What If Grandma Didn't Have a Nose?

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

What If Grandma Didn't Have A Nose? is an adorable children's story written by Annette Toenjes and illustrated by Patrick Bucoy.

This is an adorable children's rhyming book that teaches about body parts.  The book starts out with wondering what would happen if grandma didn't have a nose, would she wear her glass on her toes?  She goes on to lose other body parts such as her neck and her ears and her chine, etc.

The illustrations in the book are well done in a cartoonish style and are inspired by members of Annette's own family.

This book is cute, just long enough to have content, but not too long that my son gets bored with it.  It is a 24 page book with 4 lines of text on one page and an illustration on the next, throughout the entire book.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.  My son Liam absolutely loves it.  He thinks it is fun to read, and he laughs at the different parts of grandma that go missing.  It has excellent re-read value and my son wants to read it all the time.  I highly recommend it for children especially aged 2-7.  It is great for reading to your child and for beginning readers.

*As an added bonus, you do get an audio copy of the book as well with purchase.  

Click to go to the Tate Publishing site.

Penguin Activity Game: DIY Toddler Activity

When I first came across this "Feed the Penguin" game I was so excited to make it!  My son is totally into Penguins, thanks to the Swedish clay-mation show Pingu.  I also loved that you can use the fish for learning.  Since associating letters with words that start with the letter is a lot of fun for Liam (my son) right now, I decided to go with ABCs but you can also use numbers or shapes or words or pictures or whatever you can possibly come up with.  Admittedly, this activity did require a bit more parental help than some of the other projects that we have done, but my son was still able to be a constant part of the process and he has had SO much fun with the actual finished product.  I hope that you can enjoy it as much as we have so far!

Supplies:
Cardboard Box (about Graham Cracker box sized)
Construction Paper (Black, White, Orange)
Goggle Eyes (2)
Scissors
Tape (use good quality tape so that your wings stay attached)
Glue
Knife
*Optional: Glitter Glue (My son loves this stuff so we wrote out letters using it)

Directions:
Wrap the black construction paper around the box and tape it on. I only used 1 piece, so it didn't cover the top, bottom or the back of the box. But you can if you want to. 
Cut an oval shaped hole for the mouth with the knife.  Initially I tried to use scissors, but a knife worked SO much better. It doesn't have to be perfect, just big enough for the fish to fit in.  (You'll want to leave paper off the top of the box so that you can get the fish out after they get fed to the penguin.)
For the beak, cut a square out of orange construction paper. Then cut an oval shaped hole in the middle.  I found this was easiest with measuring it close to the hole that had previously been cut for the mouth.  Tape the beak onto the penguin.
Glue 2 googly eyes on the penguin (or cut eyes out of paper and glue them on).
Cut out a white oval for the stomach and glue it on.
Cut out 2 orange feet and glue them onto the bottom of the box.
Cut out 2 black, oval flaps for the wings and tape one on each side.

For the FISH:

Just draw a fish shape (easiest to draw an oval body with a triangle tail attached) onto a piece of paper and cut it out (Make sure it's small enough to fit in your penguin's mouth). Then use that fish as a template and draw some more fish on a piece of construction paper. Then place 2-3 MORE pieces of construction paper underneath and cut out the fish. (Saves time cutting out 3-4 at a time!)
Once you have all your fish, get a black marker and draw a dot for the eye and a little smile on each fish.
Then draw on whatever concept you want to teach: SHAPES, NUMBERS, LETTERS, MATH, WORDS, etc.  Because we used Glitter Glue to write out letters, I let them sit over night to dry completely. 
*Optional: For extra durability you can laminate (or use contact paper on) the fish so you can use them in other games later

Get your supplies out (don't mind the paint haha)

Wrap your box in black paper

Cut a mouth hole in the box with a knife

Cut a an orange square and an oval middle for the mouth and tape onto the box for the beak

Glue the Googly Eyes on

Showcase your gluing skills with glee

Clean up any excess glue

Cut an Oval out of white paper for the belly and glue it on

Check out how awesome it is looking so far

Cut out little orange feet

Glue the feet onto the bottom of the box

Cut out 2 long ovals for the wings and tape them on

Check out the finished penguin box in all it's glory

Cut out your fishies! 

