K'NEX Are Cool and a Contest!

Last week before we left for the beach we got a package from my friends at Team Mom. The girls had no idea what was in the box. So being the "meanie mom" that I am, I opted to save the new toy unveiling until we got home. My girls are only somewhat interested in blocks and things so I wasn't sure how excited they would be about the K'NEX Bert and Ernie Sesame Street Building Set. I thought it would at least be a good distraction tactic to use during the 'okay, we're home so now what do we do' period.

I'm pleased to report that I grossly underestimated the amount of quiet play time this little set would generate. Normally, toys with millions 43 pieces are not high on my must have products list, but these fabulous sets from K'NEX come packaged in sturdy, cute boxes that can be used to store the millions 43 parts while they are not in use. Which, coincidentally, hasn't been often around here. During all of the indoor playtime the girls have had since we opened the box, at least one, if not all of them, has been playing with it.

Ella can make the Bert and Ernie figures pretty easily. Maggie, Kate, and Sarah don't exactly "get it" yet, but they too love to build random things with the pieces, and they love to have help to make Bert and Ernie.

I am thrilled that Team Mom sent this for us; I will be putting a few more of these on the girls' Christmas lists this year. This is not something I would have ever thought to try out, but it was definitely a hit with the Four Silly Sisters!

Oh, I almost forgot.... I have a K’NEX Sesame Street Canister Building Set to give away to one lucky blog reader. (Not sure which set, but they are all super cute!) So, if you'd like to win one just leave a comment on this post sometime between now and this Thursday morning(10/2) at 10am EST. I'll pick the winner with the old random number generator at www.random.org. Happy Building!

Cabbage Patch Kids 25th Anniversary

This fall, Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Cabbage Patch Kids are hitting the store shelves. These are exact reproductions of the originals that captured the hearts of millions during an unprecedented consumer craze back in 1983. Over 115 million Cabbage Patch Kids have been adopted since then, making Cabbage Patch Kids the best-selling large doll of all time.


When our Limited-Edition Anniversary Cabbage Patch Kid Lou Maria arrived a few weeks ago from the cool folks at Team Mom, the only disappointment in this house was the fact that there was only one of her. All four of the girls were incredibly excited to open the box, check out little Lou's spoon, clothes, birth certificate, and all her goodies. They enjoyed playing with her just as they do all their Cabbage Patch babies. We are no strangers to the Cabbage Patch around here.

I don't have much of a memory left (after having 4 kids in less than 2 years), but one Christmas that I'll never forget Kari and I each got one of the soft -sculptured, signed by Xavier, original babies along with a cradle that dad made and a blanket that mom made. I know that those dolls, Libby and Claire, and their accompaniments were treasures of Kari's and mine for years.... we still have them, in fact!

My mom worked part time from home sewing the hair on the hand-stitched, one-of-a-kind, soft-sculpture babies heads way back then too. She would pick up black garbage bags full of bald baby heads and lots of yarn every couple of weeks and return them with full heads of hair to Original Appalachian Artworks. Random, I know! I also remember feeling like a very cool kid because my aunt Janice moved to NYC to help start up and run the Babyland General Hospital there for a while. So, as you can tell, we have a long, long history with the Cabbage Patch (and I was/am a total dork)!

Along with being able to purchase the originals again at retail stores for the first time since the 80's, the folks who make these special dolls are also encouraging people to post their own Cabbage Patch memories on a new site that launched September 1st. Go to http://www.cabbagepatchkids25.com/ to submit yours. I suspect there will also be a big 25th Anniversary celebration during the Babyland General Fall Festival on the 20th of September. The girls and I are likely to be there...

So what about you guys? Anyone have any great, interesting, or otherwise heartwarming Cabbage Patch Kids stories? Please leave me a comment and share!!

Permission to Brag

I mentioned last night that the folks over at The Parent Bloggers Network have put out a request for all us parents to get out our brag books.... It doesn't take much to make me do that, in fact, that is a lot of what this blog is about! The request comes as part of a promotion for a new book by Jennifer Fox entitled Your Child's Strengths. I haven't read it yet, but the reviews on Amazon look good.


At almost 3 years old, Ella is incredibly loving and kind. She is compassionate about many things... her family, her environment, and her whole world. She takes great care of her three little sisters and also antagonizes them a fair amount. She actually tolerates much more than I would ever think possible for a 2 almost 3 year old. They climb on her, take her things, and have completely altered her once lone existence, and we've truly yet to see the green monster of jealousy from her in any serious respect. She is insightful, adorable, and I could just eat her up!!


Before starting on the little gals, let me say that I sat down just now to try and count up how many words they have and within 2 minutes I had written 60, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. They are all copying everything we say so new words that they actually know and use in "conversation" are popping up daily.

Maggie is our mischievous, little, trouble maker. She is a complete delight. You can see the gleam in her eye when she is about to stir up some trouble. She is just so cute in the way she goes about things. Maggie loves to dance and snap her fingers. She likes to twirl in circles (all these silly girls do). With a grand total of 13.5, she has the most teeth of the 18 month old crew here.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before or not, but I am smitten with Kate and her ability to be completely happy playing in the midst of the group or all by herself. Unless she isn't feeling well, she is content to do her own thing or play with the other girls, but either way she doesn't find it necessary to cling to me all the time...and she smiles all the time. She loves to dress and undress herself. When she is having snuggle time with me one on one, she loves, loves to have her arms and legs tickled. Kari, Adam, and I used to tickle each other when we sat on the couch together so I'm hoping the other girls will enjoy it as much as Kate one of these days. Oh, and Kate has 12 teeth.

Sarah is soooooo talkative. Of all the 60+ words that the girls have, Sarah was the first to use each of them. She is just like a little parrot... nothing is said in her presence that she doesn't try to repeat. She loves to snuggle. Often she'll walk up to me and say, "hold". Her elephant lovey has seen better days, but she loves the stuffing right out of that little thing. Recently, she has started singing Jesus Loves Me to me as I get ready to put her in bed for the night. She loves to wear hats and currently has several that are favorites. Sarah only has 8 teeth still, so we've got a ways to go in the teething department, but thankfully she doesn't usually have a tough time with new ones.


I guess that's it for a quick update on the Four Silly Sisters, and Mama's brag book is officially closed for the day. I will be excited to read the book Your Child's Strengths as we begin to discover each of Ella, Maggie, Kate, and Sarah's.