Actually, both Abbi and Hannah completed their practice 5k for Girls on the Run last week (note the tagalong in the photo below – she ran in for the last few feet with Abbi on that lap). The big Celebration 5k is this coming Saturday – can’t wait to be there to cheer them on!

Don’t forget to see more photos at Wordless Wednesday, Project Alicia, Live and Love Out Loud, Seven Clown Circus, Parenting By Dummies,Better in Bulk, and 5 Minutes For Mom!

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Wordless Wednesday – Getting ready to run a 5k…

Once a year it happens… That wonderful day when I’m awakened by a parade of kids filing into my bedroom bearing breakfast and assorted handmade gifts, and sometimes even a card if Ron’s on top of things. This year added something new to the mix – the girls thought it would be fun to let the puppy wake me up. I must say that while having an ecstatic, wiggling puppy covering my face with kisses wasn’t exactly my first choice for how to be woken up on Mother’s Day, the girly giggles that came along with it were priceless and made my morning.

The other thing I look forward to every year on Mother’s Day is the break from the usual daily routine of chores and trying to get six different things done all at once. For that one day, I can simply ask my family to pitch in – and they do (with a bare minimum of grumbling). But then after the day spent relaxing and going out to dinner with my favorite people in the world, Monday comes along as it always does and it’s back to reality.

I work at home nowadays and with limited time to get things done, I don’t always remember to grab a phone handset to keep by me while I’m on the computer or running around the house trying to squeeze in a load of laundry or dishes. And it always seems that the phone rings at the most inconvenient times too, of course. Although my husband and I both have cell phones, we’ve kept our landline as our ‘household’ phone for general calls, the kids’ use and my talks with my friend Mary. Nowadays we don’t always talk weekly as we used to for years, but when we do get on the phone together we regularly chat for several hours at a time. Being able to multi-task while on the phone is just about a necessity for me now, which is why I’m so glad to have had the chance to try out VTech’s newly revamped Multi-Tasking Headset Phone system for the past few weeks.

What it is:

The VTech LS6475-3 is a two handset DECT 6.0 expandable cordless phone with one DECT 6.0 cordless headset, push-to-talk & HD audio. Basically it includes two cordless handsets plus one cordless headset that comes with several different options to wear either over-the-head or over-the-ear. The headset fits right into the main base charging station, along with one of the handsets. For the other handset, a separate charging base is included. The system is also expandable for up to 12 handsets and 2 headsets – with only one telephone jack required.

The LS6475-3 also includes a digital answering system with up to 14 minutes of recording time (you can retrieve messages from the handsets as well as the base, or even remotely). And you can also use the handsets to contact each other with push-to-talk technology. The system also features:

• Audio equalizer allows you to choose from 4 different profiles to best match your hearing.
• Know who’s calling with Caller ID/Call Waiting. Handset displays the name, number, time and date of incoming calls.
• Slim handset size.
• Stylish metallic finish.
• Backlit message counter.
• Easily store and dial frequently called numbers.
• Utilizing the latest-available frequency band, this interference-free technology provides superior voice and sound quality and higher protection against eavesdropping than 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz phone systems.
• Audibly announces the name of the caller on all handsets and the base unit. No need to find the handset to see who’s calling—making screening calls that much easier.

Courtesy of VTech and Mom Central Consulting, we received a VTech LS6475-3 Multi-Tasking Headset Phone System to try out and review.

Here’s my take on it:

Our previous cordless phone was also a VTech system and we’d been very happy with it, so I was excited to try this one out, especially the headset. In fact, as I write this I’m also chatting with my mom on the phone – something that wouldn’t be possible if I had to hold onto a phone handset. I hate using the speakerphone – it’s loud and I always feel like I need to shout in order for the other person to hear me. Plus I don’t always want to advertise what I’m talking about to the rests of my family. This headset is perfect – I use one of the over-the-hear options and I’m able to chat away while I’m typing or folding laundry. The only thing I can’t do is make a call from it, but it’s easy enough to switch to the headset from an existing call whether it’s one I’ve made or received.

