MOMania

By motherjanegoose

December 26, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We enjoyed having our family here together and played games after opening the gifts and eating our meal together.

Parents, board games are great for interaction, sequencing, logic, team work, classifying, predictability and so many skills that are tied into reading. If you want a strong student play a game together as a family. Take those gift cards and buy games you can sit down and play together!

FYI…we also went to see Marley and me and loved it! Our entire family cried ( along with many of the others attending the showing). We put down our Lab Old Yellar ( who was 14) last Christmas and this story replayed almost exactly our life with him. He was not quite as much as a terror but we saw many incidents ( in the movie) that mirrored our life with him.

If you are not a dog lover, do not bother with the movie…you probably will not enjoy it.

Labradors make wonderful pets and great companions for taking your children outside and for walks at the park. Good exercise too!

My two young adult children have wonderful memories of times they spent with our dogs and our new schnauzer loves my son…she is in his lap right now. She greets him with a wagging tail when he shows up!

By jg

December 26, 2008 12:21 PM | Link to this

My kids are older and are not into pretty much everything……THEREFORE, This Holiday Break my kids will be cleaning their rooms and the kitchen and the bathroom and doing laundry and preparing for next semester at school…Teens and Tweens are so much fun!!!

By new mom

December 26, 2008 2:58 PM | Link to this

Thanks for researching and compiling these ideas, Theresa. They sound like fun! I wish our little one were old enough to do some of these things, but before too long she will be.

Santa brought her a little table and chairs, and along with some other toys, some crayons and coloring books. The table/chairs and crayons and coloring books are definitely her favorites, she is having fun learning how to climb into the chairs (booty-first, not knee first!) and loves the crayons. As much as sand…for those of you who remember our beach stories!

Santa brought the little crayon things that are round critters that hold the crayons, and unfortunately they are dangerous. She’s learned how to throw them, and let’s just say…they hurt when you get beamed in the forehead with one. So I’m not sure how long we’ll use those ‘beginnings’ holder-things, we may just jump to the toddler crayons. I just realized I am rambling…I bet no one really wants to hear all the crayon details :)

MJG, thanks for the advice on games. We got candyland and chutes & ladders for her, even though they are too old for her currently. Walmart had them for $4 & $5 respectively, so I couldn’t pass them up. They will be used soon, I’m sure!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas (and survived!) We have Christmas again tomorrow with my husband’s family…at least those who will make the loooong drive….

By STYLE NETWORK

December 26, 2008 7:32 PM | Link to this

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By JJ

December 29, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this

I saw Marley and Me too. I had read the book, so I knew the story. My mom cried through the entire movie!!!

I have a Marley, a 10 year old Yellow Lab. However, in the movie, I didn’t see as much of MY yellow lab, as I did our puppy, who is a mutt.

Anyway it was a great movie, but a tearjerker. Anyone who has ever had to put down an animal will relate. They really have a place in our hearts.

By motherjanegoose

December 29, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this

JJ…our dog Ole Yellar was a RUNNER! Many times, my husband was running around the neighborhood in his wing tips and tie trying to catch our dog…just like Marley!

We had him neutered and it took about 1 year for him to calm down.

We adopted him from a family in Marietta who could not afford to bail him out from the pound any longer and they had a short fence that he kept jumping. We had a 6 foot fence and he still could get over it.

We had a $1 bounty on his head ( 15 years ago) anytime a kid in the neighborhood saw him and retuned him…they got a $1….no questions asked. My daughter crawled all over him and loved on him every day. She even stuck a coffee stirrer up his nose and said, “Look Mommy…it fits!”. He never flinched. Great memories with that dog!

We miss him and even more so since the movie.

My neighbor has a 7 year old and I am not sure the movie is good for smaller children…they put their previous dog down 2 years ago as he had cancer. Has any one else taken small kids?