The Hunger Games - A Mom's Review

Perhaps you are aware that I am a huge fan of the books The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins.

I feel strongly that this is a series that should be read.

That said, when my twelve year old son's sixth grade class was informed they would be reading this series, I went to the teacher and said I was concerned and did not think they should read it.  He asked me if I had read them and I said I had JUST finished reading them all and they were too adult content for the kids to read.  He assured me he knew what he was doing.

I wish I had fought harder about that.

S1 read the book and loved it.  And here is the thing, I didn't want him to read the rest of the series.  But the class started to and he couldn't wait for them so he read them all.  We talked a lot about the series as he was reading them.

And then I found out it was going to be a movie.

Now I have a choice here.

As someone who knows fully what will be in the movie I have to decide if my child should see it.

But he read the books.

And I think in a book you spend so much of your time in a book the movie is not as powerful. There is, however, something to be said about an IMAGE sticking with you.

I decided this was a great teachable moment.

And it was a great mom and son bonding time.

So, my two friends, Alicia and Korene, and I took our boys to see it.

I'll not lie, we were giddy as could be.

I wanted S1 to feel it was a real special moment.  I wore heels to be taller than him. :)

 He wore his best camouflage.  

 Korene had not read the books and Alicia was the one who had told me to read them.  All our boys had read them in the same class.  I sat between Alicia and Korene, and it was interesting to be in between my friend who knew what was going to happen and my friend who had no idea what would happen.

In the movie, the children have to fight to the death.  There is no getting around that.  The movie follows the book rather well, of course the book is better.  The book is also much more bloody, much more painful to read.

When we left the movie, Korene was reeling.  We stood in the parking lot as the boys played catch and talked over the movie and the symbolism of it.  Alicia loves it for the story.  Korene was in shock that her son had read the book and she didn't know it was about THIS.  That evening Korene, Alicia and I were messaging more ideas about the movie and themes and so forth.

It's just that kind of book.  It's just that kind of a movie.  It does not leave you.

S1 and I chatted about the movie versus the book on the way home.  I asked him why it was he thought the movie was so popular.  He shrugged, "The love story in it, I guess."

"Is that why you like it?" I asked, quite surprised, I'll admit.

"No," he stopped to chew some of the fried chicken I had picked up for him after the movie at his favorite place to eat, KFC.  "I liked the book because when you read it you felt you knew that character and why she did what she did.  Some books you read, you read about the character.  This book you really felt you knew the character.

And I liked all the woods scenes.  How she had to think fast and act."

I asked him what he thought about the kids killing each other.  And this is when we began to discuss the underlying parts of the book.

As a mom reading/watching this, I could not ever fathom being able to watch my child's name being pulled out of all the names to be sent to near certain death.  I would protect them from all harm.

But the book and the movie portrayed it so well....the people had no hope.  None.

I cannot fathom it.

It scared me, the parallels it made.  My heart broke for those who have gone to war.  It pierced me to think of a world without any hope in a God to save them.  It concerns me how easily a large group of people can look to one dictator to think for them unquestioningly.

All this my twelve year old son and I talked over.

When we arrived home, he wandered off to hang out with his brothers and my husband and I chatted.  "Good movie?" he asked.

"Yes...and no.  Yes, because it's what I expected.  No, because I shouldn't have taken him to it.  Because he should have never read those books."

I know, shocking because I love them so.  I fully understand why someone does not want to read them.  I fully can appreciate the outcry against it.

For me it was because it took just more of my son's innocence.

And yet, I am thankful - so thankful - that he and I have a relationship that we can talk the books and movie over.  That we have that open dialogue.

I would rather have done what we did...see it together, not just pretend it wasn't the biggest most talked about thing in the entertainment news right now, made it a special mother son day, and made it as fun and memorable as possible.

But the rest of my boys?  No. Not a chance.  S2, who is nearly ten, would have nightmares.  And I will be more adamant he will not read it in sixth grade, I believe.

If it's not this book, it will be another.  And every situation is different.

