3 Days Left

It's Movie Day!  That's right, movies all day long.  It's been a long a busy week and some down time is needed.  My main motive for this day was to watch home videos, but we couldn't find the battery adapter to watch the really old ones from when Cavett was born (2005). 

We did get to see such gems as these....

It was also a retro-Disney day:  Mulan, Sleeping Beauty and Sword and the Stone.  Lots of great cuddling on the sofa and 3 bags of popcorn later, the TV won't come on for a while.

Playing School

One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to "play school."  I, of course, was the teacher and my younger sisters were always the students.  We had desks and chairs.  Everyone had to raise their hands and I made up work sheets typically having "fill in the blanks" or "circle the correct word" for verb tenses.  The settings varied--sometimes our rooms, sometimes the porch, or maybe the tree house. 

Today, I got to re-visit this role and we "played school."  Kendrick had his time with me going through some pages in his pre-school "Math" book, which he LOVES.  I can't seem to get him to crack the "Reading" book though.  Afterwards, he colored and cut up strips of paper while Cavett and I worked on writing a screenplay. 

We went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 again today because someone is now pooping on the potty again after a short regression.  At the end of the movie, it shows an older panda in a remote village that says, "My son is among us...."  I thought it was a great lead in to Kung Fu Panda 3, of course. 

Cavett and I talked about what the problem could be in the sequel while we did our chores and we discussed what he thought might happen.  So, for "school time" we pulled out his school draft book and I gave him a few questions to guide his screenplay:  who are the characters, what is the setting, what is the problem, how will the problem be solved?

He did a great job, but after 30 minutes, I took over writing down what he said.  So, if you are curious or if the writers need help in  wrapping up the next sequel, here is Cavett's story.  Spelling is his own.

Po wants to find his rel family.  The fereus 5 and the other good masters were with the Panda, Po.  Po told them to serch all of China.  They all end up in the midle of China in the panda vileg.  When Po sees the vileg, he asks one of the pandas, "Does my Dad live here?"

The Panda tells Po where his Dad is.  He goes to find his Dad.  Po said, "Is that you, Dad?"  His father said, "Yes.  My son is among us!"  Po and his Dad hug each other and one of the  pandas in the village says, "Are you the dragon warrior?"  Po replies, "Yes!"  and shows off his Kung Fu.  Everyone cheers. 

The End.

I guess I need to get my act together and have something planned to do like this everyday.  I mean, this is what I always wanted to do when I was little...

The End of Summer Extravaganza

Stephen drove down to Houston for the day for business, so I decided to make my last free weekday with both of my boys packed with tons of fun!  Here's the short list:

Balloons and a run through banner.

A Dance Party in your underware.

Animatronic Ice Age Mammals at the Heard Museum.

Investigating butterflies.

Bowling with Kendrick making a strike and a spare!

The movie, Nanny McPhee Returns-a combo of Mary Poppins, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Charlotte's Web and the Sound of Music.

Watching them devour two tubs of popcorn for dinner.  Ok, so maybe I helped.

The amzing thing was that besides the movie, everything was minimal for cost.  We are members at the Heard Museum (which for you Shreveporters has reciprocal membership at Sci-Port.)  And we found out there is a summer bowling program for kids where all you have to pay for is the shoes--Kidsbowlfree.org.  Unfortunately, I found it  so late in the season, this is only the second time to utilize it.  Hopefully, they will do it again next summer.

It was a great day of quality time. I think I spoiled them enough (something I rarely do) and sufficiently wore them out.  Heck, I'm worn out!

Tomorrow--all pool, all day.

Toy Story 3: A Review

Last night we took the kids to the movies.  It is a very special treat that only happens once or twice a year.  We headed to a McKinney theater since their showtime fit our schedule.  I failed to realize that we should have gotten there early due to it being the first weekend out.  We ended up on the far right side of the screen about 5 rows from the front. 

The previews were great and Disney's next movie, Tangled, comes out this fall with a twist on Rapunzel.  From there it went into the ever clever animated short, "Day and Night."  I love those shorts!  Always have me laughing.

Now the movie--I have never been a huge fan of Toy Story.  It must have come out while I was in college, and I never really got into it.  I think I have even slept through Toy Story 2 while the kids watched it.  But, I must say this story line got me and hard!  Andy is 17 and is headed off to college and has some decisions to make about where his toys should end up.    

