"The Lego Movie 2" -- Not Awesome

*This post is by 13 year old guest blogger, Elijah, who felt so strongly about this issue that he asked to write a review.* 

Character Development in The Lego Movie & The Lego Movie 2 Contradict Each Other

A lot of people would agree that the Lego Movie was a huge hit at the box office, selling over 630,916,045 Canadian dollars. Since the Lego Movie was such a hit, Warner Bros. made a sequel titled “The Lego Movie 2” selling 257,019,945 Canadian dollars. In my opinion The Lego Movie 2 is just a large cash grab with poorly strung out ideas that contradict the first film. The main problems are the characters, storyline, and the morals, In this article i will focus on the characters and explain how The Lego Movie and The Lego Movie 2 contradict each other.

~-=EMMETT=-~

Emmett (as portrayed by The Lego Movie) is a bit of a goofball, constantly making pathetic creations and having bad ideas. Later on in the movie Emmett becomes a “master builder” and learns to just be himself, but Lego Movie 2 sings a totally different song. In The Lego Movie 2, despite the apocalyptic surrounding, Emmet is still happy and Lucy tells him that he needs to stop pretending everything is awesome. Emmett spends the rest of the movie trying to be someone he's not.

~-=LUCY=-~

In the first film Wildstyle is depicted to be insecure and tries to be dark and brooding but later learns from Emmet to just be herself, revealing her name to be Lucy. But apparently according to Lego Movie 2 she still wasn't being herself! Lucy apparently has the same personality as Emmet! Why wouldn't Lucy tell Emmet at the end of the first Lego Movie!?

~=PRESIDENT BUSINESS=~

In the Lego Movie, Fin's dad is represented by President Business and at the end of the movie he says that Fin's sister can come down into the basement and play with them, leading viewers to believe that the dad would play, build, and spend more time with his kids. In The Lego Movie 2 they threw that idea out the window and made Fin's dad an absent parent. President Business only appears in the first 2 minutes of the movie before he leaves to play golf. This means that the second that Fin and his little sister started fighting (and destroying Bricksburg) the dad left.

~=BATMAN=~

Batman is obviously a loner, but The Lego Movie 2 makes Batman marry someone -- a pile of bricks of all things. This just goes against everything Batman is. He's heartless, he's careless, and he's bachelor.

In closing, The Lego Movie contained a lot of good character development and The Lego Movie 2 ruined it. The show just exists to suck more money out of a beloved franchise. Characters, storyline, and the morals, are all contradictory to the first film.

~❀~ Elijah ~❀~

2017 Children's Choice Book Awards

Every Child a Reader is hosting the 2017 Children's Choice Book Awards!  How fun for kids to have the opportunity to read new books and vote for their favourite!

My kids and I have participated in something similar in the past, but without the chance to cast a vote officially.  Getting to have an actual vote will be so much more exciting:

Children's & Teen Choice Book Awards

Check out the books that are eligible in each category and see if your public library or bookstore has them.  Read as many as you can and let your kids decide their favourite!  I make a chart where my kids can make comments about the storyline and illustrations and rate each book.  This helps them to compare the books afterwards and come up with their winner!!!

Here's the sort of chart I use.  You can make your own or, if you are interested in getting a copy, feel free to e-mail me at: sowingdandelionseeds(at)yahoo.ca

  ~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Codes -- 13 34 14 15 43

Image source

After watching an episode of "The Flash" I was intrigued by an audible code called the tap code or knock code.  Since my plans to learn Morse Code have fallen by the wayside -- this looks like a code that could be easier to learn and use.

My kids have already been intrigued with written codes such as the pigpen code, but adding this one (which can be audible or written) will be awesome!

25 15 43 45 43     31 34 51 15 43     54 34 45!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Kids are my Favourite People -- Automatic Doors

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

"His Kids" Online Radio Station

Check out His Kids for an online radio station that is good clean fun.

Kids and families can listen to Adventures in Odyssey, Paws and Tales or Jonathan Park audio stories as well as uplifting and encouraging music.  Some programs can even be listened to "on demand".

~ Chelsey ~ 

Joy in the Journey -- Ultimate Blog Party 2011!!!

