I remember playing games with my family since I was little and to this day, it is one of our favorite things to do.  Now that I have kids, I love them even more.  Not kidding – this is just the grown-up games.

Top 8 Reasons Board Games Rock for Families:

1.  They do not cost a bajillion dollars a game.  In fact, many are really inexpensive, especially for kids’ games and they can be played over and over.  Perhaps because it is people playing board games with each other and not a computer, they just don’t get old.

2.  They are fun!  Yes, playing games with other people is awesome.  Families sometimes get stuck in ruts together and everyone goes their own way.  Throw everyone on the floor or around the table and play with each other.  This is one of those times when people come together and have fun.  Yippee!

3.  This is healthy competition.  Instead of who is better at soccer or piano or who has the better job or is the better cook – just throw out some chips and play a fair game that determines who rules the world at Monopoly (my husband) or Boggle (me) or Scrabble (toss up).

4.  You totally learn things.  Even as a grown-up I learn facts in games like Trivial Pursuit, strategy in Monopoly or Axis and Allies, and words in my favorites, boggle and scrabble.  Play some operation and learn body parts!  Guess what, your small children can learn too!  With games like Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land the kids learn counting and rules.  They learn directions like forward and backward.  They learn coordination with a lot of building games.  They also learn to fly solo and be their own character for the game.  Without mom or dad, they can play and win or lose.  This is no small thing.

5.  Everyone can play.  Using teams, even our kids can join in on fun with harder games and they love being part of the grown-up activities.  They can move the piece, roll the dice, be the money keeper.  This way you don’t have to play Candy Land all day and your kids can still play with you!  When visiting my 96 year old grandfather I realized how important games are.  He can still play them.  He remembers the rules and you don’t need to talk that much to play.  He doesn’t hear well.  My husband and I spent an entire day with him playing games and enjoying his company.

6.  Board games make better people.  You know with games and cards, kids learn really fast how to cheat.  They want to win and of course, no one wins all the time.  Very early on, Sophia bent the edge of a certain Candy Land princess card accidentally because she used to carry the card around.  Then, I figured out that she was purposely looking for that card and pulling it.  We talked about cheating.  We talked about winning and losing.  I bent a lot more cards to make it fair.  It is interesting because I have totally seen grown ups try to bend the rules of board games and flat out cheat.  Playing in a group and talking with your kids about games helps them to grow and learn.  It also reminds and grown ups that playing fair is always the best way to play.

7.  Board games can travel.  At a big family get together bring one or two along and you will be set for some great entertainment.  They easily pack in the bottom of a suitcase.  Sometimes you need to leave the box at home but hey – whatever brings the bonding, right?

8.  Board games make great memories and make people want to get together.  This is real quality time.  Get to know your family all over again.

A Few Tips for Board Games with Smaller Children:

1.  Store your board games where they cannot reach them.  Many a game has been destroyed using the pieces in the dollhouse and the money in the dress up purses.  I used to find cards all over the house and never be able to put a whole game back together.

2.  Don’t push them too far.  If kids aren’t having fun the game really may be above them or frustrating them because it is too complicated.  As long as people are having fun, keep going, but consider choosing a different game or switching to a puzzle if kids are not happy.

3.  Consider some house rules.  Think about the game and maybe simplify it a little.  It works for a lot of games.  Basically you just take out some of the work or strategy.  Maybe people can see what other people have.  Perhaps you shorten the game.  Many games come with a shortened version.  It is easy to use the board and the pieces and make up some rules.  Try it sometime!

I hope you have a wonderful time playing games with your own family and friends.  Unplug and enjoy a little good old fashioned fun!

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Sophia looked at me with disdain and said, “hey mom, just open their legs up all the way and then they can sit.  That’s the only way they don’t fall over”.

I did it and instantly saw a brothel of tiny winged ladies of the night.  Ladies that spread like gymnasts and are tiny as toothpicks with unflappable boobs.  Lovely.

I always wondered how the girls played with their set of fairies.

There’s only so much you can do in the air.

Now I don’t even want to know.

