Surprise inspiration..

We don't have cable. Which makes it really fun when the "Dish People" call and say, "We can save you so much money on your cable bills" and I can say "No you can't.". I just hoot with laughter.

Because we don't have cable, we made the choice to buy videos and DVD's. We had a complete set of Veggie Tales and Blues Clues when M & G were younger. Now we have Kim Possible and BackYardigans and ...well... many more.

It helps pass the boring time when we don't want to read or watch football. A side note: The kids are convinced the Professor likes football because he watches it all the time. He doesn't particularly care for it one way or the other - he just watches it when nothing else is on.

Hence the videos.

We've acquired many. We've out grown many. I've gotten choosy which is a good thing.

Because our library has grown, The Professor and I were going through our Videos. I threw out some VHS tapes that I haven't watched in over 10 years and he threw out a few movies that he deemed were mediocre.

In the mix, he stumbled across a video simply marked "The Three Musketeers". I said, "Ooo, is that the one with Erroll Flynn in it? The kids might like that." Knowing the Professor, though, it might have been the Disney Version with Chris O'Donnell.

So we put it in and pushed play.

The Credits started to play...
Lana Turner...
GENE KELLY!

The Professor had a copy of Gene Kelly's version of "The Three Musketeers"!! My mouth fell agape and he just shrugged.

The professor tends to avoid most farce movies so I was surprised that he had this in his video library. (Our videos have always been a Yours, mine and Ours kind of thing. It gives us plausible deniability. For instance, I refuse to claim some of his movies as mine. He refuses to claim some of mine.)

So we put Gene Kelly in the tape player and let it play. I never thought they'd watch the entire thing...I was wrong.

G-man asked to watch it the next day. So we put it in.

Somewhere in the middle of the film he said, with a bit of awe in his voice, he said, "Can I pretend to be a musketeer?"

My reply was: "Of course, you can. Go for it."

I no longer have 2 batmen or Bible Men or Supermen...I now have a Batman and a Musketeer.

It's just too much fun!!

Muppet Fans...

I remember the Muppet Show vaguely from it's original run on TV. When I started seeing the DVD set in stores and at Amazon, I just grinned. I wondered if the kids would like it. The Professor wasn't sure that they'd understand some of the humor. I was quick to point out that was fine -- the humor was for us, anyway.

For Christmas, The Professor's sister and family gave us a DVD of the first season. We put J-man's name on it for Christmas and he was thrilled to open it. But the first viewing was a flop. Of course, there was Christmas happening. They couldn't be bothered with the finer points of Muppet humor. Especially when there's a Polly Pocket Jumbo Jet and a Pirate ship to assemble and explore.

The Professor put it back in the DVD player another time that day and pretty soon the room was filled with chuckles and out right laughter from all 4 kids. Granted, Mini-e was laughing because the others were, but the big kids all saw something funny in each skit.

So, now, the Laundry Pile is filled with Muppetisms, Fozzy Bear jokes and puns. How many 3.5 year olds can identify the "Great Gonzo"?

It brought great chuckles to my hear to hear them laugh.
And of course, I had to sing along...



but THIS is their favorite so far:



To hear them go around saying Hugga Wugga and hearing J-man sing "nunshine you're my nunshine" just makes me happy.

I'm already anxious to buy season 2.

Oh, Christmas!

You know...if you say that ("O, Christmas") with the right tone of voice and inflection - you'd sound like you were swearing.

I've been wondering what to blog about since Christmas is long gone and I've been sharing a computer with Webkinz and a computer playing hubby. So I've been focusing on other things...but today I had a moment and thought I'd peek my head out of the laundry pile and let you know that I'm still here.

Busy...but here.

Our Christmas was good. I have to admit that I had the most difficult time shopping this year. As I'd walk around and look at things, it just looked like STUFF to me. Stuff to store, stuff to clean up, stuff to protect from little fingers -- just stuff.

I wandered and wandered and at first all my shopping looked like it was going to be fruitless. But then I found G-man's gifts. He got a bunch of Playmobil pirate stuff. And should he ever get anymore, we'll assemble it the NIGHT Before. Not in the chaos of the morning.

I think finding his stuff broke off the blockage that was keeping inspiration at bay.

Then Came Christmas morning.
Mini-Me was happy. G-man was happy. But if J & Mini-E could have had a christmas gift swap they would have.
I bought him wooden blocks - She loved them.
I bought her giant legos (because she likes stacking them) - He liked them.
Grandma bought him a VSmile Pocket - She liked it more.
It was just kind of crazy. Are 2 year olds too young for gift cards??
How about near 4 year olds?

So now Christmas has been gone for a while and the "stuff" is secured among the rest of the stuff - and the Laundry Pile is as back to normal as we get. :-) Just in time for Mini-E to officially turn 2. Valentine's day.

Bring it.

The Song of a Two Year old...

"Minkle Minkle li'l 'tar"

It's 2008?

Happy New Year!!
I love New Year day. It's fun to think that the new year is much like a clean slate, an untouched canvas that needs to receive paint!

I haven't blogged about our Christmas, yet, because I've not had time..

I've had to ... *gasp* ... share the computer!!
For Christmas, Mini-Me and G-man both received Webkinz as a gift from an aunt and uncle.
We have a very cute panda and a black kitty that looks like our real-life cat, Maggie. So they have been playing Webkinz World and having fun.

The Professor also got a new game for Christmas - so he's been playing on the computer instead of the PlayStation.

Mini-Me also got "ZooTycoon - the Complete Set" and here is also where my computer time-share has occured. It's got 3 of us hooked but I was really surprised that the game hooked the Professor. He's been playing the "beginner" scenarios so that he can unlock the "Intermediate" scenarios. It's quite a hoot to watch his zoos make money. Mini-Me's favorite is the "Kids" game...she can't run out of money.

I'm still trying to figure out how I can put two animals in the exhibit or tank all at once and they suddenly have a kid. I guess I'm glad that there isn't much more realism. Though, my kids got quite a thrill the day I accidentally snagged 2 zoo guests with a shark tank - - and only saved one of them. Oddly, the happiness of the other zoo guests never wavered.

All in all, we had a good Christmas - and I can't wait to tell you about it - but there are zoo animals that must be fed and Webkinz that need clothes.

Happy New Year!!!