The Help

Some friends and I started a book club this summer. One of the first books we read was The Help.

The book was written from three perspectives. Skeeter is a recent college graduate who starts to question her way of life and people around her. Aibeleen is a maid who takes care of the white children of her employers. She loves them but moves on when the children start to tell the difference in skin color. She's soft spoken but not easily trampled on. Then there is Minny. She doesn't take any "crap" from her employers and doesn't mind telling them where to go. She isn't afraid of much and speaks her mind freely.

I loved each character and thought the story-line was great. Some argued that this book made light of the Civil Rights movement. I disagree. I think it is a good look at what some of these women would have said of their employers if they had an outlet such as the writing of The Help provided them. It centered around the injustice and mistreatment of these woman who raised the white children of the South as well as their own. There was a lot of good stuff that happened in that era. There were a lot of loving relationships, including the love of a child for the nanny that raised her.

Our whole group loved the book and anticipated the movie release.

This was one of those rare instances where I loved the movie just as much as I loved the book.

Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

We've seen every Narnia movie that was released. Of course we had to use Mama's Christmas bonus to go see the newest one! We even saw it in 3-D, a first experience for the kids. They thought it was so cool!



I, on the other hand, wasn't as impressed with 3-D, though I'm very glad the kids had fun. 3-D fatigued my eyes and by the end I had a headache. Also, it appeared the 3-D effects were only on certain action packed scenes.

Otherwise, the movie was great. I thought the new company did a very nice job, and didn't feel the lack from Disney's fingers not being in the project.

Family Movie Night

Tonight, Me, Kelsea, Joshua, and Jeremiah are going to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy. That's right. All 3. We are big fans. Ishmael is visiting family, and Leon is away at IOLS training for Boy Scouts.



We like to make Family Movie Night special. We start with dinner and make something fun. Usually it's pizza. Tonight we set up a taco bar.



This is my favorite meal.



We also have a treat and some popcorn while we watch the movie. Sometimes we'll have brownies, or ice cream, tonight we had "movie candy". We take our favorite candies and divvie them up into little cups. I usually cut the Twizzlers in half so they fit. We have gummi bears, gummi soda bottles, and a square of chocolate each.



The "mom reason" for the cups is to cut back on the sugar while making it special for the kids. They get to sit in front of the tv with their treats. Having food in the living room is a big deal around here.

The drinks you see in the picture are actually unsweetened rasberry tea on ice. If you haven't tried this refreshing treat, you need to soon! It's perfect!

What sort of things make family movie night special in your house?

Jeremiah Turns 6

To celebrate we saw Kung Fu Panda. Jeremiah wanted his own picture with Po.



Then we did our Birthday Club shopping at Toys 'R' Us.





He got just what he wanted for his birthday. His own I-pod.

Kung Fu Panda

GREAT movie!! It's the best thing Dreamworks has ever done.

The fight scenes were very cool. I haven't enjoyed a cartoon since Cars. This was fun!

Prince Caspian

The movie was SO SO good!!! I think Disney is on a role with this series. I wasn't expecting it to be anything like the book so I was surprised with how close it really was. Not like BBC close or anything, it is still Disney after all. The battle scenes were tastefully done, leaving the bloodshed and gore to the imagination.

I was so moved by all the parallels drawn on faith and Jesus Christ. I see them clearer watching them play out on the big screen. I really can't say enough about this movie. It is a MUST see!

We will definitely be owning this one!

Friday's Double Feature

Iron Man: Fantastic movie! Robert Downey Jr was much better than I thought he'd be. There were a few innuendos but they went over the younger guys' heads.



The Forbidden Kingdom: Okay. Jackie Chan is always funny. I think this is the first time I've seen Jet Li in anything but a serious role. Not as funny as I thought it would be. The fight scenes were good. The plot needed work. Leon and the kids LOVED it!



The best part?!!!! We bought tickets to see Prince Caspian next week!!! We can hardly wait!

Spiderwick Chronicles

We enjoyed the movie. Not one of my favorites but it's always fun to go see a movie together. The acting wasn't great and the story was a little dry. I think I enjoyed the previews the most :P.

Today we took the kids to the movies. We couldn't decide between Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Water Horse. The vote was tied so we went with the first movie showing.












It was GREAT! We had so much fun! We had popcorn and Coke and candy (very rare for us to see a movie AND splurge on snacks). I asked Joshua if he was disappointed about missing the chipmunk movie:



"Not at all! It was the BEST family movie EVER!!!"







I'm seeing some disturbing similarities in this picture...














Five year olds are so much fun!! I didn't even have to bribe him to take this picture:














Kelsea only tolerated the group picture. So I got her coming out the bathroom. Cause I'm a good mom.













Leon stepped in the tub because he loves me.













I love the two monkeys on the end!! The 5year old is taking this all a little too seriously, God bless him.

I am Legend

Leon took me to the movies today. He took me to see "I am Legend." The problem is, he already went to see the movie with Mr. Dale. It's really irritating when someone has already seen the movie and you ask, "Does he die?" but you don't really want to know. Only you know that he is the type of person who would want to know and would therefor tell you if you ask.

Anyway, he kept building up this move. Telling me how the movie "got him" and how often he jumped. He just had to take me. I think he wanted to be beside me so I would jump into his arms. Even knowing the truth, I went anyway. What can I say? I'm a sucker for anything Will Smith. I also like end of the world type movies. I'm fascinated by them. Drawn to them like a moth to a flame. He also bribed me with popcorn and coke. I was sold.
It turned out to be a fabulous movie. Absolutely fabulous. I don't recommend it for the squeamish or faint of heart. I certainly spent the hour and a half squeezing the life out of Leon's arm. I was shaking from the strain of trying not to scream in the theater. Sometimes it's fun to live in suspense. Especially when your big hunka burnin' love is sitting beside you and you KNOW he's not afraid of anything.
The drama part of the movie was very touching. And Smith's daughter (I heard it was his real daughter) was adorable. I cried a river.
I did walk away with some questions...
1. Why didn't the "darkseekers" eat all the lions and deer? I'm sure they stink. It's an island, for cryin' out loud. Where could the animals possibly hide?
2. Why on earth was he moving at such a snail's pace when he was trying to get back to the car. Hoping someone would come along and help??? Adrenaline much? Move FASTER!!!
3. I have plenty more but don't want to give away too much of the movie...just in case anyone is also weak for Will Smith.
So now...I'm sitting here and can't stop thinking about the movie and what I would have done...and I'm totally screwed...I'm at work...3rd shift...all alone...and it's dark outside...what was that?...who's watching me?...darkseekers anyone?...YIKES!!!