National Treasure - Movie Review

What a treasure of a movie! We had seen the preview for this on Around the World in 80 days. It stuck with Britty who is really into adventure movies right now. We had some extra days at home with Daddy and she thought of this movie right away.

When it started out, I have to admit, I thought it was a little dorky. However, about the third scene I was HOOKED. The rest of the movie flew by (as much as it could with interruptions from 3 kids under 6) and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

The movie follows Nicholas Cage on his quest to find a treasure his family has known about for generations. It is action packed, humorous and filled with many 'real-life' national treasures like The Declaration of the United States and The Liberty Bell.

While the movie is highly improbable, if you can turn off your reality-meter, it is very enjoyable. (in high school/college we called that suspension of disbelief-remember that?) It could be slightly scary for younger children (there is a skeleton) but Emily didn't have any trouble with it. There are two other potential 'issues' with it, depending on what you allow your kids to watch. Number one, Nicholas Cage, aka the 'good' guy, actually steals something. You end up cheering for him and hoping he will succeed although, obviously this is not something you want your kids to emulate. The second issue is up for interpretation; however, at the end of the movie Cage and his love interest are apparently sharing a house and we never saw a wedding. As I said, that one is up for interpretation, I just wanted to warn you.

All in all, this was one of the best movies we've seen in a long time. It was fun to watch a good, clean, family movie and have everyone enjoy it. I wish we knew of more action movies like this--anyone have any recommendations?

Facing the Giants

I went out and bought this movie today. We hadn't seen it yet but I knew, even if it wasn't a favorite of Michael's and mine, that at least the girls would be watching a good message.

Well we loved it! At least Brittany and I did. Michael and Emily went to bed early because Emmy is "taking a healing" tonight. (she's not taking a cold, she's receiving her healing! HALLELUJAH!) Anyway, I highly recommend it. The story is great! It is awesome to see faith proclaimed and lived in a MOVIE. WOW. I didn't realize it could be done. Maybe that large screen contraption in our den isn't so bad after all. LOL (I'm a TV despiser, for those who don't know me well!)

And, of course, I cried. And although I am very pregnant and I am prone to cry even when not pregnant, I think I saw a tear shine in Brittany's eye who doesn't cry at ANYTHING!! (But, Kim, it is a good cry, not a bad one! ;-)

Here is a preview of the movie:

Movie Night

We watched two movies today....a big luxury! I had an OB appt so we got school done this morning and the older girls were supposed to go to Grandma's while I went with Kaedy to the OB. Grandma forgot we were coming and wasn't there when I got there, so we all headed over to the OB. Emily was very upset about this, so, to get her to stop crying, I promised we could watch a movie when we got home.

We watched Akeelah and the Bee when we got home. Then we made dinner, cleaned up and watched The Grinch (the Jim Carrey one). The girls were so thrilled to watch TWO movies on the SAME day WITH Mommy! WOWEE!!

I really loved one of them and didn't like the other one at all. Can you guess which was which?

Here are a few clues:
1. I hadn't seen either of them before
2. The one I would consider slightly offensive, was the one I loved.
3. I don't get all the hype about the other one AT ALL.
4. I barely made it through the one I didn't like.
5. As much as I disliked that one, I loved the other one, and can't wait to watch it again!


Okay, the one I loved is: Akeelah and the Bee.
I couldn't hardly stand The Grinch! UGH! I'll take the old one any day!

(And the offensive part of Akeelah and the Bee? Just a little of the language. Brittany and Emily didn't even catch it at all, except the guy spelling out "B U T T" but I thought that was hysterical! Once we get the TV Guardian, it will be a perfect movie!)

The Brownie Parable

A father listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie: it had their favorite actors, everyone else was seeing it, even some church members said it was great, it was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex-they never really showed it, the language was pretty good-they only used the Lord's name in vain three times in the whole movie, the video effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed. Yes, there was the scene where a building and a bunch of people got blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff, it wasn't very bad. Even with all these explanations for the rating, the father wouldn't give in. He didn't even give them an explanation for saying, "No." He just said "No."



Later that evening, the father asked his kids if they would like some brownies he had prepared. He explained that he had taken the family's favorite recipe and added something new. They asked what it was. He calmly replied that he had added dog poop. He stated that it was only a tiny bit and that all the other ingredients were gourmet quality. He had taken great care to bake it at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb.



Even with all the explanations of the perfect attributes of the brownies, the kids would not take one. The father acted surprised. There was only a small amount of poop, so what could the problem be? He assured them that they would hardly notice it at all. But they all held firm and would not try the brownies.



He then explained that the movie they wanted to see was just like the brownies. Satan tries to enter our minds and our homes by deceiving us into believing that just a little bit of evil doesn't matter. With the brownies, just a little bit makes all the difference between a great brownie something really gross. He explained that even though the smallest amount of dog poop makes the brownie totally unacceptable, they seemed to having no problem watching a movie of similar ingredients. The people who make movies and TV shows would have us believe their entertainment is acceptable for adults and youths; but they are no more so than dog poop brownies are good to eat!