*I am linking this awful iphone picture up to the #iPPP iPhone Photo Phun crew.  Disappointing photo but the grit is just so appropriate.  Want to play?  Check out  A Belle, A Bean & A Chicago Dog and Taming Insanity.

Sophia is intensely interested in my doodles and has started doodling herself.  She is self-conscious about her shapes and her color choice.  She worries that her drawings do not look like mine.  I tell her I have been practicing my doodles since I was a little girl, and I still have room to grow.  I also reveal to hear that doodles are perfect because they are from you.  They are your feelings laid on paper.  They are colors and shapes and emotions.  In short, they are what they are and they are a part of you.  It is personal art and there is no right or wrong.

Today I was doodling as the kids and I practiced drawing the famous Mo Willem’s pigeon.  I am simply faster at drawing the pigeon and my nature makes me immediately start to color while I wait.  We try to draw or color every day.  Usually we have some time where the coloring books are out and some time where we practice drawing something.  This is not forced by me, they want to learn to draw.  I am no great drawing master, but my prowess with basic shapes is advanced to them, so I will do as a teacher for the time being.

I doodled my usual mix of colors and shapes with Sophia’s new glitter gel pens.  I loved the smooth ink and the sparkling result and continued to doodle after the kids had finished, wanting to complete my tiny picture thought.

When I looked up, Sophia had a new piece of paper and was beginning her own tiny doodle.  My heart swelled as I realized she was imitating me.  There will only be so many years she will do this, I know.  Soon she will embrace her independence in every way and have her own inspiration for drawing and everything else.  But today, she wanted to draw like her Mommy.  She was disappointed, but I was so proud. A doodle is never a disappointment.

These shapes are tiny and something about my crazy type A personality loves fitting the colorful puzzle together.  These entire drawings are about 3 inches wide.  It is hard for Sophia.  She has never made a puzzle of shapes before.  She has never worked in such a tiny area of a blank page.  She is fast becoming an expert at basic shapes, but this is something different.  I think she rocked it.  It may not look like much, but for a 5 year old with a tiny area and ultra fine point pens, this was no easy beginning.

After a few minutes, she asked me if we could trade pictures.  She said my doodle made her happy.  I told her I usually tape my doodles into my journal.  She has recently started her own journal and said she thought my drawing would be beautiful in it.  I asked her if I could per her drawing, her first real doodle, in mine.

A doodle for a doodle and we both have what we wanted, a beautiful piece of each others hearts.

We love keeping a journal and for kids a doodle journal can be a great thing!  We write the date at the top of each page and then the kids are free to draw or write words or feelings throughout the day.  There are pages that Sophia says are private and there are many she shares with me.  I feel honored.

What do your children want to imitate?  Are they nervous about their art or excited to try new things?  Do you journal or doodle still?  I can’t be the only one!

I must confess we thought Sophia was totally ready to ditch her training wheels this past spring, but we held off. She wanted to focus on getting her swim band and all the kids on our block were obsessed with scooters.  Her bike was really abandoned for a few months.

We knew she had the balance, strength and coordination to do it.  Her training wheels were way off the ground (this helps them learn to balance the bike) and she could ride like the wind.  Training wheels are not fun.  The are awkward on turns and honestly, she could not go as fast as her friends without training wheels.  Still, she wasn’t focused on riding a bike at all.

Then one afternoon we saw a Sesame Street clip on the computer of a little boy learning to ride a bike and the same day saw a Max and Ruby where Ruby does the same.  While I have no powers of persuasion, Ruby is a real leader.

Sophia begged to take those wheels off right after dinner and we obliged.  I hate those training wheels.  The first time I thought she did great, but we were all afraid of our street and her falling.  Also, dude, it totally sucks to run behind a child on a bike as they almost kill you with swerving.  It is back breaking.  The next night was easier.  We sort of just helped balance her as we jogged along side her.  Still, she had not fallen and we knew that to really learn full balance, we had to let go.

We went to a big museum parking lot with a big field next to it.  Ross gave her a push on the grass and she pedaled.  Finally, she fell.  But she got it.  They say three times a charm, right?  In that empty parking lot she totally ditched the training wheels.