Hi!  I'm Chelsey -- an elementary teacher turned stay at home mom who loves all things childish.  I love playing and imagining -- and encouraging my kids to do the same.  I dislike housework and would rather play a board game or watch an animated movie with my family than scrub my house spotless.  Incidentally, I love incidental learning.

2008

Ernie and I, have been married for nearly 14 years.  Ernie had a stroke for unexplained reasons five years ago.  His stroke (and the resulting brain damage) is often overwhelming so I don't blog about it much.  



We don't know why things in life happen as they do, but we trust and love God despite (or because?) of it all.  

We look for the joy in the journey...

Desiree (7) & Elijah (5) love drawing, crafting, climbing trees and pretending.

Desiree is a budding author -- she writes books in bed at night when other children in our time zone are fast asleep.


Elijah is an actor in the making -- he answers to names such as Spiderman or Woody and likes to wear fedoras and superhero capes (but never at the same time).  




I love taking pictures, but get stressed out when it comes to uploading them.  We have more recent family pictures, but that one from 2008 was right there on my computer.  See how the kids have grown?  Yes, that was my goal all along...
  

I'm all about finding balance these days -- I don't want to waste time trying to make things "perfect".  I want to spend time with my family -- having fun and making memories and maybe blogging a little about it along the way...    

   

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Things They Say -- King of the Castle Edition

Elijah (4) to Desiree (6) during a fight:


"You think you're the best in the whole world.  
Well -- you're not.  
Mom and Dad ar.....  God is.  
God is the King of the Castle and you are the dirty rascal."


~ Chelsey ~

Funducational Websites for Pre/Early Schoolers

Here are a couple of my favourite funducational websites for pre-schoolers and early schoolers:

Curious George

This website has games that are fun with an emphasis primarily on Math.  There are games that promote skills such as counting, adding, map use, shapes, measurement and double digit number sequencing.

One of my favourite games is Banana 411 where the child memorizes a 3 digit 'phone' number to see a small videoclip.  Elijah (4), who insisted it was his turn to play while I was writing this post, likes Present Time. 

The underlying messages promoted on the Curious George website are: it's nice to give homemade things as gifts and it's good to help those less fortunate than yourself.  Math with a message -- how great is that?


PBS Island

Here you'll Find Fun games Featuring a variety of Familiar characters from shows such as Sesame Street, Super Why and Between the Lions.  These games promote Language Arts skills such as letter identification, rhyming, phonics and alliteration (see above for a lot of words that begin with "f" used together -- a total fluke, I promise).

This site allows you to create an account that will monitor the progress of your child (or of multiple children).  The child advances to the next level by successfully completing all the games in the first level.  Tickets are earned for playing each game and then the child can use those tickets to buy prizes for their very own virtual tree house.  Elijah was very excited when he had enough tickets to buy a robot!

Check out these amazing websites with your young ones and let me know what you think of them.  Feel free to add links to your own favourite educational websites too.

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Counting Compliments

The other day Elijah caught a fly... with his bare hands... I thought that was pretty disgusting, but said: "Wow Elijah -- you caught a fly! You must be really fast!"

Desiree looked at me sadly like she was waiting for me to give a compliment to her. She then said: "I feel like you don't compliment me very much". I was pretty proud of her for voicing her feelings so eloquently. Then I asked if she wanted me to say: "Wow Desiree -- you caught a fly! You must be really fast!". She agreed that would be silly since she hadn't caught a fly.

I told her that I was fairly sure that I compliment both of them equally overall, although not always at the same time. I explained if I were passing out ice cream cones I'd give them both an ice cream cone at the same time. But, I told her, I try to give genuine compliments as they are deserved and that the compliments are specific to the person I'm giving them to.

Later on that day I gave her a compliment. I made a point of saying after "Did you just hear my compliment?" She realized that she had barely noticed the compliment I had given her, yet she had certainly noticed her lack of compliments earlier when I complimented her brother.

Personally, I often wait expectantly for a compliment to come my way. You know -- one that I really deserve. I can almost hear it... but, then ... I don't. Not everyone is following the same script as me and the compliment that seemed so deserved doesn't come my way after all. Being a mom, in particular, is often described as a thankless job. Surely someone will notice though and blow my horn for me. I need it to be blown. I need to hear it to know that I still have a horn -- that I still have some worth.

