No Stress Chess

My son's birthday was on the 28th of January--he is now 7 years old! We gave him a Super Mario Bros. themed birthday party that following Saturday. My parents sent him an Amazon e-gift certificate which part of it I used to order him No Stress Chess. Gavin and I played this together tonight and it is such a neat way to get kids to remember the chess pieces' names and how they move on the board. Gavin was delighted and excited all throughout the game. We played 2 rounds before I noticed it was past his bedtime. He wanted to keep playing.


The game uses cards which show how the pieces move. It is called No Stress because with the beginner style game you just abide by which card you draw. If you draw a knight card, then that is what you must move if you can. The game is still quite exciting even though it allows you to be able to take more risks. And you don't have to use the cards to play but it IS a fun alternative style along with it being a great learning aid for kids (and even for adults!).

Gavin has set his alarm to wake up earlier tomorrow morning because he wants to play when he wakes up before school! I am so happy he is enjoying this chess game so much because he really likes playing Monopoly and I think this outshines Monopoly for him by far. I must say I hate Monopoly so much. To me, having to sit and play Monopoly is like being forced to sit through torture. I just get so bored and restless with that game, so much so that I feel like jumping out of my chair, screaming and running out the door. So I am ecstatic about my boy learning all about chess now! Chess is a game that keeps me engaged.

One day I will buy Gavin a really nice chess set for his room. I still want one of those Alice in Wonderland ones for myself. Brian has one that I bought for him some years back that is really cool. I think everyone should have a chess set that really reflects their own style.

Play-Doh PacMan

Brian and Gavin made this neat little thing today together: a PacMan game scene out of Play-Doh!

Gavin's Fall Festival

Today I took my son to his school's Fall Festival. It was fun seeing him enjoying himself so much, the school had some cute games available including a hay ride with a tractor. Supposedly the girl he likes was there as well but he didn't even point her out to me! I so wanted to see! He assumes I know who everyone is when I really don't. It was cute seeing kids come up to him to say hi though. I'm just glad he's made new friends coming from a different school. His teacher was there selling ice cream and his bus driver was there helping out with the bounce house (which by the way Gavin was way too cautious in). Below are some photos from the festival.

Getting his hair dyed.

Curly polka dotted colored hair!

Smile!

With the Chick-Fil-A Cow! Haha!

Car Bash!

I think it's so funny the Car Bash was so popular. People love hitting things!

My Wii Fit Age!

I am so terribly embarrassed to say that when I started out using the Wii Fit, my "Wii Fit Age" was an astounding 38 years (I'm 28!). This is based on a couple of tests that you have to do. I am happy to announce that TODAY my Wii Fit Age is now an impressive 21! What a huge improvement a daily routine can deliver!

I truly love doing yoga with the balance board. Because of it, I am able to specifically see if I am balancing myself properly with the poses. Since I don't go to yoga classes, this is the next best thing in being critiqued in your poses. For a majority of the poses, I am considered the full rank of a "Yoga Master" while the others I am one star/notch down at a "Yoga Trainer".

There are 2 yoga poses that I totally suck on though but I am getting so much better, at least I'm not only one star with them anymore. One star is "Unbalanced". I struggle really hard just to get 2 stars, but before even if I struggled really hard, it just wasn't happening! I still haven't even unlocked all of the yoga poses though, but my son has for his account. He's a monster!

Strength training is not my forte. If you look at my color coded graph of the types of exercises I'm doing every day, the color for strength is barely there! My upper strength has always sucked. My wrists and ankles have always been so weak! Seriously, just attempting one push-up makes my wrists feel like they are about to BREAK! I kid you not! I am slowly starting to do more and more strength exercises though. I hate being weak, about time I do something about it.

Loving the Wii and Wii Fit

The Wii Fit if so neat! It's a great way to set fitness goals and visually keep track of how you are doing with graphs and test results. Silly me, it didn't even register in my head that the Balance Board weighs also! I think I associated all fitness games with Yourself Fitness and other fitness games where you have to weigh with your own scale and manually enter that information in each time. I feel like the Balance Board is magic! Ha!

