January, 2014 | The Angel Forever

Monthly Archives January 2014

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Tuesday Tales – The Creature From My Closet Series

Posted on January 21, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It was like lightning stuck me when I was working at the book fair at school a few months ago. A book on one of the shelves caught my eye. I immediately look a photo of it to send to TechyDad, and started to check it out on my phone. What I found was that The Creature in My Closet was a series of books by author Obert Skye. The book sitting on the shelf was actually the second book in the series, so I opted not to purchase it at the time. When I went home that evening, I showed NHL the photo of the book, along with the other two books online.

My reluctant reader was begging me to get the books to read. When The Creature in My Closet: Wonkenstein arrived, my fifth grader could barely be pulled away from the book. I actually had to tell him to stop reading a few times because it was time for dinner, time to go to school, or go to bed. For what I believe was the first time, NHL got up in the morning and went right to reading his book. Before I knew it, he had finished Wonkenstein and was ready for the second book Potterwookiee (Harry Potter meet Star Wars). Over winter break, I was amazed to see my kiddo devour the second book. He begged me to get the third book in the series. While waiting for it, he went back to another series that is a spoof of characters that he enjoys. It is hard to explain what the series is about and why I really want to read it as well. Here is a video with the author that will make you understand why kids of all ages will enjoy.

Yes, what is not to love about books that combines Willy Wonka/Frankenstein, Harry Potter/Chewbacca, and Pinocchio/Dracula. NHL is finishing up Pinocula right now and he mentioned that a fourth book is coming out. He is right. In September 2014, Katfish will be released. Can you guess what combination of characters is coming?

If you guessed Katniss from The Hunger Games and Ariel The Little Mermaid, you would be correct. I really, really, really need to catch up so I can talk with NHL about these books and be ready for the next book release later this year.

What book has your child read recently that you want to read? As always, Tuesday Tales is all about sharing our love of books. Please let me know what you have read recently. Be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else.

Categories:
books Tuesday Tales

Must See Movies 2014

Posted on January 17, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I love going to the movies with the kids, but finding ones that work for everyone is not always easy. Thank goodness Disney animated movies are still something that our entire family enjoys. I suppose you can say they help us to show our Disney Side a bit more when we are away from Walt Disney World. We started the year by going to see Frozen and everyone fell in love with Anna, Elsa, and Olaf. I mean what is not to love about a snowman who craves spending time on a beach.

Of course, as the Polar Vortex moved into our area we stayed home keeping warm for a day while listening to the amazing soundtrack. There is something extra powerful about being inside and asking the kids Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Or perhaps thinking of In Summer as we sat under layers of blankets to keep warm.

I have a lot of catching up to do on movies that came out in 2013. Still, I am looking ahead to 2014 and new releases have me marking my calendar to head to the theater. Three that I am most excited about are Muppets Most Wanted, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Maleficent.

So what was your favorite movie of 2013 and movie are you most interested in seeing when it is released in 2014?

Disclosure: I wrote this post because it is always fun to talk about movies. I receive emails from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and their future releases were inspiration for this post. As a long time Disney fan, I love sharing items on The Angel Forever and no compensation was received.

Categories:
Disney Movies

Disney Letter S

Posted on January 15, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It is time to celebrate the Disney via the alphabet. It is always a lot of fun to look back at magical memories in terms of a single letter of the alphabet. When looking for “S” items I decided to stick with some familiar faces. Stitch, Sulley, Simba, Storm Trooper, Sarge, and even a photo of me in elementary school with Smee. What are some of your favorite Disney Letter S items?

Be sure to stop by Focused on the Magic by clicking on the button above to join in the Disney magic this week.

Categories:
Disney travel vacation

Making Music on Android Devices

Posted on January 13, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Music is a big part of our world. We will often have music playing in the house and in the car when we travel near and far. NHL is now in his third year of band at school where he plays percussion instruments. It has been an amazing process to watch his knowledge of music grow thanks to classes in school and his phenomenal band teacher. JSL is six and really wants to play an instrument, but a few things have stopped us at this point. I am not sure he knows what he really want to try and trying/renting/buying instruments is not exactly cheap.

Over winter break, JSL saw a keyboard in a store. He quickly became fixated on getting on and learning to play the piano. We are mean parents because we refused to buy it. Quite honestly, I didn’t want a toy and thought we should investigate things a bit more. Try explaining that to a stubborn six year old. While we got him out of that store, we have heard about his NEED for a keyboard to almost every single day since. I have asked multiple people for recommendations, but need to investigate before we invest money into this. Sunday afternoon we were in the house and while NHL was practicing drums, the little kid started pouting about the keyboard again. I decided to look for something to pacify the situation. Enter Learn Piano by rubycell for Android devices.

Within a few minutes TechyDad had installed this app onto JSL’s Galaxy Tab 2. Then I heard something else playing. Why yes, TechyDad installed it onto his Android smartphone and was playing Katy Perry’s Roar. JSL wanted to check it out right away. The Song Book on this app is fantastic. There are songs that I grew up with, items for the kids, and family favorites like Do You Want to Build a Snowman? from Frozen.

As you can see there are ads on the free version, but it really did not seem to bother the kids. You can pay $1.99 to remove the ads and this also allows you to load midi files. For $2.99 you can get the previous items, as well as all instruments and song packages via the Diamond Package. We will see how the kids continue to use this over the next week or so. Why yes, once NHL was done with band practice he wanted to use it on his Galaxy Tab 2. At one point, I was listening to JSL play In Summer, NHL play For the First Time in Forever, and TechyDad playing The Imperial March. Curious what it looks like when you play? Here’s the screen when I put it on my Droid Mini and tried the song Pure Imagination.

While this is not a substitute for music lessons and a real keyboard, it is keeping my little guy happy. I am watching to see how his patience are with trying to follow along and it is keeping him actively engaged. Want to see the app in action? Here’s an Instagram video that I made of TechyDad playing a song.

I have to admit I am curious, what song would you look for first when trying out this app?

Disclosure: As a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers, I received one of our Galaxy Tab 2 and the Motorola Droid Mini to test out and share ways that I use them with my family. There was no other compensation. I am a long time Verizon customer, and all opinions are my own.

Categories:
Phone Apps Technology

Making Math Fun

Posted on January 10, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Growing up, I remember spending hours playing on calculators and adding up catalogues for fun. Not really fun for most people, but it kept my interest in technology and numbers working together. My love of math, science, and technology continued as I followed my dreams to become a teacher. As a parent, my boys likely have no idea when I sneak some math fun into our routines. I mean does this look like the makings for a math activity?

$Math fun at home$

Yes, that really is something for math and more about it will be coming soon.

Thanks to being one of the parent bloggers on the Bedtime Math blog, I have a new location to find exciting activities to try with the boys. Here are some of the latest that will be perfect for these cold winter days:

Supersized Dice = Supersized Fun – Angela Six shares why giant dice make play even more fun with unique ways to use them.
Cool Winter Fun with Ice Spheres – Candace Lindemann explains how to take advantage of the cold weather and make ice orbs.
Snow Time Like Now for Ice Cream – My latest post shares how to make snow ice cream and enjoy a party while in the process.

There were also posts for the holidays that were items I saved on Pinterest to look back at for next year. I know I am looking forward to seeing what comes next from the other talented people on Bedtime Math parent blog team. I hope you will join us over there and if you have a great math activity that you have done with your kids, I would love to hear about it. I am always looking for new options to try with my boys.