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A Request for Superman Sam

Posted on June 18, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

If our neighbors were looking at us funny on Father’s Day, it made sense. You see my boys were dressed up like superheroes on our front lawn for a photo shoot.

This is not something that we typically do. No, we were on a mission. A mission to help a mother. A mother who has had her life turned upside down in just over a weeks time. A family that heard the news nobody ever wants to learn, no less about the six year old member. Phyllis Sommer, aka Imabima, was told that her beautiful son Sam has Leukemia. Cancer – the “c” word that nobody wants to utter or have used in a sentence about their child was now a reality for the Sommer family.

Phillis and her husband Michael are both rabbis and started a blog to document about Superman Sam. Just after we got home from having Father’s Day brunch I noticed that Phyllis had a new blog post up: Superheroes for Sam: A Photo Project. Our plans changed and superhero items were quickly grabbed from around the house. When we explained to the boys what we were up to, they wanted to see Sam’s photo. They had heard me talk about Imabima before, but did not know Sam. They were excited to be part of Superman Sam team to help someone close to their age smile. NHL knew that this was a mitzvah. To me, it is more. It is not only making a little boy smile during a time that he never should be dealing with – it is helping a mother to grant a wish for her little boy. A mother who is trying to make sense of this life changing news. This mother who could be any one of us.

Phyllis, our thoughts, prayers, and Team Superman Sam wishes are with you from our part of New York. Let Sam know that NHL, JSL, TechyDad, and I are cheering him on. And most important know that TechyDad and I are sending you and Michael hugs and well wishes. Know that although we are not geographically close, we are with you. A package from us will be coming soon.

If you want to be part of Team Superman Sam and send him a photo, please head to the post for mailing address and other information here.

It's Me

Categories:
bloggy friends jsl me moments nhl photos PSA sick kid sickness TechyDad

Father’s Day Wishes 2012

Posted on June 17, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

When I met TechyDad, I knew that he was going to be a great father. Even before we were married, I watched him interact with the son of a coworker. It was hilarious to see him get onto the ground and play. Almost nine years ago, when NHL was born, TechyDad’s love for kids was shining even more. He loves to spend time with the boys, to show them things from his childhood, and to be a kid at heart with them. It isn’t every father that would show their kid just how to be a Star Wars geek.

Watching all three of the boys interact is fun. The boys love running, playing, talking about Transformers, Phineas and Ferb, and other things together. I have to admit, I was selfish when I asked them to take this photo together on our trip to Disney World a little over a month ago. I knew that I wanted a photo of the three of them together. I am so glad that I did.

Of course, I also want to mention my father. He has always been there for me, TechyDad, and the boys. Just this week, he got out of bed at two in the morning to drive me to the ER with JSL. There were no questions asked, he just came over and asked if he should stay.

Watching Papa at Disney World on our trip was fascinating. There were times that he seemed to be more of a kid at heart. He was so delighted with the events and kept talking about them and still does. Papa also braved a zip line a few weeks later to do a special adventure just with NHL.

Happy Father’s Day to TechyDad, my father, my father-in-law, my brother, my uncles, and all of the other amazing men out there.

Categories:
Disney family holidays my boys photos TechyDad

A Magical Family Moment with Duffy the Disney Bear

Posted on June 13, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It's Me

Disclosure: This photo was taken before the 2012 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration and was part of the PhotoPass CD that we received. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we were given an incredible deal from Disney. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event. More about the PhotoPass coming soon!

Categories:
Disney DisneySMMoms fun jsl looking back nhl TechyDad travel vacation Wordless Wednesday

Strange is as Strange Does

Posted on June 7, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It usually takes a lot to get me upset about little things. This was not the case the other day when I wrote this post on a piece of paper.

Yes, it was old school time. I was sitting in a room and only had a notebook and paper. My mind was racing and I had to get my thoughts down. It was therapeutic and felt good to get these items out there. Of course, I never published them immediately. The items were raw and still gnawing at me.

It all started one night when TechyDad and I were working on some papers. We knew that the phrases in front of us were loaded and too easy to read into. That would have been one thing, but the word choice in one part was over the top.

Always a teacher at heart

As a teacher, I was taught to be careful with my word choices. Some say it’s being politically correct, but to me it is more. While many would argue that political correctness means hiding the truth from parents, I think it is far from that. When writing progress reports and report cards, I learned how to write positives first. Then, it was especially important to phrase items in a way that would help the parents and students to work on tasks. Kids need to learn and grow with constructive criticism. Older children can read report cards and will be able to take advice if worded in a way that they can understand.

