Princess Emmy DVD #Giveaway

Princess Emmy is perfect, for any little girl's stocking. It's a movie that goes back to classic animation.

Princess Emmy of the Kingdom of Kandis has a secret talent, she can speak to horses. I wish I had that talent. The young princess uses her gift to help maintain peace in the land when her scheming cousin attempts to cause trouble.

Win a Copy of Princess Emmy! 

This is a giveaway for people within the US. No P.O. Boxes please. You must be over the age of 18 to enter. You will have 48 hours to get back to me if you have in fact won. If you don't get back to me, I sadly have to pick another winner. 

Entry-Form

Disclaimer: I did not get this to review. I was not asked to promote this in any way.

Movie in the Park

The thing I like about Omaha, Nebraska is that it's very family friendly. They offer a lot of workshops, camps, Train Days, and free movies and more during the summer.

Alamo Draft House sponsors free movies at Turner Park in Midtown Crossing on Monday nights. 

We finally went to see Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. 

I know this is after the fact, but this gives you an idea of what kind of movies they play throughout the spring/summer:

June 10 - The Princess Bride (PG)

June 17 - Raiders of the Lost Ark (PG)

June 24 - Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (PG)

July 1 - Independence Day (PG-13)

July 8 - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (PG-13)

July 15 - Up (PG)

July 22 - Back to the Future (PG)

July 29 - Space Jam (PG)

August 5 - Jurassic Park (PG-13)

I would have enjoyed seeing them all. Right now we've only seen Ace Ventura. I'm writing this on July 11th though. I hope to see more. My boys have never seen Space Jam, and I think Isaak would enjoy it! The rest they've seen.

Isaak wrestling with Travis. It's not abuse if they are giggling and asking for it.

Isaak and I twinning. We look a like here. When he is right by Travis he looks like him too.

Parking:

We were a little nervous about parking. It's mostly metered parking. I was off the day we went. I said, "Let's just go early." We went way too early! We got there, parked in a garage that has 3 hours free parking, and walked over to see that we were the only ones there. 

They don't start the movie until it gets dark, so leaving at 4:30 to go, may have been overkill. 

I was thinking we'd pay for parking. At the end of the night they just let all the cars in the garage go. How nice!

What to Bring:

Chairs, Blankets, Card Games, Books, Bug Spray, Food and Water. They do have some food booths set up.

Mica was excited to read this book. He got it new at a local bookstore with a summer reading library coupon.

They play music, and old cartoons before the show.

Does the town you live in have a free movie night?

Random Tid Bits

1. Travis and I are majorly hooked on a series called Orphan Black. I get it for free because I'm a Prime Member. It's a BBC America show. It's won quite a few awards, and is rated highly on Amazon.
   
   The star of the show plays a number of characters because she's a clone. There are bad characters, good characters, and characters that flip from good to bad. The main character Sarah doesn't know who to trust. Being a clone takes its toll on their sanity. It has good writing, superb acting, and awesome videography.
   
   

   

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   My kids know about the show. I've talked about it with them. They were going on and on about one of their stories, so I followed up by telling them about this show. Of course they can't watch it. The content is intense at times. They do show sexy kissing, drinking, violence and talk about drug money at times.


2. One thing they could watch with us is Flipped. It's a feel good movie. If you like the show The Wonder Years, the movie Stand By Me, or Sandlot you'll like this flick. I've never heard of it, but looked up movies similar to Stand By Me, and saw this one. It's rated most of the stars. It has Aiden Quinn and a few other actors in it that you'd recognize.
   
   

   

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   Travis was like, "Really we're going to watch this?" at first. Then even he got into it. Mica loved the movie! I of course got into it. I like movies that have narrators. It held Isaak's attention span well. Certainly a great movie for the whole family to watch. 


3. Things continue to go well in the classroom. There's one person that's fairly negative in my first year class. Do you have anyone negative in your life? If so how do you cope with them? They have gender identity problems. I imagine that would be tough to go through. When I ask him questions every answer is a negative one. He hardly wants to work on the project assigned. Anime drawing will only get this younger generation so far. They have to know other things.
   
