Why I Oughta...

That's the "Alien pig Queen" on the top courtesy of the Bird. A scribbled-on two-eye and a heart (drawn by his sister) guy faithfully sawn based on some of the drawings of the King of the Ball Tossers. And....a masked guy as created by the oldest one - The Babe. Unlike in past years, these have stayed inside our front porch, not on the outside porch.   Here's a post from back in 2014 showing the ways I have kept them free of squirrel bites .

For the King of the Ball Tosser's 2nd birthday, I gave him a collection of three different vehicles including this Police Cruiser from Candylab Toys .  I came across these guys on Kickstarter and have backed them with their latest project featuring some mid-century cars like a stationwagon and a few race cars. But, they also had earlier projects that were backed featuring cars that they billed as "heirloom" toys that included this cruiser you see in the box above . The latest cars are set to come sometime before Christmas and they had more than 1K backers and raised more than $120K to launch the new line .  So, we'll soon have six of them knocking around our house. After opening up the cars including the cruiser, the kids all tooled around the floor with them (briefly!) and then quickly moved on to other stuff.  Isn't it always that way when there's a pile of presents on the floor awaiting to be opened? These are, seemingly, pretty special toys and ...

Late in September, I posted a few photos of a special Lionel/Disney Dumbo boxcar that I picked up for one of the kids this year and just this week I received another Disney pre-ordered boxcar.  This time it is the 50th Anniversary of Winnie the Pooh in O-Gauge boxcar form. And just like with the Dumbo car, this Pooh Bear car comes in a pretty nice "Disney Railroad" box.  Took pics of the front, a close-up of the photo of the car on the back of the box and the product listing on the side label that you can see below. As I mentioned in the Dumbo car post, I wasn't quite sure who that one was destined for (amongst my kids and nephews), but this one?  The Pooh Bear one?  That's for the one and only Pooh Bear lover in our family:  The Bird.  She sleeps with a Pooh Bear every night!  He's her favorite.   Well...Ariel might be her true favorite, but Pooh Bear has been there through it all! Have to say that I'm a sucker for Disney/Lionel crossov...

A few nights ago, we packed the kids into the van and headed west.  To Carol Stream to be precise. The reason?  To go make our annual visit to the Canyon Trail Cemetery.   Here's my post from 2014 when I think we went for the first time (and I made Richard Christie reference?!?) and here's my post from last fall . You can get all the details - including the address - about the Canyon Trail Cemetery from their Facebook page here .   The place is pretty awesome.  Tons of pneumatic animatronics and lots of sounds and lights and movement.  Things jump out at you and make all sorts of racket.  The Babe did some screaming.  The King of the Ball Tossers kept his distance.  You can see him in this photo below.  Well past the fence and even standing in the parkway.  He wasn't too sure of the 'scary skellies' as he calls them. Here's the big Pumpkin King that they have 'around the corner'.  Always a big hit with us every y...

I know I'm about a week late on this, but I just had to post it here on the blog.  Last week, after the Packers beat the Bears, Aaron Rodgers ( Hey!!!! Roddd-gers! ) broke out his Lebowski sweater for the postgame interview.  And that's when I discovered that this sweater is a real thing.  Like...you can buy it.  And not off ebay or from some Estate Sale. A quick search on teh Googles turns up a company named Pendleton who sells the sweater.   Originally from 1972, they're still selling it today, but for a pretty steep price: $239.00.  Doesn't matter.  I've now added it to my Christmas list.  Yeah...that's right.  I keep a running list of 'wants' that Nat will check out near Christmas or birthday time.  But, if I'm honest: Will someone buy this for me?  Nope.  Not a chance. Still goes on the list.  Still goes on the list. And if you have a minute, go check out the reviews at the bottom of the product listing . ...

Another day, another Lemax Christmas village building.  This time it is the Corner Barber Shop, which just like the piano bar from yesterday is new this year . Mantleburg could totally use a barber shop.  Alas, it isn't in the cards. Both the barber shop and the piano bar are part of the Caddington Village collection that also features quite a few 'new in 2016' structures .

Our Menards in Melrose Park is in full Christmas mode these days.  They've set up the entire Enchanted Forest and now have their Lemax Christmas Village set up.   It *is* the most wonderful time of the year , isn't it? There's a bunch of new structures up this year and we'll start with this one above: CJ's Piano Bar.   From the product listing on the Lemax site , this is a new building for 2016.  It has a nice 'inside scene' and would be a nice addition to anyone's mainstreet.  But, what about Mantleburg, you're probably asking yourself?  Welp, the Mayor has decided to keep the moratorium on new buildings and annexations until the entire town of Mantleburg gets settled into their new home, which is currently slated for Christmas of 2017.   The last addition was made official in January of 2016, but I'm pretty sure that the saw mill was sitting in my trunk for an entire year , so it was likely annexed in the fall of 2014 - two years ago. I...