My 1st Retail Giveaway!

Hey there Holiday readers, hope you are well this holiday season!

Things are very exciting around my place! We're busy playing Squeeballs for Nintendo Wii & DS


This game is rated E10, which is perfect for my son!

It's a game about being a toy tester. As a player you must run these toys balls through a variety of challenges to see if they hold up under the Extreme playing situations.
The Squeeballs that pass the tests make it off their island & can go to the toy store.
It's truly a fun & silly game, which makes it perfect for family play.
There are several ways to play it. On our Wii we chose PARTY MODE so we could take turns playing the challenges on the Ladder. As you get better, more challenges are unlocked & added to the Ladder.
I don't know about the DS version yet, as my son won't let me get my hands on it (so I'm guessing that's a good thing).

Want to see why we're giggling all day with this game? Take a look at this short video http://www.squeeballs.com/#/see-us-in-action
Also on the site you can see other info about the game by clicking the buttons on the blender (yup you get to blend a Squeeball - too funny!)

I'm giving away a copy of Squeeballs for Wii & a separate copy of Squeeballs for DS.
Here's how to enter

Answer this question in the comment section... Where do the Squeeballs that pass the tests end up? Answer that along with your name & email in the comment section.

I know some of you like to get extra entries, so for each of these you do, leave a separate comment for each one you have done

1. Follow me on twitter @those2girls
2. Tweet this... Wow @those2girls are doing @Squeeballs giveaway here http://itsnoteasyraisingatween.blogspot.com/ #squeeballs
3. RSVP to the TWTvite for MeFest on the sidebar of this page.
4. Join the Those 2 Girls Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&viewas=0&ref=mf&gid=29614118262 & leave a comment on the wall there
5. Put a link from your Blog, Facebook page, YouTube channel to this post, send me the links for them

Winners will be contacted by email

Alright everyone hope you all have a great time over the Holidays!
This contest ends at Midnight NEW YEARS EVE so get in on it before that GIANT SQUEEBALL in NEW YORK drops-ha!

Star Wars in Concert

As many of you know we went to STAR WARS IN CONCERT last week.
It was well worth the ticket price & I would go again.

I made it an early Christmas gift for my Tween & myself, as we are both STAR WARS FANS!

We got there early & somehow got in with EARLY VIP's (one of those right time, right place kind of things). This meant no lineups for the Displays. Yes that's right DISPLAYS!! All from George Lucas's archives. So awesome!
Here's 4 clips
1st is a slideshow of the displays, made by me with my pics (& with fun music to make the 2 minutes go by fast)


The 2nd clip is not from me, but you get an overview of the show
(no video or flash photography allowed during the show & I wasn't going to risk it after the price I paid for tickets)


This clip is also not from me, but just to show you, we'd be watching the screen & forget that it's a live orchestra playing the music (the music is not added to the film). See you catch yourself forgetting as well


This final clip (again not mine) is to show how each piece was presented.
First Anthony Daniels, the actor who played C3PO (okay the GOLD ROBOT for those who still don't know who I mean) would introduce the piece live on stage, then the orchestra would play while the segmanet played on the GIANORMOUS screen!


There were two standing ovations for the show. For the second ovation Anthony Daniels came out in a Toronto Maple Leaf Jersey with the #3 on it (do you get it?)

So as you can tell it's all still fresh in my mind & I will sign off by saying

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.......ALWAYS

Parade Etiquette

I was lucky enough to have a Saturday night off the same night as the Cambridge Nightime Christmas Parade.

It was a great time for us, yet I feel some out there could have used these DO & DON'T lessons......

DO Allow time for travel, parking & picking out the perfect site.
The parade started at 6pm & Cambridge is about a 20 min drive from my house, plus I wanted to park somewhere that is easy to leave from. Also being the shorty that I am, I always like to get there early enough so we can both see, yet not too long before otherwise my son will get impatient & want to leave.

DON'T Arrive late, & expect to stand right in front of my perfect spot that I've been waiting at least half an hour

DO If someone does stand right in front of you be polite. In my case I said "Excuse me, I don't mind if you block my view, but please don't block my son's"

DON'T Be like the lady next to me who then yelled out "Yeah how ignorant is that!"

