Mommin' It Up!

March 4, 2012March 4, 2012

Articulation Station: Amazing app for speech therapy

A few months ago, I began following Heidi Hanks’ blog, Mommy Speech Therapy. Heidi is a Speech Language Pathologist and mom of four (including her own five-year-old Sophie! We have so much in common:) ). Last year she started slowing down on blogging to start her own company, Little Bee Speech, and work on developing a speech therapy app for the iPad, Articulation Station. I eagerly awaited the debut of this app because I knew it was going to be great. I downloaded it right away, but since Sophie was only going to need to work on one or two sounds, I contacted Heidi about doing a review of the full version to share with you, so I could check out how all the sounds and blends worked within the app.

And. It is. AMAZING. If your child has any articulation issues at all, you need to get this!! The app is free to download, then you can purchase what sounds your child needs to work on, for $2.99-$5.99 depending on the sound. And this month, until March 31st, all the sounds are 40% off! SUCH A GREAT DEAL! I cannot even tell you how worth every penny these sounds are. Sophie and I have been working on the “L” and the “Th” sounds. Because her delays were mostly language rather than speech (i.e. she was easy to understand, articulation was pretty good, but she had trouble conversing, and answering questions), articulation was the very last thing she worked on before getting discharged from speech. We use Articulation Station at home because it is FUN and it’s keeping her polished, and helps her remember the good new speech habits she has formed.

Here’s what’s great about Articulation Station:

A fun variety of activities: beautiful picture flashcards, great matching game, fun sentences and stories
Very interactive- the child can operate the activities
SO many options – for each sound you can choose whether to work on the sounds at the beginning, end, or middle of the word
Easy to track and save results
The child can record and play back his or her voice to hear how they are pronouncing sounds
This app works in groups of up to six, so it’s awesome for use in schools

I feel like my description is not doing this app justice; it really could not be any more brilliant. It’s BRILLIANT! And fun, easy-to-use, and gets results. Sophie and I love it. With all the flashcards, matching games, sound options, and stories and sentences, there is always something new to play and learn every time we open the app. She will even open it up and play on her own. It’s awesome!

Here’s a short video of Sophie demonstrating one of my favorite features of this app, the “rotating sentences” – with a touch of a button the child can change one of the key words in a sentence. It’s such a fun feature! Here, Sophie is working on the “th” sound in the middle of the keywords, i.e. “author”. Enjoy!

Again, I HIGHLY recommend this app! Any of the sounds you buy will be worth every penny and then some!

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Little Bee Speech allowed me to try the full version of Articulation Station for free. All opinions about the app are my own.

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March 2, 2012

Giveaway: Let Block Live from H&R Block do your taxes!

Recently I was asked to try out H&R Block’s Block Live tax preparation service. We’ve used an online DIY service for years now, and it’s worked well for us, so honestly I was a little hesitant to switch it up. I’m glad I did – I really liked the H&R Block Live service. It saved Andy and me a lot of time, and they came up with a few deductions we weren’t aware of that saved us some money as well.

With Block Live, you can have your taxes done by a professional. By using video, phone and/or online chat, you don’t even have to leave your house. I was very, very impressed with the technological aspects of Block Live. I just uploaded PDFs of our previous tax forms, W2s, etc., which meant much. less. paper, because I didn’t have to print any of that out. For the things that were mailed to us in hard copy, I used the Block Live app, where I logged on from my phone, took a picture of my documents, and voila, they were there ready for my tax prep person seconds later.

Using Block Live was incredibly easy and didn’t take much time – I’d estimate I spent an hour and a half on our taxes – and it took a lot of the guess work out of the process. We didn’t have to wonder if we were putting the right things in the right places, because a professional was doing it for us. And, like I said, she knew some nuances about deductions that we weren’t aware of and saved us some money. I would definitely use the service again.

Block Live is affordable as well – the packages start at $39 (for the 1040EZ form – remember those days?) and a regular 1040 starts at $129. Of course, you can deduct tax preparation expenses from next year’s return as well.

Want to try it out? We’re giving away $50 discount codes to 5 readers. To enter, leave a comment on this post. For an extra entries, “like” H&R Block and/or Mommin’ It Up on Facebook, and leave additional comment(s) letting us know you did so. Winners will be chosen on Friday, March 9, 2012. Good luck!

March 1, 2012March 1, 2012

What happens at Lake Erie Shores & Islands…ends up on the internetz.

Last weekend I was crazy enough to go out of town right before Joshua’s birthday party. What inspired such craziness? Well, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity given to me by Lake Erie Shores & Islands to take a little blogger tour of some of the fun places to stay & play in that part of Ohio.

