Holiday Fun

This past week has been packed with Holiday activities.On Thursday, Aubrey and Amanda both had Christmas concerts. I had my annual "Aunt Heidi Overnight Party" for all my nieces and nephews. While I made dinner, the children made little greeting cards for the neighbors. After a quick dinner, we grabbed some homemade treats and headed out for carolling. Aubrey brought her clarinet and Amanda brought her violin to accompany us. The neighbors must have been forewarned, because they were not home. We did find a couple people home and inflected, I mean, treated them to a carols. After carolling, we watched Christmas themed movies and made Christmas ornaments. The children help decorate my little "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. They put enough ornament on it to decorate a six foot tree, but my little tree is only about 3 foot tall. The next morning there was enough snow for a snow ball fight.On Saturday, I had my work Christmas party on Saturday. We had a tacky outfit party and I won the "best" outfit. The sad thing is that I just wear my Christmas outfit.

Movie Review- Bolt

Disney did it again. A smart story that will keep both children and adults entertained. The script is witty and there are plenty of sight gags that will keep everyone satisfied. I wished I could have seen it in 3-D. Go see the movie.

Movie Review- Australia

Australia is the modern-day Gone With the Wind. It pits an English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) against the will of Drover (Hugh Jackman). They fight and struggle against the elements and each other as they try to keep a cattle ranch open in the 1930's and early 1940’s. They also touch on the Australian policy of removing mixed-raced Aboriginal children from their homes. The movie feels epic in scale, and really showcases the beauty of the Australian outback. The movie even has an impressive “burning of Atlanta” scene with the attack of Japanese bombers on Darwin. I would recommend seeing the movie in a theater: a movie this big deserves to be seen on the big screen. However, I would also recommend watching the movie Rabbit Proof Fence if you want to see a powerful movie about the Australian policy of removing Aboriginal children from their homes. I found that movie to have much more of an emotional impact.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455824/

Movie Review- Twilight

The gang before the movie. We went to the Ha' Penny for dinner.


My friend Kellie getting ready to face the pubescent hoards before the movie

My niece's friend Arial and my little nieces Aubrey and Amanda

I went to Twilight twice the week it opened. The first time I went with girlfriends from work on opening night. The second time I took my nieces and one of their friends. Opening night was a zoo, but lots of fun. The audience was really into the movie, actually applauding as characters came on screen.
I was a little disappointed by the movie. It felt "small-budget;" the special effects were poor and detracted from the story. I wish that they had spent a little more time developing the characters' stories rather than having Bella and Edward spent so much time looking into each others eyes. It just got silly at times. I think for fans of the books, though, the movie is good enough. It includes some of the best scenes from the book. I think that fans will have to go at least twice. Once to compare it to the book, and once to just enjoy the movie. If, however, you haven’t read the book, skip this movie.
I hear that the plan to turn all the books into movies. I hope that they spend a little more on the special effects and fleshing out the supporting characters that make the books so much fun.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099212/
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Service Learning

Well, the semester is winding down. I have a final next week and I’m busy cleaning up my English essays. My English class required us to do community service. I have real mixed feelings about the whole thing. There are a lot of needs out there and exposing the public to what the community needs is a great thing. However, if people are required to do service for a grade, it’s hard to have the right attitude about the public service. I know I struggled with having a positive attitude. I also felt like I maybe choose the wrong agency to volunteer with. I just felt like my volunteering really didn’t help anyone. I think if I need to volunteer again I will choose one agency to do all my service with, at least I would feel like I made a difference in someone's life, instead of going to random events.

Ethan's Birthday Card

This is the card I made for my nephew, Ethan,who birthday is Dec. 24th. He's turning 5. We are having the family birthday party for him and my Brother-in-Law Jeff. (His birthday was the 2nd) This is my first attempt at making a penguin. I think I need to play with it a little bit.

Kaite's B-day Gift

My sister's birthday was a little while ago. She is a difficult person to buy for. She lives in a small apartment with her family and she is always rid of stuff that she doesn't absolutely need, so I wanted to give her something small and useful. Not to mention, I was really broke. I made her birthday cards. Her husband's family is really into cards, they like card almost more then the actual gift. I was able to get her over a dozen cards, so she should be set for a month or so. I was fun to make all the cards and I felt good that I was giving she someting she could use.