Weekend love

Crazy busy weekend!

Errands on Friday afternoon and out to dinner with the family. Boys choice? Red Robin ... because they have the tower of onion rings. Of course.

Saturday morning we were at Bryant for a Special Olympics meet. We got to see our friend Nicholas before he competed in his first meet and spend time with our friend Ella while she competed for the first time. I loved every moment of it and teared up during the opening ceremonies. Watching every one's excitement? Contagious. The boys had fun cheering Ella on as she ran.

Both Nicholas and Ella medaled!

We can't wait to go back next month and watch Nicholas compete!

After the meet, the boys got changed and we hit Free Comic Book day - where the Doodle Bop is convinced he met the real Thor. How did I do on those costumes? (So very thankful for stick on felt and safety pins!)

Home to get changed - again - and out to a party at a friend's celebrating a First Communion. The Doodle Bop got his very first bee sting playing outside. Did I mention my friend is a nurse? I have never been more thrilled to have a kid with a bee sting at that moment. She jumped right into action for me ... and he seemed to calm down because he knew she works at a hospital. Too funny.

Track this morning, lunch with the family, and then Al took the rest of the wooden fence down. My yard looks all kinds of crazy right now. By next week though? There will be a new fence and not a single spot the dog can escape from. (The trick will be making sure he doesn't escape this week!)

We ended the weekend with a just past bedtime trip to Pinkberry - which the boys insisted we eat outside. And yes, we froze. The Big Guy thought it was absolutely hysterical.

The twins had to show me their I'm freezing out here faces.

Getting a little too good at giving me different faces I tell you. And yes, the Doodle Bop has started telling everyone who will listen to him over the last week that he is now indeed famous. These boys!

And that was our weekend!

May the fourth be with you - Angry Birds Star Wars giveaway!

Last week the boys and I arrived home from swim lessons to find a very exciting package sitting on our steps. A package so exciting, they all screamed. What was it you ask?

None other than ... The Angry Birds Star Wars Millennium Falcon Bounce game from Hasbro. (And an Angry Birds Star Wars Chewbacca Bird foam flyer too!)

The boys informed me they had been dying for these... ever since they started seeing the commercials on their favorite kids' channels. It was incredibly hard to get them to bed that night so I could take a look at the directions and set the Millennium Falcon Bounce game up for the next day.

While ages 8+ are recommended, I still felt like this was perfect for my twin 5 (almost 6) year olds and my 7 year old. I took care of the assembly, which was just putting a few cardboard and plastic pieces together and adding the stickers. The next day I walked the boys through the game. With supervision, they picked it up very quickly. So quickly in fact, it has become their new favorite game.

You win by being the first one to hit 30,000 points. I admit, I thought oh my God this game will never end! But I was completely wrong. Each player gets a chance to bounce 3 balls. Points are scored for:
knocking down the pigs (1,000 each)
getting the ball in the center (3,000 each)
ball in cockpit (5,000 each)
Believe it or not those points add up quickly with 3 boys competing for the win. Since my guys are still a little small, I added a notepad and paper so we can keep score together. I kind of like that it even gets them to practice a little math in the process!

The game even comes with a unique code to unlock app content online. The Millennium Falcon Bounce game retails for aprox. $19.99 (and the foam flyer aprox. $9.99) and is available now in stores, as well as online with Hasbro.

Want to see a little more? The boys made a short video explaining how they play the game.



In honor of May 4th, Hasbro wants to spread some of the fun around so you too can have a chance for the fourth to be with YOU! I get to give away an Angry Birds Star Wars product on my blog! To enter, leave me a comment below telling me who you would give the game to. For an additional entry, tweet this blog post link to the giveaway - and make sure you come back to leave an additional comment with your twitter handle for verification purposes.

This is a quick one y'all. Contest closes at 3pm on May 4, 2013. Winner will be notified by email and must provide their mailing address. Angry Birds Star Wars product (of Hasbro's choice) will be sent directly to the winner from Hasbro.

Good luck, and may the fourth be with you!

Tomorrow ONLY (May 4th) - Use the Promo Code SWFANDAY for 20% off any Star Wars toy on HasbroToyShop.com ... pick up some of Hasbro's great Angry Birds Star Wars games and toys, based on the hit mobile game from Rovio Entertainment!

***Disclosure: We were provided with both the Millennium Falcon Bounce game and the Chewbacca foam flyer by Hasbro, in exchange for our honest review. Opinions are, as always, all our own.***

Wordless Wednesday: Backseat edition

 

 

 

Envious Swimming

 

ENVIOUS SWIMMING

 

I don't know about you, but Spring always has me thinking SUMMER. Which leads me to putting the boys back into swim lessons - because we spend so much of our summer between the beach and pools. The Bug Guy is now 7 and the twins are nearly 6. They have had swim lessons since the age of 3 and I hate to say that they still can not really swim. Not the way I want them to.

 

I started the Big Guy one summer at an outdoor pool, but that didn't go so well between the cold air and his cerebral palsy. His muscles got too tight and it was heartbreaking to watch. From there we switched over to the YMCA for the heated pool. While I love the Y, the lessons went from 6 kids in a class to 12 kids in a class and there never seemed to be any specialized instruction for the kids who needed a little something more. And while it seemed fun for the kids at first to be using the bubbles, they didn't ever seem to move away from using those bubbles. It became like a crutch for them. I felt like I knew they could do it without the bubble, but they didn't know it and they didn't have the confidence to try without it.

