The first thing that caught my eye when I scanned the list of entertainment at the CoolKidz Expo was Lunch Money.

The trio based in Columbia, S.C., has been traveling around the country for the last couple of years spreading their blend of clever lyrics and memorable melodies that kids and parents can both appreciate. It's second CD, "Dizzy," was plugged on NPR, launching it to No. 37 on Amazon.com. And last fall, Dizzy was named the second best children's album of 2009 by the Fids and Kamily Awards, a poll of kids music writers, radio programmers, and others in the industry.

Lunch Money's songs are all about childhood ... from wanting a cookie as big as your head to spinning around and getting dizzy to playing with tiny dinosaurs. Singer Molly Ledford, who writes the songs as well, sound like she's having the time of her life when she sings.

Ledford told me this week that the group is finishing up their third CD called "Original Friend," which should come out around October. They also just finished recording a song on a compilation CD to benefit Haiti called "Many Hands." Dan Zanes and Pete Seeger also will appear on the CD.

Now that they're pretty much done recording, they're gearing up for more shows, including the CoolKidz Expo on Saturday. They play at 11 a.m. and will include a few songs from the new CD, which Ledford says has a theme about friendship running through it.

"A really close friend of mine passed away last year. That sent me on this direction of just thinking about all kinds of different aspects of friendship, whether it's being the last couple of people on the wall when you're picking teams and just the ways that you can be so influenced by a kid when you're little," said Ledford, a mom. "Original Friend is a song about just sort of hanging out with people who are always up to something."

Also well worth checking out: Laughing Pizza at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, featuring mom, dad and daughter who you may have seen on PBS. And the power pop trio Big Bang Boom performs at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.