Is it hot in here? Where are my glasses? These represent just a couple of the very erudite and enlightened everyday epigrams of midlife women:

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Yeah. We talk like that all. the. time.

Thanks to Marjie Killeen of FortyFabulous (and our contributor of Midlife Wisdom) for her instrumental participation in this fun exercise!

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Viva 2012. Happy New Year to all!

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Merry Christmas!

Every year at this time, we scour the internet looking for websites that bring out the child in all of us and help us (and our kids) get into the spirit of Christmas. Last year we found several Ho Ho Holiday sites and the year before, some Creative Christmas Magic Sites.

This year, we found another free site, PortableNorthPoleTV which creates a personalized video from Santa. What makes this one different? It’s not just for kids, but also works well for non-believers, aka teens and adults. Santa will tell them if they are on the naughty or nice list and why. Very cute and the smaller kids will think, for sure, that this is Santa himself.

Perfect for co-workers, neighbors, family members, teenagers (I sent one to my son, see below) and, of course, children. Have fun!

Warning: Slightly addictive and could take you away from doing actual work, but still so worth it!

Plus, do not forget to track Santa at NoradSanta.

Merry Christmas!

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Happy Father’s Day to our wonderful dads!

Being around small children during this time of year, it is not hard to get into the festive mood. They see  joy and wonder every where they go; from Mall Santas to Christmas lights strung about. To add to the magic of Christmas here are some ever-so-sweet sites, all of which are free to use. Yes.

Last year we mentioned www.NORADsanta.org here and we want to mention it again. We LOVE this site for its appeal to children while being educational, since it is part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Today is the first day to start tracking Santa. Don’t forget to head to the North Pole village for a new educational game every day up to Dec 24th. It’s like an on-line Advent Calendar.

Do you want to receive a phone call from Santa? Santa Claus will call you all the way from the North Pole for free. Really.Just go to ChristmasDialer.com, put in your phone number, choose one of three messages and Santa will call you within minutes. It is that easy!

Here is a chance to show your little ones that Santa does exist by creating a video of him in your own home. Simply upload a photo to theSantaVideo.com, pick a Santa and watch him unload the Christmas gifts and enjoy his milk and cookies. Merely fill out a two minute questionnaire and get the video for free. Just make sure your kids don’t see you on this page or you will have gone ahead and burst their Santa bubble.

And let us not forget JibJab this holiday season. Get your family and friends on the Holiday Rocks video or the other JibJab Holiday Sendables! You can post it on Facebook for free.

So, here is to you and your family. May you also experience a bit of wonderment during this holiday season. Merry Christmas.

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Happy Thanks-giving!

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The word pretty is unworthy of everything you will be, and no child of mine will be contained in five letters. You will be pretty intelligent, pretty creative, pretty amazing, but you will never be merely “pretty.” Katie Makkai

Powerful stuff this poetry.

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Have you ever noticed the younger the child the more questions they have?  My two young daughters are full of them. From the easy one like “why do I have to brush my teeth?” to more difficult ones “what is tapioca?”.  Uh…

I learned from my son, who is now a high school senior, that all questions are important, no matter what. It’s my answers that need some fine tuning. I discovered this great website called Whyzz.com.  It is simple to use and all answers are written so that they are perfectly understood by children. For each answer there is also an exploration segment that offers fun related bits of info.

Most of my daughters’ questions tend to be asked while in the car or when running errands. You’ll be glad to know that Whyzz.com is optimized for most popular smart phones devices, such as the Iphone, Blackberry, Palm Treo and Nokia. Just type whyzz.com in the browser of your phone and get the whyzz answers on the go. Now, I no longer have to answer questions that I don’t know the answer to with my standard “because God made it like that” answer. Whyzz is way more satisfying for all of us.

Oh, and fyi, tapioca is a starch that comes from the root of a type of plant known to most people as “cassava”. Now we know.