"Can I Watch a Movie of ME?"

It started when I was away in China. The Boys were missing The Girls so they went and put on the family DVDs I'd made years ago. They were a huge hit, the boys were transfixed, but all the way through Scrag kept asking, "Where's me?"

Oh dear. Mr G was in trouble. He emailed me in a panic asking if we had any movies of Scrag or there would be fireworks.

Of course for years I had been filming every birthday and Christmas and holiday abroad, but the mini discs could only be watched through the camera (I had failed to "finalise" them for "playback on other devices".)

From the other side of the world I tried to remember how to operate the camera for playback. Somehow hubby was able to decipher my instructions. A crisis averted, a small boy appeased.

Scrag was in love with the sight of himself on film.

Now almost every day we hear the words, "Can I watch a Movie of Me?"
He gives his requests sing-song style, over and over, until we sigh and go hook up the camera and sort through the bag of mini-discs until we find the one he wants to watch.

Christmas 2008 is his favourite (where daddy makes baby-Scrag dance on his knee wearing his new shoes). His first birthday teddy bears picnic is another favourite, along with our most recent Gold Coast holiday.
As long as he sees himself on the screen, Scrag is happy.

Of course it's been fun for us too.
It had been a while since we watched the old family movies.
It had gotten to the point that I'd even given up filming birthday parties, content to give up my juggling act between capturing video footage and snapping photos since nobody really watched the videos anyway.



Oh dear. A grave miscalculation there, Simoney.
Now we have missed filming the epic Peter Pan Party (one of my best ever) and the fun Baking Birthday (so enjoyable). Christmas 2011 went unfilmed too, along with this year's school shows and holidays.

What was I thinking????

It's time to charge up my handicam battery pack. Invest in some more mini-discs. Start capturing life's special moments in live action again.

Because photos are wonderful, but in the end they are only a snapshot. There's no soundtrack on a photo. A photo doesn't capture the sound of childish voices and the funny things they say.

I didn't realise how sweet and cute Dash's little-boy voice was. I forgot how Scrag used to call his dummy, his "dummygone" (as in Where's your dummy gone?). Miss Fab's hairstyles and endless handstands. The Christmases where the kids blew us away with their lovely manners: "Let Scrag go first cos he's the littlest".

I'd forgotten how much hugging and kissing and laughing and wrestling and joking we have enjoyed through the years.
Priceless.

And now I know what I'm going to do for Scrag this Christmas... Convert all those endless mini discs onto DVD so I don't have to hook up blimmin cables and handicam every time he says those words:

"Can I watch a Movie of Me...?"

Movie Theme Night: Star Wars

Every Saturday we will be sharing with you our ideas for family movie nights. Movie reviews and fun theme night ideas.

Our Super-Cool-Fab Review Team...

Our crack team of expert Movie Reviewers are this week reviewing the Star Wars series, the best loved Sci-Fi movies ever made.

Star Wars has been around since the Seventies and from the beginning the movies have inspired loyal fans and a cult following all over the world. There's even an official International Star Wars Day - May the Fourth (be with you). I kid you not. These may be old movies, but they are still some of the best around. Very young kids may not appreciate them but the older ones will, and in our house, we are huge Star Wars fans. These movies give us the chance to bridge the generation gap and share with our kids some of what we loved when we were their age... and the fact that the films are being re-released in 3D helps make them current again.

Movie Plot Summary: There are six movies in the Star Wars series. Episodes I through III are the most recently made, brought out as a prequel to the original films made in the 1970's. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is the darkest of them, and is rated (M) - a fair bit of violence as Anakin Skywalker (Luke's father) is turned to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader. (Even though this is a dark movie, it's a great talking point for older kids about forgiveness and anger). The earlier movies begin with Episode IV: A New Hope, then The Empire Strikes Back (my personal favourite) and finally Return of the Jedi, where the goodies triumph at last.

Here's what our experts have to say about The Star Wars Movies...

Dash. B. Cool: "My favourite is Episode III:Revenge of the Sith. It's got heaps of battles in it and lots of action, and I was interested to see how Anakin turned to Darth Vader. All the movies are cool, they have good action and a good story. They are good for a movie night."

Dash scores this movie's "coolness" as: ♥♥♥♥♥

Foxy Fab: "I like Return of the Jedi the best, (Episode VI). I like it cos it doesn't have so much war in it and cos the goodies win. I also like the Ewoks. I like Padme when she is Queen Amidala, in the first movie. The pod race is cool in Episode I. And I also like Princess Leia."

