Susan here… I’m in Disneyland about to see the premiere of “Mickey and the Magical Map” and to celebrate the recent opening of Fantasy Faire. For disclosure I’d like to let you know that I’m at a media event and my travel, hotel and park pass expenses are being covered by Disney. As always, my opinions and love for Disney are my own.

This will be a magical and busy weekend here at Disneyland with the premiere of “Mickey and the Magical Map” tonight and a ‘Monstrous’ 24 Hour party starting tomorrow morning at 6 am!

I think Mickey and his friends are going to need to use magical powers to keep themselves awake and partying all that time.

Crowds are expected to continue to grow throughout the party tomorrow as Disney fans celebrate all night. I’ll be here taking in the excitement too. (We’ll see how late I can last. I am known for being a night-owl. But it’ll depend on how early I start in the morning.)

I have to quickly head over to the newly renovated Fantastyland Theatre now to see Mickey and his friends put on their fabulous new show.

I believe so strongly in the power of storytelling and I love how Kevin Eld, Head of Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment explains the power of Disney stories:

“We are obsessed storytellers and we are obsessive about detail… We all share a deep-seated passion about creating emotional moments. We get to touch people at the very core of their emotions. We want people to get lost in the story of ‘Mickey and the Magical Map.’”

I know I will love this show, so I better sign off quickly so I don’t miss it.

Join me on Twitter with the hashtag #JustGotHappier.

 

Written by Susan Carraretto, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom
Talk with me: @5minutesformom and Facebook.com/5minutesformom
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Photo Credit: Disneyland Resort

When you’re decorating your child’s room I think you need to make sure it’s fun and includes pieces that the child loves now but also pieces that will grow with them. Sometimes that is pretty hard to do but I’ve found one product that is gorgeous and timeless – Pigtails Ink  paper art.

Pigtails Ink. art is a whimsical, unique and affordable way to personalize a child’s bedroom, playroom or bath. They have a variety of designs to celebrate your child’s interest; princess’s, space explorers, athletes and superheroes. Their letters are great for initials or spelling out full names and their bath art will remind your little one to Brush, Wash and Scrub.The art is printed from original illustrations and hand personalized by the artist with name and hair color. Prints are sold matted and fit standard size frames. Personalization and shipping is always free! - Pigtails Ink website

I was provided one 8×10 art for review and it was very difficult to choose which one I wanted to place in Matthew’s room. Well, his soon to be bedroom (right now it’s still a playroom). I wanted to pick something that wouldn’t reflect something he was interested in now but could possible outgrow later in life. And let me tell you there were LOTS of choices – the themes I looked at included football, baseball, airplanes, racing and more….there was everything available for a little boy.

I finally chose the Smile God Loves You artwork matted in blue. When I received it I was amazed at the quality and beauty of it. Matthew loved it and so did I. I really hope that this is something he will treasure as he gets older. It’s a beautiful piece that I think is so special. Most kids love personalized items and this is a fun addition to any room. All art is sold matted. If you would like it framed, that option is available, or you can just purchase a standard size frame at your local store.

Pigtails Ink also has a variety of other items for girls that include art work, letter art, and bathroom art. The themes available for girls are princess, reading, cheerleading, skiing, and even Stars Wars Princess Leia inspired art. It is amazing and you will love it!

Right now on the Pigtails Ink website you can receive a 20% discount. Enter coupon code SMILE20 at checkout. Custom artwork and stationery excluded. Expires July 15, 2013

Enter to win

We want you to experience the fun of choosing artwork for your child so, 5 Minutes for Mom and Pigtails Ink is giving away one (1) 8×10 paper art to one (1) lucky reader!! Use the Rafflecopter form to enter this giveaway. New to Rafflecopter? Watch this 45-second video on how to enter!

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Which art would you choose?

    Lesley is a mom of two kids – one girl and one boy. She’s married to her first and only love, Robby. Author of Life with Lesley. Her blog has a little bit of everything – life, love, parenting, along with product reviews and giveaways.