But S2 I know could not come close to handling this.  And I feel terrible for the kids who may have struggled with the book.  Because it is just that kind of a book.  It's just that kind of a movie.

I had just read this quote before we went to see the movie. "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." - Bonhoeffer

Katniss acted on what she knew was right.  Peeta refused to let "them" dictate who he would be.  There are amazing lessons to be learned in the book and movie, amazingly GOOD lessons that make their point poignantly well.

If you loved the books, you will like the movie.  The scenes are beautiful in the mountains. The music is touching (can't wait to get the soundtrack!) and when it comes out on dvd, I'll buy it.  I'll watch it again because I like it so.  It's a powerful movie and I can't wait to see what my husband thinks of it as well, especially him knowing what a fan I am of it.



And, on a totally different soap box rant, SERIOUSLY, did a bunch of us need to see a movie trailer where the couple is undressing each other before the movie began?   My son was more scarred by THAT scene than anything in the entire Hunger Games movie.  Heads up on the previews....

Date Weekend

Last weekend, when the sun was shining brightly and fall seemed like the most wonderful season that it is, my husband and I went on a date.

He had driven past a place he wanted to take me and since I am always up for a long drive with my hubby, I was more than willing to tag along.

He took me here....

 Robinette's.

He has been driving past this place in his big truck and keeps thinking he wishes he could stop.

And being all farm market minded like we are, we like to see lots of markets.

We dream about farm markets, I'm not even kidding.

But this one has to be one of the best family run farm destinations.

 First they have amazing donuts and such.

We had driven all this way for donuts.  Seriously.

We are serious about donuts. Everyone should be.

And these smelled heavenly as we pulled in.  Jake got some cinnamon sugar coated one and half of my flakey apple turnover sort of thing that was scrumptious.

Since I don't do corn mazes...at all...we wandered around to see what there was to see.

And we ended up wandering over to this barn.

 I'm still kicking myself for not getting pictures of the inside...or of us and Audrey.

Who is Audrey, you ask?

Just the most cheerful, cutest, adorable girl.

She works in the wine tasting section of the barn.  The part of the barn that housed horses.  

Seriously.

My husband was instantly checking out all the beams and all that barn stuff.

It was rather obvious we had never been there before.

Audrey sarcastically asked us what took us so long to get there, and then followed that with a sweet "Hello, and welcome to Robinette's."

She had us pegged for fun, I think.

And we spent the next half hour, I'd guess, chatting and hearing her gush about the wonderfulness of her job, of the family, of the farm, of the history, of the people who visit....

We left feeling like we left a friend.

We then became the biggest fan of Robinette's ever.

 Seriously.

I mean, why else would we pose in front of the sign a million times for a picture?

 I may have had so much fun that I literally skipped with Jake to the suburban.

I may have kissed him right there and said "Thank you for the funnest day!"

I may have literally squealed with joy.

And I owe that to my hubby who stopped here, and to Audrey who had us laughing.

And to the amazing Robinette's who brought us all together.

But the day wasn't over.

We headed up to Rockford to the Corner Bar.

For YEARS and YEARS Jake has told me about their amazing hot dogs and since I am one of those people who really find hotdogs super tasty, I've been asking for forever to go.

The place was so busy when we got there that there was a long line out the door.

But that didn't stop my husband.  Oh, no.  He was starving and wasn't going to wait in line.

He walked right up to the empty bar and asked if we could sit there and order hotdogs.

The bar tender agreed.

And my husband was happy.

If you eat 12 hotdogs you get your name on the board.  I don't know why he hasn't done this.

I ordered the famous Rockford Corner Dog dog and it was good.

Jake ordered two corner dogs and two sauerkraut dogs.

And he ate one of my hot dogs too.

See, he could be on the board.

And I'd have a famous hubby.

With a shirt to prove it.

Afterward we wandered around, looking at the famous Rockford Dam.

 It was so pretty and we had to snap a few pictures of us grinning ear to ear on our fun day out.

