This Wednesday will be Carson’s last day of kindergarten! This time last year I was already a hot mess just anticipating him starting kindergarten and now the school year is coming to a close. I’m telling you folks, be careful what you wish for…you just might get it!

I am so immensely thankful to say that this year went tremendously well for Carson. He enjoys school, made many new friends and continues to mature into a fine little boy who makes his parents buttons burst with pride. He’s now reading on his own, is quite good at math, ties his own shoes, and knows how to check his blood sugar all by himself. Those are just some small snippets of what all he has learned and accomplished over the school year.

Griffin & I have thoroughly enjoyed our 1-on-1 time together during the days while daddy is at work and brother is at school. Whether we were snuggled up watching cartoons together, playing a game, running errands together, pretending we were pirates, or just chatting over lunch…I think I can speak for both of us when I say we really enjoyed this quality time together!

Even though this school year has been very successful for all, and we’ve settled into a nice and predictable routine, we are all very excited and ready for summer break!

Just as we did for the first time last summer, we made a summer bucket list again this year. What got me through some of those long, cold, winter days was to think ahead to summer and all of the fun things I wanted to do together as a family. I just can’t believe that time is finally here!

Here is what we came up with for our 2013 Summer Bucket List:

What about you? Does your family make a summer bucket list? If so, you should hop on over to The Happy Family Movement and sign up for their Summer Bucket List Challenge which launches today! While you’re there you can read my guest post where I share our summer bucket list.

I am positive this is going to be the best summer yet! :)

*Image borrowed from fatbraintoys.com.

Have you ever heard of Fat Brain Toys before? If not you are really missing out.

Fat Brain Toys originated in Elkhorn, NE by the Carson family. You can read the whole story behind the creation of the company here. It is the classic story of one idea turning into something way bigger than anyone could have imagined (I love these kind of stories)!

Fat Brain Toys was originally created to target an online market, but after numerous requests they opened their first retail storefront in 2008. This store is located near Village Pointe South in Omaha. Greg & I took the boys there and let me tell you this store is nothing like browsing the toy aisle at Wal-Mart or Target!

As a mom who has had many toys come in and out of her household, I can assure you I have been exposed to many different toys over the past six years. I’ve found that many toys are cheaply made, or they are not exciting enough to hold my boys’ interest for very long. You will find quite the opposite with Fat Brain Toys products. They offer thousands of quality, open-ended toys and games. Every product on their shelves not only provides kids with entertainment, but it also educates them at the same time. Not only that but the products they offer are unlike anything else you can find at most toy stores. Their products are truly one of a kind!

We recently tried out a few products ourselves. The first being the Pallina game. This game is like a modern version of the KerPlunk game I grew up playing, except it is way more friendly for younger kids.

Before even pulling the contents of this game out, I was immediately struck by the packaging. You can tell that pride is taken in every step of production of a product.

Pallina is a 2-4 player game. All four of us played this game the first time.

To set up, you place the different wooden sticks between the holes of the bamboo funnel-shaped basket, in order to create a base on which the balls will sit. Mix the colored balls and dump them into the basket. Each player then picks his/her own colored bamboo sticks and matching wooden colored balls. After that, you’re ready to play!

The youngest player goes first (this fact put an end to the pity party Griffin was having because Carson picked the color blue before him), and you take turns pulling out your color of stick from the basket. Each player attempts to keep his/her colored balls inside while removing their colored sticks. You must be strategic while pulling out your sticks so that you make the other players balls fall, but not your own. To win, your color of ball must be the last one remaining in the upper part of the basket. Each game takes about 5- 10 minutes to play. Through playing this game, kids have to match colors, problem solve and think strategically. They’re learning without even knowing it because it is so fun. Again, this is a common theme with all Fat Brain Toys products.

I cannot adequately describe how much fun the kids had with this! Squeals of delight could be heard the entire time we were playing! Greg & I even got to witness several victory dances.

