No really. I’ve had my nose stuck in BoardGameGeek.com for over a week now! Researching games. Looking at pictures of games. Reading about games. Pricing games. I didn’t know so many games existed. It really puts the Walmart and Target aisles to shame. My new favorite company is Haba (hint: on many of their games, you can read the entire instruction manual, English instructions will be second, you’ll see what I mean by originality). They are German (European toys are always better anyway. And prettier. And they have to meet higher safety standards!). The Haba games are gorgeous. Original. Top notch quality. Many are just beyond adorable. I challenge you to find cuter turtles.

Twiddle Beach Turtle

Twiddle Turtle

Or cuter wolverines (gulo gulo) for that matter.

Some people just really don’t like board games. Scott can be one of them. Can they be tedious to play with children? At times, of course! But the value, to me, is well worth any bit of frustration on my part. But being selective about your games can limit the amount of times that you wish to poke your eyeballs out during play *cough Candyland cough cough* (you’re reading an online blog, so go ahead and resign yourself to buying games online as well). Thats where the Board Game Geek site comes in. There are thousands of people on there who have already been the guinea pigs for you. They will tell you every aspect of the game play, how they felt about it as a parent, how their kids seemed to react, in depth descriptions that sometimes rival reading the directions that came with the game! A game may not only come prepackaged with educational value (yes, educational games can be great fun!), but also teaches children about taking turns, patience, cooperative efforts, friendly competition, and following instructions (you can bend the rules a little for the little ones, encourage them to play by the rules, but don’t make a huge issue about it if they don’t. Let their little imaginations roam a bit). Many games build dexterity and motor skills, many build vocabulary, but most importantly, you’re spending quality time with your child. You are more than likely sitting on the floor down at their level. You are watching them accomplish goals, learn from setbacks and enjoy time with you.

I would much rather be running out of storage room in the game cabinet or closet than DVD storage any day. Besides, Baby Einstein kinda weirds me out! Not saying I haven’t been down that road in the past, but what is the first thing that comes to mind when you see one of those DVDs? Hmm, wonder what this would be like high? You can’t decide whether those movies were made for babies or stoners!

In unrelated news, our unit blocks are soon to be on the way. She asked me how I planned to store them (I worked at Papa Johns, I’m familiar with the term upsale!). I told her that my husband had been commissioned to build a shelving unit for blocks and books. I’m really excited to see what Caleb will do with them. The other night when we went to Lowes, he entertained himself by building towers out of sanding blocks. Now if my kiddo just didn’t have a memory that rivals an elephant, I could begin to weed out some of the more annoying toys. Even the ones he plays with once in a blue moon. Some day, three or four months down the road, he will be looking for that toy. And he will pester the ever living snot out of me to find it.

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I had originally planned to review some of the Christmas items the week after the big day, but alas…stuff happened. Yeah I know what you thought I was gonna say. Anyway, I focused a large portion of my Christmas shopping on activities. Things that actually take up time, not just room in the toy box. We had no games.

I actually bought this Candy Land game shortly after Christmas. It was an impulse buy, I admit. FYI, Target overstocked on a lot of Christmas items, which are now on clearance to make room. Caleb knows all of this shapes and colors, so I don’t know how much “learning” can come from this game, but practice never hurts. Neither did the fact that it was on clearance. Of all the games we got, I would say this would be the #1 starter game. If you have a toddler and are looking for a very basic first game that plays quickly, this is an excellent choice. You can work with your child on shapes, colors, matching and taking turns. Since it was just the two of us, we used two game board per player. It comes with four gingerbread men, each with found shapes that must be matched to the player’s game board(s). You pull the candycane lever on the side, and a shape slides out of the castle door. If you don’t need the piece, you just drop it back in the top of the castle. Like I said, it is a basic, fun game for toddlers. There is no box, the gingerbread men store in the slot right behind the castle (as you can see from the picture) and the pieces store in the castle. I have played it approximately 72 times today. And honestly (I am trying, but haven’t had the luck of the draw I suppose) I haven’t won a single game.

I may have mentioned once or twice that Caleb loves anything with wheels, so I was looking for a creative way to incorporate that into a Christmas gift. I found a K’nex transportation set. I’m not sure who likes this more! At this point, he’s a little young for the building process I guess, but I have him help me dig through the container and find the pieces we need. This particular set (actually marketed toward educators/teachers) came with picture/instruction handouts. Again, shape/color matching, but the construction/building activity and fine motor skills required will carry this toy along to an older age.

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Scott and I have looked at the picture and tried to build this about four different times. If you only have one Lincoln Logs set (you haven’t added to your collection), you seem to always find yourself running out of needed logs before you are done. Some of their pictures in the “instructions” must use every single available log, and if you put a long log where there is supposed to be a medium length log, you will find yourself needing the long one later. I finally did it though, and I took pictures to prove it to Scott. He got annoyed last time and said it couldn’t be done. You have to hold the roof down while Caleb plays because he will promptly knock over your work of art if you don’t. He hasn’t really gotten into the building process with these yet, they knock over too easily. But he loves them all the same.

