Rough Week, But Not Entirely Bad

This has been a strange one, y'all.  Started off with me sleeping on my arm funny and then being in excruciating pain for two days.  Like, can't move my arm without gasping in pain and sobbing.  I cried while trying to wash my hair in the shower.  Never had that issue before.  After some prodding from friends, I went to the AMAZING Dr. Taylor at Crossroads Natural Health in Grand Prairie, and within 12-hours of her magic touch, my arm was 98% better.  I could move without crying... yay!

Preston's skin allergies had a nasty flare up.  We have been having problems with it a lot lately.  We went to the Asthma/Allergy doctor a while back and he was put on two rounds of antibiotics because the doc thought it was infection, possibly staph.  It got a little better... but it would flare up here and there.  Well, on Wednesday night it was so bad Preston could NOT stop scratching at it and crying, and he certainly couldn't sleep.  Michael and I tried everything we could think of to soothe him, but no luck... he finally passed out from exhaustion.  We broke down, and thanks to my parents, purchased some super expensive cream the doc has suggested (and we had used in the past) and we tried it yesterday.  His legs are less itchy, yes, but ... right before dinner, he started throwing up and continued well into the middle of the night.  I mean, really?  I don't know if it's related to his skin allergies, or something completely different.  I am just praying that when he wakes up this morning, we can be done with all of it.

In the middle of all this going on, I found a huge brown tarantula in the bathroom.  Hear that?  IN THE BATHROOM.  Now, I've come to be somewhat at peace with them burrowing their holes into our yard (Michael is NOT at peace with that), but when I find them IN my house, NOPE.  No, no, nuh-uh.

Callen is "rawring" at the approaching storm.

The highlights of the week have been getting to spend some good, quality one-on-one time with my friends Regina and Nadia.  Also, sitting and having a real, uninterrupted conversation with my husband on some serious things we needed to discuss.  Obviously, nothing bad or it wouldn't be a highlight, would it?  And, I dunno... the week wasn't entire wretched besides the overwhelming number of 'gahhhhh' that happened.  Here's hoping now that it's Friday, we can catch a nice break and enjoy the weekend!

Christmas 2013 Recap

We had a nice Christmas holiday.  Jill and Steve arrived from Michigan a few days before Christmas.  The kids adored having their grandparents in the same house for a while, and promptly wore them out.  Michael was off the whole week, too, so that was great.  The weather was pretty nice for the most part, boys got to go to the park several times with Gpa Steve or Gma Jill.  We ate lots of yummy food.  Regina and Kevin were in town from Tennessee, so we got to meet Teagan.  What a sweetie!

On Christmas Eve, we attended Grace Fellowship and came home to Midlo with my parents for snacks and gifts.  The next morning, Santa had come and brought the boys goodies for their new, cool Superhero themed room.  Later, we exchanged gifts and had lunch with Jill, Steve and Daniel.  Mema was going to come, but she wasn't feeling up to it. 

Here is a smorgasbord of pictures from the holidays...

Yay, Gma and Gpa are here!

Our Jesus Story Book Advent Branch

Preston reading the last chapter of the Advent.

Some inside decor.  Love this built in shelf!

Michael not amused at V-Day stuff out on Dec 23rd.

Christmas Eve, ready for presents!

Oh, there you are, Perry.

Loved having Daddy home for a week!

Visiting with Teagan, Regina & Kevin!!

Christmas shopping was tiresome.

Preston Turns EIGHT!

Preston's birthday completely snuck up on me this year.  We managed to pull off a party on the evening before his actual birthday and he had some sweet friends come.  He wanted a Nintendo-themed party, but it ended up being more Mario than anything, and barely at that.

I'm this many now!

My attempt at 1-Up Mushroom Cupcakes

Gma was opening a remote control car.

Kids playing in the boys' room.

Eight hasn't hit me nearly as hard as 7 did last year.  I think I haven't really had much time to think about it because of the move and all.  I dunno, I'm ok with it for now.  Lol. 