Now, I really don't want to spoil the story, but if you are looking at taking your kids, be warned.  There is great peril.  Kendrick was frightened of the crazy monkey.  Cavett cried and hid his eyes during one part.  But, the ending is purely touching.  I blubbered like a baby during the last ten minutes.  Such a sweet ending!  

So, all in all I'd give it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.  It just depends on your kids ages and how desensitzed they are.  

Julie/Julia

Since I saw the trailer for the movie, Julie & Julia, I have been interested in this movie/book. I guess it was the cooking aspect and the intrigue of French food--that stuff that some of it seems so plain, but is so difficult to cook right. Biographies of people are also becoming interesting to me as I get older as well, so this one seemed right up my alley. I mean, if I were to do it all over again, I might have gone to culinary school and actually, I may even take some serious cooking classes later in life. So, on our trip to California I picked up the book and began some light reading. Something I never get to do otherwise.

The premise is that this nearly 30 year old Austin-turned-New York-Democrat was feeling lost in her life and decided she needed a project. (Right there I should have had some kind of flashing warning light.) Julie went back home to visit Mom and rediscovered Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Julie decides to cook all 500+ recipes from this book within a year and blog about it. (Another hook that drew me in-she's a blogger and still has her site.) Besides the profanity, it was very funny and interesting to hear her take on cooking many of these recipes.

It all ended well and Julie finished all 500+ recipes in a year and became somewhat "famous." As she closes the book, she tells of the moment when her Mom calls to tell her Julia Child died the eve of her 92nd birthday. Julia had heard of Julie and didn't have anything truly "nice" to say to her, but Julie didn't care. She had her own Julia in her head and that is how Julia Child would live on in eternity. Not in heaven "eating sole meuniere with her husband, Paul." Julie even goes so far as to say that she doesn't "believe in heaven." What a disappointment and the true reason why in the first place she felt like she was lost and in a dead end job. Julie claims that Julia is the one who pulled her out of the ocean as she was nearly drowning.

Sad. Instead of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, it should have been the Bible. Instead of Julia Child, it should have been Jesus. I was just disappointed in the ending. Had she just left it as "I finished all the recipes and made a pilgrimage to Julia Child's exhibit at the Smithsonian and left a pound of butter." I would have been fine. Cute, funny and entertaining.

I still want to go see the movie tomorrow, just to see how they end it. I'll add an addendum and you can decide if you want to go see it yourself.

Addendum: I loved the movie. It ended just the way it should. Meryl Streep was fantastic and there were many more added scenes of her.

Where Has Time Gone?

I am giving up. No not completely, but until the boys are back in school in September. I just can't keep up right now. Trying to adjust to new schedules for everyone, finding new places and meeting new/old people, while still getting my house in order, oh and also I am cleaning it all myself, it too time consuming. So, for now you will get just the weekly update and maybe something fun every now and then if I can muster up the time.

Last Monday we braved the heat and headed to the Dallas Arboretum. My new bloggy friend, Allison went in the Spring and it looked like so much fun! Right now they have playhouses set up from different children's stories. They were very cute and the grounds were beautiful, but it was just plain hot. I didn't bring a stroller or a wagon, so we all walked the entire way. Did I mention it was 100 degrees? We sought the shade as much as we could and dreamed of diving into each fountain or pool. Cavett loved the Peter Pan playhouse, but his complaint was that he couldn't climb on any of them.

That afternoon we had to find some water so we hit up another Allen Park--Celebration Park. This place was huge--the most monstrous set I have seen and I was afraid of loosing them. However, there was a splash place as well which was a hit! Next time, I'll be in a swim suit too.

Tuesday was refrigerator day and I have already shared my thoughts there..... But we are loving it, although I still find myself trekking to the laundry room every now and then.

Wednesday we had to get out of the house and do something fun indoors, so we headed to Boomerang's in Plano. It's your typical indoor jumpy place. They had a blast.

Thursday was again the start of our weekend. I'm really liking this. We have paid our dues of working 6/7 day weeks, so this is truly like a vacation. This day was fairly uneventful filled with going to the gym, running errands and getting the car serviced, but we were able to cool off in Kelli's sister's pool. It really made us realize how much we are missing our old one. Thanks Kelli and Kara!

