Today, I am breaking away from being completely wordless to wish my amazing husband, TechyDad, a happy birthday. For ten years, we have celebrated your big day as husband and wife. Eight years ago, we sat wondering on your special day when our first child would be born. Of course, that would be just two short weeks later.
Thank you for being the most amazing husband who gets my love for all things Disney and is now a proud NDD at The Disney Driven Life.
I love Tweeting to you and texting sweet nothings so the kids can not spell them while in the room. Wow, how things have changed in a few short years. I can not wait to sit and relax together on our belated 10th Anniversary trip without the kiddos.
At least then you can sit by a slightly larger pool and not worry about getting hit in the head with a water toy by the boys.
The boys are so lucky to have you as their father. It isn’t every parent that would go running into the splash area at the park.
Thank you for being the man of my dreams and riding this adventure of a life with me. I love with with all of my heart and hope to have many more amazing years together.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, Harry Potter grew up along with me. As Harry went through Hogwarts, I graduated from earned two college degrees, got married, became a teacher, had two children, and the list goes on. I started the series while I was still in college getting my teaching degree. Then, I read the fourth book as my water broke for NHL’s arrival in August 2003. I still remember devouring the last book as I nursed JSL in the summer of 2007. So many memories.
One may have assumed that I rushed out to see all of the movies when they were released. That would be a bad assumption. While I have seen all seven of the previous movies, I had never seen any of them before they were released on DVD. I am happy to report that I finally broke that this past weekend. TechyDad and I were able to go on a movie date while Nana and Papa watched the kids. We went to witness the final chapter of this saga on the big screen.
I was excited and nervous about seeing this film. Would it live up to my expectations from the last book? Would I resent Hollywood for the way they represented some very intense moments? Would I cry like a baby? So many things were running through my mind as the movie started.
In the end, I loved the movie. It lived up to my expectations and more. It was powerful, made me feel like I was in their world, and the acting fantastic. I will also admit that I fell more in love with the actor that plays Severus Snape.
*Gasp* I know – I just admitted I like Snape. I am completely fascinated with Alan Rickman’s portrayal of the professor that everyone loves to hate. I also find it interesting that Lord Voldemort was played by Ralph Fiennes, who played one of the horrid Nazi’s in the Academy Award winning Schindler’s List. While looking around online, I found this History of Snape video and adore it. I had chills watching this with interviews from many actors in Harry Potter actors and J.K. Rowling. Enjoy!
Although seeing this final movie was sad, it helped me to close this chapter of my Harry Potter life. Of course, now I am even more excited to share the wonderful world of Harry Potter with my boys as they grow up. NHL has seen the first movie and is now quite intrigued with the series. I think we may do a read aloud of the books soon. TechyDad wrote about NHL confusing something from Harry Potter and the world of the Smurfs – really he did.
Please feel free to share your favorite Harry Potter moment from the past, present, or possibly future. I would love to hear them.
What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts, and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.
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Disclosure: For the record, I did have tears in my eyes for several parts of the movie. Highly recommend seeing this movie and bringing tissues or a good sleeve to wipe your eyes.
Back in the October, I read a book that really left a mark on me. It was called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. When I finished listening to The Help I had to wait to read another book for a while. The messages within the book were beyond powerful. The amazing women depicted in it blew me away and I did not want it to end.
Soon after this, I started to hear that the book was being made into a movie and would be out this coming summer. I will admit, I was excited and nervous. You see, as a teacher, I’m often skeptical about books being turned into movies.
On August 10, 2011, The Help will burst into the movies for all to see. I was lucky enough to see it last Thursday during a screening. I am not allowed to say anything now, but I can share a preview with you:
My suggestion: if you have not read The Help, please do so. Read it with a group of friends, talk about it, and then make a girls night out to see the movie. There is even a free book club kit to use while enjoying the book. It has fun facts about the book, along with some recipes to test out. You can also keep up to date on the movie release with The Help Movie page on Facebook.
Giveaway:
While waiting for the official release date of The Help, the PR agency at Dream Works would like to add a bit of fun for you. One of you has a chance to win the following prize pack which includes:
The Help t-shirt in adult femal sizes S, M, L, or XL
The Help pocket jotter & pen
The Help fan
The Help nail file/mirror
Rules for Giveaway:
MAIN RULE – If you have read The Help, which character are you most excited to see come alive on the big screen? If you have not read the book, why are you hoping to see the movie?