Last weekend she went on a bike outing with her 7 year old friend Sean.  They were gone for almost two hours!  We were worried.  She was fine.  She can totally ride a bike!  She is working on some mean turns now.

I am proud and I am scared.  She can now crawl, walk, run, scooter, swim or ride away.  I am not going to think about driving.  It is just too much.

* I am linking up to the awesome Liz and Kristin for iPhone Photo Phun.  The pics were taken with my neighbor’s blackberry.  Yeah, blackberry people, your cameras are like doo doo.  I know, I had one.

Sophia absolutely loved it…and the yummy brownie.

This year as we were strolling along the beach we stopped strolling when we saw something sticking out of the tide as it rolled out.  It looked like the top of a large shell to me.  We eagerly started digging and found a giant conch shell!  As the morning progressed we dug up at least 40 huge conch (with nothing left inside except sand of course) and collected them to make a giant palace.  As we were admiring our hard earned shells, Sophia said she wanted a sea-shell treasure hunt at her birthday party.  With that, the ocean theme was born.

With every birthday party for young kids we try to have activities to keep them all busy and we always involve the kids in the planning and execution.  They love having a hand in their parties!  For the ocean theme we decided on simple blue and green ribbons, streamers and balloons for decoration highlighted by our DIY carnival style ocean games.  There is no need to go overboard with decor.  I promise – your kids will love balloons.  You already knew that though, didn’t you?

Here’s the lowdown on how we put together the party!  I will be posting a full DIY on the Octopus, Mermaid and Jellyfish so stay tuned!

The Invitations

We made these clam shell invitations on the computer and printed them out on some excess gold sparkly paper I had from my wedding!  Actually, this was the last of the paper but we have used it for every girl’s birthday party yet!  A little glitter paper and a little sparkle go a LONG way.

The Party Girl

As usual, Sophia wanted to be in costume.  This time she was a mermaid and for the first time in her life, she had the long hair she has been longing for since she was not even two.

Activities

We had a ball with these games…both making and playing them!

Ocean Freeze Dance – We made a huge ocean mix of fab songs like Wipe Out and Teenie Weenie Bikini and all things Nemo and Little Mermaid.  It was the soundtrack for the whole party.

Octopus Toss (Like Bean Bag Toss / Cornhole for kids) – we had fun making this and the kids still play with it every day!

Sea Shell Throw (Like the old Bozo Buckets)

Pin the Shell on the Mermaid – we made this gorgeous mermaid for this game and Sophia will hang it in her room as soon as I build a frame.  It was so simple and cheap and she really is a beauty!

Sea Sketch (Simple ocean outline with a pile of sidewalk chalk for kids to draw ocean creatures)

Jellyfish Pinata

Seashell Flashlight Hunt with Glow Necklaces and Necklace Flashlights – this was a HUGE hit.  We ordered glow necklaces in bulk and let the kids put them together as we waited for the sunset.  Then we handed out tiny necklace flashlights that were $7 for a dozen!  We hid hundreds of clam shells all over the yard and had the kids search for them.  Here is Miles in his necklace.

Food

We fed the kids dinner as the party was at 5:30 p.m.  It was simple: hot dogs, fruit, goldfish and macaroni and cheese.  The kids munched away and were rewarded with the goodies from the Jellyfish pinata and the Mermaid Fin brownie!  Yum!

Party Favors

The kids took home their glow necklace and flashlight as well as a giant conch they got to choose out of a big basket.  We wrote Love, Sophia on the inside with gold paint pen.

Overall the party was a big hit and once again, I am so glad to have not only the memories of Sophia and all her friends at the party, but of all the projects we did together getting ready for her big day!

There are more than 900 exhibitors here showing all the things I dig…things for little ones.  I have stumbled across fabulous travel products, awesome potty training aids, awesomely safe car seats with NEW features you will all love and some of the most beautiful baby items I have ever seen.  I will have a series of posts highlighting the best of my finds here!

