peskypippi.comBecause I have a lot to say…

My son decided he was done with his G.I. Joes, so he gave the lot to his sister. Who quickly discovered that G.I. Joes are way cooler than Barbie.

Fingers that grip! Elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles that bend! He can stand on his own!

My daughter quickly got to know the G.I. Joe gang. Step aside, Barbie, with your tiny, non-standable feet.

It was just your typical Saturday night around here.

We cranked up some of my favorite dance songs from “way back when,” turned on the disco ball, and proceeded to have an impromptu dance party. That’s the best kind.

I taught my seven-year-old a thing or two about ’80s rap. And he taught me a thing or two about some crazy-cool dance moves.

Here are my top 13 favorite dance songs from long ago:

1. Baby Got Back
2. Can’t Touch This
3. Push It
4. Jump Around
5. The Humpty Dance
6. Walk This Way
7. Word Up Cameo
8. Rockit
9. Insane in the Membrane
10. Play That Funky Music
11. Bust A Move
12. Funky Cold Medina
13. Wild Thing

I highly recommend purchasing a disco ball. It is the must-have accessory for any family or family room.

It turns a Friday night into party Friday night.

Or Thursday. Or Tuesday, for that matter.

Turn on the disco ball, crank up the music, and you’re set. Just add attitude and dance moves.

I took my kids ice skating at the local ice rink.

This outing was different. I think I have changed. For the better.

I realize that my two sillies are teaching me a bunch as we go. A bunch about just enjoying the moment.

I used to obsess that we get our money’s worth. “Let’s get out there and skate! Hurry! No resting!”

It took us like 11 minutes to get our skates laced, coats zipped, gloves on. Then, hobbling. Teetering. Onto the slippery ice.

Only two laps around and I needed to rest my ankles. The throbbing!

It took my seven year old precisely 14 minutes to skate one lap.

Then. He asked for nachos and root beer. Normally I would say, “You’re hungry already?” And encourage him to skate more because “We didn’t come here to eat.”

But not this time. I pulled out my wallet. The three of us sat around the little table laughing, eating nachos, watching the zaboni.

A few more laps. More resting. More giggling. A few falls. Some hand-holding. More resting. More giggling.

With all the hobbling, teetering, laughing, resting, snacking, and sillying, we probably only got in 40 minutes of skating. But who cares? It’s probably the non-skating moments that we’ll remember more.

As we unlaced and ditched the skates, my kids said to me, “we had the best time ever.”

Yeah, me too.

I go to the county fair every summer. It’s been a tradition since I was a kid. The fair is EXACTLY the same today as it was those many years ago. Just the way I like it.

Except I’m different now. I’m not the kid begging for cotton candy. I’m not the teenager flirting with boys. I don’t tuck money into my shoe anymore. I’m the Mom, with the ginormous backpack carrying all of the kids’ crap, sunscreen, and water bottles. I am the one in the dorky, floppy sun hat, protecting her face from the sun.

But I’m still a kid inside. I still get that giddiness and excitement in my tummy as we drive into the fairgrounds and park in the straw and walk through the turnstiles and get unlimited ride wristbands attached to our left wrists.

The sights are still the same. Leathered-skin carnies operating the rides. A little gruff. A little leery. A little toothless.

The rides are the same. Ferris wheel with the glowing lights. Bumper cars with their stop-and-go jerkiness and electricity popping. Creaky roller coaster that tic-tic-tics up the ramp and then whooshes you downward propelling screams. I can’t ride the spinning rides anymore (old age) but I watch my kids ride and I encourage them with a big grin on my face.

There are still the teenagers preening and flaunting. Girls wearing their tightest shorts, flipping hair, chomping on gum, checking out the boys in line who are also looking and smelling their finest, checking out the girls. I am no longer the teen, flipping my hair and checking out the boys. My shorts are tight (for other reasons).

Unwinnable games. Darts and balloons. Climb the ladder to ring a bell. Shoot the basketball. Knock over old-fashioned milk bottles. Giant pandas, red dogs, monkeys…a girl’s dream to win one and walk around with a stuffed animal under her arm, boasting. I never won one. Now, I’m like “we don’t need a giant stuffed banana with Jamaican hair.” Or DO we?

The world’s smallest horse. “Step right up and pay a dollar.” The horse is merely a small Shetland pony, appearing miniscule, in a pen built well below the stairs you climb. Every year, I am fooled again. But I have hope.

The piglets, the velvety cows, the endearing goats, the sheep with attitude. The smells of the barns are comforting, with their fresh straw and fresh poop. 4-H kids with their impressive pride, grooming their animals and answering your dumb questions. “What is the difference between a llama and an alpaca?” I ask.

The smells and tastes of the fair food. The same. Pink and blue fluffy cotton candy, deep-fried corn dogs, greasy funnel cakes sprinkled with powdered sugar, salty popcorn.

This year, I returned to the fair again with my three kids. Just as we do every year, where we pack in fun, exiting exhausted and a little bit green-faced at midnight. I take my youngest two kids by the hands and we practically skip to say hello to the goats, let the cotton candy dissolve on our tongues, and board the Ferris wheel to watch the “ants” down below.

I wave goodbye to my oldest teen son, who runs off with a friend–as they quickly ditch our goofball trio–and they do what teen boys do, with their hair gelled, just so.