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes 2013 is coming up!

My family and I will once again be joining Team Elise at the upcoming JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes on Saturday, September 29 at 9 AM at Victory Plaza at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.  

This is Elise!

Our dear friends Fred and Joanne have an amazing daughter named Elise, who was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes during her First Birthday celebration.  Their life was never the same.  Elise, however, is the strongest, smartest, sassiest little girl you will ever meet, and nothing is gonna get her down!  She, and her parents (along with two little brothers!), are an inspiration to me and so many.  And it is our honor to walk with them each year in support of finding a cure for Juvenile Diabetes!

Please consider joining us as a walker, or financially through a tax-deductible donation.  You can read Elise's story and find out more about the event here.

Homeschool Recap, April 26th (Week 33)...

In our lives this week...
I worked Share-A-Thon at Power FM three days this week while the boys stayed with grandma... so, needless to say, schooling took a backseat a good chunk of the week.  However, it was our second-to-last week of school, and I didn't want to get off track so we can officially end next Friday!  We squeezed lessons in where we could and finished it up on Saturday morning.  Whew.

A picture to share...

Preston aced the STAAR tests!

Everyone was posting about how stressed they and their kids were regarding the STAAR tests this week.  I had to rub it in a little that we don't have such silly things.  Lol.

It's beautiful!  Don't touch it!!!

I have the best mom ever.  She not only watches my kids for me, but organized my nightmare of a tupperware cabinet.  Seriously, the best mom ever.

People we're seeing...
On Monday, we met up with a couple of other ladies (April and Jessica) and their kids from our homeschool group to play at the park.  Then, on Tuesday, I invited April and her kids over for a movie night.  The kids wanted to watch Kronk's New Groove, lol.  It's so awesome having a new friend who homeschools, has kids around the same age as mine and lives nearly around the corner!  Thank you, Lord, for this awesome new friendship!  Oh, and thanks to Eddie for introducing us... he knew we'd hit it off!  Then, of course, it was nice to see all my Power FM peeps the rest of the week.  Love that crew, they still feel like family even after I've been gone so long.


In our Homeschool this week...

Tot School: Pretty much nothing formal in the way of schooling for Callen this week.  We did read If You Give a Pig a Pancake (several times) and Frederick by Lionni.

Bible:   This week's name of Jesus was "The Word" and Preston's memory verse is John 1:1. We looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that explained how important The Word is, and words, in general, are too.  We talked about the use of words, and read about Helen Keller.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure. We finished with In Grandma's Attic, our last read-aloud, and Preston wrote a brief summary of the book.  This one was fun, it was all about how much trouble "Grandma" used to get in as a little girl and the lessons she learned from her mischief.  Pretty sure Preston could relate.  Lol.

History: This week Preston learned about inventors like Thomas Edison, The Wright Brothers and Henry Ford, as well as four states: Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.  My parents just returned from a vacation in Arizona at the Grand Canyon so it was fun to learn about the state they told us all about.  Books we read this week included: Leah's Pony, A Wizard From the Start (about Thomas Edison), First Flight and Welcome to the Sea of Sand (poem about an Arizona desert).

Math: Preston is going through comprehensive reviews of each chapter using Math Mammoth worksheets, trying to see what we still need help on.  He seems to have a good grasp on what we've reviewed so far!

Science:  This week's we learned about a few more birds in Birds, Nests & Eggs. And used Science with Air to learn about air's movement and how planes fly.

Music/Art: We sang through the "Armed Services Medley" one last time.

Spanish: Pretty much just quit with Spanish for the year.  =)

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Batman Xtreme Customz MommyParties, sponsored by Ridemakerz

On Sunday, we invited a group of 10 boys and their parents over for a fun afternoon that included getting to build their own Batman Xtreme Customz Vehicle by Ridemakerz, products sent by MommyParties!  The boys were so excited and could hardly wait to begin once they caught sight of the kits!

The boys were eager to dig into these right away!

