Smart Apps For Kids!

This is my go-to site for educational app reviews. They post free apps everyday, and have amazing top 100 lists for free and paid apps. We have downloaded probably close to 200 apps from this site!
They also have amazing give-aways. Right now they are in the process of giving away 10 free iPad Mini's!
www.smartappsforkids.com

Happy Valentine's Day!

More Candy Land, Please!

Brandon loves to play Candy Land during his home therapy sessions. It gets pretty confusing with all the colors that are involved. The board is colorfully overstimulating, there are colored gingerbread men pieces, and then you have to choose cards with colors on them. Getting Brandon to remember that he is the "blue guy" that then needs to move 2 green squares is tricky enough -- and then we add Levi into the mix. Yikes! We needed a better system to keep track of who was who.
See what we came up with? Nothing short of genius! Works like a charm, and uses the thumbnail photo sheet Costco sends home with printed pictures.

Ahh, so much better! I attached them with tape for now- but plan on using small Velcro dots to make them more secure and easily interchangeable.
Now I'm off to find other things I can personalize with miniature pictures of my cute kids!

We Survived . . .

The birthday party!!

What a blast! The weather cooperated (hooray!), and we had a backyard full of high-energy kids! The bouncy slide was a hit, and my kids literally spent 8 hours on it. Brandon was happy the whole day! It was amazing how well he tolerated having so many kids running around -- especially when we decided to put our "easy-up" up for more shade.

Side story- Brandon does not handle changes well. Soon after we moved in to this house I bought a new kitchen mat- which I brought home and put on the kitchen floor. Que Brandon's hysterical freak-out. My mom could hear him screaming from her house across the street- and ran over as fast as she could, thinking someone was dying. She was surprised to walk in the house and see what all the hoopla was about. A new kitchen mat. How dare I! His medication has helped a bit, but he still has a hard time. I also decorated for his party a couple days in advance so he could get used to the balloons and streamers. I'm telling you -- it makes everything a little more complicated.

Back to the party. We ate Brandon's current favorite food- pizza! Then, more running around and sliding, and then cupcakes!! Then, more juice and running around . . . and then he threw up. Sheesh. A friend of mine said it isn't a real party until someone throws up :-) After some down time, he was off to the slide again! The party was over far too soon, and we said goodbye to our sweet friends. We spent the rest of the day on the slide. Too much fun!!

It really was one of our best days. Brandon was in heaven, and so were we! Who's birthday is next? Do you want a bouncy slide party in our backyard???

Thanks to Our Incredibly Generous Family and Friends . . .

Brandon is the proud owner of a new iPad!!!

Notice the military-grade case? :-)
He immediately wanted to find "Bugsy," which is an educational game he plays at school. Luckily, I was prepared and had it loaded and ready to go! He was thrilled!!

Also, because we raised so much money (THANK YOU!!!), we bought him a weighted blanket - the dinosaur blanket in the pictures. We are hoping it will help him with his sensory needs, and possibly help him sleep better.

What a lucky boy!

Happy Birthday Brandon!!!

Happy Birthday at the Aquarium!

Brandon's birthday was cold and rainy. We had been watching the weather, so we knew it would be -- so we postponed his birthday party for a week (fingers crossed that next Sat is dry and warm!). What can you do on a rainy morning? Go to the Auquarium of the Pacific! We have a family pass, which has been the best money we have ever spent! We went several times a week during the summer, and try to go on as many days off and Saturdays as we can. Brandon is so happy there -- as are Rylie and Levi. We like to go as soon as it opens in the morning, to beat the crowds. Brandon leads us to his favorite tanks, and we are usually done in about an hour :-)

 Here's a favorite tank-- the lobsters!!

 It's always fun when there are divers cleaning the shark tank!

 Spider Crabs!

 Snack time!

Brandon loves polar bears! He loves people in animal costumes even more! :-) Hugs galore!!

It was a wonderful start to a very fun day! We stopped by In-n-Out on the way home for some birthday french fries! Then it was off to yogurtland!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful 6-year-old! We love our Brandon!!

Our Second Home . . . Yogurtland

Happiness for Brandon equals a huge cup of frozen yogurt! We have had many successful family outings to Yogurtland! Brandon knows what to expect, and we all have a sweet treat in the end! We took him there earlier this week, and it was busier than I had ever seen it. The line was almost out the door. My nerves were on high alert, but Brandon was great! He had a hard time waiting, but he was easily redirected and stayed calm. Phew! After surviving the crowd, we felt victorious! It feels so good to have a place we can take Brandon that doesn't end in screaming and public humiliation! :-)