Taxes-Yuck! Disney-Yeah!

Today was a great day even though we had to deal with filing our taxes.  That is never fun but a necessary evil in life.  And for us it is more so that we have to file yet the return still goes to his ex wife for back child support. As I have said before I understand and agree.  But of course the desire to have a lil extra to help around here is still there.  Also we are having to cut back even more since Our Gentleman passed away this last fall.  Sad but true we are going to have to let our car go back to the dealership.  OUCH!  I love it but the drop in household income does not support a car payment at this time.  Thus it will be going bye bye soon.  We will learn the joy of exercise as we walk to the local convenience store for milk, bread and such.  Big trips to the grocery store will be helped out by The Other Mother thankfully.  And Dear Hubby can catch a ride to work with a co-worker and pay for the gas.  Sadly Granny M will have to fore go church though.  It is out in the country and she was the one who carried the folks from the nursing home to church.  Without a car she will not be able to continue to do that.

 Even with all of this we are looking up at all the good we have.  And this afternoon and evening we did family movie day.  Bring on the popcorn and join us in all the good ones.  We started out with Disney Junior Mickey Mouse Clubhouse I  <3 Minnie.  Just in time for Valentines day.  This was a good intro for Princess Emma for her first Kindergarten Valentines day and all the fun of passing out cards to friends.  The plus is the DVD and digital copy that is in here.  We can keep one and share one if we wish.  Or for those with portable DVD players in the car or laptops there is that spare to keep there.  There are 5 episodes in this one.  So I know that it would be good for quiet time when your trying to get the lil ones down for a nap.  Just watch one of the episodes to slow down the pace a lil, read a book next, then off to beddie bye land.  Now to add to the fun the inside of the DVD cover is also a coloring sheet with puzzles and mazes to follow.  It seems all the basis are being covered here.

Next we had lunch that was looking for fun.  Hot dogs cooked over the flame are always a hit with the kiddos.  Add in a few crunch baby carrots with that ever so cheerful pink-a-licious that we serve and there were smiles all the way around.  Then on to movie number two of the day, Disney Treasure Buddies.  Another great combo pack that was Blu-ray and DVD.  I can not wait to share this with the Grandbabes!  I know that they will love Digger, Cammy and Babi, the new friends to the Buddies.  Princess Emma asked all about Egypt where the Buddies are looking for the legendary Cat's Eye jewel.  We even made a headdress for here to wear after the show.  Then Princess Emma helped The Other Mother in making the hummus while I put together the kabobs for dinner.  Dear Hubby and Pappi had fired up the grill for us so it was time to cook dinner and then enjoy smores with chocolate marshmallows.  Too much fun for one day?

Not for us.  We love to have a massive movie day once a month as a fun time for all of us to snuggle in together.  Now we all love Minnie and have known her for our whole life.  And the Buddies are some of Princess Emma's favorites to dream of playing with.  But when it comes to College Girl she is one for the classic Disney movies.  When she was little she had them all.  You can not imagine her dismay when the entire collection was lost in our house fire years ago.  So when I pulled out our last movie of the night she squealed like you would not believe.  Disney released the Diamond Edition of Lady and the Tramp.  What can I say?  It is like going home when you see a Disney classic.  Princess Emma loved cuddling up with her big sissy, College Girl for this one.  And was quick to start to learn the songs that sissy sang along with during the movie.  

Yes, the day had a lil rough start.  The necessary parts of life true.  But we made it a all around family fun day by sharing Disney and our family.  It is what makes it worth while to have lil ones around.  Thanks so to Disney for sharing the movies with us.  Thanks to our other half of family for spending time with us.  And thanks to College Girl for coming home for the weekend.  Please keep Granny M in your prayers.  We have more heart conditions cropping up.  This next week she will be back in the hospital for another blockage.  We are not sure what will be the outcome but we know that she is in good hands.

Weekend Wrap-up

Had a great weekend with the Grandbabes here to visit.  Was a nice surprise too.  Got the call that they were on their way here so we dashed out to get some favorites of theirs.  As always have to have Pink-a-licious.  That is a pink Tampico punch that my Granddaughter loves and renamed.  Also some apples for my Grandson.  Topped it off with a few other nibblies and a couple of toy gifts to play with.  My Granddaughter made straight A's and we wanted her to have a reward.