DO Get everything organized before the parade starts. Camera out, water bottle opened etc.

DON'T Do things you should have done while walking from the parking lot IE start yelling "Well I'd go to Tim Horton's but no one will move for me" or my fave light up your smoke in a crowd of children (I don't really care if you smoke, just don't do it in a dense crowd).

DO Dress properly. Yes it was a beautiful 15 degrees Celsius in November yesterday, but I knew that once the sun came down it would not stay that temperature. We brought toques & gloves.

DON'T Think it will be warm enough for your child to wear a sleeveless vest so that their nose can drip beside me the whole time.

DO Help the people out around you. Taking family pictures, passing money for cotton candy etc.

DON'T Keep up your conversations by trying to yell over the bands passing by

DO Cheer for Santa!

DON'T Run in front of others to get to the front (see 1st "DON'T)

DO Wait for the crowd to disperse to pack up folding blankets, folding chairs etc.

DON'T Come stomping through, pushing around all the small children in your path.

DO Ask your child what he/she enjoyed most about the parade on the trek back to the vehicle

DON'T Feel that everyone around you needs to know you're going home to enjoy a cold one!

Yes, agreed most of these items are common sense, yet these DON'Ts are actually things I witnessed last night. That's why I now refer to Common Sense, as RARE Sense (it rarely gets used in these situations). So make sure to review these few simple steps to enjoy the parade as much as he did!



For a listing of parades in your area, please visit http://yummymummyclub.ca/santa_claus_parades

1st Christmas Card of 2009!

I came home to find a letter in my mail from my Grandma, known in my family as Gramma on the Farm (yes Gramma is spelled this way at our house!)

She wanted to send me this pic of my son & her from this summer & figured she might as well send the Christmas card along as well.

Isn't this a beautiful pic? This lady is in her 80's & she looks spectacular! I was her 1st grandchild & my son is her 1st Great Grandchild! She's exactly how I want to be when I get to be a senior! She goes to card parties, takes bus trips, is involved in her community Bazaars & fall fair SHE ROCKS! & she's MY GRAMMA!

I hope to look this great when I'm a Great Grandmother!

Phew!

Yesterday I got a call that my son came home from school. I tried to keep the worry out of my head, but the worrier I am made me almost sick to my stomach. He was at his Dad's for the afternoon, so I knew he was fine, but still with all that is going around right now, PANIC seems to be the reaction.

Once I picked him up, I could see he was not himself. He had glossy eyes & his regularly pale skin had changed to a shade of olive green. HERE WE GO....

Yet the car ride home gave me a different impression. He was talking, but not in the OH I'M SO SICK VOICE. He's been listening to me finally see my summer post here
The whole way home he kept saying, yes I'm sick, but not that H1N1 kind of sick,I'm a healthy kid, I just need to feel better.
I told him that his good attitude will help him get better quicker.

So throughout the rest of the day we watched movies in between bouts of coughing.

Today we went to the Doctor's. I gave him the full details, told him that I'd be willing to take any recommendations & medications required.

The Doctor said that he had the beginning stages of Bronchitis & not to PANIC! He said it was good he came in right away before it advanced. Apparently this is going around as well, but with all the other stuff no one really takes a 2nd look at it. He prescribed cough syrup & said it would pass in a few days.

He also wants him to have the H1N1 shot, but not until he has fully recovered (he thinks next week). He also said that the H1N1 shot is not the regular flu shot & he should get that as well.

So we are happy with news & guess what my son's question for the doctor was.....

Can I still go trick or treating?

YUP
That was his biggest concern.

The Hunt for the PERFECT Hat!

Hi Everyone
Thanks again for visiting! So with Halloween right around the corner I thought I'd let you in on the costume happenings around here.
This year my son didn't pick out his own costume. Weird I know for a 10yr old not to have a say in his costume, but here's how the story goes.....

Last January I was at the DISNEY OUTLET in Vaughn Mills (love that store). They had a Captain Jack Sparrow costume for $12, please read that again TWELVE DOLLARS!!!!!!!!! This is the Official Licensed one they sell at Disney World for $60 US.

