Back to school

My littles went back to school this week! Thankfully, we got everything done that we needed to do.

But the past week was crazy busy.

• Annual checkups - all kids growing according to their age chart, which is always a relief when you have tiny children. 
• Eye exams and new glasses for the boys. And Boo has sensory issues, so he got bonus points on his behavior sheet for wearing his glasses for an hour each day. By the time he started school, he was comfortable wearing them. As opposed to last year, when he destroyed three pairs the first few weeks he had glasses. 
• Meet the teachers - everyone seems nice and ready for a new year!
• Put in a request for an IEP meeting. Boo got some new diagnoses over the summer, so we need to update his team at school and brainstorm some accommodations, because second grade is much more hard core than first. 
• School supplies bought. I used the Wal-Mart grocery app for this, so I didn't even have to go in the store. It was nice, very, very nice. Highly recommend.
• Printed "First day of x grade" signs and took obligatory pictures. 

And now my ducklings are out in the world. I'm going to go take a nap. And maybe see a movie. Oh yeah, and do some work without Fortnight in the background. 

Luke Cage Season 2 review

Sweet Christmas, it took a long time for my husband and I to catch up and watch the newest season of Luke Cage. Since his schedule has changed at work, we can only watch our shows together on the weekends for date nights in after the kids go to bed.

Luke Cage is easily one of my favorite of the Marvel Netflix shows. The characters, the setting, the music - all amazing. 

Now on to my review of season 2: 

What I liked 

• I liked the hints at the "Hero for Hire" idea, which is where my husband know's both Luke and Danny (Iron Fist) from. 
• Girl power! I love Misty Knight, and I also love Colleen Wing. I think both these badass ladies deserve their own show. 
• I love that the villain could take Luke down a notch. I'm not sure how I felt about the villain's back story and motivations though, but I guess he was interesting to watch. 
• I loved when Luke saved Miranda from her burning house. 
• It was interesting that as Luke made more and more controversial choices, his support system from season 1 started disappearing, including Claire. 
• I liked Tilda Johnson a lot, and am interested to see where her character will go from there. 
• My favorite part of Luke Cage is how many people are aware that he is bullet proof, but still fire a ton of rounds at him anyway. And he's like "really?" It cracks me up every time. 

What I didn't like

• Shades - I went back and forth on him all season. He would do something almost interesting, and then blow it a bit later. And why was his final straw what happened in the diner, but not his best friend? I don't know, I was just hoping for more from him as a character - even as a villain or anti-hero, but he really fell flat for me. I'm sure others may disagree. 
• The ending. I loved this whole season until the ending. My husband and I do not agree on this, because he liked it. But I seriously don't like the idea of (spoiler alert) Luke Cage being the leader of criminals. It feels off to me. 

That's it, overall a solid season and I can't wait until the next one! 

Movie Pass

So maybe purchasing my Movie Pass on the annual plan wasn't a great idea, but I'm hoping the company keeps limping along at least until school starts. I can't really go to movies much during the summer.

I'm kind of their idea customer, because I don't use my Movie Pass that awesome right now so I am costing them zero money. And when school starts I will probably go to one movie every week or two.

I need to see 15 movies to make my money back, hopefully I make it!

On the Road

I'm a planner. I think it comes naturally with being a mom, and those skills are honed when you become a special needs mom. A few weeks before the summer started, I carefully crafted a calendar to keep our days busy and packed so that we all wouldn't go crazy.

Well, my summer plans didn't start out exactly as we wanted.

Unfortunately my father passed away the first week of June, so it meant a family trip to Michigan. My father and I had a complicated relationship, but it was important to be there for my mom and the rest of my family.

It wasn't even our original plan for all of us to go to the funeral, but my husband gauged my mood and decided the entire family needed to go. So with a four prep time, I packed and loaded everyone in the car for an epic road trip across country.

It took us only a few days to get there, because we pushed hard. The kids were troopers. What did we do without Kindles and car DVD players in the past?

All in all, we were away from home for 11 days - three to get there, three in Michigan, and five days home. We took our time and spent the night close to friends on the way home to make it easier on the kids. And because we had been planning on going on a long camping vacation that week anyway. So that turned out conveniently for my husband work-wise.

Although we were in Michigan for sad reasons, it was nice to see the family and my friends. I even got to stop into my brother's new comic book shop. Rad Raptor Comics is in Adrian, Michigan, and you should check it out. I'm so proud of him.

I will probably blog later about some of our experiences on the road, however I just wanted to point out that no matter what we plan, God is always going to throw curve balls.

And while this would not have been my choice for summer activities, I think our family grew together and bonded more living 11 days in hotels and on the road across the country.

Phoenix ComicFest recap

We had a great time as a family last weekend - and even some fun time as a couple! This year was a big year because our son's behavior coach was able to get a pass to go to one of the day's with him! If you have a kiddo with special needs and an aide, write to the convention to see if they make accommodations. They were great for us!

Here's a rundown of the weekend:

Thursday 

This usually is our favorite day at the con because there are less people and you can take your time to look at all the vendors and enjoy things. My 6yo saved her birthday money this year and was able to purchase a couple of stuffed animals and an awesome giraffe hat.

The only downside of Thursday this year was that the Hall of Heroes, AKA the upstairs vendor hall, was not open on that day this year. So we couldn't check out any of the costume groups on this day. Also there are a lot of non-profits that usually have booths up there, like the Arizona Natural History Museum. Last year because it was a slow day, my son peppered them with SO MANY questions. It was great. But the slowness is probably why they didn't open it.Still, I feel bad for the vendors who had booths up there who lost a day's worth of potential sales. I hope they got a discount. The kids of course spent time in the Lego and art rooms. I love that the convention has these, as it is a great place to go to get a break from the crowds.