The rest of the system is very similar to what we had previously so it was easy to figure out how to use the answering system and add numbers to the directory. I like the large display on the handsets so that you can see name and number and the menus are intuitive enough that I didn’t need to use the instruction book to figure out how to set everything up. One of my favorite features is how the base unit will verbally announce who is calling (using the CallerID) – if I only have the headset handy (it doesn’t have a screen so you can’t see who’s calling on it) I can still listen to hear if it’s a call I need to take right then or not.

There’s one other little thing that I appreciate on a convenience level with this phone system. The last time I was shopping for a phone system a few years ago, it was hard to find one that had a numeric indicator for the message instead of just a blinking light. I prefer knowing exactly how many messages we’ve got – not just that we have some, so I’m really glad to see that VTech included a numeric message indicator.

The call quality is very clear, even when I’m talking on our back deck or downstairs. I keep the second (smaller) base in my nightstand, and since we don’t have a phone jack in that room it’s nice to be able to still keep a phone in there with this system. I also love the push-to-talk feature between the two handsets – my husband often on our main computer downstairs and me usually on my laptop upstairs, it’s really helpful to be able to ask him a question or remind him of anything he needs to do before he comes back upstairs. Kind of like a portable intercom.

The bottom line:

The VTech LS6475-3 is a multi-tasking mom’s best friend – or at least this work-at-home mom’s best friend.  Whether I’m working, doing household chores, or just relaxing out on our new deck, I can have a phone available to talk on whenever or however I need to.

Where can you find it?:

The VTech LS6475-3 Multi-Tasking Headset Phone System just recently launched and can be found at most major retailers or online at www.vtechphones.com. The retail price is $99.95. For more information you can also find them on Facebook or Twitter.

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of VTech and received a product sample to facilitate my review.

Smart solutions for everyday moms!

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Review: VTech LS6475-3 Multi-Tasking Headset Phone System

I mean, really – how could I resist these faces?

I couldn’t, right? And besides, there was one more little face that was just impossible to ignore…

And so we brought 9-week-old Maddie home to join our family.

Tessa is intrigued and amused by the new addition…

Who in turn, is extremely intrigued by such things as laundry, dog toys, random scraps of paper – and oh yes, my laptop.

She seems to think that my computer is a cat toy (or bed) and so the two of us have had a few disagreements over custody of said laptop keyboard.

Kitten-1, Mom-0. But who do you think won the rematch? Since you’re reading this post, you can probably guess. Although I do have a very interested little (purring) face watching every move the cursor makes.

It’s a good thing she’s so darn cute! And a little sweetheart too. Most of the time.

Don’t forget to see more photos at Wordless Wednesday, Project Alicia, Live and Love Out Loud, Seven Clown Circus, Parenting By Dummies,Better in Bulk, and 5 Minutes For Mom!

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(Sorta) Wordless Wednesday – A successful job of pleading their case…

That’s been about how things have been going lately… We’re four weeks into the soccer season and so far we’re surviving multiple practices and games every week – and juggling Girls on the Run practice for the older girls as well. It’s very busy in the evenings right now – and I’m actually very glad that my oldest decided to take some time off from cheer this spring. One more activity might just have pushed me over the edge…

Normally I don’t mind the busy soccer season, but this spring I’m struggling just to stay awake. My doctor increased the dose of medication that I was taking, and I’ve now discovered that it must be the Zoloft that’s been knocking me out so badly, because it’s gotten much worse with the increased dosage. I fall asleep all the time right now – and unfortunately I tend to get the most tired right about the time that Ron and the girls are all getting home in the late afternoon.

So if you ask the girls right now what their mom does? They’d probably say, “she sleeps all the time!”. And because I’m too tired out to cook, we’ve been eating out way too much. None of which helps my energy level or weight issues… Today the doctor agreed that Zoloft is probably not the right option, so we’re going to try Prozac, which is supposed to be more energizing. We’ll see – I’d settle for something that just lets me feel like myself and stay awake all day.

On top of being so sleepy in general, I came down with a bad cold last week that totally knocked me out for several days. When Mom gets sick, nothing gets done – so I’m still catching up on the housework, laundry and everything else that got behind while I was out of it. And trying to stay awake, of course.