Dawn, 5M4M contributor, recently attended the EPIC movie premiere in New York City. Expenses for her travel and lodging were covered by 20th Century Fox. All opinions expressed here are wholly her own.

Have you heard about the Leaf Men and the amazing, hidden world of the forest in the upcoming film EPIC? I’m excited to share more thoughts about the new movie that will hit theaters this Friday, especially about the comedic elements. Check out my previous post for the lowdown on the story and some insights from the director on the underlying themes.

Though EPIC is most definitely an adventure film with a lot of heart, there are plenty of laughs, too, and most of them are provided by the slimiest creatures on the screen. Mub the slug, and Grub the snail, are the protectors of the plant pod that holds the magical soul of the forest. They’re the perfect caretakers because the pod needs to stay moist– a huge talent of both snails and slugs! With funnymen Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd as the voices behind Mub and Grub, the laughs come naturally.

If you’ve seen the trailer, then you know all about Mub and Grub’s eyeball antics. What other creatures could even theoretically knock their eyeballs back and forth? Ansari and O’Dowd both bring their signature voices to these characters. Ansari is quick with a punchline, expressive and energetic, and O’Dowd’s charming Irish accent fits perfectly with his character who longs to be a Leaf Man despite his being a slug.

I was incredibly fortunate to participate in a group interview with Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd recently, and let me tell you, these guys are as funny off the cuff as they are when they’re performing from a script. How often do actors get to talk about their experiences playing a slug and a snail? When one blogger jokingly asked if they had done any research before taking these roles, they immediately launched into a funny back-and-forth:

Aziz Ansari:  “No, I didn’t really do any research.  They have a piece of paper that has a script, lines on it.  And then, I just go in there and I say those a couple times, like we got it, and then I go home, done.”

Chris O’Dowd:  “I had a slug farm, so like I felt like I was already one step ahead, yes like an ant farm.”

Aziz Ansari:  “And me and Chris went to the woods with a magnifying glass and followed a snail and slug around for a couple of months.”

Chris O’Dowd:  “It did not end well, obviously.  It was a sunny day. One thing led to another.  Yes, it was really sad.  It was sad, but worth it.“

I couldn’t stop myself from mentioning the slugs that keep finding their way into my own kitchen every spring and summer, and I expressed my hope that after viewing this movie, perhaps my kids won’t be so grossed out by the slow-moving, slime-trail-leaving creatures. Thankfully, Chris O’Dowd was happy to play along:

Chris O’Dowd:  “You are welcome.  Get yourself a nice slug farm.”

Me:  “I’d like to know how to fill that habitat.”

Chris O’Dowd:  “Just slugs.  What I do is I don’t put anything in it other than the slugs.  So, it’s just slugs.”

Me:  “Just slugs?”

Chris O’Dowd:  “That’s right, yes, plastic tub of slugs, which is also the name of my autobiography, out this Christmas. Yes, hopefully, slugs are going to get a good rap from now on because I’m sick and tired of the anti slug brigade.”

Their easygoing banter with our group was fitting, seeing as they had provided the lighthearted side of the movie with their funny performances. As a parent, I frequently find myself frustrated with kids’ movies, because of the innuendo and more adult-like humor that too often finds its way in. I was delighted that this wasn’t the case with EPIC. I didn’t find myself cringing at any parts, and the humor provided by Ansari and O’Dowd plays mostly on their snail/slug features. These guys are funny– and humble!– enough to portray two odd little creatures like Mub and Grub, and they absolutely made me laugh both during the movie and the interview!

Following our group interviews, I made my way over to hang out with Mub and Grub themselves! Okay, maybe they were just images on the mini-green screen, but I tried to angle my body just right to wrap my arm around Grub’s neck. After a click on the screen, my image was “animated,” and I couldn’t help but laugh at the entire effect. Who wouldn’t be excited in this scenario?

EPIC opens in theaters on Friday, May 24th, and I look forward to hearing other parents’ and kids’ reactions to this fabulous flick!