Friday was our 10 year anniversary. How blessed a 10 years it has been. I love Stephen more today than I did the day we were married. He is my true soul mate and I don't ever want to have to imagine life without him. After a morning jount at the gym, we ran a few more errands and relaxed at home. That afternoon we had Emily, our neighbor from down the street, come over to watch the kids. We headed to North Park to get a little shopping in and then Stephen took me to the "going place." I was most excited, as I have no idea where things are in Dallas. We arrive at a tall office building and we go in. There was nothing but a CompUSA sign at the top of the building. My comment was, "this doesn't look like a very fun going place." We arrive on the 6th floor and there was a diamond wholesaler. Stephen had arranged to pick up a set of diamond earrings!!!!!! They are absolutely gorgeous and I was so surprised! We rounded out our evening enjoying our family with tickle time on our bed. After the kids were in bed we had our celebratory steak and champagne dinner. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

Saturday was "get-r-dun" day. We put a few more boxes in the attic and cleaned off the island again (although it could use another cleaning today.) By 11 we needed something fun, so we headed to McKinney to find another spray park--Finch Park. It wasn't as good as Celebration park, but it was alot shadier! For the afternoon, I was able to steal away for some "mommy time" shoe shopping at DSW and came back with some fun finds--orange and turquoise! That evening we had a babysitter and went out to Chamberlain's Steakhouse with our friends, Joe and Kelli who were also celebrating Kelli's new administrative teaching job.

Sunday rounded out the whole weekend and might have been the most meaningful. We ate breakfast at one of my favorites, Cafe Brazil and crusied around looking for a church to go to later on in the morning. We happened upon Creekwood Methodist in Fairview, which is really just a few miles from us. Everyone was extremely friendly and we were guided to just the right place. It was a more contemporary service with a band, but I was relieved when they did good hymns with a band twist. Again, we hit a Sunday when the Senior Minister was out, so we will try again. Again, this is the second week where we have walked into a random church and saw someone we knew that was a Centenary College Choir alumni.

Hill Family nap that afternoon--what more can I say. After nap Stephen decided that we should try to go see "Up." I had reservations taking Kendrick, especially to the 3-D, but we braved it and took his blue blanket just in case. HE LOVED IT!!!! The glasses stayed on the entire time and he was quieter than Cavett. There was no wiggling and squirming. He ate popcorn like a champ. There will be many more movies in our future! YEAH!!!

Now, this movie was fantastic! If you haven't seen it, you really should. I mean, ok, the whole story line with the bird and dogs was a little off the wall, but they needed more plot. But, the story line with the kid and old man were fabulous! I cried several times. What a true love he had for his wife! Boy, am I lucky to have the same thing from and for Stephen and we are so blessed with two wonderful boys with whom we can sit on the curb and eat ice cream with.

Thank you, God.

Song of the South

I am procrastinating by sitting here on the computer instead of cleaning out yet another cabinet. The laundry room is screaming out to me. But, Thursday afternoons have typically been my time to catch up on the computer.





This afternoon Cavett begged me to watch Disney's "Song of the South," (1946). Yes, you read it correctly. "Song of the South" has been banned in the USA, but thanks to our Unlce John who is living in China, he found us a bootleg copy.





Now, I remembered the animated parts of the movie, and so I thought I had seen it all in my very young childhood, but now I am thinking I only saw the animated parts. You know--Zippety-Doo-Dah and the Tar Baby. I was surprised to see the live-action framework around the animation. It takes place on a plantation in Georgia in the late 1800's. In watching it, I am wondering, really? Why is this banned? It is no worse than "Gone With the Wind." In fact, I think it paints a better picture of Uncle Remus (the black servant/slave) than any I have seen. He is wise and smart and has some great teachable stories to share.





There is class warfare going on, but it is historical. If we don't learn from history we are destinded to repeat it. If anything, I think that it depicts the white people worse! The "neighborhood" white little boys, Joe and Jake, are just awful in their words and deeds to others and their own sister. Joe and Jake are meant to resemble Br'er Fox or a "Cracker" and Br'er Bear "a big Bubba" from Uncle Remus's stories. Hello...cracker? Isn't that deroggatory toward whites? Nowhere in there is the use of the "N" word. When the film was first released, the NAACP acknowledged "the remarkable artistic merit" of the film. I'm not saying the film isn't without inaccuracies, but was there really a need to never release it in the USA?