Foxy rates this movie's "fabness" as: ♥♥♥♥♥

Super Scrag: "My favourite is the Clone Wars. they are cartoons, not the other movies. They are lots of action. My favourite is Darth Vader. I like it cos at the end he's good."

SuperScrag scores this movie's "super-ness" as: ♥♥♥♥♥

..............

You could run a whole series of Star Wars family movie nights (one per week) or hold a marathon sleepover. Either way there are endless ways to get into theme and make them loads of fun...

Ideas to Make Your Star Wars Movie Nights even more Super-Cool-Fab...

Here are Some simple ideas to turn your movie night into a fun family event...

• dress up as your favourite Star Wars characters
• make an easy darth vader pinata and use light sabers to destroy it
• make Chewie "wookie cookies"
• decorate the table with glow sticks
• create light saber napkin holders with toilet rolls and silver duct tape
• have "Han" Burgers for dinner
• make yoda sodas for dessert with lime soda and icecream
• have a light saber battle

...plus loads more ideas here on Pinterest

What are your best Movie Night Ideas? Send me an email with your ideas (include a picture or link to a blog post if you can) so I can feature it here on Saturday Night at the Movies.

Have a great Saturday!
♥

Guest Post: Mothering from Scratch

Meet my friends Kathy and Melinda at Mothering from Scratch...

Kathy and Melinda met on a Little League baseball field. The coach — Melinda’s kids’ paediatrician — also happened to be Kathy’s husband. They discovered their shared passion for writing, as well as a common desire to serve and encourage other mothers.
Kathy (the redhead) mothers four kids ranging in age from late teens to early elementary years. Melinda (the brunette) is mother to a middle-school-aged son and a  teenage daughter. They blog over at Mothering from Scratch, and come at things from a Christian perspective.

I've been blog-friends with Melinda since my very early days blogging. I've always found her to be super-encouraging and supportive. It's been my pleasure to make Kathy's acquaintance though Melinda, and now I am privileged o be a guest "Momtor" over at Mothering from Scratch on a regular basis. I invited them so share some of their thoughts with my readers here at Greatfun4kids, and this is what they came up with...

A Mother’s Mission Field
by Kathy and Melinda [Mothering from Scratch]

We all have dreams within our hearts. Desires to change the world. Blaze a trail. Alter the course of mankind.
As we’re buried beneath a mountain of laundry or drowning in a sink full of dirty dishes, it is difficult to believe that those dreams will ever be fulfilled. As we take our kids to soccer practice for the 400th time, we may be tempted to think those goals will be left to someone else. Someone more dynamic. Energetic. Available.
Guess what? We are changing the world. We are blazing a trail. We are altering the course of mankind. Everyday. With each heartfelt hug. With each sloppy kiss. In the midst of folding underwear and helping with homework. Almost without notice, the gospel is being preached, lives are being changed, and Christ’s love is shared.

When I (Melinda) was a little girl, I was terrified that God would call me to be a missionary. I didn’t want to disappoint him. But I didn’t want to live in a hut in Africa either. As I got older, I realized that He did call be to be a missionary — not in some exotic location, but as a mother in my own home.
He’s called you, too. We all have a mission field and we wake up inside of it every morning.

How to maximize the impact on our mothering mission field:

Don’t do it alone. There’s a reason Jesus sent up his disciples two-by-two. Isolation leaves us vulnerable and ineffective. Support comes from a variety of sources — husbands, teachers, coaches, other mothers, extended family. We can’t just look for support, though. We need to be the support for other moms, too. No mom left behind.

Make sure we’re equipped. Spend time with God everyday. It is the fuel that will enables us to weather the trials, chaos and stress of motherhood. It gives us the divine wisdom and passion we need to pass on to our children. Ask others to pray for us. It serves as a hedge of protection around us as we are in a vulnerable territory as mothers.

Don’t neglect our own needs. Our usefulness depends on our own mental and physical health. Sacrifice is admirable. Martyrdom is optional. It is not selfish to care for your own needs even in the midst of motherhood. It is essential.
We may not be able to change the world. But we can impact our corner of it.

..............

Melinda and Kathy are doing a special series over the next month or so to help reduce the stress of the Christmas season... so head on over to check out their awesome tips and words of wisdom...

Climbing High, Flying

Climbing can be scary. When we leave the safety of the ground in an attempt to scale new heights, we run the risk of falling, crashing, failing.

The fear of the unknown often keeps us earthbound. We know that gravity never takes a nap. One false step  and down we come.

So much safer to stay with our feet firmly planted, where if we trip and fall we only risk a scraped knee or a bruised ego.

But staying on the ground carries its own risks. Sure, we may be safe, but think of all the fun we are missing. And the view... think of the view!