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I’ve been scouring the internet for gift ideas. As you can imagine, I came up with way more than enough. So I’ve created a list at wishlist.com to keep track of some of them for later purchase/birthday ideas, etc. I don’t think I could ever bring myself to use the wishlist service for something like a birthday or Christmas, but it would certainly be helpful for weddings, baby showers, etc. I’m just using it to keep track of neat products that I find online so that I don’t clog up my bookmarks.

1. Castle Blocks – I think these are amazing. This wasn’t one I found myself, I had a little help from Chris’s Holiday Gift Guide over at In the Trenches of Motherhood (aka Notes from the Trenches). These blocks look amazing. Be sure to read about how the ‘blocksmith’ started his business. Certainly a different take on your average wooden blocks. They look to be excellent quality. I am quite anxious to try them out, and I would love to take advantage of a holiday sale. This would be a good one to go in together with the grandparents!

2. Memory Game: I’m not even sure what I love about this one so much. It looks simple, long lasting and well made, for a nice price. Memory is a classic game that is good for all ages, so this would grow with your child, provided you are diligent about keeping up with the pieces. If not, it certainly isn’t a terrible budget strain to replace it. The shapes do look pretty small though, so watch out for the younger members of the family. You can always start out with 3-4 pairs and leave part of the board empty for the younger players.

3. Car Cake Pans: I must give credit for this find to my mom. She called to ask me if I though Caleb might like something like this for a gift. Would he like it? WOULD HE LIKE IT?? Let’s see, he loves to kitchen. He drags a kitchen chair across the room and positions it on my foot so that he can climb up and help. The mega bonus is that the cakes are little car shapes, they are absolutely precious. I already have birthday ideas whirling through my head. Wouldn’t that make a neat center piece. A long straight road running the length of the table with car cakes for each party goer. It could also be an EXCELLENT birthday party activity for kids a little older than mine. If you’re the organized type, you can set up a decorating station for each child, give them their vehicle, a paint brush for the icing (glue), and several pieces of candy for decorations, have the sprinkles lined up down the table. Kids would eat that up, literally!

4. Haba Boat Swing: I have drooled over seen this before. It is quite expensive, but doesn’t it just make you smile to look at it! Love the colors. I have always loved the concept of an indoor swing. Hey it could even double as a bassinet when the next baby comes along! ;) I’M JOKING! Don’t try that! Especially when the older sibling has been soaring around the room like Peter Pan in the thing for a year.

5. Aqua Play Set: This is just a neat concept to me. I’ve seen a similar thing made by Brio a while back, but I can’t find it now. Again, steep price, but there are different sets you can get, this of course being the most complete/expensive. Looks like it would made a good summer toy for those days when you need to get the kid out of the house, but once you do it is too hot to move outside. Set it in the shade and let them play. It looks like it might be time consuming to set up though(?)

6. Colorforms: Yes the same colorforms that were around when you were a child. They seem to be pretty timeless as well. Encourages pattern play and creativity. Look around, you might find a better price, but I just happened to see them here.

7. Lacing Tree: Need to brush up on your hand eye coordination. This looks like a cute version of a lacing activity. A little more clever than some I’ve seen where you just outline a picture that is already there. Here you can actually make decisions about which animals should go where. Waiting room activity anyone?

8. Mazes(click pictures for links): I think I’ve seen the first one (or a similar one) at Target. “Drive” the different vehicles around to their appropriate buildings/homes. Very cute also. Requires some thinking for how to get each vehicle to the correct spot and move others out of the way. The bead maze has two pens, so siblings/friends can share. Again, hand eye coordination. Both of these are self contained, so they would make excellent toys on the go (for waiting rooms, airport terminals, etc)

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from myspace, aren’t you happy, a double post ;)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
CookOut Eggnog milkshake at dinner, and hot chocolate before bed?

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
He wraps everything he can, unless it is something that doesn’t make sense to wrap, like say, a Radio Flyer horse…. just sayin…

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I grew up with colored and I feel some strange requirement/guilty type thing to using colored, like I’m breaking some tradition if I don’t, but I really like white lights better. I think we used white last year.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, we did outside decorations last year as it was our first Christmas in a ‘real’ house.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
We’ll probably do it the first weekend in December or so. I may do everything but the tree a little earlier, but last year our tree was looking a little sparse by Christmas. In other words, most of the needles were gone!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
All of it? Seems like I saw a recipe for some kinda pancake of breakfast casserole that I really wanted to try though. But hey, I’m not picky. (ETA: French toast casserole, that was it!)