I haven't done much at all of ALL that is available to do, but the hula hoop game really makes me sweat! I try my best to get as many spins in as possible and then all of a sudden, you are sweating! You get to make your own little character beforehand (to use with other games as well) and doing that is really fun and cute. Gavin made his character with a beard! I think because of that cartoon The Misadventures of Flapjack - because men with beards are the TRUE ADVENTURERS!

This is my "Mii", aren't I cute in the Wii World? And to the right is Gavin's "Mii" with his beard, funny!

So "cute" seems to be my word for the whole Wii thing though. The graphics are very kiddy with it being more of a kiddy system, but of course that is why we bought a Wii in the first place for Gavin. But for the more "beautiful" games that can be played in High Definition, if available on the PS3 we are definitely going that route. It just seems a shame to downgrade on the quality of how a game looks if you can see and play it in yummy HD.

But I love the whole cutesy thing, so Wii Fit is wonderful to me! Gavin enjoys the Wii Fit as well, today in all he racked up a whole hour worth of "working out". Somewhere in there, the game told him to take a break and to make sure he drinks enough water! Ha!

I'm off to rack up some more minutes in my Wii "Fit Bank"...

I Snagged a Wii Fit

I finally was able to order a Wii Fit just now! Looking back though, it hasn't been long at all since I've made it a mission to get one. But since I wanted one so badly, every day seemed to be filled with long anticipation of my cell ringing with a Wii Fit Alert!

And I finally received an alert today! Amazon had it in stock - and now it's back out of stock in a flash (what a shocker), but I snagged one up in time!

I actually had to hurry up and cancel a Wii Fit Bundle order I made from New Egg late last night. Fortunately, the cancellation was accepted and went through really quick. I'm glad I managed to buy just the Wii Fit without a bundle package. I'd rather spend less money ($89.99) than more ($149.99)!

I am so excited about getting a Wii Fit! Oh yeah, we decided NOT to save the Wii for the holidays but concentrate on buying more games for it during that time, haha!

For those looking how to get those convenient cell text alerts, Amazon has a form right on their Wii product page here. And for the Wii Fit, I went to WiiAlerts and signed up to get alerted for the specific product and specific stores that get it in stock. It works!

A Better (and Fun) Second Day

Gavin was quick to get off the school bus today - he didn't fall asleep! Now that's how I like it! The bus driver praised him and so did I and he came home very excited about school. All seems well now. Good thing, because I was starting to think that rainbow from yesterday morning was lying to me!

He and I started playing Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock yesterday (first day of school gift). We played some more today and OMG, that game rocks (literally huh?)! Brian and I ordered another guitar with a game bundle so we could play against Gavin and because the Guitar Hero games from GameFly weren't available so we decided to just buy one.


I cannot stress enough how fun this game is! I don't even listen to rock music all that much but I find myself really feeling the music while I'm playing - too funny! And it's so cute how Gavin gets into the music as well, trying to make sure he hits each note on time. He's excited about getting a real guitar some day.

Seems like the song "Slow Ride" is going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the night, it's echoing in my head as a type!

The Day Before 1st Grade

My son Gavin and I spent the day watching Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, playing Dance Dance Revolution, flying his SpongeBob kite and taking pictures. I must be an irritating photographer, because he sure was getting tired of me. I really wanted to get some photos of him though before his official initiation into 1st grade.

Click to enlarge all photos, but especially for the vertical ones - click AND ZOOM if possible to see them clear. The vertical ones always look so pixilated in thumbnail form.

He spotted a helicopter in this photo, tried to get me to look at it so he could run away from taking anymore pictures. Didn't work.

This was his photo idea, not mine - posing with sticks! It seems to be a theme with him.

This tree and little bench is in our front yard. When the tree is full of blossoms, it has hoards of bees all over it. This is was the perfect time to take advantage of the situation.

He loves flying that thing.

All done. Tomorrow is 1st Grade!

Jillian Michaels - Wii Style!

Click image for Amazon page.

I spotted this on Amazon for the Wii Fit! Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009. A very serious title, wouldn't you agree? It's due to come out in late October, but you can pre-order. I really want this--I just have to make sure I snatch up a Wii Fit!

Jillian Michaels is best known as one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser, the show where contestants have nothing but time to exercise all freaking day (and get counseled on how to eat healthy) and lose mind blowing amounts of weight.