So what would I do if I had a child that was constantly talking out of turn and needed to work on raising their hand more? I would say that the child is full of energy and has a wealth of information to share. Then, I would mention working in the future on places to harness this within the day. Giving examples and ways to do this would be helpful to the student and parents to talk about. This is just one general example.

Are we sugar coating things in the world of education? No, I do not think so. What we are doing is showing children how to kindly express strengths and weaknesses in themselves. You certainly need to do this in a way that will help to support fragile self esteems in kids.

The word that hit a nerve

So what word was bothering me? It was a single word and it was:

This form was not from school, it was actually a one that is used on a larger scale than that. It really annoyed me. How do you define strange? Isn’t the word a bit subjective just sitting there all by itself?

As a crafting, geek, that enjoys different things than many of my peers I say own being strange! When I recently heard Peter Shankman speak at a conference, he talked about being a weed to stand out. Let us all unite and parade around declaring that we are proud to be weeds, we want to stand out and be “strange” and accept it. This so-called strange is likely why people like you anyway. Your strange is what makes you you.

I tried to ignore the item with the word, but in the end I embraced it. It inspired this post, gave me some comic relief during a stressful time, and the real truth:

Being boring is really strange!

I would love to hear your thoughts on certain words that bother you or hit a nerve? What do you think about the general use of the word strange?

It's Me

P.S. TechyDad also wrote about his feelings on the subject after I had my paper post written.

Categories:
Conference me moments photos PSA TechyDad vent

Personalize Father’s Day Cards with Treat – Giveaway

Posted on May 24, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

June is just around the corner and with that thoughts of summer, time with family, and Father’s Day come into my mind. For Father’s Day, the day is all about the special men in our lives. Since the boys were born, the focus has moved to celebrating the day as a family for TechyDad.

In past years, we have gone mini-golfing, to see a movie, and the amusement park. I’m not too sure what TechyDad will want to do. Of course, we also make sure to spend time with Papa. He is such a special part of our lives as well.

I know I will be spending time with the boys before Father’s Day to create some special cards for the men in our lives. We are excited to try out the new partner site from Tiny Prints called Treat. Treat offers personalized greeting cards that are fun to design for Father’s Day. Just looking around I already see something referencing Elvis that will be perfect for Papa, and a bunch that the boys will love to add photos to for TechyDad. Our photos from Disney World will be perfect additions to many of the cards that we can have shipped right to them, Grandpa, and uncles that live a distance from us.

Did you know that you can try Treat Cards for free? You can and perhaps it could be for Father’s Day. Simply use the code FREETREAT at checkout and the card will be sent right to the recipient for the time that you specify. This day and age, we often forget how special it is to receive a card in the mail. Treat Cards now helps us to do this by allowing you to schedule cards up to a year in advance and ship them out in time for a Birthday, Anniversary, or holiday that you are celebrating.

For more information on Treat, you can follow them via Social media on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+. Now for some other fun thanks to Treat Cards.

Treat Cards would like to offer a giveaway to one of my readers for 10 free tokens to use for your own personalized card purchases. Think about how easy it will be to design them at home, have them sent, and the happiness you will provide to the person on the receiving end of the card.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Leave a comment letting me know what type of Father’s Day Card you prefer to send. Do you like silly, sentimental, or some sort of combination and why?

The following Bonus Entries may also be done. Please be sure to leave separate comments for each that you complete below to make sure you get the right number of entries.

1 Bonus Entry – If you win who will you be sending cards to with your tokens?
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet the following about the giveaway: Enter to #win 10 tokens from @TreatCards & @TheAngelForever so you can get creative when sending cards http://bit.ly/KNAicg. #giveaway. (May be done once a day – leave link to Tweet in comment below for new entry)
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the months of May/June. Leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done twice per day.

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. The giveaway begins May 24, 2012 and ends June 3 , 2012 at 10:59 EST. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but you must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to US residents only – Treat Cards does not ship outside of the US at this time.

Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a Global Influence campaign. I will be receiving tokens to order cards to send to my family and friends in return for writing this post. As a customer of Tiny Prints, I look forward to trying out Treat soon.

Global Influence Network