Johnny, the main little boy character, befriends not only the little sister, but also a little black boy. If that is not racially and culturally tolerant, maybe I have my definitions wrong. Good grief.





I think James Baskett, Uncle Remus' character is one of the best actors ever. His eyes and smile tell you all you need to know. He is someone you just want to hang out with. It seems that the Academy also thought the same thing as they gave him an honorary Oscar in 1948.

Either way I love hearing the southern draw come out of Cavett's mouth..."Br'er Rabbit".

My Boys

After dropping Cavett off at school and spending 40 minutes at the gym, Kendrick and I had an outing. We headed to our local Lowe's to buy some supplies for our "little" project tomorrow. We had such a fun time. First off, he was very happy. Second, he found everything and everyone interesting, but not interesting enough to want to get out of the buggy. If you have been around Kendrick or seen my past blog, you know that he would rather be the one pushing the buggy than to ride backwards in it.

He must have captured 15 peoples attention. He is such the flirt. So much so, that one worker gave him a Lowe's Hot Wheel car and it wasn't even to give Kendrick something to occupy his attention. He was mesmerized by all that was going on around him! There was the cutting of the boards, the forklift, the paint shaker, the check-out scanner, Christmas decorations. The forklift passed us as we were checking out and even though it was COLD outside, we stopped and watched it drop it's load in the bed of a truck. Fun times! This is one to remember. Maybe we should make a trip to Lowe's every week. The unfortunate part was that I didn't have my camera in my purse. The terrible pic was with my camera phone.

Once Dad got home tonight, we dropped Kendrick off at church for Parent's Night Out. We decided to change it from PNO to a CNO--Cavett night out. He has been so sweet lately. He's been so obedient and helpful. He's just a good kid(I promise I haven't even used the "Santa isn't going to bring you any presents" trick). We thought he deserved a treat.

We wanted to take him for sushi, but the movie times weren't condusive. So, we ended up at a favorite Italian restuarant instead, Collina's. Unfortunately, the line was so that we waited for about 30 minutes. Cavett was loosing it. No nap and hungriness weighed heavily. He ordered spaghetti and we tried to talk over the hurried eating and loudness of the restaurant. Collina's is right next to the movie theater, so we walked (hauled it!).

We watched the new Disney/Pixar's new flick, Bolt. The movie time said 7:40. We arrived, rushed to get tickets, use the bathroom and find a seat at 8:00. The movie didn't even start until 8:05. Can you believe it? 25 minutes worth of previews!!!! Other than that, Bolt was pretty cute. It was a chase type of movie, but the Pixar people are pretty good at story telling (just look at Monsters, Inc.)--ingeneous, I say. They set up a funny senario. It's about a dog that totally believes he is a "super"hero and has powers. Little does he know that he is on a TV set and the whole thing is fake. When the real world hits, he is clueless. Lucky for him, he meets good friends along the way and eventually discovers that the love he did have on the set was real. Kind of choked me up at the end. It is rated PG for some peril and danger. I had my reservations. Cavett was a bit unnerved at the beginning and didn't like how loud it was even when we moved to a higher seat. Also, even though he likes guns and battles and danger, he likes it when he is in control of it. He was a bit fearful of the fire, but it was ok and we made it a learning lesson. "That's why we don't play with fire/candles, etc."

Now, for the best part. It wasn't just a Cavett Night Out. Dad made it into a "teach Cavett how to take girl's on a date" kind of night. As soon as Dad got home, he summoned Cavett quickly to the garage. Within a few minutes, I was greeted with a bouquet of flowers and a kiss. Cavett opened my doors and ended the date with the sweetest good night kiss. Love that kid. Some little girl is truy lucky.

I thought it was wierd when my Mom used to pray for my husband when I was in elementary school, but now I understand. So, tonight, I pray for that little girl out there somewhere who will capture my sons heart. I pray that she is a God-fearing, loving, tender, gentle, understanding, strong woman who will love Cavett deeply.

