I have always kept a tight reign on media in my house. As a former schoolteacher, I had witnessed all to often the rude and disrespectful behavior and thought patterns in kids who had a steady diet of certain television shows. Now that my kids are 16 and 18 I am proud to say that we were able to ignore pop culture and got along just fine without The Simpsons, Rugrats, Spongebob Squarepants or any of their other obnoxious cohorts. I can honestly say that my kids were too old when Dora, Handy Manny and Caillou came out because I have seen some of those little kids cartoons and they were really annoying too.

Is there a cartoon character you don’t like or don’t allow your kids to watch? Leave me a comment and let’s discuss it!

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To me, Dr Pepper is the one of the nastiest things I’ve ever tasted. When I was a teen we said it was carbonated prune juice, ick! The mixture of 23 flavors is not at all pleasing to me but, my kids like so who am I to judge?

Is there something you can’t believe your kids like? Let me know in the comments.

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This one is easy! I asked each person in the family what the creepiest toy we ever had was and we all had the same answer…Furby!

Back in 2008 a friend’s son got a Furby, a cute not-so-cuddly electronic robot toy. Aaron wanted one sooo bad, so for Christmas he got the Santa Furby.

Santa Furby

Furby talked a weird alien-like language called Furbish but it is programmed to “learn” English. It often sounded like he said “Furby E-bay” and “E-bay dance” before it started dancing. Furby’s eyes blinked and he was activated by light and “slept” in the dark.

A few years after receiving our original Furby, who was buried in the toy box, Jordan received another Furby as a birthday present. This one was possessed. The batteries were dead and occasionally the eyes would blink or he would randomly dance. Once while cleaning the boy’s bedroom, Furby was moved and he came to life and freaked us all out. Furby finally headed to the garbage because of his bizarre and scary behavior.

What is the creepiest toy your child ever had? I’d love to read your stories so let me know in the comments.

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This can be summed up in a photograph.

A Disney Cruise

As you know, we are HUGE Disney fans and we LOVE to cruise so we dream of taking a Disney cruise!

What vacation would you like to take this year? Leave me a comment and let me know.

The post A Dream for 2012 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

In all honesty in high school I was a goody-two-shoes kind of girl and rather naive. The only alcohol I drank before I was legal was given to me by a senior boy on our 10th grade chorus exchange trip to NYC. I didn’t realize what had happened until after I had missed the 2nd act of the Broadway Musical we were seeing, barely made it back on the bus to the home I was staying in and then slept until it was time for our concert that evening.

We moved from Massachusetts to Florida for my 11th grade year and I had to work hard to be accepted into the tight-knit band and chorus programs at Venice High School. One of the things I did to be accepted was skip Algebra 2 to hang out with a senior trumpet player. We skipped together 3 times and once we even went to his house where his mother prepared lunch for us! It worked though, once we were friends I was accepted into the band family.

So, now at age 47 my mom knows I cut class 3 times and since she reads my blog I know she’ll leave a comment too

What did you do that if your parents had found out at the time it would have meant big trouble? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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Jordan needed a new laptop. His died just as school was starting this past fall and because we use Switched on Schoolhouse for some of our homeschooling he has to have a windows computer to do his schoolwork on. Since the death of his old, hand-me-down laptop he had been doing school on a desktop that Aaron had pieced together so we could make do until we could afford a laptop. My husband found him a great laptop and we split the cost with my in-laws.

Christmas Eve we are at my in-laws opening gifts and we get to the laptop box, which hubby had wrapped. We don’t usually open our big gifts on Christmas Eve so Jordan wasn’t expecting his laptop until Christmas Day. He starts to unwrap the gift and well, I’ll let the photos tell the story.

Jordan and the box

Inside the box, on top of the tissue paper was an Etch-a-Sketch!

Then, under the tissue paper, he found his laptop.

We all got a good laugh! Hubby said there was extra room in the box and he wanted to put some kind of gag gift in there so he went to the store and looked around and when he found the Cars 2 Etch-a-Sketch he knew it would be the perfect “old school computer” to put in with the laptop.

