“It’s Spike! The Ultra Dinosaur! He can talk….and he can ROAR!!!”

“Light up shoes. By Sketchers.”

“Benda-who…benda-what?…It’s bendaroos!”

E.B has hit the stage where he is now repeating every commercial that catches his attention on TV. At any given moment he sings to me that our local lumber company “treats you twice as nice” and that coal, oil, and “naturally gas” (his words, not mine) are better alternatives than electricity for heating our home.

He is so impressionable now. I’m sure this is the stage in his life where if I were a “good” mother I would be unplugging the television and praying that I haven’t warped his mind and ruined his life. But I just can’t. There is too much entertainment value for me in this stage and besides, he doesn’t watch TV all day long. He is well rounded and as active as a 4 year old can be.

And? Once upon a time, there was a little girl who I hear would literally stop everything and run to the television when this commercial came on:

And she turned out ok.

I came across this birdhouse kit when I hit the artsy-fartsy motherlode a few days ago, and I had to laugh, and not just because it was made from quality wood (*cough*$1.99*cough).

This little gem was practically vintage because it was purchased at our defunct Eckerd’s drugstore almost 9 years ago. What exactly was I thinking, buying a birdhouse kit with my newlywedded self back then, I have no idea. I can only guess it was during my “crafty-wannabe phase” which was over pretty quickly when I realized that when it came to being creative and actually making things, I sucketh much.

But my loss is E.B.’s gain! So we set out to make this birdhouse! Which only required a doctorate in architectural studies to put together!

We did finally get the blessed contraption put together and then I turned E.B. loose with the fingerpaint to give the birdhouse that “welcoming feel”.

Yes, all are welcome in our little birdhouse made of quality woodthatsnappedtogether. Except for this little birdy, who will find the No Vacancy sign should he attempt to set up house in my backyard evah again.

Have you ever decided to go through all of the junk you’ve accumulated over the years and hit a minor jackpot to help you keep your sanity intact while your child is out of school for the summer?

I finally got around to going through some plastic bins that contained all of my teaching stuff from when I left work a few years ago. I had also stored away some supplies from when E.B. and I did preschool homeschooling and to put it mildly, we have hit the artsy fartsy motherlode at our house.

I discovered the file folder games I need to finish for E.B. We have glue, sequins, paint, birdhouse building kits, popsicle sticks, scissors, tape, felt, paper galore, mini tiles, crayons, styrofoam balls, and a partridge in a pear tree. I had no idea I had saved so many things but I’m thrilled that for once I didn’t toss them because I plan to pull them out when it’s raining, too hot to be outside, or just when we need a change of routine. I’m even more thrilled I don’t have to go out and buy any of this stuff. We already have it all here and this makes the “making do with what we have” summer thing a whole lot easier.

What are you and your children doing to keep busy this summer?

After E.B.’s little end of the year ceremony at school last week, his grandparents and I took him to a local gardener’s place where we got to see some farm animals and check things out.

A large pond greets you as you enter and a makeshift Noah’s Ark sits in it.

We saw animals:

And we checked out the garden and surveyed the land:

And for a brief moment I thought about how great it must have been back in the pioneer days to be raised on a farm, being one with nature and the land and all of that. Then I remembered how much I love indooor plumbing and not having to rise before the chickens and I decided I liked my little modern small town life.

I almost feel slightly ashamed for not updating my blog as often I usually do, but I’ve finally found MY show. All year long it seems like everyone has been obsessed with Dancing With The Stars, American Idol, Lost, and House. While I’ve watched them all, I just never could get to that point where if I missed an episode I would just die. (That hasn’t happened since Beverly Hills 90210 for me.) But then E.B. and I stumbled across a show we could both agree on AND lucky for us they show reruns often AND there was even a three day marathon over the Memorial Day weekend.

The Discovery Channel has hooked me (no pun intended) with Deadliest Catch, which follows several Alaskan king crab fishing boats and their crews out into the Bering Sea to show how king crab and opilio crab are caught and the dangers these men put themselves through to make a living. It’s intense, action packed, and educational all at once.

I’ve even purchased a book about it, subscribed to several Deadliest Catch blogs, and have watched Deadliest Catch reruns ad nauseum. And then I finally rejoined the real world today and remembered, “Oh yeah…I have a blog to write!”.

Now somebody out there tell me you watch this, too.

So after the fretting over sending my baby out into the big cruel world for the very first time (and sending him out into that world with his shorts on backwards, to boot)…..the last day of preschool finally happened on Tuesday.

We survived.

E.B.’s class gave a performance of all the songs they’ve learned all year, complete with a shoving match between the boys and we also got treated to a slideshow of the year in pictures, set to the song Tubthumping by Chumbawumba. I can assure you the sanctuary of my son’s private preschool had probably never had such lyrics played in there. I can also assure you that my husband and I had a very hard time keeping a straight face when the song reached the part about “pissing the night away”.

Ahem.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED– Congratulations to Cookiert!

It’s no secret that we are huge Wow! Wow! Wubzy! fans. We’re still watching this DVD many months after we received it for a review, so it was hard to turn down the offer to check out Wow! Wow! Wubzy! Wubzy’s Big Movie, just released on DVD May 12.

In this new movie, Wubzy has lost his memory and has to rely on the help of his friends and flashbacks from earlier Wubzy episodes to remember who he is. Friends helping one another is always a central theme in each Wubzy episode we’ve seen, so I have no qualms with my little guy learning from this.

The DVD also includes these bonus features:

·Bonus Season Two Music Video
·DVD-Rom Game
·Coloring Pages
·Printable Activities

The new Wow! Wow! Wubzy! Wubzy’s Big Movie has a suggested retail price of $16.98.

Want a chance to win one a copy? Leave a comment on this post before Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 11 PM. You can also receive a bonus entry by subscribing to my blog (or if you’re already a subscriber, leave me a comment saying so). U.S. only.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

At the ripe old age of 4, E.B. finally managed to get his first real skinned up knee. Apparently he was running around at my parent’s house this afternoon and fell down in their driveway. When they brought him home he immediately ran to me and the waterworks started all over again. He had scrapes on his knees and his elbows. My mom had tried to wash them off with a washcloth but he loudly protested that the water hurt and therefore, he would not be taking his bath tonight, thankyouverymuch.

He cried all through bathtime….he balked and fussed while I dressed him afterward. Luckily, just an hour earlier Cracked Daddy had rented him an awesome DVD about trains he had never seen and this seemed to help when I kept reminding him that the sooner we got finished with bathing and dressing, the sooner he could watch. Finally, he settled in on the couch to watch the DVD with his blanket and lots of hugs from me.

Then he had one small request. Chocolate. And NOT just any chocolate, mind you. He has discriminating taste (just like his mama) when it comes to chocolate and only a Dove chocolate bar will do. With a couple of squares of Dove milk chocolate, all his boo-boos were soon forgotten. And if this is all it takes to make everything better, I’m thinking we had better stock up for all of those hard knocks between here and 18 that everyone keeps warning me about.