Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List and Giveaway

The holiday season is definitely upon us - everywhere I go, there are displays of toys screaming for attention!  In the midst of all of them, though, certain brands stand out - and Melissa & Doug is definitely near the top of my list!  They have a collection of awesome, unique toys that are sure to bring smiles this Christmas.  If you're trying to decide what might be the perfect gift for the little one in your life, make sure you check out the new Terrific Twenty List from Melissa & Doug!

And if you love what you see, you can head over to the Melissa & Doug Facebook page for a chance to win one of the Terrific Twenty toys every single day!

Hero of Hyrule: Halloween 2012

I'm just a little bit obsessed with costumes and Halloween provides the perfect excuse to show off the fun things I have collected over the years.

It's also pretty realistic that I never have all the right pieces on hand and will inevitably stay up until 1am the night before, desperately sewing hats and pillow shields so that everything is perfect.  Even when I am 35 weeks pregnant and already exhausted.

This year, I was really torn about what to do for costumes.  I enjoy coming up with a costume theme for the whole family and forcing encouraging Andrew to join in.  Last year, we were Mario, Princess Peach, and Toad - and the year before, the Scooby gang.  I really wanted to follow up this year with something super fun since this could be the only time I have a super pregnant belly at Halloween.  But the exhaustion was just too much and my brain could only do so much.  So the kiddo was the star of our night - and that's totally fine.

When I asked Lincoln's daddy what his costume should be, one of the first suggestions was Link.  If you're not familiar - yes, it's another Nintendo character.  Specifically, he's the hero of the land of Hyrule, from The Legend of Zelda.

The costume was put together from several sources.  The main portion (shirt, pants, boot covers, tiny sword) is a re-designed Disney costume I picked up at a garage sale this summer. The hat I made using a tutorial I found here.

I feel that I would not be portraying the character 100% correctly unless I inform you that Link is a left-handed character.  Daddy (who is a leftie) was pleased that the sword ended up in Lincoln's left hand most of the time.

The last piece of the costume?  A shield - in pillow form, because that's just fun - featuring the Triforce and some other Hylian symbols.  This was a joint effort by Daddy and myself, and yes - we were both up until 1am Halloween morning.  I will be writing a tutorial soon!

Lincoln really doesn't eat candy, so we didn't bother trick-or-trunk-or-treating.  We did, however, go on a small tour to visit all the grandparents!  Managed to trick Lincoln into a family photo by letting him hold a flashlight.  Please ignore my pasty-exhausted-sickly-35-week-pregnant-face.

Taking a quick ride on Grandma and Grandpa's faithful steed, Candy.  This is probably the only photo of him willingly holding the shield!

Here's a somewhat blurry cell phone photo of my pillow creation.  I was pretty excited about how it turned out...especially considering how little time I left myself to invest in it!  As I said - tutorial coming soon!


I'm linking up with Growing Up Geeky and Moments That Take My Breath Away for Toddle Along Tuesday! What did your kids dress as this Halloween?  I love seeing costume photos!'

Disney's Wreck-It Ralph - Now in Theatres! {Review}

 Every now and then, a movie comes along and you just know you are going to enjoy it. 

This was the case for us (hubby especially) when we heard about Disney's new film, Wreck-It Ralph, now playing in theatres.  We were able to catch an early screening of the film (which doubbled as a last date pre-baby) - and it was so much fun! 

Here's a little bit about the story, and what we thought.

Ralph feels dissatisfied with his job. All day long he wrecks an apartment building while his coworker, Felix, fixes it back up. When Felix fixes the whole building, the joyous tenants throw Ralph off the top of the building into the mud below. Then someone enters another quarter and it all starts again. The job wouldn’t be so bad, except the other characters treat Ralph like a bad guy off hours as well. Ralph goes to a villain support group with other villains including Bowser (Super Mario Bros), Dr. Robotnik (Sonic the Hedgehog), Zangief and M. Bison (Street Fighter II), and a ghost from Pac-Man. (hubby insisted that we include all of these names.  I recognized a couple of the bad guys.  He apparently knew them all.)

Despite his attendance at the support group and his attempts to spend time with his Fix-It Felix coworkers, Ralph still isn’t satisfied. He jumps games to Hero’s Duty (think Call of Duty) to win a hero’s medal - but ends up in Sugar Rush, a racing video game where he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, a little girl glitch who wants to be a real racer. Meanwhile, Felix goes in search of Ralph so that their game won’t go “out of order,” and makes an unlikely ally with Sergeant Tamora Calhoun from Hero’s Duty. Together, they have to find Ralph to save Fix-It Felix - but Ralph is in no hurry to be found as has to help Vanellope so she can become a real game character. This is an action-packed, fun-filled movie.

There are a lot of great points about the movie. The animation is wonderful and the characters are about as varied as the games they represent.  Also, if you are familiar with the voice actors, some of them look an awful lot like their characters. There are a lot of really creative locations in the story. The primary game worlds represented are Fix-It Felix, which seems like a combination of the original Donkey Kong games and the Rampage series. Hero’s Duty is filled with giants insects and soldiers with guns - while Sugar Rush is like a Candyland version of Mariokart. I thought the most fascinating location was Game Central Station (get it? Like Grand Central Station). It is located in the power strip all of the games are plugged into. If you watch closely you’ll see several cameos of other video game characters.

Things parents might like to know ahead of time – there is a good bit of potty humor, mostly gas jokes and name-calling. I think my biggest concern about taking children to Wreck-It Ralph is the Hero’s Duty game. It is very intense with a lot of killing of giant bugs - and they are especially huge on a movie-theatre size screen with 3D. There is also a scene at the very end where a character dies, which I thought was a bit graphic for a PG movie. It certainly isn’t R-rated violent, but it could disturb some younger viewers.

