Left Coast Mama » VeggieTales

If You Like to Talk to Tomatoes

Gwen — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:15:46 +0000

At our house there is almost always some sort of music on at least in the background. We sing out loud and proud and Aidan is no different. Luckily he seems to be (so far) taking after me in the vocal department and after his father in the rhythm department.

We play all kinds of music and Aidan loves to move and sing to it all. You only have to hear him singing “Ruby” by the Kaiser Chiefs or “Somebody Told Me” by the Killers to know that he has exquisite taste. He also knows all the words to the “7,8, 9″ song by the Bare Naked Ladies. Just for his uncles he also knows most of the words to “Story of My Life” by Social Distortion, and he is our singer for Rock Band, especially “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones.

Just in case you think that this sounds like a very grown up set of songs we also love to sing “When Cats Go Wrong” by Norm Hacking and any of the Veggie Tales songs. Gotta love singing the Veggie Tales theme while going down the grocery store aisle. Sure you get a few looks but I fully expect to use it to calm the new babe as easily as it used to calm Aidan.

“If you like to talk to tomatoes,

if a squash can make you smile,

if you like to waltz with potatoes,

up and down the produce aisle;

Have we got a show for you.

Veggie Tales, Veggie Tales,

Veggie Tales, Veggies Tales,

Veggie Tales.”

Come on and sing it with me now. Don’t be afraid, let your inner vegetarian out and join the song. “You Rock!”

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as an entry for a contest sponsored by Bush’s Beans. Join in the fun! You could win one of two $500 Best Buy gift cards. Can you say my husband’s and FIL’s Christmas taken care of?

© 2008 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | One comment
Related: Aidan, Blog Blast, Parent Bloggers Network, Singing, VeggieTales.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Gwen — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 03:44:41 +0000

I was hoping to post this entry yesterday, but I tell you, whoever thought that a “Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” party theme was going to be a snap, was obviously kidding herself. I was finishing the pinata and still sewing the pirate vests at 12:30 am the night before the party and I finished them (at least the last vest) the next morning. Now those of you who know me, yes I did procrastinate, but I also had visitors for most of this week. It is also very hard to hand sew the pirate vests, and make them look halfway decent. I do know now that I can borrow Monette’s sewing machine if I undertake this lunacy again. Who am I kidding if course I will do something equally insane next year. Of course this was the day that all 4 boys needed naps and the start time was a little late because they all had to be wakened up. I did think for a few minutes that if everyone didn’t come I would strangle myself with the pirate vest and hats.

WPvideo 1.10

Pirates who don’t do anything

03:14

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The morning started early (after Anthony and I didn’t get to sleep until very late) though I am sure that Aidan didn’t know that there was something different about yesterday. I needed to finish the last vest and then use the metallic paint pen to decorate the edges and since they looked a little bard the pirate happy face patch on the backs of all of them. And, oh, we still needed to finish making the cakes, clean up thee house, vacuum, have lunch (I skipped breakfast), get Aidan down for a nap and make the best two train table setups we could. We also wanted to get Aidan to open his presents slowly so that he could take some time with each and play with them. We had planned to open some the day before but things got in the way. Anthony also squeezed in putting Aidan’s new toy organizer from Ikea. I have no idea how we managed to do as much as we did before the guests came.

Aidan with his new Bob the Builder Bench, and a Hammer that makes noises when you hit it. Hmm, yes this was from his Aunt Paula. He loves it, but I really need to find the speaker and tape it up to lessen the noise.

Aidan with his new track set for his “TRAINS!”

Anthony and Aidan with “47 Beavers” by Phil Vischer

Aidan opening a gift from his Tati Lynn.

At 3: 30 Monette and M. were the first to arrive and we had our first couple of wrinkles. M. had just woken up and Aidan woke up when the doorbell rang. That doesn’t usually bode well but both kids seemed ok, that is until M. got upstairs and he saw the cat sleeping in the basket. I didn’t realize that M. is afraid of cats well all animals after being terrorized by a small dog a few months ago.) So the poor kitties were locked in the bedroom for the kids portion of the party. Very soon after Gen and T. came and then Hebaaq, Bret and J. were there. The other thing of interest is that it was also a virtual party for the folks back east. My mom and Grandmother went up toJohn and Kathy’s to watch the party on the big screen. They also had cake. It was a little hard to be interactive with the party back home but I think tney enjoyed watching the boys and their parents having a good time playing with the trains and cars. The boys looked really cute in their outfits and all was well. (At that point I realized the work was worth it.)

