Silent Sunday!

ARRRGH!

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Disney’s Mars Needs Moms – Review And Giveaway

When asked if I’d like a copy of Disney’s Mars Needs Moms to be honest I didn’t know what I was saying yes to. I haven’t seen this movie advertised and had no idea what it was about but the title suggested aliens, (well Martians to be exact) and so I hoped it would be a movie that J would enjoy.

What can I say……….. except WOW! What a great movie! J was glued to the screen the whole way through!!!

The movie has a great storyline but I don’t want to give too much away. Basically the movie follows Milo and his Mum, who has been abducted by Martians because as the title suggests Mars needs Moms. Along the way he meets some funny creatures and gets help from Gribble, who is believe it or not also human! There’s a really cute moment near the end between Mother and Son, it’s a moment that made me go awww but had J gasping, his eyes wide open and glued to the screen.

Overall this heartwarming story is a very funny movie enjoyed by myself and J. I think all primary school aged children would thoroughly enjoy it and with Christmas coming up it would make a great gift

More information about the movie can be found on the Disney page Mars Needs Moms

Thanks to Disney and the lovely people at Porter Novelli I have a copy of this great movie to giveaway.

To enter simply leave a comment. 

Giveaway is only open to Australian residents (sorry)

For a bonus entry like my facebook page here and leave a separate comment telling me you have done so

For another bonus entry tweet this giveaway, again leaving a separate comment telling me you have done so.

Giveaway closes November 5th and the winner will be drawn randomly using a random number selector. 

Good Luck

Disclaimer: No monetary compensation was given for this review. I did, however, receive a copy of ‘Mars Needs Moms’ to trial and review. All opinions are my own or of my family, where applicable.

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Winnie The Pooh Winner

In order to randomly choose the winner of my Winnie The Pooh DVD giveaway, I’ve used Random.org to generate a winning comment ………………….

The Winner of this gorgeous DVD is………………

Comment number 12

Which was made by Bec

Congratulations Bec!

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Wordless Wednesday – My Family

Mum, J and Dad

Linking up with Trish at My Little Drummer Boys

 

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Creative Coffee – Silent Sunday

A Latte Macchiato I made

 

my coffee art

 

More coffee art

Yep..... more coffee!

 

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Parenthood You’re Playing On My Mind…….

For those of you that don’t know I’m a huge Parenthood fan, (the TV show, although I love being a Parent too hehe). Last week’s episode has been replaying in my mind over and over again.

My Husband would probably agree that I’m alot like Kristina from the show, (the mother of Max who has Aspergers), she worries alot, likes to be organised and in control and most importantly is trying to find out everything she possibly can about Aspergers and tries to help and support her son in ever way possible,  (You just have to watch the Halloween episode, when they go trick or treating to know that), although at times is a little OCD about it and OTT.

Anyhow, I can see alot of myself in her character and it’s a show that I just absolutely love. Sometimes it makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me cry and sometimes it really makes me think!

In last week’s episode Max started mainstream school and Kristina was beside herself with worry. She was so concerned that she actually went to the school during recess and watched him sitting by himself whilst the other kids played around him. My heart just completely went to pieces at that point. Most of you will know that J’s experience at school so far hasn’t been a good one but we’ve persisted and stuck it out all year, rather than moving schools and then moving him again when we move. He doesn’t cope well with change and we kept telling ourselves, “he’s learning social skills”, “he’s learning how to make friends”, “he gets to play with other kids his age” and such like. Right up until that episode of Parenthood, that’s what I’ve been telling myself……………….. then I watched Kristina as she watched Max and then spoke with his teacher and realised, Kristina is me and Max is J and at that moment I knew exactly how her character felt.

The scenes from that episode have been playing over and over in my mind, what if that was J, sitting there all alone, not interacting with the other kids, not running around with them having fun, not joining in………….what if?

Then my fears were confirmed, by strange coincidence we had J’s PLP (IEP) meeting this week. All of his past teachers this year, who quite obviously haven’t paid very much attention to J have told us time and time again that he’s very popular, he plays well with others and so on. This week we discovered that those, I’m sure well meaning, teachers had simply been telling us what they thought we wanted to hear. His teacher this term has also spent time in the classroom on several occasions over the last year and she informed us that academically he’s fabulous (no surprises there but it was nice to hear) but she told us that she is concerned about his social skills or lack of them. He has made huge progress over the past 18 months. 18 Months ago he would sit at the back of the room rather than with the other children at carpet time whilst at daycare. Whilst there he would also stand back and watch the other children, rather than join in or be in amongst the action. He’s now quite happy to play by himself or with his best friend (also an Aspie) in the sand whilst the other children play around him, so although he’s playing by himself he’s amongst the action………….does that make sense? His teacher and the HOSE informed us that they’re concerned because he hasn’t moved on any further, it’s almost a though he wants to join in but doesn’t know how to. He doesn’t ask the other kids to play, nor does he ask to join the other children in their games. He has limited interaction with the other children that isn’t instructed or negotiated by an adult and they’re concerned. They’ve put into his plan that this is an area that needs to be worked on.