After getting them all settled near a parent, everyone opened their packages and got after it!  Opening the packages was certainly the most difficult part of the building process, lol.

Getting started with lots of parental help!

Checking out all the parts.

Giving instructions on making them customized.

Working hard at building it just right!

The initial building did seem to take quite a bit of parental involvement for most of the boys.  The younger boys told their mom or dad how they wanted it built and helped where they could.  Some of the oldest boys were fine doing it on their own with just a bit of help or instruction.  These toys are aimed at ages 5-7, though I would definitely recommend them for the upper ages.  But once they were on track, the boys quickly figured out how to interchange the parts and make them different again and again.  They really enjoyed showing off their finished, customized Batmobiles and playing with them!

Look at what we did!!!

Xtreme Customz by Ridemakerz come in a variety of different styles, including other superheroes like Spiderman and Iron Man!  They retail for $9.99 online and at stores such as Target or Toys R Us.

My boys woke up this morning, and the first thing they did was grab their Batman cars and get to work on changing out parts again.  A friend of mine from the party said her kids wanted to take theirs to bed and keep customizing them!  I'd say these were a pretty big hit with the boys I know!  Fun!

[Disclaimer:  I received free products from MommyParties to use at the party and give to the guests.  I was not compensated in anyway for my review, this opinion posted here are my own.]

Homeschool Recap, March 15th (Week 28)...

In my life this week...

It was a gorgeous week, the weather was perfect for Spring Break (other kids were on it, we weren't).  It was really nice that we didn't have anything going on in the evenings... Michael was off from teaching, there was no scouts or Awana.  It was great to have some down time!  We got to hang out with our homeschool group for a meeting on Tuesday and then with some other homeschool moms and kids at the park on Friday.  And I got to have a girl's night out with some friends, even.  Total win.

Enjoying the weather and the backyard.

Chalking.  I drew Perry the Platypus for Callen.

In our Homeschool this week...
Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "W" for Window!  We read a few books having to do with windows, like Sophie's Window, Right Outside My Window, Outside The Window, The Hello Goodbye Window and Ten Dogs in the Window.

My precious three-yr-old enjoying breakfast outside.

Bible:   This week's name of Jesus was "Good Shepherd." Preston's memory verse is John 10:14 and we looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that talked about Jesus being a shepherd and us being the lambs.  We added to the Names of Jesus branch, which is nearly full!  Wow.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure. Continued with lesson 68-69 in Primary Language Lessons. We started a new read-aloud, which goes along with Jesus the "Good Shepherd."  It's called Mountain Born, and was written by Elizabeth Yates.  To be honest, it is not keeping the kids' attention at all, and I'm stumbling over the language (and big words, lol).  Plus, the first two chapters are pretty depressing/disturbing.  Thankfully this book only takes two weeks... I believe we'll be glad to be done with it.

History: This week Preston continued learning about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.  We read from Red, White & Blue and Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt.

Math: Preston continued Part B of Math Mammoth, Second Grade.  Continued Chapter 9, and worked on adding money and making change. 

Science:  This week's lesson were about energy, forces, hot & cold and gravity, all from The First Encyclopedia of Science.  Preston gets the concepts, but we're still having a hard time notebooking things that he's learned.  He doesn't enjoy writing a few sentences about it, so that has been a big battle this week.  He did enjoy the experiment we did using a bottle and a balloon, with expansion and contraction.  We ran hot water over the bottle, put the balloon over the opening, then stuck the bottle into cold water... the balloon was sucked in.  Then we put the bottle in hot water and it was blown back out.

Music/Art: Our patriotic song this week was "Battle Hymn of the Republic."  We also continued our World's Greatest Artists, Vol 1 unit study, with our sixth artist: Pablo Picasso. This week, we read from Usborne Children's Book of Art and Famous Artists.  Preston colored a picture like Three Musicians. We listened to another track from Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty and continued the story.