Here at home we had so much fun.  Played putting on some 'real' make up much to my step daughters dismay.  She says play make up is okay but not real.  I do not see much difference when it is all just to have fun.  Also watched some of our Disney movies on Disney Movies Online.  Every time we get a new Disney movie, I also purchase the online copy at a real low price.  This way it is available where ever we happen to be.  This has come in real handy many times on the road or visiting the kiddos.  My Grandson loved playing with the Mickey Mote that came with Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Minnie's Masquerade.  It is the newest in the Mickey Mote series.  This one is to be released on Febuary 8th, just in time for Valentines day for the girls. Disney’s Mickey Mote works with any Disney Preschool DVD that includes the Discovery Mode™ feature – an interactive “Watch & Play” feature on the DVD. We also enjoyed it with the Handy Mandy DVD that we have.  It is great as he can play games with the show as it airs.  Just the right level for him at 3 yrs old while his big sister played with her DS game.  The Mickey Mote can be used with any Disney Preschool DVD that includes the Discovery Mode feature. To date there are more than 11 titles that can be used with the remote control, just take a look at the back of the package to make sure.

I am really glad that we have another lil extra too.  You see Dear Hubby has been having a hard time sleeping lately.  Well so have I.  But part of it is due to snoring.  You have one of those don't you?  Yeah, and they say they don't snore.  Well?  Don't they?  And of course they do.  But we are trying out something new so that 'Poppy' does not keep us all up at night.  TK (my granddaughter) says it worked great as she slept like a dream.  It is called ZQuiet and comes in this lil dark blue case to keep it clean when not in use.  I did not have to do a lil boiling of water to help make the mouth piece fit like you do with most.  Just popped it in his mouth and let him have a lil time getting use to it being there. Dear Hubby liked that he did not have to clench his teeth to keep it in place but could be comfortable and move his mouth.  This is a real easy fix to snoring.  It just helped hold his lower jaw forward some to open the airway in his throat.  That stopped the snoring.



So what else did we do?  Well we played at the park.  Went to the great grandparents house and took out lunch.  They love seeing the grandbabes just as much as we do.  And it was nice to get to get away from home for a lil while too.  Played lots of cards with my daughters this weekend.  That was really nice as we do not get to do too much with both girls at the same time.  Oh and my step daughter made off with my season 1 DVD of Are We There Yet.  Yeah, she saw I had it and snatched it right up.  Says that is one of her favorite sitcoms.  Also that Ice Cube does a great job producing the show.  Then new season started this month and we are already hooked. Now I am going to have to get me another copy of season 1.  Just like a kiddo to pick up the fun stuff.  HA HA!

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copies of these items to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided.

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Super Saturday

Today was a very full day for us. First we had to help Dear Hubby up and to get a bath and wash his hair.  Now remember neither foot can get wet and he can not put any weight on them at all!  OOOOOHHHH!

Next we had to clean the wounds on all 10 toes.  That took hours to get all the dried on dressings soft and removed.  Then to clean the wounds and redress them.  I pray it will go much easier tomorrow.  Thankfully College Girl and Other Mom were there to lend a helping hand.

Next the In-Laws came by for a visit.  That was nice since they had not seen their son since the surgery.  They feel much better seeing he is doing fine.  Of course College Girl gave the a sight of all the pics she took of us cleaning up Dear Hubby's wounds.  She has the photos for her theater make-up morgue.   She says she is going to do a blog about them.  EWWWW!  We will see.

There was the local Lighted Christmas Parade on our town square.  We did not get to go, but Princess Emma and the great Nieces did.  Lucky us though, the local 4-H club came by on horse back and sang Christmas carols to us.  That was really really nice!  After such a full day Dear Hubby needed to rest.  So we hooked up College Girls new Blu-Ray CD player (her Christmas gift to herself) and put on movies.  Disney out did themselves for us last night.

The first movie was Oceans.  Oh I wish there were words....but alas, I do not know how to say how beautiful this show was.  Dear Hubby was enthralled.  He so misses the ocean from being an ol Navy guy.  The magnitude of color and design that is found in nature is amazing.  And then seeing the size of some of the whales made me feel so much pain to think of losing them.  Schools of fish creating a whirlwind under the water, beautiful.  I have to say, this is a movie all the family can be mesmerized by. 