My concern is, what if this is it? what if this is as good as his social skills are going to get? What if he ends up being that kid who sits alone at recess/lunch because he doesn’t know how to be around the other kids? and a big concern for me is how is all of this affecting his emotional well being?

 

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A Little Ray Of Sunshine – Wordless Wednesday

The Little Ray of Light That We've Been Searching For

Linking u with Trish at My Little Drummer Boys

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Disney Winnie The Pooh DVD Review And Giveaway

When asked if I would be interested in reviewing a copy of the new Winnie The Pooh DVD I leapt at the chance, afterall who doesn’t love Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and friends.

Well, I’m sad to say J wasn’t looking forward to watching this quite as much as me. He has a gorgeous Winnie The Pooh storybook collection that I have been trying to get him re-interested for a while, J however insists that Winnie The Pooh is “for babies and little kids”………….. he’s 5! In my eyes he is a little kid so I persisted and when it came to the crunch he actually (kinda) enjoyed watching this.

When sad old Eeyore loses his tail, Owl sends the whole gang – Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga and Roo – on a wild journey to help Eeyore and save Christopher Robin from the mysterious backson. In the end, it turns out to be a very busy day for a bear who simply set out to find some “hunny.”

The Blu Ray DVD contains the following BONUS FEATURES: * Winnie The Pooh And His Story Too * Deleted Scenes introduced by the Director * Bonus Shorts * Sing-Along With The Movie * Disney Song Selection * Creating The Perfect Winnie The Pooh Nursery

This is a great DVD, (as you would expect from Disney) and with a running time of approx 1 hour it’s ideal for entertaining little ones whilst you enjoy a little peace. It’s available in shops now and I’d recommend this DVD for all under 5′s and I could probably see alot of 5-6 year olds watching it too………………. (unless they feel that they’re too old for it, like J hehe). With Christmas just around the corner this would make a great gift, I’m thinking of sending a copy to my niece, at 4 I think she’d love it

Thanks to the lovely people at Disney and Porter Novelli I have a Blu-Ray DVD pack to giveaway to a lucky reader.

To enter simply leave a comment below telling me who your favourite Winnie The Pooh character is

For bonus entries tweet this giveaway, like my Facebook page here and leave a separate comment telling me you have done so 

Giveaway closes midnight 22nd October 2011, the winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator

Sorry to all my overseas readers but this giveaway is open to Australian Residents only

Disclaimer: No monetary compensation was given for this review. I did, however, receive a copy of ‘Winnie The Pooh’ to trial and review. All opinions are my own or of my family, where applicable.

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I Thought Autism And Got Creative – Wordless Wednesday

Autism Aware Charm Bracelet made by me

Angel Phone Dangles made by me

Autism Aware Bookmarks made by me

 

Linking up with Trish at My Little Drummer Boys

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Oh How Fairy Tales Have Changed!

J came home from school on Friday in the best mood ever! Difficult to believe, yes! He has never come home from school in a good mood so it threw us abit………………………….. The reason for the good mood?……………… Sleeping Beauty!

J had watched the story of Sleeping Beauty at school that morning and the children had then done various “work” throughout the day based on the Sleeping Beauty Story. He thought it was great!

I was a little confused because this has always been one of those stories that’s “for girls” and he’s refused to watch it or even read the story. Anyhow, thinking that I could develop his conversation skills and show him what a clever Mummy I am, I started telling him how I knew that story and started to recall the storyline whilst on our journey home. J suddenly yelled “STOP!” I quickly asked what was wrong (thinking the good mood hadn’t lasted long and preparing myself for the usual meltdown in the car).

J sighed a huge sigh (with sound effects LOL) and rolled his eyes telling me that I had got the whole story wrong then went on to say “well not everything is wrong there was a witch and a fairy and a king and a queen but you got everything else wrong!”

WHAT! How could I have gotten Sleeping Beauty wrong?  Well ofcourse I had forgotten about the Farmer and the Ipad!!!  And then there was Vege and Mite “and together they were vegemite” (he told me whilst giggling to himself because Mummy had forgotten all the good bits of the story!).  What Ipad, Farmer and Vegemite I here you ask……………

Well apparently (he’s told us this part of the story over and over this weekend, not at all interested in the rest of the story) “the Farmer was trapped in a cage and he had to trade his Ipad with Vege for a key to unlock the cage, just Vege not Mite as well.”

We asked him several times if that was really part of the Sleeping Beauty story, each time J telling us it was and that it was the fun bit (getting a little more cross with us each time for questioning his honesty). Thinking about it he may have come up with the Ipad bit himself but a Farmer and Vegemite? Nope can’t see him making that up, he doesn’t even know what vegemite is (we have Marmite). I know schools are trying to bring classic fairy tales up to date and make them PC but seriously …………. an Ipad and Vegemite in Sleeping Beauty?  What’s next, will there be a hairdresser in Rumpelstiltskin and will she update her Facebook and Twitter page whilst she has her hair and nails done?

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