I grabbed it as it was the only one. It came with everything except the hat. I figured it would be easy enough to find a hat around Halloween since they were everywhere last year.

Yes well perhaps I was kidding myself....

Nowhere are there any Jack Sparrow hats! Just the red sash with the dreads. Not really my son's cup of tea. As I've scrambled all around KW all I get offered is sashes w/dreads, until finally

I FOUND IT............

& the cost was, wait for it, wait for it....

$8 Yup EIGHT DOLLARS.

Did you do the quick math? Full Jack Sparrow costume = $20
Pics of it to come next week!
Wondering what Pre-Halloween events are happening this week?
Make sure to check out
http://stufftodowithyourkidsinkw.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving for the past year

more tips can be found at
http://www.wearethatfamily.com/
Part 1 of post: Explanation (not timed). I read once if you write down 100 things in one minute it shows what you are dreaming about (ie what your goals should be. I'm going to do a variation of it & take one minute & write everything that come to mind when thinking about what has made me THANKFUL for my son in the past year.
Please ignore how random it is & all typos that come into play. Part 2 will be the One Minute timed typing
(now going to tweet that I'm writing a ONE MINUTE BLOG POST.

Part 2 GO!

love, fun, stanley cup, Christmas, Star Wars, Bingemans, Wii, video games, card games, splash parks, cottage, car trip, Leaf games, hockey, laughter, giggles, too funny!

Son is watching NEXT STAR. "Hey mom do you know Justin Bieber is only 5 yrs older than me?" here we go into puberty

Lasting Power in a Boy's World

It will come sooner than you think.
CHRISTMAS
I know you're thinking Halloween, but really, buy costume, buy candy, put up some (hopefully) fake spiderwebs, carve pumpkin. Done!

Yes Christmas will be here before you know it. I'd like to give some advice to the parents of those 3 & up (basically any child that doesn't shove toys in their mouth).
Certain toys have lasting power, & most big ticket kids toys sit in the corner once the new year has started.
Believe me, I've been there & have some $60 "decor toys" to prove it.

I know every child is different, but my son is now 10, & this is a list of things that he has loved since age 3 & still plays with

1. Action Figures, particularly Star Wars & Transformers, but all the "dudes" end up in some battle of good guys vs bad guys. Unfortunately in my house the good guys never win. Apparently it's more fun that way.
2. Lego, the most (non messy) creative item for kids. Many times my son will ask for toys & cars for his action figures, & yes we do have some, but for the most part I will say, "Why not build it with LEGO?" Some great battleships & fortresses have been built this way.
3. DVD's. All kids love movies with their favorite characters.
4. Pokemon, don't kid yourself, it will happen. As soon as they start going to school Pokemon will invade your life (I use Pokemon cards as allowance tool). Sure we've gone through fazes of Yu-Gi-Oh & Chaotic cards, but it always reverts back to Pokemon.
5. Video Games. Here's a little hint about video games. If you're child really wants a certain video game, rent it 1st. We have a couple of video games that just sit here, as they are too difficult. Now we rent & if a particular game gets requested to rent again, I know that is worth the purchase.

Those are the TOP 5 toys that have stood the test of time in my house. Honorable mention also goes to Hot Wheels cars & Mini-Hockey sticks.

Hopefully this list will help with your upcoming Holiday purchases. Now back to buying Halloween candy (don't ask where the 1st batch of it went)!

Back To School In Kitchener Waterloo Ont

So my tween son said to me
"This year instead of coming into the gym with me on the First Day Of School, can you just drop me off?"

Oh so grown up!

Here's a treat for all of you getting your kids ready for the 1st day of school from the Billy Madison Movie.

Coupons for Ontario Attractions

A few days ago we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was a great time. We don't go to too many museums as my son wants to blow through the whole place & it doesn't make it worth the cost of admission.

BUT.....

I knew the theme would make him take notice (plus there's a fun interactive zone too).

How did I make it affordable?

