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If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I LOVE GLEE. I am a #GLEEK. I was in show choir in high school and quickly became addicted to this cool show about uncool students making show tunes cool again. I cannot get enough!!

Since I couldn’t wait until the next season of GLEE, I turned to YouTube to get my fix. So here are my top GLEE videos. All of these are taken from YouTube so please forgive sound or imperfections.

1. Don’t Stop Believin’
I loved this song back in the 80′s when Journey came out with and GLEE resurrecting it, reminded me of high school all over again. I never get tired of this video

2. Teenage Dream
The Warblers were about the coolest thing to be added to GLEE after the original cast, of course.

3. Defying Gravity
Having never seen Wicked, I was mesmerized when I saw this scene. Where did this song come from? I had to find out. Now I have tickets to see Wicked when it is here in town.

4. Hey Soul Sister
Another on by the Warblers with Kurt. My kids and I sing this song so this had to be on the list.

5. Total Eclipse Of The Heart
Just seeing Rachel in that stupid owl sweater is worth watching the video

6. Born This Way
AWESOME! So sorry for the backwards shirts. I couldn’t find another video where the words read the right way.

7. My Life Would Suck Without You
The last part of this video makes the whole thing worth it! I love a good love story

8. I Dreamed a Dream
The voice on these two women gives me chills! And this song?

There are a few songs missing from this list. That is because the videos (the songs can be heard though) are not on YouTube due to copyright issues. They are:
Keep Holding On
Take a Bow
Vogue – with the fabulous Sue Sylvester

What did I miss? What are your favorite GLEE songs?

Headlines have been, yet again, trumpeting statistics about how American children lag behind many countries in math and science skills. With high school seniors performing below the national average for 21 countries, one worries about the fate of the country that gave the world electricity, airplanes, rockets, the internet, and lasers, to name a few.

Save our scientists! Learning about math and science begins at home. You can teach your kids about rocket science by launching a bottle into the air (experiment is in here!), oceanography by removing salt from water (experiment is in here!), and hovercraft technology with a CD or DVD, a balloon, and a plastic bottle cap.

Perfect for science fair projects and keeping little people occupied during breaks from school,Workman’s Mad Science Club presents 12 easy, safe experiments for kids taken from the pages of our books about science. Check out the link to each downloadable experiment below:

• Experiment 1: ”Magic finger” excerpted from Pop Bottle Science by Lynn Brunelle
• Experiment 2: ”Raisin water ballet” excerpted from Pop Bottle Science by Lynn Brunelle
• Experiment 3: ”Chip-ship challenge” excerpted from Potato Chip Science by Allen Kurzweil
• Experiment 4: ”Two-stage rocket” excerpted from Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 5: ”How moving!” excerpted from Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 6: ”The CD Hovercraft” excerpted from Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 7: ”Frankenstein’s hand” excerpted from Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 8: “ Wilbur’s Flying Machine experiment” excerpted from Potentially Catastrophic Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 9: ”Barnard’s Heartbeat Experiment” excerpted from Potentially Catastrophic Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 10: ”Portable Puke” excerpted from Oh, Yikes!  by Joy Masoff
• Experiment 11: ”X-periments” excerpted from Oh, Yuck! by Joy Masoff
• Experiment 12: ”The Oh, Yuck! Putrid puzzle” excerpted from Oh, Yuck! by Joy Masoff

To go along with these tools for teaching and fun, check out the “OFFICIAL MAD SCIENTIST” diploma !

Thankfully, Better Homes and Gardens online is here with some terrifyingly easy decorating, cooking and costume tips that everyone can use!

Get your Stencil On!

Unsure how to decorate your pumpkin? We can help with our easy-to-download pumpkin stencil patterns that are hauntingly cool.

Last Minute Halloween Costumes for Adults

They kids are dressed and ready to go trick or treating, but what about a costume for you?

Here are seven fast + fabulous ideas that you can pull together in no time.

The best part: You probably already own most of the items you’ll need…

Halloween Cupcakes ~ So Delicious, They’re frightening

Funny Mummy faces, cute spiky haired monsters, haunting witches… check out these and other creative ideas for Halloween cupcakes.