 I noticed the pretty planters they had around, and my husband knew you could eat the kale.

Is it kale?

I don't know...but he picked it and...

Ate it.

 Apparently the hot dogs didn't fill him up.

We took so more pictures, really, it was so pretty out.

 In this photo he says at least I have a great picture of him.

 We had a super great time.

I really wanted to find the store Herman's Boy, but we couldn't find it.

We could have asked but we had reached the time to head for home.

I guess that means we will have to back again.

I'm sure you know I'm dreading that trip. 

haha

I did find the store Jade.

I have wanted to go there for forever.

So hubby came in with me.

Where he was the best looking guy in the whole store.

Cuz he was the ONLY guy in the whole store.

It is a great store.

Like, super great I wish it were all in my closet great.

It was truly the best day in forever.

We ended it by buying groceries, because we knew we were going home to four boys who would need food - and a lot of it - this week.  But after too much time not spending time together,

it was so great to just hang out together.

All day long.

And I think my brother and sister in law are going to have us watch their boys now that they watched - and fed - all four of ours.

I'll be happy to.

Thanks for the great weekend, Hubs, I love you!!!

Daddy's Girl

Today I am wearing a brand new outfit.

Brand new from one of my most favorite stores, Eddie Bauer.

On Tuesday night, my Dad took me on a date and bought me two complete new outfits.  I felt like a princess - I feel like a princess.

And if my Dad had taken me along for a ride to check out a garden tractor with him, I still would have felt like a princess.

He drove me to the big city in his 49 Panel van, the only one I know of, the one that is all my Dad.  It has turquoise visors...I love those visors.  I love that my dad built the entire thing himself, that the heat hardly works, that it's loud and echoey and old and fully uniquely wonderful.

For dinner we went to Cracker Barrel, because it's my favorite as much as his.

And to be honest, the whole evening was so wonderful and so dear to me I didn't really think I should blog about it.  Some things are so precious you just want to hold them to yourself.  This is one of those moments.

But last night at dinner, somehow or another my husband recalled this song while he was teasing the boys and - as is typical for us at dinner time - he youtubed it and as soon as I heard it, I knew I had to share it with you all.

For the Daddy's who read this blog - tell your daughter you love her.  For the daughter's who read this blog - hug your Daddy and let him know you will always be his little girl.

Because you always will be.



I love you, Father dear!

My Honey Took Me Shopping

This post is filled with swooning, you have been officially warned.

The week leading up to my birthday was insanely busy, and not fun busy either. My wonderful hubby asked me what I wanted for my birthday and you know those times when you just can't even grasp "birthday fun" because you are living in the busy moment? That was me.

I shrugged. Then I lit all up. "A Date! I want a date away for my birthday!"

And then he didn't say a thing more about it. My mom and I had thought a beach day out to Lake Michigan for my birthday would be all sorts of fun...something we hadn't done in forever. Then Sunday mentioned rain...all, day. long.

So I tried to figure out what I could make for dinner for my birthday to just make it an easy but good meal and hoped Jake and I could get away soon.

Then my husband did the most romantic thing ever.

He planned a surprise.

Yes, really.

He conspired with my friend Morg (bless her, and yes, a whole post dedicated to her is coming up soon) to take me on a surprise date. He had to spill the beans a little the night before the big day when we had to shuffle a few kids around. But all he told me is that we were going out.

Being a girl going out with her MAN, I wanted to have to the right outfit (of course) and I love heels...I think we have discussed this earlier...so he would say "Well, you can wear a dress but nothing too nice. Just good walking shoes....."

I was having such fun with this I could hardly keep from bursting.

When I got home from work, he told me I needed to start getting myself together for a date around three. He ran two of the four boys to Morg's house - two more would be joining them later after they had a fun afternoon with my body building brother and his wife - and I laid out all sorts of outfits on the bed for him to choose from. Then I laid all sorts of shoes out to match the dress he picked.

He was girled out before we even hit the road.

Especially because I was ready in record time and literally - yes, literally! - jumping up and down waiting for him to be ready to go.