As a mother and a blogger I am so glad I came to this show.  Not only am I making connections with companies that I would love to spread the word about, I am meeting so many awesome parents who are inventors and are showcasing their products.  I am amazed and inspired.

I love seeing prototypes of items not even available yet and providing my honest (as always) feedback.   I am in heaven with all the purples coming out this fall and winter.  Yes, baby items have some style folks and it’s coming my way!

I am having such a blast meeting these wonderful people and seeing their products I keep wanting to order things myself.  Maybe I could start a boutique or something because I am in love with some of these products!  I am sort of not kidding.

So tell me, what should I look for?  I am happy to scout around.  There is an entire maternity area for all my pregnant friends as well as anything else you can think of.  I have not hit the strollers yet because I might drool or pass out I love strollers so much..  What are you looking for on a stroller?  There is children’s furniture, a modern child section, baby products, feeding products, cleaning products and more.  So. Much. More.

So tell me, what are you looking for?

I am at your service.

If you are here at the show and I have not found you or seen your fabulous product please let me know!  I would love to stop by!

I also happen to be a lover of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang and also a giant amusement park fan.  So, it is no wonder that I jumped at the chance to attend a media preview of Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular at Carowinds.

Even better, I got to bring a date and I chose my daughter Sophia, who is just as impressed by glittering things as I am.  She picked out her prettiest white dress to prepare for the event.  In her words, “Mom, if this is a party I am wearing a party dress”.  She looks like a wonderful addition to the media in my humble opinion.

We sort of have a thing for meeting characters and have been known to wait in line for hours to meet certain princesses with very long hair at Disney.  We make our own autograph books and they rock! I thought my husband might die in line.  It turns out at a media event there are no lines.  It totally rocked.  We met the whole peanuts gang!  I had a mom fail moment as I did not realize this would happen and did not make her an autograph book like we do for Disney.  She forgave me after I promised I would have one for the next time.

After s’mores and Sprite in snoopy cups and some fun times with Bloggy friends Lisa, Jen and Maricris, the light show began!

There were millions of sparkling lights all through Planet Snoopy and I was so happy.  While it was not the spectromagic parade I am in love with, it was really enchanting.  I must admit I am a Peanuts fan, so the character cut outs made me and Sophia smile.

We got glow necklaces that were a huge hit and still are, weeks later when we light them up in the house.

There were spinning Peanuts shapes on the ground and fun music to dance to.  Yes, I always dance when music is played and my daughter is no different.  We shook our tail feathers!

So, Carowinds has gone all out with this Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular and even added a nightly fireworks show!  I. Love. Fireworks.

We’ve got our season passes and they have more than paid for themselves already.  Now we are just waiting for our next date night.  We will go at night, ride the biggest coasters and see the light show.  It will totally rock.

If you are coming through the Carolinas, consider a trip to Carowinds.  Thrills and lights and tons of rides for kids makes for a very good time!

Anyone else want me to be Media, because I loved my first real media event!

Disclosure: Carowinds invited me and a guest to the preview of the Snoopy Starlight Spectacular.  My opinions are my own.

I am so excited to start the What’s Your Word? series off with one of my favorite bloggers and a super swell friend, Melissa from Adventuroo!  There could not be a better lady to feature for the the word Adventure.  Melissa is the mom of two budding adventurers under five. When she’s not cleaning dirt out from under little fingernails, she blogs at Adventuroo and Momcomm, a new blog devoted to can-do blogging tips.  She is also super fun to tweet with and can be found @adventuroo.

Please welcome Melissa and don’t forget to link up your own posts! 

Adventure.

It’s meaning morphs and twists as we make our way through life.

When I was a kid, adventure meant making forts out of tattered blankets, jumping in puddles in the backyard and the occasional trip to an amusement park. We didn’t do many outdoorsy things when I was younger but that didn’t matter. When you’re a kid, adventure is sprinkled with imagination. Grab a large cardboard box and you’ve got anything from a castle to a race car.

