Sprout is one channel that my daughter knows very well. We enjoy watching all the shows on Sprout. Sprout is launching a campaign this month entitled “Kindness Counts.” It is a way for preschoolers to log their small acts of kindness to show what a huge impact they can have. Sprout is hoping to log one million small acts of kindness.

Parents will be able to log their kids act of kindness at SproutOnline.com. They can also find articles filled with useful information on how to develop empathy in your preschooler. During The Sunny Side Up Show, user submitted acts of kindness will be shared each day.

We have always tried to instill the importance of taking other people’s feelings into account. One lesson my daughter has learned recently is that how you word something may hurt someone’s feelings even if you don’t mean it in a malicious way. It’s best to try to understand each other and to be thoughtful of their feelings.

It really is the small things that count the most. A kind word to someone having a bad day or offering to help someone with a simple task. It’s those small acts that make a huge impact on both the giver and receiver.

Be sure to add your kind act to the count and share your story. I hope that the counter hits one million in record time.

We are huge comic book fans. We buy comic books occasionally but used to follow many titles. My husband worked at a comic book store, so we got comics at half price. Since I started reading comics, I love the X-Men and the X-Babies. Recently we went to a comic book store where I picked up an issue of X-Babies from 2009.

Last night it was the bedtime story for my daughter. As a geek, I was thrilled when she really got into the story and was asking about each character. She already seems to have a favorite – Kitty Pride. One proud geek moment was when I was telling her about Wolverine’s power to which she responded “yeah I know.” My little geek is growing up nicely.

I was only able to pick up issue one. It’s a four part run, so now the search is on to find the other three. The fun of reading comics is doubled – even tripled – when you read them to your child. She really enjoys comics that makes me happy. I love that we have a common interest – especially one so close to my heart.

One of our favorite games for the Nintendo Wii is the New Super Mario Brothers. So it isn’t so ‘new’ anymore, but we still love playing it. With the help of Daddy, we were able to save the Princess. This game has tons of replay value, so we play it a lot even though we have beaten the game. The good thing about Super Mario Brothers it is multi-player. If a player is in danger of dying, they can ‘bubble’ – put their character in a bubble and off of harm’s way. This is something that our daughter discovered. Wild button mashing does pay off. A lot of times she will ‘bubble’ through most of a level – except the ones that have Yoshi. She loves to ride Yoshi.

Today my daughter wanted to play Super Mario Brothers and after finding the Wiimotes, we began to play. It has been a few months since I played and felt very rusty. I did notice something about playing with my daughter that is different from the last time we played. She is much more mature about the game than before. She would get upset if her character was killed or if she lost her Yoshi. Sometimes it would get so bad that we would just stop playing. She was a terrible sport.

Now she is a lot better. She did not get upset once when things went wrong – and they went wrong a lot since I was rusty. We played maybe six months ago – if that long. It is amazing how such a short amount of time she has really grown up.

It was a lot of fun playing the game with her – especially since she was being such a good sport. Hopefully this trend will continue. She really is growing up too fast.

My daughter wants to be a robot for Halloween. This was her costume last year as well. Last year we took a box, painted it gray, and decorated the outside. We also used dryer duct for arms. She wore it for all of five seconds. She did enjoy playing in the box but never did wear the robot costume.

This year we are trying a different approach. The main problem with the box was that she couldn’t move her arms much.  I found a costume on Family Fun that used aluminum roasting pans to make the costume. Hopefully it will turn out OK. Our first trick or treating event is tomorrow night, so I have got to get this thing together soon.

We do have a backup if the robot doesn’t pan out. Let’s hope this year she actually wears the robot costume instead of just playing with it.

When my daughter told me she wanted a panda cake for her birthday, I wasn’t sure how I would pull it off. I got some advice from my sister-in-law and did one before the birthday party. It turned out cute. Luckily I have a niece who is both a fan of Challenge(Food Network especially when they showcase cakes) and is an artist. She had some suggestions, so I let her decorate the one for the party. It turned out really cute.

She cut out some of the round cake for the ears and replaced it with cupcake holders filled with Oreos. She painted the foam board with bamboo and bamboo lettering for the birthday message.

The panda cake was a hit. Raegan really wanted to decorate it though. I made an extra round cake that I let her decorate, so she was happy. You can see it in this picture. I bought regular candles because I couldn’t find a number 5. The day before the party I finally found a 5 and got it. Where’s the fun in blowing out just one candle anyway?