Spanish: Since we are done with Salsa, and don't have the next disc for Las Clase Divertida... we've slowed down on Spanish work lately.  We used a cheap, little work book on food this week just to review those terms.  We also finished up the pages of First Thousand Words in Spanish, with "La fiero y El Circo."

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Homeschool Recap, February 8th (Week 24)...

In my life this week...

Um... stuff.  The weather was nice this week... I remember that.  Lol.  It zoomed by so quickly, I can barely remember what took place, to be completely honest.  Next week, we are off of school again.  Got some Valentine's fun stuff to do, homeschool group activities, and Preston will be spending the night with Grandma Jill & Grandpa Steve.  Hooray for a break!

Dinner outside on Superbowl Sunday.

Movie Night!  They were so excited about Tinkerbell!

Last Saturday, Michael and I got out for a bit to go see some friends and some good music.  Our friend Adrian was hosting a house show at his loft in Dallas... and Eimi and Drue were there, with Evie!  Squeeee!  It was great to see them, it's been so long!  The other band playing with Matt & Toby, and they were so fun.  The played their songs and Emery songs and made the audience (about 50 people) ask them questions and such.  Made for a really fun evening, for sure!

Eimi and Kayla

Matt & Toby

A Picture to share...

Heehee, caught ya! New curtain & potty training.

In our Homeschool this week...
Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "S" for Stars!  We read a few books having to do with stars, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Full Moon & Star, Shining Star, Star Light Star Bright.  Callen has also started to enjoy playing dominoes.  Or, at the very least, making a big mess with them around the house!

Under the table while Preston & I do work up top.

Bible:   This week's name of Jesus was Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Preston's memory verse is Rev. 17:14 and we looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that talked about God is the ultimate authority above all other authorities. We made a crown that is only for Jesus and put it on display

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure. Continued with lesson 55-57 in Primary Language Lessons. We continued our read-aloud, On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

History: This week Preston learned Samuel Morse and the telegraph, along with Florida and Texas.  We read: Radio Rescue, The Great Pig Search, Welcome to the River of Grass, Armadillo from Amarillo and The Inside Outside Book of Texas.  Preston did a great scratch representation in his Scratch & Sketch book.

Math: Preston continued Part B of Math Mammoth, Second Grade.  Continued Chapter 8, and worked on subtracting three-digit numbers and regrouping.  Busted out the addition and subtraction flashcards to help him get up to speed on the facts.  And we worked on some word problems, which he absolutely loves. He tells me, "Mom, if there's ever a math problem I can't figure out, just put it into a word problem and I can do it!"  =)

Science:  This week's lesson was about breathing air in Science with Air, but we had already covered most of what was in the lesson so we just kinda read over it again.  We were supposed to do "Sour Things" in Science in the Kitchen, but I didn't have the supplies needed for some of the fun experiments so we'll do that one another time down the road.

Music/Art: Our patriotic songs this week are "You're a Grand 'Ole Flag" and "Stars & Stripes Forever."  We also continued our World's Greatest Artists, Vol 1 unit study, with our fourth artist: Van Gogh. This week, we read from Usborne Children's Book of Art and Famous Artists.  We toured my bathroom.  Lol!  I have 7 prints of Van Gogh paintings hung up in there... so it was like our own little trip to the museum, without leaving the house. Preston colored a picture much like Starry Night in My Very First Art Coloring Book with Stickers. We finished up listening to tracks from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Spanish: Continued with the next episode of Salsa. We reviewed words having to do with "Los Animales Domesticos" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish and went through some review using the Spanish Words & Phrases Flashcards.

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Preston's 7th Birthday Party...

We decided to do Preston's party on his actual birthday this year, which fell on a Tuesday.  We have run into holiday parties and all kinds of other scheduling conflicts in the past when we've done it on the weekend... but wow, I was so surprised at the fantastic turn out!  There were a ton of kids filling my living room floor last night!  It was awesome!  His party was Lego themed, and the kids dumped out the blocks and got to building right away!  And Preston was blessed with some fun presents, including lots of Legos!  Thanks to everyone that came!!!  And super big thanks to Lizz, who made the cupcakes - regular and Lego-bricks!  So fun, and tasty!

