Full of Surprises!

Brett had a terrific surprise for the kids this Saturday!  Our old theater downtown, the Avalon, was showing Kung Fu Panda 2 and Daddy, being the amazing Daddy that he is, took the brood for a matinee showing.  That was the first surprise.

The second surprise was sprung upon them at their arrival.  The movie was stuck in a snow storm in southern Colorado.  Bummer.

This was followed quickly by a third surprise ... free admission, free popcorn and front row balcony seats to watch the first Kung Fu Panda.  What do we say to that?  Boo-yeah!

It was okay that this was their fifth or sixth viewing of the movie ... it's one of our favorites!


... Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend. ... He was so deadly, in fact, that his enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness!  ... Hey, what you got? You got nothing because I got it right here. You picking on my friends? Get ready to feel the thunder. Come out with the crazy feet. What you goin' to do about the crazy feet. I'm a blur! I'm a blur! You never seen *Bear* style! ...

Yeah ... you gotta love Po!

Our fourth surprise came the next day over lunch.  As we slurped our shakes and munched on popcorn (our traditional meal after church), Brett sprung a question on the kids:

What parts of Kung Fu Panda remind you of something from the Bible?


Here's a little bit about what we talked about ...

Oogway is kinda like God.  He is wise and seems to be ageless.  At least until he flies away with the blossoms!  He is the one who chooses the Dragon Warrior to be the savior of the people.  Chosen to save them from horrifying Tai Lung.  Even in the face of his odd choice for the Dragon Warrior, he is confident that there are no accidents.

Tai Lung is kinda like satan.  He had been trained by Master Shifu and began his training with great promise, but because of his hunger for power, he fell away from the good he could have done and turned on his Master.  Sound familiar?

Po could be compared (rather loosely perhaps) with Jesus.  He is chosen as the Dragon Warrior but the reception by those in the village and those in the Jade Palace is less than luke-warm.  They are incredulous that this simple, noodle-slurping, dumpling-munching, poochy-bellied panda is The One they have been waiting for the past thousand years!

They expected someone more warrior-ish ... and a little less Po-ish.  Much like the comments that followed Jesus around - more king-ish and less carpenter-ish.

⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
 ⁴⁶ “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. (John 1:45-46)


“What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? ³ Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. (Mark 6:2-3)


Not necessarily shining commendations for the Savior of the world!  I'm sure glad they were wrong!


Our final insight into the movie had to do with the Dragon Scroll - the scroll that was supposed to have great power for the owner, the Dragon Warrior.  To Po's great surprise, the scroll was blank!  The true secret to the scroll was not magical words, but the need for Po to believe in himself.  To believe that he was, indeed, the Dragon Warrior and that he had within himself the power to save his village from the evil Tai Lung.


Similarly, our salvation is not evoked with magical words and it is not based on anything we own or any special abilities have.  Our salvation is simply found in the need to believe and then declare what we believe:


⁸ ... “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:8-10, emphasis mine)

As Po acted out his faith, he became the Dragon Warrior ... much to everyone's surprise!  His final victory came as he surprised (and conquered) Tai Lung with the Wuxi finger hold.  Skadoosh!

Where else does God astound you with spiritual truths?  If we open our eyes, we will find them in the most astonishing of places!  

Surprise!

Hey! Yeah! Hey!

Yes, I know that it's February ... but I need to revisit one of our favorite Christmas movies:  Mixed Nuts.
We watch it every year and laugh in the same parts
(when Adam Sandler, as Louie, serenades Catherine with his ukelele), 
repeat the same lines
(when Chris tells Philip, "Dancing with you makes me feel all fluffy.")
 and cringe at the same moments
(when Gracie starts firing the gun wildly in an attempt to empty it of bullets.)

But by far, our favorite scene is when Mrs. Munchnik gets stuck in the old, rickety elevator and desperately calls out for help:

(The first 1:08 minutes are the best!)



Madeline Kahn ... what a hoot!  I imagine that they just gave her the props and let her do her own thing ... you don't necessarily rehearse that sort of silliness.

Unless, of course, you're Lydia.

For Christmas, her siblings gifted her a cute little microphone.  It's really quite fun!  This little gizmo will record a short segment of her singing/talking/shouting and replay it for you.  It also has six different tunes that she can play and sing along with.  But, the very best part is that it amplifies her voice ... as if her voice needs amplifying.

