Home Movies

This first video is a little taste of a typical dinner-time at our house. For some reason its the witching hour and Joe and Christine both end up melting down together... whats that they say about the importance of family dinners? 

 

The next vid is of Christine pulling up on the recliner. I know its hard to believe but this is a big deal. She is very busy lately and pulling up all over the place. Its a big step for our little girl!

And this last video is of Nate reading two of his nonfiction stories in his writing class a couple of months ago. He has more creative writing pieces but forgot to bring them to class that day.  ;-)

Mom's Night Out

I was fortunate enough to see a screening a couple months ago and have been raving about it ever since.  I can't think of another movie that is so relatable and really values the importance of our jobs as moms. 

The main character Allyson (played by Sarah Drew) is true to life. She has wanted to be a mom since she was a little girl. She is living the life she dreamed of for so long. But she finds herself stressed and stretched to the point of exhaustion. Her husband lovingly reminds her that she needs to "put on her own oxygen mask first" and encourages her to do something for herself. So, she plans a Mom's Night Out with a couple of friends to unwind. Well, in true Hollywood fashion, everything that can go wrong, does. Who knew a Mom's Night Out could involve a car chase, a tattoo parlor and a trip to jail!?!  ;-)  In the end Allyson is reminded that her job is not only hard, but very important. Which is something that all moms need reminded of sometimes.

Check out the trailer for the Mom's Night Out movie below:



I am so passionate about supporting this movie (and my fellow moms) that a friend and I put together a whole Mom's Night Out evening of our own!

We met at a friend's house early in the evening to start the night off with appetizers and makeovers!!  One of our girlfriends is really into makeup so she got creative with some fun techniques that most of us would not normally be brave enough to try!  And I did most of the girls' hair up all fancy.  ;-)  I am the oldest of four girls... I have a lot of practice.

After we got all fancied up, we all invaded our local theater for Mom's Night Out the movie!!  Everyone enjoyed the movie so much! I loved hearing the theater erupt in laughter at the many funny parts... and get quiet during the meaningful moments. I know I can't take any credit for how great the movie is, but I was a little proud being able to share such an encouraging film with my friends.

We all struggle as moms. We all feel like we are failing, like no matter what we do its not enough. But those thoughts and feelings of failure are FALSE.  God loves each and every one of us and He knows how hard our jobs are as moms. He is proud of us for every breakfast that we serve, even if its stale cereal for the third day in a row. He is proud of us for all the dirty diapers that we change. And the carpools, and doctors appointments, and classes we've taught, the crafts we've done... God knows how hard we work to care for and love our children and He is PROUD.

Please consider taking your friend, or mother, or sister, or whoever to see Mom's Night Out.  You won't be sorry you did.

Little Mermaid 4th Birthday Party

As usual Pinterest was my go-to place to get party ideas. I kept pinning and pinning... way more ideas than I could ever actually do.  And I was kind of feeling partied out so I wasn't very motivated to do a whole lot.  Thanks to my friend Lehi for loaning me a bunch of beachy/luau stuff that kind of went with our Little Mermaid theme. 

 We did a surf board craft and had the kids "go fishing". They loved it!

  Thanks to Jess for doing all the printables! Not pictured are coloring pages and paper dolls that were in the family goodie bags - which were sand buckets with fun treats in them.

 Cut out sandwiches for the kids...

 Chicken Salad Crabs from Lehi! So good!

 Clam shell cookies...

and who needs cake when you can have Jello?  ;-)

Our birthday girl was sweet and smiling the whole time!  

She enjoyed every minute of her Little Mermaid party!