Jelly Telly!

Anyone who has seen more than 5 kids shows in the last 10 years has watched and probably enjoyed the work of Phil Visher. You know... the guy who came up with those wonderful guys Bob and Larry. If you are like me, you were not really aware of all the turmoil that Big Idea has been through in the last 5 years (they just laid off 2/3 of the staff last week so be in prayer for those families), but if you are also like me, you became very aware of the softening of God in VeggieTales. The last movie that was in the theater didn't even mention God at all, just sort of hinted around.

What I hadn't realized is the Mr. Visher has moved on from Big Idea and has been working on a new format for Christian entertainment for kids. It comes in the form of Jelly Telly. Jelly Telly has a show everyday with a feature film on Sundays. They have games to play as well as the daily video. Jelly Telly has been out for about a month now and we have been really enjoying it. I signed up for a free months trial membership to see how the kids would like it. It is puppets, not animation, and I didn't know if the kids were getting too old for this kind of show. After all, I see them wanting to watch Disney online pretty often.

They LOVE it! It has the same quirky humor you saw in VeggieTales, great focus on God, and they have educational parts like Dr Sniffenhousen's Wonderful World of Science, Drive through History, along with my favorite Michael's Movie Reviews. One of the best things about this is that we can watch it when we have time. As long as there is Internet, we can watch it.

If you are interested head off to Jelly Telly, check out the grown ups page. Sign up for the free trial month if you are interested. Or if you really like it and want to help out a great ministry pay the $3 a month for a subscription.

And by the way... my kids watch less Disney. They love it. Even J-Bell who gets mad if they start the show without her.

This has been De's website reviews! Jelly Telly has no knowledge of this endorsement and I'm not getting paid for it (Although I wouldn't object to payment, Mr. Visher!)

39 Clues

As a family we have been reading what is going to be a new series. The 39 Clues: Maze of Bones came out last week. I had heard about it from the today show and thought it sounded interesting. It is interesting, educational, and keeps the kids begging for more.

Actually the last time I read the book to them J-Bell started laughing so hard that she fell over backward in the chair she was sitting in!

It is fun to see the kids all so interested in a book, and in the same topic.

*Just as a disclaimer, this is not a Christian series. If you are looking to read it, use your own discretion

The invisible fence

I have had a rough time with having Allie a part of our family. This dog loves to run off. If she got any little crack to go through she would take off and run. This would leave us trying to catch her. She knows our car and will run from that, food is no incentive, and she learned that strangers would normally grab her for us. That left us with trying to chase her into a fenced area, trapping her. And that could take an hour. Sometimes more. Given that the kids are normally the ones to tie her out, we were doing this 3-4 days a week.



This is not something I love to do. Especially when it is -180 degrees with a windchill of -500. Yeah, it's been a cold winter up here in Wisconsin.



Knight wanted to keep the dog. Wouldn't you if you never had to deal with the running...or chewing...or whatever? Even the kids were getting ready to get rid of her. But being the submissive wife ok, trying not to start a war, I was trying to wait until the snow melts to get an invisible fence. But this was going to be a long wait. And it seemed longer each time she ran off.



I was at spanish class talking to one of the other moms telling her that I can't wait until the snow melts so I can get an invisible fence. I know this mom had dogs using an invisible fence. Her dogs don't ever leave the area. That is when she told me that the kind they have you don't have to bury wires.



Did you know there was such a thing????



I didn't. So I seriously went from spanish class to Menards to pick one of these babies up. It took a little while to figure out where in my house to put it and how big of a circle I could get without getting into the road or the neighbors yard. I put the flags up so she could see her circle. Then it was time to get the dog.



She hit that fence and recoiled. It worked. She didn't know what hit her but she knew she didn't like it. I showed her around the yard and let her know where her boundaries were. Then we went in the house.



The next day I just let her outside. By this time I think she forgot all about it, because she bounded out of the house with all her freedom, ready to run. And she did run. Right through the fence. But she did turn right around. It was beeping at her and she was so afraid to move that she wouldn't go anywhere.



Knight walked up to her and brought her back.



She was afraid to go out for a couple days. She still is getting comfortable with it, but she now has more freedom, more excercise, and I'm not dealing with the village law enforcement.



I love this thing!!

Now we just need to get her spayed, stop chewing everything, and keep her out of the areas of the house we don't want her in and maybe I'll be able to tolerate her better.

Product Review

I had mentioned a few weeks ago that we were using a new product in our house. I have decided I am going to openly discuss it. We bought a bed wetting alarm. I had thought about buying it off and on but decided that the kid was old enough to give it a try.

We had tried waking him up in the middle of the night to go, limiting drinks in the evening, but we were still dealing with GoodNights sleep pants. This child had 3 dry nights in 7 years. To be honest, I didn't hold a lot of hope out for this alarm thing either but thought it was worth a shot.

The first couple nights the alarm went off and he didn't wake up. The alarm beeps, vibrates, has a little light and yet he didn't hear or feel it. He did stop peeing but that was a natural reaction to all the alarm thing. I would pull him to his feet, shut the alarm off, have him go, then tell him to change, hook it back up and he'd go to bed. In the morning he wouldn't remember anything.

The third night he was dry. And the fourth. And the fifth.

On the sixth night the alarm went off again.

It has gone off once since then and this time he heard it himself and got up.

We are still using it. They recommend you use it for a good month of dry nights with no accidents at all.

This morning he came down complaining he was tired. He let me know he woke up 3 times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

Miracles do happen. WooHoo!!!

Now I remember!!!

Whenever I had a new baby, I would constantly be having moments where I am thinking "Oh yeah, now I remember what this was like." It started early in the pregnancy with all the sickness. Then again as the baby would grow and it would be close to delivery and you just want to be done being pregnant. Then as I would be in labor I again would think-"Oh, yeah. This really hurts! I forgot how bad!" And as the baby would get me up in the middle of the night, interrupting my sleep I would think it again.



NO, I'm not pregnant. That chapter in my life is done, and I am SO thankful. Not that I don't like babies, but now I like babies as long as they are going home with someone else. We will leave the baby scares to Melody, the baby hopes to Leeann, and relearning the new baby stage all over to Molly (I really need to try to get over there today and see her new one!)



We are using a new product in our home and it is reminding me of the baby days. (link is provided to not embarrass the user but to let the readers know what I'm talking about) I never know when I am going to be woken up. But if this product works it is going to be a miracle.



But in the mean time, I'm one tired mama. Now, I REALLY remember the hell the good old days.