This microphone is quite a popular gadget in our home, but Lydia has gotten the most use out of it.  As you can see from the following video, she loves her microphone ... almost as much as she loves the sound of her own voice.  I took these videos over the course of several days ... hence the costume changes.  That should also give you some insight it the soundtrack of my life lately ... "If you're happy and know it ..."  clap! clap!



Our own little Madeline incarnate!

Gotta love that little singer/shouter/hey-er!
_______________________________________________________

Thank you to kkay2605 for today's video of Madeline Kahn.  
And thank you to Lydia for cooperating. :)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

When we were kids, I remember watching The Blues Brothers.  Jim Belushi and Dan Akroyd starred as two blues-playing brothers who were raised by nuns in an orphanage.  They learn that their home is going to be closed down unless the nuns can pay the back taxes that are due.  So ensues their "mission from God" ... organize a gig and give all the proceeds to the orphanage.  The only trouble is that they are both hoodlums. :)  Anyway, the parts that I remember the most vividly are the car chase through the shopping mall (I think we tried to count how many cars were crashed in this movie ... but lost count somewhere in the 100's) and the song by Aretha Franklin in the diner.  That scene of Aretha singing her lousy, no-good man out the door was my introduction to the Queen of Soul.  As it turns out, she was famous for several R & B songs ... perhaps the one she is best known for is "Respect".  Now while this songs mainly focuses on a relationship between a man and woman and her desire to be treated right ... I think it rings true for everyone.  We all want respect ... and that includes our kids.

Almost nothing breaks my heart more than to see and hear a parent or care-giver being disrespectful to a kid.  These children are given into our care for the purpose of training them up and caring for them.  We truly are an advocate for our children and need to be their protectors ... not the one who dishonors them.  Too often, we forget that these little people are just that:  people; and we interact with them in ways that we would never do to another human being.

At the store the other day, I ended up trailing along another mom and her daughter as I shopped.  (You know how it is ... from aisle to aisle you keep bumping into each other.)  Everything seemed normal enough.  Then we both ended up at our cars at the same time and in the "privacy" of her van, the mother verbally let the little girl have it.  It broke my heart to hear the mother speak so gruffly and hurtfully to her daughter.  It was poison in our ears.  Poor Ashley looked at me and said, "That's not very nice.  That makes me sad."  I stood outside our van for a few seconds, wondering if I should say or do something and then the opportunity was over and the mom drove away.  I don't know what I would have done if give a bit more time, but obviously the scene has stuck with me.

Maybe she was just having one of those days ... I want to give her credit for that.  I will be the first to say that I have had days when my mouth was not loving or respectful.  I have had days when I made my kids cry at the breakfast table (great start to the day, Mom!) because they were being kids (i.e. bouncy, giggling and goofy) and I was a grump.  I have had days where I felt like I was apologizing for my "icky" words all day long.  But ... that is not my usual interaction with my kids and it is not a habit that I want to get into.

When I am careful and respectful in the words that I speak to my children, not only am I honoring them, but I am modeling to them how to speak with other people.  I am my kids' most influential teacher and without a doubt I want to teach to them what I in turn desire to see and hear from them.  You know as well as I do that our kids hear what we say and then turn right around a say it.  Maybe not right that minute ... but you will hear your words again soon. :)

I love when I hear my kids saying sweet things to each other.  And my ears cringe when I hear the other stuff!  When it's loving, I think to myself, "What sweet kids ... "  When it's rude, I think to myself, "Where did they hear that?!"  Sometimes the influence is from the TV or something that a friend said ... but unfortunately I have to take ownership for some it.  Usually what I hear back as an icky-echo is not so much the words, but the tone of voice used.  It's absolutely horrifying to hear your little four-year old say, "Sto-o-op.  You're makin' me nuts." With that little huff and sigh.  It stops me in my tracks to hear my exasperation come out of my little person.  Along the same lines, Lydia has a few new phrases:  "Stop" and "Down".  Any idea what she has been hearing a lot? :)  They hear it ... they say it.

Teaching our kids manners is a perfect example of this.  When I want my kids to say "please", it's essential that I say it, too.  Same for "Thank you," and "You're welcome."  If I say, "Give that to me," the odds are good that I will later hear, "Give it to me."  In contrast, if I say, "Can you give that to me, please?  Thank you." ... there is a good chance that my child will put that little tidbit away in their head & heart and use that phrase when he needs something.  That, of course, is not guaranteed, but practice does make perfect.

