Best Night Light Ever!

My son is afraid of the dark. At least he says he is. I suspect he says that just to get us to stay with him while he falls asleep. We don't mind. I figure that he will only want us to care for him like this for a short time longer. At some point he will outgrow it and I will take my cuddles where I can get them.

However, I saw this tap light the other day and thought it might make a good nightlight for his room. It is the Ge 17457 Twinkle Star Tap Light.  The cool thing about this is you tap it on and it stays on for about 30 minutes then shuts itself off. So I don't have to sneak back in and turn off his lights.

The other super cool thing is that it projects a nice light blue set of stars and crescent moon onto the ceiling and honestly, it's really cool to look at. This projection covers the entire ceiling which is also nice. Every time we turn it on, we remark how cool it is and how this is the best night light ever.

So, if you are in the market for a night light, this one is really very cool. Enjoy.

Hancock House Rules Candy Land

Candy Land doesn't
have  to be boring

My son made up new rules for Candy Land today and I like them better than the traditional rules so I am sharing them here. The new game play is faster, more competitive and actually quite fun as it does involve some strategy. So, if you kind of sort of like Candy Land, but would like it to be more challenging with an opportunity for some trash talking along the way, consider playing it our way.

First - deal 10 cards to each player. Players can play their cards in any order and in any combination on a single turn, providing that they stick to a single color. So, if you have 3 orange cards, 1 double and two singles, you can go forward either 1, 2, 3 or 4 oranges depending on how which cards you play. You do not have to play all the cards of a single color at the same time if playing a smaller set would allow you to take a rainbow bridge for instance. You can not mix colors on a turn.

As for the character cards - you can play those to either move yourself forward or to send someone else back. Playing a character card counts as your turn even if you used it to send someone back.

When the first person is out of cards, deal another round of cards and continue playing until someone wins.

Best Game Ever!!! - Doggie Doo

My son was given a gift card for xmas and when given the chance to spend it, he bought Doggie Doo.  This is a game where you feed a dog and then it poops and you have to scoop up the poop and whoever gets the most poop wins.

Now. I know what you're thinking. This is the stupidest game concept ever.  Who on earth would want to play that?  Aside from a 6 yr old boy that is.  Well, it turns out - this game is AWESOME!  And I'm not just saying that.

The food is basically Flarp! (the exclamation point is part of the name of the toy).  For those of you who don't have kids, Flarp! is a noise putty.  It makes farting sounds when you stick your fingers in it.  Which, as ever mom of a little boy knows is high humor.

Anyway, you stick the Flarp! into the dog and then suction it out his rear using an air pump.  As the Flarp! moves through your dog it makes the most disgusting sounds.  It is impossible not to laugh while playing this game. When the flarp emerges from the dogs posterior, it can flop out or fly out depending on how much air it has behind it. It never seems to come out the same way twice. But it is always entertaining when it does.

Long story short, this is a REALLY fun and easy game to play and will have you doubled over in laughter while playing it.  I highly recommend it.

Sphinx puzzler

My son insisted I get him this model when he was about 4 1/2. He was going through an Egyptian phase. He of course, didn't put it together. I did. However, It turns out to be a lot of fun. As I had never done one before it took a little bit of time to figure out the instructions, but once I did it went together well. We opted to glue it and my son has played with it happily ever since. And yes, it's a model, but that's just how he roles. To him, it's a toy.

For parents with geek kids into Egypt - go ahead - enjoy yourself. As far as these 3d models go, this is apparently a fairly easy one to figure out.

Battle Ships

My son was given a couple of toy battle ships for his birthday. They are wonderful. The first was the Mighty Mac 31 inch aircraft carrier. It's neat. It has several planes, a storage area so nothing get's lost, lights, a variety of sounds and a launching mechanism.  He loves it.

The 2nd ship is a 30 inch battle ship. It has turrets that spin and everything is easily taken off and put back on again, which is good because these ships get blown up/sunk a lot and everyone knows that if you blow up a battle ship all the turrets are blown off it as well.  This ship came with 3 planes, a helicopter, tank and jeep. The extras are all diecast and quite nice. Again, there is a nice little slide out area to store all the extras.


Both toys say they are for ages 3 and up, but my 6 yr old loves them.

My only complaint as a parent is that they are 30 ish inches long. Which is great for my son and actually a good fun size to play with. But for me as the mom, where the heck can I store them out of the way when he isn't playing with them?  I haven't sorted that out yet. Still, my son likes them so that has to count for something. 

Dr Dreadful is wonderful

Bought this for my son's 6th birthday. It's kind of like an easy bake oven for boys but without the oven. He really likes it.  My main concern prior to purchase was that there wouldn't be enough of the mixes to make more then one or two things. Turns out there are plenty of the mixes so that you won't have to buy refills for a long time.  All the portions are really nice as well.

Long story short: It is simple, easy to use, easy to clean, super gross and actually, quite tasty.

My other concern was that we wouldn't be able to use this for anything but the official zombie brain and barf concoctions. However, you can use this for a variety of things. Yesterday my son was mixing a saltwater flour concoction in the brain. He really likes measuring and stirring and mixing and creating. If you have a little mad scientist, this is actually quite a nice toy.  Just be warned, zombie barf is a lot like drinking snot - tasty snot, but still, the consistency of snot.