Needless to say, keeping up with the blog here hasn’t been happening as often as I would like lately – but once thing settle down and the meds are figured out, I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things. I have so many things I want to post about – I’m just not usually conscious enough to formulate the thoughts to actually type them out. And I’ve got some fun reviews in the works too, so hang on with me – it should be a fun summer to come!

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Sick, sleep and soccer

Spring has sprung and everything from my closet to my kitchen already has a fresh feeling – the whole house just has a much more festive air. The kids beg to play outside longer in the evenings (“but it’s still light out, Mom!) and we can finally put the new deck that we built last year to good use. I look forward to using our new patio furniture – and so I’m already on the lookout for some great new recipes to try. With a picky family like mine, it can be hard to find foods that we all like, which is why I love helpful tools like the ‘My Look Book’ feature on the McCormick website.

What it is:

McCormick is best known for their herbs, spices and seasoning mixes – but their website offers many different types of recipes as well, with everything from desserts to soups or even recipes for the grill or slow-cooker. And now they help bring new inspiration to your table with their ‘My Look Book’ features, which “allows you to create a digital scrapbook of all your favorite spring recipes”.

Whether it’s Italian Herb Frittata or Red Velvet Cheesecake, My Look Book allows you to easily search and bookmark recipes, leaving more time to enjoy meals with loved ones.

McCormick’s recently launched Pinterest page also displays everything from delicious, spring-infused recipes to fun DIY craft projects – making it easy for you to pin what you like and share with your friends.

Courtesy of McCormick and Mom Central Consulting, I received several samples of McCormick products to use in trying out one of their spring baking recipe ideas.

Here’s my take on it:

When looking for new recipes, the one thing that helps me more than any other is to have a good photo of what the result will be. I am a very visual person and even if my version doesn’t end up looking anything like the original, I need to at least see what the dish or meal ‘could’ aspire to be, lol. And that’s one thing I love about Pinterest, of course – is how very visual it is. And so wonderful for finding new recipes. Now I have another favorite go-to for recipes, because the McCormick ‘My Look Book’ is a wonderful resource.

Like on Pinterest, the Spring Look Book recipes focus on the visual, with large, clear photos of each item. And it’s easy to add favorites to your look book – just click on the grey heart graphic located underneath each photo. Recipes you’ve already added show their hearts in red – and you can easily see everything you’ve added at once by clicking on the ‘My Look Book’ that follows you down the right margin.

Although it was hard to choose just one recipe to try right now (there are 14 of them in My Look Book!), I went with the Double Cinnamon Sugar Cookies. We haven’t baked cookies since the holidays, and it’s a fun way to spend time with my girls. One of my daughters was away, but the other two and I had fun making these. Along with the McCormick Ground Cinnamon and Pure Vanilla Extract, the recipe called for Cream of Tartar, which I already had on hand (McCormick, of course!) from a previous baking project.

It was easy to use the My Look Book, not only to find the recipe to begin with, but also to have it available while we were baking to reference and follow the instructions. I was easily able to access the site and open the recipe on my new iPad so I could have it right there with me in the kitchen, without having to worry about printing out a copy (which I could easily have done otherwise though). My girls are expert dough rollers and had fun rolling the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture before the cookies went into the oven.

Oh, these are so yummy! Even my husband, who’s not generally a sugar cookie fan, has eaten his share. I always forget how fun and easy cookies really are to bake – I need to remember to do this more often. And I’m definitely looking forward to trying out some of the other spring look book recipes – I think my family would love the Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes, the Cinnamon Breadsticks, and I’m even thinking that the Herb Pork Roast With Ginger Peach Glaze might be worth a try. Plus I know my girls would be all over the Cinnamon Pancakes! We’ll definitely have to keep the McCormick cinnamon on-hand to test those out soon.