I had a friend in Bible study a number of years ago who was a great encouragement to me.  Her youngest was just a tad bit older than my first.  She was a mom who helped me to keep perspective and see the finished product I was working towards.  (I recommend every mom to have one of those!)  She told me one time that she spoke to her children as if they were the neighbors' kids.  Ha!  You wouldn't talk to the cul-de-sac kids with sarcasm and rudeness ... so why would you with your own kids?!  I loved this advice for two reasons:  it revealed to me that she struggled with being respectful with her kids, too (validating!); and it was something easy that stuck in my head and was came readily to my mind (practical!).  Since that little chat eight years ago, a day doesn't go by that I don't think, "Would I have said that to so-and-so next door?  Would I have said that with such an exasperated tone?"  It is a great mental check for me in the middle of my interactions with my kids ... and the cul-de-sac kids.

So ... what does this look like in the normal day-to-day?  Well ... sometimes it means a "time-out" for Mommy until I cool down and can speak nicely.  Sometimes it means a "close my eyes and clench my hands" moment before speaking calmly.  Sometimes it means making a concerted effort to say "Please," when what I want to say is, "NOW, NOW, NOW!"  It is a decision I am making to speak respectfully and then I have to ask God to help me.   And it requires some practice in my part, too ... see above. :)

Now honestly, is every word that comes out of my mouth going to be measured and honoring?  Nope.  I truly need God to transform my mind and mouth to be respectful and edifying in the words that I speak.  I also need to surround myself with people and influences that will help me ... I also speak what I hear, so I want to hear good stuff so I can share good stuff.  I also need to apologize to my kids when I mess up and ask for their forgiveness.  This habit is two-fold:  my relationship with my kids is restored and they see first hand the importance of being authentically apologetic.  Another modeling opportunity for Mom! :)

Ashley has been saying a little sing-song verse for the past several days that sums up what God thinks about how we should treat others.  "Do for others what you want them to do for you."  It's our good old Golden Rule (Luke 6:31).  It really does make sense.  If we treat others the way that we would want to be treated (with respect and honor), our world really will be a better place ... and our families will be better, too.

So ... share a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T with your little ones.  Sock it to 'em! :)




P.S.  We had another KEBL night last night.  The song we studied was "Abre Mis Ojos" ... not familiar.  Better check it out!

What's On Tonight?

The other evening, Brett and I settled into our comfy couch :) to watch an old movie.  I had never heard of it before, but Brett had heard a little something about it and he brought it home.  Our intent was to watch it and see if it was something the kids would enjoy.  While the kids would have been bored out of their gourds watching it, we actually really enjoyed it!

The movie was titled, "The General" and starred Buster Keaton.  This 1927 film is set during the Civil War and Keaton is a train engineer who, while having been rejected from enlisting with the South, ends up in the middle of the war and saving the South from a surprise attack from the North.  In the movie Keaton is trying to get his train engine, "The General",  back after it has been hijacked by spies from the North.  He jumps on another train and so ensues one of the slowest chase scenes ever seen on film! :) What makes it different from, say .... "Gone with the Wind" is that it is a silent film!  It was very entertaining to see the actors and actresses use their facial expressions and body language to tell an entire story ... with just a few moments of subtitles here and there to clarify the story line.   Keaton was terribly entertaining as he was certainly a man who had mastered physical comedy.  Here is a brief clip with a little background on Buster Keaton and a few highlights from the movie:



We especially loved the scene with the cannon ... such a simple scene with plenty of suspense!  And to think that he used no stunt men and the train really was clicking along the track the entire time!  No special effects here!

Watching this movie brought back some fun memories of when Brett and I were first married.  In 1998, we came across the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movies of the past 100 years.  We decided it would be fun to see how many we had seen.  Surprisingly, some of our favorites hadn't made the list! :)  No where did we see "Quick Change", "The Princess Bride" or "Goonies"! :)  In spite of these apparent flaws, we found that there were a lot of good movies on the list that were worth watching.  If it weren't for the inspiration of this list, we might never have taken the time to see "The Maltese Falcon", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" or "Some Like it Hot".

Of course, there are a few selections on the list that I am not interested is seeing, but for the most part, we have enjoyed each selection that we have watched.  It was fun for us to see movies that had historical value or that had pioneered some new method of movie-making.  I would highly recommend stepping out of line at the theater box office and searching out a few of these true classics.  You might be surprised by what you see!  You can find the complete list at AFI Top 100 Movies.

Pop yourself some popcorn, pop in a movie and find out what country Groucho Marx governs in "Duck Soup" ... and have yourself a good laugh!