   I'm the type of teacher that makes them learn the rules, then learn when it's ok to break the rules. I'm up front about this! If one learns how to play the piano, they won't learn Mozart right away. They'd learn the scales, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I'm not starting them out with something super simple, but they have to have good craft, color schemes picked, and good reference to begin with. It wasn't until now that I've moved into breaking the rules. We're working with Ebony Pencil, Crystal Clear spray, and oil washes. Coming up is an assignment where they paint a background, add packaging tape, paint a middle ground, add packaging tape, paint a foreground, add packaging tape, and paint details. They don't have to wait for their paint to dry for that technique. 


4. Mica got voted into the student council again. Isaak's beginning to feel like he's getting shafted. Mica's also doing safety patrol, he's in band, he got a special science award last year, and the year before he got a special writing award. Isaak's smart and gifted too. I keep telling him that his time will come for other things. 


5. Mica keeps singing this song, which gets in my head big time! I start singing, "This song's not worth it..."

Is there anything randomly interesting in your life?

Midtown Crossing at Turner Park

One thing I really love is all the family friendly things that Omaha has.

I have a friend that I've had since I was in preschool that was in town. We contemplated on what to do. I didn't mind if they came to my house, but we have kids that like to run about. A few of our other friends were meeting up to. One suggested we meet up at Midtown Crossing at Turner Park.

Every Monday night (June 1 - July 27) Midtown Crossing at Turner Park has a free movie when the sun goes down. That's not all that's free. They have popcorn that's free, yoga for kids that is free, and a nonprofit organization was handing out bottled water that was free. I'm pretty sure they made their money off of cotton candy, and other food stands that were around. There's small eating places around the perimeter of the park.

We knew we wouldn't be able to stay that late. Here it doesn't start to get dark until 9. That's when they put the movie on.

We all brought a blanket, food, drink, and card games.
 
After we were done eating the 2 seven year olds danced in front of the big screen. I'm sure we weren't the only ones laughing at them.

Mica brought Family Talk cards geared towards stimulating conversation. I thought it was a great idea.  It was fun for the first 25 questions. After about the 200th question that Mica asked we were all done with the game.

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The boys did their free yoga. I had to give Mica the stare down Mom eyes to go over to do it. They're supposed to be lifting their tummies up, but it looks a little more like they were star gazing.

The adults played other card games, and just talked.

I was cracking up because my friend's son was super into Karate Kid. Isaak and Joey played Karate Kid. 

Mica must be too old for that because he sat out. He was more interested in talking to us about Johnny on the Spot Porta Potties.

Thank goodness my friend didn't mind that the 7 year olds were playing Karate Kid. I totally didn't care. You know how some parents are, "Oh no you'll get dirty!" or "Heavens sake you're going to get hurt!" Sure that can happen, but boys go through a stage where playing Karate Kid is the bomb. The kids set their own ground rules, and had a blast. Isaak said, "Ok you can kick me here, but don't kick me in the stomach ok?" For the record Joey didn't kick him in the stomach. I'm sure they have tons now.

When they were just about to start the movie we left. It was The Hunger Games Catching Fire anyhow. Not really kid friendly. Now if it was Karate Kid that was playing, we may have stayed.

We also had to get home because the boys are in summer school this week. They signed up to be in fun summer school with my nephew's school district. Mica's in two classes called: Mining for Ore and Animation/Claymation. Isaak's in two classes called: Big Top Art and Circus Routing Writing. 

 

Isaak sure did get a work out playing Karate Kid. He fell asleep in the car ride home.

It was 9:20 before we got home. Two sweaty boys needed a shower!

 

Do you have any free events where you live?

I'll Be a Man Who Will Fight for You Honor

I ordered Karate Kid 2. It came in the mail yesterday. The boys were super excited to see it! They love the Original Karate Kid and the newer sort of remake The Karate Kid.

