Movies!

In an attempt to show that I do have interests outside of my kids, and I'm not always in mommy-mode, I'm going to write about the best movies of last year. Just a warning, there are a lot, and we do watch rated R movies.

Jon and I are movie people. To be truthful, I didn't used to be. Jon has converted me into one. We aren't the see every movie that comes out people, we are in quest of great movies. We check a couple of movie review sites, one of them being Rotten Tomatoes. It gives each movie a percentage rating, based on critic reviews. We don't watch movies that don't get above a certain percentage, thus weeding out many terrible time-wasters.

Now, on to the my picks for the best movies! (P.S. I know I use the word movie too much, but I hate calling it a "film" or a "picture". It's just too movie-nerdy.)

The Documentary Trilogy

We saw Sicko, Maxed Out, and No End in Sight all in a row. What a depressing view of America. I love our country, but there is so much that is wrong with it. Sicko is about how our healthcare system is irreparably broken, and that Canada, France and the U.K. have national health care, and it's awesome. Now before you totally discount Sicko because it's a Michael Moore movie, let me say, I dislike Michael Moore. He gives you a sensationalistic one-sided view, and he's just annoying. But, the fact that these things are happening in our country is just incredibly sad. I definitely don't believe the government should be in control of health care, but there needs to be a change. Maxed Out is about credit card debt, and showed how evil big banks and credit card companies are. It didn't focus on how people got into debt, but just how impossible it is to get out. It's amazing (after watching Sicko and Maxed Out) how so many bills in congress are the result of large corporations. They have too much money. The last (and best) documentary was No End in Sight. It was about the Iraq war, and how badly we botched it up. It was very well done, and I'd recommend it to anyone. It was very good at just presenting the facts, with minimum spin. Our leaders were so wrong, and I just had no idea.

Best Documentary of All Time

Try not to laugh when I tell you what it is: The King of Kong. It's about the world of competitive arcade games. I was not excited when Jon told me about it, I thought it would be the nerdiest movie ever. I can't even tell you how right I was. It's like Best in Show for video games, but it's REAL! And so much better. Please watch it. Pay attention to the nervous, sweaty, Brian Kuh. And the incredibly egotistic Billy Mitchell who is so stuck in the 80s. His mullet is outstanding. And the borderline autistic Steve Wiebe who won't stop playing even when his kid needs help in the bathroom.

Ratatouille

It needs it's own heading becuase it was that good. It's fun to have a kid movie that is equally entertaining for the adult who has to watch it 15 times in a row. Animated movies have come a long way. And Kudos to a movie that made a rat likable. I didn't think it was possible.

Others

Hot Fuzz, Waitress, The Bourne Ultimatum, and The Lives of Others were all so good, all in different ways.

The Best Picture Nominees

They are five awesome movies. I've only seen four of them, but Jon has seen all five, so I'm going with his opinion. I'm not going to recommend you see them because four of the five are rated R, and the one that isn't, I think should have been. I'll just give a brief overview:
Atonement: I loved it, the story was so compelling, and the acting and cinematography were great.
Juno: So funny and cute. I just loved Ellen Page and how weird she was. Also, Jason Bateman was such a likable jerk.
No Country for Old Men: the one I haven't seen. Jon thinks it's the best.
Michael Clayton: This was intense, and so well done. George Clooney surprised me with how good he was, and Tilda Swinton was awesome, so unlikable!
There Will Be Blood: My pick for the best movie of the year. I didn't enjoy it the most, but I think it was the best. Daniel Day-Lewis was beyond incredible, and if he doesn't get Best Actor there's something wrong with the world. Paul Dano was so amazing, I loved every minute he was in the movie. It's a dark movie, but I could go on and on about how great it was. Nearly every character is just morally bankrupt, but still a story worth telling.

Overview

Here's my top 10 for 2007
10. Waitress
9. The Bourne Ultimatum
8. The Lives of Others
7. Hot Fuzz
6. Juno
5. Michael Clayton
4. King of Kong
3. Atonement
2. Ratatouille
1. There Will Be Blood


It's sad that this post has taken all day to write. Not constantly becuase there are babies that need to be fed, changed, and entertained, but all my free time. I could have written that in about 20 min about four years ago. But that was before my kids sucked out all my brain cells. Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far, and don't feel like you have to agree with me. If you've seen any of these tell me what you thought, and if you think I missed some good ones, let me know!

Katie has been talking so much recently, so I will share:

-She has a pair of blue boots, which have been renamed "Bloots"
-If you ask her if she wants to go to church, she says "No church! I go shopping!" I swear I didn't teach her that!
-She talks to inanimate objects like they are her friends. Example: She is eating dinner, and has a cup of milk. She says, "Hi milk! How we doing?"
- Her new favorite movie is "Mermuhdaid" Translation: The little Mermaid
-If she doesn't want to do something, she says, "I can't want to!"

They lose a little when you write them down instead of hearing it in a cute two year old voice.