Food For Thought

Back in college, my roommates and I loved to watch (and watch and watch) a silly old movie called "The Private Eyes".  It featured Don Knotts and Tim Conway as two detectives sent to investigate the murder of Lord Morley.  Don Knotts and Tim Conway, of course, are both completely incompetent and the movie essentially consists of 91 minutes of slap-stick humor and silly dialogue ... and we loved it!  One of my favorite (and oft quoted) scenes is when the two detectives are in the mansion's pantry looking for clues.  Don Knotts is carrying on this monologue of great importance, recounting what they had learned so far.  He and turns to Tim Conway for a response only to find that Conway has stuffed his mouth full of peaches from one of the many dusty canning jars on the shelves.  With a sheepish look he asks, "Pleethez?"  It still makes me laugh!  And then there are those silly non-rhyming notes ...



So ... this weekend's "Food For Thought" centers around peaches!

I would like to share with you three different ways to enjoy this summer's sweetest fruit.

Peach Crisp
(This is a recipe from my mom's cookbook.)

Ready for the topping...

2 lb. sliced peaches
1/2 cup sugar

Topping:
2 cup flour (we use 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 T. cinnamon-sugar

Grease a 9x13 pan and layer fruit and 1/2 cup sugar.  In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  With a fork, cut in the eggs until it's crumbly.  Spread this mixture on top of the fruit.  Drizzle with butter and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until golden brown.

Ready for the ice cream!

We serve this warm with ice cream on top.  To tell you the honest truth, it really doesn't matter what fruit you put in (apples, berries, cherries) ... we really love it for the crust.  In fact, this week I made a crisp in an 8x8 pan, but I made the full recipe of the crust so that it was thick ... yuuuummmmmm!


Peach Salsa
(This is a little recipe I put together ... a little of this and a little of that!)

Do those go together?

5 peaches, peeled and chopped into small pieces (think about what would fit on a tortilla chip)

The juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped (only use as much as you want)

1 clove of garlic, minced

A perfect mix of hot & sweet.

In a small bowl, toss all the ingredients together.  Start with 1/2 the jalapeno and add more to taste.  You might want to add a pinch of salt, too, to help bring out the flavors.  We serve this on tacos, with chips or on taco salad.  You can also follow the same recipe with mangos - it's delicious!

This past week we came home from church with a 20 pound box of peaches ... and I didn't have time to can.  So ... I followed in my mother-in-law's footsteps and froze about half the box.  Now we can use them this winter in crisps, muffins and smoothies.

Frozen Peaches

(Not so much a recipe ... but a way to keep the fruit flies away.)

Ready for the freezer ...

Ready for another crisp!

Take a cookie sheet and cover it with waxed paper.  Slice the peaches in half, remove the pit (and any brown spots), slice into 8 pieces and spread them out on the cookie sheet.  Make sure they are in a single layer.  When you run out of room, simple cover the peaches with another piece of waxed paper and start again.  When you have processed all the peaches, place the loaded cookie sheet in the freezer over-night.  In the morning you can pop the individual peach slices off the waxed paper and store them in a ziplock freezer bag.  Then they are ready for you to grab a handful to use in your next recipe!

The T. P. Club

We all know that timeless adage, "Laughter is the best medicine."  It is 100% true ... no matter what ails you!  And I know first hand that nothing beats a bad day with crazy kids like a good laugh.  I am quite certain that the days when Brett is home or my mom is up, the ability to laugh with someone over the cuckoo-headed craziness of our house makes the whole day better.  There is nothing like sitting across the table from someone who has just witnessed the insane naughtiness of your sweet little one and being able to raise an eyebrow and smile.  Somehow being in the parenting-trenches together with someone who has a good sense of humor and who can help us laugh off the stress and trouble of parenting makes it not nearly as exhausting.  It's the long days when I haven't laughed or been unable to "find the funny" in a certain situation that makes me a grump.

Now ... the trouble with relying on another adult to see the humor in a situation is that 87% of the time, I'm alone with the kids.  Hmmm ... that is a pickle!  What is the solution?  Well ... I have found that laughter with my kids is equally powerful!  In spending as much time with my kids as I do, it's easy to find that what they say and think is really pretty funny ... at least to each other!  My problem is that often I get hung up on being more mature (is there such thing as a cultured sense of humor?) or I find myself too busy to catch the little jokes that tickle their funny bones.  The trick is figuring out what makes them laugh, tossing aside my age (and that I'm "Mom") and joining in whatever silliness they are enjoying.  And you are guaranteed that there is a lot of silliness to enjoy.

