There is part of me that’s waiting for my daughter to grow out of Barbie.  She’s always been a Barbie fan, but I know that at some point in time, it’s not going to be cool anymore.  I can remember when one Christmas, everything she got was Barbie.  She loved it.

However, when Barbie and the Diamond Castle arrived on our doorstep, Samara was overly excited.  It was all I could do to calm her down, get her to finish her homework, and then allow her to watch the DVD.  And after it was over, we went to my boyfriend’s house where she sat down with his four year old and watched it again.

I’ve lost count at how many times we’ve watched this movie, so based on Samara’s reaction, the movie was a hit.

Barbie movies over the years have continued to improve and impress me.  There are defined plots and while we have many movies that my kids love, I just can’t stomach them. Barbie and the Diamond Castle isn’t one of them.  A few days after we received the movie, I sat down with the girls to watch it as well.

As with Babrie movies of the past, I was swept into imagining my life as a princess, just like Barbie, with the clothes, the castle, and of course, Prince Charming.

If your daughter is into Barbie, or princesses, then I definately recommend picking up Barbie and the Diamond Castle.  It would make a great Christmas present for your daughter and it comes highly recommened by the girls in this household.

And make sure that you check out the website for more on Barbie and the Diamond Castle where there is more Barbie fun, including instructions to host a Princess Sleepover.  We’ll be working on that one real soon.

Until next time…

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Last night, me, the brave soul, descended upon the movie theater with thirteen kids, aged 5-14 to see High School Musical 3:  Senior Year.

The kids were excited as we milled around the lobby of the theater waiting to be allowed to be seated.  Collectively, we had four large tubs that we could refill with popcorn for 50 cents and I, being the incredibly intelligent one, brought Tupperware containers so that we could distribute the popcorn and just keep filling up.

Popcorn is the best part of the movie.

The kids, were settled and saving seats as I waited for the last girl to arrive and there was constant chatter among the crowd while we watched the previews.  All movies that my daughter wants to see as soon as they come out.

I pray that she forgets about them until they make it to DVD.

And when the last preview played, each child had been to the restroom, refilled popcorn and drink and the lights in the theater dimmed.

That’s when the screaming started.

When I say scream?  I mean scream.

I can liken it only to a muted version of the NKOTB concert that I went to.

I’m dead serious.

The opening credits hadn’t even popped up on the screen and they were that excited about the movie starting.

Then Troy Bolton flashed his smile and it got even louder.

Yes, the prepubescentness was in abundance last night.  I’m wondering if we disrupted those seeing W in the theater next to us.

The music was good, and like a concert, there were those that were clapping, stomping their feet, and waving their arms.

There was clapping, lots of clapping, and when Troy and Gabrielle kissed, for the first time in three movies, every single teen and tween in that place secretly wished they were in the place of Gabrielle.  They swooned.

Swooned, I tell you.  It was the biggest erruption of excitement during the movie except when Troy took his shirt off.

I must admit, even I got a little excited.

I don’t care how old you are or how young he is, Zac Efron is HAWT.

Besides, he’s at least legal.  It doesn’t matter that I’m 10 years older than him.

All in all, the movie was the best of the franchise.  While production was good on the first two that were released as Disney Channel origionals, this one was stepped up and I was glad.  Disney knows the popularity of the movie.  They knew that people were going to come and see it.  It’s High School Musical.  It could’ve been done very poorly, but it wasn’t.

The story line was sweet in that gross, wholesome way, but I have to admit, a little unrealistic for an adult.

For a teen/tween, it was exactly what they wanted to see.  But, me, being the cynic, told all of them as we left the theater, “you know real life doesn’t happen like that, right?”

The last thing I want is for my daughter to think her life is going to play out like that of Gabriella Montez.  For one, we don’t live in New Mexico, heh.

No, I’m not really that bad.  And I supposed that girls should dream, but for me, the story line was a little too sweet.  But I also know that I ate it all up, because it was a good love story, and I’m a sucker for a good love story, and hot guys.