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
Driving around to see the lights, then going home to leave milk and cookies out.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don’t remember how old I was, but my mom told me. I know I was easily old enough, I didn’t feel like anyone spoiled it or anything.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We always did as a child, just one, I don’t get the whole open gifts on xmas eve, what do you do the next morning?? Anyway, I think I’m stealing Kelly’s idea…the elves will bring Christmas pajamas, which will be the gift that is opened the night before.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
White lights, a hodgepodge of ornaments, I have some basic balls that are space fillers, they go on first, then my mom gave me a bunch of handmade felt ornaments that we used as I grew up, and I have a few things here and there that I’ve picked up myself. I STILL have the cut off stump from Caleb’s first Christmas. I have been threatening ever since to used a woodburning kit to write Caleb’s first Christmas 2005 on it and use it as an ornament, but I haven’t gotten around to it. I’ll do it at some point, and I’ll do the same with any future kids we may have.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love it, I like to look at it for a long time before walking in it, because it is sooooooo pretty. Also could sit and watch it fall for hours. Caleb wasn’t crazy about the little bit we got last year, but I’m sure that will change.

12. Can you ice skate?
ppbbbssttt hahahahahaha Does watching the Olympics on TV count?

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
last year I got my first Digital SLR camera. In 2004, we got our first 3/4D ultrasound on December 29, which felt more like Christmas than Christmas day did! I fell in love that day!

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Being with my family, making memories

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Teresa (Scott’s nephew’s wife…got that??) makes this cake that is OUTrageous, some kind of layered chocolate cake with a buttercream type icing that has crushed Hershey bars in it. Apple pie, fudge, shortbread cookies…oh, did you mean just one?

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Don’t know if it is really a tradition or not, but we keep the presents up until after Caleb is in bed for maximum shock and awe in the morning! They always sat under the tree for weeks when I was little and it drove me NUTS (okay actually I became a pro at opening and resealing, I used to pray that my mom would go shopping again so I could have some uninterrupted time to snoop! Scott did this too, so one year his mom wrapped his gift and put a siblings name on it, then kept it off to the side xmas morning. He was so disappointed because he thought he didn’t get what he wanted until his mom gave him “Greg’s” gift last!)

17. What tops your tree?
I can’t even remember!! A star I think

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
I’m just in it for the kid!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
SO many, but how about three…John Berry O Holy Night (love this, amazing voice), Jingle Bell Rock, and Mariah Carey – All I want for Christmas is you (it just makes me all happy and dancey!)

20. (I’m adding this question!) Favorite holiday movie?
Bad Santa, hands down! If you like rude humor that is ;) “No aunts or uncles? Security guards, butlers? Does your Daddy have a safe?” “Money to fix your sleigh?” “Egg-xactly.” Home for the Holidays is another good one.

21. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Boring, I can take it or leave it. I would much prefer a Reeses Tree, just as Scott told me that Santa would actually prefer my chocolate cake with buttercream icing instead of cookies this year.

22. What do you want for Christmas?
to see Caleb’s face when he comes in the room. New camcorder will be in my left hand and digital camera in my right. But if Santa has extra room, he could sick that $1600 dollar lens in that I could never afford! Drool!

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I will reveal a secret, I’m really not that original, a lot of my ideas come from other blogs, websites, and books like this one:

So anyway, I’ve been thinking about tape. Yes, I have a lot of time on my hands. Amazingly enough, I get very little accomplished. I was flipping through this book the other night and saw a activity called tape shapes. You can probably guess the basic concept. Use masking tape to make shapes on the floor, then play a game, hop to the square, dance to the circle, crawl to the triangle, etc. Caleb pretty much has his shapes down, so I added to the concept with a few numbers and letters just to add variety. I doubt the whole alphabet would do so well at this point, just because it is too much to look for at this age. So I stuck to about 10 different tape spots. For the numbers I tore off the corresponding number of little tape pieces to put beside the number. We started off playing the game as detailed in the book, let’s crawl like a caterpillar to the C, hop like a frog to the F, etc. When he started to lose interest, I brought in a beanbag that I made yesterday morning and we threw the beanbag to the circle or the number 3. I bought a stretchy walmart bookcover years ago, and I cut it in quarters and sewed up two sides to make a beanbag. Then of course I went to a teacher’s supply store this morning, and noticed they have beanbags for a buck fifty, which I would gladly pay since I suck at sewing. They were solid primary colors, so you could add colors to the game like that. Cut out some construction color shapes, tape them to the floor, throw the red beanbag to the red square…. Anyway, after the beanbag began repeatedly ‘accidentally’ sailing under the couch, I switched gears again to the most successful game. I got a firetruck out and said “Oh my goodness, there’s a fire on the letter F!” I suggested he get his police car and we would go put out the fire. That was a big hit. May I suggest knee pads?? lol But we crawled around on the floor putting out fires. He caught on really quick so I let him take the lead, and I just followed, adding to the sound effects. We got to the letter D and his boltswagen (yes I do know how to spell Volkswagen) happened to be sitting there. His police car drove up to the boltswagen and said “you see a fire?” “No” the boltswagen shook back and forth. “No fire here Mommy!” Caleb said. It is so cute when they start pretending like that, and making toys talk!

