Recently in kid's stuff Category

Brian and I have been baby proofing our house for months now that Andrew has mastered walking and climbing low objects. However, we were still struggling with what to do about our brick fireplace hearth. We considered buying one of those specialty gates that go around it, but they are pricey. In the meantime, we simply blocked off the sitting area by the fireplace with our dining room chairs entwined like a puzzle. (Yeah, that was real attractive.) But our incredibly small Hercules always figured out a way to move the chairs or wiggle his way through them. Finally, I saw a perfect solution in one of those parent magazines sitting in the doctor's office. A mom suggested using one of those connect-a-mat floor puzzles to cover the hearth. Brilliant. We tried it and I'm happy to say, it works! (At least until Andrew discovers how to disconnect it.)

Once a week Bella and I have a movie afternoon, where we make a picnic lunch indoors and watch a kid-friendly movie together. (I know my family in So Cal has a hard time understanding summer weather that is cold and drizzly and not 100+ degrees!) Our latest movie was The Water Horse by Walden Media. I wasn't sure if it would be too scary for her since she is leery about any kind of "monster," but she really enjoyed it.

A friend was telling me that Walden Media (which brought us such movies as The Chronicles of Narnia, Holes, Charlotte's Web, Bridge to Terabithia etc) is owned by a Christian man who wanted to make movies that were both entertaining and moral. Here's an interesting article on the subject from msnbc.com.

"Narnia" Studio's Mature Approach to Kid Flicks: Walden Media's Films Prove That Moral Uplift Doesn't Have to Be Preachy

Let me be the first to admit that, on paper, the very idea of production company Walden Media makes me skittish. For one thing, it's owned by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who's given lots of money to the Republican Party and to anti-gay causes like Colorado's Amendment 2. Add to that the fact this mega-rich Christian conservative wants the films that come out of Walden "to be entertaining, but also to be life affirming and to carry a moral message" and all my warning buzzers go off. So how is it that I've become such a fan of Walden Media's films? ( Continue Reading)

A friend emailed this link to purchase a Miniature Mass Kit . I remember when my little brothers used to "play" Mass. They would have loved to have this set back then!

A friend told me about a new Catholic magazine for kids that is trying to get started. There is definitely a need for one so show your support here: St. Mary's Messenger

PfLAUM Publishing carries a number of Catholic teaching resources, including this Catholic Kid's School Planner.

This morning Bella and I were watching Playhouse Disney and the new Wiggles Christmas show called Santa's Rockin came on. I was happily surprised that it is even more "religious" than past Christmas shows. There were numerous songs about the Christ child and character dressed as Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and Baby Jesus. There was even a song about Our Lady of Guadalupe and various religious images of Jesus, Our Lady and nuns praying in a church! I couldn't believe Disney had a show so blatantly Christian, if not Catholic. In fact one of the reviewers at Amazon gave the DVD a low rating precisely because it was "too Catholic". That's a definite plus for us! Check it out. (It'll be airing on Disney again Christmas morning.)

A few weeks ago I purchased the saint coloring books mentioned in the article below. The books are bilingual in English and Spanish and cost $5 each. (Proceeds help the excellent apostolate Catholic World Missions.) The titles available are:

Fresh Flowers in Winter: Story of St. Juan Diego (The one that started it all.)

Let the Children Come to Me: Blessed Imelda's First Communion Miracle (Also available in a special First Communion Packet.)

Viva Cristo Rey! The Courageous Saints of the Knights of Columbus (as mentioned in the article below.)

The Story of St. Faustina, Missionary of Divine Mercy (This one is tri-lingual in English, Spanish and Polish.)

God's Little Flower: The True Story of Saint Therese of Lisieux (This is a Co-promotion with Luke Films to aid the release of the motion picture THERESE.)

From an Angel in a Dream: The Story of St. Joseph, Mary's Husband (This one was illustrated by John Webber, formerly an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation.)

And Coming Soon � Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

You can order the books individually here or get one of the package deals to save on S&H.

Also check out the Glory Stories Radio Dramas on CD/tape. (kids can read along with their coloring book.) We bought the grand-slam packet with all the books and CD's and we think they're great. Check it out!

Okay, you either love 'em or hate 'em. If you hate 'em, don't waste your time and skip this post!

Personally we dig the dancing aussies, although we weren't able to see them in concert this week in CA. But we do send our congratulations to the recent (last month) wedding of Paul Paddick (Captain Feathersword - also known as "Paddy") to Charmaine, who was "Pirate Charlie" in the older Wiggle shows.

Anthony Wiggles (a new husband and papa himself) reports:

Gday all, just got back from Queensland, with Miki and Lucia, attended Paddy and Charmaines wedding! The wedding was beautiful, [Paddy cried] on seeing his future wife coming down the aisle, his brother was best man, all the Wiggles and the Wiggly dancers were there! If I knew how to post a photo from the wedding I would. Paddy wore pin stripes brown suit, Charmaine looked like a Really Beautiful Princepessa! All in all, a deservedly beautiful wedding for two lovely people! Good luck and God bless both of them! Well everyone, looking forward to seeing you all in concert soon. Happy wiggling to everyone, Antonio"

Thanks to my new Australian friend Mary Joseph (you're such a sweetheart!) I found out that Anthony Field of the Wiggles (the guy in the blue shirt) and his wife Mikaela just gave birth to their baby daughter Lucia Maria Angela Field. Anthony's brother Paul posted the news on the Wiggle site this morning. Congratulations!

As you know Bella is a huge Wiggle fan and their countless CD's have accompanied us hundreds of miles of traveling to grandma and grandpa's house. I admit that when I first saw the Wiggles (pre-Bella days) I thought there must be some kind of homosexual agenda going on! But after looking up info on the guys and their work I was happy to see that Greg (yellow) and Murray (red) were husbands and fathers with little kids.

Last May Anthony joined the married set during a nuptial Mass at his family parish Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church. If you want to read more (or see a pic) check out Sydney's Catholic Weekly.com or the news article "Bride's something blue was a Wiggle."

Along with the Wiggles being family men (although Jeff is still single) I also like that on their Christmas videos instead of having only "Santa songs", they sing "religious" carols around a Baby Jesus in the manger with little kids dressed as Mary and Joseph. And they have also been using their fame to help out worthy organizations such as St. Vincent de Paul's charity work. These things, and the fact that their music is wholesome and upbeat, keep me and Bella doing a lot of wiggley singing and dancing.