Aaron is, by far, my favorite kid to laugh with.  He has this wonderful little giggle, his face turns pink and (because he's my son) he frequently has to bolt for the bathroom!  I can tell he likes laughing with me, too, because when he finds something that gets me laughing, he puts it on replay ... over and over and over again.  I don't know if it's because he's a boy or because he's the first born and by default we are sometimes more serious with him or if it's because he's often off with buddies, but finding time to laugh with him has become my quest and my means of staying close to him.

Norah has a terrific sense of humor and is regularly making little wise-cracks.  Lately, however, she has begun to dabble in physical humor.  She makes this ridiculous face, does a little march like an oompa-loompah and adds a strange little grumbly voice to her act ... it's a hit every time.  I think it's because she is so cute and yet before you eyes she transforms herself into this strange little man.  And she knows she is funny ... you can see it in her crazy, wide-eyes!

Ashley is a little quieter when it comes to being a jokester.  She is more prone to giggle along with everyone else and adding to whatever they are doing.   She has found that if she says something funny, sometimes it's even funnier the second or third time.   As a result we sometimes have to reel her in as she will repeat her favorite catch-phrase ad finitum.  She does have a wonderful little hysterical giggle that is rather contagious ... you don't even have to know the source of the laughter to join in.

Lydia is certainly the clown in our 4-ring circus!  She knows better than anybody how to work a room and get the desired response.  Seeing as she has three enraptured audience members who will chuckle at just about anything she does, we often find ourselves having to be the rain on her parade when she is confusing comedy with mischief.  For example, the kids love when she wrestles with them, zerberts their legs and bounces on their bellies.  They will laugh and squeal at her silliness ... but then she grabs a handful of hair and gives it a good tug and the fun is over.  We have had to be rather stern with the big kids about not encouraging her in her bad behavior ... even if she looks really cute while she is doing it!

Now I will be the first to admit that my kids are not always funny. :)  We experience our fair share of whining, moping, fighting and grumbling.  The goal then is to find little bits throughout the day to share in a few good laughs.   We have a few shows that we enjoy watching with the kids, mainly because we enjoy the good clean humor and silliness.  We have several seasons of "The Cosby Show" on DVD and this summer we set aside Tuesday nights to giggle our way through "Wipeout".  We have also rented "The Muppet Show" from our local library and that has been fun to watch with the kids ... and remember back to when we were kids, too!  We also enjoy reading some funny books with the kids ... you can't beat snuggling up with your little ones and having a good chuckle at "Calvin & Hobbes" or "Junie B. Jones".

Recently we were reading "Judy Moody" by Megan McDonald at bedtime and ended up with one of those hysterical laughing sessions that sent Aaron running from the room.  In the book, Judy and her friend Rocky are both fretting because neither are them belong to any clubs.  At this point, Judy spots a toad in the grass.  Out of curiosity she picks him up only to have the silly little guy pee on her!  Rocky thinks this is hysterical until it happens to him.  At that moment, they realize they are two new members of the "T. P. Club" ... the Toad Pee Club!  Now, as to be expected, any sort of bathroom humor like this typically gets the kids going, but the added bonus was that just a few days prior we had been camping and sure enough Timmy the Toad had peed on my hand.  The kids busted up laughing ... Mommy was in the "T. P. Club", too!  It was one of those sweet snapshots, hearing myself laughing right alongside my kids and ending the day on a great note!

Where Did You Learn THAT?

Ever notice how our kids are little sponges?  They see/hear/read something and the next thing you know, they are doing it!  Our little people are hard at work absorbing the world around them, processing in their little minds what they see and hear and then deciding whether their new "thing" is something that they should share with the rest of us.  Sometimes I'm glad they share.  I love to hear my little 4-year old singing her jumbled up version of "Come, Now is the Time to Worship".  She has heard the song a lot, she catches most of the words and then she repeats back what she has learned.  It is sweet.

Some times, however, it's not so sweet.  I remember once overhearing Aaron call his sister something yucky.  I was shocked to hear him say it ... and dumbfounded by where he heard it.  I was very quick to call him to the kitchen and administer the Kellum-family consequence to hurtful words:  a drop of Tabasco on his tongue.  As he sat and cried, I fumed.  Until he asked through his sniffles, "What does that word mean?" Time-out for Mommy :)  He didn't even know what he had said - he was just repeating something someone else had said.  I delicately explained why the word was inappropriate and apologized for jumping to the conclusion that he was being intentionally hurtful.  We agreed that the word was mean and that we wouldn't use it again.  This was a perfect example of my little boy hearing something he wasn't ready for, something he didn't need to know and then being made responsible for something too big for him.