Carve a (Virtual) Pumpkin

Create a unique virtual Halloween pumpkin with easy to use carving and scraping tools.

Share your jack-o-lantern with friends and family or go ahead and print out your pumpkin stencil to use while carving a real pumpkin!

Sweet & Spooky Halloween Drinks

Gremlin cocktails, Ghoul’s Punch, Haunting Hot Chocolate…these drinks will add flavor and fun to any Halloween celebration. Cheers!

Holidays Made Easy ~ Love creating seasonal magic? Sign up for our holiday e-newsletters offering tons of easy, useful, inspiring ideas and recipes. Join now at BHG.com/holiday email and get ideas daily from October through December.

Follow BHG on Facebook, too!

My family is crazy about Halloween. We celebrate it every year and spend months planning costumes, decor, etc.

This year, we will be carving scary face pumpkins. Decorating with bats, spiders, webs and so much more. We have grand plans this year!

We will be shopping for all sorts of Hershey candy. Always making the list are: Kit Kat, Hershey Kisses, Twizzlers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and several other candies.

We will also be handing out candy in our neighborhood. I love seeing all of the creative costumes that trick-or-treaters come up with. My husband will take the kids around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat as well.

According to a national survey conducted by The Hershey Company, personal candy preferences may provide insight into Halloween costume choices. Highlights from the survey:

About 30 percent of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Kit Kat Wafer Bar and Hershey’s Milk Chocolate lovers will do the monster mash this year as a vampire, witch or monster.

Fans of Twizzlers Twists may get the chance to show their dance moves as they twist the night away dressed in garb from the 1950s. More than 41 percent stated they plan to dress-up in period piece costumes from different eras of the 20^th century.

Jolly Rancher lovers will most likely sport a cape on Halloween, as 23 percent expressed a desire to channel superhuman powers as their favorite superhero.

What are your plans for Halloween?

I am entering a contest for a Hershey’s Halloween prize pack as a member of the Mom Bloggers Club.

Did you know?

• since 1980, the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for children ages 2 – 5 and more than tripled for children ages 6 – 11.

• Between 1981 and 1997, free playtime among 6 to 8 year olds dropped 25% and homework more than doubled.

• Since 2005, the amount of time children and teens ages 8 -18 spend watching TV, playing video games, or surfing the internet increased from 1 hour, 15 minutes per day to more than 7 and a half hours per day. (That’s more than 53 hours a week and more than most adults spend on their full-time job!)

• An increased focus on standardized testing has resulted in the reduction or elimination of recess in about 40% of American elementary schools, and in some districts, schools are being built without playgrounds.

What’s a parent, health professional, child to do?

Marlene Byrne, an award-winning children’s author and advocate of unstructured playtime, has come to the rescue with PROJECT PLAY—a movement to get kids away from their televisions and into the backyard for exercise, creativity and old-fashioned fun.

With more than 20 years of experience as an advertising agency owner, spokesperson, and writer, Byrne is using her creative talent to inspire today’s overscheduled, electronic-focused, and dangerously overweight generation of children to get active. Through children’s books, community activities, andschool curriculum, Byrne is bringing back the nostalgic memories of her youth and teaching children backyard games like pick up baseball, kick the can, and ghost in the graveyard.

A unique approach

As the founder and author of Project Play (www.ProjectPlayBooks.com), Byrne is not the first to call for more unstructured playtime among children. But while there are countless initiatives to increase children’s activity levels, few of them aim directly at the children.

Instead of lecturing families about the benefits of unstructured playtime, Project Play shows kids firsthand how much fun backyard games are through the power of action-packed fiction and fun community activities, including storytelling, treasure hunts, and the “Great Moments in Backyard Play” contest. Project Play also offers writing clinics to schools to get kids writing their own stories about their favorite backyard games.