Our next show was also by Disney.  It was my personal choice.  The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos.  It was also on Blu-Ray. 
Now I am a fan of all things PINK, that we know.  So your not surprised to know this is a bird I find                          Image via Wikipediaattractive.  But I found out how hard they fight for life.  And the secret to how they become PINK.  Living life from a island made of salt to extreme heat to migration to the secret lake and on to flight.  This was a story line that had me amazed.  And even more the behind the scene story of how they filmed this show.  WOW!  Dedication way beyond what I could imagine would be humanly possible.  I have to say that once again Disney has out done themselves on their Nature films. 

College Girl is already begging for Big Cats that is coming up.  She loves the beauties.  I know that by the end of the evening Dear Hubby was relaxed and ready for his sleep.  I hope you get to have some nice nights like these.  Where you can unwind and see how beautiful this world that we live in really is.  I do wish to say thank you so much to Disney and Click Communications for going out of their way to get these two movies to me.  I was begging to see them.  Of course they did not let me down and made me a happy gal!

Princess Emma and Beauty

Now there are not many ways that College Girl and Princess Emma are alike.  But....there is one for sure.  And that is the love of Beauty and the Beast.  This was one of CG's favorite Disney movies.  She watched it over and over and over again. Singing along and knowing that all was going to come out right at the end of the show.  Princess Emma is the very same age that CG was when she first saw Beauty and the Beast.  And she is falling in love too.  Of course she knows Belle because she knows ALL the Disney Princesses.  But she has not seen the show before today.  Oh you would love to see the dancing going on now!  Gliding and leaping and deep deep deep bows.  I am entranced. 
Beauty and the Beast has been released on Blu-ray high-definition as of Monday the 5th of October.  It is a great combo pack of Blu-ray and DVD.  So for us that is two movies for the price of one!  Many theaters are also having sing-a-longs showing.  Oh how College Girl would love that.  Too bad we are over 100 miles from any major town.  Do you remember singing along with the whole entourage? 

Since I am such an avid reader I thought you might want to print up some bookmarks to share with the kids.  And make sure you get time to sing along with Be Our Guest as it is one great number.  I am off for a second showing.  It is so wonderful to have this one sent to me in the mail.  I am thrilled to do the review....wouldn't you be?

Pixie Dust and Princess Emma

 Oh you should have seen Princess Emma dancing around today!  She was no longer a princess in a long dress.  No today she was the greatest fairy of all time, TINK!  Yes, we were so thrilled to watch Disney's  Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue.  It was prancing, leaping and the sprinkling of magic fairy dust all around the room.  The paintbrush became her fairy wand and Emma's hair had to be put up in a bun on the top of our head.  I was quite admonished for not knowing how to make fairy wings for Emma.  But Granny M came to the rescue with a 'tailor made' green dress (over sized top and scarf for a belt) so that Emma would look the part. 

If you have not had the pleasure of seeing a movie through the eyes of a child then go out and borrow a kid soon.  Disney has always had the knack for letting us all become a child in front of the screen.  Weather we are fighting pirates, dancing at a ball or singing in the jungle.  Instantly our faces relax and our bodies start to bounce around.  Of course, Emma was even more so with today's show.  

Now for the show itself.  Years before meeting Wendy and the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell met Lizzy, a little girl with a steadfast belief in the power of pixie dust and the magic land of fairies. During the fairies’ summer visit to the flowering meadows of England, two very different worlds unite for the first time and Tink develops a special bond with a curious child in need of a friend. As her fellow fairies launch a daring rescue, Tinker Bell takes a huge risk, putting her own safety and the future of all fairy kind in jeopardy.  Now there is a whole cast to the fairies that live with Tink.  My favorite it Vidia.  But I always like the sneaky ones.  Emma also loves Iridessa and Rosetta.  Silvermist is especially beautiful.  And Fawn gentle as ever.  The boys Bobbie, Clank and Terenc help round up the crew.

We had to include how to make a Wind Wheel too.  Emma has made three today and they are now out in the flower beds.  She is convinced that there they will help the fairies make the flowers grow.   Thankfully we had painted newspaper here from Emma's latest art projects.  That we cut into the squares to make the pinwheels from.  Thus it is frugal and her own personal touch.  The sticks were just gathered from the yard.  That took a whole 15 minutes to find just the right ones.

See for yourself how the movie will pull you in fast. I am sure that it would be so much fun to watch with your lil ones too.  Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue debuted September 21st on Blu-ray Combo Pack (includes Blu-ray and bonus DVD of the film and movie download) and DVD.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of this DVD to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided.

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