Daddy Mojo

Mamma Mia!, the farewell tour finishes in Atlanta

Mamma Mia!, the massive Broadway tour is finishing its run after an amazing 14 year run. My wife and I saw the show when it came through Atlanta several years ago. It’s a greatest hits recap of ABBA’s career. However, odds are that you already knew that, to recap the headline again: Mamma Mia! is ending its tour this year. Ending, final, last, no mas, this is it for Mamma Mia!

Did you see the film? Mamma Mia ties together a handful of great songs from one of the world’s greatest musical groups. Think of a great ABBA song and it’s most likely included in this traveling show. Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me, S.O.S., Super Trooper, The Winner Takes It All and many more will all be heard during this show’s final run.

I love ABBA. I really enjoyed Mamma Mia!. My wife likes ABBA and loved the musical. She loved it so much that it was one of her go-to, ‘if it ever comes to town again, just get tickets’. For the record Sting and Annie Lennox have the same ticket mandated request from her. It’s a short list. Continue reading Mamma Mia!, the farewell tour finishes in Atlanta

Captain Underpants, First Epic Movie-is one that families need this summer

Captain Underpants was the first book series that our now 7 year old loved. We bought one of the books on a whim and he, with our assistance, devoured it within 24 hours. It’s similar to another massively popular, wimpy book series that elementary to early middle school kids absolutely love. Both franchises would seem to be tailor made for the movie screen. There have been four attempts at a Wimpy Kid film and while each one has made a profit, they didn’t earn much love from the audience. Our kids have always liked Captain Underpants more and it’s because of that fact that I was nervous about seeing it.

‘Please don’t screw it up’, I thought to myself as we entered the theater. Ten minutes into the film it was obvious that they didn’t screw it up as our 7 year old was laughing more than I had ever seen him. He was doubled over in his seat, roaring with laughter and wiping his eyes and pointing at the screen. The person on the other side of him was looking over and enjoying his enjoyment of the film as much as they were.

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Bulldozer Helps Out works its magic on ages 7 and younger

Every kid needs a good construction book just like every woman needs a black dress. If you’ve got a child who is between two and six you know that they loved big machines. Bulldozer Helps Out is the second book in the Bulldozer series by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann. Heavy equipment can’t really be described as anthropomorphic. However, in Bulldozer Helps Out we see a group of construction vehicles being as human as possible and in the end doing something that will appeal to every small human.

The first thing adults will notice about Bulldozer Helps Out is its heart and soul. The illustrations by Eric Rohmann make the book feel like something they’ve been friends with for a while. Digger, Scraper, Grader and the others have enough detail to let readers immediately know who they are and the big building work that they do. However, the characters are not presented in a babyish manner; rather, it’s more of a classic appeal to the machines.

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Education options for the cord cutting family on Netflix

We’re part of the Stream Team for Netflix and were compensated for this post. The end of a school year means the kids are home more. Even if you have summer camps and family vacations planned the kids will still be in front of the television more. This means that you’ve got to be careful what they watch, especially if your family is like ours and cut the cord. Relying on Netflix for your home entertainment options can still be educational for kids during the summer. Here are six cool options that are great for kids as young as two.

Octonauts

What’s the Midnight Zone? Our children saw that episode on Netflix more than four years ago and can still tell us marine trivia. Sure, The Octonauts are just an animated show, but it immediately attracts children who are two years old and up. It’s filled with fun characters and much more education than you realize. Case in point: the midnight zone, it’s the really deep part of the ocean where those shy, colorful creatures hang out.

BBC

A quick search of some BBC options on Netflix reveal Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, Octonauts (!) and Sarah and Duck, but also dozens of fabulous nature documentaries. Those documentaries will be rated G or PG and have the trademark BBC quality that adults know and seek out. From sharks, wolves, planets, continents and weird animals there’s a BBC documentary that will suit your child (or you!).

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It’s time to tackle the elephant in the room with DIYZ® App

This post is in collaboration with DIYZ. All opinions of apps and companies that help me complete DIY projects are my own.

We needed to do something about our kitchen. It’s not that we’re selling our home; we just need to be ready in case it has to be sold quickly or we wanted to stop cooking in a room that hadn’t been updated since Growing Pains first aired. Combine that with the fact that Mother’s Day is coming up and we had to get going. Do we paint the kitchen cabinets ourselves or have someone else do it or get all new cabinets? That final choice was far too expensive and hiring someone to paint kitchen cabinets would’ve cost upwards of $3,000. With a little encouragement from DIYZ App we jumped into a relatively simple, but at the same time gargantuan task of painting our kitchen cabinets.