When I was a teenager, adventure meant sneaking out an open window with my cousin to go toilet paper someone’s house with our friends. Or jumping off a highway bridge into a lake forty feet below. Um, let me just block this portion of my life out or I’ll sear my mind with futuristic images of my little boys as grown teenagers, doing dumb, dangerous things like that. Moving on…

When I was in college, adventure took many forms. One weekend it consisted of red Solo cups and free-flowing beer. The next weekend? Inhaling the summer air at the nearby lake.

What about those married years before children were even twinkles in our eyes? We climbed rocks, hiked canyons, traveled to new places and even hit Vegas a few times (if you’ve been there, you can’t argue- it’s an adventure).

I also had a huge bucket list tinged with danger: bungee jumping, skydiving, hiking the Grand Canyon from Rim to Rim. The only one of those I crossed off was the last one (and many, many other hiking trips). Nevertheless, I wanted all the thrilling stuff. The things that would give me an adrenaline rush.

And now? We have two young boys. The thought of bungee jumping scares the bejeezus out of me.

Instead, we’ve circled back to the things we enjoyed as kids. The things that fuse adventure and imagination together. Big Roo makes a mean “yucky soup” and Little Roo loves letting different-textured plants slip through his fingers as his stroller whizzes past them on our afternoon walks.

I’d argue that even taking the kids out to eat is an adventure. Although it isn’t necessarily always a positive one (squealing baby, anyone?).

We go on hikes but they don’t require navigating over boulders or camping ten miles away from any road.

Adventure these days? It’s smaller in many ways. It’s definitely less dangerous (and less dumb – oh those teen years). But it’s meaning is oh-so-much bigger.

Technology may change (my son’s never seen a VCR), music may evolve, but adventure comes full circle. I tuck my adventurous memories in the back of my brain and watch my kids experience it all for the first time.

I shape the way our children enjoy the world. I watch their curiosity bud.

Who knew so much was packed into one nine-letter word?

Now it’s your turn!  Link up your post on adventure and include the badge above linked back to this site.  The code is available on the sidebar.   Please visit a few other posts and show some love.  If you are tweeting about your own post or a post you found and love, please use the #whatsyourword hashtag so we can all follow along.  If you are seeing the series for the first time, check out the What’s Your Word page for a little more information.  If you have a word you know you want to be all yours, just shoot me an email to be the featured post for the week.

Show me your adventure and get ready for another round.

Next week’s word is Glee!  And don’t just think it’s a word full of honey.  Glee is defined both as great merriment and malicious satisfaction.  Take the word any which way!

How Smarcks Work

The blocks with the cute little eyes and nose are the Smarcks. These are the blocks your kids will love to figure out.

They attach to each other and to a set of building blocks that have of different shapes and sizes with different patterns on each piece.  The Smart Blocks have little pins inside that react differently when they are put on top of different blocks.  This creates the puzzle.  As you experiment with the blocks, you reveal different songs, nursery rhymes, letters or colors. There are batteries in the Smarcks that are replaceable.  Ours have not yet run out and we play with these blocks a lot.  These blocks can be used with Mega Blocks although they will not respond.  I still love this for making huge towers and being able to use toys we already had.  Each Smarck has a little brain that responds differently to different pieces but also to sequences.  These create harder puzzles for children to play an entire nursery rhyme or song.  You can also tickle your Smarcks and make them laugh.  Each block has a ticklish spot that kids can find by experimenting with pressing down the pins inside in different combinations.  Making the blocks laugh is always an accomplishment.

How to Play With Smarcks

We have had these blocks for a couple of months and still are nowhere near hearing everything they have to say.   You can use the blocks simply experimentally and over time kids will use their memories to attach the blocks they want to hear a certain saying.  My son Miles loves to hear the Orange Block say that it is Orange like a tiger.  He has figured this tiny puzzle out and starts with this every time.  He  also knows the ticklish spot on this block and likes to giggle right along with it.  All the kids LOVE to hear the nursery rhymes and songs.  Even Violet, at 14 months old, can put two blocks together and bounce to the music.

Smarcks are made for ages 1 and up but even younger babies will like the sounds and colors as their siblings play.