The bottom line:

If you’re looking for some fun, new recipes to try out for your spring entertaining (or just because), the McCormick ‘My Look Book’ feature is an easy and useful tool to find and save some great new ideas to try out. Recipes can easily be printed, emailed, or even pinned right to your own Pinterest boards. If you’d like to try out the Double Cinnamon Sugar Cookies, here’s the recipe:

Where can you find it?:

The ‘My Look Book’ can be found on McCormick’s website at http://www.mccormick.com – just look for the ‘Spring Look Book’ link at the top right. Or click here. And don’t forget to check out their “Spring Baking Pin-spiration” board on Pinterest for more great recipe ideas.

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for McCormick. I received product samples and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

Smart solutions for everyday moms!

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Review: McCormick ‘My Look Book’ Spring Recipes

There’s one very definite sign of spring in our house – soccer gear gets pulled out, sorted through and organized in preparation for what are six rather busy weeks.

Busy, but in a good way. I really don’t mind at all being a ‘soccer mom’ – I enjoy seeing the girls having fun out on the field and having the chance to talk to and catch up with the other parents over on the sidelines. This year has brought even more soccer-related hustle and bustle to my life since I now volunteer on our local AYSO board as the Girls Registrar.

Along with getting my own kids ready for the season, I’ve spent a few weeks now trying to pair teams who’ve lost players over the winter with girls off of the waiting lists. Plus get new kids registered, uniforms ordered (and delivered) and make sure that everyone knows what team they’re on and where they’re suppose to be for practices and games… It’s a lot of work – but also a lot of fun, and I love giving back to this organization that brings my kids so much joy.

We started off our actual season with a bang this time – all three girls are playing again, and Becca had a double-header to boot.

Four games. In three different locations. All before (or at) noon. For a family with one vehicle. And to complicate things even further, we were scheduled to bring snack to two of the games. Just one more thing to keep track of!

The logistics were complicated and involved some compromises – for instance, although I saw both of Becca’s entire games, I only was able to watch half of Hannah’s, and missed Abbi’s altogether. Ron had to get some work done first thing in the morning – he ended up seeing Abbi’s and Hannah’s games, but neither of Becca’s. But the kids didn’t care – they had at least one parent watching and that was enough for them, especially knowing it was only for this one week. Most of the rest of the season doesn’t involve any conflicts – although the last day is going to also be a challenge, for different reasons.

Becca’s early game (9am) went well, although they lost by a significant amount. The other team did a great job but I think our girls needed that game to really get back into the swing of things. By the second game, they were playing much better and although I wasn’t keeping score, I believe they won that game. Becca scored a goal during the early game and was thrilled to start off the season on a high note.

Abbi and Hannah each lost their first games of the season, but they were both in good spirits and excited just to be playing again. Abbi keeps going back and forth about whether or not she wants to play for another year after this – I’ve been trying to convince her that she might enjoy refereeing instead, so I think she may try that. Hannah loves anything and everything to do with soccer and is absolutely thrilled to be playing again.

Our only real casualty of the first game day (other than my patience and significant gas expenditure from all the running around, lol) was Abbi’s soccer ball, which was accidentally left behind at the park where she, Ron and Hannah were waiting for Becca and I after Abbi’s game finished. She forgot her water bottle too – but when I checked back later on, the water bottle was still on the bench where she’d left it. The soccer ball however – was nowhere to be seen. Of course.

All in all, it was a good start – I figure that if we could make it through that day, then we can pretty much handle just about anything. It is absolutely testing our resolve to remain a one-vehicle household for now though – but we’ll have to see what the rest of the spring and summer bring before we make any decisions there.

Five weeks left – go teams!

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Starting off Spring Soccer Season

Breakfast has been a bane of my existence for some time now. I often skip it, even though I know I shouldn’t – and trying to find something that tastes good, is at least somewhat healthy, and is quick and easy hasn’t been easy to do. Although my family remain die-hard cereal eaters, I’m allergic to milk and not a fan of any of the substitutes that I’ve tried. I’m not a fan of fruit either, which is something I’ve struggled with all of my life. Over the past few years, I’ve gone from breakfasts consisting of various types of granola bars to peanut butter crackers and even for a while, pretzel rods. Yes, I know – not exactly the best way to start off a day.

