Good morning! February has started off with its usual gray and rainy patina outside. But, it kicks off with a bright, lively celebration here at Our Big Earth.

Today, we unveil a new tab structure to make it easier to find the features you are looking for as well as some fantastic new features, columnists and content that readers have long asked us to include.

We think you’ll be as excited as we are to see how your online community is blossoming.

Here’s the scoop:

This all got started in December, as OBE wrapped up its first quarter and started asking how we could improve. Expanded content and reconfigured site tools topped the list.

So, let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

Check out our new main navigation bar for Features. Now, you can see all 12 of our main Features at a glance and – with a click – check them out for yourselves.

You’ll notice a few changes in those features as well.

Tomorrow morning, you’ll notice that the This Week events listings is no longer the main Monday post. You’ll now be able to find a regularly updated events, activities and notices listing (starting tomorrow) in our Check Out What’s Inside section to the right of the main post. No more searching through old posts to find out about soccer registration or dance classes. This Week will have its own, easily found page.

Our former Sunday Morning Walks and Nature Journal sections have joined forces with our regional family walks program under the new NeighbourWood Walks feature section. Here, you’ll now be able to find monthly updates and archives of our Nature Journal learning projects and Sunday Morning Walks trail guides as well as updates on the NeighbourWood Walks program when it is in session.

The SPROUTS – kids gardening feature has found a new home in our very popular Homeschooling feature section and is joined by a new monthly column – Kids In The Arts – written by Pantuso Dance owner and community arts advocate Lindsay Sterk. Lindsay will be offering up his insight on how we can connect our children to their inner artists, the value of art in childhood and local organizations that offer great family programs. We are also excited to welcome Susan Spyker as our new monthly homeschooling columnist, offering a fresh perspective on educational options and tools for families.

Replacing SPROUTS, we bring you a new feature section – KidSports. This section, which will initially be updated monthly, is a place where youth sports advocates including minor hockey/youth baseball association president Steve McNamee talk about the value of sports in the lives of children and how families can prepare/work together to make sports an enjoyable experience for all skill levels.

Another major addition is our fresh, new Product Reviews feature section. Three times a month, local moms will review home, kids and outdoor gear on the site. There’s a great crew who have agreed to jump in and I am totally looking forward to taking a parent-tested peek into some of the best gear around.

Our Food & The Family section has been very well received (way to go Robyn). Parents said they want to learn more about how to get their kids into the kitchen and are hungry for more recipes. With that in mind, Sarah Stromquist joins us with her monthly Family Eats column and we will be reviewing local restaurants monthly.

The Mompreneur section was a surprise favourite. So, with that in mind we are adding two additional monthly columns to that section including a Marketing for Moms column and a Small Business Consultant column – both written by a variety of business women helping local moms and their remarkable entrepreneurial spirit.

The Your Healthy Nature feature section gets a boost with the addition of Marcie Dumais and her Parent Wellness column as well as Esther Kane and her Women’s Health column. We’ll also have some guest columnists talking about fitness for the whole family.

Our last big shift is in the very popular Crafts feature section. This hot spot on site will now be updated three times a month and include a new Crafts For Boys column pulled together by our own Mister Maker – Ken Henderson. You’ll meet some amazingly crafty moms pulling together fun, kid-friendly projects while the tiny person and I continue to share our crafting adventures.

So, while you’re wishing for an early Spring, make sure to keep up on all of the exciting new additions to OBE that you’ll see throughout this month. There are some easy ways to do that, like subscribing to our RSS Feed or subscribing to Our Big Earth via E-MAIL.

But, really, it’s the most fun when you come and check out all of the cool onsite goodness every day.:)