Now when this father's children want to do something or see something they should not, the father merely asks them if they would like some of his special dog poop brownies and they never ask about it again.

about me

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Pharmacy tech
2. Technical support @ AOL
3. Preschool teacher
4. hamburger flipper at college

Four Movies I have watched over and over
1. Ever After
2. The Italian Job
3. Lethal Weapon
4. Better off dead

Four places I have lived:
1. Albuquerque, NM
2. Englewood, CO
3. Garden Grove, CA
4. Broken Arrow, OK


Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Nanny 911 (or whichever one has Jo)
2. Operation Organization (is this still on?)
3. King of the Hill
4. What not to wear

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Martha's Vineyard, MASS
2. Eureka Springs, Ark
3. Munich, Germany
4. Venice, Italy

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Popcorn
2. Steak
3. baked potato
4. shrimp

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. on my farm
2. with the Zandis
3. on Martha's Vineyard
4. in bed

Four things in your refrigerator
1. Strawberry Jam
2. Baby Food
3. Pulled Pork
4. Muffin mix

Four things you have in your car
(okay, I'm changing this to what's NOT in my car????)
1. my kitchen sink
2. my pool
3. me
4. my missing library books
Tag you are it... "BLOG" a few things about you....

Never back down from a challenge

I collected elephants for most of my life. From sometime in elementary school when everyone had something to collect and my friends asked what I collected and I had no idea but I really liked Snuffleupagus so I said "elephants!" Little did I know HOW many elephants I would end up with. And NOT ONE, NOT ONE....NOT EVEN ONE EVER looked like Aloysius Snuffleupagus. What kind of luck is that???? If I had gotten JUST ONE Snuffleupagus, maybe I would have kept collecting. I decided about 4 years ago that I couldn't handle ANOTHER non-Snuffleupagus elephant. I asked everyone to stop, and thankfully, we are free from elephants at the moment. In fact, if you check ebay in a month or so, you can start seeing my collection. ;-)

And, speaking of the Muppets, Steve, the guy from church that built our wheelchair ramp, said that Muppets in outer space is the best Muppet movie. I don't remember if I have seen it or not, but if My kids keep want to try any other Muppet movies I think I will get them that one!

I have Colby and Daniel today while the rest of the boys are at a play dress rehearsal. Kaedy loves having all the little ones over playing with her. I have a PRAISE! While writing this, I went in to help Renee with feeding Kaedy and Renee suggested trying Kaedy with a bottle again. We tried her and she did take a few sucks!! WOOHOO!!! I know this is late to start bottle feeding, but if she got down the idea of bottle feeding, maybe feeding her solid food would be easier! :-)

Okay, ta ta for now....I will check in later!

ADULT FUN (no...not R rated....LOL)

I just talked to one of my favorite movie reviewers - Timmy. (He is my friend Paula's oldest son. He's 14 years old and we agree on most movies we like or don't like, same with music) ANYWAY, HE went to see Narnia last night at midnight and he said it was awesome. He said it was very true to the book, as well. YEAH!!! I am so excited. I was really waiting to hear his opinion today, because I know I can trust it. ;-)

I am so excited about tonight!! I am going out with some friends to celebrate two of their birthdays. We are going to Zio's, an Italian restaurant, and then to a dollar movie afterwards. WOOHOO!!! A night on the town with my friends!!! I can't believe it!!! :-) :-) I was just looking at their menu and I have NOOOO idea how I am going to pick what to eat! One of each please??? Oh wait, I am supposed to cut my carbs in 1/2. Okay, I'll take 1/2 of each entree please! LOL!!

Today Melissa and I were on the phone together, both talking to Melanie on IM. That was too big of a coincidence, that we had to do something about it. We decided to start writing the exact same things at the exact same time. Melanie was QUITE freaked out for a minute or two. It was very fun....we were laughing sooo hard.

I haven't hardly gotten to see Ria lately. She did come over on Wednesday, but I took a nap during part of that time. She is coming on Sunday and I am looking forward to hanging out with her. Tonight with my hs friends and Sunday with Ria and next week Paula is coming to hang out with me....I am getting spoiled!! LOL. Actual adult conversation...what am I going to do with all of it?

I had a WONDERFUL birthday! After Michael and I spent the day with Brittany and Emily, we went to see Kaedy. She was a little tired, but we spent awhile with her and then rocked her to sleep. We were planning on going out to eat and seeing a movie afterwards, but we ended up just seeing the movie and not having time to go out to eat. Oh well, now we have a gift certificate for another time!! We went to see Mr. And Mrs. Smith. It was a fairly enjoyable movie. It wasn't something I would want to own or anything like that, but it was entertaining for the evening. The one thing I have to say is that I am SHOCKED at what passes as PG13 these days. I thought I would be "safe" sticking with PG13 movies to not have a lot of questionable content, but I was very wrong. No PG13 for Britty!! (at least until her 35th b'day! LOL)

Yesterday was the groundbreaking for our new church site. I put pictures up at http://members.cox.net/kahri/Groundbreaking/index.html It was a GREAT time. I am so excited to watch the new building forming. It will be closer to our house, too...about 2 miles away. Have I mentioned how much I love our church? Brittany is going to church camp today. I can't believe all the fun things they are going to do for camp. They are starting out at Incredible Pizza today and then they are also going to be boating, bowling, swimming, fishing, going to a water park, as well as having chapel everyday and baptisms! Britty will be ready to sleep for a few days when she gets back!! LOL