Up high we can see for miles, we discover things we never knew were there. We can see where we are in the scheme of things too.

Down on the ground we see only what's right in front of us and a few glimpses of sky. The earthbound things block our view; we can't see the forest for the trees.

Up high, we can see forever. The sky stretches above us, limitless. Its as close to flying as we'll get. Up there, we're the King of the World.

The joy of climbing and seeing, almost flying... it's worth the risk of falling.

A wise man once said, "It's simple to mend a broken bone, 

but a broken spirit, crushed by fear? That's something altogether more difficult".

Fear of falling stops us from climbing. Fear of being hurt, stops us from taking risks.

But trying something new - conquering a fear - sets us free, gives us wings.

Whether it's trying the flying fox for the first time, riding an escalator, catching an airplane, managing a netball team... when we attempt the things we once feared and discover that the fear was unfounded (the plane didn't crash, we didn't fall off, the team survived)... it feels like flying.

And flying is so much better than staying on the ground, afraid to fall.

Honest.

♥

(P.S. The pictures were taken on Friday on a beautiful Spring day, at Pt Chev park, where Scrag conquered his fear of the Flying Fox and discovered what it feels like to fly)

A School Holiday Impromptu Lego Party

It's Monday and the kids are back to school. The holidays are over, term Four has begun. 

Part of me heaves a sigh of relief; part of me misses them already.

A large part of the hols were taken up with recovering from jetlag and the painful effects of the switch to Daylight Saving. I have lost count of all the movies we watched in our pyjamas. 

We did make it out of the house eventually (to the Mall, to visit friends, to the park).

We even did some gardening, planting vegies and strawberries ready for a summer of home-grown salads.

But by far the coolest thing we did was throwing an impromptu neighbourhood Lego party.

OK, it wasn't exactly impromptu, because we did actually invite people ahead of time, but when you consider that at 9am I was still in my PJs, surveying a messy house, un-iced biscuits and no baking... it was impromptu.

So here's how to put together a Lego party in under an hour (and have the best day of the holidays for no money at all)...

1. Invite some very cool people

This is very important and the key to your impromptu party's success. Invite people who are (a) easygoing and relaxed (b) intelligent, funny and nice (c) mothers to very nice children.

I invited three of my favourite people, the best of company. Between us we had twelve children ranging in ages from 3 to 10, so there were playmates for everybody. Basically we never saw the kids cos they were off playing with their friends leaving us to laugh, talk and hang out in blissful peace.

[My Lego party Pinterest Board]

2. Pin cool ideas on Pinterest (and then don't get around to doing them)

I was impressed with all the cool Lego food ideas to be found on Pinterest, but ended up borrowing only two of the ideas, which I managed to pull off in under an hour. I love Pinterest and all the creativity to be found there, but in the end you only need a couple of cute creative touches to give your impromptu party some pizzazz. 

[Dairy free banana choc chip muffins]

3. Stay up late the night before and then sleep in the next day

If you want a truly impromptu party, then you need to leave absolutely everything to the last minute. Don't bake muffins the day before like a sensible person. Don't ice the biscuits or create the lego straw holders. Make sure your house is a bomb site and then at 9am ... PANIC!

4. Get the kids to help you

Since you have prepared absolutely nothing (apart from ordering in some sweets and biscuits on the shopping) you are going to need all the help you can get, which means dragging your kids off the computer, kicking them off the Wii and enlisting their help to clean, bake, decorate and create your party. If they complain remind them that you are doing this FOR THEM. You have ONE HOUR.

[homemade fizzy lemonade]

5. Just roll with it

You may have envisaged something like this that you spotted on Pinterest...

but when your son builds you something like this to put your straws and sweets in...

...just roll with it. Creativity is to be encouraged, right?

Since you now have no time to bake and frost cupcakes before your guests arrive in ONE HOUR, you're going to have to opt for banana muffins and ditch the frosting. Just as well you bought that packet of Arnotts Nice biscuits; just whip up some icing, smear some on, and add Skittles to create Lego bumps. The kids will be impressed and one little darling will even come up and say, "Thankyou Simone for making this lovely party food". Awwwwwww. See what happens when you invite friends with lovely kids?

6. Dairy free can be easy if you plan ahead

If one of your special little guests is dairy intolerant make sure you have some dairy free options available. This is easier than it sounds and only requires ordering some soy milk, Skittles and dark chocolate chips. Always keep Olivani spread in the fridge and substitute it for butter. 

Arnotts "Nice" biscuits contain only traces of dairy, so by using your dairy-free Olivani in the frosting and Skittles to decorate instead of Smarties you now have some cool dairy free lego biscuits. Your special guest will appreciate the extra effort and the other kids won't know the difference. 

