Just watched recently with the kids: Alvin and the Chipmunks and Underdog, both were funner than expected and I might possibly even watch the Underdog one again since I really love that guy who plays the sidekick. He is also the sidekick in The Emperor's New Groove. When I first heard his voice (Patrick Warburton, as Kronk) I thought it was surely made up, but apparently he really does talk like that...
Well James really sped through those Wimpy Kid books, but now the reading has sort of petered out. I tried asking at the local cool bookstore if they had anything similar, but I guess there probably isn't anything really similar out there. The lady there recommended a series call Hank Zipser (sp?) written by, of all people, the Fonz. That's right, Henry Wrinkler is now penning apparently pretty good books for kids, mostly for boys.
Without any illustrations to speak of other than the cover art, James couldn't get too excited about it - but that's sort of the problem. He kind of needs a book which is at the 4th or 5th grade reading level, but by that point most authors/publishers aren't doing books with lots of illustrations. The wimpy kid books are sort of an exception to this. Please post any suggestions you might have for books for boys ages 8+! :)
Friday, April 18, 2008
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Been busy...just like everyone else.
I've been busy so I haven't been posting at all. That's my mo, however.
Like it or lump it as dad used to say.
I have been pondering my children and their greatness, wondering about sending my second grader to an art enrichment program during the summer. I think he'll definitely enjoy it, the only issue is getting him there and back, but I think I've got that part figured out.
It's 1/2 days for two weeks and I think it will be very inspirational for him, and if not, it will at least be a break from the regular hum drum of the summer.
He is reading like crazy now. It's like some reading spigot just turned on and you can't get him to close the books he likes; he reads while he's walking, etc. My sister said her daughter is that way too. I guess 7.5 years of reading to the boy have paid off, he LOVES reading. It's really great to see. I have found in my life that reading and books are one of my greatest pleasures so I am delighted to see him reading for the pure pleasure of it! I love my friends and family and really pretty well enjoy my work most days, but give me a good book and a few hours and **bliss**.
His latest all-out favorites are the Wimpy Kid books. They incorporate comics as well as text so that's right up his alley.
http://www.wimpykid.com/
Like it or lump it as dad used to say.
I have been pondering my children and their greatness, wondering about sending my second grader to an art enrichment program during the summer. I think he'll definitely enjoy it, the only issue is getting him there and back, but I think I've got that part figured out.
It's 1/2 days for two weeks and I think it will be very inspirational for him, and if not, it will at least be a break from the regular hum drum of the summer.
He is reading like crazy now. It's like some reading spigot just turned on and you can't get him to close the books he likes; he reads while he's walking, etc. My sister said her daughter is that way too. I guess 7.5 years of reading to the boy have paid off, he LOVES reading. It's really great to see. I have found in my life that reading and books are one of my greatest pleasures so I am delighted to see him reading for the pure pleasure of it! I love my friends and family and really pretty well enjoy my work most days, but give me a good book and a few hours and **bliss**.
His latest all-out favorites are the Wimpy Kid books. They incorporate comics as well as text so that's right up his alley.
http://www.wimpykid.com/
Friday, August 31, 2007
Time Flies
Tempus fugit. 'Nuff said.
Here's the fun new thing we found at the Lego store near us:
Jello molds shaped like bricks with studs and everything.
Now that my son is 7, we also really checked out for the first time the buckets of bricks in the back where you can 'pick your own' Lego's like they were blueberries or something. Previously he's mainly been interested in the full blown kits.
Later, my husband said there was one couple there who were filling a $100 bucket by clicking all the bricks together neatly so as to get the most they could into their bucket. Ah, to have that sort of time on your hands.
Now that my son is 7 a lot of things have changed with him. I know you always hear that '7 is the age of reason', but there really does seem to be some threshold he's passed over where there's a bit more suspicion about things like the tooth fairy, Santa, etc. It's sort of bitter-sweet.
He's got an increased interest in questioning just about everything, though, and being able to hold more than a 2 sentence conversation helps him sew all the salient points together much more easily.
I don't know how many times some 'well meaning' mother has wondered casually whether my son might have a hyper activity problem or attention issue. I haven't the slightest idea what would make them think this was fodder for casual conversation anyway, but he's always been great a school (where it counts most) and now finally seems to be coming into his own on all fronts. For others struggling with a 5 or 6 year old who just won't listen, you can feel assured, kids do grow up. I'll sort of miss all the insanity :).
