Mr. Bendy

I picked this game up not really knowing who's Christmas gift pile it would end up in, but figuring any of us would enjoy it!  I was right! This game is an instant hit with our family!  It was given to Lucas for Christmas, and I think he was happy with that!

We have been fans of Fat Brain Toys since Lucas was a baby!

The game play is pretty simple.  

You draw a card and choose one of the options to craft.  

When the timer starts (45 seconds, which we found to be a little short) you start using Wiki Stix to decorate Mr. Bendy into whatever you chose.  

The other players are encouraged to watch you while you work but aren't allowed to make any guesses until the timer goes off and gets reset.  

All players attempt to guess what the prompt was, and then points are awarded if someone guesses correctly. 

Can you tell what I made?

It's a Mr. Bendy mermaid!

Since the little two aren't reading, they worked in partnership with their brothers.  Here Percy and Vinnie are hard at work decorating Mr. Bendy.  We used our digital device to set a 2 minute timer, since we all felt that 45 seconds was way too short.

Another one of my creations... can you guess? Everybody go this one right!

 It's a Mr. Bendy snowman!  

This game is an easy winner.   It often goes on sale, but I'd even pay full price for this one! 

Kids of all ages can play, though non readers will need help with the cards.  We plan to order a set of colored wiki six to enhance the creations! 

Snow Day!

 

       A couple weeks ago we got a decent snow fall.  The boys wanted to go out and sled and I sent Lucas and Vinnie with them to the little sledding hill in our neighborhood.  

After they'd be gone a little bit, I decided I was going to ahead and meet them and then I convinced Tim to get off work early and come too!  

On the trek home Tim was able to pull Percy on a sled most of the way..  Sulley rode the sled down the hills back to the house. 

At one point, poor Percy was down on the hill and Vinnie literally rode his sled right OVER his brother!

This was taken earlier in the day, before Percy got a face full of snow.

Tim and Lucas keeping warm!

Our little sensory seeker, of course, loves sledding.  The cold, the speed, the effort to climb up the hills, and the exhilaration are all perfect for him! 

Some of the snow on the playlet and the car.

Goonameez by Try-A-Deal!

 

    Before Christmas, we were able to try out Goo Games by Sky Castle Toys, thanks to a partnership with Try-A-Deal.  This month, we were selected to try another one of their products, Goonameez.  

    Sulley and I went to Five Below to find the Goonameez and searched through most of the store before we finally found them!  There were several different designs available, each one had a bubble that you could push and another bubble with a little friend floating on what looks like a pool float.  

    To be perfectly honest, we weren't sure what the purpose was at first.  We checked out all of the options and Sulley picked out two.  Then we headed out to the car to check out our new toys!  We had fun shaking them and pumping the bubbles as fast as we could!  

    

    Unfortunately I was a little too rough with mine while getting the packaging off and ripped the keychain off of the toy! That was sad, but I think we can fix it!

    We accidentally left the goonameez in the car overnight and when we came out the next morning they were frozen solid! I'm so glad they didn't rupture in my new car!  

    Later, Percy found the goonameez and he loved them! He made up several different games and stories for the characters and really enjoyed the toys, without me even prompting or guiding him!  

    Ultimately, the goonameez are a fun fidget toy & an open ended toy that we will keep in the restaurant and hospital bags for the boys to play with when we need quiet, relaxing entertainment! 

Ultimate Aquarium

    This was a Christmas gift to myself! I've had this game on my wish list for a bit and one day before Christmas, Alexa notified me that it was on sale half price!  I went ahead and clicked "Buy it Now!" and wrapped it up for myself!

The game play is pretty easy to learn after you get started and surprisingly complex once you learn what all the cards are and get into the strategy.  We played a game of it with myself,  Tim, Vinnie, and Lucas and had fun.  The art is cute and we enjoyed the different features of the cards! 

I won! Woohoo!  We all thought it was fun that I won the game with no water in my aquarium! :) 

I probably wouldn't spend $25 on this game, but I would definitely buy it for up to $20. I'd also gift it to any of my strategy loving, aquarium loving friends!  

 

Quiche

    So, thanks to Xolair injections over the last 2 and a half years, Vinnie's allergies are becoming *WAY* more manageable.  One major change is that he is no longer reactive to shared fries or ovens!  

