My String Present

I got that certain something I wanted! My sister and mom found one super cheap on Craigslist. Scott was against buying one because it was too big, which is funny really, because I'm always the one telling him he can't buy something for the kids because it's too big. Silly got the easel that hangs on it for his string present, which he was not at all happy with at first. He saw it and just walked away saying "Why did I get something I don't even want?" But then after I followed my string (which, by the way, was the longest, most complicated string present ever, going under just about every leg of furniture in my brother's house then all the way across to my parents' house where my dad had parked over top of it) and found the learning tower, I told him his easel fit on my tower. He suddenly thought his easel was super cool and now refers to the learning tower as his art studio.

So, to explain the puppet thing; there is a kit you can buy for the learning tower so you can use it as a puppet theatre, drive-thru or lemonade stand but all the reviews I read said it was pretty crummy. Well, my mom made me an awesome puppet theatre/lemonade stand curtain (if you look closely you can see the lemon print on the other side of the curtain). She even sewed a ribbon into it so you can draw the curtain back. How cool is that? Now I not only have something multi-functional, which I love, I also have the coolest little curtain ever. She even made backdrops! You know you wish my mom was your mom.

The first day we were home from all our Christmas fun, I think Bubba hardly left the tower. He can color with chalk (or dry erase markers, as soon as I find some of those washable ones).



He can help with the dishes



And even turn the water on by himself





When we ate dinner that night he briefly sat in his seat, then went right back to his tower to wave at the rest of us and say, "heh-woh."

Hanging out before church

Even Cakes likes it.

I told my sister she revolutionized my kitchen life. Now the boys can help me without falling off barstools and it's much easier to keep them where they need to be if they want to help me in the kitchen (which they always want to do). I have an eye out for a pint-sized apron with sleeves so Bubba doesn't get soaked when he helps with the dishes. It is big, but worth it!

The other cool thing my sister gave me was the Power Tunes book! We had these cheesy videos with stories of famous Americans, each teaching a different value and each with it's own song. Some of those songs we still sing. She found the book on Amazon and we sang all the songs we could remember while we sat around at mom's house. I asked her if the fact that we remembered so much made her investment at least 20 years ago worth it. :-) Then I went and found the MP3s of all the songs at ldsaudio.com. I haven't put them on a CD yet, but I will! And then I can sing all the corny songs to my kids and fill in the blanks for the parts I forgot.