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We sat down and had movie night. I don't think it had enough action for Isaak, but he enjoyed some cuddle time. I was working on an art project, which involved seashells; Isaak loved playing with them as well. Mica was glued to the TV. I knew he'd like the movie.

When I was younger and this movie came out I thought Ralph Macchio was so hot. Now he's sort of funny looking. I was only 10 when the movie came out in the theaters. I felt like when the song Glory of Love Played by Peter Cetera, it came from Ralph Macchio. LOL

A friend and I both LOVED that cheesy song. We recorded it over and over again on a cassette tape just so we didn't have to rewind it. We'd listen to it over and over again.

Last night when that song played I sang; Mica looked up at me like he was thinking, What the hell Mom? Daddy said, "You better stop singing that song!" I knew it would get in his head. Later during the credits, it was playing again. I grabbed Mica and started dancing with him.

Then when it was time to do dishes I heard Daddy singing it. :) I said, "I thought you didn't like for me to sing that song?! Here you are singing it!" He said, "It's your fault! You got it in my head!" Then this morning he sang it again.

PS I didn't just have a crush on Ralph Macchio. I liked Tom Cruise, before he went a little wacko. River Phoenix was so hot before he ODed on heroin/coke. Pretty much all my teen crushes went down hill. A lot of stars go downhill.

Basket o' Books Review

I was fortunate enough to receive a basket of my choice from Basket o' Books!

They have many baskets to choose from. I wanted something that we could enjoy as a family. Their Movie Night Basket is perfect!

What's great is that Basket o' Books is much more personal then most companies. I emailed them with movie ideas and candy we like. They then put it all together.

Mica and Isaak were both super excited to get the Movie Night Basket in the mail!

There was enough in the basket for our family to have about four movie nights.

Movie Theater Candy: Reese's Pieces, Milk Duds, Skittles and Junior Mints.

Goldfish Pizza flavored crackers. Isaak has been sneaking handfuls of crackers. LOL

Cracker Jack and microwave Popcorn. What the people at Basket o' Books didn't know is that I proposed to Daddy first by putting a plastic ring with a loop of paper popping the question in a box of Cracker Jack. Later that proposal night Daddy popped the question with a real ring that he designed and made himself. Cracker Jack is special to us.

The boy's favorite surprise: How to Train Your Dragon. I've been wanting to see it. It's a really great film that we all could enjoy! Isaak cuddled with me and Mica cuddled with Daddy through the whole movie.

Basket o' Books can incorporate anything non-perishable you can imagine including:

• DVDs and Videos
• Coffiees and Teas
• Gourmet Sweets
• Stationery Items
• Books on Tape/CDs
• Picture Frames
• Silk Flowers
• Toys/Games
• Office Supplies
• Home Accessories
• Gift Certificates

They truly think out of the basket!

Disclaimer: The opinions on this post are my personal take on the products. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. If you have questions about this post please contact me at: alissa4illustration@hotmail.com

Movie Night

• We had a movie night at my house on Saturday. 
• The adults watched Inception and the kids watched Despicable Me.
• It was mostly a family event. 

• The boy's are in Mica's room. I set up the portable DVD player. We would never let Mica have a TV in his room. 
• We made popcorn, cut up carrots, cheese and crackers. Then a friend brought over movie theater candy and Oreo's. 
• The only little boy that disturbed us some is Isaak, the Non-TV watcher. He came out of Mica's room and said, "Ok boy's I'll be back in just a minute!" So cute coming from a two year old.
• Then he came out, and stood at the coffee table where all the food was at. He wanted an Oreo, but kept looking around at all the adults for approval. Grandpa said he looked just like me when he did that.
• When the kids were done with their movie I gave them all a toothbrush. Cousin Elijah {the one with blond hair} came to give me his toothbrush. His mouth was all black because he ate an Oreo after he brushed his teeth. Not exactly the order I thought he should do that in.
• They lined up to make bubbles in the toilet {pee}. By saying the bubble bit, Isaak then loves to go potty.
• Then Mica went to bed in his bed, Isaak in his bed, Evan and Elijah in our bed. 
• We finished our movie.