In August, he passed the BAKED EGG food challenge at National Jewish Health in Denver.  We were so excited to add a food into his diet!  

Being allergic to raw egg but safe to baked egg is very tricky.  When eggs are baked--to a certain protocol-- the proteins change and become something that you can tolerate.  For Vinnie, it is a VERY sensitive measure.  We experimented with some store bought products and unfortunately had an ANA episode.  

The "baked egg" rules, that we follow are:

1. One egg per cup of regular flour, it cannot be gluten free

2. The dish must be baked at 350 degrees for a minimum of 30 minutes.

3. Store bought products, should follow both of the first rules *AND* have egg not appear in the top 3 ingredients.  Since most foods don't include their recipe or bake times/temps, we have to make reasonable guesses about the preparation.  

So far, we've found ONE safe food that he can eat as much as he wants, that we can buy, and its pecan swirls, by TastyKake.  

So, all of that said, to explain that we can now cook RAW EGG in the oven and Vinnie doesn't have anaphylaxis!  The last time I tried to make a quiche, we lived in Virginia and moving wasn't even on our radar!  

So, I used this recipe, from The Gingered Whisk, to make homemade mini-quiches for dinner!  I made Vinnie's up first. I used Jus-Roll prepackaged puff pastry, Just Egg egg substitute, Ripple milk substitute and Daiya cheese substitute.  I added bacon into his, but no spinach, and he LOVED THEM! He ate 3 of them, so it was a real like too!  He ate, while the allergic real egg ones for the rest of the family, were cooking and he did not have any reactions! Isn't that amazing?!  We are so excited. 

 I didn't risk cooking his while ours were in the oven, because it was super snowy out and I didn't want to risk having to leave the house.  We have cooked allergic and safe pizzas in the oven at the same time with no anaphylaxis!  Xolair has been so good for him!

Vinnie safe mini-quiche above and my quiche, steak, and sausage below. 

 

Christmas Recap!

 As usual, for our game schooling family, we had a game heavy Christmas haul!  In the next few posts I'll be reviewing the games we've had the chance to try out!

We haven't been able to get the walls finished from the foundation work we had, right after we bought the house, so the unframed walls are featured in the pictures.  It is what it is.  

Our traditional, pose in front of the tree in matching jammies pictures...

As a family full of LEGO lovers, there were a lot of awesome LEGO gifts. 

Lucas checking out a card game.

The TikTok famous Minecraft magnetic cubes.  I found a couple brands on Amazon that had the .89" blocks at reasonable prices.  I'll do a mini-review of those in another post.

This game is a 100% winner, its called OK Play!

This was a random clearance aisle find, that actually is really cute and great for getting some ya-yas out indoors!

This boy absolutely LOVES playing with dominoes.  

More magnetic Minecraft style blocks.

This is the *BEST* version of Candy Land I've ever seen.   I have always liked the 80s art and felt that all the versions that have been out since I had kids were way too overstimulating, but this Bluey version is so calming. 

Jurassic Park "Ravenous Raptors"-- a themed version of Hungry Hippos. 

Sulley's haul-- I snagged the Sleeping Queens 2 right before Christmas in like-new condition, for $3 from the local BST page!

A game for mom!

Not the best "trouble" game I've ever played. 

Lucas' game haul.

Games for Vinnie:

So, that's most of the games we got for Christmas as a family. I'll be posting reviews of them as quickly as I can!  

I hope all our friends had a great Christmas too!

Hypershot by Hasbro! Review sponsored by Tryazon

 

Thanks to Tryazon we got to review another new game!!  

Hypershot by Hasbro is a super fun, affordable, travel ready air hockey themed game for all ages!

The minute this game arrived in the mail the boys were interested in getting it out and trying it out!  

It only took me a few minutes to scan the instructions and explain the different modes to the boys, then they were off having a blast taking turns battling each other and trying out the training mode! 

The box is. sturdy and the game fits neatly back into the box.  Alternatively, all of the pieces fit attached to the device in an easy to carry and store design. 

This game is available at Walmart for $16 and from Hasbro for $20, making it very affordable.  

We absolutely would recommend this game to our friends and family and will likely be gifting it to several friends soon!