Mommy's little helper...

or trouble maker???

Twilight, the Movie

My review:

It was good enough, not great, but good enough. The first 30-45 minutes were seriously cheesy. I laughed in places that I’m sure were not intended to be funny. But, as the movie progressed, it got better and I look forward to a sequel. The movie was pretty low budget so I am hoping that New Moon has more money to work with. I went twice this weekend…Friday night with a bunch of girls, which was way fun. Saturday night with Blaine, who really wasn’t a fan at all but a good sport to go with me. He said that if it was done by the same people who do Harry Potter, it could have been good.

Here is my rundown of the characters:

Edward: Hot, hot, hot, except when he looked slightly, well, um, retarded, to be less than PC.

Bella: In the book she is dull, pessimistic, and boring. She did not disappoint in the movie. Kristen Stuart appears to be dull and boring herself so she did a great job being herself.

Carlisle: Hot, hot, hot…no exceptions.

Esme: Small part, good job.

Rosalie: Did not cut it for me as an amazingly beautiful person.

Emmett: Great job.

Alice: Cute girl and I liked her small performance.

Jasper: What was up with Jasper? He seriously looked like a constipated Edward Scissorhands. I laughed every time I saw him.

Three bad vampires: Great performances, especially James!

Charlie: Played the role very well.

Jacob: Worked for me as Jacob but how are they going to beef him up for the next movie?

So, what did you think?

I'm a Loser

So tonight I was working out on the elliptical machine while watching my favorite show, the Biggest Loser. Bella was watching part of it with me when she turned to me and said, "Mom, you're a loser." I was thinking, "Oh, how sweet...she thinks that being a loser is a good thing because of this show" until she followed it up with, "And I'm a winner."

Well, A+ on teaching her self-confidence but we probably need to work on the name calling bit.

Family is Life's Greatest Gift

Today is a day to celebrate adoption, as it is National Adoption Day. Truly my life would be less than fulfilling if I never had the chance to parent my two little angels. They have brought me indescribable joy and happiness and I love them more than words can express. My family is my world and I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father gave me the privilege of being Bella's and Ezra's mother and of experiencing the joy of parenting with my best friend, Blaine. And, of course, this privilege came to us through the love and sacrifice of incredible birthfamilies, who we will always love and cherish for their unparalleled gifts.

So today I have all of my friends who have adopted, who hope to adopt, who have been adopted, and who have placed a child for adoption in my thoughts and in my heart. Adoption equals love.

I am a big fan of Bella's artwork...

I just prefer that she keep it off of her bedroom door.

Soccer Star

As soon as Bella was born, I started looking forward to the day I could put her in soccer. Growing up I was never one of those girly girls who took ballet or any other type of dance class. It was all about soccer, softball, and basketball for me (but mostly soccer). But, after seeing that Bella had an interest in ballet last year (I'm pretty sure that it was the pink leotard that caught her attention), we put her in ballet class. She loved it until her teacher moved (we miss you Kirsten!) and alas, we were with out a ballet class for the little one. But, she has been so busy with pre-school and play dates that I really didn't even pursue other classes until we found out about this little soccer league that her cousin, Ellie, was in. So, Bella had her first season of soccer this Fall and I had my first experience with being a soccer mom, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm not quite sure that she absolutely loved it, however I do know that she loved the pink soccer ball. And she was quite good at dribbling. I hope she will want to continue to play soccer in the future, but if she doesn't, I will try to behave and allow her to explore her own interests, rather than force mine on her.

Halloween Fun

We've had a fun week of Halloween activities. We carved our pumpkins on family night.

Ez really got a kick out of the jack-o-lanterns.



Yummy toasted pumpkin seeds!

Tirsa had a fun witches night out with the girls.

Twenty witches all went out to dinner looking like this. We got lots of looks and even had strangers taking our pictures. It was a really fun time.

Blaine and I also went to a Halloween party as cowboys.

Check out that belt buckel! Oh, the things you can make with a paper plate, foil, and online graphics. I think he looked totally authentic!

Keeping with our cowboy family theme, Bella was a cowgirl and Ez was our cute little COW-BOY...Moo.

Ez was not into eating Halloween candy at all...crazy kid. But he had a great night with his cousins going door to door looking at all of the Halloween decorations.

The crew: A cowgirl, the cat in the hat, a race car driver, and two cowboys.

And the weather for trick or treating tonight was PERFECT! It felt like trick or treating in California! In the 6 years that we've lived here, it has either been snowing or totally freezing on Halloween so tonight was such a treat (no pun intended).
Hope you've had a great Halloween, too!