My love for Netflix runs deep. It’s on when I work on the blog, it’s on for my date nights… the streaming service’s grown with me, and now my eldest son’s experiencing the same!
One recent offering for your child’s insatiable appetite for content? Netflix’s Beat Bugs—an animated show with singers like P!nk, Aloe Blacc, Eddie Vedder and Sia weaving well-known Beatles songs with uplifting stories and life lessons!
To spread the word about Beat Bugs, Netflix sent its Stream Team members boxes of Beat Bugs swag to film our own “All You Need is Love” music videos, covering the show’s opening theme!
And for me, sinking my teeth ever-deeper into Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro, putting something special together was an opportunity I couldn’t resist!
You can check out the Palmers’ take on it right here:
So I’m told there’s this little thing called March Break.
With boys as young as mine, it’s a concept I haven’t explored in a while—I likely wouldn’t have even realized it was happening if it wasn’t for the fact that we were down to half our people at work, and that I could catch the first subway ride home without waiting for a half-dozen to pass filled to the brim before I could hop on. With two kids under 3, daycare and Sarah’s maternity leave are still very much up and operational, so little’s out of the out of the ordinary for La Famiglia Palmer.
Which means yes—we’re still watching plenty of Netflix.
March Break with Netflix: Or, At Least, What it Looks Like When March Break Isn’t Even March Break in Your House Yet.
Well, at the very least I’m watching plenty of Netflix, but admittedly not as much as I’m used to.
With the erratic sleep schedule that Little Man’s adopted of late, I haven’t marathoned through shows like I’m used to, catching snippets of long-running series amidst the late-night wailings and wedging in what little time I can find for all the fun household maintenance that never truly goes away.
But it’s not all bad—I enjoy plenty of the time we spend awake. In fact, when I see kids older than mine at play, I find myself wondering how the boys will interact with the world around them. Who will they take after? What will they learn from their environment? What impacts will they leave on their community? While I’ll only answer these questions through a lot of time and patience, there’s one thing I know—if these boys take after their Daddy, they’ll be immensely creative.
This month’s care package from Netflix was a March Break survival kit, including a number of things perhaps better appreciated by kids old enough to know not to pop plastic food into their mouths, but at the very least, it added more supplies to the arts & crafts bin for the future and had me sliding across my hardwood floors à la Tom Cruise in Risky Business thanks to my new Netflix socks!
It’s a shame, though, that the boys are too young to play with LEGO—to celebrate the release of the new Netflix originals LEGO Friends: The Power of Friendship and LEGO Bionicle: The Journey to One, the Stream Team got some cool LEGO playsets with their kits, and you can look up the #LEGOFriends and #LEGOBionicle hashtags on social media to see how the other school-age kids are getting their LEGO-tivity on!
Now if you’ll excuse me, there hasn’t been much of a break happening over on this side of the screen this March—with the new addition to the family, our toddler’s seemingly forgotten how to sleep, so shrieky stand-offs and fits have been the nightly norm for a while 😑
That said, I hope your Netflix and chills are going better than ours is, and always remember, when all else fails, there’s always Peppa Pig*.
Until the next, I remain,
*Note: I still strongly dislike that poorly behaved porcine, but hey—she gets results.
Disclaimer
I wrote this post as part of the Netflix Stream Team, a community of creators letting our audiences know about cool things the streaming service has to offer in exchange for sneak peeks of new shows and fun Netflix swag! Though my boys are some of the youngest kids in the Stream Team lot, I like keeping on top of the shows they might get into as they grow… because I’ll probably have to watch with them. Because parenting. Until next time!
Tell your wife, tell your kids, tell your husbands:
So for this month’s post, we want to know what a “night in” looks like in your household. What you’re eating, how you’re sitting, where, when and what you’re watching, and ultimately how you keep the peace when it’s time to choose a show or movie. –Netflix Stream Team February Prompt
With two kids under 3, every night is a night in for the Palmers, but more so for two worn-out parents than the four of us together, since one has a 7:30 bedtime and the other can’t see much yet with but a month of life under his belt. And with the 2016 Oscars now behind us, it was an excellent opportunity for Sarah and I to see all the movies we had absolutely no time to see this past year (though we are looking to correct that with the weekly date nights we’ve now scheduled in.)
That said, entertainment hasn’t vanished from our lives—sometimes, the stars align and we manage to take something in as a couple. Sometimes it’s fluff. Sometimes it’s serious. And sometimes—every now and then—it’s something resonating somewhere inside, reminding you that the person you’ve become might not be the one you always thought you were.
So for your consideration, here’s a story I’ve never told anyone before—one about love.
I thought I’d found everything I needed in my life—I’d married a beautiful woman; had amazing friends and family; and was managing pretty well at standing on my own feet in this big, bad world. On paper I had a solid job, I was saving money, and we constantly painted the town in varying hues of red, figuring we’d make the most of what God gave us.
