Tiny Talk Tuesday @ The Movies and Ears

• 
  

Brian took the kids to see Lion King at the movie theater on Saturday! We left the house later than we wanted along the way we worried a bit hat the movie would be too full when they got there:(

But we totally made it there on-time... they even saw all the previews:)

During the previews, Anna (7 yrs) says," Why don't they just start the movie?"

Then 40 or so minutes into the movie, while in Daddy's lap, Lydia (4 yrs) says, "Phew, I'm glad we got here in time!"

***********************************************************************************
We've been hearing more and more "words" from Nate:)

• "Peas".... and he rubs his tummy (almost the ASL sign for "please"!)
• "Danh Chu"... said when someone helps him or gives him something... it's obviously "thank you"
• "dop" ... said when someone is messing with him... we think it's "stop"
• "yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh".... this is the Lyrics from the Yes to VBS  song... he loves to listen to it and dance;)

Here is this funny (and blurry) photo again...

The questions was What is he asking for??
and it's super hard NOT being with Nate or in that "conversation"... so I'll just tell you:)


He's becoming aware of body parts... especially the face/head! And so lately he thinking it's funny to stick his fingers in our ears!! SO he tries constantly to get that little finger close enough to our ear;)

And if you ask him about "ears" he'll find his own or try to stick his finger in ours;)

LOL!! It sounds gross:) But it's really funny to us, I don't remember the others making a game of it like he has:)

Toy Story 3

Earlier this week we headed to the movies with some friends. We had heard good things about Toy Story 3 and knew the kids would enjoy going with friends.

I have to confess that I didn't check out Plugged In Online before we went. With the many good reviews from friends we just went ahead:) I was glad that (for the most part) their reviews were right. It was a relativity good movie and makes us want to see the others!

My only problems were the name calling (idiot, stupid, etc), the intense scenes (that's for the Daddys that bring the kids!!), the lying and meanness between the leader toys at the day care and then the gender jokes about Ken.

Some of those issues seemed to go "over my kids' heads".... but not the intense scenes!! At one point Chris stood up out of his seat and screamed what sounded like "JUMP!". And another time I saw him crouched down behind the seat in front of him peaking between the seats.... but that's the adventure of watching anything with Chris... he really gets into the movie/show!!

Hopefully some of the meanness and ugly words don't make it into our house!

At dinner we asked the kids (and shared our own) favorite parts:
(might be a spoiler, if you haven't seen it and plan to!)

• Lydia's - The purple bear. We explained that it was the "mean" bear but she said that "that's why I like him".... oh, my sweet Lydia!!
• Chris liked when Buzz Lightyear picked up the train. That was soo the opening scene of the movie that he remembered.
• We're not sure what Anna liked the most. She mentioned the Barbie character??
• Brian loved the opening scene as well!! The action and intensity... sounds like a boy:)
• I liked the last scene (i think) when Andy plays with his toys and the little girl before he gives them away. It's the final "playtime" and touching to see an almost college guy playing with his toys and a little preschooler. I'm such a girl:)

Days later I was about to throw away a diaper box but then I remembered the scenes of the kids from Toy Story turning the boxes into great things and using their creativity! Then I remembered reading that one of our history activities was to make chariots out of old boxes!! So that's what we worked on!!!

I'm not sure I'll think of a box the same way, again thanks to Toy Story!

And another random thing I took from the movie was the actual toybox.... I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to best store the kids' toys in the attic. We have two small "hall" storage areas where some "system" could be use to "organize" all the toys! But I was reminded by my sweet hubby about the toybox from the movie and how simple and easy it would be to clean up....

so I've been almost convinced that that's what we'll do. Although I'm NOT a "throw it in the box" Momma and the smaller toys that we'll eventually need to keep away from Nate will go in latched containers and stored on a shelf:)

Nate behaved himself during the movie, after a feeding and a diaper change (yes, both in the theatre so Momma could watch the movie!). I never attempted to bring the others to the movies when they were babes.... MAN!! Brian and I could have watched all sorts of movies... LOL!!

Anyway, we did enjoy our outing... and I am attempted to "catch up" and watch the other Toy Story movies.

Our "Princess and the Frog" Experience

We've been debating for a while whether we should take the kids to see the newest Disney movie "The Princess and the Frog" because we have tried to be cautious about what the kids watch. Both of our girls are "into" princesses (from books, toys and movie previews) and Chris is always up for an adventure.

While on vacation earlier this week we decided to go ahead and bring them to their first movie! We read the review on pluggedinonline.com and knew of some of the themes and elements. There were some things we weren't excited about. But the trailers and storyline looked cute. It was a good time since Brian had time off and Grandma was with us... so one adult per child:)

Chris settled well into one of the movie boosters. He loved seeing the screen better while sitting up high! He was too cute:)

Lydia started in Brian's lap but was in her own seat during most of the movie.

Anna stayed in Grandma's lap.... good time to snuggle! I'm sure Grandma was glad for the snuggle time :)

As we watched the previews we got a little worried. The previews seemed worse than the actual movie. The kids all did fine... Brian and I were just cringing and noting all the things that kids could be picking up or have questions about!!

