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Caved into Character Bandz Craze

Posted on June 25, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Flash backs of my childhood and the jelly bracelet craze came flying back recently thanks to Silly Bandz. Kids all around are begging parents to take them from store to store looking for these rubber bands that are shaped like butterflies, basketballs, elephants and more. As the mother of a son almost done with first grade, I was curious if he knew about them.

Yes, NHL had seen Silly Bandz on classmates and knew that his cousins had them at JSL’s birthday party. That was pretty much all he knew and cared about. I was relieved that I would not have to be one of those parents that went on a wild goose chase to find these greatly sought after items. This was the case until Friday.

Last Friday, after school, I took the boys to the store to get a few items. As we were finishing up our shopping, we ended up in a section that had all things for Toys Story 3. Suddenly, I was face-to-face with packages of Character Bandz. Yes, Disney has signed up with a company to made these bracelets in shapes from Toy Story 3, Cars, Disney Princesses and of course Mickey Mouse.

To buy to not to buy?

I sent out a few Tweets to see what to do. The boys were curious about them and I was not sure if we should buy them. There were three different sets of Toy Story 3. I must admit, I had no clue how many were in the package. In the end, the boys wanted something else that was much more expensive. I turned their attention to the Character Bandz. This is what we bought and took home to open:

When we opened them up, we found the five designs: Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and Rocket Ship. The package showed that there were four colors. Much to my relief, there was one of each color for the five designs. So for $4.00 we received 20 of the bracelets. I set them into piles and had the boys take turns selecting two from each of the characters.

Thank goodness, there were no real fights. They were both so happy to have them and put them on. Here are the boys modeling their Toy Story 3 Character Bandz.

What has been funny to me is that JSL is more interested in them. NHL wears them for a little while and then wants to put them away. To make sure they are not lost we have snack bags marked with their names. If they come off their wrist, they must go into the bag. So far so good. The best part, the boys are not begging for more. They seem content with these. Of course, they have not seen the other Disney character options yet either. I guess we shall see what happens if/when we ever see them.

So my questions this week:

1. What fad do you remember from your childhood?

2. Do you have any Silly/Character Bandz in your house? (Adults and not only kids are into them it seems)

Always curious to see what others have seen/heard by them during this latest craze.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #105

Categories:
Aloha Friday brothers Disney jsl nhl photos shopping

Diving penguins and the boys

Posted on June 23, 2010 8:20 am by TheAngelForever

Categories:
fun jsl laughs nhl show Six Flags weekend

Bowling with TechyDad on Father’s Day

Posted on June 20, 2010 9:50 pm by TheAngelForever

Let me begin by wishing all of the Dads out there a wonderful Father’s Day. Remember, if you influence the lives of children and are a part of their world you are a Father. A special thank you to TechyDad for being such a wonderful father to our boys. A girl never could have dreamed for such a wonderful man to be the Dad in our family. It has been amazing watching you over the years with the boys teaching them all things geeky, techy and beyond. I also hope that Papa, my brother, all of my uncles and my Cousin D had an extra special day.

This weekend, we spent a lot of family time together doing fun things. On Saturday, we left in the early afternoon and went to Six Flags. This morning, we thought about going strawberry picking, but, thanks to a storm last night, we thought it may be too muddy and buggy. TechyDad decided that he would like to go out to lunch and then bowling. He thought it would be fun, cool inside and interesting since JSL has never been bowling before.

After lunch out, we decided to try a new bowling place. For some strange reason, most of the bowling alleys in our area are closed on Sunday. Here are some photos of the boys bowling together.

More about Six Flags, bowling and what we signed up for this summer coming soon.

Again, Happy Father’s Day to TechyDad and all of the other dads out there!

Categories:
family fun holidays jl jsl milestone my boys nhl photos play time TechyDad weekend

Summer fun at the library

Posted on June 18, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Wednesday was a miserable and rainy day. JSL was going stir crazy and kept asking to get out of the house. Eventually, I asked him if he wanted to go to the library to get some things and play. Yes, I said play at the library. They were open at that point and I knew they had just gotten some puzzles for kids and had a LEGO table with several types of building blocks. I also thought about taking his library card so he could use their computers to try some things on kid websites.

