Iron Man 2 Review

Jeremy and I snuck out one Thursday evening to go see Iron Man 2. It was the first time we'd done anything spontaneous in years - and it felt great! We were like 2 kids in a candy store giddy and tickled pink to be out on a weeknight.

We were both big fans of the first movie, Iron Man 1. We are suckers for big budget movies that are action packed with a star studded cast, some humor, and a bit of romance. This movie fit the bill perfectly.

Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and even Paul Bettany (in a small role) were great! They delivered solid performances and entertained us well. We are still on the fence about Don Cheadle. Yes, he is a fabulous actor. Yes, we thought he was excellent in Ocean's 11, 12 & 13. We like him. We do. He just wasn't Terrence Howard that played Rhody in the first movie. It feels like Holllywood was trying to pull a fast one on us. And we don't appreciate that! The big bad evil guy was played by Mickey Rourke. He had a great screen presence. He was the ultimate comic book villain with a cool older guy rocker image.

We were fully entertained and pleased with this movie. Jeremy liked it so much that he took our boys to see it the next week!

Here's an interesting tid bit that happened during the last 5 minutes of the movie: the last action scene is taking place, the tension is building, the windows on the screen are breaking, the theater is shaking with all the crashing and booming sounds, and all of a sudden a light bulb in the theater comes crashing down on the floor in front of us. Yes, a REAL LIGHT BULB fell out of the ceiling and burst into a thousand pieces just in front of the front row seats. The movie was so intense that it shook the light loose! Ha! After the movie finished Jeremy went down front to survey the scene and picked up the biggest piece to take to the manager. The workers were as shocked as we were! No, we didn't get any free tickets or concessions for bringing this matter to their attention, but we did get a good story out of it!

So, here's our recommendation... If you liked Iron Man 1 then you will most definitely like Iron Man 2. Go see it. Go to the full price theater or wait until it's at the $3. Or rent it when it comes out on DVD. Any way you see it you will like it!

We give it 4 1/2 drones out of 5.

http://www.ironmanmovie.com/videoWidget.html?v=raspu_2_ft980

Jackson's Napping Place

Jeremy and Trevor were still out of town. It was time to go get some dinner. Just me and the kids. Mama was determined not to cook tonight! I began the round up of children. Logan? check. Lizzie? check. Shoes on? check check.

Now to find Jackson. I went next door to the Stoph's - up the stairs and down the stairs. No Jackson. I came home - up the stairs and down the stairs. No Jackson. Out the back door again to Grandma's house. Hellooooo??? Jackson???? No Jackson there either. One more time through the Stoph's - a deeper look into the garage and all the bedrooms. Really. No Jackson. I start to get a little panicky. Ok. He must've fallen asleep somewhere and that's the reason he's not answering any of my calls. Let's try home ONE MORE TIME. I go through every bedroom, every closet, look behind every door, and finally come downstairs having exhausted every hiding location.

"Has ANYONE seen Jackson?!" I sternly ask to the oblivion.

Lizzie quietly answers, "He's in the laundry room."

"Yeah, right." I think to myself. Of course she says the only room I'd overlooked.

I stomp back up the stairs and peer into the dark laundry room. Thinking to myself, "Why would I look there? He never goes in that room."

Lo and behold, there he was! Fast asleep on top of a great pile of stinky laundry - chonis and all. Look closely and see what is near his hand. He couldn't find any of his own goo-gahs and must've heard mama's silkies calling him from the laundry room.

We had lots of late nights since Daddy and Trevor had been out of town. Our sleep schedules were a little off (as well as the rest of our schedules!). Note our late dinner hour of 7PM. No wonder the child had to take an evening siesta - he was exhausted from our lack of a routine and scheduled week!

Panic attack over. Total searching time: a good 12 minutes. The pizza dinner we were late for was cold, but still enjoyable because we were all there together. No children missing. Priceless.

kids say the darndest things

Jackson: Mommy, I say shut up.

Me: No, Jackson. We don't say that word. It's not nice.

Jackson: The TV says I say shut up.

Me: Jackson, that's not a nice word. You don't say that!

Jackson: Doctor says I say shut up.

Me: WHAT?!

Jackson: Thomas the Train say shut up.

Me: Jackson, nice boys don't say that. You need to be nice to your friends. Are you nice boy? Or mean boy?

Jackson: I nice boy, mommy. I no say shut up.

Trevor's End of the Year Spring Concert

Trevor had a fabulous extra curricular year. He was involved in sooo many things! 5th grade is the year that all sports, music, and other extra activities open up to the student in our school district. Of course Trevor wanted to do it all!! Music was one of his many extra things he chose to do this year. He so badly wanted to play the trumpet in the school band (he'd never played a note before in his life) and was hoping desperately to get one of the school's instruments. They have so much interest in band that they had to do a lottery to see who would get the school instruments. His name was drawn first out of the hat!

It was an up and down year trying to juggle all of his different activities. He learned which ones he liked and which ones he didn't. Trumpet made the "challenging" list. Learning to play an instrument takes lots of time and practice - both of which suffered this year. He liked being a part of the band, he likes his music teacher, and being able to get out of class.

He did great in his end of the year concert. He really looks great behind that trumpet!