For the past few weeks though, my breakfasts have been re-energized – thanks to the new belVita breakfast biscuits from Nabisco. These are now my new favorite go-to for breakfast, whether I’m rushing out the door first-thing, on-the-go, or hanging out for a lazy morning at home with my kindergartner.

What they are:

belVita Breakfast Biscuits are a crunchy and tasty way to start off your morning. There are three varieties – Blueberry, Golden Oat and Apple Cinnamon that you can eat either on their own or paired with fruit, yogurt or anything else your creative mind can come up with for a healthy breakfast option. Here’s more about them:

belVita Breakfast Biscuits were developed with nutritionists to provide nutritious sustained energy for the whole morning, resulting from a combination of specially selected ingredients and a carefully controlled baking process that helps preserve the integrity of the grain. Each individual package of four crunchy biscuits is portioned for breakfast, has 18-20g whole grains per serving and is a good source of fiber and four B vitamins. Additionally, belVita Breakfast contains no high fructose corn syrup, no partially hydrogenated oils, and no artificial flavors or sweeteners.

Courtesy of Nabisco and Mom Central Consulting, I received a box of each variety of belVita breakfast biscuits in order to complete a “Five Days of belVita Breakfast” experience, sharing on Facebook each day which variety I chose and how, where and why I enjoyed that day’s breakfast to fuel my morning.

Here’s my take on them:

If you’re a friend on Facebook, then you likely saw my 5-Day challenge posts. I was unfortunate enough to begin my experience right when I was getting sick – but was very glad to have such an easy way to give myself a healthy breakfast, especially when the last thing I felt like doing was making something. As we moms know, just because we’re sick doesn’t mean that our obligations disappear, and I ate two of my belVita breakfasts while in the car on the way to morning appointments. These are so handy to just grab on my way out the door, while still knowing that I’m fueling myself much better than if I’d grabbed a pretzel rod or skipped breakfast altogether.

On the mornings where I didn’t feel well, I was happy to pair my belVita biscuits with applesauce (so yummy with the apple cinnamon variety!) or yogurt. But even just by themselves, they’re a breakfast option that I really enjoy because they taste good, they’re filling, and I know that I’m getting nutrients that I need (like fiber and B vitamins) and avoiding things I don’t need (like artificial flavors and high fructose corn syrup).

My 5-Day experience ended just before my Disney Fantasy cruise – where a full, hot breakfast was plentiful and abundant (and free). But when I returned home, I continued eating the rest of my Apple Cinnamon and Golden Oat belVita biscuits for breakfast – and I’ve been buying the Golden Oat variety ever since (they’re my favorite). I wasn’t a huge fan of the Blueberry ones (I’m not a blueberry fan to begin with), so I gave those to a friend – and both she and her 4-year-old have been happily finishing them off. She tells me that she has to hide them from her little boy in order to get any for herself.

The bottom line:

Do they really give me more energy? I really can’t say, especially since over the time that I’ve been eating them I’ve also been experiencing side effects to medication that I’m on which makes me extremely drowsy and tired all day. Once that’s under control however, I look forward to seeing how much of a difference these truly make – I do feel energized just by the fact of having a filling breakfast that’s not just empty calories.

The only kind of complaint I can think of with these is that although I love the crunch – they do break easily when dropped (or in shipping, as most of the ones I originally received were broken to pieces when I opened them). Pieces are good for dipping though, so it’s not really a huge con. They aren’t the least expensive option out there either – but given what I’ve been paying for less healthy options, I’m ok with buying these. And I plan to stock up on several boxes at a time whenever they go on sale to help out a bit with the cost.

Where can you find them?:

BelVita Breakfast Biscuits are available at most retailers where other Nabisco cracker and snack products are sold. Price will vary depending on location and retailer. They’re also available online at Amazon.com (affiliate link) where a case of 3 boxes currently sells for $11.97. For more information you can visit their website at www.belvitabreakfast.com or follow them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/belVita or Twitter (@belVita).

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of belVita Breakfast Biscuits and received belVita Breakfast product samples to facilitate my review, and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

Smart solutions for everyday moms!

