Celebrating Mini Milestones with Netflix

I've said before how much our family loves Netflix and when we can find the perfect shows for our family, that just makes me happy!

Mini-Milestones?  You ask my husband and he'd say I think everything is a mini-milestone haha! He routinely brings up Billy Gardell's schtick about "making memories." {If you haven't heard that, you need to!} So, while we're busy "making memories" in my house, some of them involve these mini-milestones.

George and I have just started watching Hemlock Grove, a Netflix original, together and we love that we can watch commercial-free! With my husband's work schedule, finding time to watch a couple of episodes together is one of the ways we simply connect without the chaos of our busy family. We try to find a show to watch together and this is our most recent.  So far, so good!  

One of Lily's favorite things to do is "have a snuggle" and watch a show or a movie together.
Last year, Lily got her first pair of glasses. Recently, we watched Arthur's Through the Looking Glasses (S15E09).  Lily loved watching Arthur looking for his glasses first thing in the morning and she exclaimed, "Arthur looks for his glasses just like ME!"  and he got to try on new glasses "Just like me!"  

This was a definite milestone in Lily's life and it was special to be able to watch this show together and talk about her own experience picking out glasses and wearing them!

Another current family mini-milestone involves trick or treating! Last year was Lily's first year she really understood the concept, but it was cold and rainy, so all she wanted to do was go home.  This year she is completely enamored by the whole idea of Halloween and trick or treating! 

Lily so excited to see another Elsa and Anna in our local Halloween parade.

She can't wait for her baby sister to be able to go for her first time too! Violet was just 2 weeks old on Halloween last year.  Lily picked out a special purple bucket for Violet this year. Looks like Violet has already started the swiping of the big sister's stuff and preferred Lily's pink bucket!

Looking for Halloween shows to watch, we were happy to find  Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Tricks, Treats and Treasure! (S02E15)

This one we had Andrew watch with us and despite his teenage grumbling, I know he really loves the family connection because each year he talks about what we did the last year or in previous years. That's something I truly love about him, his connection to traditions and making memories. 

As we've celebrated a big milestone in the last week with Violet turning one, George and I have talked about our last pregnancy a lot lately and I talked him into watching What to Expect When You're Expecting with me! 

Of course, I may have jinxed myself when I overheard him say a few days later, "We need to have one more little boy."  What???   

I love making memories with my family and Netflix is definitely a part of some of those that we make at home!  I love that through the #StreamTeam I can share all of this!

  

Here are some Netflix Titles to Celebrate Mini Milestones with your family!

For your kids:

New Sibling: The Hive: S01E01, Babee's Room Losing Your First Tooth: Super WHY: S01E10, The Story of the Tooth Fairy Getting Glasses: Arthur: S15E09, Through the Looking Glasses First Sleepover: Bratz Kidz: Sleep-over Adventure

First Trick-or-Treat: Jake and the Never Land Pirates: S02E15, Tricks, Treats and Treasure! First Pet: Beethoven First Move: The Croods First Big Game: D2: The Mighty Ducks

First Spelling Bee: Akeelah and the Bee First Dance: Kickin' It: S01E20, The Wrath of Swan First Break-Up: Good Luck Charlie: S01E20, Girl Bite Dog First Road Trip: Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

First Kiss: Wizards of Waverly Place: S01E02, First Kiss First Job: Good Burger First Time Babysitting: The Baby-Sitters Club First Concert: Taylor Swift: The Journey to Fearless

  

Plus a few major milestones for mom and dad:

New Job: The Office Getting Married: My Fair Wedding with David Tutera Having a Baby: What to Expect When You're Expecting Life as a Parent: Parenthood Running for Office: Parks & Recreation Buying a Home: House Hunters

Netflix #StreamTeam Member Woooooo!

I'm proud to share that I am a member of Netflix Stream Team this year!  What is the Stream Team, you ask? It's an exclusive group of bloggers sharing our love of Netflix through different themes each month! So, be on the lookout for these posts on the blog and #StreamTeam posts on Twitter and Instagram as well!

