We here at BigKids aren’t sure what happened to your winter, but down in here in Texas, we were robbed. We got nothing. No snow, sleet, ice, no sledding, cold mornings with hot chocolate. It’s like spring down here. School has started back up again though, and everywhere we look there are fresh young minds eager for music, DVD’s and learning. Last night we had a big rain storm so it was the perfect night to stay in and select a movie from our extensive collection.

Why not start with the hottest selling DVD we have “Hard Workin Wheels” Perfect for the toddler in the house, this DVD combines fun music, great colorful and easy to read graphics with excellent video of the type of trucks you’ll see around the town. Front end loaders, dump trucks, fire trucks and container lifters are all represented here, with wonderful narration explaining the usefulness of each type of equipment. It’s the perfect video to keep the young builder in your house inspired, and when they get to the sandbox with their toys they can blow away all the other kids with their new knowledge about the names of the trucks. The fire truck and the container ship are also sure to delight, because we usually aren’t exposed to them everyday, but watching the crane move around the containers is pure joy.

On the music side, we want to feature, Ben Rudnick’s Live in Lexington, Under the Copper Beech. Ben’s band of friends consists of musical magicians from the New England area focusing on music that the whole family can enjoy together. This is one CD you’ll be playing in the car and singing together. Ben Rudnick has received 5 parent’s choice award for his music and we think you will agree that he’s earned it. The Live in Lexington CD really is the best way to listen to Ben Rudnick and friends. Personal favorites from this CD include Skip to my Lou and Sally Salamander. On a recent road trip with the Big Kids research and development staff (the kids in the back of the mini-van) we looked back and saw three heads all buried in iDevices. It happens when they reach that age. So before they get there, try to all sing together in the car on a road trip. Believe us, you’ll miss those days when they are gone. Live in Lexington is the CD that will get you singing.

Okay, that’s all for now. The rain has ended and there are weeds that need pulling. Isn’t winter supposed to come along and kill these things? Not in Texas I guess. We’ll be back soon with another DVD and CD review, talk to you soon.

You know what we love at Big Kids?  We love music.  The only thing we love more than music is Live Music, and The Austin City Limits Music Festival was chock full of it. Incredible bands for the kids!  We saw Recess Monkey, Sara Hickman, and Brady Rymer, and guess what, we have their CD’s for you to buy and get your kids hooked on them.  Have no fear, the gigantic Big Kids staff is always on the hunt for new music and DVD’s for your kids.  It’s our Job and we love it!

While we are on the subject of music, we also want to point you to a new CD from the acclaimed Dan Zanes and Friends and their CD “Little Nut Tree”.  This is another one of those CD’s that we sell that’s hard to call it a “childrens” CD, because dangit, we can’t stop singing along, and we’re like adults here.  Pay special attention to “I Don’t Need Sunny Skies”  This is an incredible song.  Yes we were supposed to be listening to the whole CD to make sure it’s right for you, our customers, but we listened to this song about 15 times already.

Another song you HAVE To listen to is called “In the Basement”.  We defy you not to whistle along.  It’s one of those songs you will swear you have been listening to your whole life, but it’s the first time you heard it.  What a song, it takes the Big Kids staff back to our days of working the door at a New Orleans club on Bourbon St.  You know what’s even cooler though.  Sharon Jones, SHARON JONES, is gonna be singing to your kids.  Isn’t it time they learn about real music?  This is the CD to get that started. Believe us parents, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your preschooler being 20 times cooler than any other child in the class.  We think it’s never too early to be cooler than everyone else.

Most of all, we here at Big Kids want to thank all of you for being our customers and sticking with us through this HOT HOT summer.  Fall is coming and we will be telling you about upcoming fall specials for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and most importantly the Yule Tide season.  Be saving your pennies, because we will have awesome stocking stuffers and gifts just one click away for all the young people in your life.

Let’s get educated and musical out there people and get outside with the kids and enjoy the cooler weather (note: cooler weather in Austin means  95 degrees, but it’s still cool to us)

Have a great Fall everyone!

Short post today Big Kidders, but we are trying to get a lot done so we can go on vacations.  But we should all be thinking about school coming up which is just around the corner.  Ah school, with tons of municipally supplied air conditioning.  Won’t that be the best!

We should also be thinking about giving the kiddos a leg up in math class. A little time in front of the TV now with Steps4Kids to Multiply, might pay huge dividends once math class starts heating up.

How bout a reward when the multiplication is done?  Here’s an idea, check out  the Celtic-folk tunes on The Sweet Colleens CD, The Monkey Dance: All the Kids Are Doin’ It.  The fun, upbeat music will get the kids off the couch and dancing!  They need that exercise since it’s way too hot to be outside running around these days.

Okay, we’re back to work, cause paperwork is piling up, and we’ve got tons of DVD’s and music to get into the system for you guys.    Keep having a great summer.

Hey!  It’s the first Big Kids Blog Post.  I know, why are we so behind?  Simple, we’ve been killing ourselves getting new inventory ready for all of our thousands of customers, but now, we have to take a second to tell you about it.  Big things are afoot at Big Kids.  We shipped out our first Email blast today with an awesome deal for everyone if you take advantage of it?  Did you get it? If you didn’t you’ll want to sign up for our newsletter and emails because there are a lot more great deals coming.  Additionally, we’re gonna try our hand at tweeting and keeping this blog up to date.

To start the blog off though, we want to highlight two great products that we have a New Album from Recess Monkey.  These guy rock, and we know you’ll kids will love them, especially if they are into live music.  It’s 14 songs all inspired by super heroes, and we all know that nothing is hotter than super heroes now, except the weather outside.  Have you been out there lately?  Crazy!  It’s snowing in Montana, and 114 degrees in Texas. All this hot weather is a great reason to let the kids come in, have some juice, and listen to some great new music.  So be sure and check out Recess Monkey.  The album is called Flying!.  It’s perfect for Summer.

On the DVD side, it’s time to get everyone excited about learning a new language and the Whistlefritz DVD called Las Estaciones (The Seasons) is the perfect way to break the ice.  It’s a DVD full of language lessons focusing on the 4 seasons. Do you remember those?  We sorta do, Seems like there used to be something called Spring and Fall, instead of just COLD, and HOT.  Did we mention it’s HOT down here in Austin?  Yeah it’s hot.  We’re betting it’s hot where you are too.  So hot in fact, that if you lock the kids outside and say they can only come in if they learn spanish…we’ll they’ll be watching this DVD, glued to it really, in about 5 seconds.

Okay, that’s enough for now, but keep checking back, or watch our twitter, because we’ll let you know when we have something new to show you.  Thanks again to all of our great customers out there.   We love getting the best family friendly kids entertainment we can, and we love to hear from you about it.

Talk to you soon.

Stay tuned to this blog to learn about new products, specials, news about our artists, and more!