Eleven-Month-Old Reef Indy loves to play outdoors,
especially if he can play with pound puppies Spike & Riley.

Thanks to Reef Indy's Mom and Dad for another wonderful family time.

Opa is suffering from a bout of diverticulitis. So Mom came over to cook Oma some vegetarian Crunch Tacos. Opa is on a bland diet.

After dinner, Reef Indy enter into his favorite activity – going outside to play with the dogs.

 

Thanks to Reef Indy's Mom and Dad for another wonderful family time.

Valley Center Skate Spot Fundraiser

There is a fundraiser going on at the Valley Center Skate Spot on August 16. Check out this cool video - see you there. 

Click here for more details.

Muvee Reveal 11 Review and Giveaway

Product Description

muvee is the creator of automatic video editing software. Since 2001, we've been making software that allows you to create awesome videos from your photos and video clips in just 3 steps! Upload your files, select a Style that includes transitions and effects and music (or select your own track!) and hit PLAY! That's it. All the hard work is done for you. In one click upload to Facebook, YouTube or burn to DVD. We have Styles that are more sophisticated and nostalgic for sentimental anniversary videos and fast and fun for family vacations or kids sporting events.

muvee Reveal 11 retails for $79.99.

New features include:

Cinematic Titles

We had professionals create a bunch of Trailer-style Title complete with its own short music tracks. You have the option of nominating 4 photos to be featured, along with mentions of the Director, Star and Producer. We also automatically create a billboard for each of your muvee project. Go on, be the star, or be the director. Or better yet. Be both.

Tweak your own Custom Styles

Start with a Style you like as a base. Then add your own ingredients from setting a faster pace, to selecting a color filter, to even changing the default font and background colors. When you are done tweaking, save your unique recipe and give it a new name. Voila! Your very own Style. 

Graffitti

Found in the photo options drop down (right click on any photos), you can now add stickers to photos. Choose from many categories of stickers, from frames and borders, to hand drawn embellishments, to even light sparkles, fireworks and cute stickers for kids. You can then save a new photo with these embellishments for Facebook before using them in your muvee slideshow.

Take control of your muvee

Now you can tell muvee Reveal how you want it to prioritize your videos and photos and music. We have redesigned all these controls into a single page where you can simply tick the boxes and make very different edits instantly.

Collaborate and Edit Anywhere

Started your project in school or in the office and you want to continue editing on your home PC? Are you collaborating on a joint trip video? Now you can zip up all the photos, videos, and music content along with all settings, captions, intertitles and every imaginable detailed setting of your projects into a single file, and continue where you left off on another machine.

Capture and Add Video Snapshots

Now you can select images directly from your video clips and save! Want to submit a photo for the GoPro Photo of the Day competition? Or simply to post on Facebook? Import a video, and take snapshots of any frame in the video instantly by clicking “Capture”.

Oma found muvee Reveal 11 very user friendly. Literarily, less than a half an hour after downloading and install the software, the video below was made and saved to Oma’s desktop; not bad for a ‘video challenged’ writer!

Oma also marveled at muvee Reveal 11 capability to allow the user to decide how much customization they wished to exercise. You can simply upload your photos and let the program do all the work or you can spend a few moments to tweak the music, photo order, color . . . .

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S., 18+. No P.O. Boxes will be accepted. The giveaway will run through 8/18/14. Winner will have 24 hours to respond to winning email before a new winner is selected. Make sure you are properly entering for the entries you claim. Failure to do so may result in your entries removed from the giveaway form.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Eleven Months Young

Reef Indy is almost one years old.  He has changed  so much in this short period of time.  Reef is an early walker; he has been walking for a month already and is really fast.   As you can tell from the photo, Reef loves to feed himself though he is a bit messy.

Milestone of this month - Reef has figured how to open up doors all by himself  . . . so we have to watch carefully to insure that he does not escape outside.  He loves to play outside!

Speekee - Spanish for Kids Review + Giveaway

Research published in Psychological Science suggests that simply thinking in a foreign language helps people make quicker and better life decisions. Furthermore, a study by the College Entrance Examination Board reports a direct correlation between foreign language study and high SAT scores.

People who speak a foreign language often enjoy better career prospects and higher standards of living. And there are even health benefits -- recent research from the University of Chicago suggests that a second language also helps prevent dementia later in life.

"The earlier a child was exposed to a second language, the better the child did," Petitto tells WebMD. "This flies in the face of educational policy that says expose a child to only to one language at first. This does not support the holding policy that today is rampant in education. A child is not confused by a second language or delayed in learning the community language."

