“Rain, rain, come today; so I can play a computer game!!” – McAffee Girls

When my kiddo’s are done playing outside, they tend to get underfoot….which drives me crazy! During the winter and early spring when the weather is unpredictable, I love to find cool websites to let my kids visit.  I have two I would like to share with you.

Our recent favorite, which we re-subscribed to after Annika had her tonsillectomy, is Pixie Hollow.  It is $5.95 per month (totally worth it in my opinion) and if you have girls that are in love with fairies and pixies, this game is so much fun!  I frequently even enjoy a game of Harvest Hustle to help my brain relax before bed.  My kids love being able to go on adventures, play games, host parties, design and decorate their own pixie house, change their pixie’s look, and even “safe chat” with other players.

Disney has done a very good job with this game when it comes to your child’s safety.  And, if you don’t want your child to chat online yet, there are many options in the parent settings so you will feel comfortable.  I feel completely safe allowing my child to play without me hovering like a helicopter.

While the game is mildly educational, it is fantastic at helping my girls learn about Internet gaming etiquette, and when both of my girls play, they have fun hosting pixie parties together…yep, together!  Any activities they enjoy doing together definitely gets my attention!!!  Remember…Pixie Hollow.  It’s worth a one month trial!

While my 10 and 7 year old girls are busy in their pixie land, my 4 year old loves to play Disney Princess games.  She glides the mouse around and tries new games until she finds one she likes.  Some are a little complicated for her level, but, most of them she figures out faster than I can.  She loves Rapunzel and Cinderella the most so I keep my eyes open for games featuring those two princess.  The site owners are great about updating and adding new and interesting content.  This website is free and but, it is also less secure than Pixie Hollow.  http://disney.go.com/games/#/games/princess. 

What are some of the fun and/or educational sites you let your kids enjoy?  I would love to hear what websites you find kid-worthy!

~Beka

MamaBird says “Where to start?”

A Nurturing Nest

In 1999 my dear husband and I lived in Murray, Utah; a quiet, clean and conservative little town just outside Salt Lake City.  We lived in a small two bedroom apartment on the ground level and enjoyed a walk-out patio that was level to the large field of grass outside the building.  Our apartment was in the direct path between two small ponds on the premises.  Nearly every day we would see a family (or 5) of ducks roaming past our porch and across the grassy path to and from the ponds.  I decided to take pitty on them one frigid winter and I began to feed the pathetic looking birds.  However, I couldn’t stop.  I found myself feeding them more and more frequently and I would sit on the carpet in my living room with the sliding glass door open just a smidgen, and feeding them dried bread that I had purposely left out during the day while I was at work.

Later on in the spring, I noticed the mama ducks had not waddled past for at least a few days, and was surprised when I discovered one day that there were five  little baby chicks following ever so closely to their mother.  Since I am obviously not a bird, I don’t exactly know what the mama birds and their new chicks were doing, I guessed she was showing them the way to the ponds.  When I tried to feed the little chicks, the mama duck was quick to put me in my place.   No one was to get too close to her chicks!  Eventually as the babies grew, I slowly attained the trust of the mama bird and she would allow her ducklings to come abnormally close to my glass door.

It was so much fun feeding them and watching them grow and  it was an experience that helped me realize that I was nearly ready to be a mama bird myself.

In the past 10 1/2 years of experience being a mama, I have learned so much about my girls.  Considering my husband and I met online 17 years ago (that’s right…before it was popular) I shouldn’t be surprised that I have an abundant collection of websites and blogs, each giving insight to having well-rounded chicks.  Unfortunately, the stork was out of “How to Raise the Perfect Child” guide books when my babies were delivered.  So, I have had to also rely on informative books and articles to help me in my child rearing abilities.

Consequently, I have helped friends and acquaintances find resources to aid them in their own nests.  Topics like education, recreation, fashion, frugality, food storage, kid safety, modesty and LDS (Mormon) resources are some of the most common.  So, what my goal (my New Year’s resolution…and seeing that it’s the middle of February I’m already not doing so well) is to list and discuss different mama bird topics each week and offer some ideas of mostly media resources that my friends and maybe some new friends will enjoy and benefit from.

I hope to help inspire individual ideas in each of you mama birds to support you making your own nest a safe and happy place for your chicks.

With love from my nest to yours!

Beka