and the winner is . . .

The contest came to a close Friday. And while, of course, some of the ideas suggested were not new to us, but it’s always nice to remember other things or see who else enjoys doing similar things as we do.

Here is a quick rundown of suggestions by so many of you. Maybe I’ll even throw in my own witty, responsive commentary to your suggestions. Or just commentary.

Mrs. M to the Third (or by adding Mrs. does that make her M to the 4th?) suggested edible playdough. Seriously. Seriously? Edible play dough? I’ve heard of that, but how about ew, gross for my response? :-) Although that did remind me that it was time for a few new batches of non-edible play dough. I love to make our own play dough. It’s really easy and last a long time. I can make large batches of each color so there is plenty to go around to six pairs of hands. And I keep it in sealed up zip-lock bags inside an empty ice cream tub. (We buy it by the gallon in those plastic containers and reuse them for anything that needs a bucket. Plus they have handles!) Thank you, MMM for reminding me to make more play dough. No links or pics (her blog is privy to special people like me.)

Karen of Pediascribe, well, we’ll get back to her later.

MK suggested a seeing who could make the best wedding dress out of toilet paper and tape. This will surely cost more than $15.00 as it takes plenty of TP and tape rolls per dress and with at least four wanting to play that game – that option is out. I’ll ignore her number two suggestion, but just may use her idea to have a Scavenger Hunt with bonus points for items I’ve been missing that get found. While she didn’t send any photos she attache this link in the e-mail. Hilarious.
OH, and I’d love to link you to her blog but they don’t ever update it anymore. PPBBBTTT. I have even tried enticing them with the best blog host they could have and to help them get off that Xanga place, but they won’t bite. If they tried WordPress they might actually blog again. Just saying.

Kim suggested that we play with Legos. Oh, and we will. That’s a daily thing around here. And we love Dominoes. Our favorite variation of dominoes is called Mexican Train. It’s been a while, that will be fun to pull back out.

Now back to KP (Karen of Pediascribe). Hmm? Let’s see. How do I put this. Karen is, well, can be, sometimes, Freakin’ Hilarious! And her spawn? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Poor Dr. Mike. (Don’t worry, Internet. She knows I’m joking around with her. and that I lurve her very much. You know, in that, like, Internet friends sort of way. *squeeze*) I think her pictures say it all.

And we’ll leave it at that.

Hollie made the suggestion to have some puppet theater time. This is a great idea.

We have some puppets at the library and my children love them. We have few puppets around here, but I should start collecting them again. The ones we have came from the dollar store for, guess how much? Nope. Ninety-nine cents each.

Lorimo said that we should make a huge mess outside with tons of water balloons that will never get picked up and then get found by some bird who might swallow it and choke and die! NO she didn’t. That’s just what I tell my children when I don’t want to deal with the mess of water balloons in my yard. Seriously, I’ve already bought some water balloons. SHHHH! don’t tell the children yet. It’s a surprise.

She also suggested water painting. Or maybe I could just give them all scrub brushes and make them clean the bricks on the house where they ground in the sidewalk chalk. Just kidding. Like this idea a lot.

Man, I’m morbidly sarcastic today. It seems to only be getting worse. I better wind this up quick.
And for inside play, she made some great suggestions like the Fort. I did this all the time when I was little, but I forgot how fun it was. See? this is why I asked for suggestions: to remind of what I know, but forgot.

Last, but not least, Reba suggested a twist on the puppet theater that reminded me of my 6th Grade Social Studies class. Oh, man that’s a post for another day. I’ll have to remember that one. I’ll have to wear some Depends the day I write that one.

So, I think that is everyone. Here we go:
With the names in a bowl

for a very cool prize

and my trusty assistant at my side

we announce the winner is . . .

Congratulations, Hollie. If you will send me your snail mail addy I’ll get your prize to you.

Thank you all for playing. Let’s do it again real soon.

More photos at the flickr set.