Speekee was founded in 2006 and has been building a reputation for quality Spanish learning ever since. Founders and directors: Jim Porter, Jan and Aaron Forshaw; all of them have a wide experience and knowledge of language learning systems for children and the development of technology for inter-active systems.

Speekee Spanish is geared towards kids ages two to eleven! The program utilizes videos, games, hands-on activities, printable worksheets, flash cards, and a plethora of other tools to help children learn to speak and write Spanish.

Speekee FastTrack: Perfect for Younger Learners

• For children up to 7 years old
• Look for the FastTrack near the bottom of the screen at www.speekee.com (membership required)
• Your child learns Spanish through authentic Spanish videos, puppets and song
• Optionally you use the FastTrack activity ideas at home

The Speekee Spanish Challenge: Brilliant for Older Learners

• For children 7 years and older
• Your child learns through over 40 authentic Spanish videos and mission based game play
• Speekee tracks your child’s progress and reports back to you by email (you can unsubscribe from emails at any time) - Explore, communicate, learn and play at www.speekee.com
• After logging in, click on the bell icon for your first mission

What Oma loves about Speekee is that it makes teaching Spanish enjoyable. The Speekee website turns the learning an important second language in to online play while report progress to the child’s caregiver! Reef is just ten month old but already shows an interest in the computer. The Speekee website will be one of the first Oma introduces him to.

Giveaway

One lucky “Oma Loves U!” reader is going to win a 3-month subscription to Speekee! (ARV $22.50) Good Luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S., 18+. No P.O. Boxes will be accepted. The giveaway will run through 8/06/14. Winner will have 24 hours to respond to winning email before a new winner is selected. Make sure you are properly entering for the entries you claim. Failure to do so may result in your entries removed from the giveaway form.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Oma & Opa's 40th Wedding Anniversary

The best way to tell a story is by photographs.  These wonderful photos were taken by Leah Steiger, Photographer at Memento Vita and Owner at Life of the Party!  Love this lady and love her work!  Only her talent could make these old lovers look so good!

Our party planner, Hannah, was really able to capture the Old Irish ambiance.

Hannah made the tables look very special and festive.

The bar before the invasion of “Irish” drinkers.
You can witness the Irish rain in the background.

This photo is a tad symbolic!

Leah is quite artiest.  

As you can see, Oma and Opa dressed the part!

This is one of Oma’s favorite photos.

This cake is from the Albertson’s in Temecula – it was perfect!

The guests were entertained by the Lacemakers! They were wonderful!

Opa acting very Irish & very silly!

Opa with his old friend Clete.  Clete was Opa’s High School Woodshop Teacher!

This is our Casino group – we go Valley View every month.

We brought out the toasting glasses we used forty years ago!

Reef Indy and his Dad getting ready for the festivities.

Three generations of Smiths sporting their kilts (from SportKilts).

The Irish Smith Family.

Mr. & Ms. Smith – 40 Years of Love and Understanding.

Oma with her youngest!

Reef and Opa Play!

Ready for the Champagne Toast.

The presence of our friends and family made the event splendid.

Opa and Oma cut their cake.

Picture Perfect Tender Moment.

Opa is such a gentleman!

The Lacemakers played Opa’s special request song,
Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly.”

Oma and Opa enjoy their special song!

Yup, it turned into that kind of a party;
the Bartender lines-up the Irish Car Bombs.

Oma thought the Irish Car Bombs were hard to drink but oh so tasty.

Dad takes  his turn tossing Reef Indy into the air.

The look of love – Nancy & Jan!

Reef Indy had a great time!

Reef's Daddy did an awesome toast to his parents:

I'd Like to thank everyone for being here to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of my mom and dad's wedding. As we all know my dad is Irish and my mom is Dutch-Indonesian; so lets thank them for picking and Irish Theme party because if it was a Dutch Themed party, you'd all be paying your way out!

As long as I can remember these two people were the ones who held me back from complete failure. Though it was hard at times on them and me; they always did the right thing. Until their 40tth anniversary, when the made me wear a kilt! They are the reason I am the man I am today - Good or Bad. They have become a very good set of Omas and Opas also. My Mom and Dad are a true example of love! I can see it in their eyes every time I see them look at each other. they are a great example of what I look forward to in my Marriage.

Let's lift our glasses: To you Oma and Opa Mom and Dad I love both of you very much. Here is to 40 more!!!