But I didn’t know then how much all that doesn’t even matter when you’ve got unconditional love in your life. We’re born into our families, and we decide whether we marry our significant others after courtship, but children are the ultimate test—especially when we choose to have them, and we find ourselves dealing with every random thing our genetic mélange has to offer up, but through the tantrums, the tears and everything else that comes with parenthood, it often takes little but a simple cute display to remind you why you love them. And while reminders come often—when they hug you when you get home from work or cry for you in the middle of the night—it’s really when you’re hit by those curve balls that you remember the feeling most.
And About Time was the latest one to smack me upside the head.
Starring Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams, About Time isn’t your typical romantic comedy…
At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.
Now, with my lack of love for romcoms, I went in with low expectations. But About Time delivered with laughs, gaffes, and a storyline that had me giving a crap about the characters! Not only did I not hate the movie, it was actually starting to grow on me in a cutesy, charming kind of way!
But what ultimately hit me was the storyline between Tim and his Dad, ending in a way that really shows the strength of their bond—it got me right in the feels. It was a solid allegory for the love I want to show my boys, and who knows—maybe we’ll film our own story someday!
So while it wasn’t a movie choice typical of what you’d see for a “family night in”, its amusing depictions of love and parenthood—with the children becoming parents themselves—may have been exactly what we needed to remind us that we’re not alone! Give it a watch if you’ve got a couple of hours to spare ????
What do you call a family movie night with overtired parents after their two kids under three have gone to bed? SYNCHRONIZED COUCH WARMING!
So in the end, what did I learn? That though our male archetypes might decree otherwise, my emotions are very much real and will spring up on me at the most unexpected times? That I had an atypical childhood watching more Family Matters and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air than Full House? Or perhaps that I’ll resign myself to the fact that my kids will be more interested in Peppa Pig* than something cool like Inside Out, at least for the foreseeable future?
If I take anything from the past month and the copious amount of TV I consumed (because huge series like Tales from the 2.9 really won’t write themselves…), it’s this—just because you have little guys shadowing your every move because you’re pretty much the centre of their universe, it doesn’t mean life has to stop being fun. It doesn’t mean you’ll never spend quality time with your significant other again—you just might need to be more intentional about it. You’re both responsible for your happiness—get to it!
With March upon us, you may want to check out some of the awesome that Netflix has to offer with titles like House of Cards season 4 (the 4th), the second season of Marvel’s Daredevil (the 19th), or Marvel’s Ant-Man the surprising audience pleaser that’s out now!
As for me, the hustle’s all still very real, and I’m still getting my Netflixin’ in with the first season of Better Call Saul, because what’s better than the origin story of everyone’s favourite crooked lawyer from Breaking Bad?
I hope you all enjoy everything the month ahead has to offer, and may your life be filled with belly laughs, heartfelt tears, and quality moments you can share with friends, family and anyone else looking for a little change of pace in their lives!
Until the next episode, I remain,
*Let’s talk Peppa Pig.
Who greenlit this show?! All it teaches is having a bad attitude, never worrying about consequences, and playing in the mud as often as possible without any scolding for getting completely filthy, because duh, they’re pigs. I need to talk to my daycare operator about why she ever introduced Little Man to this travesty 🤔
Disclaimer
I wrote this post as part of the Netflix Stream Team where they hook a blogger up with goodies in the mail each month in exchange for words. And images. And maybe a joke or two.
I’d like to think I succeeded in this department with this post ????
Tell your wife, tell your kids, tell your husbands:
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, everyone breathed easier because it marked the last day of A Case Cringle Christmas!
It’s been a solid week of posting here in Casa de Palmer, with giveaways galore sandwiched between reviews, reflections and a healthy dose of mischief, I’ve taken this pile of swag that Sarah eyes with disdain every time she steps into the house, looking for readers who could make far better use of it than me.
But a huge thanks to everyone who’s been part of the fun this week—great contests make way for even better prizes, and your support helps me grow this blog from a hobby into something with a little more presence.
And speaking of presents, almost as if that play on words wasn’t completely intentional, of course I’m ending the week with one last giveaway—but you’ll have to bear with me a bit before we get there 😂
Writing these weekly wrap-ups do more than just help me remember the hijinks I get up to each week—they also keep me well aware of the time that’s trickling through my fingers, and how quickly 2015 will be a foggy memory instead of the current reality. 2016 brings new goals, more family, and while I never know what’s around the corner anymore, I’m sure plenty of opportunities I’d never imagined possible.
Which is all the more reason I need to get this 2015 stuff off of my plate so I can tackle 2016 with a clear head!
Rasslin’ Big Smoke Burger’s “Urban Cowboy” for Hellmann’s Burger Route
I happened over Hellmann’s Burger Route by chance while visiting the Village’s Fresh Burger, surprised that I hadn’t heard of an event spanning more than 30 restaurants across the GTA! This simple discovery changed my November lunch hours, taking me places I usually found too far to visit.
This week saw the first trip (of many) down to the CF Toronto Eaton Centre’s Big Smoke Burger to get my grubby man-sized paws on their Urban Cowboy, which I’m pretty sure is the best fast food burger I’ve ever tasted. No lie—this isn’t even sponsored. I went back another two times to get it, knowing it’d likely be unavailable after November. I waited in line for this burger — Casey Palmer don’t wait in no lines. Too bad it’ll likely be gone by the time you read this ?