By tapping into the playful nature of children and their innate desire for more independence, Project Play is an effective way to get kids off the couch and active again. Kids love the idea of creating their own games, negotiating their own rules, and entertaining one another in backyard play—none of which can be found by watching television, surfing the internet, or playing video games.

Project Play’s series of fictional children’s books teaches children how to create their own fun through colorful stories about the Edgebrook gang. Instead of letting parents, coaches, and teachers tell them what and when to do everything, kids are inspired by the books to take charge of their free time.

By following the lead of the characters and storming into the backyard to create their own games and rules, readers are getting the exercise they need while developing important social skills like creativity and negotiation. And all while learning classic, backyard games, fun playing strategies, and unique game rules through the adventures of “Play It Again Sam” and his Edgebrook friends!

“It is as equally important to be creative as it is to be smart.”

Byrne, a mother of two young kids herself, considers Project Play an extension of her work as a Chicago ad agency owner. Driven by her belief that “it is as equally important to be creative as it is to be smart,” and that “creativity begins developing during childhood playtime,” Byrne founded Project Play as a new way to spark creativity on a daily basis. She wants to help families feel good, not guilty, about their kids just playing in the backyard.

In a letter published on BusinessWeek.com, Byrne wrote, “Our kids need time to round up their peers, play ‘kick the can,’ even scrape their knees. Our job as parents is to make backyard playtime a priority—and be there to supply the band-aid afterwards.”

Beginning on Monday, November 23rd, Sprout will begin running an on-screen crawl from Sproutlets and viewers saying what they’re thankful for.  Check out the site and upload your message here!

Also, on Thanksgiving morning, sproutlets can call in (with mom or dad of course) and speak live to our on air host, and say why they’re thankful.

This is just some of the fun to be had with Sprout this Thanksgiving! Check out the Sprout website for some great kids crafts including the Sproutastic coloring sheet:

Click below to experience the Thanksgiving fun:

Don’t forget to there will be a live call-in that will take place on Thanksgiving morning beginning at 8:45am ET on Thanksgiving morning. Note that this number will not be live until that time. Please call  877-91CHICA

HAPPY THANKSGIVING SPROUTLETS AND PARENTS!!

My husband cracks me up. Sometimes he is just so silly. Today is my birthday. I am not gonna tell ya old! He has been texting me all day. A little while ago I started getting these emails with hand gestures. One after another.

I wrote him back and asked him what the heck he was sending me. His response was to send the last picture below.

He sent me a freakin’ message in sign language. I am too tired to even figure it out. SOMEONE HELP ME!!

Ok this is a fun one. I haven’t participated in a while because I really haven’t had the time. But I couldn’t resist jumping in for the fun this weekend. The topic is 6 costumes that you think would be fun for the bedroom. So here goes:

1. Lois and Hal from Malcolm in the Middle – although I am not sure that would technically be a costume but it sure would be fun!

2. Nurse and the patient

3. School Headmistress and the student

4. Tarzan and Jane (sorry Karen, I had to steal that one from you. It’s a good one!)

5. Mr. and Mrs Incredible – ha ha ha!

6. The Princess Bride Couple

*Button by the Fabulous Kas at Southern Bella’s Ways to Save

We just back from our weekly dinner at Outback Steakhouse. My four year old who eats like a bird nothing finished first, of course. She laid down in the space next to me. I was still eating dinner so I just let her plus there were not any other tables around us.

I look over and see her laying on her back, with her knees up and legs spread ala “feet in the stirrups style.” I am instantly horrified. I make her sit up and explain to her the a lady does not sit like that. We don’t just lay around with our legs spread.

Then I explained to her that she didn’t even have a bite of her dinner. I said, “You need to have a few bites of your food at least before you can be finished.” I left it at that.

She then eats a few bites of her broccoli and the baby (our two year old) comes over to her side of the booth.

She then puts her arm around the baby and begins to lecture her:

“Babe (this is what she always calls her), you cannot lay down on the booth. But if you do, you cannot spread your legs until after dinner. You have to at least get dinner first.”

Truer words have never been spoken. Right?

Have a little moment that you want to share? Link up here and I will come visit.