And so, the cycle continues, round and round, like the Ferris wheel. Some things never change.

I’m hanging with the peeps at Yeah Right…check out other fun bloggers there!

“I’m bored.”

You’re WHAT??!!

I can’t accept boredom from children. My children or anyone’s children. At my house. In the middle of summer.

• There are crafts. Bendaroos. Play-doh. Modeling clay. Water paint. Acrylics. Markers. Stickers. Stamps. Hole punchers.
• There’s a puppy. He loves to play. And cuddle. And wrestle. And fetch.
• There’s Xbox 360 and Kinect. Party games, sports games, Lego games, shooter games, dance games.
• There are board games. Would You Rather? Sorry. Monopoly. Trouble. Operation. Bird Bingo. And about 20 others.
• There are outside toys. Bikes. Scooters. Pogo Stick. Roller skates. Full-size basketball hoop. Chalk. Giant bubbles. Frisbees.
• There’s an outside swimming pool, sandbox, swingset. Or I’d be happy to set up the sprinkler.
• Nerf guns. AirSoft guns if you’re over 13.
• Oh yeah and what about tag. Kick ball. Hide-and-go-seek.
• Snacks. Pizza. Juice. Ice cream sandwiches. Watermelon cut in wedges.
• There are Legos. Zoobles. Littlest Pet Shop. Star Wars figures. Ponies. Barbies. And, oh, about 58 stuffed animals.
• Movies. Take your pick.

Do kids really need prompting these days? Do they need an activity list of things to choose from?

Yikes.

When I was a kid and was told, “Go and play.” I did. And I didn’t ask what to play.

I chased after the ice cream truck on my bike. My sister and I played Frogger on Atari. I read everything by Judy Blume. I showed my friend how Barbie and Ken could make babies. I sketched. I played kickball and Nerf football with the neighbor kids in the street. I caught frogs and lightning bugs at my Dad’s. I did rubber stamps and stickers. I sprawled on my friend’s pink carpet while listening to the Grease soundtrack. I crank-called strangers. I practiced kissing in the mirror. I tried out cookie recipes. I wrote in my diary. I bought Fun Dip and Jolly Rancher Sticks at 7-11. I stared at the clouds. I watched The Brady Bunch and The Beverly Hillbillies. I made those goofy nylon potholders with my goofy potholder loom.

And if I said “I’m bored,” I would be given chores, which quickly shut me up.

So, if you’re a kid at my house and I hear “I’m bored,” I just may hand you a shovel. And you can pick up dog poop. #choices

What are some of the things YOU did as a kid?

I have come up with a lazy-days-of-summer-to-do list. Let’s call it my Summer Bucket List:

1. Eat Doritos tacos at Taco Bell. Done!
2. Pig out at Cold Stone.
3. Run through the sprinklers.
4. Cheer at the rodeo.
5. Ride a dozen rides and pet the piglets at the fair.
6. Have a handful of picnics. One down!
7. Hike around the lake. Find a brand new place to hike.
8. Go to the drive-in movie before it closes forever.
9. Bowl with the family and eat nachos (and share a pitcher of beer–maybe two–with my husband)
10. Open swim. Family swim. Whatever. Get my butt in a swimsuit and go!
11. Pick peaches.
12. Go camping.
13. Paint my daughter’s and my toenails a new color every other week. Neon orange…done!
14. Pet Otis-the-puppy as much as possible.
15. Shoot off fireworks on the 4th.
16. Pick a wildflower bouquet.
17. Read in the shade of my swing.
18. Make a berry cobbler.
19. Play frisbee.
20. Lay in the grass and watch the clouds go by.

What’s on YOUR summer bucket list?

Oh, just making some faces with my boy. See how much fun we had with a camera?

See? Sometimes it’s the simple things…

Meet Beamo. Our new favorite toy. We bring it to every park we go. Beamo is a ginormous flying O. As in Oh, my goodness, it’s:

• Fun to throw. You can really chuck it.

• Fun to catch. Doesn’t hurt your hands. Try catching it one-handed–I’m kinda a pro by now.

And if you order it from Amazon, it’ll arrive in a cardboard box the size of a coffin. #perk

Buy yourself a Beamo today. Tell ‘em Pesky Pippi told ya so.

Got road trips?

Here’s a nifty little idea for you non-crafter parents that you can create in, oh, about 8 minutes. You may call it a jar of rice with toys in it. I call it Pippi’s Traveling Treasure Trove that you shake and take with you in the car to entertain the kids.

What prompted this was:

1. My kids have an overload of miniature toys they don’t play with because the toys are hiding at the bottom of toy bins
2. My kids need something to do in our long (10 minute) car trips.
3. Reuse and recycle, baby!

Here’s all you need:

1. A big plastic container with a lid. Ours was a tub with peanut butter-filled pretzels.
2. A crapload of miniature toys.
3. A 5 lb. bag of rice.
4. Mix together.
5. Screw lid on tightly.
6. Presto! Now you can bring Pippi’s Traveling Treasure Trove virtually anywhere! And your kids can shake it and search for all the hidden treasures. What’s old is new again. And maybe you’ll have some quiet while driving.

And just think. When you’re done with this clever toy, you’ll have rice for dinner.