Source: growingkiwis.blogspot.co.nz via Simone on Pinterest

(You can also ask his clever mum to make some dairy-free Lego minifigures and bring them along - the ones you spotted on her blog, which gave you the idea for this impromptu Lego party)

7. Leave the kids to it

Set the kids' party food out on the table in the kitchen, the one with the easily-cleaned wooden floor and let them dig in. Retreat with your mummy friends to the calm of the lounge where you can eat fat-free brownie and asparagus with hummus, sip tea and chat for hours while the kids entertain themselves. 

Don't worry about the mess. Crumbs can be swept, spilled water can be mopped... later. Just block out the noise and enjoy hanging with your very cool friends.

8. Entertainment is unnecessary when you have a house full of kids (and Lego Creationary)

If you are lucky enough to have Lego Creationary put it somewhere the kids can see it, and hope that they will take the hint. If your little guests discover it only at the end of the party and start complaining that they didn't get the chance to play it, offer to send it home with them... if they can take your kids along too to play it with them (you will probably overhear them asking their mum if they can get it for Christmas). It really is a very cool game (like Pictionary, but with Lego).

(Lego Creationary... played Later)

See, wasn't that easy?? And so much FUN.

A Lego-inspired impromptu party, rustled up in an hour. The best morning of the holidays. You should try it some time.

• My Party Page (with loads of other fun parties)

Movie Night: The Pacifier (and Popcorn)

Every Saturday we will be sharing with you our ideas for family movie nights. Movie reviews and fun theme night ideas.

Our Super-Cool-Fab Review Team...

Our crack team of expert Movie Reviewers are this week reviewing The Pacifier starring Vin Diesel.

The Pacifier is one of those movies you've never heard of which takes you by surprise as pretty cool. I'd seen it in the Fatso Family Movie categories for a while but always skipped past it, not interested. Vin Diesel is not really one of my favs. But this week I decided to give it a go, thinking it might make everybody happy - action, muscle shirts and the cliche laughs of a Navy Seal struggling to change nappies and park the mini-van. Turns out it was a good choice. Even Mr G enjoyed it (and Vin Diesel was a lot better in this kids flick than he usually is in grown-up movies.)

Movie Plot Summary: Vin Diesel is a Navy Seal who is assigned to protect the family of a guy who invented a secret weapons programme and died in the process. Bad guys are out to find where he hid it, and in the meantime Vin Diesel has to play babysitter-bodyguard while the mum travels to Switzerland to try and find what they're after. Plenty of action and a good choice for a whole-family movie night (especially if you want dad to watch and enjoy).

Here's what our experts have to say about The Pacifier...

Dash. B. Cool: "This was a good movie. I didn't see the start but it was a good movie. It was funny but cool. I liked the main actor, he was funny and cool and strong. He works out! Ahhhh!"

Dash scores this movie's "coolness" as: ♥♥♥♥♥

Foxy Fab: "It was funny and foxy and fab (just like me). It was really cool because when the little girls did karate against the boys and the girls won."

Foxy rates this movie's "fabness" as: ♥♥♥♥♥

Super Scrag: "It was a little bit cool, he [Vin Diesel] was strong; he was cool and he was so so original. I think little kids and big kids would like this movie. That's all I want to say."

SuperScrag scores this movie's "super-ness" as: ♥♥♥♥♥

..............

This movie is rated (PG), probably because of the "low-level violence" (Navy Seal type stuff as well as wrestling and karate and fighting bad guys). There's no blood and gore or spooky bits or even any bits that make you jump.No swearing or crass language, just one tame kiss at the end... and plenty of crappy nappies flying around.

Ideas to Make Your Movie Night even more Super-Cool-Fab: Pretty Popcorn

Popcorn and movies go together like salt and pepper. But who says popcorn has to be predictable? So many delicious colourful ways to enjoy popcorn, and make your movie night a bit festive.

• stir through some icing sugar for sweetness and then add colour
• for multi-coloured popcorn separate into 2-3 bowls, add a few drops of food colouring and mix with your hands; then recombine popcorn into one bowl for a colourful treat
• mix in some 100s and 1000s sprinkles for rainbow dots
• serve in cuplet cones for an edible container
• print out and make your own popcorn boxes from here
• add choc chips, mini marshmallows or MnMs for colour and crunch...

...and lots more popcorn ideas and recipes on here on Pinterest

What are your best Movie Night Ideas? Send me an email with your ideas (include a picture or link to a blog post if you can) so I can feature it here on Saturday Night at the Movies.

Have a great Saturday!
♥