Fur and Feathers - a review

We are personal fans of the author, Janet Halfmann. She writes stories that are sweet and educational without feeling like knowledge is being stuffed down a kid's throat. Her book, Fur and Feathers, does just that, once again.
Little Sophia has a wonderful dream in which she discovers what type of body coverings different animals have. She finds creative methods of recreating their natural fur/feathers/scales in a seemingly bottomless sewing kit. The beautiful illustrations by Laurie Allen Klein capture a feeling of sweet innocence that reinforces a lesson about the creatures of our world.

Once again, I am happy to read one of Ms. Halfmann's books to my kids and I truly recommend checking this story out!

Legoland Discovery Center - Star Wars Weekend!

If your kids like Lego Star Wars, and you live in the Chicagoland area, then head over to the Legoland Discovery Center site to purchase your tickets to this weekend's Lego Star Wars Weekend! At the media preview last night, my family and I had a blast checking out the Chicago skyline destruction that the droids brought upon us. It was SO COOL. As in, way too cool for a little boy who is a Lego Star Wars freak...I believe that part of the Wrigley Building is on the street, surrounded by droids...
Life sized R2 and Darth Vader alongside life sized Evan.
Tons of actors!
A clone checking out my boys' race cars...
Corinne appears to have issues with Obama's proposal for extended school days...

Seriously, buy your tickets ASAP because they're selling out!

Mr. Popper's Penguins

My family recently went to see an early screening of Mr. Popper's Penguins starring Jim Carey. Initially, I had thought it would be a silly children's movie and only attended because I knew they wanted to watch it. I had seen the previews and they presented the movie in a ridiculous light, focusing on penguin poop and one-liners. While the movie DID contain plenty of poopy one-liner jokes, it was actually quite good! I enjoyed the storyline and only became annoyed once or twice by the over-the-top humor that Jim Carey tends to bring to a movie. You'll find that the moral to the story is love, love, love; what's better than love?

All in all, I honestly recommend Mr. Popper's Penguins as a movie to go and check out. Your children will love it and you will definitely find it entertaining and sweet.

Did we like the 2011 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid?

Let us ponder that question...Let's see: its gas mileage to the Indy 500 and back was phenomenal...


There was adequate space in the middle row for 3 full-sized adults...
... but it still had the 3rd row for extra people (aka: little sisters who maybe shouldn't be sitting quite so closely to their older brothers...)

... it had On-Star AND a traditional navigational system so that when I got turned around in Chicago (AGAIN! You'd think I hadn't lived in this area my whole life...), I was able to call and speak to a live person for 15 minutes while we figured out our way around the heavy construction detours...
...and the 3rd row of seats easily popped right out so that we could fit far too many coolers, grills and suitcases.

Yes. We liked the Tahoe. I cried a tear on the day my review ended...