Yours, Mine and Ours

One Word Description: Surprising

Family Appropriate: Definitely!

Basic Outline: High school sweethearts, Frank and Helen, meet at a high school reunion. They have both lost their spouses and have very large families. On a whim, they decide to get married. This seems like a great plan, until they try to get their very different families to live together. He's in the Coast Guard and runs his house like the military and she's a free-thinking, almost hippie, artist. Their kids decide this is not going to work out and set out to break their parents up.

I know this one's been out for a while, but I thought I'd review it for anyone like me that didn't bother with seeing it. I was very pleasantly surprised by this movie. I expected something more along the lines of "Cheaper By The Dozen", which was not my favorite. It was surprisingly funny and had a good solid plot line!

I have also heard that the original version of the movie, starring Lucille Ball is excellent. I have not seen it yet, but hope to do so soon. If you've seen both, please leave a comment and tell me which one you like best and why!

Recommendation: Watch it!

Wheat bread that feels like white

One word description: Fluffier. Yummier!

Here's the best trick I have found to getting kids to eat homemade whole wheat bread. I add one TB of dough enhancer to each cup of wheat flour. It improves the texture, taste and strength of the wheat bread. It makes it light and fluffy. One can is about $6 at a health food store and lasts quite a while in the fridge. I noticed you can even buy it online now.

Allergy note: it does contain whey and gluten.

Another trick is to buy white wheat kernels. White wheat is less bitter than red wheat and makes a whiter flour. It is more money than red wheat and does not store as long. I often mix white and red wheat 50/50.

Recommendation: Use the enhancer in any bakery item: cakes, quick breads, cookies, etc to improve the flavor and texture.

Gilligan's Island DVD

One word description: CLASSIC

Family appropriateness: Yes! Ginger's saucy personality and being chased by head hunters are as bad as it gets.

Summary: 7 castaways clever adventures. My kids pick Gilligan over every Disney DVD we own, every time. DVD price is under $15 a season now (avg 32 episodes/811 min). 25-minute episode length is perfect when the kids want to "watch a movie" right before bed.

Recommendation: Get it while you still can.

Did You Hear About The Morgans?

One Word Description: Good

Family Appropriate: If all your family members are over 13. This one hold pretty true to what the rating says. There is talk of infidelity that has occurred in the past and a few swear words, but nothing else objectionable.

Basic Outline: Meryl and Paul Morgan are separated, he's trying to earn her love back and she's not interested. They happen to be walking together and witness a murder and are, unfortunately, seen by the murderer. For their safety, they are put into witness protection, together. As you can imagine, funny situations occur when a couple who have lived in New York their whole lives and aren't particularly happy together are relocated to Ray, Wyoming. One of my personal favorite lines:"This is Ray." (two seconds later) "That was it." All in all, it was funny, fairly well done and made an enjoyable evening.

Recommendation: Don't rush out right now, but watch it when you get a chance!

Fablehaven

FAN-TAS-TIC

Genre: Fantasy

Target Age group: 9-15(ish), but great for adults too!

If you have not yet read the Fablehaven series, do it now. If you started the series and have not finished, start again. It's worth it.

The books center around two siblings, Kendra and Seth Sorenson. In the first book, they discover that their grandparents are caretakers of a preserve for magical creatures, called Fablehaven. The first book deals with demons and uprisings within Fablehaven. This is all kind of preliminary and sets up the real story that starts in book two.

Starting in book two, Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star, they learn of two warring societies, The Society of the Evening Star and the Knights of the Dawn. The Society of the Evening Star is trying to open a demon prison called Zzyzx and The Knights of the Dawn are trying to stop them at all costs.

In order to open the prison, The Society of the Evening Star must collect 5 artifacts that act as keys to open the prison. These artifacts are hidden at preserves around the world. Since preserves are falling right and left, The Knights of the Dawn decide to find the artifacts themselves, in order to better protect them. Most of the series details the adventures of Seth and Kendra as they help find and guard the artifacts.

I just finished the final book, Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison. I can't tell you much about what happens here without giving away what happens in other books. Just know, that this is Brandon Mull's best work by far! He ends the series with a few nice twists and turns, some great new characters and just good writing in general. I thought he worked everything out quite nicely in the end. This book has a little bit of everything: lots of fantasy (obviously), action, romance (just a little), mystery, it's all there.

The first book in the series was also Brandon Mull's first book. It's a good start, not the best thing I've ever read, but a good start. You can definitely watch his writing style mature and solidify and the series progresses. So, I say again, if you stopped after book one, start again!

Recommendation: READ THEM!

Bandslam

One Word Description: Cute

Family Appropriate: Yes!

Basic Outline: Will Burton moves to New Jersey, hoping to get a fresh start on life. He meets some new friends right off the bat, Charlotte and Sa5m (the 5 is silent). In New Jersey, there's a competition every year called Bandslam and, as Sa5m puts it, it's Texas high school football big. Will ends up managing Charlotte's band, bringing together a bunch of kids who never would have been friends. There are, of course, a few rocky spots in all these friendships, but the movie is essentially about all of these kids finding friends and finding a place in life. Is it cheesy? Absolutely. Is the acting stellar? Not really. Will is played by Gaelan Connell, who has never been in a movie before, so all things considered, I thought he was pretty good. If you are ok with cheesy teenager movies like I am, then you will enjoy this one!

Recommendation: Watch it!

The Invention of Lying

One Word Description: Strange

Family Appropriate: Not so much....pretty good message, mixed with too much information

Basic Outline: Here's the plot in a nutshell: No one is capable of lying, the main character discovers that he can lie and spends the entire movie trying to figure out how to use his new power. Should he use it for his own benefit? Should he use it to help people? Should he use it to win the heart of the girl he loves? He does good things with it, like stops his neighbor from committing suicide, convinces the world of the existence of God and helps a lot of homeless people. (And he doesn't use it to get the girl.)

However, for the rest of the world, it's not only that they can't lie, they tell you everything they're thinking...always. It's a little awkward. Even surrounded by good people, I don't want or need to know what everyone is thinking all the time. It's very bizarre. The movie had it's funny moments though, and like I said, the underlying message was a good one.

Recommendation: If you're really bored and have a free redbox code, go for it. It's not on my wishlist though.