We played several games with all four of us, before it was time to make lunch. You can also play this game with just two players, and the boys were not remotely ready to quit playing, so they played a couple more rounds just the two of them. With two players each person picks two colors, which they thought was great! They were completely capable of playing the game by themselves, which as all of us parents know is an awesome, awesome, thing!

This game gets two thumbs up from the Wheeler family!

If you live near Omaha, you must make a visit to the Fat Brain Toys retail store. They not only allow, but actually encourage you to come into the store and try things out. If you don’t live near Omaha, you can browse their online store. With rare exception, if you place an order by 3:00 p.m. Central for an in stock product, it will be shipped out that very same day, from their warehouse in La Vista.

 Are you ready to try a smarter way to play?

Ever since I joined the MOMables team and started sharing diabetic-friendly recipes, I heard from other parents who also have diabetic kiddos. The response was great and it opened my eyes more to what I already knew…there are a lot of people out there who are also battling this disease. Even though I am fully aware of the statistics, it can become easy to feel like you’re the only family on earth going through this and that you’re alone in the battle.

These interactions from MOMables readers made me examine my own blog closer. Even though diabetes affects nearly every aspect of our lives, I really only talk about it on here when his diagnosis anniversary comes around each year, or when we are fundraising for the walk.

I assure you this was never a conscious decision but after doing some soul searching I think it may have been a subconscious one. Without even being fully aware that I am doing it, I think that I have a tendency to down-play diabetes when talking about it with people. I don’t want people feeling sorry for Carson or us.  I also don’t want people thinking that we sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. There are way worse diseases out there that people live with every day, and we know that. We acknowledge that even though we’ve been dealt this difficult card, at the end of the day we are an immensely blessed family, and we try to never take that for granted. But even knowing all that doesn’t diminish the fact that life with diabetes does really suck sometimes. It is hard.

Being reminded that there are a lot of other people out there that know this to be true as well has ignited a desire in me to be more open to talking about diabetes on here. Even if it’s just a diabetic-friendly recipe, etc. If I can help one other person that is enough reason for me to do so! So in a nutshell, you can expect more diabetes related topics in the future.

That’s a whole lotta hoopla to get to a pancake review, huh?!

When I saw the ingredients that comprised these I quietly wondered how on earth they would produce a pancake. But they did indeed- a mighty yummy pancake at that! It quickly became evident that one batch wasn’t going to cut it, considering the boys both had clean plates within about 5 minutes of sitting down to eat. Because they were so low in carbohydrates, Carson was able to have seconds… and even thirds. The boys loved these so much I’m thinking this recipe is going to become our new go-to pancake recipe!

Recipe source: www.ibreatheimhungry.com

I love the blog All for the Boys, and I especially enjoy their Fort Friday series. Last week Griffin was featured in the series, showing off the Moby Wrap fort I made for him.

He did not enjoy being in the Moby Wrap as an infant, so I was happy to have finally found a use for it.

To make the fort all you do is unroll the wrap, wrap it around a table, and tie it in a knot at the top of the table. You may have to adjust  the slack a couple of times to get it just right. You may need to assist your little one to get them in the hammock, by holding down the wrap while they get in.

I can’t pinpoint what exactly I found to be so hilarious, but I seriously couldn’t stop laughing when he was in it…which then gave him a case of the giggles. He read books in there, had a snack, and was sorely disappointed when I refused to let him take his nap in there. It was a very fun mommy/Griffin morning!

When Carson got home from school, he of course wanted to get in and try it out too. It wasn’t as good of a fit, but I was impressed to find that it held him at all!

Just a few weeks ago we discovered a really fun new activity- geocaching. If you are like me and had never heard of it before go here to read more about what it is. You may also find this post to be helpful; Geocaching 101- A Beginners How-To. Then click here to read a post  I wrote for The Happy Family Movement about our first time geocaching.

You have to look into this- sooo much fun!