Movie Review :: Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil

In true Oregon style, it rained on our campfire/bike riding plans today. Because the girls got all smiley faces at bedtime (AGAIN!) this week, we treated the family to the cheap theater and some (not-so-cheap) popcorn. We didn't let it rain on OUR parade!

I had already checked the movie reviews , and knew that although rated PG, Hoodwinked Too was more appropriate for my girls than the G-rated Rio.

Hoodwinked Too is full of some big voices like Glenn Close, Joan Cusack, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Andy Dick, Brad Garrett, and Martin Short. But its the content I was most impressed with.

This is a movie all about hope! When it seems there's no way out, no way for good to overcome evil; that is when victory is the sweetest. Most impressively, it displayed forgiveness, redemption, justice, teamwork, and admitting when you're wrong. I can use the theme of this movie to teach my kids! When's the last time you could say THAT about a movie?!

It did have a lot of potty humor (which the 12 year-old boy in me totally enjoyed), and some innuendo. If I'm not mistaken though, none of that innuendo was sexual. There is a part where Twitch the squirrel comes out of his trailer with a couple of hot-babe-squirrel-girls, however (not a plus). Rather than using curse words or almost-curse-words, the movie resorts to "muffins." This is something I'm fine with my kids doing, so I wasn't disappointed by it. The reviews on line don't really agree with me on this movie, but as we all know...

I'm right, they're wrong!

Frugal and Homemade :: Dishwasher Detergent

I promised some posts about my homemade cleaning supplies. And I'm ready to deliver on one!

This is the easiest homemade thing I tried yet (besides diluted tea tree oil for sanitizer/cleaner)! And it worked marvelously!

1 tsp. Borax

1 tsp. Washing Soda

1 tsp. white vinegar

I mixed equal parts Borax and Washing Soda into a sealable container. Eyeballed a tablespoon-ish into the dishwasher and added a lid-full of vinegar (fun to watch the fizzle).

I was very pleased to find clean and sparkley dishes! A friend of mine read that if you add citric acid to the rinse aid compartment, it acts a rinse aid. I'm too lazy or cheap (or a combo of both) to go to that extra mile, but I don't honestly see the need for it!

Happy dish-washing blogging friends!

Making Memories with My Mom

The girls and I trekked out of the house for a few days. There was a 2-fold purpose for this visit. 1. Visit my mom. 2. Give Chuck a quiet house to focus on his end-of-quarter dealings.

This was Hamilton's first trip out and about.

We went camping for the day with our cousins and their friends. We spent the night at their house.

Grandma took us out for lunch. Then introduced us to a Chinese Buffet for dinner (the girls had never been--am I really sheltering them that much?!). We watched the sunset on the beach.

We grocery shopped and had picnic lunches near the beach.

We spent HOURS on the beach. Burrying each other, making mermaids, building castles, chasing waves, planting a sea weed garden in the sand.

Grandma bought us a kite.

Then let it go...oops! It flew all night long, tangled in the tree branches. I'm thinking it's a good character for a children's book...

Grandma made us dinner, sharing her home canned tuna in a yummy tuna noodle casserole. Then we read a few more chapters of Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (we've already read Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie).

The kissy monsters attacked grandma in bed the next morning.

We went on a guided tour of the tide pools (so amazing). I don't have any pictures though because I left my camera's battery charger at home and the previous fun used up all of our battery life. We played at the beach again (mom and I chose to close our eyes and lay on perfectly contoured rocks for our play time).

After dinner, the girls and I trekked the 2 1/2 hours home. Maddy and Izzy slept while Bekah and I listened to Roald Dahl books on CD, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantatic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach, The Enormous Crocodile, and The Magic Finger.

It's good to have some Daddy time again. Thanks for some GREAT memories, mom!

Drapery Drama

Our curtains have been through a lot today. And we've only been home a few hours today!

So, I like to let the children write on the sliding glass door with dry-erase markers. It scares most people, but if you know me, I naturally don't see any problem with it. There are boundaries: don't draw on the walls/floor. Apparently, Isabelle needed to have it clarified that we don't draw on the curtains. She drew pretty little puppies all over the white curtains (the ones that belong to the apartment, not me).

