Skylar likes to play cowgirl sometimes. She rides on the stick horse, or just walks around twirling her jump rope (which I think is her version of a lasso).

The other day she brought a tower made of big Lego blocks into the kitchen to show me, set it on the table, and left it there. Later that evening, I was clearing the table for supper. I told her to come and get the blocks and put them away. By this time she had moved on to playing cowgirl. She said, “Cowgirls don’t do that.” I said, “They do when they leave their blocks out on the kitchen table!” She promptly picked up the blocks and put them away .

Tonight she was playing “Super Girl,” and she told me that Super Girl doesn’t read books! Where does she come up with this stuff? I guess it’s called imagination…or just being contrary!

Am I the only one who had not noticed the big red movie rental machines inside Wal-Mart stores? Maybe so, but I have discovered them now! My husband and I were just talking recently about the price of renting movies at Movie Gallery, and how expensive it is to rent new releases (and their definition of “new” is questionable ). Then, thanks to The Centsible Sawyer, I discovered Redbox. More importantly, I discovered how to get free movie rentals from Redbox!

If you go to Inside Redbox, you can get promotional codes for free rentals. Right now they are posting codes on Mondays…we got our first movie today for free! It is a one night rental, so in order to be free it must be returned before 9 PM the next night. The other great thing about Redbox is that the movies are only $1.00 per night, so even when you don’t have a code you can get a cheap movie rental! There are other codes, too, and The Centsible Sawyer has been posting some codes on Sundays, too. Check out her blog for this and other deals.

Using Redbox is not hard. It has a touch screen and takes you step by step through the process. There is a button to touch for renting with a promotional code. You will still have to swipe a credit or debit card to rent the movie, I suppose so they can charge you if you don’t bring it back. To find out if there is a Redbox near you, go here.

As I have mentioned before, Kristin is teaching Jacob’s science lessons about anatomy on Thursday mornings while I take the other kids to preschool story time at the library. They have worked hard learning about the brain, heart, and kidneys/bladder over the past several weeks. They are using a book, but Jacob is inquisitive and wants more detail than the book goes into, so Kristin has expanded the study to satisfy his interest. Of course, it is simplified compared to what you study in college, but for a 5 year old kindergarten student, it is a lot of information.

Today Jacob had his first science test. Kristin made up the test, and it was pretty hard. Jacob did a great job, and only missed 2 questions for a grade of 96%! We are really pleased with how well he is doing. He is learning the information, and is also learning how to study. If you would like to see the test he took, click here.

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, visit 5MFM!

Check out my husband’s blog to see videos of Jacob and the deer he and his Papaw got!

I went by Movie Gallery this afternoon, and came home with “The Spiderwick Chronicles.” If you haven’t seen this movie yet, you should! I have not read the books on which it is based, but the movie made me want to. We all enjoyed it, adults and kids. OK, JonDavid played or climbed on me through the whole thing, but everyone else enjoyed it!

“The Spiderwick Chronicles” is about a family who moves into an old house and discovers a world of magical creatures. Some are good and some are evil, and they have to fight the evil ones. The creatures are very well done (though one certain flying creature bears quite a resemblance to the hippogriff in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”). There are tense moments that could be frightening for small children, but my kids did not seem to be upset by them. There is plenty of comic relief worked in, which helps, and there is a happy ending for everyone (unless you are one of the evil creatures, of course).

There is one curse word, and God’s name taken in vain a few times. We watch movies using a TV Guardian, so we don’t actually hear the profanity that is used. However, I do not like to recommend movies without letting people know that those things are in there.

Noah asked about the puppy dog cupcakes that I made for JonDavid’s birthday. You can see the complete directions on Wilton’s website. I softened Tootsie Rolls in the microwave and shaped them to form the ears and nose, and used M&Ms for the eyes. I also colored some icing dark pink and used it to make tongues. That was the only change I made to the Wilton design, and I thought the pink tongues were really cute. That was my husband’s idea!

A happy birthday boy

Pizza

Cake

Balloons and presents