Homeschool Recap, October 12th (Week 12)...

In my life this week...

Allergies. Still.  Snot. Itchy. Yuck. Miserable.  That pretty much sums me up for the past... geez, how many weeks?  All of them, seems like.  Other than that, it was a pretty busy, go-go-go week for us.  Lots to do and prepare for.  Michael is going to be helping me with a booth event tomorrow morning, Country Day on the Hill in Cedar Hill.  Should be interesting working with him at this... we've never done that before.  Kinda already looking forward to next week so we can take it easy a bit, haha.

Places We're Going...

Monday, Cubscouts had their Raingutter Regatta.  Michael and Preston worked hard on his boat for several days, and on an errand before the meeting, Preston sat on it in the car.  Sigh.  I ran home, superglued the bottom back on as best I could.  Preston didn't win, but I think he had fun anyway.  Lol.

Waiting for his turn.

Blow! Blow!

On Tuesday, we had our monthly homeschool meeting.  And on Wednesday some of us got together and went to the Green Meadows Petting Farm and Pumpkin Patch in Lynn Creek Park.  We had a blast.  The boys LOVED the playground down there and didn't even wanna go to the farm part, lol.  But we had fun there too.  Got to pet, chase and learn about all kinds of animals.  And I milked a cow!  I mean, y'know, they got to milk a cow.  Haha.  I learned that a mama pig's gestational period is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days, she gives birth around 3am and each of her piglets weigh right around 3-pounds.  CRAZY, huh?

Wednesday was also AWANA... I didn't have a helper this week, so had to wrangle SIX 2-3 yr olds on my own.  It actually went better than usual, which is quite funny.

In our Homeschool this week...

Loved this sign out at the farm.

Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "H" for Hammer, and other tools.  We checked out several tool books from the library, including Little Bunny's Cool Tool Set, Tools, The Toolbox, and Workshop.

Bible:   We started talking about Birds in science this week, and our Bible lessons go along with that.  Took a small break from the Names of Jesus.  We looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that talked about birds... specifically eages and doves.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure.  Preston aced both spelling tests he had this week, again.  Continued with lessons 23-25 in Primary Language Lessons. 

History:  We started our state lessons this week.  It is a very light run-through of the states, one per day... so obviously not too intense and Preston isn't expected to remember everything and recite it.  I do hope some of it sticks.  I will share a quote from him for each state that he will tell me on Friday, or as I'm doing this recap, telling what he specifically learned, remembers or thought was interesting (and may or may not be correct, lol)...
Delaware - "It is known as the First State." Books: Delaware.
Pennsylvania - "It's state bird is some type of chicken." This is actually incorrect, Delaware's is a chicken, PA's is a ruffed grouse.  Books: Pennsylvania, William Penn: Founder of Pennsylvania and Raising Yoder's Barn (an Amish story).
New Jersey - He couldn't think of anything except "NJ is the abbreviation!" Then later came back, after reading about it again and said, "The first baseball game was played there!" Books: New Jersey.
Georgia - "Georgia is known for the three p's: Pecans, peanuts and peaches.  And pines, that's four." Books: Georgia and Mountain Wedding (a funny book about a family coming together in early Georgia).
Preston has a notebook page for each state, on the back is a bunch of information and interesting facts about the state, and on the front is a picture of the state, it's motto, state bird and flower, plus the year it came into the U.S.A.  He colors the page, writes the state capital and the state abbreviation.  He also colors in each state on a map of the U.S. as well (I make him hunt down where the state is located).

Math: Preston finished up Chapter 4 of his Math Mammoth workbook this week, did a mixed review, chapter review and took his chapter test: Got 15 out of 18 correct, 83%.

Science:  This week's focus was on birds, like I said above.  We read from Birds, Nests & Eggs, listened to CD of bird calls from Sing, Nightingale, Sing and made our own binoculars.