After 30 minutes of stain removal scrubbing, with Isabelle repeatedly telling me how sorry she is, I filled the bathtub with some bleach water. It was a desperate moment, I dislike bleach, which is why I like homemade cleaners. Left it to soak while we galavanted along the Pacific Coast. Upon our arrival, I drained the grayish tub water, rinsed the curtains, and tossed them in the dryer.

As dark fell, I began to miss my curtains. Began to hope no one was spying on me. Hoping no one would walk by and notice my large pile of Mt. Laundry. Or my unvacumed floor. Or cop a peek at my Netflix rental. So I checked to see if my battle scarred curtains were dry.

Yay, they're dry!

But they're stuck :(

Don't worry, my strong and handsome, hero of a husband, saved the day! He managed to get them unsnarled and then hung them up! Ummmm, they were really dirty, but they're clean now!

Bekah's two-point expository paragraph

Bekah wrote her first paragraph today! There are some form issues to take care of, but this is a fabulous start!

"I have two favorite animals. These animals are brown and blue. My first animal is a guinea pig because he is soft and kutly. My second favorite animal is a fish. He is my favorite because he does tricks. I like my two favorite animals because they are fun!"

Please take note of the drawings at the bottom. Super cute! Super proud mama!

We use Shurley Grammar and it makes grammar so easy! I wish I would have had Shurley Grammar as a kid! I would not have had to wait until after my Master's Degree to know about prepositional phrases.

Memorial Day 2011

First off, we got to sleep in until 10 am (thank you Phineas and Ferb for entertaining the girls for that long)! Then we got all dressed and went go flag hunting. After explaining the significance of this holiday, we decided to take a drive to see how many flags we could count. Initially, we were disappointed in the lack of holiday spirit shown in our town. Only 40 flags. That is, until we found a Memorial Day memorial to fallen soldiers in Oregon. Touching. I got teary eyed standing there, remembering why my husband REALLY had the day off. It brought it close to home to see a picture of a friend of Chuck's from his hometown. I was proud to tell the girls that they come from a long legacy of soldiers (uncles, cousins, grandparents). Final Flag count: 170!!!

We spent HOURS exploring a park in town. I've been to this park before, but this time was especially fun because the girls got to explore and I got to see the park through their eyes.

Geese, ducks, osprey.

Art.

Science (Rebekah was worried about all the litter,

so she headed a clean-up initiative amongst the family). The park has a scale model of the solar system. Pluto was miles away, so we only got to the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, and the moon. Someday, we'll have to take a bike ride to see the whole solar system...

Tree climbing.

Playing catch with Dad.

What a great day!

P.S. when exploring in the Willamette Valley, don't forget your allergy medicine. This results in a migraine that lays you out for the rest of the day :(

Compared to Whom?

We often spend so much time comparing ourselves to others that we forget to measure ourselves up to Christ. When I look at others, I can pretend that I am righteous. When I compare myself to Christ, I know that I’m not saved by my good works, I am saved by HIM!

There have been times that I have been proud and self-righteous in so many areas. Not because I’m all that, maybe because I forget to realize that Jesus is my righteousness. When working with abusive parents, it’s easy for me to believe that I’m a great mother—doing everything right. In the past year, my circumstance has changed. I’ve been spending more time with parents that are “good parents”. Then I start the comparing game. But, DANG IT, they’re not who I’m supposed to comparing myself to either. It is CHRIST that I need to compare myself to. NO ONE ELSE. It’s about Him, not about me! I want to parent my children as Jesus would. Not so that God will love me more, be impressed with me, make my children successful. But to bring Him honor, glorify Him. And to teach my kids to do the same.

Do I compare myself to the "bad parents"? NO!

Do I compare myself to the "good parents"? NO!

Do I compare myself to Christ? Yes, please.

Recently, it's come to my attention that I haven't been speaking to and treating my children as Christ would treat them. I've had more days than not, of just putting up with them, being short, and annoyed by them. I've spoken to them in ways that I would NEVER allow them to speak to me, or others to speak to them. I'm asking for heavenly help to soften my heart toward them. There's a cliche that says that "knowing is half the battle." I believe it's more than half--it's probably MOST of the battle!