And So I Declare “Mulan” PG-13…

Before I begin; let me say that I know there are people out there who have already labeled me a freak… with a capital F… and I’m really OK with that…

Now that that’s out of the way…

You will be hard pressed to find someone who loves Disney more than me (although I do have a good friend who loves Disney as much as I do… thank goodness, or we might drive everyone else crazy)! I love Disney characters… and parks… and jewelry and clothing… and music and movies… pretty much all things Disney…

Over time, we have slowly introduced our children to the Disney Classics and the Disney “Instant Classics” (just gotta love that concept)… And I think it’s pretty safe to say that they love Disney, too…

“Mulan”… one of my longstanding all time Disney favorites… has been sitting in the “view to see if we want to show the kids this” pile for quite some time now. Last night I had the opportunity to go to bed at 10:00 (rare occurrence, let me tell ya), but for a variety of reasons, I wasn’t all that tired. So I popped “Mulan” into my laptop and let it roll while I snuggled my sleepy little princess Miah…

It had probably been at least 7 years since I’d last viewed the film…

Now… the main reason that it has stayed in the “wait until later” pile for so long is that I distinctly remembered “the ancestors” as being a teaching point for older kids. I was actually pretty excited to get this one out and work through to an understanding about ancient Chinese customs and such, including family honor, and it didn’t hurt that the history of the Great Wall was also explored to a certain degree. But I knew, for sure, that Grace would have a difficult time with Mulan and her family praying to dead people, and I needed to remember just how prevalent this theme was. To my disappointment, it was more prevalent than I remembered. Of course, “Mulan” originally came out in 1998, so the first time I saw it, I was already 18. At almost 9, I knew Grace would have a different take on things… Still, the bulk of this theme is concentrated at the beginning of the film, and I felt with careful conversation I could both prepare her for it and explain why it was OK for us to watch this, particularly as a learning experience… (and everyone stops and wonders if Lisa is trying to rationalize this particular movie because she likes it so much… but I don’t think that’s the case)…

With my view clear on that aspect of the film, I thought to myself, “Great… we should be in the clear… ‘Mulan’ movie night, here we come… maybe sometime next week?” …

And then the other “little” issue began to surface, and am I ever glad that I didn’t just say, “Oh… forget the preview,” and sit down with my kids and the remote…

There are a lot of sexual references in “Mulan”… If you’re laughing so hard that tears are streaming down your face, just send me a complaint and stop reading. I’ll understand. But really…

Mushu (dead dragon, remember) runs into Mulan’s chest, and she smacks him… He also tells Mulan that men like it when you smack their butts… and so Mulan does (now, seriously, I do not expect that Grace would start smacking little boys’ butts because of this, but if she did… well… I’d have a heck of a lot of explaining to do…) In addition, we have a bath scene at the beginning of the movie where Mulan is covered well by bubbles and her hair, but would I let my kids watch this in live action? And perhaps the most significant scene is where Mulan is bathing in a lake and several men join her (not knowing, of course, that she is a woman) for a swim. As Mulan escapes behind a bath towel and her horse, she says something to the effect of, “I never want to see a naked man again,” at which point a whole heard of naked men run by and Mulan’s eyes pop out of her head. Of course, we don’t see anything… but come on… we know what she saw…

So today, our family had lunch at the park. This was my first opportunity to tell Phil what I thought about the movie, and I simply said, “They can’t watch ‘Mulan’.” Phil looked highly surprised, which I found funny, because I consider him to be even more selective about what they’re viewing than I am (he may disagree about this). He asked, “Not even Seth and Grace,” to which I answered, “No,” and began to relay to him the things I just wrote here. And as we chuckled about all of the “bad” parts of the movie, he asked, “So… 13?” And I laughed harder… and so did he… as we declared this “G” rated movie a “PG-13” at our house…

Maybe we’re crazy… I’m pretty sure the birthday party attendant on Saturday must have thought so when she announced that we were going to play hot potato and listen to Miley Cyrus music and Grace and her best friend exclaimed, “Who’s Miley Cyrus?” (Followed by another party guest revealing that Miley is Hannah Montana and Grace and her friend being just as unimpressed as they were with Miley…)

We’re not trying to keep our kids in a bubble… hard as it may seem to comprehend that based on what I just wrote… But is there anything wrong with letting them be kids?

Seth (10) and Grace (8) have friends with cell phones… facebook accounts… and keys to the house. And I am so pleased that they still play with matchbox cars and My Little Ponies (well… let me clarify… Seth does not play with My Little Ponies… just Grace). I am completely ready to let them grow up when it’s time, but I do not want them to be jaded about everything “fun” in exchange for anything and everything they shouldn’t be involved in. There is a time for everything… and at 10 and 8, it’s still time to be a kid!

So bring on the go karts… and the video games… and the bowling parties… We will continue to build with Legos… and listen to Adventures in Odyssey… and laugh at old Herbie Movies and Jetsons reruns until they figure out that Mom isn’t really that cool… and then we’ll deal with the “coming of age” that comes with growing up… and hope that by the time Mushu instructs Grace on what men want, she’ll have a better concept of how ridiculously funny his lines are…

Lisa

I'm Really Getting Frustrated...