It seems like it is often human nature for us to notice the lack of good coming our way more than the good that's right in front of us. I need to remind myself to look for the good -- and to give compliments instead of counting them...

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Toy Scary 3

When Desiree was 2 she was the biggest Buzz fan ever. I bought her Toy Story Pull Ups and when she was potty trained she refused to give them up for Winnie the Pooh undies. I finally found a package of Buzz underwear that had been marked down in a discount bin. I'm sure Buzz underwear are everywhere now, but four years ago I was worried my daughter was going to stay in boys Pull Ups forever.

When Elijah came along he naturally ended up loving Toy Story too. For Christmas 2008 we gave Elijah a Buzz and Woody and Desiree a Jesse and Bullseye. Desiree spun her Jesse around in a circle and sang "When Somebody Loved Me".

So -- we are big Toy Story fans. Or maybe, more accurately, we are big Toy Story 2 fans.

We have waited with anticipation for Toy Story 3 to make it to our local cheap theater. Sure it wasn't in 3-D, but it saved us money. The kids wore their matching Toy Story t-shirts and brought their toys clutched under their arms, eyes filled with anticipation.

The intro of the movie had Elijah laughing enthusiastically and we settled in to watch. It was like a reunion with a fond, old friend.

How had no one told me how incredibly scary the movie was?!?!? Elijah ended up crying frantically half way through the movie and I had to carry him out of the theater and hug him till he calmed down in the lobby. We went back in when the scary part was over and left with Elijah in tears again (and again). I'm shocked that Desiree stayed with Daddy in the theater instead of fleeing with me and Elijah. However, at bedtime Desiree, who is a sensitive soul, couldn't stop talking about the scary part over and over.

It seemed like Toy Story 3 was aimed at the original Toy Story audience who are now in their 20s and not at the current batch of children. Or maybe they felt they had to make it more intense for the newer generation. Either way if you have kids who are unsure about loud noises, scary expressions, intense music etc... preview it when it comes out on dvd before letting your kids watch it.

If you've already seen it --let me know your thoughts.

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Spending Time with Oma -- Thankfulness

The continuation of thankfulness...

27. Desiree "reminding" us that it was the birthday of her stuffed cat, Meows. We went to an event at a farmer's market with face painting, hot dogs, corn on the cob and watermelon (all free!). We called this event Meows' "birthday party". Maybe your family doesn't celebrate the birthdays of stuffed animals, but we do and we have great fun doing it!

28. Desiree's reaction to finding rhubarb at the produce store: "Mom!!!! Come and see!!!! They have rhubarb!!!" She was ecstatic! We also grow it in our backyard, but mostly pencil sized. Desiree, Elijah and I made a rhubarb meringue when my parents were here for a one night stop over on their way home. My dad loves rhubarb, but his reaction was quite subdued compared with Desiree's.

29. Being given a baby butterfly to take home from school. The class had hatched butterflies and when it was time to let them go this one wouldn't fly away. I carefully carried it all the way home and protected it from the wind. We took pictures with it and then let it free on a snapdragon plant in our backyard -- never to be seen again...

30. Time with "the cousins" -- my cousin, her husband and their kids who came from Alberta to visit for a couple days. My kids have never met their first cousins so these third cousins are quite a big deal! They had water fights, played Wii and we all had a trip to the water park together.

31. Going to the school's Beach day -- it was dreary and windy, but good fun still. Elijah crying as if his heart were broken when he saw a dead crab with no legs... Elijah yelling excitedly when he saw a live crab in the wild for the first time (that's his expression in the collage). Me convincing the kids that it was okay to catch them!

32. The little girl in the center of this photo from Ernie's 36km run. We asked her dad to take a photo for us so we wouldn't have a person missing from the picture and she automatically ran into the picture. How cute is that? She figured if her dad was taking the picture she should be in it!

33. Ernie's mom, Oma, coming from Ontario for a long-awaited visit and to see Ernie's run. It had been two years since we'd seen her last so the kids (now 4 and 6) were super excited. While she was here she gave me a tutorial on my sewing machine, baked all sorts of goodies for us, learned how to play Wii, gardened with Ernie and went for a hike at the river with the family. We all miss her now that she's back in Ontario...

