Well, we are going through some changes at our house. First of all, as much as we love our Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake dvds, (we have several of each), I decided it was time to exit the fantasy lands of dancing princesses and chocolate rivers and enter into a more, well, realistic (?) cinema. Enter in....
Pollyanna! After searching on amazon for a really wheat-bread type cinema experience I settled in on sugary Pollyanna. But it's a healthy sugar, like the kind that comes from bananas and apples, not lollipops and cotton candy. A few years ago I was over-excited about the idea of watching non-animated (I'm not a fan!) movies with Anika. So I bought The Secret Garden. Um....she wasn't ready. I still have to re-try that one. Plus that Colin is a bit scary and whiny! I'm afraid of exposing my kids to that. Well, A and I liked Pollyanna, though it was a whoppin' 2 1/2 hours. And I'm not sure they knew when it was really over, because they just said it ended after Pollyanna fell from the tree and I'm not sure it had that much of a cliff-hanger ending.
Second item on the agenda: revamping old reads. Anika's been reading way too much fluff. Bless her heart for loving to read anyway, I know....but I was starting to feel like she was only getting pure joy out of her books, and you know that's not a good thing. When a pasttime is too fun, we moms know it's time to angle in a little work, a little more fiber into the fun diet. (sorry about all the food references)
So what we did last time at the library was to find some alternate-experience books. 
How about some historical fiction? That's right. "My America" books. I read this one too and it was wholesome and interesting! This one is Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary. Anika got to read (after a bit of convincing and bribery) about a girl and her family that came over on a ship from England and their struggles establishing the little colony of Jamestown. Plus they left her twin brother back in England because his lungs were weak! A little emotion never hurts when grabbing a youngun's attention. The boys will even like it. After all, she was a tough girl who got to build their houses. Of course.....but anyway, we liked these and will be reading more of this series.
Last item on the agenda is my new bathroom. Who ever doubted my orange paint intentions? Probably all of you....but it seems to work out just fine. For right now, it is definitely the most fun loo to relax in.
Anyway, anyone else have some good old-fashioned movies to recommend? A hearty series for the kiddies?
Monday, July 14, 2008
Summer movies and wholesome stuff...
Posted by cold cocoa at 12:06 PM
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6 comments:
Last year for my birthday Trent found some of my favorite childhood movies on line. "The Gnome Mobile" stole the show; the kids and Trent loved it. You can't beat an entire family pleaser. Esther loves to read "The Magic Treehouse" book series. Good luck with your search.
Pollyanna seems like a safe choice - but learn from my mistake and don't let them watch The Parent Trap... unless of course you are sure to lecture them on the evils of cutting one another's hair!
I think I would have to bribe H to read that book too - she wants to read Anne of Green Gables, but it's still just a little high for her... I'm doing more of the reading than she is. (but she LOVED the movies)
Plus, I just got a new saw on ksl classifieds, so watch here for further updates on crown moulding and the like. (we have tools, now we need time)
And the movies--I'm glad Cocoa is paying attention to that stuff.
Oooh--is that going to be our downstairs guest bathroom? How fun! I look forward to some fun NuSkin samples to try out in there.
We'll have to try that America series. I always feel good when there can be some learning. Is that part of the American Girl series? Those look like good wholesome movies and books and I've been wanting to try those out.
We liked the DVD's Black Beauty and Little Women, The Little Princess. They are good reads too as part of the Illustrated Classics we get from the library.
Don't you let your kids watch The Christmas Story every year? With that in mind (since it's not at all in the same line as Pollyanna)we watched The Sandlot and it was a big hit. We tried Annie once; they lasted about two minutes. I just never can figure out what's going to be a hit.
We watch American hero DVDs from the library when I feel the need for edcuational stuff not on my time.
We like "Smith Family Robinson". It's got real people, real animals, pirates and romance with a bit of singing and humor. We used both "Black Beauty" and "Black Stallion" in the car on different trips and everyone fell asleep. It's become a bit of a joke.
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