Web....what?

kinz. The Easter Bunny brought us the world of Webkinz this year. How did I stay out of that world for so long?? I don't know. Frankly, I'm feeling ambiguous about it too. On the one hand, it's a great learning tool. On the other hand, my computer time is now severely limited.

For those of you in the dark, Webkinz are stuffed creatures (typically pets and farm animals) that you buy for about $15 at toy stores. You then take them home and register your animals secret code on their website. Then the fun begins. You get an empty room to start. Various other objects are given to you as well as some money. From there, the possibilities are endless. Think SimLife on a kid scale. You play games to get Kinzcash and you perform 'jobs' to earn cash. With that cash, you can buy food for your animals (you have to keep them fed or they'll die) and you can buy items for their rooms from furniture to toilets to accessories (you have to keep them happy too).

From that nasty E word standpoint (educational), they've built in some great features. One of our friends animals said his favorite food is a lollipop. So our friend kept feeding the animal lollipop after lollipop (that's a hard word to type!). His hunger meter was good but his overall health wasn't. He got sick. So our friend took him to the vet and the vet said he needed vegetables and rest.

Some of the games are re-dos of very common games like Tetris and Pong, etc. but spruced up and animal-themed. There are also harder card games that require you to think and there is a big section of trivia questions too. When Rose ran out of money and her animal was getting hungry, we talked about better use of her money (Matthew has no problem talking her into spending HER money but he's a good saver in his own game) and I stayed up one night to get her some money after she went to bed. Now I find myself wanting to log in and play a few rounds just because the games are fun. I did tell the kids that my birthday is later this month and I'd love my own Webkinz. teehee

You can also chat with your friends who are online (chat uses only pre-approved words so it's kid safe), and invite those friends animals into your animals room. It's a great online world for the kids. :) Rose and Matthew have each bought another Webkinz already.

So if you don't hear from me soon, just envision Matthew, Rose and me vying for the computer. ;)

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Today is Linnae's first birthday. We expected Hubby to be out of town this week so the big party isn't planned yet and he ended up not being called out. So we'll have a little pizza party tonight with her (she likes to chew on the bones a.k.a. crust) and a larger extended family party later in the month.

She's marine crawling all over the place. She's starting to get up on her knees and hands but my other kids never really crawled in that sense either. FIL likes to tease that it's because Grandpa was a marine but I think it might have something to do with the hardwood floors. If you're in a sleeper (which mine are mostly for their first couple years...lol) and you're on wood floors, it's easiest to pull yourself with your hands and let your body slide, seal-like. I think on carpet, you don't slide and getting up on knees is really the only way to move around. Regardless, she's also trying to pull herself up. I keep telling the kids to kick her feet out from under her - I mean, really...do I need another walker?? - but they won't do it so I suppose that's around the corner too. Where DID I put that gate for the stairs?