BABY ALIVE REFILLS

LeapFrog LeapStart Learning Gym

As Baby lays under this LeapStart Learning Gym by LeapFrog, his batting, pulling and grabbing is rewarded with flashing lights, world melodies, animal sounds, classical music and more. As Baby grows, this Learning Gym transforms into a hands-on learning center offering fun songs, games, counting lessons, introductions to 5 different languages, and more. Includes a Parent's Guide for suggestions on getting the most from this fun, educational toy. Imported.

This interactive learning toy will grow along with your infant. There are two modes: one for infants and "lie-down" play and the other for older babies and "sitting-up" play. Lie-down play consists of a musical mode and a learning mode. In learning mode your baby can listen to the "Hello World Song" sung in five languages while watching the bright primary colors of the motorized mobile whirling away. In music mode your baby will hear over 10 minutes of music from around the world. For sitting-up play, detach the mobile and your child will be ready for some of the following hands-on learning activities: spin the world ball to hear "hello" in five languages, play peek-a-boo with the mirror, spin the animal roller to hear animal names, colors, and counting. These same buttons will play songs in the music mode, the most impressive of which was the world vocal chorus we heard when we opened the mirror. Thoughtful and engaging, this toy should hold your child's interest for a long time. Requires four "AA" batteries (not included). --Megan Sullivan

What you are about to read is a real story. No names or places have been changed to protect any innocent. The details are graphic and should not be read to children as a bedtime story. However, I have ommitted the details to reduce the gore so you are about to read a real story with toned down graphic gore. I am not making this up.

Tuesday night I went to my parents' house to use their pool. My Dad immediately began gesturing wildly to me to come look at something. It was a snake, in fact, the snake pictured above. He was really excited about it. In his words:

"The snake started over there, by your Mom's honeysuckle and has been hunting its way all along the pool fence. It's methodical. I'm amazed."

We continued watching the snake hunting in a very methodical way around the pool house and to a wire that runs up to the roof of the pool house. The wire is also in the above photo.

Though also amazed, I left the scene but soon returned upon an extreme amount of excitement from my Dad. When I had left, the snake had wrapped himself around the wire and was ascending the wall toward the roof. I am not making this up. I saw the beginning part of it.

What I missed was the snake entering the birds nest (Phoebe Somethings my Dad told me later). The mom and dad had been sitting in the nest, pensively watching the snake and uncertain of the fate of their 3 offspring.

The next few moments are a blur. The snake entered the nest. The mom and dad fled, along with an older baby who could flit but not fly. The smaller baby flopped out and hit the ground, 10 feet below, where it lay, stunned. The snake was out of sight for a moment then we saw the telltale sign: a wing helplessly flopped over the nest. The snake was strangling the baby.

We were torn! What trauma yet what excitement! This poor disrupted family! The cunning and methodical hunter snake! Hooray for him, he would live another day on this meal for which he worked so hard!

Thoughts were interrupted by the snake- I am not making this up- crowd diving out of the nest and hitting the ground 10 feet below with a loud thump.

There he consuemed the baby, now dead from the strangle, head first all the way to the feet. Success and failure!

The other baby was but a few feet away. Its beak opened and closed repeatedly-- feebly. We are not quite sure why; perhaps in attempst to call for help, perhaps grasping for air, perhaps in confusion looking for a regergitated meal.

My Dad, totally taken by the moment, nudged the baby toward the snake. We are still not certain whether this gesture was valliant or villanous; the baby was destined to die soon and this sped up the act. The snake began an immediate strangle and we watched the bird draw down its last breaths. Then, when lifeless, the snake positioned his very small mouth at the head of the bird. He unhitched his four jaw hinges and began to consume the bird whole. In the photo, shoudl you chose to view the gore, you will note a lump in the middle of the snake representing the first bird. The second bird is mostly consumed.

The snake consumed the second bird and very quickly moved the second lump back toward the first lump, we assume where digestion woudl take place. A very satisfied snake then slithered around and finally away. Success.