On the other hand I won't miss: taking my son to the pediatrician because he's started to say 'what' even MORE often than usual in response to every question and I'm worried he's got an ear infection or worse. Hearing turns out to be fine (again).
Finally, for the more "sophisticated" folks out there, a new magazine I am enjoying somewhat for it's complete disregard for the idea that anyone might have a budget to stick to, and somewhat because the photos are pretty lush, if ridiculous at times: "GARDEN & GUN".
Seriously. I've been to the Peabody hotel once with the family, it was a blast. There's an article on the duck man and ducks they house there as well as an article on kids and Airguns.
Signing off now, hopefully NOT for another 6 months.
Here's the fun new thing we found at the Lego store near us:
Jello molds shaped like bricks with studs and everything.
Now that my son is 7, we also really checked out for the first time the buckets of bricks in the back where you can 'pick your own' Lego's like they were blueberries or something. Previously he's mainly been interested in the full blown kits.
Later, my husband said there was one couple there who were filling a $100 bucket by clicking all the bricks together neatly so as to get the most they could into their bucket. Ah, to have that sort of time on your hands.
Now that my son is 7 a lot of things have changed with him. I know you always hear that '7 is the age of reason', but there really does seem to be some threshold he's passed over where there's a bit more suspicion about things like the tooth fairy, Santa, etc. It's sort of bitter-sweet.
He's got an increased interest in questioning just about everything, though, and being able to hold more than a 2 sentence conversation helps him sew all the salient points together much more easily.
I don't know how many times some 'well meaning' mother has wondered casually whether my son might have a hyper activity problem or attention issue. I haven't the slightest idea what would make them think this was fodder for casual conversation anyway, but he's always been great a school (where it counts most) and now finally seems to be coming into his own on all fronts. For others struggling with a 5 or 6 year old who just won't listen, you can feel assured, kids do grow up. I'll sort of miss all the insanity :).
On the other hand I won't miss: taking my son to the pediatrician because he's started to say 'what' even MORE often than usual in response to every question and I'm worried he's got an ear infection or worse. Hearing turns out to be fine (again).
Finally, for the more "sophisticated" folks out there, a new magazine I am enjoying somewhat for it's complete disregard for the idea that anyone might have a budget to stick to, and somewhat because the photos are pretty lush, if ridiculous at times: "GARDEN & GUN".
Seriously. I've been to the Peabody hotel once with the family, it was a blast. There's an article on the duck man and ducks they house there as well as an article on kids and Airguns.
Signing off now, hopefully NOT for another 6 months.
Friday, February 16, 2007
One more Lego tidbit
I remembered one more thing I like about the lego site / stuff in general - their video games are really a blast!
We purchased the Star Wars one and are probably going to get the bionicle one that recently came out. I really like that the people look like legos and when someone gets blasted they fall into a million little lego bits. The games are well developed, at least from my limited perspective, and have a lot of levels so kids don't get bored easily.
We purchased the Star Wars one and are probably going to get the bionicle one that recently came out. I really like that the people look like legos and when someone gets blasted they fall into a million little lego bits. The games are well developed, at least from my limited perspective, and have a lot of levels so kids don't get bored easily.
Lego dot com
I can not recommend heartily enough the www.lego.com website for kids. My 6-year old is a lego fan and very into the bionicle series, but any legos will do. We recently discovered that he can set up his own web page on the lego site and he has been really enjoying it.
It is pretty darn easy to set up, and so easy to update he's been editing it himself repeatedly whenever he feels like it! It is free, except for being a lego ad :)
The site allows him to add pictures of creations he comes up with, as long as they involve legos; the even accept drawings of lego characters so he's posted some of those. It has been a real inspiration for him. He has started using some of the character-type kits in unusual ways, going beyond the instruction booklets they come with, which of course is how the original legos were always supposed to be used!
Lastly, although I know this will mainly appeal to boys, there are girl lego products out there: click-its, etc., so some of the girls in your family may be interested in checking this out, too.
It is pretty darn easy to set up, and so easy to update he's been editing it himself repeatedly whenever he feels like it! It is free, except for being a lego ad :)
The site allows him to add pictures of creations he comes up with, as long as they involve legos; the even accept drawings of lego characters so he's posted some of those. It has been a real inspiration for him. He has started using some of the character-type kits in unusual ways, going beyond the instruction booklets they come with, which of course is how the original legos were always supposed to be used!