Rae exclaimed that this was the birthday ever – it makes all the effort worth it.

This weekend Rae had her birthday party – or as she referred to it – Present Day. I noticed that nearly all of her presents were ‘wrapped’ in gift bags. She will grow up where wrapped presents are not the norm. Wrapping presents will seem like such a waste of effort and time. Just put that gift in a bag and be done with it. Why all the fuss?

But to me, presents are still better when they are wrapped. I did wrap her present because that is always half the fun of getting a present – opening it. Just pulling a present out of a bag is less exciting. Still I get why using gift bags is so popular. In fact I use them for other people’s gifts all the time. Some gifts I haven’t bought just because it would not fit into a gift bag.

The gift bag is like a secondary gift for mom. She can reuse the bag for the next birthday gift. Pay it forward. Reusing gift bags is very green and can usually be re-given more than once.

In the frenzy that is opening presents, I guess it really doesn’t matter if the gift is wrapped or in a bag. Gifts bags are much easier than wrapping gifts. Still it’s still fun to rip into a wrapped gift.

Last night I made a panda cake. It was a simple design and took all of five minutes to complete. It sure is cute though.

I used my round cake pan for the cake. I used cream cheese frosting – the only kind I had in my pantry. It turned out a little off white. I used Oreos for the ears, eyes, and nose. I took a knife to make the smile. Actually my daughter made a bigger smile than the one I had done. I may add some small Oreos for dimples just to give more decoration to the cake.

The next one I make will be for the actual birthday party. It will look cute on the decorative board that my niece is making. This was a much easier project that I thought it would be a few weeks ago. I’m so glad my sister-in-law suggested using Oreos. It made this cake a breeze.

Today my daughter turned five years old. It has been an ordeal these past few weeks. She has not been happy about the idea of turning five. We haven’t been able to discuss her birthday much since she didn’t want to talk about it. So I didn’t know how today would go.

She woke up this morning and ask if she was five years old yet. I told her yes. She seemed in a good mood and after a few minutes said that being five was pretty good. Kids. If she is already driving me crazy at five, imagine her at fifteen. Now she is all excited about her birthday..and presents. Lots of presents. She wants everything she has seen today for her birthday. Her party will be next weekend, so I still have a few days to plan. Now I’m actually looking forward to it since she is finally excited about her birthday.

I have always made her birthday cakes. I asked her about a month ago if she would like a dalmatian cake since I already have a cake pan for it. She informed me she wanted a panda cake. She has an imaginary panda named “pandy.” So now the challenge it to make a panda cake – all for the girl who doesn’t eat cake but does enjoy the frosting. I’m going to attempt to make one tonight with a round cake pan and some Oreos. I always like to test out a cake idea a couple of days before the party just to make sure I can do it.

Tomorrow I will probably be sharing how my panda cake turned out as well as pictures even if the cake doesn’t resemble a panda.

Remember Shrinky Dinks? I’m not sure if they ever went away but today it seems they are more popular than ever. There are several craft projects people do with these, and my husband had an idea to make tokens for a game he enjoys playing. So we bought a pack of Shrinky Dinks that you can use with your printer. Here is an idea of just how much they shrink down from their original size.

Anyway, I’m not sure what I want to make. We only bought the ones for the printer but there is a cheaper pack that you just draw on. I’m thinking that would make for a fun craft day with the girl. I’ve been wanting to do more crafts with her especially this summer to give us something fun to do.

Summer is almost here. Rae has only a few weeks left of preschool and then she will be home 24/7. I know she will be bored and wanting to do some fun stuff. Her favorite thing about preschool is crafts. They make a craft almost every day. So I’ve been gathering some supplies when I find them on sale. One item that she has enjoyed in the past is foamies – you know the pre-cut pieces of foam that are in various shapes. You can get kits to make castles, ships, etc. Around the holidays you can usually find kids to make themed foamies. I picked up one pack around Halloween that you could make foamies like Frankenstein, witch, ghost, devil, etc. With a little cutting of some of the shapes, we were even able to make up our own like this one -

Foamies are cheap entertainment especially when they are on sale. She has fun putting them together and then playing with them. Hopefully I can find some new ones soon before Summer officially gets here.