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New all age comics for May 31, 2017

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If you’re looking for some younger skewing all age comics this is your week. Is it just a coincidence that it’s the first week of no school for us? Regardless, we’re headed to the store to pick up some from last week, as well as a couple from this week’s very packed stack. Here are five all age comics that might sneak past your radar. There is one based on a massively popular online game, an old school compilation from the 80’s, one interactive book that builds vocabulary, a Netflix gem that segues well into comic books and a fabulous graphic novel that will delight kids 6 and up. The music in the podcast is from King Imagine, find all of his groovy stuff over at Free Music Archive.

Harvey Hits

This looks to be another home run from Joe Books. Take the greatest characters from Harvey Comics and put them in one of the all age comics that will be great for anyone and you’ve got Harvey Hits. This includes short stories from Casper, Richie Rich, Wendy the Good Little Witch and others. It’s got some art that is done by Art and Franco, plus Cesare Asaro, thus it will immediately appeal to kids five and up, even if they don’t know the characters.

Animal Jam

As any parent with a child who’s grown up since 2010 what their educational video go-to game is and Animal Jam will be one of the responses. From National Geographic this video game is educational, interactive, safe for all ages and actively encourages family participation. Animal Jam is now a monthly comic book from Dynamite, it even comes with some cool animal stickers to seal the deal.

Spider-Man Mad Libs

For kids that know their nouns from their verbs Mad Libs is the antidote to boring road trips. Just in time for the new Spider-Man film is Spider-Man Mad Libs. You’ll put Spidey in all sorts of funny and outlandish situations and solutions-all based on your words.

Time Shifters

The Free Comic Book Day snippet of Time Shifters merely whet our appetite for this graphic novel. Time Shifters is an original graphic novel from Graphix, which is an imprint of Scholastic Books that builds upon the high expectations that the free preview provided. It’s a graphic novel that doesn’t shy away from real consequences, but also embraces the time travel elements, albeit with a robot Abraham Lincoln, monsters, ghosts, dinosaurs and large spiders.

Voltron Legendary Defender Vol 2., #2

Are you watching Voltron Legendary Defender on Netflix? It’s a very good show that emphasizes team work, friendship and butt kicking robots when everybody bands together. This comic book from Lion Forge is like that, just one issue at a time. Readers seven and up will be able to go through the issue without any vocabulary assistance and the content will be OK for ages six and up.

Humor

Superhero

Action/Science fiction

Win an autographed copy of Brown Bear to celebrate its 50th anniversary

Has it really been 50 years since Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle was released? It’s a children’s classic book whose simple rhymes, distinctive art and perfect length make it one of the first books that children will have read to them. We’re giving away an autographed copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, as well as a handful of other Brown Bear swag to celebrate its landmark 50^th anniversary.

This special edition of the book is different for some because it’s the proper, full size release, instead of the board book version that some of us are accustomed to. That was our jam for three straight years. When we had a three and one year old in the house it was one that the younger could laugh at the older one could point to the words. From there we went to Panda Bear and Polar Bear, all of which we’ve also saved for the future library, should our children need it in 25 years.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group has a giveaway for a copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, autographed by illustrator Eric Carle, as well as a bag of Brown Bear swag. This is a giveaway that you’ll keep forever. The new 50^th anniversary copy of Brown Bear features the complete story of the book on CD that is read by Gwyneth Paltrow.

Win an autographed copy of Brown Bear to celebrate its 50th anniversary

Wordplay, a toon book is new reader creativity and fun

From the moment you look at Wordplay you know that it’s different. Its landscape format makes the book stand out because it doesn’t look like many books you see. Then you open up Wordplay by Ivan Brunetti and its graphics inside stand out also. It’s trippy and fun, think of a brand new reader’s book for compound words, but presented with a twist of Alice in Wonderland and you get a feel for Wordplay.

Kindergarten through first graders might not be studying what a compound word is in a grammatical sense. However, they do know several compound words, two separate words that combine to form something new and fantastic. From a tool or DIY perspective, they’re the hammer drill of the English language.

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