you are returning to the dating world after a long time away or if you have not had the dating life you hoped for, maybe it is time to try something different.

Using their talents for hilarious, family-friendly improvisational comedy, Jef and Shurlin Rawls of Mesa hope to lift spirits while lightening the load for a family in their neighborhood with an event they are calling a “FUN-draiser.”

Around 8 p.m., a party bus with a large Jack Daniels logo pulled up to the home.

Fellow senior and girlfriend Tina Trujillo was waiting in her living room with her sister, parents, and other family when Campbell arrived.

With the onslaught of Oscar contenders that debuted last November, there’s a good chance that a little-seen indie gem, “Starlet,” managed to fall off your radar during its short, theatrical run. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 SXSW film festival, “Starlet” explores the unlikely friendship between a cheerful, aspiring actress (played by the winsome Dree Hemingway) and a cantankerous, elderly widow (the late Besedka Johnson).

That Saturday afternoon in Ahwatukee was pushing a temperature of about 96 degrees as Cook and Quian's group of friends met outside at a nearby lake for group and couple photos.

"Now you're almost as tall as me," said Diedrich, teasing Cook about her height after she put on her heels.

The people of "Peeples" make a better impression than most collections of oddballs in the weary mold of comedies centered on meeting the prospective in-laws.

Ahwatukee resident Michael Feyrer subscribes to the philosophy that his life is like a pair of shoes — to be worn out in service.

Dear Mikey,

The adage “truth is stranger than fiction” is proven in “The Lost Wife,” by Alyson Richman. She has succeeded in blending both for an unforgettable reading experience.

It’s been nearly 10 years since his science-fiction indie “Primer” left audiences spellbound, which makes the arrival of Shane Carruth’s “Upstream Color” an even more momentous occasion.

While more than 62 percent of households in the U.S. have a pet, and many of the people living with those animals attend church services regularly, only a small percentage of churches serve animals and their caretakers. It was a startling thought for Ahwatukee Foothills residents Kris and Craig Haley.

"42” is far from the first movie to explore racial tensions in sports. We’ve seen this subject depicted in other good films like “Remember the Titans” and “Glory Road.” There are plenty of recognizable figures on display here, such as the underdog nobody believed in, the one man willing to take a chance on that underdog, and the ignorant antagonists that wish to see that underdog fail. Familiarity aside, though, “42” executes just about everything wonderfully. This is a good-hearted picture, carried by sincere performances and passionate direction. Not only is it an inspiring story about overcoming prejudice, but an all around rousing baseball movie too.

He has given standout performances in the likes of “The Big Lebowski,” “Crazy Heart” and “True Grit,” but Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges’ enormous talent doesn’t stop there. His illustrious resume runs the gamut from musician to author to humanitarian, which begs the question: Is there anything he can’t do?