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Choose Your Own Parenting Adventure -- Chocolate Egg Edition

You take your two children (ages 4 and 6) to the store and watch them closely as they attempt to run in separate directions. You let them play for a while with the toys in the toy section as a trade off for letting you accomplish your in-store tasks afterwards.

With your items in hand, you herd your children towards the checkouts. Suddenly, your 4 year old grabs a Kindersurprise chocolate egg and squishes it. Whether this is a desperate attempt to get you to buy it or whether he's trying to free the toy inside is irrelevant -- the chocolate egg has been significantly squished.


If you decide to ignore the fact that he's rendered the chocolate egg unsaleable, put the chocolate egg back on the stand.

If you decide that damaged goods must be paid for, take the chocolate egg to the checkout and pay $1.


As you approach the vehicle you tell your son that in no way does this mean he gets the egg and the toy hidden inside it. However, before you have a chance to make the egg "disappear", your husband has opened the egg. He divides the chocolate egg amongst your 6 year old, the two of you and, in an act of mercy, your 4 year old son. Again you remind your son that the toy will not be his so as not to encourage this chocolate egg squishing behaviour in the future.

If you decide the toy from inside the egg should go to no one, take it home and hide it.

If you decide the toy from inside the egg should go to your 6 year old daughter who was not involved in the crime, pass it to her.


Upon arrival at home and finding out that the toy is clearly not his, your 4 year old has a massive temper tantrum. You realize that he has not been satiated by the sliver of chocolate. It's as if the little plastic bug with velcro on its underside so you can stick it to people's shirts is THE BEST TOY EVER.

If you decide that he is being unreasonably greedy, stick him in his room and shut the door to drown out his screams.

If you decide that he is over-tired, hug him and sing "The Old Rugged Cross" loudly to drown out his screams and help calm you him down.


This was in fact how we spent our evening a couple days ago. In case you didn't already figure it out the second choice was the one I made each time.

Elijah did not calm down till Desiree put an alternate little toy inside the internal plastic egg and gave it to him so he could pretend it was a real chocolate egg toy. I allowed her to do this because 1. he calmed down and 2. it was such a sweet thing for her to do for her brother.

I'm wondering if Elijah has come away from this experience having learned anything... If not, I guess I'll spend my days eating squished chocolate eggs and singing "The Old Rugged Cross"...

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Listening to Echoes -- Thankfulness

One Thousand Gifts Continued...


18. Elijah's excitement at seeing a moving train up close! He kept saying "I always wanted to see a train for my birthday!" (which was in March lol)




19. A Wii Fit workout -- the only kind I do... (and haven't done in such a long time prior to this workout).

20. Watching Desiree on her hands and knees hollering down a storm drain and listening to the echoes.

21. All the amazing animals that God has made! -- like capybaras which are the largest rodents in the world.

22. Going to the zoo for a Family Fun Day and taking the train while we were there:


23. Desiree and Elijah collecting wood bugs / potato bugs / tank bugs to bring to school in a jar with holes in the lid that Daddy banged for them.

24. Reading a book about a family living during the Depression Era ("The Booky Trilogy") and remembering to count my blessings because finances could always be worse...

25. Our first visit to the outdoor splash park this year. The kids had a blast sending Desiree's crocs floating down the little creek and chasing after them.

26. Pre-teen boys who are kind enough to share a few of their water balloons with my little on-lookers.

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Bringing Home Worms -- Thankfulness

One Thousand Gifts continued...

11. Elijah's Mike Wazowski (from Monster's Inc) impersonation when trying to get his sister out of bed. Yelling at her "WORK OUT THAT FLAB THAT'S HANGING OVER THE BED!" Of course he doesn't know what flab is and so sort of garbled his way through that part of the quote, but aside from that the impersonation was great...

12. Watching Elijah and Desiree play with the pet snails they found in our yard -- naming them, racing them, swinging them on the swing.... If you click on this picture you can see the snails as they approach the finish line.


13. Me teaching Elijah that it's okay to pick up worms. He rescued a big one from the wet street and carried it home to our garden.
Bringing home snails -- No. Bringing home worms -- Yes.


