Another show that we like to watch at our house is Little Bill. This is another show we watch on Noggin. Little Bill is 5, so Madison completely relates to him. The show is based on Bill Cosby’s book series, and he works with a panel of educational experts too! As an adult watching the show, you really get a feel for how a child sees the world. My daughter gets to learn that she really can make a difference. There definitely is an emphasis on family. You get to see Little Bill work his way through things such as what to do when you are snowed in to learning how to do a somersault.  You will often hear Little Bill saying “Hello Friend!”. This was inspired by the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation. This foundation was established in memory of Ennis William Cosby, the son of the Bill Cosby.

Your son or daughter won’t learn the ABCs watching this show. However, they will learn about self esteem, dealing with conflicts, and developing social skills. It also won’t bore you to tears.

On Tuesday night, my family and I tried the new Pizza Hut Tuscani Pastas. They are 50 oz containers of either Creamy Chicken Alfredo or Meaty Marinara. You don’t have to do anything special — you just order it just like you do when you order pizza. The pasta dishes are $11.99 and feed a family of four. As you can tell from the picture of Will, this was a big hit for our family. We ordered the Meaty Marinara, and there was not one noodle left. When Pizza Hut was twenty minutes late, I was all ready not to like the pasta. However, it was piping hot and it was good.

Not only do you get the pasta, but you get five breadsticks with your order too! Pizza Hut has the best breadsticks ever, so this was a nice addition. This is something we are definitely going to be ordering again.

Now, if you want to try this at your house, I have a great deal for you. I’m having a giveaway for anyone who lives in the US. I will give the winner a a coupon for a free pasta dinner from Pizza Hut. I’ll make it super easy too and give you several ways to enter.

1. Leave a comment on this post. One comment only please and let me know everything you did for your entries in that comment.
2. Blog about this giveaway linking to this page or my home page.
3. Stumble this post.
4. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed.

I’ll be running this contest until May 16th at 10PM CST. Good luck!

Another toy that you must get if you have kids is the Laugh & Learn: Learning Home. This came out several years ago, but is a huge hit at my house. There is just so much to play on with this! The door open and shuts and allows your children to crawl through it. The light turns on and off. There is a mail box slot and the flower spins. The window opens and closes. Up on top, you can turn the thing with the moon on it, so it shows the sun. Of course, there is a corresponding noise with all these actions. On the other side (which this picture doesn’t show), there is a little mini radio for the kids to play with. It has 4 stations and the kids can hit that and hear just music or it singing the ABCs to them.  At this point at ten months, Will is really not sure what to do with this. He does play with it a little. Madison, however, is in seventh heaven. I don’t think she remembers playing with it, and she played with it a lot. At 4, she is enjoying this.

This is one of the more pricier toys to get your kids. However, it is another toy that is worth every cent, because they will play with it for years!

Babys First Library – ABC is a book we actually received when Madison was a baby. It is a great book for little babies and toddlers alike. Each page has a letter on it with items that start with that letter. They have a picture of the item and the word written underneath. For example, A has apple, angel, ant and ambulance. Since Madison is on the very cusp of learning to read, we are using this book to do some very elementary sounding out words with a lot of the words. The pages are made out of cardboard, so they are very durable for whatever your children can put them through. This book falls under my highly recommended list.