Be sure to check out  my other thoughts on EPIC:

• Discover a Hidden World in EPIC — Read what Director Chris Wedge had to say about the themes of the movie and learn more about the beautiful story told in the film.
• Books on Screen: EPIC — Did you know that EPIC was inspired by a picture book? I’ve got the details on 5 Minutes for Books.

Like Epic on Facebook
Follow @EpicTheMovie on Twitter #EpicTheMovie
Watch Epic videos on YouTube

This guest post has been submitted by Sarah Normandie

Teach your young child the science of creating colors with these fun activities that link art, science and literature all together. Your  “color scientist” will be having so much fun that he or she won’t even realize that there is learning involved!

 Activity 1: Popsicle Paint

Book to read:  Why Did My Ice Pop Melt? By Susan Korman

 After Reading the book, Why Did My Ice Pop Melt? By Susan Korman, try this fun summer activity!

First, fill Popsicle molds with washable children’s tempura paint. Use primary colors: red, yellow, and blue, to prep your child for the color mixing activity. You can find the tempura paint in most craft stores and local department stores that sell children’s art supplies.

Next, freeze the paint in the mold. Then, head outdoors on a hot summer day to do some Popsicle painting! An easel would work great for this activity, or you can just hang your paper onto a tree.

Younger children will have an easier time building their fine motor skills by painting in this upright motion. Also, as the Popsicle paint melts, the paint will mix together. Discuss why it melted and predict which colors mixed together will create other colors.

 What Your Child Will Learn:

Your child will build their fine motor skills, and gain reasoning/prediction skills while engaged in scientific inquiry (discovering and predicting how the colors will mix). These skills will prepare your child for reading-as prediction skills are correlated with reading strength. This activity will also strengthen their problem solving skills.  Of course, freedom of expression in art and language development will also be fostered.

 Bonus Activity:  Frozen Ice Melt: Another color mixing/ice melting activity is the “Frozen Ice Color Melt”. Fill various containers with water colored by food coloring (remember, primary colors only!). Put the “colored ice” in an outdoor water table, bucket, or kiddie pool, and watch the water change color as it melts. Don’t forget to talk about your child’s predictions to promote scientific inquiry and language skills.

 Activity 2: Foot Painting

Book to read:   Color Dance by Ann Jonas

 What better way to learn about mixing colors than with some dancing! After reading Color Dance by Ann Jonas, bring out some large poster board or a roll of butcher paper, washable children’s paint (primary colors), a brush, and a bucket of water (to wash their feet).

Paint your child’s foot, or simply let them rub their feet in a small puddle of paint (don’t forget to hold their hand, it can get slippery!). Put on some fun summer music and let your child dance on the paper, painting their footprints as they dance! Wipe off their feet and use different colors. As they dance, the colors will mix!

 What Your Child Will Learn:

In addition to language development and science inquiry skills, your child will build their gross motor skills (jumping, walking, balancing, etc) and learn to express themselves through art and music.

 Activity 3: Water Spray Paint

Book to read: White Rabbit’s Color Book By Alan Baker

 White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker is one of my favorite color mixing books for young children. After reading the story, fill 3 spray bottles with a small amount of bottled watercolor paint (found in craft stores) and water. You can also simply fill with water colored by food coloring.

Tack a piece of white paper to a tree, and let your little one spray the paper with the primary colors. Discuss how the colors blend together as they spray. Little ones will find it easier to spray upright, and older children could spray paper laid on the ground or on a table. You could also use stencils, or various objects such as string, buttons, or stencils placed on the paper to make various designs.

 What Your Child Will Learn:

Your child will build their fine motor strength by using the spray bottles, gain problem solving, and scientific inquiry skills by mixing colors and noticing the patterns they create. Also, by discussing their art, your child will build their language development skills.

 Your child is sure to have a blast with these simple, inexpensive activities that will build their fine motor, gross motor, scientific inquiry, language development skills as well as encourage art expression — all while learning about the magic of color science! These activities are a great ways to turn a normal summer day into color mixing magic!