Friday

Long but fun day! The check in lines moved quickly, despite the extra security. Our kids opted to wear their costume-looking onsie pajamas as cosplay. We started out with lightsaber training from the Jedi Academy, which was super cute. And then we hit the Lego and art rooms again. 

Next we went up to the Hall of Heroes. The kids checked out the amazing super hero, Star Wars, Doctor Who displays and costumes. Boo found the Museum of Natural History booth and spent his time eyeing the fossils. 

There was also a large amount of video games to check out, which my 9yo appreciated. We especially loved the arcade area. He could have played there for hours, if we're being honest. Sometimes having younger siblings who want to look at other things can be annoying. 

We finished up the day with more shopping in the exhibitor hall, and of course some ice cream. 

Saturday and Sunday

Yay date day! We found some gracious friends who were able to take our kids for Saturday and Sunday (two of them were even on sleepovers, so it was a nice fun time for them too), so we got two days alone at the convention. 

We ate at non-kid-friendly restaurants, including the Cornish Pasty. I had their pasty called The Pilgrim, which is basically like a Thanksgiving dinner baked into the crust. 

We went to a few panels - a couple of the celebrity ones and a couple of just fellow geeks talking about geeky stuff. Our favorite was the Michael Rooker panel. He jumped out in the audience and ran around with the mic, letting people ask questions. My husband got to talk to him, but it happened so quickly I couldn't video it or get a picture. Dang it! 

And of course, spent money. I bought a lovely Tarth banner to hang in my room. And the rest of the time, we just walked around and enjoyed each other's company in a cool environment. 

Overall, it was a fun convention. We talked about maybe only doing two days next year instead of four, but we always change our minds when it gets closer. :) 

Summer plans

Summer break is finally upon us! I'm sure things will change, but for now I plan to follow the fun schedule you can see all over Pinterest.

1) Make something Monday - do a craft, plant something, bake together, etc.

2) Take a Trip Tuesday - go somewhere new and fun!

3) Wet and Wild Wednesday - kiddie pools, water balloon fights, squirt guns, you get the idea.

4) Thoughtful Thursday - do something kind for someone.

5) Fun Friday - This is kind of a free for all, but it can be a special activity, or no chores and reading time, pizza for dinner, etc.

This plan may have to be flexible. My son has behavior coaching four days a week, so we will have to work our schedule around or with them. Being out and about in the community is one of the things we are targeting for him this summer, so I'm guessing they will come with us on some of our field trips.

I also plan on having the kids read at least 20 minutes every day and do some worksheets so they don't fall behind. Like the mean mom that I am. :)

I will let you all know how it goes!

Free Comic Book Day!

Being a geeky family, we have our big events every year. Renaissance festival, Phoenix Comicfest, FanFest, the release of every Marvel or Star Wars movie, etc.  And the one we look forward to at the beginning of every May is Free Comic Book Day.

For those of you who don’t know, it is the first Saturday of every May, when comic publishers release special editions of comics for retailers to give away for free at the event. The goal is to get people interested in comics series they may not have read yet, and to step foot in a comic store and hopefully buy some stuff.

We were extra excited this year because rather than having to drive 30 minutes to a shop in a neighboring town, a comic shop opened up this year in our community. Surprise Comics did an amazing job with the event!

My family tried to get there early so we could see a wider selection of the free issues before they were gone. Getting everyone up and out the door on a Saturday morning proved to be challenging, but we got there about a half hour after the store opened.

We were greeted by someone handing out raffle tickets. They did a drawing on the hour throughout the day and posted the winning tickets on Facebook throughout the day in case customers had already left the store. Prizes included posters and figurines. Sadly, we did not win! Maybe next time.

Besides the free comic books, the shop had a lot of items on sale. There were several boxes of books for only $5 each, but my husband and I couldn’t browse for long because our kids were eager to get to the free stuff.  There was a table set up near the back of the store with all the free issues.

One of the things we love about free comic book day is the wide variety of content that can appeal to the various tastes of my family. We were each allowed to pick two comics, and all of us came home with something different:

• Chris – The Amazing Spiderman and Overwatch
• Me – Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise and Marvel’s Rising
• Superboy – Pokemon and The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Boo – Dr. Who and Star Wars
• Tink – Invader Zim and Miraculous Adventures

Once we grabbed our free books, the kids got their faces painted. Superboy became Spiderman and Tink got a lovely unicorn on her forehead. Boo opted not to be painted due to sensory issues (he doesn’t like stuff on his face).

There were comic book artists on hand demonstrating how they do their work, which was fascinating or Tink since she wants to be an artist.

We also wanted to buy stuff to support our local shop, so the kids picked out some Lego minifigures and Chris got some too for his desk at work (he’s the cool guy with the Super Saiyan Goku minifig at his workstation now).

On the way out of the store, they handed each of us a back-issue of comics they wanted to clear out of their inventory. So, we walked away with three free books.

Businesses around the store were also taking advantage of the traffic – the insurance agency next store was giving away free hot dogs, juice boxes and candy. My kids thought it was the best day ever.

Every store has different activities surrounding Free Comic Book day. One of the events we attended in Glendale last year had a mini-convention, with artists showing off and selling their works, as well as vendors selling their creations. Many shops have cosplayers who dress as super heroes on hand to meet and greet with the kids. My brother’s comic book shop in Michigan had an amazing Wonder Woman to greet guests.

I hope this rundown of Free Comic Book Day inspires you to bring your kids next year! It’s a great free event to take your kiddos.