Today we read some Jenny Linsky stories. Jeny Linsky is a cat. She lives with Captain Tinker, she always wears her red scarf and she can ice skate. She can be found in a marvelous series of stories by Esther Averill. The kiddos and I were reading some this afternoon. When we were done the boys wandered away and the Princess claimed ownership of the book.

She read it on her own for a while, then began reading out loud to me.

Here is her version of the story:

“Cat outside. All snowy. It so cold, time come inside. Kitty so happy to see me.” (this series of events was repeated for a while).

They are really great books, especially for cat lovers like Speedy. There are tons of them , including an I Can Read book called The Fire Cat. We love Jenny around here, I am eagerly awaiting the requests for matching red scarves, just like Jenny’s.

I’m just glad someone is thinking about the children. Any idea what the compressed air is for?

I think it fell out after 20 seconds, but here is the proof.

The last snowman:

And yes, that is a hand knit hat the snowman is wearing.

Good-bye Winter!

I just saw these Chalkals chalk board murals at Little Birdie Secrets and had to share. Aren’t they the coolest chalkboard murals ever? I mean, if you had ever seen any other chalk board murals, I am sure these would be cooler than those other ones. Or something.

The aliens seen above are my favorite. (I realize that this is a bit of a digression, but you know how when kids are around 1 and a half or so and you start playing the “what does a cow say? what does a cat say?” game? I have a friend who has taught all my children to respond to “what does an alien say?” with “take me to your leader!”)

Nothing on TV? Draw your own!

Have a tiny rock star? This drum set is bound to be much quieter than the loud kind.

Dontcha just love this big fella?

There is much more cuteness, but I think the aliens win.

We have one Dinosour sticker mosaic set and one Dragon sticker mosaic set.

They’re really not good for toddlers, as the Princess really just can’t figure them out at all, but the boys seem right about the perfect age for them.

Think paint by numbers, but without paints and all the mess.  They each come with 4 picture plates and a lots of pads of little square raised stickers, 10 different types in all which are numbered to tell you which ones go on which spots on the pictures.

Speedy has been doing the dragon stickers and Rainbow the dinosaur stickers.  The Princess has so far been content to stick and unstick the same four little squares onto the box and instruction sheets over and over again, which helps.

We pulled them out again on Monday when we had the last (hopefully) school snow day of the year.  Snow days are great, but not so much fun when they turn to rain in the middle and ruin the outdoor fun!

We are delighted by this well designed toy, I recommend it to anyone with a little one who loves babies. I think it will be great to have on our next car trip. Here are some of their other beautiful color choices!

First off, no, there has not been a recall of any Bakugan toys that we are aware of.  We checked the CSPC recall site and the Spin Master site and nothing has been recalled from the Bakugan line.  Of course, Spin Master were the fine people behind the great Aqua Dot recall of 2007, but their Bakugan line has been rock solid.

Note, Bakugan Toys are NOT intended for children under 3 year of age in any way shape or form!  The Series 1 Bakugan Battle Brawlers are pretty much exactly toddler throat sized.  The Series 2 Bakugan are larger making them much harder to swallow, which likely had a great deal to do with the redesign.  They are clearly marked as not for young children on the box.  I would strongly suggest extreme Bakugan Battle Brawler control measures if you have a child under 3 in your household, including avoiding them altogether.

Bakugan Toys Fever Strikes Fast.

So no, your local store shelves are not empty because of a Bakugan recall.  They are empty due to the Bakugan Toy Fever gripping your area.

It happens every day, in cities and towns all over the country,  what we like to call “Bakugan Toys Fever” sweeps through like the flu.  All it takes is one kid who goes to visit a far off cousin or friend who has been exposed.  Unlike the flu, this fever is contagious for long long long after the major symptoms are gone.  Here is how it works:

• Travelling pre-tween boy (or girl for that matter) is exposed to Bakugan toys by a friend.  Lets call him Jacob since it’s the #1 boys name in the US, from 1999 to the present.  Bakugan seems to be mainly a 6-10 year old phenomonon.
  
• Jacob returns home and begs his parents to get him some Bakugan.  They go down to their local Target or ToysRUs and buy a Bakugan Battle Pack or Bakugan Starter pack.
• Jacob then exposes 10 friends at school to Bakugan, they beg their parents for Bakugan who go down to the local store and buy more Bakugan.
• Those 10 friends expose another 10 friends, and suddenly in the space of a few days there are hundreds of tween kids in an area whose parents are hunting for Bakugan toys.
• Since most stores only carry around 10-20 Bakugan Battle Packs or Bakugan Starter Packs at any one time, the store shelves look like this:

My Local Store Is Sold Out!

Your best bet for finding Bakugan in stock at a good price continues to be at Amazon.  At least until they’ve run through all the overstock they appear to have recieved the week before Christmas.

• The Bakugan Battle Pack is $25.99, and it qualifies for Amazon’s free shipping.   This is all you need for two people to play Bakugan.
• The Bakugan Starter Pack is on sale for $9.95, well below the MSRP and ToysRUs price of $13.99.  You need at least two of these to play.
• The single Bakugan Booster Packs are $5.71.

I made the pink lady cake with raspberry puree instead of strawberry, since darling Remo is allergic. The seed straining was a bummer, but it was yummy and quite pink, no food coloring required.

The icebox cake can’t properly be called a cake since there was no actual baking involved. It is layer upon layer of store bought chocolate wafers and yummy delicious whipped cream. It sits over night and the wafers get soft and the whole thing tasted like a big mushy Oreo, but better because it tastes like real cream instead of the hydrogenated Oreo filling.

Happy Birthday Princess!