 

Another masking tape floor one that might be cute for those mini car enthusiasts: make a tape town with some roads and or parking lots, etc. It can be well worth the wasted tape on a rainy day. And just think, peeling it up creates a whole new game. You know kids love tape! PS As you can see, I used blue painters tape, as we’ve been known to paint a room or two (or two apartments and half a house). Use whatever provides the most contrast with your floor color while still peeling up easily without leaving sticky residue.

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38 things meme

Oct 24

Posted by: Scott in: blog, games, me myself and i

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Caleb
2. What were you doing at 0800? Just waking up!
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? looking for a Christmas gift on ebay
4. What happened to you in 2006?
5. What was the last thing you said out loud? “I love you bud”
6. How many beverages did you have today? a mountain dew
7. What color is your hairbrush? black
8. What was the last thing you paid for? the phone, satellite and electric bills online
9. Where were you last night? At home with my family
10. What color is your front door? white
11. Where do you keep your change? in a blue flowerpot on top of the TV cabinet
12. What’s the weather like today? IT IS RAINING!  (We’re 14 inches down for the year, and it hasn’t rained in months!)
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Anything with chocolate and peanut butter
14. What excites you? Experiecing Christmas now that Caleb is 2.5
15. Do you want to cut your hair? So bad, I’ve thought about trying MamaLee’s method!
16. Are you over the age of 25? I am 25
17. Do you talk a lot? Sometimes, yes.
18. Do you watch the O.C.? No. I’ve never watched it.
19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Too many
20. Do you make up your own words? Yep.
21. Are you a jealous person? no.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Amber
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Kelly   How ironic, this asks for two of my best friends!  I would have had a harder time, had they been any other letters than ‘L’!
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Scott
25. What does the last text message you received say? “Please call me” from Scott when I was in Georgia, and left my phone shoved in my purse all day
26. Do you chew on your straw? Nope.
27. Do you have curly hair? Stick straight.
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? The grocery store to fulfill a craving
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Probably my mother. Sigh. -Ditto MamaLee
30. What was the last thing you ate? Pizza with the kiddo and the hubby.
31. Will you get married in the future? We’ll get around to it eventually.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? Can I list the most irritating instead?  Because if I see Cliford’s Big Adventure one more time, I’m gonna go nuts!  “Mommy I wanna watch big red dog!
33. Is there anyone you like right now? Of course! My family and friends!
34. When was the last time you did the dishes? um.  I don’t do dishes.  If it can’t go in the dishwasher, I don’t buy it!  I would rather vacuum and fold laundry non stop for 24 hours than do dishes.
35. Are you currently depressed? Sometimes.  A lovely gift that runs in the family.
36. Did you cry today? No.
37. Why did you answer and post this? Because I actually like doing these.  As long as it isn’t 101 things about me…because I’ve been trying to do that for 6 months.
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.  Egh.  Do it if ya want.  :)

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which way is she spinning?

Oct 13

Posted by: Scott in: blog, games

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

Read more…

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middle name meme

Oct 11

Posted by: Scott in: blog, games, me myself and i, ramblings

You have to post these rules before you give the facts.-You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name.

-If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
-At the end of your post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag…… Got it? Good!

Alright, my middle name is….Rachel (ah-ha, you thought you were going to learn something new didn’t you!)

R – Relaxed – As long as I’m not over reacting to some unexpected, yet mundane detail, I’m am pretty laid back.

A – Artistic – I could and sometimes do spend my days doing cutesy craft projects and taking photographs. My eyes glaze over in Michael’s and Martha Stewart Online.

C – Cautious – I don’t like to make hasty decisions, I would rather mull them over for a few minutes or months. I worry about Caleb falling down or getting hurt. I worry to an OCD point about carseat safety. Where one person might see canned soup, I see a projectile!

H – Honest – Most of the time anyway ;)

E – Emotional – It has come to my attention when attending a funeral recently, I tend to be the one crying. I get upset easily I suppose.

L – Listener – Or so I’ve been told, I’m a good listener. Need an ear? I’m here.

Now I get to tag 6 victims bloggers!

Rachel (SJ), Ana, Chris, Heather, Elle, Lauren, participate at your discretion ;)

PS If you suddenly find yourself a very boring person once you try to do this (I know I did), or maybe you just have a long middle name, HERE is a list of personality components (scroll down a good bit).

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