When JSL and I arrived at the library, it was pretty empty. First, we went to get some DVDs and then settled into the kids area. JSL took out a puzzle and then decided he wanted to check out the blocks and build some items. He was playing very nicely all alone. I will spare you the details about what happened when two girls suddenly arrived without any adults. Thankfully, JSL kept playing and was letting the girls take a ton of the items away from him.

As JSL was using his imagination, I sat next to him on the floor and was knitting my current small project. It was nice and quiet, so I could knit and watch the little guy play.

While there, I also realized that in just a few short days both of the boys will be home for the summer. NHL will be going to camp part of the time, but JSL will be home with me until he starts nursery school part time in the fall.

So my questions to you today:

1. When was the last time you went to the library and what did you do or get while you were there?

2. Aside from spending time at the park, playing outside and visiting the library, what other ideas do you have to keep two kids busy during the summer that will not break my bank?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #104

Categories:
Aloha Friday books fun jsl knitting photos play time school summer

Family wedding fun

Posted on June 15, 2010 9:43 am by TheAngelForever

Monday night, only two days after my cousin’s wedding the boys were still talking about the events of the weekend. The best was when NHL asked if we could go back to cousin RB’s wedding again. Both of the boys had a magical time dancing, singing, and enjoying the experience of a wedding. It was amazing watching NHL and JSL as they figured out just what a wedding was about. Sure, NHL had been to my brother’s wedding, but he was so sick that weekend.

Saturday, we arrived at the hotel several hours before the wedding. We went out to lunch nearby and stopped by the LL Bean outlet store where we scored a few items for great prices. Next, we stopped by Target to pick up a few cars for the boys to be able to keep them busy at the wedding. We goofed and forgot to pack any earlier that morning when we left the house. Then we went back to the room where I rested (sinus infection and antibiotics was kicking me in the butt) and the boys played quietly. Before we knew it, it was almost 4:00 and time to get everyone dressed.

Once we were all dressed, we went to wait for Nana and Papa to go to the location of the wedding next door. When we went outside, the groom and our family were there. When it was almost time, we went inside. We were told to find our table number and we would sit there for the ceremony and the reception. My family rocked – they put us on the edge near an escape door. This was actually utilized as mentioned by TechyDad in his post that includes videos of the party boys.

After the actual ceremony, the little guy came back in and the boys were happily snacking on food, playing with their cars, dancing and saying hello to everyone. The one and only photo that we tried to get of the four of us is below. Not the best since the kids were trying to run away. Oh well, better than nothing I suppose.

Of course, after JSL had a few crackers and some fruit, he immediately wanted the wedding cake. Try explaining to a three year old that you have to wait. Thanks to being seated VERY close to the cakes, we kept them next to us and never moved away from them. Not saying that we didn’t trust them, but the cakes certainly could have gotten them into trouble. Thank goodness there was no incident. The boys kept playing with their cars and dancing the night away. Even Nana and Papa were caught dancing.

After a while, it was finally time for cousin RB and KB to cut into the cake. The boys were so excited to be up close and get to watch this. NHL was especially fascinated with the bride and groom and kept asking about them. Then, when it was time to eat the cake, both boys were more interested in the music and everything else going on.

Several hours after their bed time, NHL finally looked at me and said he wanted to go back to the room to sleep. JSL was reluctant, but eventually did not want to stay without his big brother. We got back to the room and NHL curled up to sleep within seconds of his head hitting the pillow.

If you have kids, have they been to a wedding and did they have fun?

As you can tell, my boys had a blast and want to go to another wedding soon! More wedding photos and stories coming later on. Wanted to share some of the memories that we had from this fun family event. Mazel tov again to Cousin RB and KB on their marriage!