What ways do you have that your kids can have fun while experimenting with colors?

Southwestern Taco Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing

I am counting down the days until The Lone Ranger comes out. I love, love, love this series when I was a kid, and as soon as I found out that Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp were Tonto and the Lone Ranger, I knew I had to put this on my radar to see this summer!

Have you seen the newest trailer? Check it out below!

About the movie

From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski, the filmmaking team behind the blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, comes Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ “The Lone Ranger,” a thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought to life through new eyes.  Native American warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice—taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.

Native American warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) and man of the law John Reid (Armie Hammer) are opposites brought together by fate and must join forces to battle greed and corruption.

“Like” THE LONE RANGER on Facebook: www.facebook.com/theloneranger

 “Follow” THE LONE RANGER on Twitter: https://twitter.com/disneypictures

Visit THE LONE RANGER website: www.disney.com/theloneranger

THE LONE RANGER rides into theaters on July 3rd!

Teresa B, 5m4m contributor, shares her insights on how to have family devotions around the dinner table. We were compensated to write this post, however all opinions listed are the writer’s own.

The dinner table is a great time for family devotions. Dinnertime provides an opportunity to connect over food while having fun, joyful and meaningful faith-building conversations. So what exactly are family devotions? The words suggest the idea of devotions with your family, which is a small snapshot of the bigger picture really. Family devotions could be described as home fellowship or parent-led devotions.

My husband and I want to model for our children the reality of a genuine relationship with Christ. We teach them how to pray, how to study and memorize scripture and how to show Christian love to those around them. My husband and I are not leaving it to chance that our children will absorb a biblical worldview on their own without our instructions. We can’t simply rely on Sunday school or youth group to take on these tasks. The responsibility lies squarely on our shoulders.

How We Have Devotions At Our House

Our children are still quite young and we want to make studying the bible fun. A great way to inspire dinner table devotions is with wordplay. Each evening we begin dinner with a prayer and a question. Everyone is given an opportunity to answer the question. Sometimes I will even use strips of paper as a table cloth and let the children write their answers at their place setting.

“Are you careful about the words you say?”
“Are you as kind to your brothers and sisters as you are to your friends?”
“Do you do lots of good things?”

After the question has been answered, my husband will lead us in our family devotions. He has a daily family devotion schedule planned out with a story and bible verse{s} that relate to the stories. The stories help our children understand the bible verses that he reads. Each story is a lesson and the daily question, story and bible verses all connect and relate to one another.

It is a time commitment, which may take us away from other pursuits. However, missing a television program or a load of laundry is a wonderful trade off to keep these devotions in our daily lives. Having this set time for fun and spiritual growth as a family demonstrates to our children what is really important.

We always end our family devotions with an ACTS prayer.
A(Adoration)
C (Confession)
T (Thanksgiving)
S (Supplication)

Remember to take time for prayer, worship and the study of God’s Word with your children. What do you do to nurture your children’s relationship with the Lord?

Here’s Another Great Devotional Help

Your family’s gathered around the table. What’s on the menu? Cold stares? Stale prayers? The same old leftover questions about “what happened at school today”? Next time you sit down to eat, enjoy some spiritual food too! Get everyone talking—and learning—with the nourishment of Whit’s End Mealtime Devotions! Encourage quality family time and pass on a strong spiritual heritage with these 90 devotions created to engage children in fun, lively, productive dialogue.

Whit has always been a family favorite and will make mealtime fun, and encourage lots of great conversation.

Teresa is a family lifestyle photographer who is happy homeschooling her three children in the Christian classical education theory in the suburbs of Chicago. You can find her on her blog Tiaras & Tantrums or on Twitter as @tiarastantrums.

Jennifer here to share with you about a product that will definitely help us be more organized. We were compensated for posting this guest post, however all opinions remain the writer’s own.