I highly recommend seeing it even if you don’t have a tween.  Seriously.  It was that good.

I predict that the DVDs will be released right around Christmas, if they are smart, so that Santa can deposit a few until the Christmas tree.  I can tell you that we will own it and add it to our collection.

And watch it 5,000 times.

Until next time..

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As a child, I believed, wtih all my heart that all I needed to solve anything was faith, trust, and pixie dust.  Seriously.  I even had Pixie Dust, which was comprised of special dust that I collected from the fairy patch behind the shed that housed the “man tools” outside of the house.

The Fairy Patch was a special place.  Tinker Bell’s relatives lived there; it’s where she hailed from.  And from there, I would collect my Pixie Dust, scooped up with a special scoop that was absconded from my mother’s kitchen and stored in the “man shed” for times when I need to collect.

I would collect my Pixie Dust, put it in my purple velvet pouch, which was purchased at the Smithsonian with rocks in it.  The rocks found a home in the bottom of my toy box the day that I realized that I needed a special pouch to carry my Pixie Dust around.

My Pixie Dust went everywhere with me.  It was in my backpack when I went to school.  It was in my pocket when I was outside playing.  I took it to the store.  I took it to church.

And when things got rough, or I needed a change in the events surrounding me, I would simply pull my purple velvet pouch out of my pocket, state that all it takes is faith and trust and pixie dust, sprinkle some around and go about my merry way.

It was that simple.

My pouch was never empty.  As soon as it got low, I would make sure that I had time to escape to the back of the “man shed” and collect my dust.  I would alert the fairies that I was there, even though I couldn’t see them.   I didn’t want to scare them off though as I was afraid if I became the enemy they would desert their home, taking their pixie dust making powers with them.  And I needed my pixie dust.

Eventually, over time, as I got older, I out grew my pixie dust infatuation.  Perhaps the reality of life set in and I realized that pixie dust didn’t make a difference.  Or maybe it was the fact that soon I was being made fun of because I would sprinkle what was really saw dust from my dad’s big saw and call it Pixie Dust.

But for many years after I rid of the purple velvet sack from the Smithsonian that once contained polished rocks, I would still mutter the phrase “faith, trust, and pixie dust” to calm me in a situation that required it.

Faith and Trust and Pixie Dust.

Wouldn’t it be nice if things were that simple now?

This is a compensated post as part of the BlogHer Reviewers.  Look for the new Tinker Bell movie to be released on October 28th.

Buy the Tinker Bell Movie now or in Blu-Ray

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I’m not sure I should do movie reviews.  I don’t get to enough to warrant knowing what’s good and what’s bad by industry standards, however I do know whether or not a movie was good or bad according to Heather standards, which, really, is all that matters if I go to a movie.

So if you’re like me, and I pray that you aren’t, if I liked it, you probably would to.

Tonight I escaped the youngin’s and headed to the theater to see Eagle Eye, starring Shia LaBeouf (his last movie was Transformers, but I didn’t see that movie) and Michelle Monaghan (her last movie was Made of Honor, which coincidentally was the last movie I saw in the theater.)

Shia’s a cutie. What kind of name is that anyway?

Back to the movie.

Overall, it was a really good movie, but one that I really had to pay attention to.  This is definately not a “movie you don’t have to think about” and there were several times that I was like “oh!  okay… i get it now.” which I’m sure made me appear to be the biggest dummy on the face of the planet.

The story begins with Jerry Shaw (Shia) scamming some friends in poker which was highly comical.  We later see him trying to make rent and can’t followed by a phone call informing him that his brother has died.  At his brother’s funeral, words were exchanged between father and son and we realize that the brother, Ethan, is the golden child.   He does no wrong while Jerry is the kid that never gets it together.

When Jerry goes to deposit a check for $1,000 in his once depleted bank account, he sees there’s a new balance of $750K… grabs the money and runs only to find his apartment filled with lots of weapons and stuff to make bombs.

That’s where the phone call comes from a strange woman who orders him to leave.

He doesn’t… and it gets interesting.