Here's Trevor's cousins, Emma and Jacob, and his buddy Jacob E. All of these kids were also on Trevor's D.I. team, in the school play, in his primary class at church, and in his cub scout troop. These kids will be best buds for a long time.

Here's their band playlist.

Next up was the choir. This extra curricular activity is Trevor's #1 FAVORITE! He loves to sing! (This fact makes me burst with pride!) Their director chose to do a small tribute to the Jackson 5 as part of their Spring curriculum. There was some choreography and they sang to a recorded track. It's always a great performance when you can tell your kid is totally enjoying himself up there!

It has been a great year. Can't wait to see what he chooses to do next year.

the end of the joy school year is here

Jackson had a great year of preschool/joyschool with his friends. These kids were his schoolmates. It was such a treat for him to go to a different friend's house each week to learn and play!

Jackson really did learn some things. He can recognize several letters and numbers and can even write a few on his own already. None of our other kids took an interest in letters and numbers like Jackson at this age. He has one more year at home before kindergarten. He'll be ready when that day finally arrives!

Look at these cute kids! Don't they look like a boatload of fun just waiting to happen? There is so much energy inside each one of these little people and each with a distinct and different personality. We had so much fun together this year - it's hard to say goodbye. (Not too sad... they'll see each other every Sunday at church!)

Thank you Joy School friends (and moms for all your hard work, time, and patience)! It was a great year!

Strikes back the Empire Does

Jackson and the gallon of RED PUNCH

It's ironic that just this morning I was thinking to myself, "Wow, it's been a LONG time since Jackson has made me crazy with his shenanigans." And then, as if I'd just jinxed myself with the thought... dun, Dun, DUN... he struck again!

Jackson helped himself to our gallon pitcher of red punch (generic Crystal Light) in the fridge. He sloppily poured himself a drink on the floor and left the pitcher sitting there. Enter Lizzie 2 minutes later and she doesn't see it sitting in her path - naturally, because we don't normally keep the juice pitcher in the middle of the kitchen floor! Lizzie knocks the thing over and the entire gallon of red goodness splashes everywhere! I knew exactly what happened even before I saw it. All I could do was just shake my head and go out to get the mop. After 5 minutes of back and forth from the sink to the red puddle I gave up on the mop. Out came the white towel (yes, this was a conscious choice - I can bleach the heck out of a white towel, but I can't bleach the colored ones.)

I walked upstairs thinking to myself, "that mess was a lovely 20 minutes of my life I'll never have back." As I reached the top of the stairs... dun, Dun, DUN... there it was again!! The cup of red punch Jackson had poured for himself had made it's way all the way up the stairs! And one can only imagine the horror I saw. The cup was on it's side, laying in a pool of yet more red punch, on the desk right next to the computer! "AUGHHH! JACKSON!" He heard my call and came quickly. He observed the scene and then said, "I sorry mom. I sorry 'bout dat." and gave me a consoling pat/rub on my back. He was a lucky boy in that moment. I melted slightly and counted my blessings:

He really was sorry for making a mess.
He didn't do it on purpose.
The punch never touched the carpet - thank heavens!
The benefits of a sugar free drink - there was no sticky residue!
And it really did clean up quickly.

I am so grateful that he is growing up and out of his rotten monkey business. He can finally communicate and be communicated with. There were many rough moments in the past and I am happy to say goodbye to those times. And there were many!

For you reading pleasure, and my joy to be (almost) rid of these awful moments, let's remember some of the great stories...

ficus

motor oil

TP

red pen

bacon mints

laptop keys

toilet

syrup

"Oh, What do YOU do in the summertime?"

Summer is quickly approaching and our activity idea list is hum drum BOR-RING same as every year. We need to spice things up a bit.

We want your tips for:

-keeping the house clean/bribes/rewards,
-places to go,
-crafts to create,
-imagination escapdes to pursue,
-pool games, board games, in-door/out-door games,
-good books to read
-hikes,
-bike trails,
-local/community events,
-kid-friendly recipes,
-night-time adventures too!

Please share ideas - big or small - so we can begin to create our summer fun itinerary!

Marcos Graduates

This is my brother, Marcos. He just graduated from Fresno State! GO BULLDOGS! He participated in the graduation ceremony held at the Save Mart Center last Saturday (on Logan's birthday!). He graduated with a B.S. in the field of Science and Mathematics. Wow. That's impressive. It takes a special person to enjoy science and math enough to major in it in college. Marcos, you are special. ;)

The arena was packed! We all commented on how many people show up for this 2 1/2 hour show. Check out how nice it all looked. The center picture is of the floor seating - ALL of those seats were the graduates! The 3rd picture is a "close up" of Marcos from where we were sitting. Can you see him turned around waving his program at us?

Here are some photos from after the ceremony. Proud parents, hungry baby, and the rest of us. We all enjoyed the color of Marcos's tassel. Many people don't know this, but when you graduate from college you wear a tassel in a color designated to your major. Marcos's just happened to be the exact same color as his high school graduation tassel! He finished high school in '01 and then finished college in '10. Should've just worn the HS tassel - no one would've known any better - the numbers were the same and everything!

Congrats to you, Marcos. We are so proud of you! You have proved that you really can accomplish anything you set your mind to do. Go get 'em!

Uncles are good for...

...swinging

...a good excuse to go out and eat Mexican food


...being silly in the car together


...and giving lots of love.