Not sure Callen quite gets it.

Music/Art: We didn't do much of music or art this week, other than when the boys made birthday cards for my mom and aunt.  Preston cut out shapes and glued them on to form different designs or objects.

Spanish: Continued with the next two episodes of Salsa. We reviewed words having to do with "La Playa" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish.  And we continued with Lesson 5 of La Clase Divertida!. Honestly, we didn't do much with Spanish this week other than watch the videos and go through the book.

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Unconditional Book & Movie Review...

As I stated before, I was very excited about this film, especially when I found out that the writer and director was Brent McCorkle.  Or, as I know him, Brenton Scott.  Brent(on) was a local name in Christian rock in the days when I first started listening to "Power Mix" and then Power FM.  I know exactly where his CD is in the "local/indie" section of my music library, lol.  I knew he had gone on to become a "movie guy," and that he was a really talented director. It was very exciting to his name up there on the big screen, and in all the promo that's been going on for the movie too.

I was sent Unconditional: A Novel based on the movie and Brent's screenplay, written by Eva Marie Everson by BuzzPlant.  I haven't had a lot of time to read lately, but I managed to read the novel in two sittings just a few days before the movie released! Ms. Everson did a fantastic job writing in all the little details that helped me get a clear image in my mind of what was playing out in the story.  I could easily envision Sam's read hair and Samurai Joe's "pajamas." And as I later watched the movie, I was amused at how well the images matched what I had seen in my head!

The book and movie are based on the true story of "Papa Joe" Bradford, an extraordinary man who faced all kinds of obstacles in his life, but still spent his time inspiring young people to do their best.  Sam and Joe were friends as kids, but grew apart, only to meet up later in life while both were in the midst of personal trials and tribulations.  Their reunion serves to help both of them in one way or another.  Sam lost her husband in a tragic situation, and cannot get past her grief, but finds life again as she begins to pour love into the "Papa Joe's" kids.  Joe is fighting a terminal illness, living in the projects and trying to do his best to show those kids that they can be better than their situation.  It is a deeply inspirational and touching story, but what I loved about it is how true-to-life it really was.  It didn't feel fluffy or overly simplified.  It's cliche to say it, but there are parts that will make you laugh and there are definitely parts of this story that will make you cry.

In the story, Sam is a children's book writer, who is in the beginning stages of writing a book called Firebird.  When her husband is murdered, she doesn't want to write the book anymore, but is inspired in the end to finish it.  I love that they have actually created a Firebird book you can get.  It is beautifully illustrated (ok, not by Sam, but by artists who formally worked for Disney), and written just as you will read or hear in the novel or movie.  My kids enjoyed hearing the story, and thought the little bird was just "so cute!."  It's true, it is quite adorable.  It is, again, an inspiring story of a little bird who wants to know why God allows the storms to take away the sunshine, and he has to learn that despite the rain... the sun is ALWAYS shining.  I LOVE this message.  This is a fantastic book that answers that difficult question, "Where is God when bad things happen?"  This children's book is written by Bren McCorkle and Amy Parker.

I really, highly suggest you go see this movie while it's out in the theaters.  Please support a fantastic faith-based film with a strong message of Jesus.  You will not be disappointed.

[I was sent the two books from BuzzPlant, to help promote and review, however I was not further compensated and the statements posted here are my own, personal opinion.  There are AmazonAssociate links in the post, which means if you click on them and purchase something, I get compensated a small percentage at no extra cost to you. You are not required to do that, obviously, but if you choose to, thank you for helping to support my family!]

Fisher-Price House Party!

I love being part of House Party, y'all, and this morning I hosted the best House Party yet!  I was excited to be accepted for the Fisher-Price new toys campaign, but I had no idea what I would be receiving until a 57-pound box landed on my door step a few weeks ago!  

Can we open it? Now? Can we? Huh? Please?

