I am not ready to let Madison (my 4 year old) use a real fishing pole yet. Right now, I envision many hospital trips if she had one. However, we have several magnetic fishing pole sets, and they are awesome. Basically, she goes fishing in my living room almost on a daily basis. She spends several hours catching her fish and then throwing them out back on the floor. Will (my one year old) likes to get involved in the game too. He either plays with the fish or tries to pretend to be the fish and grab the end of the string. The ball pit we have is a boat so it ties in quite nicely. The only thing we are missing is one of those gps tracking devices for fish. I really need to get a picture of her sitting in that boat with her pole. It is super cute.

I highly recommend a magnetic pole until you are comfortable that your children won’t cause serious damage with a real one. I don’t think Madison is ready this summer either for a real one. However, she is completely happy with the magnetic fishing poles and we’ll keep her using those until she is ready.

I just tried doing a google search on this awesome water and I can’t find anything about it which is crazy. I decided that the world definitely needs to know about this water.

We originally bought the Clear Excellence® Sparkling Flavored water, because we were having a hard time getting Madison to drink water. The plan was to buy flavored water and see what happens. Actually, this turned out better than we expected. This water is carbonated, so Madison thinks it is soda. (Yes, I am a bad mom and didn’t correct her.) She thinks it is awesome that we buy her soda every time we go shopping. Granted, this isn’t as exciting as say getting a new pair of sexy shoes, but exciting in our house nonetheless).

Madison now drinks water and loves it.  I have tried a few of the flavors (and there are a lot of them), and they aren’t too bad.  Mommy might have to start drinking water now too.  When on sale, I can get a 1L bottle for $.69.  Not on sale they are usually a dollar a piece.  However, if it gets Madison drinking water it is well worth it.

The LeapFrog Word Whammer is a great accompaniment to the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set. This is the next step up from that (we aren’t quite up to having to worry about the best acne treatment yet, but we are slowly getting there). Instead of just working with single letters, your child starts working with words. The words can only be three letters, so it is truly for beginner reader. There are three settings on it: Letter Hunt, Word Builder & Word Hunt. Letter Hunt allows the them to learn letter names and sounds through fun songs. The Word Builder setting lets them play with letter combinations, and you are able to create over 325 words. The Word Hunt setting allows them to spell three-letter words and then replace letters to make rhyming words. This toy has really gotten Madison interested in reading and spelling. It has really perked her interest up into reading books again. You don’t have to have the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set to enjoy the Word Whammer either! This toy is definitely on my must buy list.

LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set is another LeapFrog product that is a huge hit in this house. This was a toy we got when Madison was little and now Will plays with it. They both love it. When you put the letters in it, they tell you the letter name and sound. It also sing a song for each letter: “The A says Aaah, the A says Aaah, every letter makes a sound, the A says Aaah.” This entire set (base and letters) can all be conveniently housed on your refrigerator. It isn’t as exciting as getting a set of Callaway irons, but this is a great toy to pick up for your house. It will give your kids hours of fun!

One of Madison’s favorite toys is the LeapFrog Leapster TV Learning System. Now, if you read the reviews on this either you love it or hate it. The biggest complaint is that the graphics stink. Well, I agree. The graphics aren’t the greatest. However, I have a 4 year old who really doesn’t care about that. She loves the playing the games, and I love that the games are educational. She is learning and doesn’t even realize it. The other part that I love is that all the Leapster games work in here. Right now, this is the only Leapster system we have. However, we have been eyeing up the handhelds ones for the long car rides to Green Bay. The fact that those same games will work in here is a huge plus for us. The system is extremely durable. Madison plays hard with all her toys and we’ve had this over a year, and she hasn’t broken it yet! Each game has multiple levels, so when you child gets better at they can still play the game.

The Adventures Of Elmo in Grouchland is one of cutest kids movies I have seen a while. Elmo won’t share his blanket with Zoe (his friend) and ends up losing it in Oscar’s can. He journeys to Grouchland to get back his blanket and along the way he learns a lot about taking others feelings into consideration. Huxley (the villain) has his blanket, along with a lot of other things that don’t belong to him and Elmo tries to get his blanket back. It definitely teaches the kids about sharing without them even realizing it. It is a little over an hour, so it perfect for little ones attention spans. There are even a few jokes thrown in there for the adults! However, this is truly a kids movie. You don’t have to worry about diet pills or adult language here. It is a Sesame Street classic with all the gang.

Super Fly Guy is a fun book all kids should have. It has the some of cutest illustrations as you can tell from the cover of the book. Madison likes it and giggles every time we read it. The story is about a fly called Fly Guy and a little boy called Buzz. Buzz takes Fly Guy to school and you get to read all about it. Fly Guy doesn’t land on the teak furniture. Instead, he lands in the lunch room which leads to all sorts of chaos. If you want to find out what happens from here, you’ll have to read the book.