He got an insane amount of phone calls that afternoon.

And he began to worry I would be disappointed with the night.

He took me to dinner at Famous Dave's. I've never eaten there but thought it sounded yummy. It was soooooooo yummy.

When we left there, my country loving non fashion at all (okay, jeans and tshirt will ALWAYS be in style) husband, pulled into the MALL.

Oh. My. Beating. Heart.

Because there in his big dodge truck, he turned and looked at me and said "Let's go get you a new outfit."

I mighta teared up a bit.

As we walked from the truck, the phone rang. The conversation I heard went something like this "Hey, what are you doing home? Really? You're kidding, right? How much blood?" (this is where I turned around and headed back to the truck) "But he seems fine? Oh, he'll be good then. You can wait 24 hours for stitches."

S4 had RUN INTO A WALL. He cut his head open. Morg had to teach him to breath like lamaze classes teach you to get him to calm down. But apparently he was playing again.

So we went shopping.

I will not bore all of you with the details but after much searching (who knew the mall closed so early) we found a dress. A dress that reminded us of our favorite music video right now, AND it was 60 percent off. We couldn't find shoes though...I take that back. I found SHOES that I drooled over but not the boots I wanted to match the dress.

And we learned a valuable lesson, when you find a dress you love on clearance at Macy's...just buy it. Don't hesitate over a zipper that you feel is too tough to zip, you will figure it out...okay, maybe you won't and it was a good thing we didn't get it.

We went to Biggby AND Starbucks (I know, I know! It was bliss!). We browsed through Barnes and Noble (the mall closes and that store doesn't, how cool is that?) where I purchased some new stationary and got lost looking at books. (Not literally)

I held my honey's hand alllllllllll evening. I gave him a million kisses. Okay, close to a million. It was soooooo much fun. I had the best fun...I felt completely spoiled.

And I think I thanked him a trillion times. It was one of my very best birthday's EVER.

Thank you so much, hubby!!!!!!

(And here is that music video)

Because I was having so much fun on my birthday, I didn't take any pictures! So the pictures I shared were the from the Sunday I wore the dress and my boots to church.

And S4 didn't need stitches.

You can see his cut forehead here.

Sadly, this will probably make him cuter later in life.

As if he wasn't super adorable already.

In Defense of my Husband........

When my husband arrived home last night from a long day at work, he asked me if I had gotten the house cleaned, laundry done and the weeds pulled. I had not.

“Everyone will think I’m a big meany after your last blog,” he said.

If anyone knows my husband, they know he is not mean. Funny. And a farmer through and through.

We had friends over for a campfire a few weeks ago. They had just returned from Florida at Disney world where it was exceptionally hot. My friend’s (K.E.) hair was long and super blonde and she was bronze tan. I am still growing out my hair, I am not super blonde, just regular blonde, and there was no way I was close to tan, I was still snuggled up in long jeans and a sweatshirt to stay warm. My husband said, “now that summer is here, you really should work on a tan.”

I batted my eyes as seductively as possible and said “if you buy me a bikini, I’ll go to the beach with you………..”

“I’ll buy you a bikini,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, “And you can weed the potatoes in it.”

See, he is funny and a farmer through and through.

But after the conference this past weekend, he was a true romantic. He showed up at the hotel in his freshly washed and cleaned out pick up as a complete surprise just to pick me up.

Why waste a free night?

He drove me around the city, showing me the jobs he has been working on that I had no idea where they were; just get a photo of now and then of them. We walked the streets. He took me to a movie, a chic flick movie no less, and we went to a steak house for dinner. My husband loves to talk, but he let me talk all night long.

In the morning, we slept in. Since my parents were still keeping the boys, sleeping in was bliss. Knowing I was about to fall asleep to awaken whenever I felt like it, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, there are no words!

When we woke up, my handsome hubby made me an omelet. Now how sweet is that?

I am sending this out as a thank you to my hubby….what do you need to thank your husband or wife for?