With a KIDS GET IN FREE COUPON! For the Hockey Hall of Fame
http://www.attractionsontario.ca/index.cfm?DSP=Chapter&ID=11&ACT=Coupon-Info&Coupon_ID=73&Member_ID=1069

You see that's one of my tricks
If I'm ever going somewhere I google
Coupons for _____________ (place I'm off to)
& then I google Deals for ___________________

A couple of other good places for deals are
RedFlagDeals.com & TicketOps on the ShoppersDrugMart site

Here's a full list of coupons from Attractions Ontario
http://www.attractionsontario.ca/index.cfm?DSP=Chapter&ID=19

The fact I live in Kitchener Waterloo helps as I'm just 45 mins from Toronto, an Hour away from Niagra, an Hour & a half from the Niagra Border & 2+ hours from the Detroit/Windsor border.

My problem is I don't like to drive outside of KW, but I'm getting braver. Next year I hope to get a newer vehicle & I'll get a GPS!

But for now I try to find stuff to do in my region.
Want to see what's available in KW?
Visit
http://stufftodowithyourkidsinkw.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your Labour Day Weekend!

New Meaning to TUB of LEGO

It's been very chilly in the evenings her in KW, so that means every time you open the door (to let the dog in/out) a gazillion little bugs want to enter as well.

I thought we were doing well by keeping the outside light off when opening the door, but then I heard it...

"MOM MOM MOM there's an earwig in the LEGO tub"
CRAP CRAP CRAP is more like it.

We keep our LEGO in a big Rubbermaid Tub with a lid, hence our LEGO TUB.
Well this incident sure changed the meaning of a Big LEGO TUB




Yup after I got the earwig out, I clean all the LEGO. I gave it a bath in OUR tub (with some bubble bath). Seems easy enough, but the trick is getting it out without losing any of those OH SO TINY, but yet OH SO IMPORTANT pieces. You know the ones, the little sticks & buttons that hold the Star Wars sets togther.

So I put a big towel around the drain so when I pulled the plug we wouldn't have to worry about pieces heading down the pipe.
Next I grabbed the plastic strainer to scoop everything out of the tub. That was when I realized I got more than I bargained for.
There was pet hair, dimes, candy wrappers, pieces of pencil crayons, action figures & all the other things boys like to keep in their pockets, amongst the OH SO PRECIOUS LEGO.

I kept scooping & finally finished. I put all the LEGO on a towel to dry & realized it looked like a page from an I SPY BOOK.
Can You Find Darth Vader?

Hot Topic at our House

If you hang around our house there is always something "HOCKEY" being spoke of.
My son, now 10, aspires to be an NHL Goalie.
This is not recent dream. This is THE DREAM (according to him). We are a hockey household. I like hockey, my family likes hockey, my son LOVES HOCKEY.
Heck I even painted his toy room to look like an arena (well up to our standards of what a hockey arena would look like).
He's been going to Kitchener Rangers games since he was an infant. I remember him coming home from his 1st day of Kindergarten telling me that at school they sang THE HOCKEY SONG.
At 1st I thought it was the "Good old hockey game, it's the best game you can name..." which I thought was weird for that age group. So I started to sing it. He said "NO" the other hockey song that they play on the speakers. I then realized he meant OH CANADA!
I laughed so hard, because he had only heard OH CANADA played at arenas!
Today we went to see the Holy Grail of Hockey & it was such a blast (& I thought it would help inspire his dream to one day raise the cup)
Here we are doing a play by play (it will only be up for a few days)
http://www.legendsofhockey.net/TSN/playbyplay.jsp?video=FOSTERMCDONALD@ROGERS.COM_60f9966a-9918-4639-a7c2-fcfdd8819815.wmv

& here we are with the Presentation Stanley Cup



Tomorrow I will write about how I was able to make this a great Staycation.
Hope you enjoyed it.
What Dreams do your kids have & how do you help inspire them? I'd love to know so please leave a comment below.

Math & Cleaning made FUN?