Answers to yesterday's quiz:

Peter-violins

bird-flute (BTW, it's a REALLY hard part to play)

duck-oboe

cat-clarinet

wolf-French horn

Grandfather-bassoon

hunters-timpani

Our First Date

Last night we had our first date. No, not Stephen and I, but Stephen and I with Cavett. We found a last minute babysitter and left Kendrick at home. I tried to make a big to-do about Cavett. It was "his" time without a little brother.

We got all dressed up and picked Dad up from work. Cavett picked out our restaurant, sort of. All week long we have been driving by a restaurant at lunch time, after I pick Cavett up from Olympic camp (more on that tomorrow.) It smelled so good and we talked about the fact that they make food like Pei Wei (which he loves!) He was totally intrigued with the statues of the horses and I had a coupon that expired that day as well. So, we went to P.F. Chang's.

It is probably the nicest restaurant that Cavett has even been to. We talked about manners--keeping our napkin in our lap, speaking in our quiet voice and not talking with food in our mouth. The funniest part was the appetizer. He was having trouble with the last 2 bites of his Crab Wonton. So, I picked it up and held it for him to bite. He really lit in to my finger accidentally. I gave a little yelp, he looked at me and said, "Are you ok? Did you pee in your pants?" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!

After dinner we went to see Wall-E. It was a cute movie, but definitely not one of my Pixar favorites. It's a bit of a stretch for a 3 year old--hard to follow in the beginning when there is very little spoken word. As an adult, you are trying to figure it all out as well. It's a "green" movie, but not obnoxious about it. Set 700 years in the future, Wall-E is the only robot left to "clean up" the earth, so that humans can return. He's a pretty cute robot with a romantic heart. It was entertaining, but I don't think we will ever make it to that point with the earth. God made our world and our bodies to live here. I don't think he ever intended on us living in space. I don't believe he will let us trash the world to the point of us having to evacuate. Yes, we need to do our part to take care of it. But, personally, I believe He will come again to restore our earth and make all things right again before any scenerio like this movie portrays happens. Still cute movie, just science fiction.

Now, I did have some good belly laughs with the short they showed before the movie, Presto. Those are always my favorite part of Pixar movies anyway. Why can't they make cartoons like that anymore? Hello?!?! Has anyone taken a look to see what is on Cartoon Network these days? Sad.

Anyway, it was a fun evening with a "growing up" little boy. We are going to have so much fun at Disney World! I think I am more excited about it than Cavett is. I can't wait!

Expelled - An inspirational disappointment

Today is my day off. It's great to think of it that way, but Jennifer never has a day off.... hmmmm. Well that is a blog for another day. Today after working out and helping with the morning routine of getting kids ready and Cavett to school, we went to the movies. We saw Ben Stein's flick, Expelled. It was a very good movie! From my title you might ask then why was it disappointing... Well, I wanted more "ammunition" to begin discussions.

I've been toying with this idea lately that the reason Christianity is not spreading is because we are timid in sharing with others.... duh, no surprise there. But we why are we timid. I think it is because we don't have enough knowledge to support our beliefs when we are truly challenged with some hard questions. Like, how can the Earth be millions of years old like I was taught in school, but it doesn't seem like it when reading the Bible? or What happened to the dinosaurs? Oh, I think we can discuss our faith, but it sure would be nice if there were more support. That's where the movie steps in. It was great in exposing the supression of scientists who believe in Intellegent Design, but it didn't pose any of the questions or problems with evolution or the proofs of creation. There was no support or facts.

This is about the society's suppression of scientists and science that supports Intellegent Design. There is truly a wall that blocks the spread of knowledge and won't even allow questions to be asked. Well through a little chain of people (Jennifer, Candace, Jack, John Harrigan) I've also found some great work by Walt Brown in the Science of Creation. As Scientists, they will never prove creation, as there is a need for faith. I mean really, how can we apply our earthly science to the One who created the world itself!!! Scientists will always struggle with this, because if something is true, then it needs to be provable. It's basically comes to a point if you believe in Creation that we say... "I don't know, but God does". Walt Brown does have some very valid theories about our earth's past that directly support what our Christian education taught us. There is volumes of information there. I encourage you to read and learn. Ask questions and seek the answers.

So, I'm inspired by the movie, inspired to seek more knowledge.

Stephen