I Love You Because...

A Sick Day

What does a sick day look like at your house? Here, I can't get through it without my iPad, medicine, tissues and water.... Now if only I could get my Mom here to take care of me I'd be fine. :)

Summertime Apps At This House

 

Since I haven't shared any of my Apple love recently I thought I'd share the top summer Apps at this house. (I love how this list both evolves and stays constant through our crazy lives.) 

iBooks - (books for me to read to the kids, books for myself, and books for the kids to read themselves.... this one is used a lot!) 

Battleship - The first week of summer Ethan taught Lorali how to play it so almost everyday during quiet time he sits on the kids iPad in his room and she's got the kids iPhone in her room and they don't get caught until I hear the giggles from evading the enemy or the growls from the lastest ship sinking. 

Sight Words - This one both Ethan and Lorali love because it records their own voices saying the words and I love it because it can flag word they might be having a hard time with. 

Angry Birds - Any and all of these ones. Rio, Seasons and classic they're all a win-win with Doug and the kids (I stink at it so it's deleted off my iPad and iPhone.)

Videos / AppleTV- With AirPlay. It comes in handy when they start fighting over the small screen to just touch a single button and have the YouTube clip/ TV Show or Movie playing on whatever screen I want.

LDS Scriptures - I can't tell you how much I love not lugging and big bag full of manuals and scripture and music back and forth to church. Just sayin'. 

ABC Player - Since Husbandface and I decided not to hook up cable or satellite in the new house it has come in handy when we need our tv fix... I just wish it was AirPlay enabled.  

Hanging with Friends - Love playing this on a daily basis with all my family across the country. LOVE it! 

 

 

Mommy-Daughter Time

Last Saturday Lorali and I had a girls day. Full of running errands, shopping and pedicures. It was so fun to see her come out of her shell, to hear her be able to express herself without being interrupted or without having to fight for attention. It was a WONDERFUL DAY! 

It runs in the family

These were taken all within the same 115  minutes and now that I'm looking at it I forgot to get Dad on his or Grandma on hers or me on mine.... The Apple love runs deep in this family.

 

iChat = iLove.

We love Sunday nights around here...

Apple-ites.

I'm betting that anyone who's seen me in the last 6 months for longer than 5 minutes has seen me use my iPad... well, either seen me using it or the kids. We're all in love with our iPad's. I thought I'd share our favorite iPad app's and why. 

J's fav's-

5. Remote
    Controls my iTunes and Apple TV from my iPad (and iPhone).... no more lost remotes. LOVE IT. 

4. LDS Scriptures 
     All the manuals, all the music, all the talks, the full quad, pictures and cross referencing.  (It's nice to be able to skim over my lessons throughout the month and be in a constant state of planning & My back is thankful I'm not carrying a gigantic church bag anymore too.) 

3. iBooks
    I'm reading more then I ever have... and so are the kids.

2. Hearts
    I love playing live with my family that is all across the country even if I'm the designated loser of the group. You can hear everyone's voices and chat during game play. 

1. FaceTime
    I know, I know, it's not on iPad (yet) but it's my favorite app. Nothing tops it. Seeing Emily's baby, hearing her coo- watching her look around and falling in love with her right after she was born.... it might always be my favorite app. 

 

Ethan's top 5-

7. The Weather Channel
    (yeah, I asked his his top 5 but these were the answers I got...)  Ethan's obsessed with the weather. He loves knowing exactly how warm/cold it will be and when. He likes seeing the pictures of the current conditions, likes being able to turn on the radar, see the alerts and he loves to click on videos of extreme weather in different parts of the country. All whenever he wants without having to wait for the news.

6. Lego Harry Potter
    Great graphics and nice to have anywhere we go. (so much cheaper then the Wii/XBox versions)

5. Bartleby's Book of Buttons
    An interactive book/app. I like the story aspect of it and he loves interacting with it and being able to control if the story moves along or not.  

4. KosmicMath 1
    He loves being a space man and he's just so good at math for some strange reason he actually has fun doing it. (seriously, sometimes I think he's not my kid.)

3. Bugs
    This is just a silly game where you go around killing/squishing as many bugs as possible. The sound effects are gross but he's a boy so I shouldn't be surprised this made his list.  

2. Learn to Write
    Okay, let's be honest here, it's not his favorite, it's my favorite one for him. His fine motor skills are that of a 3 year old which means his handwriting is terrible. This app is based on a special needs writing program (Handwriting Without Tears) and while that program for the PC costs hundreds of dollars, the app is $1.99. I love seeing the results. When he masters the basics 

1. iBooks
    I bought him a few picture books on his reading level and he loves those but his favorite thing to do right now is to read with me every night from The Boxcar Children. He likes being able to highlight the words he's struggling with and to look it up in the dictionary if he doesn't know the meaning. 

 

Lorali's must have's- 

4. Sight Words
    This is a simple app. The standard sight words for Kindergartners. If they struggle with it you can flag it, if they don't know it they can push a button to hear it aloud and they can even record their voice saying the word. She uses this every single day. (and I like not keeping up with flashcards.)

3.  Learn to Write 
    I think this made the list just because Ethan and Owen had it on theirs, she's really too advanced for it but she does play it and switch up her pen colors as she does. 

2. Bartleby's Book of Buttons
    Same reason as Ethan except she ends up reading more of the words and Ethan ends up pushing more of the buttons.

1. iBooks
    Every month I go into the kids class to read to them a book and do a craft. This month Lorali wanted a butterfly craft. Since I didn't have a book to match it our bookshelf and didn't have the time to run to the bookstore, we bought a Fancy Nancy book online and read it to them from the iPad... everyone loved it.  

 

Owen's most loved-

5. Pirates
    An interactive book/app. He loves the silly interactions so much I am now really annoyed with the voice of the main character. 

4. Bugs
    Same game that's on Ethan's top 5 for the same reason. He's a boy.

3. Color Slapps
    This is a simple learn your colors app but it's really fun and turns it into a game and even let's you choose your child's level.  

2. Counting
    Another simple Pre School app but it let's you choose the level, the pictures are great, the counting is interactive and I feel like it actually teaches them and not just entertains them.  

1. The Monster at the end of this book.
    Another interactive book/app. but personally I think this one makes me favorite's list. It's the BEST! We were reading/tickling/building/turning pages with this app in the waiting room at therapy last week with a bunch of kids and the kids went so nuts over it one of the parents went out and bought an iPad the next day for her special needs kids. She LOVES it.