I haven't found much information about this game (would love to see screenshots) but here is a quick description:

Enroll as a new recruit in Jillian's Boot Camp and join the Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009! This is the first game to combine a celebrity trainer with the innovative Wii Balance Board. Choose from 4 types of workouts in motion based fitness activities. Input personal data to track your progress while you unlock lifestyle and fitness video tips from Jillian.

• Uses the Wii Balance Board
• Four workout types: Strength Training, Weight Loss, Intervals and Hill Climb
• Motion based fitness activities such as ladder climb, rowing and monkey bars
• Track personal data and progress
• Unlock lifestyle tips from Jillian

I'm very excited about this "game". Jillian Michaels is known for being tough to get results and I expect this game to be a gem. I've tried fitness games before and I really love the idea of them--Dance Dance Revolution, Yourself!Fitness and EyeToy games. Some are more fun and game-like than others but all get you really active!

For more about Wii Fit, visit the website here. It looks very cool indeed!

I Have Connections...

or so that is how I feel right now with the Amazon Text Alert feature that I signed up for last night to be informed when any Wii's got back in stock. Earlier today I got a text message on my cell from Amazon that they had them back in stock.

I knew I had to rush to buy it before they were all gone, so I called Brian to see if he felt the same way and now we have Gavin's main big gift all set for Christmas! Lately, only the bundles have been for sale and we weren't willing to pay over $500 to almost $600 for one thing. After submitting my order I returned to see if the Wii's were already back out of stock and YEP! Gone like the wind (for now). One has to act very fast on these things. Learn to move like the speed of light or try to time travel if you must. But at the least, sign up for those cell text alerts.

PlayStation 3 Les Paul Wireless Guitar

I'm psyched! I happened upon the Lightening Deals in Amazon.com's Gold Box Deals and snatched up a wireless guitar for the Guitar Hero PS3 games for only $25!!! Amazon originally sells it for $59.99.


I had thought I missed out on the deal because at first it said it was 100% claimed, but then the next time I looked on the Gold Box page the percentage was in the 70's so I'm guessing they allowed more people to buy it up! Yay for me! Or rather 'yay' for my son because I'm going to hide it until his first day of school so he can have a "first day of school" present to make him feel special. I got the idea from one of the nice ladies at Carolina Momma who I happened to be a secret friend for (sending gifts without her knowing who it was from--too fun!!). When I thought about the idea, I realized it was a really cute thing to do for a child starting a new grade (and in my son's situation, also a new school).

I'm so glad this deal came along! Not too bad of a gift for my son for just $25! Love it! Thanks Universe!

A Good Package Day

It was a nice surprise to see that my new ice cream maker had arrived before I even woke up to start my day off great! We made strawberry sherbert since I won't have any cashews until tomorrow to make a more creamy type of ice cream. It was delicious and so full of flavor, though Gavin is waiting on something "creamy". He'll have his creamy ice cream tomorrow (I'm looking forward to creamy too)!

click photos to enlarge

So I had ordered this Wolfgang Puck Ice Cream maker from HSN but had to cancel the order after I found it refurbished for way cheaper on Overstock.com and then Sherry gave me a discount code for even more savings. I'm glad I was able to cancel my HSN order! Speaking of HSN though, the lady I spoke to when taking my order was really nice and fun! She had to tell me that she loved my email address with the "Lunar Earth Mama" and come to find out she was Pagan. We talked about the misconceptions of Paganism with how Hollywood has warped the truth about a lovely earthy religion. It was very nice to hear someone talk about how much they love the Goddess.

So with the ice cream maker, I am so glad I don't have to wait for a freezer bowl to freeze overnight anymore. I can feed my sporadic ice cream cravings by having it soon afterwards without having to plan it out.

The other package that came today was my Dolls of the World: Princess of South Africa Barbie!

click photo to enlarge

I had tried to win her before on eBay but I gave up from getting outbid all the time and forgot all about her. It was only until the Carolina Mommas group talked about an article on a Barbie did I remember how I wanted this dark skinned one! Isn't she beautiful!? Her dark skin is gorgeous! I'm not even all that into Barbies but I had to get this one. I would really like that Secret Spells Barbie as well!