Draw on an eye and a smile and write on whatever you would like, we did letters

If you would like to see our past DIY activities, check them out here:

Kool-Aid Dyed Pasta

Cardboard Owls

Alphabet Train

Make Your Own Rainstorm

Orange Sugar Scrub

Meditation Bottle

DIY: Activities for Toddler Part 4

As I sit here on a Friday night planning on fun things for Liam and I to do I always turn to my DIY lists and try to choose at least 1 activity a weekend.  Since we were able to accomplish a couple, it was time to find some new activities to add to the list.  I am still working on a few oldies but I found some spectacular new goodies :)  Enjoy!  Please feel free to add any suggestions you have so that we can try them out!

Bunny Collage

www.busybeekidscrafts.com

I love how simple and adorable this is!  Plus the supplies are easy to come by and uses stuff we already have around the house :)








Supplies:
Construction Paper
White Paint
Q-Tips
Shallow container/paper plate
Cotton Balls
Scissors
Glue
Black Marker

Directions:
Cut out a green strip of "grass" and glue it onto a piece of sky blue paper.
Pour some white paint into a shallow container or paper plate. Make your Bunnies out of two thumb prints. One for the head, and one for the body. Make as many bunnies as you'd like, anywhere in the meadow.
Break off the ends of your Q Tips and glue them on top of your thumb prints to make the bunny's ears. Glue on a small wad of cotton ball for the tail.
Cut out a sun from yellow construction paper and glue in on your scene. When the paint is dry, draw on the eyes, nose and whiskers.
Other options to add to your collage are green pieces of tissue paper stuck on as grass, or cotton ball clouds, be creative!

 Salt Painting

http://jugglingwithkids.com

This is a great and easy way to have a fun painting time at home with not too much of a mess.  I have seen a lot of people try this and similar things out in the past and have been wanting to try it with Liam since he is totally into creating different works of art. 
I keep wanting to do this one and find that I need to buy salt haha.






Supplies:
-Construction paper/cardstock
-Paintbrush and/or medicine dropper
-Colored water (we used about a tablespoon of water with 6-7 drops of food coloring)
-Salt
-Glue
-Little bowls for colored water


Directions:
Have your child draw a picture with glue.Then sprinkle the glue with salt.  We did this on top of a piece of cardboard, but a baking sheet will work well too. Next have your child take a paintbrush or a medicine dropper and drop colored water, one drop at a time onto the salt.
Some tips: Make sure they lightly touch the salt with the brush.  It also helps to have a bowl to clean the brush in between colors...otherwise you lose the colors start blending together and you lose the vibrant colors because they become murky. 

 Feed The Penguins Learning Game

 

littlefamilyfun.com

I can't lie, I am very excited about this activity.  Liam also has an obsession for the Swedish clay-mation show Pingu.  So he is totally into penguins.  Also we can throw learning in with counting and letters on the fish :)  What a spectacular idea. 













Supplies:
Cardboard Box (about Graham Cracker box sized)
Construction Paper (Black, White, Orange)
Goggle Eyes (2)
Scissors
Tape
Glue

Directions:
Wrap the black construction paper around the box. I only used 1 piece, so it didn't cover the top, bottom or the back of the box. But that's ok. :)
Cut an oval shaped hole for the mouth. It doesn't have to be perfect, just big enough for the fish to fit in.  (You'll want to leave paper off the top of the box so that you can get the fish out after they get put in.)
For the beak, cut a square out of orange construction paper. Then cut an oval shaped hole in the middle.  Tape the beak onto the penguin.
Glue 2 googly eyes on the penguin (or cut eyes out of paper and glue them on).
Cut out a white oval for the stomach and glue it on.
Cut out 2 orange feet and glue them onto the bottom of the box.
Cut out 2 black, oval flaps for the wings and tape one on each side.