Because, I am ASHAMED to say, as a born-and-bred Ohio lifer, I knew pretty much NOTHING about our state north of Coluumbus. And that’s just SAD! I wanted to learn more! I mean my husband SAILS SAILBOATS, why have we never been to Ohio’s Great Lake?

PLUS, they totally said I could bring a friend!! Since Emily was unavailable (responsibilities = lame), my BFF Luanne accompanied me. Which was awesome because we had not spent any good quality time together in a long time.

Lake Erie Shores & Islands (the name for their convention & visitors bureau) put us up at the lovely Sawmill Creek Resort. It’s a huge hotel on 235 acres adjacent to a nature preserve AND it has it’s own private strip of Lake Erie beach! Can’t wait to go back there to the beach in the summer!

sawmill beach — Sawmill's beach! I want to GO TO THERE as soon as it's HOT!

It also has a gorgeous set of shoppes in an authentic old barn, it’s seriously like a giant department store in a beautiful barn, and they carried some of the coolest fashions, gifts, jewlery, accessories, and toys. I especially liked this apron:

A view of the gorgeous shoppes at Sawmill Creek

We had a wonderful dinner and dessert in the restaurant at the resort, then we hit Sawmill’s in-house bar, the Black Bear Saloon, for a little Mommy Blogger dance-a-thon. Which may or may not be on video. (Fortuntately I am mostly hidden but Pauline is a SUPAHSTAH!)

The next morning we were off bright & early to Kalahari Resort, which OHMAHGAH is FLIPPIN’ HUGE! And I didn’t even know it was there! It’s like what I imagine a Disney resort to be like. GINORMOUS, with indoor activities (including a bazillion restaurants and candy shops and the largest indoor waterpark IN AMERICA) and outdoor, like it’s own ZOO with 350 animals, splash parks, a rope course, and a zipline. Oh, and did I mention they HAVE A SPA!? It’s soooo nice! I know this firsthand because we got treated to treaments. Here’s how I was feeling after my massage:

Here are some pics of Kalahari. The water park was indescribably huge and breathtaking. I am DYING to take my big kids there, they will be in heaven. I can really see just plopping our stuff down and staying there for hours, even with Jonah. The baby area was AMAZING.

The rest of the day was a blur of FUN and activity. We made chocolate bars at Tre Sorelle Ciococolato, where we all RAWKED the hair net. It was really fun AND yummy! They do birthday parties and kid’s chocolate-making classes, if you live up there you should TOTES get in on that.

My candy before I trimmed it. AND DEVOURED IT.

Next, we were off to Firelands Winery for wine tasting and lunch. I brought Emily home a big ol’ bottle of bubbly which I shall have to let her review sometime. But I thought it was super cool that all the grapes for Firelands Wine is grown on one of Lake Erie’s Islands – North Bass Island!

Next, we went to the Wendy Kromer Bakery, (she’s only contributing editor for Martha Stewart Weddings – NO BIG DEAL!) where I ate the best thing I have ever eaten in my life . Not exaggerating, not joking, across all food groups, all food types, EVERYTHING, this is THE BEST THING I have ever eaten:

Macaroons + raspberry buttercream + chocolate buttercream + raspberry ganache =HEAVEN ON EARTH!!

Then we headed to the Merry Go Round Museum, where we got to take lots of cool pictures of tons of vintage carousel animals and of course, go for a Merry Go Round ride! It was very fast & fun!

Finally, we finished out our day at the Ghostly Manor Thrill Center, where we literally got just about scared to death in their haunted house (dudes, they are NOT KIDDING with that thing). But, we also had some fun! They have 3-D mini-golf and other fun indoor rides and games, plus a skating rink, snack bar, etc. – it’s another great birthday party destination. And the married couple who run it and their baby are so freaking ADORABLE. It’s a great little family business!

3-D glasses and a Mountain Dew from the fountain. I can be BOUGHT.

I really can’t tell you how much fun Luanne and I had on this tour. Hanging out with other bloggers Jen of Big Binder (who has lots of amazing pics on her post), Pauline of Classy Chaos, and Valerie of Social Moms Around Columbus was also a huge part of the fun. I really, honestly, TRULY can’t wait to take my family back to the area this summer so we can explore the beach and Lake Erie’s Islands and maybe Bobby can get in a sail or two!

To check out all that Lake Erie Shores & Islands has to offer, click here.

Thanks to LESI for providing my lodgings and meals! And for letting me bring a friend! It was a great trip! And of course all opinions about it are my very own precious opinions.

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