Archive for » February, 2006 «

Curious About George

20 Feb 2006 by

One of the gifts I brought home from my trip to Anaheim last October for Thérèse was the original Curious George story. Thérèse has developed an admiration for the little monkey which led to library visits and purchases to seek out more of George’s adventures. It was only natural then for us to take in the latest adventure yet – Curious George: the movie. The real adventure was going to be taking a 2 year old and an infant to the movie theater. When we arrived though, it was obvious we weren’t the only ones filled with the same concerns. The 12:30 matinee was packed full of children and toddlers, all excited to see the monkey on the big screen.

Sharon and I wondered just how far the movie would deviate from the original written storylines. An occasional scene written by H.A. and Margaret Rey would be considered crude by today’s standards. The man with the yellow hat (given the name “Ted” in the film) for instance actually tricked and captured George as opposed to the film’s sequence having the primate becoming a stowaway and following the man home from Africa. Curious George relaxes with a pipeSomehow I also had the suspicion that my hopes to see the smoking chimp would go unfulfilled.

All in all, it was a great movie. The characters were full of life and personality. George was indeed very curious, often got into trouble, and was very lovable. The animated version of George certainly received a shot of adrenaline (I guess that happens when you’re cutting back the nicotine). The man with the yellow hat seemed to lack a bit of self confidence as I would have imagined, but he was given in turn a sense of humor. The one mark against the movie that Sharon noted was the relationship between the curator of the museum (Mr. Bloomsberry) and his son, Junior. Although Junior is considered the “villian” of the story for desiring to turn his father’s museum into a parking lot for financial gain, it is obvious that his father failed for many years to ever show any care towards him. Even at the end when Junior acted over zelously for receiving a bit of praise from his father for parking all the guests’ cars, Mr. Bloomsberry acted as though nothing in their relationship had changed. It would have been a nice opportunity to conclude with a bit of forgiveness in the story.

The soundtrack, Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George, is awesome too. Jack Johnson provides some great chill music and kids will love it!

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Fondue for Two… or more!

14 Feb 2006 by

The good Dr. Ray Guarendi once said — and I’m paraphrasing here — “In marriage, every day should be St. Valentines Day.” So for St. Cyril’s and St. Methodius’s feast day today we decided to whip us some cheese and chocolate fondue for dinner. We weren’t planning a romantic evening out seeing as we had just blown the dining out budget for the next few years celebrating our wedding anniversary at the fancy-pants fondue restaurant last month. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it was good.

On the day before, Sharon told me we’ll be having company over for dinner. I have to admit the first thought that went through my mind was “what kind of friends do we have that think having dinner with a 2-year-old and a newborn would make for a romantic evening?” It turns out it was actually family. Aunt Rosie was coming to Austin for work-related training and she was bringing her kids and Grandma Lozano.

Thankfully, we had enough fondue to go around for the evening. The kids weren’t at all interested in the cheese, but when the scent of simmering chocolate filled the air, you couldn’t find an empty seat anywhere around the dining table. Thérèse, much to our surprise, was quite content eating the bananas plain.

Thérèse really enjoyed the time she had with her cousins. She kept them entertained by reading books, playing “picnic”, pounding on the piano, and showing off her baby brother. Fulton did his part by keeping Grandma occupied. Love Himself was certainly with us today. Praise God for good family.

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Go Fly a Kite

13 Feb 2006 by

I vaguely remember as a child growing up, when you wanted tell someone to get lost, you’d say, “Go fly a kite.” The funny thing is that I never realized how hard it was until we tried to fly one of our own. Sending someone to fly a kite, they might never come back!

With the winter winds picking up and the Zilker Kite Festival around the corner, we thought it would be fun to take Therese to do some kite flying. Saturday we saw some $10 kites at SAMS and decided to give it a whirl.

Some helpful hints we learned yesterday:
1. Before you get in the car, make sure you know where you’re going–i.e. a park with open fields big enough to fly a kite! Remember–never fly your kite near powerlines.
2. Take an 8 year old with you. They are the only ones besides experts who can get the kite up on the first try and not look silly trying for an hour.
3. If you don’t have an 8 year old, take you’re running shoes because you’re going to get a workout if you’ve never done this before.
4. If it’s a sunny day, bring sunscreen and water or you’ll end up like a dehydrated lobster at the end of the day!
5. And remember, it’s supposed to be fun. So take a good sense of humor and keep laughing even when it crashes over and over and over and over and over again.

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2 Year Anniversary

07 Feb 2006 by

Today is Therese’s 2 year baptism anniversary. The day’s activities included a visit to Jesus at Adoration this morning. She did really well today. She can make the sign of the cross with guidance. And she also is very good at saying “Bye, Jesus!”–to the Blessed Sacrament– when we’re going to leave.

I often think and pray, that if I could have one thing for my children, it would be that they would always love Jesus and His Church. To that end, Adam and I are getting serious about writing a Family Mission Statement. We are using the book on our Amazon Central, Mission of the Catholic Family: On the Pathway to Heaven. It makes a lot of sense to have a family mission statement. If we want to get to heaven we have to have a roadmap to get there or we could easily get led astray. It’s kind of like going on a road trip. If you plan it out and have a map to your destination, you’ll get there. IF you don’t, you might get lost and frustrated by all the detours. The author encourages everyone–single, married with or without children, empty nesters–to write a mission statement.

So, as soon as we finish it–which will take a couple of months–we’ll add it to the website.

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God’s messages in Parenthood

05 Feb 2006 by

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: God teaches us so much about Himself through our relationship with our children. Today’s insight–sin!

I have been praying for guidance and wisdom in my vocation as parent of two–and parent of a two year old! God has swiftly sent his messages via radio, books (Victory Over Vice by Fulton Sheen), and even my own words to Therese.

After MANY days sending Therese to “time-out” for screaming, I was listening to The Doctor is In on Relevant Radio. One insight Dr. Coleen Mast made was to use the “time-out” to teach a positive virtue by teaching the kids a scripture passage. Now, at the rate I’m putting Therese in time-out she may have the entire bible memorized by May! Just kidding! :) But what a wonderful suggestion! Two years old is old enough to start learning short passages from Proverbs, for example.

The second thing I learned was quite humbling. Therese, after being in time-out, always says, “sorry screaming” (sorry for screaming). Well, she was in time out a few time and repeatedly offered her apologies. One time, I replied, “If you were really sorry, you wouldn’t do it anymore!” Wow! I stopped in my tracks and thought about every sin that I take to confession multiple times. If I were really sorry for my sin, why do I repeatedly do it?! If I were really sorry for my sin wouldn’t I just stop doing it, knowing how much it hurts our Lord? This is what St. Paul must have meant when he talks about doing the things he does not want to do. And of course, this is the result of orignal sin!

I supposed I need to administer the same punishment on myself that I do to Therese when I am less than holy. It’s easy to go to confession and just say “sorry.” It’s much more challenging and better for the soul to develop the positive virtue needed to have victory over our vices.

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