For the FISH:

Just draw a fish shape onto a piece of paper and cut it out (Make sure it's small enough to fit in your penguin's mouth). Then use that fish as a template and draw some more fish on a piece of construction paper. Then place 2-3 MORE pieces of construction paper underneath and cut out the fish. (Saves time cutting out 3-4 at a time!)
Once you have all your fish, get a black marker and draw a dot for the eye and a little smile on each fish.
Then draw on whatever concept you want to teach: SHAPES, NUMBERS, LETTERS, MATH, WORDS, etc.
(Optional): For extra durability, laminate the fish so you can use them in other games later! (I actually just used clear contact paper).

Jello Ocean Bath

growingajeweledrose.com

 

 

 Messy activities in the bath are such a fantastic idea.  You get to be all messy and yet you don't have a huge mess to clean up!  Also if the mess is too much, just rinse it out and then wash your child up as they are already in the bathtub playing!  Liam loves the bathtub anyway, so I know he would love this activity!  I have found it to be quite the ordeal to find blue raspberry jello, so I am still in search mode.










Supplies:
4 Boxes Blue Raspberry Jello
Small bag of Smooth Round Stones (Such as used for candle accents)
Variety of sea life toys

Directions:
Let the jello set up.  Put it into the bottom of the tub and add some warm water to make the bath warm enough to play in.  Add the stones and toys and let them get in and have a ball.  This makes for a great sensory and learning experience!


If you would like to see the past DIY activities that we have completed together, check them out here:

Kool-Aid Dyed Pasta

Cardboard Owls

Alphabet Train

Make Your Own Rainstorm

Orange Sugar Scrub

Meditation Bottle

Boys Harmed by "Hookup Culture"

Earlier today I came across an article talking about the "hookup culture" and how is it also detrimental to the adolescence of  boys and not just girls.  I have always found it interesting the way the girls and women are more often portrayed as the only ones harmed in a situation, especially if it is sexual.  Men are always shown as the aggressor and women are almost always shown as the victim.  Of course in a bad situation, there can be a victim on both sides. 
As a mother of a  three-year-old boy, I have been trying to learn all that I can about what boys go through as they grow up to be able to understand and talk and most importantly listen with understanding to issues I admittedly don't know much about. I grew up in teenage girl hell, and never had any brothers. Although the majority of my friends were boys we didn't spend a large amount of time talking about feelings.
I have found that this is the trend also with men my age as I am single. It is not rare for me to get 3 or more messages in a week from people that I do not talk to on a regular basis saying something derogatory or asking for a nude photo out of the blue. I have at times received some extremely negative and downright rude responses when I do not oblige. 
I have also found that given my past experiences, I reached a point in my life where I found it hard to envision a man with really connecting on an emotional level. I know this was one of my issues in dating in the past.   I also know that some of this stemmed from my own childhood in the "tough love" approach taken by my own and many other fathers around me at our age.  If you aren't bleeding, you aren't hurt.  If you aren't puking you aren't sick.  If you were to see my father cry, the Earth must have shattered, etc. 
I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to try to learn even more from the eyes of my son. I have already (at a mere 3 years old) felt pain from the words and actions of one of his friends as directed towards him. I hope that I can do my best to teach him to be gentle with other people (any crush/dating prospects) but more importantly to be gentle with himself and to be confident that it IS manly to rise above situations and to have feelings. I hope this does not scar him during adolescence and I know it is a fine line to walk during some points in his life, but by being an understanding person, life will be much more satisfying and fulfilling and his connections with people will have so much more meaning and be long lasting in the long run. At least that is my hope anyway, I know that boys are very different from girls, and I am in a constant state of learning even in my "old age." I am just hoping to be able to do the best that I can to give him life long tools to feel the least amount of hardship with a single mother. 
I am very sad to see how much the "social" connection is disappearing with the younger generation. We are social creatures by nature and we need to have that face to face contact, and be hugged and loved in person, not over a computer screen....
The biggest negative comment I have about this article is as I stated before that in addressing the harm that the "hookup" culture is having on boys, it never really addresses the fact that some of them may be feeling guilt or regret or may also be feeling violated, and it NEVER painted any of the girls as the aggressor, when I know that they are out there in a lot more abundance than anyone is really talking about. 

