Follow Me Back Friday

Friday seems to be a popular day to find new blogs to follow....this week I am participating in all these events. Click the buttons to sign up. If you are following my blog, leave me a comment with your URL and I will follow you back.













 

Friday Photo Flashback

Tomorrow is Maggie's 10th Birthday! I am really struggling with the idea of this milestone birthday. This picture is from her First Birthday. She has always been such a sweet kid. In this picture she is offering to share some birthday cake.




 

Through the Lens Thursday...Oakdale

Many years ago, Hubby and I both graduated from High School in Oakdale California. We've been told that there is an Oakdale in just about every continental United State, but we had only ever been to the one in California. Recently we came across this sign while driving on a rural road in Tennessee.

We were eager to see what Oakdale Tennessee would look like.  We wondered if there was an Oakdale High School and if so what was the mascot.  We drove the 4 miles and were disappointed to find no real “town” at all.  Oakdale Tennessee seems to be little more than an intersection of two roads.  It is much greener than California this time of the year.

Through the Lens Thursday is hosted by my friend Janet at Frugal and Focused.

Mommy’s Piggy Tales…First Grade

 

This is week 3 of a 15 week project. The object is to write a story each week about a different period of time from our childhood. I am writing this for my children. The first week was about my birth. Last week was about Kindergarten and the birth of my brother Allan. This week I will be sharing some random memories about First Grade.

First Grade was a REALLY long time ago, but I remember a few things.  When I was in first grade we moved several times and I went to a couple different schools.  At one of the schools I had a teacher who always called me Diane.  Every time she called me Diane, I would remind her that my name was Denise and she would say “oh, yes, I remember” but she NEVER got my name right.  She wasn’t OLD or anything, she just couldn’t get my name right.  I told my Mom and she thought I was exaggerating, but when we moved and we got my report card she knew I was right…the name on my report card was Diane.

In February of 1st grade we moved into a row house that would end up being the last place we ever lived in New Jersey.  It was on the end and had a nice yard.  In March it snowed a lot. Big Allan (my brother’s father) helped my Mom and I to build a giant snowman.  Even though my brother was only a year old, we took him out to play in the snow…he LOVED it.

 

Big Allan had been part of our lives off and on for several years.  First grade is the only time I really remember him living with us most of the time.  In my memories, he is around at times, then gone for long periods, then back again.

Toward the end of 1st grade our dog, Ginger had puppies.  She was part fox and a very sweet dog.  I remember the puppies being in a box by the washing machine and Ginger would pick them up by their necks and hide them under and behind furniture.  When they were old enough we gave them away and Ginger got fixed so she wouldn’t have any more puppies. Ginger was a very good dog.  She loved my brother and I very much.  I LOVED to dress her up in my outgrown clothes, she was just the right size and she didn’t seem to mind at all.

Jumpstart Wii game Review and Giveaway--CLOSED

Jumpstart and Knowledge Adventure have always been one of our favorite brands for kids computer games. This week we received the new JumpStart® Get Moving™ Family Fitness Wii game to try. WOW!!! This is a fabulous game!  The active games are my personal favorites for Wii to begin with, but this game is designed to be used by the whole family and surprisingly even in a family with our age range I am finding it keeps everyone entertained.
Everytime we get a new game, my kids want ME to play.  Usually I don’t, but the pinball in this game has me very interested. Hubby is much more of a video game person than I am and he has been having a lot of fun competing against the kids.  Marissa will turn 5 in August and this is the first Wii game we’ve tried that she was able to play without lots of help.  Dodgeball and the Bike Riding are her two favorite events.  Melanie just turned 3 in May and I didn’t think she would be able to play at all, she surprised us by getting the hang of both Dodgeball and Pinball the first day.
  Our oldest daughter Maggie is turning 10 on Saturday and isn’t much of a video game player.  The combination of having many events to choose from and being able to compete against her Dad and brother has hooked her on this game.  I never had any doubt that our 12 yr old son Morgan would like this game.  I doubt there is a Wii game out there that he wouldn’t enjoy, he’s just that kind of boy.
Morgan really enjoys Ice Skating underwater and in outer space. There are quite a few cool backgrounds including Ancient Egypt, a Volcano and Atlantis.  Most of the events are played with the regular Wii controller and some of them are compatible with the Wii Balance Board.  We only have 2 controllers and I was concerned that the kids would fight over waiting for their turn, but I’ve been happy to see that they are so into the competition aspect that instead of fighting they cheer for their siblings. This is a VERY active game and I can tell that we are all getting more out of it than just entertainment.  It didn’t feel like work while we were playing, but we’ve got sore arms and legs from working our muscles while we play.

Would you like to win a copy of this great game for your family?
  
Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment telling your kids favorite sport to play on the Wii
 Extra Entries:
Go to the Jumpstart website and come back to leave a comment about what other Jumpstart Wii games you think your kids would enjoy.
Follow my blog publicly and leave a comment
Check out the Jumpstart blog and leave me a comment about something fun you discovered there
Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment with your twitter id
Tweet about this giveaway once a day for an extra entry and leave a comment

I will pick a winner on July 10th using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hrs to get their shipping info to me or I will have to pick a new winner. If your e-mail isn't in your profile, be sure to put it in all your comments so I can contact you if you win.
Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of JumpStart® Get Moving™ Family Fitness at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided

I've got a new Template....what do you think?

I've been wanting to play around with the new DESIGN tool in Blogger since I first heard about it, but I didn't have the time.  Today, I was feeling brave and took the plunge.  It wasn't as hard as a feared it might be and I didn't lose anything!

I've got extra space now for displaying buttons, so if you've got a blog button that you would like me to put up, send me the code and I'll be happy to add it.

I'd also LOVE some feedback....what do you think of my new layout and background?

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday…Melanie