14. Explaining "Amelia Bedelia" books to Desiree as she reads them -- especially the part about getting the bread to rise...

15. Doing a favour for someone when I haven't had opportunities to lately: walking Desiree's classmate and her brother to school while their mom is out of town. Desiree pretending that she and Mia are sisters as they run down the sidewalk on the way to school together.


16. Watching "Dreamer" for Friday Family Sleepover night. The kids loved it (even though it wasn't a cartoon! lol...) and my husband and I enjoyed it too. Elijah(4) describes his favourite part: "Did you know that the girl actually was helping the family by taking popsicles and helping the dad's horse by feeding it?"


17. Chocolate covered almonds that my husband bought unexpectedly. Expected chocolate is great, but unexpected chocolate is always better.

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Playing Demolition -- Thankfulness

I had a journal four years ago or so where I kept track of everything I was thankful for. I didn't number them though -- so I'm not sure how thankful I was numerically speaking.

I decided I would 'count my blessings' and keep track of my thankfulness:

1. A loving God who offers me small, unexpected blessings every day if only I would notice them.

2. My husband, daughter and son -- "our family".

3. Desiree(6) making a recipe from her Littlest Pet Shop book: "Berry Sweet Treat" -- yogurt, berries and cherries.

4. Granola which we added to the recipe for that "crunch".

5. Attending a kid birthday party with my kiddos.

6. Playing with them at the playplace -- crawling through tunnels, squishing through spots that adults shouldn't go and getting air off the slide.

7. Elijah(4) dressing himself consistently with his pants on backwards.

8. Juicy cherries with pits to chew on and spit out.

9. Dark chocolate. Chocolate because... it's chocolate and dark because the rumours are it's healthy and that sounds true to me.

10. Playing demolition with Elijah and a tower of blocks. He's such a character player/creator that he's never played demolition before!


~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Wood Beats Cardboard

My husband, in a moment of insanity, made a couple of 8 inch swords out of wood for our son and daughter. Our son, who was 3 at the time, carried it with him everywhere -- including into Wal-mart where he caught his sister unaware (and without her sword). Unfortunately she's prone to nose bleeds... Staff members came running and offered ice packs as she bled on the merchandise I hadn't yet bought (and then spent the night scrubbing).

In my husband's defense, he did end up making a shield, but only one... which he then gave to our son who wasn't the one requiring protection. And it was cardboard. You all know how rock, paper, scissors works, right? Well along those same lines -- wood clearly beats cardboard.

I hide the swords whenever they surface in the hopes of preventing further spilled blood... But, every so often the kids get a few moments of fun before I notice.

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Handy Bags

Since I was talking about having bags for a variety of purposes, I thought I'd show the bags the kids and I "made" for taking to Awana and storing everything in during the week.



I found canvas bags at the dollar store and got the kids to "personalize" each bag with their own hand print in acrylic paint. Here is a picture of Elijah ironing his bag (with my vintage TOY iron) after being inspired by my ironing the bags.



Here's another picture of Desiree and Elijah modelling the bags before using them to hunt for Easter eggs in the backyard. (Note: they picked out the sweaters themselves because they thought the stripes on the sweaters looked liked the stripes on decorated Easter eggs.)



These bags are great for organizing the Cubbies and Sparks books, Desiree's Bible and Awana bucks. Elijah even uses his bag to bring along his stuffed elephant which he named Ernie elephant after the elephant in his Cubbies book (and I suppose after daddy too!).

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Ultimate Blog Party 2010!!!

Hi! I'm Chelsey. This is my first time ever participating in the Ultimate Blog Party so thanks for mingling with me in the corner of the virtual room.



When I was little I told my mom when I grew up I wanted to be a teacher, a singer, an artist, an author & a mom. My mom asked how I was going to do all that & I told her "Well, I'm going to be a mom & a mom IS all those things!"
Now I know how true that was! I am currently an elementary teacher turned stay at home mom. I'm singing, drawing, making up stories & teaching my kids every moment I get & loving nearly every minute of it! (See how honest I was to add "nearly"? lol)


My husband, Ernie, and I met when we were both counselors at a Kid's Camp. We have been married for 13 years this summer. It's unbelievable how fast time flies!