If you are interested in reading the original article, it can be found here: Experts Say Boys Also Harmed By Hookup Culture

Over-Protectiveness: More Freedom Improves Child Development

You can never know what kind of parent you will be until parenthood is thrust upon you.  Whether or not you "plan" to have a baby there is NOTHING, I repeat nothing that can fully prepare you for what it will actually be like until you are there.  This is absolutely true no matter how many days you have been a parent...  Each day presents it's own unique set of fun, challenges, learning opportunities, mistakes, victories, and of course more love than the day before.  With that being said let's talk about this crazy thing that happens from the second you see that little one for the first time and is sealed forever from the first moment they are in your arms: over-protectiveness.

You suddenly feel the need to protect this precious life with every part of your mind, body, and soul.  it is something ingrained in us and it is a constant battle of balance as a parent.  You want to make sure that your child is safe, but you don't want to be SO over-protective that they don't learn anything either.  You want to wrap them up in a bubble suit before they go outside or lock them in the house (ok I didn't feel this way but many parents do).

Any moment that your child is spent in pain of any kind you feel crazed inside.  You would do ANYTHING to feel the pain for them, for them to never know sickness, or cuts or bruises.  And then you have to step back and realize that all of these things bring about knowledge and experience for them.  I know that sometimes a child will need to be burned to truly understand that something is hot.  You can tell them a million times but until they touch the oven or the burner or a flame, they will not be able to fully comprehend what "hot" really means without experiencing it for themselves.  Now hopefully at some point in their life they will have managed to acquire enough knowledge, experience and common sense to not need to experience EVERYTHING to learn from it.  Hopefully there will come a time when they can learn from observing those around them as well to avoid many negative paths that they could but don't have to travel.

Well let's get to the heart of the matter, at least as it pertains to the message I wanted to get out with this blog.  I recently came across an article about schools in New Zealand that have decided to take away all of the rules as they pertain to recess on the play ground.  They were having trouble with kids paying attention, sitting still, bullying one another etc.  From the outside looking in, one would think that all hell broke loose and that supervision had long since fled.  They would see tree climbing, skateboarding and *gasp* barefooted children playing outside in the dirt!  The horror (in case you don't know me in real life I mean this in the most sarcastic of ways)!  This school was actually letting kids go out and be kids outside in nature!  Of course there was still supervision to prevent any serious harm and to be there should anyone scrape a knee or need help in one way or another. 

However more amazing than actually letting kids get outside and be kids was the resulting aftermath.  After being allowed the freedom to play without strict rule following and constant berating for stepping out of line; these children were doing BETTER in school.  They were paying attention, exuding more confidence in their work, participating more.  Bullying dropped to a level of being nearly nonexistent.  More surprising the level of serious injuries also saw a decline! 

By being given the chance to learn around them and to learn what the boundaries where for themselves through experience they were able to more accurately learn the physical limitations of their own bodies.  They learned what "hot" really meant, what falling out of a tree, or off of  skateboard when going to fast was like.  And without anyone shoving the information down their throat or limiting their play to a level when any playground equipment became a "danger" they were able to set healthy limits on themselves!  These children were learning things that no amount of reading or hearing about could EVER teach them.  They were experiencing the world for themselves in a supervised but not overprotective controlling, rule-ridden environment. 

Of course my initial thought at reading this was how awesome this idea was, and how can I ensure that my son goes to a school of an obviously high intelligence in the way to "teach" and view children.  Then my second thought was: No wonder this is in New Zealand, if it was in America people would freak out and sue the school, etc.  Which made me wonder what the HECK is wrong with us.  Ok so I wonder this ALL the time.  But the whole legal system has become such a joke....  but that is going WAY off topic. 