As parents we know too well the daily chaos of coordinating our family’s schedules.  Coordinating our own schedules between spouses, among all of the events in our kids’ lives (class schedules, school events, practice/games schedules, Sunday school, ballet, swim meets-  It can get a bit hectic.

For those of us needing a way to tame the chaos, a new platform called LivingTree has just launched nationwide. Good news is, it was created by parents for parents.

LivingTree offers a web and mobile (iOS and Android) service, a cutting-edge system that aims to make it easy for busy parents to organize things with one another, coordinate and share the most important moments of their children’s lives with loves ones, as well as enabling the organizations that are helping teach our children (teachers/schools, coaches/leagues, etc) to more effectively communicate and coordinate with us as parents – all in one safe, and integrated place.

How it works…

  LivingTree’s offering is focused on three key functions:

• Organization:   LivingTree makes it easy to organize the everyday chaos.  The LivingTree shared calendaring system keeps spouses on the same page to ensure personal events, family events, and events for each child in your family are organized and communicated efficiently. The platform is designed to automatically integrate the children’s classes, teams, schools, and leagues for easy coordination of the classroom or school events, parent teacher conferences, volunteer opportunities and commitments, or a season’s practice/games, etc. When locations or other details are changed (by a parent, a coach, or teacher) the calendar updates in real time, and all spouses or co-parents are automatically notified on their mobile devices.  The LivingTree shared calendaring system also supports subscription to other calendar types like Outlook, Apple Cal, Google Calendar, etc.

•  Engagement: LivingTree simplifies communication between all the people participating in our children’s daily development. LivingTree’s “Conversations” provides tools for parents, extended families, youth leaders and organizations to privately share posts, photos, media, files, and converse in the context of our children’s lives. LivingTree aggregates all conversations into one secure place, providing a quick and easy way to converse with schools, teachers, leagues, coaches, etc.  No more emails, reply-alls, or series of websites.

• Sharing and Remembering:  LivingTree’s “Memories” feature offers parents an easy (yet private) way to chronicle the lives of their children.  Quickly post a set of photos or media to a “Memory Mix” per child, and share it with other extended family members.  It not only helps you capture the important moments and experiences, but instantly arranges them in the way you want to remember them. For example, chronicle the changing interests of one child— construction, superheroes, marine biology—while showing the steadfast interest of another—Shelby sings her heart out, age 3 to 15. And when connected to a child’s classroom or team, users get instant access to other photos or media the teachers, coaches or other parents have shared privately into the class or team – grab any of those, and chronicle for future posterity.

Finally, a secure and private way to coordinate our lives all in one place. To check out LivingTree and sign up for a free account,  visit www.livingtree.com.

How could Living Tree help you out?

Dawn, 5M4M contributor, recently attended the EPIC movie premiere in New York City. Expenses for her travel and lodging were covered by 20th Century Fox. All opinions expressed here are wholly her own.

Prepare to have your view of the forest changed forever. Coming to theaters this Friday is the 3D CG film EPIC, an adventure comedy film that will wow both children and parents alike. I recently had the opportunity to attend the premiere and participate in roundtable interviews with the director and several stars of the film. I’m thrilled to share my impressions of the film, along with some behind-the-scenes fun tidbits from the junket experience.

The Story: The Leaf Men and a Hidden World in the Forest

Little do we humans know, there is an entire world of tiny creatures living all around us in the woods. The Leaf Men help to protect the lush forest world from the forces of evil who wish to eliminate the spirit of the forest, taking away all growth and replacing it with decay and rot. MK, a teenage girl visiting her father’s home on the edge of the forest, gets mixed up in this world on a magical day and suddenly finds herself shrunk and in the middle of the action! MK may not realize it at first, but she is an integral part of helping to save the forest world, and in turn, the creatures of this tiny world just might help her figure out how to save herself, too.