Katie also has decided that she wants nothing to do with Mommy if Daddy is around. She is such a daddy's girl recently. It's cute, and I only mind a little bit :) But Aimee is still mine. (And yes, I realize it's because I'm the one that feeds her 10 times a day, but I'll take it!)

This weekend I went down and visited my parents, it was fun. They fed us lots of good food and showered Katie and Aimee with attention, so we were all happy! And then we got into a discussion about politics, which led to national health care. I'll admit I lapsed back to teenager-ness. I played the devil's advocate, and talked about how it sounded like a good idea, just to get a reaction out of my dad. Sadly, my dad was no fun, and didn't get riled up! (I love you dad!) My mom was nice enough to give me her haircut time slot, so I got to get my hair cut too! I love it. The last time I got my hair cut was on Katie's birthday, when she turned one! So I needed it! By the way, what kind of girl goes that long between haircuts? I am determined to never go that long again! Anyway, Thank you mom and dad!
Here's the girls hanging out. They are so cute together! Katie wants to hold her and hug her all day.

One month old! (yesterday)

Well we survived a whole month of two kids. More importantly, they survived it! I also survived my first week of work with four kids! Here is our cute one month old! (wearing her cute bow from Aunt Kelsey!) On an unrelated note, we found out what happens when a two year old doesn't take a nap. Yesterday Katie fell asleep in the car about ten minutes before we got home from work, and big surprise, she woke up before we could get her in bed. We tried putting her to bed anyway, but she screamed like we were trying to kill her, and my nerves just couldn't handle it. So after that, any time we didn't give her exactly what she wanted, exactly when she wanted it, it was full scale meltdown, complete with throwing herself on the ground, kicking, and screaming. It was hilarious, but I also wanted to give her away for the day. Thankfully she was back to her cute self today!

This is freaky!

Sooooo, I think I have a Danny clone! I took some pictures of Aimee last night, and I was amazed! Check this out!

Kim, you'll have to tell me what you guys think! I'll have to see if I can get a picture from when he was a baby to compare!

Another cute one!

This is pretty much what happens all day. Although Aimee is usually not smiling! She's usually sleeping, or trying to. But I really can't complain that Katie loves her so much!

Things here otherwise are pretty good. Nursing is going really well, and it didn't with Katie, so that is really nice. I'm still not getting much sleep, but that's to be expected!

Jon started school on Monday, so he will be gone until 7:30pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. It's definitely hard watching both girls by myself, but today has actually gone pretty well. I do have 3 more hours to go though!

Even though we are totally exhausted we are so happy to have our two cuties!

Merry Christmas!

Better late than never, right?

Here are our two cute girls!

Aimee Elizabeth is here!

She arrived December 17, 2007 at 8:07pm. She was 9lbs 3oz, 21.5 in long! She looks so tiny, but she's actually a pretty good sized baby! She is so cute, and we are all in love with her!

Bye Bye Belly!

Well, I'm going in tomorrow at noon to be induced, she's getting kicked out! We didn't think I'd make it that long, since last Monday I was 5cm already! Hopefully that means it will go pretty quickly! So I'll be back soon to update and post some pics! I can't believe I'm going to have two kids so soon!

Snowman...

So we got all ready for church this morning, and Katie ran to the door (sliding glass door, we don't technically have a front door) and she pulled the curtains away and yelled, "IT'S SNOWMAN!!!" So we went and looked, and sure enough, it was snowing. It didn't last very long, but it was so cute I had to share!

Update! (still pregnant)

I was kind of hoping that I would have had her already, but sadly I am still huge and pregnant, getting more uncomfortable by the day. Jon is excited though, since his finals are on Monday and Tuesday, so if she had come already (or if she came this weekend) it would be kind of stressful for him. So as soon as Wednesday rolls around, I think I may go take some castor oil and jump on the trampoline :) Ok, not really, I'm not desperate yet!
Oh, at my Dr. appointment on Monday, I was measuring 2 weeks ahead of my new due date (Dec 21st) and I am 2.5cm dilated and 80% effaced! Of course that doesn't actually mean anything, I could technically be pregnant another 3 weeks, but it's still exciting. Also, it means I'll probably be having a somewhat large baby.
The contractions are starting to drive me crazy though. I didn't have any with Katie until about a week before I had her, but I've been having them with this one for like 10 weeks! They are starting to come at regular intervals too, just long enough for me to get excited, then they stop. And I also get one every time I stand up, or sit down, or bend over, and the list goes on. But enough about that!

Katie has a new obsession, Nemo has been replaced. I can't say I'm disappointed! She is now in love with The Emperor's New Groove, aka Llama movie! I think it's because we have 3 houses on our street that have llamas (and she has to say hi to each one as we drive past, and comment on whether they are asleep or eating). I must say, I was getting really sick of Nemo, and while it's a great movie, by the 45th time you've seen it, and you know every line, it's time for a change. So ask me again in about a month if I still like Emperor's New Groove!