The fact of the matter is that we live in a over-protective, over-medicated society and we have gotten lazy and selfish.  Instead of letting kids BE kids, so many people want to diagnose a healthily active child (especially boys) with having ADD.  "Sorry you son can't sit still for 4 hours at a time when he is 2, he must have ADD." What?  he is 2, he should be required to do something like that at his age, it's ludicrous and bad for him.  He needs to get around and learn using all of his senses.  He needs to be allowed to be 2.  Children are young for such a VERY short time.  Why take that away from them.  They need this foundation of learning through senses to have as many tools to make it in the world as an adult as we can provide them.  Yes we should teach them things, but in an age-appropriate way.  Counting, let's count the rocks in a line, or steps we have to walk up to go down the slide, or the petals on a flower, etc.  Colors, let's write the name of each color with the coordinating sidewalk chalk or get messy with paint (washable is always best) on some construction paper.  Let's let them learn as children CAN learn.  Let us as parents and teachers and anyone else who will ever have a moment to influence a child let them learn how to TRUST themselves, and their instincts.  Let's help them to learn their limitations and then how to strengthen themselves physically, mentally and spiritually to overcome any obstacles that they do encounter.  Let's give them role models worthy of attaining.  Let's teach them how the entire world is a learning experience, but also how to be safe from grave or serious harm.  Let's teach them how to work hard and reap the rewards with the freedom of play :)  Heck, do it for our own sanity, especially parents, teachers of the younger children, let them exercise and expend energy!  It will make an amazing difference in the behavior of a child!

Here is the awesome article that got me on this thought process.  I would love to hear your thoughts as well!  Feel free to comment below.

School Ditches Rules and Loses Bullies

Humility in Life

Today was another one of those days where everything seems to be going wrong and it feels like a "Monday."  I woke up 20 minutes late, I was rushing all morning and finally getting back to schedule, drop Liam off and come out to leave for work and my car won't start.  It was obvious that my battery had died, so I went back inside and asked if anyone could help me jump start my car.  I had jumper cables and just needed another car.  It was all women that I could find and they all found ti hard to believe that I would know how to use jumper cables and wouldn't assist me.  Everyone just kept telling me to call roadside assistance and couldn't fathom that I only had liability on my car like I was a crazy person.  Eventually a man in an Air Force uniform came along and offered to help, I told him I just needed a car and I could do it, he insisted that I go sit in my car and he would handle it.  Unfortunately I come from somewhere where people do know how to use jumper cables so I was too trusting.  I was trying to watch from under the hood from the inside of the car and something seemed to be off.  The guy was seeming a little too nervous to me.  So I got out of my car to assist him when my car started smoking and there were sparks.  It turns out that he had hooked up to my fuse box instead of my battery.  Although I am grateful for his effort in trying to help me, I wish he would have decided otherwise if he didn't know what he was doing.  Needless to say this ended up costing me close to $250 and a few hours of my time, but luckily it appears that my car is drivable again.


At this point I was definitely not feeling at the top of my game and wasn't in the greatest mood.  I was doing my best to try to look at the bright side of the situation when I heard a man speak that changes my day and my attitude around completely.  This man was in a very sad state of mind.  He was a low point in his life and he chose to be brave and share his struggles and he talked about having lost everything in his life that mattered to him, his job, his home, his wife and most of all his children.  This story touched my to my core.  Here I was down about something so trivial when I have so much to be thankful for.  I get to wake up to my amazing son, I get to laugh with him, hug him, kiss him, and put him to bed every night.  I get to watch him learn and grow before his eyes.  I could lose everything in life but as long as I still have him, I will always have something to be thankful for.

Since we are on the topic of humility I came across something else the other day that also touched my heart and made me so sad in less than one minute.  I feel like this message of this video definitely needs to be shared, and so I am now sharing it with you.  I could go on and on about this message, but for now I will let the video tell the story and we can address this topic at a later date.  Take this powerful message to heart. 