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Review: belVita Breakfast Biscuits

I remember back to when I was a kid – my favorite number was 11, and I couldn’t wait to turn 11 years old. There was just something so cool about the ‘double ones’…

Fast-forward thirty years and I’m now the 41-year-old mother of an 11-year-old. And in some ways that feels really strange! I hardly even know where these years have gone – suddenly my first ‘baby’ is in fifth grade, hitting the early stages of puberty, wearing the same size shoes that I do, and within inches of being my height (she’s at ‘bridge of the nose’ on me right now).

Abbi’s birthday was a mishmash of childish desires mixed with the beginnings of teen influences… Her birthday list still included ‘anything Hello Kitty’ but she was extremely excited about the new bike she got and wasn’t upset that no Webkinz were among her presents (for the first time in many years). Her birthday fell during spring break (as it always does) and this year she wanted a slumber party. Since we had plans the weekend before and the weekend after was Easter, we ended up doing a weeknight party – one benefit of a spring break birthday!

My friend Mary and her two younger kids came up the Sunday before Abbi’s birthday, which was nice because Hannah and Becca both then had friends to keep them busy and having fun so they weren’t in the way of Abbi’s party. Mary used her cake-decorating expertise to match the party theme of peace signs, and the cake turned out beautifully, as always. Abbi had originally wanted a kitty theme but easily changed to the more ‘tweenish’ peace sign theme when we couldn’t find any kitty stuff at the party store.

It’s so nice to see that Abbi actually has enough friends of her own to invite to a sleepover now – she enforced a strict ‘fifth grade only’ policy, which ruled out friends from next door and her sister’s friends, but it was just awesome that she had that option this time. She invited four girls and three of them came – it was a really fun group. Listening in to their conversation though reminded me that these girls are all on the cusp of teenager-hood – and even though Abbi tends to lag behind her peers in social maturity, she’ll get there eventually. Sooner than I’ll be ready for, I’m sure!

With this age group, I had to re-think my usual party plans – we’re no longer in the days of playing musical chairs and having pinatas at birthday parties. Knowing Abbi, I figured that a craft would be the best activity – so after some brainstorming with Mary, we came up with the idea of buying small mirrors that the girls could decorate with markers and stickers. They all had a lot of fun and it was so interesting to see the different designs they each came up with. Abbi received the game Twister for her birthday, so they spent a lot of time playing that too (with some hilarious results), watched the movie Rio, and ended things with a midnight PictoChat on their Nintendo DS’s. And yes, they did actually get sleep too – although I think that all of the adults in the house were more than ready for bed before the girls were, lol.

Overall, it was a great party – everyone got along and there were only a couple of minor hiccups, like the fact that my pancake mix wasn’t any good (note to self, always buy a new box before a slumber party!). But the girls were all fine with cereal instead. Abbi was thrilled to have hosted her first ‘fifth grade’ slumber party.

On her actual birthday, we went out to dinner with Mary and all five of our kids at my girls’ current favorite restaurant, Red Robin. Then we followed our family’s tradition of watching the video that we took in the hospital the day Abbi was born. This year, along with realizing how very much she’s grown since then – I also noticed just how young Ron and I looked back then. Sigh.

Eleven years… I only wonder what the next 11 will bring!

All of the photos in this post (except the top one) were taken with the HTC Rhyme smartphone that I was testing out at the time, and which has now (sadly) been returned.

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Eleven

We didn’t do a big vacation for spring break this year… Actually, we’ve never done a big family trip for spring break. In part because we don’t want to fight the spring break crowds everywhere, but also because we had the poor foresight to bring our first daughter into the world during what we didn’t realize at the time, was spring break. And so her birthday, as it always has, becomes the focus of our spring break plans.

This year, the birthday fell during the week and considering that all of her friends were also off school that week, we did the party thing on a weekday, instead of a weekend. This was mainly because the weekend after her birthday was Easter, and because the weekend before was something we’d had planned for months – the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Even though my brother has lived in Ann Arbor for several years now, we’d never taken a trip over there because he always comes here instead. And the guy works crazy long hours, especially during the months and weeks leading up to the Film Festival. Last year, I’d wanted to take the girls to the ‘family-friendly’ offering at the festival but life got in the way. So this year I was determined to go – and we did.