FIFTY-SEVEN POUNDS of toys, and actually... more than that, because a second box followed a few days later with even more things for the goody bags!  Crazy!

A few days after that giant box arrived, we couldn't take it anymore and just had to open it and at least peek at what was inside!

Just a peek, boys.

Um, ok, maybe more than a peek!

Wowzers.  We didn't take anything out of it's packaging, but boy did we drool over these fun toys!  

And finally, last night, we pulled the box out again and started unloading the stuff.  The first thing we put together was the Fisher-Price Little People Disney Princess Songs Palace.  Wow, say that three times fast, eh?  Let me tell you something, it's cute, but my gosh, it was a booger to put together!  We tried about seven different screw drivers to find one that was thin enough to get down these little tubes yet big enough to catch the cross of the screws.  I finally got everything put together only to discover that it required 3 AAA batteries, and all we were sent was AA.  So, my sweet husband had to run to the store for us so we'd be ready for our morning party!  Thank you, husband!  Anyway, the castle came with Cinderella and Snow White Little People, but we also received two 2-packs: Cinderella (in a wedding dress) with Prince Charming and Ariel with Aurora.  I didn't figure my boys would care much for this one, but Callen proved me wrong.  He enjoyed playing with the princesses... he liked shoving them out of the castle windows.  Not even kidding.  He's 2, he knows how to play with girl stuff.  Ha!

My husband then stepped in and put together the Fisher-Price Wheelies Loops 'n' Swoops Amusement Park.  He did it super fast, super easy.  Figures.

Next I put together all of the Fisher-Price Servin' Surprises sets... the Barbeque Set, the Birthday Set, the Tea Party set, the Highchair set, the Ice Cream Party set, and then finally the entire Kitchen & Table, which went together quite easily with the two of us working together. 

When the boys woke up the next morning and came into the living room, it looked like Christmas morning had come early.  Nope, sorry kiddos, it's just the first day of Fall!

Santa came early! 

Finally, guests began to arrive and the party could start.  The kids dove right in... slightly unsure of what to play with first! Parents stood around amazed at all the fun stuff I got sent... FOR FREE!  Lol.  Yep, House Party is awesome!!!

The girls especially enjoyed the Palace.

Feeding the baby... monkey.  I have boys, we don't have dolls.

Servin' up pizza and birthday cake!

The older boys playing with the roller coaster!

Who wants ice cream?!

Having fun!!

Chaos, kids and toys everywhere!

Everything is just so much fun!

Even the littlest one is enjoying himself.

The Loops 'n' Swoops was a hit!

The Kitchen & Table was a hit too!

Of course, it wasn't long till sheer chaos ensued, but the kids had an absolute blast. It was really difficult to tell which toy was the winner out of the bunch, because they honestly ALL played with it ALL.  Thankfully there was very little issues with sharing, and they all got to play with everything in turn or together, and they just all seemed to love each thing.  The kids ranged from one-year to 6-years-old.  And, yes, even the 5 and 6-year-olds had fun with this stuff, of course!  I enjoyed showing my friends how the Servin' Surprise Kitchen & Table switched from, well, kitchen to table and back, and also how all the other Servin' Surprise accessories worked separately or with the table.  Many of the parents were VERY interested in these toys for their kids, so I'd say they were a big hit with EVERYONE!  In addition to the play time, each guests left with a great goody bag filled with a Fisher-Price Little People coloring book, CD, DVD, coupons, playing tip cards, a Wheelies Car and more!

Yay, fun stuff to take home!

Thank you, Fisher-Price and House Party, for this great time had by all!!!

For the record, my favorite items were the Ice Cream Party set and the Loops 'n' Swoops Amusement Park.  But, seriously, it was all a lot of fun to play with!

[I was not compensated by Fisher-Price or House Party to give a review of these items. I  was provided with the toys listed above in exchange for hosting a party to show them off, nothing more.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own.  This post does contain Amazon affiliate links.  By clicking these links and purchasing an item, I would receive a small compensation.]