At the same time, Rachel, who just shipped her child off with a band trip to the Nation’s Capital gets a call from the same woman, joining these once strangers who will now take on artifical intelligence at it’s highest form.

Billy Bob Thorton stars as Agent Thomas Morgan and is one of the funniest members of the cast.  Which, I can say that this is not all action.  The one liners in this movie had the entire theater laughing.  If I could remember the really good ones I might be inclinded to update the IMDB site, but I can’t remember all of them… just the general gist, and that’s not going to cut it.

The movie is rated PG-13.  There’s some blood and some language, but I didn’t think it was over the top.  I’m one that jumps at action and adventure movies and there wasn’t alot of unexpected turns, but on the whole I’ll give this one two thumbs up.

Check out the movie trailer here…

And then get thee to the theaters to see it!

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The flight from DC to San Francisco was over 5 hours. I had a window seat and I’m not sure that I liked it. Typically, I’m a window seat kinda gal. I like to look out the window.

But on a ride that long, I knew I would have to use the facilities and I hate asking people to move on my behalf. Additionally, because I’m nosey, I didn’t like that I was unaware of what I was flying over. Like, I think I saw the Rockies but I’m not sure and I think that people should know what they are looking at. It gives me the chance to say “I’ve seen the Rockies” or “I flew over the Grand Canyon.”

I did happen to find the Flight Deck line on the built in radio on the plane and instead of watching the documentary on China or listening to music, I listened to the Flight Deck Channel. Sometimes, if you listened closely, you could hear our pilot mention where he was. But not often.

Regardless, it was interesting. Especially when another pilot said, “I can wait to turn a little bit later, but it’s going to put me at a lower fuel level than I’m comfortable with, so if you could turn me as soon as possible, that would be great.”

Thanked God repeatedly that I was not on that plane.

And when I did go to the bathroom, as all of us were congregating outside of the bathroom in the “kitchen” area of the plane, there was a little small talk going on between the passengers and the flight attendants.

Before I knew it, the words “How much longer until we’re there?” escaped my lips. I felt like a complete child.

But not as childish as when the flight attendant (who very much resembled the comic, Ant) replied “about two hours” and I wanted to stomp and scream. I wanted out of there. I wanted to be there. I was highly impatient.

And bored.

And for the first time in a long time, I could understand how my children feel when they are carted all over the country.

This summer, we logged 2431 miles in the car. That was just our trip to Mississippi. They were in the car more than that traveling to camp and then to Pennsylvania from Tennessee with my parents.

That’s alot of time in the car.

My parents and I are both of the “we don’t need a DVD player in the car” mentality. There are so many things to look at on long trips and so many car games that you can play to pass the time. However, my bosses, whom I love to death (how many people can say that?) surprised the kids with a portable DVD player a day before we left.

And for the most part, it worked out well. Only once did I have to take it away because we couldn’t decide which movie to watch and were fighting.

One of the movies that we had to watch was called TripFlix. When I was asked to review it, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go over with the kids, but the kids loved it and watched it more than once while on the trip and took it to my parents’ house as well to share with them.

TripFlix is a fun-filled interactive DVD that features some of the coolest kid-friendly places to travel across the US. Designed to help famililes pick an unusual travel destination and keep the kids enteretained while en route, TripFlix was a hit in our car with trivia questions, funny banter from the teens hosts/travel guides and little known facts about the destinations as varied as “Carhenge” in Nebraska and Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.

The best thing about this DVD, for my kids at least, was being able to see all the places that they already have been. They squealed when they saw Rock City, Tennessee had made the list and we all had fun with the trivia questions.

I never intended for the kids to watch the whole thing, let alone watch it more than once. But they would put in the DVD and when they had the choice of selecting a region of the country, they would quickly hit play all, sit back, and I would have two hours of peace and quiet in the car.

I highly recommend picking up TripFlix for your next road trip, or just to introduce your children to the various destinations around the country.

In my search for sanity, I was definitely able to find some time while they were engrossed in the movie.

Purchase TripFlix…
See what others are saying about TripFLIX…

Until next time….

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