The following Bonus Entries may also be done. Please be sure to leave separate comments for each that you complete below to make sure you get the right number of entries.
2 Bonus Entries – Follow me, TheAngelForever, on Twitter and let me know you Twitter ID.
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet the following about the giveaway (May be done up to three times a day): Change begins with a whisper – #TheHelpMovie comes out on Aug 10. #Giveaway on @TheAngelForever for a prize pack http://bit.ly/qVf3I5
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Follow Help Movie on Twitter and leave your Twitter ID in a comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of July or August. Leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done up to three times.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and/or add me to your blogroll. Be sure to leave a link with the location.
To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today August 1, 2011 and ends at 10:59 EST on August 15 , 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.
As always to keep up to speed on giveaways and other items, Like The Angel Forever on Facebook.
Disclosure: PR from DreamWorks sent me media information about The Help and asked me to conduct a giveaway for my readers. As a fan of the book, I wanted to offer this opportunity to all of you. No compensation was given, and all opinions are mine.
Yesterday, I wrote all about our travels to Canada, Australia, India, Russia, France, Mexico, and China while staying home. Thanks to the Passport to Fun programs at Michaels, we had the adventure of our life at the local craft store. In the end, we went to eight of the eighteen countries. We missed two because the boys were still in school at the end of June. Then, I completely forgot about the Egypt day on June 25 and Bahamas on June 28. Luckily, I got our act together in time for Canada and beyond. I wish we had been able to make a few others, but they did not work with our schedules and two did not seem age appropriate for my kids.
On Saturday, the program ended with Brazil. What a way to end it making Rio Carnival masks. The boys had a blast working on these with all of the glitter, feathers, and sequins.
Of course, while in Michaels we HAD to check out other items. TechyDad looked for a case to house his grandfather’s old telescope in. Both of the ones in stock were cracked, so we are waiting on that. Then, we looked around for ideas to use for NHL’s 8th birthday. NHL has said that he wants lions and other animals as the focus. We chatted about it while walking around and came up with a safari theme. Seems perfect since he loved the Safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I know one day I would love to take him on the African Trek I went on.
While checking out the Wilton cupcake making supplies, we wandered over to their chocolate mold section. NHL fell in love with some things there. TechyDad thought they were really interesting and said we should use our coupons and pick them up. So we did. Don’t these look fun?
So we will be making the Oreo/Pretzel molds to go along with some kind of lion cupcake. Do not think there will be time to paint the chocolate and make it pretty, but it’s still fun and something the kids can help with. If you have any lion cupcake suggestions – I would love to know.
Over the last month, we have spent a lot of time at a very unlikely location. Michaels may be one of my favorite stores to go and get baking, yarn, and other fun crafting supplies. The two of you like to go there, but it was never a favorite. This summer, Michaels teams up with crafting sponsors to have their Passport to Fun program. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, they had items to make and take that went along with their passport filled with countries. Over the weeks, we not only went to Cananda, but several others.
We traveled to Australia where you made a Koala Bear pin and Aboriginal Art using chalk.
In India, you made elephant pins with different fun glitter glues and henna hands with markers.
For our time in Russia, nesting doll puppets and a bear pin were our adventure. Both of you were excited to make your own nesting dolls like the ones at Mimi’s house.
Oui, we went to France. While there, you made a cute Frenchman pin and then had an amazing time showing your Impressionist style using Crayola Twistables Slick Stix. I have a feeling we may be buying some of these for future fun.
Our trip to Mexico reminded us of the suns at the Mexican area of It’s a Small World. You used Crayola Model Magic to create your own suns and also made a tissue paper flower.
China was a little messy, but lots of fun. You were able to try some Tibetan sand paintings of your own.
Today is the last of the events for Brazil. I know that I am sad to see this part of our summer over. Luckily, I have a lot of crafting supplies home and we can try some of the other items that were located in the great passport from Michaels. Yes, it has been a fun summer filled with new crafts and learning about different locations in the world. I know both of you will remember much of this. I hope we can continue to explore these items for the rest of the summer.
Love,
Mommy
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