I have a 3 year old son who seems to have some amazing clarity and insight into life. It never fails to surprise me when he says something that stops me in my tracks and makes me reconsider everything. Maybe it’s because the mind of a 3 year old is uncluttered and unfettered by the ingrained biases and rules that we “grown ups” live with. Anyway, it was just after Valentine’s Day and my little guy was eating a box of Sweethearts (you know…the little candy hearts with catchy sayings on them). Well, he got one that said “Dream Big”. He thought about it for a moment and then said “Actually, I dream little. That’s why all my dreams come true”. SLAM! In two short seconds he hit the “grown up” idea of dreaming big in the solar plexus. Almost as soon as he said it, he was on to the next thing and smiling and enjoying his life.  Read the rest of the story...

I love the Olympics.  Summer, winter…it makes no difference.  And this year, both of our kids are old enough to actually enjoy the spectacle.  In fact, they’re obsessed with Shaun White, snowboarding, skeleton, and the bobsled (our 3-year old says he wants to be a “bobsled pilot” when he grows up!).  It’s been great snuggling up on the couch each night and watching the Olympics through the eyes of my little guys.  Read the rest of the story...

It just doesn’t get much better than this.  Legos, Rock and Roll, an a Wii.  We’ve loved the Wii Lego games we reviewed in the past so we were way excited when Warner Brothers/MTV sent us a review copy of Lego Rock Band to check out.  Lego Rock Band is one of the latest entries from the super successful Rock Band franchise.  I won’t go into too much detail explaining the gameplay in Lego Rock Band since it is almost identical to that of Rock Band 2.  But, for the uninitiated, the theme of the game is simple: Be a rock star.  You get to form your own rock band, play gigs, go on tour, and wow the universe….literally! And to make beautiful music, all you have to do is strum or drum along with colorful musical Lego brick notes as they stream down the screen (but, you’ll need to have some Rock Band compatible gear (guitars, drums, microphones) to be able to play because Lego Rock Band doesn’t come bundled with any).  The more notes you hit the higher your score.  And the higher your score, the more fans and Lego studs you’ll collect.  You can use your studs to buy new gear or outfits in the store or add new members to your band’s entourage.  Read the rest of the story...

Every year, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) compiles statistics for all of the video games that they rated. This year, we’re very happy to see that of nearly 1,800 games that were rated, 60% were rated E for Everyone and another 16% were rated E10+ for Everyone 10+. We think it’s great news that the video game industry has once again achieved family friendly ratings for over 75% of the games they released. And, we believe that you can really count on the ESRB to do a good job of rating games appropriately. Of all of the games the Five Hens have reviewed this year, we agreed with 100% of the ESRB’s ratings. But don’t take our word for it. According to information on the ESRB’s website lots of other parents agree with the ratings as well:  Read the rest of the story...