The Smart Blocks for the youngest children are the Color and Manner Blocks.  They each have cute sayings about what color they are and incorporate good behavior.  For instance, the green block says “I am a block that’s green and I am never mean”.  There are 7 color and manner blocks available in your standard rainbow plus pink.

The next level up includes the Nursery Rhyme Blocks.  These are recommended for ages 2 and up but again, they are still fun for younger kids.  These blocks play multiple different nursery rhymes sometimes all at once and sometimes line by line, depending on where you put them.  They also play animal noises with the Old MacDonald song.  This is a hit with the kids.  Again, sometimes my kids want to experiment and see what they can figure out.  At this level, there are puzzle guides available on the Talking Building Blocks website that give detailed picture guides to solve the puzzle.  I really like this.  Not only are the Smarcks building toys but they are also actually complex enough to help kids learn to follow directions.  Both Sophia (4) and Miles (almost 3) are learning to copy the pictures to make the blocks play in a certain order.  I think this is a wonderful skill for kids to learn.  This is teaching them to identify a block as a drawing and attach that mental picture to a physical block and then merge those two concepts to complete the puzzle.  It takes time and I can see them focusing, making mistakes and correcting themselves.  Here is Sophia counting to figure out what piece she needs next.

The third level block is ABC’s, Shapes & Counting Blocks. This level is for ages 3 and up but I have found that all the 2 year olds love them even if they do not spell yet.  Both Miles and Sophia love these blocks. The green counting block counts the sum of the blocks it is placed on.  The yellow shape block knows 8 different shapes on the top of the blocks.  The orange ABC block spells 26 words.  No, we have not figured out how to hear all 26 yet.  Exciting, right?  Sometimes I sit there and try to find another word.  Yeah, they are smarter than me.  The counting blocks are meant to  build a base for the final level, the Math Blocks.

The fourth level is the Music & Dancing Lights Blocks.  Listed for ages 4 and up due to the difficulty of solving the final puzzle, they are hands down my family’s favorite blocks.  They each play a portion of the Smarcks 15 verse song and they light up with the music.  You don’t have to have the sequence to hear the song in separate pieces so all the kids adore them.  Miles rocks out as soon as the block starts playing.  We finally completed the puzzle with the directions using almost every one of the 70 blocks.   It was hard and the kids loved moving the blocks around our tower to create the song!

The final level is the Math Blocks. These blocks are meant for children ages 5 and up.  Sophia is loving them at age 4.  They are not meant to teach literal addition and subtraction, but to talk about math and make it fun.  I love that we are starting to talk about math and even sing about it with these blocks.

Smarcks are Still Blocks

At the end of the day, the kids love all the games and sounds but they still love building a huge tower just as much.  The interaction just makes it more fun!  One of our favorite things to do is build the tower a little loose and then push down and make all the blocks talk at the same time.  It’s a wild sound and the kids think it is hilarious!  The blocks are easy to build with and even the littlest hands can grasp and maneuver them.

One of my favorite things?  The smart little blocks all fit right back in the bin they came from.  No shoving or pushing or arranging needed.  This means the kids can clean up by themselves!

Overall

It took a little time for the kids to start figuring out what the blocks can do so it took a little time for them to get really into them.  While they play with the blocks by themselves all the time, they get a lot more out of them learning wise with a little grown up direction.  As they learn, they need a lot less help.  The blocks are fun and truly add a new level of learning to building.  I love that they are fun for all ages and that all of my kids can safely play with them.  It is obvious that this toy was made after testing with kids.  The blocks talk in a sing song voice that kids like.  None of them are scary or too loud.   I think it is great that there is a level of difficulty with these blocks but that it does not prevent the kids from enjoying them.  As I said, the blocks work when simply placed on another block, but they do special things as you figure out the puzzles and sequences.  Overall I would recommend the Smart Blocks for home or for classroom play as they are both fun and educational.  It’s no wonder Smart Blocks won a Dr. Toy Best Picks Award and a Parents’ Choice Award.  They get a Mommy Words Wahoo too!

Where to Purchase

The Smart Blocks are available through the Talking Building Blocks site.  The basic 70 block set with the blue talking block retails for $29.95.  Each additional set of 3 blocks retails for $19.95.  There are a bunch of great specials to start your set and save money.