Lastly, although I know this will mainly appeal to boys, there are girl lego products out there: click-its, etc., so some of the girls in your family may be interested in checking this out, too.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
We have lift-off.
Lo these many months I have searched in vain.
Actually, I finally found what I was looking for: fun stuff for my son's 6th birthday party. As any mother knows, you start with a theme to narrow down what sort of party favors, games, etc., you are going to try to have at a birthday party.
I did not realize that in deciding on a theme of 'robots' that I would be narrowing these down to about 'nil'. For weeks I browsed the web surprised at the lack of robot stuff at the party-type web sites.
It took a while but I finally found the following, for those interested:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/tproll/robot/
This craft was REALLY fun, although it didn't look like much when I first viewed the web page. I think the trick with a group of kids is to have everything ready and multiples of scissors, glue, googley eyes, etc. Also have some extra aluminum & rolls in case someone messes up. Some of the kids made many-eyed and many-legged versions which looked great!
I found silver pipe cleaners that worked well for most robots, but provided a few pink ones for the little girls I knew would be there.
I will try to post a pic of the completed bots in future.
Also: www.robotoys.com rocks for less expensive items including these pop-out and assemble mini robots which make great party favors:
http://www.robotoys.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=1277&sid=8Zh3tD1UtCOC6bo-31106016841.83
There are also larger paper models that could work as gifts for the birthday boy or as prizes during the party.
I found wind-up robots here:
http://www.robotstore.com/store/product.asp?pid=409&catid=1634
The robotstore is a great site. They also have paper models and LOTS of small robot kits starting around twenty bucks; I got my son this wall-hugging mouse robot kit which he really likes -
http://www.robotstore.com/store/product.asp?pid=28&catid=11
It works well, once we cleaned the dust off the baseboard! The instructions are mostly in some asian language (Japanese, I think) the diagrams are good and it took about 1.5 hours to complete, for first-timers (me & my son).
Also on the birthday theme, I was able to come up with some coloring pages of robots and that kept the kids busy during the first few minutes where not too many folks had arrived yet. Finally, for the cake I decided to do cupcakes in silvery-aluminum cup cake liners and topped each one with a small drawing of a robot that I taped onto a colored toothpick. They looked really cute and the kids enjoyed them.
Actually, I finally found what I was looking for: fun stuff for my son's 6th birthday party. As any mother knows, you start with a theme to narrow down what sort of party favors, games, etc., you are going to try to have at a birthday party.
I did not realize that in deciding on a theme of 'robots' that I would be narrowing these down to about 'nil'. For weeks I browsed the web surprised at the lack of robot stuff at the party-type web sites.
It took a while but I finally found the following, for those interested:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/tproll/robot/
This craft was REALLY fun, although it didn't look like much when I first viewed the web page. I think the trick with a group of kids is to have everything ready and multiples of scissors, glue, googley eyes, etc. Also have some extra aluminum & rolls in case someone messes up. Some of the kids made many-eyed and many-legged versions which looked great!
I found silver pipe cleaners that worked well for most robots, but provided a few pink ones for the little girls I knew would be there.
I will try to post a pic of the completed bots in future.
Also: www.robotoys.com rocks for less expensive items including these pop-out and assemble mini robots which make great party favors:
http://www.robotoys.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=1277&sid=8Zh3tD1UtCOC6bo-31106016841.83
There are also larger paper models that could work as gifts for the birthday boy or as prizes during the party.
I found wind-up robots here:
http://www.robotstore.com/store/product.asp?pid=409&catid=1634
The robotstore is a great site. They also have paper models and LOTS of small robot kits starting around twenty bucks; I got my son this wall-hugging mouse robot kit which he really likes -
http://www.robotstore.com/store/product.asp?pid=28&catid=11
It works well, once we cleaned the dust off the baseboard! The instructions are mostly in some asian language (Japanese, I think) the diagrams are good and it took about 1.5 hours to complete, for first-timers (me & my son).
Also on the birthday theme, I was able to come up with some coloring pages of robots and that kept the kids busy during the first few minutes where not too many folks had arrived yet. Finally, for the cake I decided to do cupcakes in silvery-aluminum cup cake liners and topped each one with a small drawing of a robot that I taped onto a colored toothpick. They looked really cute and the kids enjoyed them.
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