Random Liam Moments from the Past Month

Liam has had some great random moments recently and just thought that I would share some of them with you to make you chuckle like I did, and perhaps you can make some comments on them as well :)  Comments are always welcome :)  Welcome to motherhood of a now 3 year old boy.

*When Liam woke up from his nap earlier today he had gotten out his photo album from his 2 year old class and had it beside the bed since he must have been looking at it to fall asleep, I thought that this was cute and put it away, when I went to lay him down for bed tonight he lifted up his pillow and had taken two picture of just himself out and had put them under his pillow.... I have no idea what to think about this haha. At least he was happy in both pictures, maybe he wanted to be happy in his dreams, any ideas? (Perhaps he got it from Lilo & Stitch)

*Liam is currently eating his mandarin oranges by picking up an orange with his fingers placing it on the top of the fork, bringing the fork to his mouth and then picking up the orange with his fingers and putting it into his mouth..... there's got to be a better way haha

 

*

Liam just told me he was hungry for a burger and I told him we needed to eat healthier now that the holidays were over. He said "ok I want a cupcake" haha. Lesser of two evils I guess haha

Liam has learned to say "excuse me" after he burps, and today he started telling me that it came from his tummy haha.  

Liam has to hug and kiss both the dog and cat multiple times before bed and also say goodnight to the moon and stars.

Liam has decided that he likes tea in addition to cocoa now :)

 We ordered the stuff this evening and Liam and I will soon begin making out own bubble tea at home yay.  Honeydew is our first flavor.  

Liam prefers his cheap construction trucks to his trains :(  Stupid expensive Thomas haha

Liam has started learning words to songs he hears repeatedly and sings along zealously, especially songs from movies, and he makes up the parts he doesn't know, just like the rest of us haha

Despicable Me 2 has been the reigning champion of the house along with Bolt, Wall-E and Airplanes....  he hasn't even wanted to watch anything on Netflix lately it's crazy...  George still takes over every night before bedtime though.

When grandma was here visiting she rocked Liam to sleep one night and now every night after being put into bed, Liam will come out into the living room with a blanket and want to rock for a few minutes and then he is good and will go climb back into bed and go to sleep.  I don't mind it at all because I was sad when he stopped wanting to be rocked and it lets me hold him close and snuggle him a little bit more :)

 Liam refuses to wear any shoes except for his Cars shoes that light up.  The only way that I can get him to wear another pair of shoes is if he is still asleep when I go to get him dressed for school and I can sneak some on him and get him out to the car before he knows what's going on. 

Liam seems to only crave pizza, burgers and chocolate right now.  He will still eat other things, but that is all he asks for and the occasional cupcake ;)

My song for the day

 

Happy Third Birthday

Today marks the end of the first three years that Liam and I have spent together as a family.  Never in my life have I known such love and been so thankful as I have in the past three years.  I never knew what life was all about until I look into his eyes, heard his first heart beat, felt his first kick, saw his first smile, heard his first laugh.  Just when you think that there is no possible way that you could EVER love someone anymore than you already do, he finds a way to blow past the barriers of your heart and make it even bigger and even fuller.  I have been so blessed to be chosen as his mother in this lifetime.  There is absolutely no accident that him and I were paired with one another.  I do my best to teach him every day but instead end up learning more than I could ever teach.  I Strive to be the best mother that I can be and live up to the daunting task of giving him the life, teachings, love, happiness that he deserves.  I only hope that he can look back and know that I have tried my best on good days and bad days.  That each time I saw his smile my heart burst with love, and felt his little arms around my neck and his kiss upon my cheek.  I am so lucky to have such an amazing being in my life.  I can't wait to spend many more years to come together.  I love you so much my little Liam, and I hope that you know your worth in life and how many people love you.  Happy Birthday to my number one man, Liam.    Three birthday parties for his third year :) 