I think we can do the same things to our kids by allowing them to read books, see movies or play video games that chip away at their innocence and make them grow up too fast.  Here in our home we are quite protective of the books, movies and videos that our kids enjoy.  I would be the first to admit that I am protective about what I allow my kids to absorb, while at the same time finding safe types of media to keep them happy and entertained.

Naturally, this sheltering has become more of a challenge as the kids get older.  When they are little, it is easy to limit what they watch on TV and I am usually the one reading the books, so I've got that area covered!  The older kids, however, have many more influences through friends, school and the media ... and that is a tough job for us.  Happily, we have found a number of resources on the internet that help us to check out the latest movie, book or video game that Aaron & Norah are interested in BEFORE we have invested any time or money in it.  Often times it also saves us energy later on of having to eradicate all the inappropriate gunk we wish they hadn't experienced in the first place.  I hope you find them helpful.

For movies, we like to check out Kids In Mind.  This is a great website for checking out the latest movies (and some old favorites, too) before you head to the theater or video store.  Each movie is ranked on a scale of 1-10 in three categories:  Sex/Nudity, Violence/Gore and Profanity.  They then list each and every instance of each category.  They also list any instances of substance abuse, they share a list of possible discussion topics that might come about from viewing the movie and a generalized message of the film.  It's kinda like watching the movie without actually watching it!  We have been able to steer clear of a few movies that seemed okay and were apparently catered to kids ... and yet included language or adult situations that we didn't want to share with our kids.   This a great, free resource no parent should be without!  And it's good for us adults, too. :)

For books, I have found Facts on Fiction to be helpful.  This site isn't quite as exhaustive as Kids In Mind, but they are working hard to cover more and more literature.  I have used them a number of times when the kids have come home with a book that I wanted to check out first.  Each book they review is picked apart and rated in the following categories:  Positive Elements, Mature Subject Matter, Profanity/Language, Sexual Content, Violence/Illegal Activity, Tobacco/Alcohol/Drugs and Disrespectful/Anti-Social Elements.  (Are they thorough, or what?!?)  Each category is broken down even further and rated.  There will be no surprises for you in knowing exactly what your kids are reading.  They also give each book a reading level so that you can be sure that your child is reading a book that will challenge them.  Aaron and I checked out this site when he came home with a questionable book.  We sat down and looked at the charts and it was very easy for Aaron to see why I wasn't thrilled with the book.  I left him to make his own choice (based on what he had seen) and he chose to return it.  That was a Proud-Mommy-Moment!

Finally, for video games, I go to Common Sense Media.  This sight also reviews movies, websites, TV shows, books and music ... you're one-stop-monitoring site!  I have only used it for the video game reviews, but I'm sure the rest of the sight is just as helpful.  For video games they have a very thorough system for insuring you know exactly what your kids are playing.  They rate the game on the following:  age-appropriateness, whether it's even any good :), ease of play, educational value, messages, role models, violence, sex, language, consumerism and drinking/drugs/smoking.  Again ... they are very meticulous.  And that is just the beginning!  They also give you tons of background info on the game so you can decide for yourself based on your own research.  They have a very large library of games reviewed and I have yet to have a game Aaron or Norah were interested in that wasn't listed.

I know it is hard to shield our kids from every bad influence, but these websites are a few tools in your toolbox that will help make the job a little easier.

As I was finishing up this post, I had to laugh at the number of times that I have thought back fondly on a movie from my childhood only to discover in the recent past that there was a lot to it that I just didn't "get" ... and that was probably a good thing!  I'm sure you can relate.  I remember seeing "Grease" in college (years and years after watching it as a kid ~ singing and dancing and re-enacting all the best scenes) and being absolutely astonished as to what they were all singing and dancing about! :)  Wow!  Not like I remembered it as a 10 year-old.  Brett and I still laugh about the time in college when we rented "Flash Gordon", another movie we had both seen as kids.  There were multiple sexual references ... some insinuated ... some rather blatant.  We laughed nervously and chalked that one up as one we wouldn't recommend!

I add this because inevitably our kids are going to see and hear things we wish they wouldn't.  But the odds are good that much of it will "fly over their heads" and they will be more interested in the action or story and miss much of what we are squirming about.  So ... I plan to monitor what my kids see and pray they miss-out on that other "stuff".