I'm super excited about this opportunity and cannot wait to write about our Netflix experiences, why we watch the shows and movies we do and to help you carve out some family time and some couple time and even some time alone with movie and show suggestions! We have been a Netflix family for about a year now--from the moment we dumped cable tv in our house and we have been so happy! Being selected to participate as a Stream Team member was seriously just icing on the happy Netflix cake!

A little more than a week ago, I was just in the front yard with Lily when the UPS guy pulled up around 5:00pm. We love packages in our house and with Violet's birthday the next day, I wasn't expecting this to be for me. Lo and behold! I was so happy when I opened up the box and found this inside...

The gift tag is amazing with my blog header on top and one of the first things I noticed! What a touch!  How amazing to be given a gift of an iPad mini to stream Netflix on!  I could not be more thankful and excited about this opportunity!  Of course we "broke in" the iPad with Netflix within a few hours. I cleaned up the kitchen after supper while Lily and Violet watched Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood together on it.  It was perfect!

Tomorrow I will share my October monthly post about mini milestones! We have a lot of mini milestones in our house and I love that was the first theme! Stay tuned!

Disclosure: As a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam I was provided the above product and a subscription to Netflix. All opinions are my 100% my own and I was already a proud Netflix subscriber prior to this opportunity.

A Great Fall Weekend!

Happy Monday!

Seems like every weekend from October until the end of the year is busy these days. This past weekend was no different.

Violet turned ONE on Friday!  Sweet baby girl! I cannot believe how quickly this last year flew by! We reminisced about our trip to the hospital to deliver, worrying we'd never make it! We had a little doughnut date ~ her first~ and a sweet little cake just for her while we sang happy birthday!  She's going to get a separate post all about her. We are celebrating her with a family party next weekend! Lots of purple. :)

I took the girls to Andrew's football game Friday night for the first time. The downside of having a husband working nights is things like this are often just me.  The weather was perfect that day and didn't look like it would be too cold that night.  I was right. It was perfect! I wore Violet in the carrier and Lily was great about staying with me. She loved watching the marching band and kept shouting, "Bubby!" trying to get Andrew's attention.  She also was super excited about the cheerleaders pink pompoms! I let her go down the few steps in the stands from where we were to stand in front of the cheerleaders and she had a ball! Violet was perfect all night! Not at all fussy, danced everytime she heard the marching band play even throughout the game, and smiled and waved at everyone walking past us.  We left the stands after the half-time performances and watched much of the 3rd quarter walking around. Finally, I decided we'd head to the car and wait for Andrew after the game there and maybe the girls would fall asleep while we waited. They did. After the game, the band performed another show and I watched that one from the parking lot.  Our stadium is set lower in a valley so the parking lots overlook the field. It was a fun night! Happy 1st birthday to Violet!

Saturday, we did some things around the house and took Andrew to get his flu shot. The girls already had theirs done a few weeks ago.  I asked if they could weigh Violet really quickly and unofficially since we don't go for her well-visit until next week.  I love our pediatrician's office!  Andrew also had a band festival their school was participating in, so his evening was booked.  The girls and I invited ourselves over to Stef's house while Andrew was gone in an effort to get Tracy to keep her birthday dinner plans with her husband after her sitter couldn't make it.  Stef and I both offered to keep her kids, so we made it in one place and Stef's house is closer to them.  We left to pick Andrew up at school and promptly came home and crashed.

Sunday, we headed to the pumpkin farm for our annual pumpkin picking trip. This is one of my favorite activities each year and has been ever since Andrew was born!  After we got home from that, my crew was hungry and cranky, so everyone had snacks and I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things to make supper. I found a new, easy recipe for chicken parm that turned out great and our family dinner was really nice.  We're always so on-the-go that when we get to sit down for more than a rushed suppertime, I definitely appreciate it.  We talked with Andrew and Lily about what they're loving about school currently and it always makes me happy to listen to them talk. Sometimes teenage conversation is like pulling teeth.  Since Violet missed her entire afternoon nap, she was ready for bed right after supper. Lily decided she wanted to watch Frosty, so she cozied up in our bed.