The 3D Experience: An Unbelievably Lush Visual Effect

I’m typically not a fan of 3D movies– I don’t like feeling like things are flying at my face, and I’m the person you’ll see in the theater trying to swat away visual effects. Initially, I balked at viewing EPIC in 3D, imagining tiny arrows being sent zooming off the screen. However, I’m happy to say that the 3D effect only enhanced this film by providing an incredible depth to the lush and verdant world of the forest. I wasn’t perturbed by anything being projected at my face, but I did have to stop myself from reaching out to touch the blooming flowers and the vibrant plants of the forest! Even my twelve year old son who attended the movie premiere with me remarked within the first few minutes of the movie, “Wow. This looks so cool!” We both stand in awe of the animation team responsible for these literally amazing visuals.

“Just because you haven’t seen something, doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

That quote was one of my favorites from the movie, uttered by MK’s bumbling, but good-intentioned father. Director Chris Wedge echoed that sentiment during our roundtable interview, describing the themes of the movie.

“The themes were more about connections between people and finding things that we don’t realize are there, because I think that it’s emotionally satisfying to discover that someone’s been thinking about you, or somebody helped behind the scenes, or when you’re in trouble, somebody comes through that you didn’t expect to hear from.”

I found that to be an honorable theme for a children’s movie, and the delivery of this message isn’t preachy or overstated, but presented in a way that shows the characters reliance on each other as an important part of their community’s survival. “Many leaves, one tree” as said by the character of General Ronin, the leader of the Leaf Men and voiced by Colin Farrell, expresses the idea of this interconnectedness overtly in the film, and I think even younger children will understand the idea behind this symbolism.

A Magical World Onscreen, a Magical Experience for Us

When Director Chris Wedge speaks of the magic of this world, his words are easily understood by anyone– adult or child– who loves spending time in the natural world.

“When I walk into the forest, the one thing that I sense, if you just stand there for a second, you feel this kind of magical presence.  I was just trying to express that in a fantasy.You feel the silence, you feel the strength, you see the leaf growing, the birds flitting around.  It’s just happening all the time.  Feels like magic to me.“

I felt this magic, too, as I watched EPIC, and I found myself looking forward to an upcoming family camping trip in the woods even more! For me and my son, the entire experience of heading to New York City for the premiere was a whole different kind of magic, too. From walking the “Green Carpet,” (which we later learned was actually made of real grass!), to viewing the film in the beautiful Ziegfeld Theatre, to laughing with the director and stars Colin Farrell, Amanda Seyfried, Aziz Ansari, and Chris O’Dowd during the group interviews– it was all a bit surreal and incredibly exciting. I’m happy that all the fun revolved around a movie that I can happily recommend to families!

If you haven’t yet caught the trailer for EPIC, be sure to check it out:

Will you be taking your kids to see EPIC when it opens on Friday, May 24th? I can’t wait to hear what you think!

Be sure to check out  my other thoughts on EPIC:

• The Funny– and Slimy!– Side of EPIC — Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd got me laughing onscreen and off during our interviews!
• Books on Screen: EPIC — Did you know that EPIC was inspired by a picture book? I’ve got the details on 5 Minutes for Books.

Like Epic on Facebook
Follow @EpicTheMovie on Twitter #EpicTheMovie
Watch Epic videos on YouTube

Yesterday, I taught Olivia how to blow a bubble with her bubble gum.

I noticed she was holding her tongue in the gum and then blowing — which resulted in her spitting all over me.

I told her to make the hole in the gum with her tongue, pull out her tongue and then blow into the hole and… ta da da! She blew her first bubble.

After a few bubbles, Olivia was onto blowing ginormous bubbles and so of course I had to capture the accomplishment with my iPhone.

What is Your Weekly Photo?

Mom Bloggers (and Dad Bloggers too!) post a photo on your site, link up and find others… Wordless Wednesday is tons of fun. (And I know it says “wordless” but I usually just can’t bear to not write anything! If I had created it, I probably would have named it something different! LOL So feel to link up your word-full or word-less Wednesday photos!)

Leave the URL to your photo (clearly mine are never truly “wordless”) and then visit others!

Link Up:

Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Written by Janice, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom. You can see more of her photography at Janice Croze Photography.