... with school.

No one in their right mind has this many credit hours and no degree...

And I'm starting to get cocky, which is never a good thing...

I honestly thought this was going to get better with the transfer I made this fall to a "real" school, but it's not... not really anyway... And the problem is now that if I even had the audacity to transfer again, I'm not really willing to do it, because I need to finish a program in order to hang the all powerful piece of paper up by my desk so that Ian can tear it out of it's frame and fingerpaint it...

Seriously... is this even worth it? Don't answer that. It's rhetorical...

L.

Seth Turns Double Digits...

Wow... oh, Wow... oh, Wow...

Where did it go?

This morning...

We had homemade chocolate, chocolate chip, buttermilk waffles...

And we took pictures at the park...

This afternoon...

We had McDs...

And Seth opened his presents that seem to get smaller, yet more expensive, every year...

And we had cupcakes and ice cream (mint moose tracks for the kids... uh... yuck...)

On Saturday...

We'll head out to America's Incredible Pizza Company for a party...

And tonight...

I go to bed with a "baby" in double digits...

I love you Seth Matthew!

Pictures Follow:

Lisa

May We Never Forget…

This morning, I woke up…

Much like other mornings, although since it is Saturday, I didn’t wake up to an alarm, but rather to a 3 year old crawling into bed with me…

I rolled out of that bed minutes later… banished Ian to the hallway so I could go to the bathroom… looked out the window and lamented that it is raining (I never lament the rain… actually, I love it… but I am supposed to do an outdoor portrait shoot this evening)… headed down the stairs… turned on the Wii… jumped on the balance board (well… not literally… you are not supposed to jump on the balance board)… and began my workout…

I thought about what we should have for breakfast… the birthday party we are going to later… and the rain (again) that I heard pounding on my windows and roof. I thought about Phil and the teens he took to a quiz this morning… and the schoolwork that I need to get done late this evening…

And then I thought (almost as an after note), “What is today’s date, anyway?”

And it was September 11th . And then I remembered…

I remembered waking up to make a bottle for Seth… walking into the “office” to get what I thought would be an update on the Tigers from Phil… plane image on the computer… tower burning… TV turning on… second plane crashing… second tower burning… phones ringing… no one reaching Dad, flying Detroit to Chicago… baby bouncing in the doorway with Cheerios all day long…

Fast forward to today again… I checked facebook…

And my friends are doing much what I did when I woke up. They are posting wedding pictures… heading out for soccer games… and football games… and first haircuts… celebrating births… and lazy Saturdays…

It’s ironic, but when the events of September 11th first happened, I thought we would never stop talking about it… and thinking about it… and for some time, that was true… Although the references come far less frequently now; I have had several occasions this past year when I have thought of September 11th sort of “out of context”. These thoughts certainly come every time I walk past the picture collage of our honeymoon… hung in our living room… with me on the ferry and the twin towers making up the backdrop…

I have done my best to explain September 11th to my children (only one who was even born at the time), and I think they “get it”… sort of… The conversations usually end with Seth saying, “Isn’t that the time I bounced all day long in the doorway with Cheerios?” and Grace saying, “Yeah… I was still in Mommy’s tummy!”

I realize as I look at my beautiful Miah (as she finishes up her breakfast), that she is probably going to understand the gravity of September 11th about as well as I understand Pearl Harbor. To her… it will be a history lesson. To those of us who lived it, it has changed life forever…

But Americans are resilient! I am starkly reminded of this as I go over the list of things we’re thinking about today! Terrorism has not robbed us of our celebrations… of our freedoms… of our fun… of our families… of our lives! And for that I am proud on this dreary Saturday morning!

But may we never forget…

And with that, I give a heartfelt thank you to all of our rescuers… fireman and women… paramedics… police officers… some who gave their lives in the September 11th rescue efforts… some who have given their lives at other times in the line of duty… and all who risk everything for our safety…

And I offer a heartfelt thanks to all of our service men and women who have risked their lives and often made the ultimate sacrifice to secure our freedom!

May we never forget…

Lisa

Homeschooling...

... is a full time job!

Wow... just three days into the school year, and I know it's going to be more of a challenge to homeschool four than it was to homeschool three...

Seth and Grace are doing a really good job, so far, acting like I would expect a fourth and fifth grader to act, making life a little easier and school pretty fun. Caleb is undoubtedly in first grade mode, but even though he is active and needs a great deal of supervision with all of his work; he loves to learn... so we're good there. But Ian... oh, my goodness! Preschool might just be the end if me this time around! At least he likes Hooked on Phonics and anything that I can teach using stickers. He is seriously the only kid I've ever known who has no interest in crayons at age 3 (except maybe to peel the paper off and break them)... that's making it really interesting when it comes to learning to write his letters and numbers... At least he will have two full years of preschool before he is the right age for Kindergarten!

Now... if we can just keep everyone else happy and interested for the next 177 days... and if we can keep Ian from climbing up on the kitchen counters and raiding the candy shelf... we just might survive!

1st Day of School Pics:

Lisa