Saturday, September 27, 2008

Evan Almighty


Tonight Brian, the boys, and I watched "Evan Almighty." I know it's been out for awhile, but this is the first chance we've had to watch it. This is the first movie that the four of us (Hunter was in bed...he's not really "movie-ready" yet) all really liked.

For those of you who haven't seen it, or don't know much about it...Steve Carell stars as Evan Baxter, a newly elected congressman who moves his wife and 3 boys (I felt an instant connection based on the whole 3 boys thing alone) to Washington, D.C., and quickly is called by God (wonderfully played by Morgan Freeman) to build an ark. Early in the movie some references are made about prayer and Evan's wife hoping that their family can grow closer and spend more time together. I don't want to give too much of the movie away if you haven't see it yet, so I'll stop there.

We laughed hard throughout the movie (how can you not laugh hard at Steve Carell?), and we all received a bonus lesson on God's faithfulness, and the importance of family and believing in each other as well. I actually started crying (I've been super-emotional lately for some weird reason, so it wasn't that much of a stretch) at the end, and Brian looked at me like I was a little cuckoo (maybe I am). But I was really touched by this film. It was incredibly refreshing to be able to sit down with my husband and my 7 and 4 year old boys and watch a movie. That was really good. That we all REALLY liked. That we could all laugh at. That had NOTHING rude or inappropriate in it. That carried a pretty impressive cast. And most of all, that also carried a message that isn't very popular in Hollywood these days, in a fun, comfortable, yet challenging way. If you haven't seen it, rent it. I think this family will be owning it very soon.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Consumed


Yes, I'm one of those weird "Twilight" people. Never in my life have I been so consumed with a series of books. When my friend Tomi suggested (nearly insisted) that I read them, I told her I had zero interest in reading about vampire love. I've always been creeped out with that scary monster stuff that I was sure the books were going to entail. Eventually I gave in to my friend's request (she knows me pretty well) and decided to give the books a try. By about the third chapter I was sucked in big time, and will readily admit that these books are NOTHING like I thought they would be. It is an intense, unique love story with twists and turns that continue to throw me for a major loop. At the risk of sounding like a pathetic teenager, I have gotten completely lost in this love story between Edward and Bella, and I'm going to feel pretty lost when it's over. I'm now about 2/3's of the way through the last one, "Breaking Dawn" and am trying to slow down a little to make it last just a while longer. Sad, I know. I fully expect to start reading them all again from the beginning, b/c I know I've probably missed stuff in my efforts to hurry to the next part. Oh, they are so very good.

Toothless Wonder


H lost his other front tooth this weekend, making that his 6th one to lose in a very short amount of time. And his new teeth are coming in, but not quite fast enough. I love this stage, at least until his new gigantic top teeth come in. =) He looks so cute, and now has a little bit of a lisp when he talks~ so cute.

And, to be a braggy mom for a bit, I have to tell you about his baseball game yesterday (that I missed, go figure, because I was working at a craft fair). H hit a home run yesterday, and scored two other runs (He didn't earn the nickname "Homerun Harrison" for nothin'), AND got the first game ball of the season. Way to go buddy. You rock!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Busted!



Ahh, Halloween candy. It's that time of year again. I am loving the fall-ish weather so much that I decided to go ahead and start decorating today (procrastinating big time on some other stuff I should have been doing). I had bought some bags of candy corn to use as decoration (I don't like them, and figured the boys probably wouldn't either(wrong!) and poured them into this candle holder...thought it would look all fall and Halloween-ey. Not 5 minutes after Hunter woke up, he found it and went to town. He being the sweet boy that he is, did offer me one too...

Adventures in "Scootering"




It is SO BEAUTIFUL outside today, so I thought we'd take advantage of it and walk to Harrison's school to pick him up. Hud thought it was a great idea as well, so we loaded Hunter in the stroller, grabbed his super cool Spiderman scooter, and off we went. Well, sort of. There were several stops along the way (he quickly went from telling me "This scooter makes me so happy, Mom!" to "I don't like this scooter anymore." in about five minutes. Thankfully, it's little so I could just store it in the basket of the stroller, and we continued. We also counted (and stopped at) every single fire ant bed along the way. And worked on our balancing skills as we walked along the curb. Fascinating stuff when you're a four-year-old little boy. Finally, about 30 minutes later (the school is not even a mile away) we made it, dropped Hud off at speech, and I sat down outside the door with Hunter. Before I knew it, Harrison had picked up Hudson and we were together again for the long walk home. We decided to stop off by the library for a couple of books, and then stomped on all 17 ant beds on the way home. I had another confirmation that I was made to be a boy mom when I realized that I was just as fascinated by those crazy fast ants as the boys were. A good day.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Never Underestimate the Power of a Dum-Dum Sucker




There's a certain hour in our house that I've affectionately nicknamed "the witching hour." :) It's that time of day that everything seems to fall apart, and it always happens around the time that I'm making dinner. Today seems to be a particulary bad case. Hunter had pooped for the second time in one hour, but was polite enough to come and tell me (think it's time to potty-train?), and Harrison and Hudson were fighting over who gets to wear a tupperware bowl on their head (you can see from the picture that Harrison won that one), all the while I'm online trying to come up with something new and creative to make with chicken. Oh, and Hunter was insisting that I carry him all over the house. AGHHHHGHHHH!

SO...I pulled out my saving grace~ suckers. Those little balls of sugary goodness never fail me. Call me a cop-out mom, a bad mom, whatever. My house is quiet, I've found my recipe, dinner is cooking, and I'm now blogging. Dum-Dums=Peace. :)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

First Day of Preschool



Today was the first day of preschool for Hud and Hunter, and they were both so excited! I have to admit that their mom was too. :) They both got GREAT teachers this year, and I know they are going to have an awesome year, learning, playing with friends, learning a little independence, and then seeing their relaxed and refreshed Mommy so happy to pick them up!




Hudson came home with lots of papers he had cut and colored, and was beaming with pride. :) He gets to have his first show and tell on Thursday~ has to bring something that starts with the letter "A". He said he wants to take an ant. We'll have to see about that one. :)




Hunter is in a class that requires he sit at a table (no high chairs) and sleeps on a nap mat. I had my doubts on how that would go, but Mrs. Kim said that all 10 kiddos slept on their mats today. Very impressive. He was so proud of his Sesame Street lunchbox, and marched into that room like such a big boy.

All in all, a really great day!