 

We were given the opportunity a few weeks ago to enroll all three boys at Envious Swimming -Rhode Island's premier swim school. They have over 700 swimmers between their Learn To Swim program and their Swim Team, and they operate out of two locations: Bryant University in Smithfield and McDermott Pool in Warwick. We chose McDermott Pool since it was closer to us. 

 

 

Envious starts their program for swimmers at 6 months of age but also caters to adults. Their classes run in a 1 instructor to 4 swimmer ratio and all classes are 30 min in length. That was just amazing to me. Having three kids start at the same level, it was just the three of them. Their own private lesson! They have never received such attention in a swim class before.

 

 

While they occasionally use a noodle, there are NO BUBBLES attached to them! And I could not be happier. No child sits on the side for more than a few seconds either. Everyone is constantly being rotated in and out of the pool. (Something I could not say about previous lessons where the boys would sometimes spend minutes on the side waiting.)

 

 

This is the Big Guy. Floating almost on his own. I can not express to y'all how huge this is for him. He has gotten stronger through physical therapy in the pool (once a month) but he couldn't do this then either. Just amazing.

 

The boys always liked getting in the water, but they have such a great time at Envious I am smiling the entire time watching them smile.

Something else the boys love? Swim lessons end with getting to pick out a small prize for working so hard in the pool. A little extra motivation at the end for the kids. They also have stamps and stickers on hand as well.

I cannot get enough of the swim cap and goggle look.

 

At the completion of their 3 lessons, the Big Guy was actually moved ahead a class from his brothers. I can not even begin to explain what a big deal that is... or how much confidence he gained from that. 

In addition to their website, you can follow Envious on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Envious is a proud partner of Make a Splash, the official water safety initiative of USA Swimming.

**Disclosure: We were provided with 3 free swim lessons for the boys, in addition to a pair of goggles and swim caps, in exchange for our post and social media promotions. Opinions are all our own! (And we loved them so much we stayed on and now pay for lessons!)**

Here they are at their lesson last week. Four to a class maximum is awesome! Even more awesome? The Big Guy happens to currently be in his own class. He is on the left of this photo with his instructor. And the twins? It's just the two of them as you can see at the center.

I can not say enough about these swim lessons. Let me know if you check out Envious. I think you will love them too! They boys have all made such strides in just one month's time that I think we will be staying at Envious for good.

I got gored for good!

Gored for Good was today in Providence, to support Amos House. I ran the 2 miles on the Rhody Mama's team with some of my fellow Rhody Bloggers. OK... maybe I didn't run the entire thing.

Here we are before the start of the race. Derby girls (aka the bulls) behind us, ready to splash our clean white shirts with red paint.

I love this photo so much I had to zoom in when posting it. Heather and I checking our phones before the race. Because bloggers are always in touch with what is going on! Even if you are about to be chased by derby girls on skates!

After the derby girls cleared out of the corral, the boys and their friends stepped in to pretend to be bulls. Well, everyone except the Bunny Bee. He likes to do his own thing sometimes.

Once the race started, we were all 'hit' almost immediately with paint. And it didn't stop.

I have to give a big giant shout out to Kam who didn't let me quit. This girl right here runs half marathons. For fun! She watched me fall behind (lets be honest, after like a minute and a half of running) and stopped and waited for me. I told her to go ahead, but she stuck with me and did the walk/run/walk/run thing, encouraging me the whole time. Love her for that!

We picked up beads and posed with the bull at the Siesta station (which was the halfway mark). And somehow, I made it to the end. Al was right there with the boys snapping photos.

Elizabeth got this shot as Kam and I finished. I laughed so hard when I saw the photo. It looks like I am giving Kam the side eye. I swear I was just trying to breathe and not fall over.

Once I could breathe again? Photos with Jen and my awesome friend Laura who took her kids to watch the race. Anyone notice how not so gored - or even out of breath - Jen looks? I on the other hand look like a crime scene happened to me.

And my boys. It was really cool to have them there telling me I did good. And that they didn't have to wait too long for me. (They guess.)

 

P.S. - I did finish that 2 mile run/walk in just over 20 minutes so I guess I didn't do that bad. We just won't talk about how I was so tired I fell asleep on the couch after lunch. What? Who? I don't know.

Looking forward to doing this again next year! Not only was it so much fun, but it raised some money for a really great cause (which I even got to talk to my kids about).

 

Watch out for the Rhody Mama's team next year! I have a feeling we will be triple in size and a fundraising force to be reckoned with!

Thankful Thursday

THANKFUL THURSDAY in photos this week.

What are you thankful for?

Not so Wordless (I admit it) Wednesday: First Tooth edition

The Bunny Bee has had his first loose tooth for nearly two months now. Yesterday we noticed this. No matter how much Al and I tried to pull it out, it would not budge.

He also started telling us it was beginning to hurt, so the dentist took us in this afternoon. I was a wreck waiting in the next room and waiting to hear him crying. A few minutes later, he ran around the corner with the biggest smile.

No tears, tooth out, proud as can be! Ready for a visit from the Tooth Fairy for the first time. We picked up a special small coolata from Dunkin and headed to Daddy's work to show the tooth off.

 

He then demanded I take him straight to school for the last hour of Kindergarten so he could show the Doodle Bop and all his friends. He pretty much ran right into school too. So proud of my baby.