I love Ann Arbor – it’s such a fun place to visit and hang out in. I hadn’t been there in years, ever since a former boyfriend moved away from there, but it still looks mostly the same. The girls and I made a day trip of it, heading over first thing in the morning and meeting my brother at the beautiful Michigan Theater, where the program was being held. One perk of being related to the guy in charge? Free tickets.

We settled in to our seats and listened to the live organ music until the program began. The girls loved seeing their uncle up on stage introducing the program at the beginning and during the Q&A session with a few of the filmmakers at the end. The first film was in 3D, and the girls loved wearing their stereoscopic glasses. However, I found that my eyes were much happier watching that particular film without them.

One really nice thing about a program like this, with 10 short films – is that if there’s one that you don’t like, you just have to wait a few minutes until it’s over and another one begins. All of these films were ones judged to be appropriate (and even encouraged) for kids, and overall my kids really liked them. There were three films that my youngest wasn’t totally thrilled with (they scared her for various reasons), but she’s very sensitive to intense moments in any movie and tends to hide her eyes, cry or even leave the room (if we’re watching at home) during the climatic parts of many mainstream kids movies.

My older girls liked almost all of the films, although their favorite (called TATAMP) wasn’t the same as mine (a very cute exploration of what the buttons in the button box might do when you’re not looking, called Another Dress, Another Button). The girls’ other favorites were called Silly Bears and August Song, and not surprisingly to anyone who knows my girls, both involved animals in some fashion or another.

After the program, we said goodbye to my very busy brother and headed to a downtown restaurant to have lunch with my cousin and her husband, who had also come over for the Film Festival that day. Then I took the girls over to the Hands-On Museum – we’d never been there before and it seemed like a fun way to spend the afternoon.

I’m not totally sure that it was worth the $10/person cost (no freebies here unfortunately), but the girls did have a lot of fun at the museum. The biggest draw for them were the giant spongy building blocks, where they built forts and towers several times. The museum is located in a former firehouse and it has a lot of character and charm. Even my older girls enjoyed it – they got a lot more out of the exhibits’ educational portion than Becca did, but she had fun just playing. And playing.

At the end of the day, we stopped for a quick fast-food dinner on our way out of town, and made it home right at bedtime. Overall, it was a very fun day and I can’t wait to see what the Film Festival will have to show next year!

Here are some of my favorite photos from the museum – all of the pictures in this post were taken with the HTC Rhyme smartphone that I was testing out at the time, and which has now (sadly) been returned.

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A Day in Ann Arbor

One of the most fun parts of the press cruise on the Disney Fantasy a few weeks ago was the very first time that the ship sailed by and ‘met’ its sister ship, the Disney Dream. We caught sight of the Dream a few times over the cruise, but it was the first meeting that was the coolest, because it happened the night that both ships were scheduled to set off their fireworks displays.

I have the feeling that I’m now spoiled for any other cruise line, because Disney just does everything so, so well. And it’s the only cruise line in the world with the capability to set off its very own fireworks show out at sea.

Or two fireworks shows, as we were so fortunate to be able to see that night.

We caught sight of the Dream at first from a distance, but since it was after dark by then, the ship was lit up and easy to spot…

Much less easy to take a clear photo of, from such a distance and in the dark. As it got closer though, I was able to get some closer shots with my ‘good’ Canon camera that has 20x optical zoom.

And then I hit upon the settings that let me see that this was unmistakably another Disney ship:

And then soon afterward – fireworks! First from the Dream…

And then it was our turn, as more fireworks lit up the sky over the Fantasy.

Afterward, we said goodbye to the Dream, as it headed off – but I managed to catch a few glimpses of it later on from my stateroom’s verandah before it vanished completely out of sight…

Almost as if it were truly only a dream.

This cruise was a press event and working retreat for the Traveling Mom blogger network, and I was hosted for free. All opinions stated here are 100% my own.

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(So not) Wordless Wednesday – When Dream and Fantasy meet, fireworks!