Giveaway

One lucky Mommy Words reader is going to win the Learning Set of Smarcks (Smart Blocks).  This includes the 70 piece building block set, the 6 remaining Color Blocks, the Counting, Shapes and ABC Block Set and the Math Block Set.  This is a special set that retails for $77 and that is 30% off the individually priced items.  This is a great set and will provide entertainment for kids of all ages!

Required Entry

You must be a Mommy Words reader to enter giveaways.  It’s easy, simply join through Google Friend Connect on my sidebar or subscribe via RSS reader or Email and tell me you are one of my lovely readers .  You can find the buttons at the top of the site or use the links I just provided.  Then visit the Talking Building Blocks site and tell me one thing that the blocks say or do.  You can listen to audio samples and read about each of the blocks on the site.  Let your kids listen too.  It’s fun!

Extra Entries

1.  Follow @mommywords on Twitter here and leave me your twitter name.

2.  Follow @TalkingBlocks on twitter here.

3.  Tweet about this giveaway 1 time each day and let me know you tweeted!  Please tweet – Win the Award Winning Smarcks Talking Block Set (RV $77) @mommywords! http://bit.ly/gOjbHr

4.  Post about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to the post and get 3 entries!  Just leave me the link in 3 comments.

Would you please consider liking Mommy Words on Facebook here and  Smarcks on Facebook here?  We would love to connect with you!  Remember to let Smarcks know that Mommy Words sent you and please share this giveaway with your friends – it’s the nice thing to do!  Just Like this post below or share it on your wall!  Thank You!

Giveaway Rules and Disclaimer: This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. It begins on April 1, 2011 and will end on April 14 , 2011 at 9 pm. One winner with a valid entry will be selected at random using the And The Winner Is plugin.  The winner will be contacted via email if I have his or her email and must respond within 48 hours to claim. Otherwise, another eligible entry will be chosen. Good luck!

It’s hilarious to watch Miles and Sophia play.  The mix of girls and boys toys makes for some rowdy encounters between figures.  Those brawny muscled knights and those beautiful buxom princesses have a much hotter life than I do, that’s for sure.

Miles:  Belle, I’m going to bang you!  Get ready.  (Miles attacks the princess with his knight.)

Sophia:  No, don’t bang me I’m a princess.  You will wreck my dress. (Sophia backs Belle away.)

Miles:  I want to bang you Belle.  And Cinderella I will bang you too.  Bang!  Bang! (Miles crushes the princesses with his knights.  The knights also bangs a girl in roller skates, Snow White, and Iridessa the fairy.)

Sophia:  No, no!

Miles:  I will bank you and stick you with my sword! (Seriously, I can’t make this crap up.)

Sophia:  Oh knight No! You need to save me from the dragon. (Waving princess in the air towards Rex, who is standing outside the castle.)

Miles:  Belle, I will bang the dragon and I will save you.  Dragon, I am banging you and sticking you.  (Miles attacks the dragon with his knight…and clearly is getting a little kinky.)

Sophia:  Oh thank you knight, do you want to get married and sleep in my bed? (Sophia lays belle down in the bed…she has a fascination lately with the fact that Ross and I sleep together.)

Miles:  I love married.  I will get in your bed, Belle. (The knight lays down in the bed with Belle.)

This goes on and on.  I cannot help but laugh hysterically as the kids do not understand at all what they are saying.  Miles tells me when he is going potty that he is going to bang me with his penis.  I kid you not.  I tell him that is not nice, but I have to choke back a giggle as my slightly inappropriate sense of humor rears its head.

So, ’round here knights bang princesses and then they get married.  How’s that for breaking class barriers?

p.s.  The Beast stood on the tower the whole time and never came to Belle’s aid.  Both of the kids still think he is bad.  But he always is placed in the tower first.

p.p.s.  The poor girl in the roller skates just got banged and not married.

p.p.p.s.  Sophia said the pretty pony was supposed to be guarding the castle.  I told her that pony did a pretty poopy job.  She just laughed.