On Christmas Day hubby showed off his Etch-a-Sketch skills!

Did anyone in your family get any retro toys for Christmas? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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Let me start by saying we have been in our small house for 20 years. For their entire lives my boys have shares a 10×10 room with a small closet. The room worked ok with 2 toddler beds and even with 1 toddler bed and one twin bed but when we went to 2 twin beds there was just no room to play. I had suggested bunk beds to my husband for years but he was very anti-bunk bed. Most of the ones we found in stores seemed too flimsy and didn’t seem safe enough for my 2 little monsters. We put off getting bunk beds for two years because my husband was so against them.

Then one day in the spring of 2004, the boys were 11 and 8 at the time, I found free plans for bunk beds online. The sure seemed sturdy enough so I downloaded them and showed them to my husband. The boys went away for a weekend camping trip with Royal Rangers in April of ’04 and we did a “While You Were Out” makeover on their room. We painted the walls and built bunk beds out of pressure treated 4x4s and 3/4″ plywood. It was a lot of work but the room came out great.

The boys loved their new room and especially the bunk beds. Unfortunately, it is now 2012 and the boys are 18 and 16 and still sharing those bunk beds. The worst part of it is that my 16yo is the tallest and biggest of the boys and he is still on the top bunk. The positive is we built some sturdy beds and they can hold the weight of two teenage boys.

I never thought I’d find bunk beds in my boys’ room. What have you found in your child’s room that you didn’t expect to find?

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There are days or even seasons when I have felt there is too much television in our house. Currently, we are not in one of those seasons. hubby and I watch Chuck, Body of Proof, Last Man Standing and Switched at Birth regularly and we are fans of The Amazing Race, The Sing-Off, Dancing with the Stars and Survivor when they are on. My guilty pleasure is My fair Wedding with David Tutera.

My 18yr old son watches Chuck, Body of Proof, Burn Notice and NCIS with the occasional American Pickers thrown in for good measure. My 16yo son watches Chuck, Tanked, Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Top Gear and The Amazing Race.

Thankfully, the invention of the DVR has allowed us to plan our TV time around our lives instead of our lives around the TV schedule. Almost all of our television watching is done via the DVR when school work and chores are complete. I don’t think we watch too much television and we seldom watch alone so we dialog what is going on while we fast forward through the commercials.

I didn’t list any sports…we are fans of NASCAR, Tampa Bay Rays baseball and college and pro football but watching sports doesn’t take precedent over other family plans.

I think we have come to a comfortable balance with our television watching and with our kids being older we no longer set limits on screen time for them. How about you? Is there too much television in your house? What shows are must watch television for your family? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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I admit it, I am a hugger I crave the physical contact of a hug. I need that connection with other people. I can tell when I haven’t gotten enough hugs because I drive m family crazy in the evening hugging them every time they walk by!

Is there something you need daily? Coffee? Chocolate? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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My special place isn’t a quiet place-I don’t like quiet, I can’t relax when it is quiet, I know, I’m weird. My special place is Walt Disney World. Yes, that noisy, colorful, magical hub of excitement is where I go to unwind. I know it sounds strange, but it is true. We have been passholders on and off for the last 12 years. We schedule 3-4 mini vacations throughout the year but some of my favorite trips are our one day escapes. When life gets overwhelming and stress is building up, I just look at hubby and say, “You know what I need?” and he checks his schedule to see if he can join me. Some days I go alone-though I don’t enjoy my solo trips as much as when I have a companion. Sometimes it is just hubby and I or just the kids and I. We just need a Disney day to escape the stress and get a new perspective.

We have rules too. No talking about work/finances/whatever is stressing us out, from the time we get in the van to drive the 90 minutes to the most magical place on earth til the time we pull back into our driveway. After an escape to Walt Disney World I am usually tired but energized at the same time. My problems look different after a day riding It’s a Small World or Soarin’.

Yes, my special place is unconventional, but it is mine all the same. Do you have a special place? Leave me a comment and tell me where it is.

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