In the meantime, there was a total trauma underway. The older baby bird (or perhaps just bigger) was on the ground under a mesquite tree. The cat was coming over to see what the people were doing. Dad left to take Sydney to dinner so Mom and I were left to observe. We tried to comfort the momma and daddy birds in their horror. They sat low in the mesquite and repeated the saddest, most mournful bird song we have ever heard. Linus the cat came closer. The mom and dad began to tremble, the branches trembling beneath them.

Mom and I went closer, debating whether to let Linus consume the last baby. Mom and I found in our hearts we too mourned for the lost babies, though we understood the circle of life. We felt badly for these parents who had nursed their offspring to an age only to lose them. We would rescue the remaining baby.

Of the few roadblocks to our plan, the largest was language. We could not communicate to the birds our inentions. As we drew near the baby, Linus also closed in. However, Linus never spotted the baby. He ended up just hanging out. The mom and dad didn't know that, however, and began to dive bomb. They flew around and around, swooping and diving and flittering and fluttering, never close enough to be caught, by woman nor cat, not that either species tried. Finally, with the sun dropping behind the mountains and clouds ablaze above, I realized the effort was hopeless. Actually, I started wondering if they woudl get so crazy they woudl try to peck my head.

Mom thought this was a silly idea but we agreed perhaps if we left the scene the cat would come with us and the mom and dad could commiserate with junior.

Some high school girls showed up.

March 24th, 2008

With every passing day, I develop A.D.D.
Not literally but it's how I feel.

I've been getting way behind on this 365 project and it's all due to my sleeping pattern. See, I go to bed around 3 or 4 in the evening and then wake up around 11 or so. I then stay up all night and do it all over again the next day.

So today will most likely be filled with internetness, entertainment from the TV, reading, cleaning and other crap like that.

I am going to try my hardest to stay up until 8-9 tonight. Hopefully I will succeed.

Today has been nothing but boring. We were supposed to take Catie to the hospital but everyone excluding Mom fell asleep. John dreamed away on the couch and I chilled in my room. I had a really good sleep but got woken up by Catie purposely plopping down on my bed. I'm pretty positive I was a bitch to her because I'm almost always a bitch when someone wakes me up.

She told me baby names. NOW, NOW, let's not get ahead of ourselves..

She's not pregnant. She thought she was because she got sick but it turned out to be a urinary tract infection.

I fell asleep after she told me the baby names and woke up around a 11 something. I didn't hear anything.
No Talking.
No Music.
No Laughing.
No Games being Played.
No IM's.
No Nothing.

I woke up and looked in everyone's room and they were no where to be found. It was peaceful, but bloody silent. I just assumed that David had picked them up and took them to the hospital.

Turns out, I was right. David's car pulled up out front and everyone was in it -- including David's Sister.

David's Sister, Jonelle and I go waaaay back. She's the one who got me smoking at a ripe age of 11/12. Anytime we would ever go swimming she always pushed me under and held me under so I wouldn't come up for air.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, She's one fucked up cookie.

They drove off and then John, Catie and Mom came in and told me about their 6 hour hospital stay. They waited forever and ever to get seen and it took a half and hour to get the IV out of Catie. (just because the nurses here are retarded)

Sooo they told me about it and it sounded really crappy. But at least Catie isn't in any serious harm. =)

After that Catie cooked homemade French Fries and I ate just about all of them. She then made tuna casserole. It was good, but I was soo stuffed from the fries.

Truth: I am a French Fries addict. Gimmie French Fries or hot dogs and I'll eat practically all of them. That's just how good they are. YUM!

Other then that, I've started officially reading Vampire Kisses 2: Kissing Coffins. It's really good! I absolutely love the series so far, but I kinda think Ellen Schreiber should do Manga for the whole entire series. Then, I'd be ecstatic!

I lovvve the main character Raven, she's so freaking awesome!

Anyway...My throat hurts and I am sick of sitting here so I'll probably go read some more. I might also make some more Hot Chocolate. Mmmm.

Oh and by the way...I'm thinking about getting into Dance classes. I think it'd be awesome. But for now I'll probably just do it in my room.

It was February 1, 1960.
They didn't need menus. Their order was simple.
A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.

This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.

Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the "whites only" Woolworth's lunch counter. Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirror the hope, strength, and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men, but also countless others.