Harry Potter Marathon 2012

            I feel like I am really missing out because I haven’t seen all the Harry Potter movies. It bothers me that I don’t know all the details of the whole story. I know I should have read the books to my kids instead, but . . .  we decided to borrow the movies from a friend and watch all of them, 1 movie a day! I didn’t really think things through to realize that two of my four children are too young to watch the movies, so even though yesterday was our last movie, I still haven’t seen them all! Anyway, here are the activities and treats we had each day of our eight days of Potter. I tried to keep it all simple and inexpensive!

Day 1

Color banners for different Hogwarts houses

Popcorn served in a cauldron

Pumpkin juice (aka orange julius)

Movie 1

Day 2

Make Harry Potter scarves (I wanted to make this as easy as possible. I used a 28" piece of yellow fleece and then used fabric spray paint to make the maroon stripes. It worked really well! I took pictures of the process below. I cut them into 4, 7" strips. Four scarves cost about $6, and the kids were able to help make them. I made them wear them all week.)

Fruit & dip/Veggie & dip

Movie 2

Day 3

Character quiz (from http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/397pBC/Which-Harry-Potter-Character-Are-You)

Sorting hat ritual (to announce results from quiz)

Butter beer (Ginger Ale with caramel flavoring added that I found at the dollar store)

Movie 3

Day 4

Lightning bolt shaped breadsticks w/ bloody marinara dipping sauce

Movie 4

Day 5

Guess # of jelly beans in a jar (aka Bertie Bott's Every Flavor beans)

Eat jelly beans

Movie 5

Day 6

Make pretzel wands (pretzel rods found at dollar store, dip in peanut butter or frosting)

Movie 6

Day 7

Paint stick wands (This was by far my kids' favorite. Luckily, I am a hoarder, and I had a wooden dowel lying around from a different project that I cut to the sizes they wanted. :) The kids loved decorating their "wands" the way they wanted, and they have played with them more than they've played with most of the toys we have bought for them.

Funny how the simple things are sometimes the best.)

Eat popsicles

Movie 7

Bryn "Hermione" Wand-Stealer Christensen

E Potter Power Christensen

Gabe Harry the Horcrux Hunter Christensen

Sam the Snake-Whisperer Christensen

Day 8

Horcrux Hunt (Use clues to find all the different horcrux's. I found the clues on-line. There was a treat at the end. I had fun doing this and was giggling in delight as I put it together! Again, I had most of the stuff already to do this.)

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/crafts/potterparties/horcruxhunt

Movie 8

Fun Stuff in July

I am a little obsessed with magnet boards. I was wishing one day that all my walls were magnetic. The kids always want to hang up pictures they've drawn or announcements from school, but the fridge just isn't big enough. We were getting rid of some shelves in our storage room that were pure aluminum and ta-da, I had a great idea to flatten the shelves and frame them on my wall upstairs. Now we have a purely magnetic hallway, and I LOVE it! 

Okay. I love the new "subway sign" look that is out, but I have not found a saying that I like well enough to take up precious space on my wall. So I made my own out of the Proclamation on the Family. I have wanted this forever, and I love that it is big enough to really read. I also love how the fonts are various sizes, so some phrases jump out and stick with me.

Baby Names

            My kids have wanted a baby for years! So when we finally were able to get pregnant, we couldn’t keep it from them for very long. Our baby is due on Christmas day. I always thought how terrible it would be to be born on Christmas, but now I realize that that would be much tougher on the mom than it would be on the child! Isn’t it hard enough to buy presents for Christmas?! Today we started talking about names for the baby, as we have done before, and Gabe went and got a piece of paper for everyone to write down their favorites. My kids somehow think that the name that gets the most votes will win. Not so. This baby-naming will not be done democratically. I thought it would be funny to tell you the names we all chose.

Gabe: (girl) Alyssa or Allie

            (boy) Peter or Luke or Cris or Jack

Mom: (girl) Lillian or Lydia or Delia

            (boy) Henry or Grahm or Grey

Bryn: (girl) Princess or Sarah

            (boy) King or Luke

            (boy or girl) Baby

Samuel: (girl) Lily or Maxine or Roxy

            (boy) Austin or Stockton or Deven

Ethan: (girl) Tinka

            (boy) Stockton

The Essential Things

            I went to my sister’s house last month in Saratoga Springs. A lot of people in the areas around them were being evacuated from their houses because of the fires burning there. I noticed that on my sister’s fridge was a list scrawled in a child’s handwriting, and my sister said it was a list of things they would grab if they had to leave their home, too. I smiled because I was thinking of all the funny things that kids would put on the list. But I was surprised to see a list of only 4 or 5 things. I thought about what I would take if I had to leave my house, too. It was comforting to think that there is not much. We spend a lot of time worrying about our stuff, but it’s just stuff. And most everything can be replaced. 

Things to Bring Up at a Later “Date” . . .

            About once a week, Sam asks me if he can buy an iTouch or an iPhone or something else that a 10 year old doesn’t need! He has earned his own money, but I still don’t think he should spend his money on that right now. So one night, he said to me, “When I’m 21, then can I spend my money any way I want to?” I said “Sure,” and so he got very excited planning all the things he would buy. Then Nate broke the news to him that when you’re that age and want to get married, there are a lot of other things you have to spend your money on. I said, “Yeah, and do you know how much it costs to buy a wedding ring for your wife? Like $3,000!” Sam looked defeated and said, “Can I just buy her a donut ring?” It made me really laugh!

I Know the Romneys!

            Last month, we went to Park City and stayed in a time-share of Nate’s dad’s. It was so fun! We randomly picked a church to attend that Sunday. Strangely, there were men outside the church with ear-pieces who were talking into the lapels of their jackets. When we got inside, there were more! We picked the same sacrament meeting that the Romney’s picked that day! We waited in the foyer for Mitt to leave because I wanted all my kids to shake his hand. The teacher of my photography class told me that I should never go anywhere without my camera, so I DID bring it to church that day. But then I thought, “Why would I bring a camera in the church?” So I left it in the van. Of course, half the congregation whipped out their iPhones to take pictures of the celebrity in our midst, including Nate. But why didn’t he get a picture of us shaking the hand of our could-be next president? Why?

            Mitt Romney was standing not 3 feet away from me (we were kind-of packed in the foyer), as I waited to meet him. He talked to a man he knew for a full 5 minutes while we all stood there to meet him. So I had plenty of time to decide what I was going to say when it was my turn. Finally, he turned to me and said, “Hi.” I brilliantly said, “I just want to shake your hand.” I couldn’t have thought of anything better? I told Nate, and he said he was trying to leave the building at the same time as Anne Romney. He said to her, “Can I shake your hand?” I know we made a big impression on the Romneys.

            I hope Mitt Romney wins. My sister pointed out to me that with all that he has going on, no one would blame Mitt if he took Sunday off. It was awesome that even on his vacations, he still goes to church.

One final thought—Does someone have to taste Mitt Romney’s bread before he can take the sacrament to make sure it’s not poisoned?  

Sunday Grumblings

            I know a lot of women who have to get all the kids, plus themselves, plus a lesson ready for church by themselves on Sunday morning. But can I just tell you how hard it is? We have not been on time to church for weeks. And honestly, by the time we get there, I don’t want to be there! It is a struggle! But my parents never let us kids miss church, and because of that I know that I won’t skip even once. We need to be there, I can’t afford to not be. I think if I justified not going once, it would be easy to justify it again and again. I look at the awesome women in my ward, who go, week after week by themselves or without a husband to help them. Some of them are out in the hall the whole time with wild children! The Lord knows how hard it is, and surely, they are blessed all the more for it.