The kids did well throughout the whole movie.....


although I have to mention that like MOST Disney movies that I remember there is always an element of MAGIC that causes trouble/harm to others in the movie and that the "good" characters had to "fight" against. This element was DEFINITELY present in "The Princess and the Frog", had we seen it before them we probably wouldn't have gone.


Since it was based in New Orleans, the Magic was a form of voodoo and extended throughout the whole movie... from palm reading, tarot cards, spells, calling to deceased spirits to help the "bad" guys and then dragging the Shadow Man to his death. While most kids may not understand all the elements of voodoo, the deceased spirits chasing down the frogs really got to Chris. He was still talking about it after the movie. And at one point he got out of seat and "hid" behind the seats in front of us and then sat on my lap.


After the movie I asked the kids if they liked it. My older two quickly said that it was "too scary". Lydia loved it:)


We should have known better because it was a Disney movie! I guess we were just hoping that this one wasn't going to fit the same scenario. There were some good points, I didn't hear anything that made me cringe that my kids were hearing (besides the Shadow Man scenes). And they saw a couple good themes about working hard and having dreams. Oh and that the whinny girl didn't get "everything" she wanted :)

Not a parenting moment I am proud of.... but in many ways it confirmed our hesitations about bringing them to movies. I didn't ruin them though, they haven't really talked about the scary parts!! And since Brian and I enjoy movies it was fun to share the "experience" with them... although they really didn't see impressed... LOL!!

Not Me! Monday: Watching Movies with the Kids

We are very cautious and selective in what we allow the kids to watch! My kids know Disney characters from previews off their Charlotte's Web and Little Einstein videos or toys/books they have. They watch videos, PBS kids and we've been enjoying Little House on the Prairie epidsodes from Netflix:)

One reason, is because I was exposed to WAY too much during my childhood!! So we have tried to "protect" the kids from adult content.... "oh, becareful little eyes what you see...." Sorry, it just popped in my head;)

Another reason is that my kids are affected by "scary" scenes ( a lot like me) and they definitely understand storylines and sad plots! While watching Little House this weekend, Anna was just bawling (in tears) at the end!

Here they are at Grammie's New Year's Day watching a movie with Grammie and Uncle Eric.

The last few days we have let them watch some other movies (recommended by family and friends)!! My confession is that I find Christopher's response to "intense" scenes hiliarious!!! He will run in and out of the TV room when the show gets intense.... he wants to watch it to find out what happens but he wants to not see the "scary" parts:)

Here is actually sitting and "enjoying" the movie:)
Then it got a little "scary"... actually the suspensiful parts really took away from the point of the movie (in my opinion)! And everyone said that this movie wasn't scary... yes, they all forgot about the henchmen attack dogs!!!

So Chris makes his loops in and out of the room!! On the right, he is holding a weapon... we actually had to move him away from the TV so he won't hit it! He wasn't dramatic, just physically moving from place to place. And while sometimes he'll crawl in a lap, when he watches movies he just runs!

And this is how Lydia watched most of the movie. Just relaxing on the floor with her blanket. And Anna stayed snuggled with Grammie for most of the movie:)



This was my favorite pic of the bunch:) I love how the character is staring right down at Chris:)
Anyone want to guess what movie we saw at Grammie's??

And I did link up to Not Me! Monday today:) here are more mommy confessions:)

While Daddy is Away...

Mommy will....

not cook

Actually it was Anna's idea on Tuesday night to make dinner for all the kids.She told me that I needed to "take a break and go exercise". LOL!! So she got to work making Christopher, Lydia and herself jelly sandwiches to go with their bologna:) She had a blast being big enough to "fix dinner for everyone"!!




















I did not give the kids bologna all week... but I did NOT turn on the oven (just the toaster oven for chicken nuggets)! The kids did talk me into making pancakes so I did do a little cooking... it was nice to break from cooking for a bit!

and watch "whole" movies :)
So I did watch a movie or two... the whole movie in ONE night...LOL. Brian Loves movies MORE than I do, but he'll watch 30 or so minutes at a time. When it's a war, sci-fi, historical movie that is fine with me (small doses...hehee).

But when it's a great drama or love story... oh, it's painful to not watch it all the way through. Although I do enjoy being able to watch a good movie longer. And it's fun to chat about how the movie will unfold as we put the kids to bed (they already know we watch movies at night...LOL)

So what did I enjoy watching enough to keep me up??? I watched an Indie Romance called Bella. While I obviously don't agree with the situations people found themselves in, I found the movie to be very clean!! Super clean for PG-13... I really don't remember ANY cursing, no sexual scenes, no malicious killing, and the characters were all sweet... except for "the villian", of course, but he was family:) I totally recommend it... and might "force" Brian to watch it as well. Gotta LOVE Netflix and their Watch Instantly titles;)

and stay up too LATE!!
Yes, I have been staying up late. I don't like being the only adult in the house.... so I stay up until I'm exhausted!!

Regardless of all the FUN Mommy had, it is nice to have Daddy home!! After 4 days of being home alone with the kids I'm ready for some backup:)