family movie night

My kids have a pretty low tolerance for movies. We've tried to have family movie night a few times but they get scared very easily, sometimes over the smallest bits of dramatic tension, so we haven't been very successful. 

That's starting to change. Some of it is just due to getting older and a bit wiser, and some maybe is our movie choices. It's hard to tell. But the first movie that really worked for all of us was the Muppets take Manhattan. Once they realized how fun that movie was, they wanted to watch it over and over. Finally! We had a movie that didn't drive the adults nuts ( Hi Dora) and that didn't terrify the kids. 

I'm glad to say we've found another movie that meets all our needs; The Sword and the Stone. It's a Disney release from the 1960s, based on the novel by T.H. White. We watched it over the course of a few days, in twenty or thirty minute increments. There were times when the kids were huddled under the blanket and we had to persuade them to come out, but there were some slapstick scenes that had them grabbing each others hands and shrieking in delight. 

So I guess family movie night may become something we can actually enjoy together, as long as we find those elusive movies with just the right amounts of funny-not-too-scary-interesting. 

a sneak peak...

 

Every so often we attempt to have a family movie night. This is harder than you might think because we have the following rules: 1. the movie must be something that adults can sit through without wanting to scream. (Sorry Dora, you're out.) 2. the movie must be something that kids can watch without the plot being too "scary". (This eliminates almost everything- including Cinderella, the life of a sea turtle, and Wallace and Gromit.) Mostly we have been without success. On Friday we tried to watch the Land Before Time which is about cute and cuddly dinosaurs. Also, a T-Rex. Yeah so that wasn't the best but we actually made it through two-thirds of the movie which is a record for us.

 

                                Cuddling up for the movie. They always get so excited by the idea of it.....


                  We went to a pumpking carving party on Saturday which is a neat way of getting the job done while also socializing with friends and neighbors, all of us up to our elbows in pumpkin goop.

 

 

The faces on our porch.

 

 

The next party we went to was a costume party so you get an exclusive look

at our Halloween festivities this year.

 

                                            
                                            Confused? She's a butterfly driving a truck, concept inspired by a
                                            favorite Caspar Babypants song.

                                             
                                              and Brixton really wanted to be a monster,
                                              a "fwendly monster." Check and check.

 It's nice when your outfit also makes a great table.

                        and thankfully the party came equiped with a swing to burn off some of the sugar.


I can't believe we haven't even gotten to the real holiday yet. whew.