My son is on a mission for some new Star Wars action figures ('cause the huge bin of them just isn't enough-ha!)
So he's decided instead of begging he'll be a little more sly & convince me he's going to earn them. How's he doing that? Well he says he'll clean up the areas of the house he's responsible for (rec room, toy room & his room).
As wonderful as it sounds, I know that it will become an unfinished project unless he gets some motivation. He likes to start then, then stops & I get "Is this done enough?"
Yesterday I had an idea, we played something I called DOUBLE IT!
You know the old story were the man says he'll start at a penny & the amount gets doubled each day & he is quickly a rich man.
I put my own spin on it.
I also made it a contest between the 2 of us.
The rules are we each pick up one thing & see who does it first. Then we keep doubling the amounts of things we had to pick up.
One item, then doubled is 2 items, then 4 items, then 8 items, once it got to 16 items there was a bit of a math challenge in there for him as well. We got up to 64 items each & the room was back to normal.
Do you think this might work at your house?

For More great Ideas head over to

http://www.wearethatfamily.com/

Tweenisms

Slang is something that will always be a part of TWEEN language.

In the 50's it was words like NeatO! &
The 60's brought forth Groovy & Psychedelic
For the 70's it was Macho & Out A Sight
The 80's there was the whole "Valley Talk" Gnarly, Tubular,
The 90's gave us Sweeeeeet & Doh & my fave Not a Fan or Not So Much, as well as the act of "dis"ing others & trash talk (both basically the same)
Now that we're are well into the 2000's the word weird has been replaced with random, the expression Shocking is now "wow this got Real" Uber is the new Very & Sweeeet is now Nicccccce.

I thought I had all the lingo down pat. I felt I can keep up & then I heard it...

Cheap!

"I was playing a game & one guy cheated! That was so CHEAP" said my son

CHEAP is the new rotten (bad, not called for, etc)

Who knew?

Being well behaved has it's reward _ Finally got that lesson through!

So I always explain to my son that kids that are the most eager & well behaved get the perks!
Usually lessons from me go in one ear & out the other with a "aww Mom!" attached to it.
Well for some strange reason this one made sense to him.

He loves going to camps at the Waterloo Region's Children's Museum. The leaders tell me how well behaved he is & tell them how much he loves attending. They are always happy to see him & recognize him at other events in the community. This week they had a very special event & he was chosen to be one of the 2 children at the camp who were able to inspect the new officers.

It even made THE RECORD (the local newspaper)PROUD MOMMY HERE!

Not sure how long the link to this article & video will be up, but there's also a pic underneath this post.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/585047

http://news.therecord.com/videogallery/585004

What life lessons have your tweens responded to? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear it!

From Toddler to Tween

I've always taken my son to Kidspark, from the time he was a toddler until now.
Lots of different activities for every age group.
Want more info?
Then scoot on over to
http://stufftodowithyourkidsinkw.blogspot.com/

Do You Know What Feels Great?

My son was getting ready for bed & decides to ask
"Hey Mom, do you know what feels great?"
I was hoping he was going to say the PJ's I just pulled out from the dryer, or something simple & sweet 'cause I'm never sure where convos are going to end up these days.
I hesitantley answer "What feels great sweetie?"

"Now I can play games that are rated E10 !!!!"

How funny was that. That's his new accomplishment. He's very proud he's now old enough to play video games on his Wii that are rated E10

Oh that child of mine!

Inspiration for Our Blog

Greetings, Those 2 Girls here
And we’d like to tell you a little bit about raising a TWEEN
Do you know what’s a TWEEN
Well 8-12 year olds for our thing
You see our kids are TWEENS, and were Moms
And that means that we’re Moms of TWEENS, you see
(Sung to the tune of It's not easy being green by Kermit)

It's not that easy raising a TWEEN
Having to spend each day wanting be a kid or a teenager
When I think it could be nicer being 5, or 13, or 18
Or something much more different like that

It's not easy raising a TWEEN
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over
'Cause you're not standing out
Like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky

But TWEEN are happy in spring (or anytime)
And a TWEEN can be cool and friendly-like
And a TWEEN can be big like a mountain
Or important like a river
Or tall like a tree

When becoming a TWEEN is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why
But why wonder why wonder
We‘re raising TWEENS, and we'll do fine
It's beautiful, and I think it's what we want to be