Aidan and T. (back to front)

Group shot of the boys and the parents. (What possessed me to wear stripes yesterday.?)

Aidan in the foreground, Bret, T. and J. and Gwen (me). The vests look pretty good on, don’t they?

At about 4:30 the party really got going when I brought out the pinata. It is made to look like Pa Grape from the VeggiTales “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything.” The boys liked it well enough and I had it rigged so that when I removed the pipe cleaner from the bottom that the treats would come out from a trap door in the bottom. I really didn’t want 4 two-three year olds with a stick trying to break something. Yes you get the picture, encourage them to hit things indoors? I am not crazy. The parents especially seemed to like the punching balloons and blew them up right away. I wasn’t exactly expecting that but the boys had a grand time and it brought M. na dJ. out of their shell and they were the life of the party from then on.

Captain Pa Grape

Punching Balloon, Yeah!!!

Then it was time for cake. Anthony made cupcakes so that we could have each of the boys blow out a candle. Oddly enough all the boys except Aidan were quite happy to do exactly that. Aidan didn’t want to be anywhere near the candle. That is right, my boy is afraid of fire. He did like the cake though.

Mmmm Cake! Happy Birthday Aidan.

After cake and just befoer the boys went home we lined them up on the sofa and took a few pictures in their vests and Hats. Of course Aidan didn’t want to at that point so I had to be in the picture too. Anyway I thought they were cute.

J., Aidan, T. and M. The Pirates

The Birthday Pirate with an Attitude.

After all that excitement and the fact that Tomer and Carla came over afterwards meant a difficult bedtime routine, but eventually the boy went to sleep and Mommy and Daddy breathed a sigh of relief.

And so ends the factual post of the Birthday of the Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything. Check in tomorrow when I blubber about how my baby is now not a baby anymore.

Penaten, Penaten Everywhere, and Not a Drop of Rash

Gwen — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:14:00 +0000

This morning after Aidan had a short nap and T. was down for the count I decided to read my scrapbooking book. Aidan was happily watching Veggie Tales or baby crack as we like to call it here, and I thought I was safe. Aidan was moving around a bit but his attention was still on the songs so I really thought I could read. He then found the tin of diaper cream, you know the really thick zinc oxide. I thought (stupid me) that it was ok, because he was engrossed in the Veggie Tales and he couldn’t open the tin anyway.

Now to be fair (to me) he is always quiet when he watches these songs and usually he doesn’t even move, so it really wasn’t any quieter than usual to get my mommy radar going. When I looked up Aidan, the coffee table and all of the clothes he was wearing were covered in diaper cream. Silly me I went down to get my camera and started a video conversation with Anthony at work before I cleaned him up. Well, I guess that it was the parent in me. I couldn’t be angry at him as it was totally my fault for under-estimating his ability to open things.

So, check out the pictures and laugh with me. I think the shirt and the pants are done for.

After a lot of work, baby wipes, dish soap, soaking, baking powder, Spray n’ Wash, detergent and a super hot Super wash most of the Penaten came out except for a little stain on the shirt. Wow. I thought they were done for. Now if only the Spray n’ Wash didn’t have such a bad smell. I have had a migraine since spraying the clothes.

Tags: Veggie Tales, Penaten, Into the mouths of babes, Messy baby, Spray n’ Wash

Baby Crack

Gwen — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:39:00 +0000

No, not that kind of crack. The kind that keeps them glued to one spot. The kind that lets you strap a mask on the poor child and get through a half hour of medication into a struggling infant. The kind that lets you take the child you are taking care of downstairs for a nap and knowing that you son will not have moved at all. You know that he is safe and not showing you how small he can make himself by going under the baby gate and into the always fun bathroom. (Or going down the stairs by himself in a tumbling scare your mother to death kind of way.)

Yes boys and girls I am talking about the Veggie Tales Sing Along Videos. They are better than any other tv show. Aidan has always liked them. In fact when he was very small I used to feel guilty about letting him watch tv at all. But I soon got over it when I realized that I could actually get something to eat or, god forbid, go to the bathroom.

Now that I am taking care of my friend’s son, it is the most valuable piece of toddler equipment that I own. I am so glad that I discovered the effects of Veggie Tales.

What about you? What are your best forms of baby distraction?