Ernie had a stroke for unexplained reasons at the age of 33 when our son was only 3 months old. He is permanently disabled because of the effects of the stroke -- comprehension, memory, impulsivity, insomnia & mood management issues as well as random balance issues & seizures (which took a year to get under control with medication).

Despite all the daily struggles my husband & I continue to love one another, love our kids & love God.

Desiree(6) is in grade one and loves singing, drawing, climbing trees and pretending. Elijah (4) loves doing the same things -- especially with his big sister. Desiree is sensitive and crafty. Elijah is mischievous and cuddly. Life with them is always interesting!


I love all things childish (watching animated movies, browsing in the toy section, etc). I like reading (kid and adult books) and love crafting in random moments of free time (knitting, crocheting, paper crafts...). I especially love making memories with my family. On this blog I post about a bit of everything -- the fun childish things, the simple things and every so often (I hope) something profound.

If you're interested, please feel free to follow me!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Joy in Jesus' Return -- from a Kid's Point of View

This Good Friday I gave Desiree and Elijah a toy Jesus and a children's book about some of the miracles of Jesus. After we acted out some of the miracles, we acted out his death. Then we wrapped Jesus up in cloth (toilet paper), buried him in a "tomb" in our front yard and covered it with a rock. The plan was to check the tomb on Sunday and (spoiler) Jesus wouldn't be there!

But, a few hours later at bedtime here is the conversation Elijah (newly 4), Desiree (6) and I had.

Elijah: "Can we go get Jesus now?"

Me: "Remember Jesus was in the tomb for three days?"

Elijah: "But, I want to take Jesus to bed with me..."

Desiree: "You know that Jesus is always with us, right?"

Elijah: "But I want the toy Jesus."

Me: "You don't want to wait three days?"

Elijah: "It's time -- I counted -- 1, 2, 3!"

Me: "Oh... but three days is longer than just counting to three."

Elijah: "1, 2, 3 ... 4, 5... Let's go get Jesus!"

What could I do? I couldn't withhold Jesus from my son for the sake of an object lesson. So we went back outside in the dark and dug in the tomb. Thankfully I'd had the foresight to remove Jesus as soon as he was buried just in case something like this happened. There in the dirt was the "cloth", but no Jesus. Elijah said "Maybe we need to dig deeper?" All of a sudden Jesus appeared out of no where (as if from my pocket).

I don't know if Elijah completely understood the object lesson, but he sure was glad to get his Jesus toy back. And isn't joy in Jesus' return what Easter is all about?


~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

The Judgement of Strangers

I regularly experience the judgement of strangers. It's like I have a sign on me that says "Judge me" because I have active children.

Just the other day I went to the mall and my three year old son ran off on me (still in my sight) to the ride on cars. I insisted he come back (and he did not). As I hurried towards him, a lady, who had been watching, says to me in a condescending tone of voice: "That's how children get kidnapped, you know".

Clearly this lady (if she ever had kids!) had been the perfect mother of perfect children. Just because my kids are active doesn't mean I'm an incompetent parent.

Another time my neighbour (dad of two docile girls) phoned to bawl me out when my son (who had just turned three) climbed a bush in our backyard and jumped our five foot fence into his yard!!! I hadn't expected he would do that! In the time it took me to run around to the front yard to their yard to get my son, the neighbour phoned me up and left a message saying that I needed to watch my children better and that he and his wife were capable of watching their two children even though they both worked so why couldn't I watch my two properly as a stay at home mom. (I guess it slipped his mind that they have a babysitter!) When I called him back (why did I do that?) I tried explaining to him that all children are different, but he figured he had two children and I had two children and so it was the same. Nevermind that his docile girls would never dream of climbing a bush or jumping a fence. To imply that all kids are the same and that parenting is the same for everyone is crazy.

Children are all different. What works best for one child doesn't work for another (even in the same family). That's what makes parenting such a challenge! I'd love it if people would stop judging me as a parent based on what kind of kids they themselves have. My kids may not be docile and submissive all the time, but they're creative and a lot of fun. I may not be the best parent ever, but I'd like to think that I'm the best parent for them.

How have you been judged as a parent? (cause I know you have...)

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~