George and I had also had somewhat of a date night planned.  I say somewhat because we were going to meet a friend in town from Minnesota.  The funny thing about this friend is G and I both knew him separately and since we both were friends with him on Myspace, THAT is how George and I met! So for the first time in 8 years, we all got to see each other. We had a great time with him and enjoyed our kid-free time as well! Hopefully, it will be sooner than 8 years before we get together again and his wife will able to make it too.

It was a great weekend and now we look forward to my mom's arrival this week!

Rock n Roll with The Hard Rock Roxtars + $50 GC giveaway! #HRRoxtars

Are you ready to rock?! I hope so because Hard Rock International is rollin' out a new band of the coolest characters to help make your own little rockstars' experience at Hard Rock Cafes® and Hard Rock Hotels® awesome! 

The Hard Rock Roxtars: 

  The Hard Rock Roxtars are each unapologetically original and designed to inspire kids of all ages to rock an inimitable brand of cool, allowing their originality to shine!

·         
Band members include:

o   Razzi™, “the motherly type” who is famous for squishy hugs and keyboard skills

o   Sir Kingston™, a British-invasion inspired rock-and-roller on lead guitar

o   Styler™, a free-spirited and accompanying guitar player

o   Buddy Jr™, a wild man who loves nothing more than a good drum solo

o   Skiddley™, the lead singer and “Mr. Cool” of the group

                                                              

Lily LOVES Buddy Jr!  She asks a lot of questions about him too-- like why does he have a headband over his eyes haha! I love this kid! She always tries to lift his headband. Buddy Jr has become her little sidekick! She also really loves coloring right now and this sweet little activity book with the Roxtars is perfect for her!

To launch the Hard Rock Roxtars, Hard Rock Cafe is hosting “Does Your Child Look Like a Rock Star?” Contest  to encourage guest interaction with the new Hard Rock Roxtars characters, kids menu, and merchandise.

·         For one night, during the “Does Your Child Look Like a Rock Star?” Contest, kids eat free* at Hard Rock Cafe with a paying adult!

Do you have a rockstar of your own?

·         Guests can bring their favorite pint-sized rock star dressed in their best costume to the cafe for a chance to win a Hard Rock Cafe gift card or a 2015 birthday party* for eight of the rock star’s closest band members and entourage!

·         For additional information about the Hard Rock Cafe “Does Your Child Look Like a Rock Star?” Contest, contact your local cafe for contest details!   {+No celebrity or musician has endorsed the “Does Your Child Look Like a Rock Star” contest}

Eat Like The Roxtars:

·         Children who dine at Hard Rock Cafes worldwide are given the VIP treatment and greeted with their own Hard Rock Roxtars activity book, themed menus, guitar-shaped plates and photo opportunities.  Hard Rock Cafes worldwide will offer healthier food options, such as Skiddley’s “Not-so-diddley” chicken breast and “Twisted ‘n tasty” cavatappi pasta. 

Children who stay at Hard Rock Hotel locations with their families will receive a special Hard Rock Roxtars Activity Book at check-in and unlimited entertainment at Hard Rock Roxity Kids Club, a family-friendly, music-inspired haven, where kids can rock to their own rhythm, catch a live Hard Rock Roxtars performance or take part in experiential, engaging and music-infused learning activities.

Giveaway deets:  

The gift pack includes a themed guitar-shaped plate, a 6” plush Hard Rock Roxtars character, a Hard Rock adult t-shirt, an activity book, and a $50 Hard Rock gift card!

Giveaway will run through Halloween night! Winner will be notified by email and have 24 hours to respond.   
Break a leg! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: The information, gift card, gift pack and giveaway have been provided to me by Hard Rock International.