Overall, we really enjoyed Wreck-It Ralph. Hubby says that the gamers might not get as many cameos as they wish, but will still find it really enjoyable.  Wreck-It Ralph is rated PG and is now playing in theatres!

Have you seen it yet?  What did you think? 

For more fun, hop over and grab these fun activity sheets - you can download and print them for your kids to enjoy!

Wreck-It Ralph Coloring Page
Ralph Color By Number
Vanellope Color By Number

 To keep up with all the latest news, make sure you "like" Wreck-It Ralph on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and visit the official movie site.

Thanks to Walt Disney Pictures for providing my tickets to the screening of Cars 2.  I received no other compensation and all views expressed are entirely my own.

Thanks, My Kansas City Mommy! http://www.mykansascitymommy.com/2011/06/cars-2-review-espionage-adventure.html#ixzz2DOPvA8lU
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

 Thanks to Walt Disney Pictures for providing my tickets to the screening of Wreck-It Ralph.  I received no other compensation and all views expressed are my own.  For more info, you can read my Disclosure Policy.

Thanks, My Kansas City Mommy! http://www.mykansascitymommy.com/2011/06/cars-2-review-espionage-adventure.html#ixzz2DOPvA8lU
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Thanks to Walt Disney Pictures for providing my tickets to the screening of Cars 2.  I received no other compensation and all views expressed are entirely my own.

Thanks, My Kansas City Mommy! http://www.mykansascitymommy.com/2011/06/cars-2-review-espionage-adventure.html#ixzz2DOPvA8lU
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Baby Bump: Week 36

How far along?  36 weeks today!

Weight gain/loss: I've gained 43ish pounds. Lovely, right?  Still looks like it's mostly baby so I'm trying not to stress about it. :)

Feeling: I don't think anyone wants to hear how I am feeling, honestly.  I'm tired, grouchy, achy, and whiny (ask my poor husband, that's the mild version).  I'm encouraged that it is November though, so I know I will get to meet Adelaide soon.  I've never been super fabulous with patience.

Maternity clothes?  Yes.  The black shirt I am wearing in this week's photo, I just discovered in my closet.  Totally forgot I had it.  I have worn it five days this week, not kidding.

Sleep: Nonexistent.  Last night I had six pillows surrounding me and still could not get comfortable.  At least Lincoln is (mostly) sleeping through the night now.

Food cravings: Everything tastes terrible.  Don't really want to eat anything, but know I have to keep feeding baby.  So I'm trying.

Gender: Sweet, sweet baby girl. 
 

Movement?  She found my ribs yesterday.  Delightful feeling, that.

What I miss? So many things I can't even begin to describe them all.

Best moment this week: Making accessories for Lincoln's Halloween costume, maybe?  Even though I was up until 1am, it was pretty much the last thing left on my to-do list that I actually have to finish before Addie comes.  So I guess it counts.

What I'm looking forward to:  Sleeping on my stomach.  Eating food that tastes normal.  Oh, so many things.  Oh - and reaching full term next week!

Next Appointment: November 8 at 36 weeks, 6 days.

Pumpkin Patch Fun 2012

I really wanted to take Lincoln to the pumpkin patch this fall. We visited last year (photo here) and while it was fun - he was not walking yet, and really wasn't able to enjoy all the things offered. So this year, we took advantage of a weekend afternoon with Daddy and headed out to Shucks Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch to have an adventure with pumpkins, a hay jump, animals, barrel trains, and more. What better entertainment for a little boy?

Warning: this is a super photo-heavy post.  I took 150 photos in the two hours we were there.  Only like 14 of them are here.  Don't judge, okay?

We happened to catch the hay jump at a moment when no one else was climbing it!  This was awesome for our little toddler, since he of course wanted to climb it all by himself (which meant Daddy was close behind).  The view from the top was obviously pretty neat.

Okay - the truth is, from atop the hay, Lincoln could see the barrel train racing around the patch.  You remember his obsession with things that move?  The whole time we were there, he pointed at this, yelling "Truh!! Truh! Truh! Truh!!!" 

Look at my big boy!

The hay stack entertained him for quite awhile, but eventually we grew tired of climbing around after him and strongly encouraged him to find another variation of fun to try.

He was bummed at first, but one glimpse of the barrel train sent him running across the field with great happiness.

And then we got to the train and realized that it was waaay too bumpy for a super pregnant mommy, and probably a bit small for an over 6' tall daddy.  The train took off without Lincoln.  He was pretty well devastated.  Thankfully when it came back, we were able to snag him a ride with a young friend of ours (her family owns the pumpkin patch).

We look tired.

I wish I had a photo of the look on his face while he was riding!  He seemed pretty worried about the experience, but when he got back he definitely did not want to get out, so I'd say it was a success. 

Does he even realize how cute he is?  I think not.

We ventured out to see all of the different animals.  This was the only chance I had to snag a photo, he ran back and forth between the ponies and pigs so quickly that Daddy had to run to keep up with him!  But occasionally he does sit still, as this photo attests.

Mommy, Lincoln, and pumpkin-sized Adelaide!

After all of the running and playing, we stopped to browse the pumpkins for the perfect one.  Lincoln mostly wanted to drag them all onto the ground, but we tricked him into posing for a few photos.

This lasted approximately 1.3 seconds.

Hey Mom!  I think we found it!

Overall - we had a blast, but everyone was exhausted by the time we were done.  Well, everyone except Lincoln.  He had to be wrestled into the carseat.  I guess he doesn't understand why we would ever take him away from this super fun place!

Shucks is closed for the season, but if you're in the KC area and looking for a great family pumpkin patch and corn maze experience next year, I highly recommend them!  Tell them I sent you!

Did you visit a pumpkin patch with your little ones this year?