Birthday Reminiscence

As Liam's 3rd Birthday is fast approaching I have been thinking about a lot of things.  I have been going through many things from the past 3 years and looking back on the amazing journey that we have already had together.  I would never known such an amazing love as the love that he has shown to me and brought into my life.  I am so blessed with the opportunity to guide him and walk by his side in this lifetime.  I don't know where the time goes, flying by before your eyes one moment they are aren't even able to hold their own head up.  Then they are exploring the world around and crawling, before you know it they are walking.  And the talking and becoming independent and actually thinking about how things work, and how to break and recreate things.  How to tell right from wrong, and stranger from friend.  How to tell a difference in humor and situational humor.  All of this journey has been more that I could have ever imagined thus far.

With that being said I wanted to share some of Liam's awesome videos as a flashback to his amazing little self.  Enjoy!

Disney's Robin Hood

It has been many years since I last watched Disney's version on Robin Hood.  I must admit that I was very excited when I saw that it had been added onto Netflix's instant watch.  This is the Disney version of Robin Hood as told my animals.

  It was released by Disney in 1973.  It was the 21st animated feature to be released by Disney.  The film is narrated by a singing rooster telling about the story of Robin Hood and Little John and the Sherwood Forest.  It was finished after Walt's death and was as such the first film to be continued on without him. 
Originally Disney considered doing a movie abotu Reynard the fox but there were concerns about whether or not he would be a suitable hero.  Reynard was a trickster fox from European folklore that was based primarily around satirical stories....  Using anthropomorphic tales (animals instead of people) which was probably the base inspiration for anthropomorphic telling of Robin Hood, using a similar casting of a wolf and a lion against the fox.

As the film was made during Disney's financial slump following the completion of Phase One of the Florida Project and therefore allotted a small budget, the artists reused footage from previous animated features. This is most noticeable during the song-and-dance number, "The Phone King of England"; the characters' movements strongly resemble those from The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and Snow With

In particular, the section where Little John and Lady Kluck dance together mirrors part of the song "I Wanna Be Like You" from The Jungle Book with Baloo and  king Louie respectively, and Robin Hood and Maid Marian mirror the dancing movements of Thomas O'Malley and Duchess during the song "Everybody Wants to Be A Cat" from The Aristocats (from which some of the musicians also mirror the movements of Scat Cat and his gang) and Maid Marian mirror dancing the movements of Snow White during the song "The Silly Song".  The animation of Little John, the bear in Robin Hood, is nearly identical to that of Baloo but Little John more closely resembles a brown or grizzly bear (Baloo was based on an Indian Sloth Bear). At one point, one of the elephants who acts as heralds for Prince John attempts to trumpet a warning. Lady Kluck grabs the trunk, preventing the trumpeting and leaving the elephant flapping his ears ineffectually.The movie also reuses the same animated shots several times, including those of the rhinos walking and running and those of Sis, Tagalong and Toby laughing. Several animated clips of the Sheriff of Nottingham are also recycled at different points in the film.

At the time of it's release it was received with mixed reviews, overall consensus being that it was on par with The Jungle Book, but could not touch some of Disney's greats.

I have to say that although this was definitely NOT Disney's finest work.  I still love it all the same.  I have always loved the story of Robin Hood and I always loved it being told in a an anthropomorphic way.  I think that the songs are catchy and generally fun for the time being.  It had a good ol' Disney Love song, that was actually reused in the "The Fantastix Mr. Fox."
Liam was definitely into it.  It would be in the top half of his attention getting movies, but wasn't the best one yet.

With that being said, it is definitely worth watching and fun to relive.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars.  I love what it had to offer for the 70s.  Enjoy.

To Visit Disney's website dedicated to Robin Hood go to: Disney Robin Hood

Bubble Eating

Yes my son apparently likes to gobble up bubbles now haha.  He got to have a visit from his good friend Chloe, and together bubbles are always a great time.  My house seems to be known as "the bubble house" to Chloe.  :) I love this child so much!  he also started piano lessons today!  Here is the awesome video and a picture of him at the piano!  Hope everyone had an amazing day!