The Mom Crowd

This whole week at The Mom Crowd, we will be hearing from guest bloggers. Dawn is our first guest blogger. She is a friend of Amanda’s and has been a dedicated reader of The Mom Crowd. She wrote a great post! If you want to learn more about Dawn, check out her at Everything I’ve Ever Wondered*. Happy Reading! ~McKenna

Hey moms! I’m Dawn, mother of Lucy (22 mos) and Eli (5 mos). So Amanda asked me to write a post for The Mom Crowd. I spent several days thinking of ideas for my post (“I Hate My Closet: Why Getting Dressed Isn’t as Fun as It Used to Be”; “When My Body is Truly Mine Again: How I Spanned 3 Years and 2 Olympic Games Pregnant, Nursing, or Both”; “Guilt: How Much TV is Too Much TV When You Love to Watch TV?”), and I decided that I’d better leave the child-rearing wisdom to the experts. I am going to stick with one of my favorite topics-an area in which I have far too much knowledge: pop culture. So I present to you, dear mommies, my

Favorite Five Unsung Wonder-Moms in Film

Most folks would agree that Terms of Endearment is an iconic film about mothers & daughters. I like the movie a lot, sure, and I think the acting and story are top-notch. However, too much attention is paid to Shirley MacLaine’s character (Aurora Greenway), the doting and unusual mother of Debra Winger’s Emma. What about those other movie moms, the quiet ones, who are fantastic mom characters? They forego the quirky, kooky side and show us what lots of real moms act like. I decided to give them a shout-out, starting with

1. Lorri Morris, played by Rachel Griffiths in The Rookie. Not only does she have 3 young kids (including one baby), she’s a full time high school counselor. Plus, her husband decides to leave the family for months at a time to pursue a crazy pro-baseball dream! Their marriage is a perfect example of a wife who is supportive yet realistic (although I must confess I doubt I’d be as patient as she appeared to be). I love the scene when their baby wakes up in the middle of the night, and the couple lies in bed, discussing who should get up to comfort her. Ultimately, the mom ends up rocking the baby back to sleep, singing to her softly. She is strength and love personified.

2. “Mom”, played by Karen Allen, in The Sandlot. She shows the power of simple understanding when her young son struggles to fit in with the new crowd after a move. She gently encourages him to go outside, to get into trouble, to get dirty! In her own words: “Not a lot of moms would make an offer like that.” The most telling scene? Scotty finally makes a friend in Benny (who gives him a glove and hat so he can join the team), and Scotty excitedly runs into the house, shouting, “Hey Mom! Guess what!?” He knew his mom would be just as excited about it. Awww…

3. “Kate Reynolds”, played by Tea Leoni in The Family Man. Just your basic great-mom-who’s-also-a-hottie, taking care of the kids each day and loving her husband even though he’s sometimes a selfish lout. “…maybe I was being naive, but I believed that we would grow old together in this house. That we’d spend holidays here and have our grandchildren come visit us here. I had this image of us, all grey and wrinkly, and me working in the garden and you re-painting the deck. But things change. If you need this, Jack, if you really need this, I will take these kids from a life they love and I’ll take myself from the only home we’ve ever shared together and I’ll move wherever you need to go. I’ll do that because I love you. I love you, and that’s more important to me than our address. I choose us.”

4. “Annie Kinsella”, played by Amy Madigan in Field of Dreams. A former hippie who still loves a good demonstration every now & then, Annie is one spunky momma. She cracks jokes, gives her husband the benefit of the doubt, and cooks a mean tray of frozen french fries. She’s a hoot. Look for her getting her daughter’s lunch ready while wearing a Brownie beanie cap. (What is it with moms who are so supportive of their crazy-baseball-dream-driven husbands?)

5. “M’Lynn Eatenton“, played by Sally Field in Steel Magnolias. We’ve all seen it a thousand times: the gut-wrenching funeral scene where M’Lynn grieves loudly and at times, riotously. For me, though, the maternal love and strength of M’Lynn is shown in her reading to her comatose daughter at the hospital, in her crying and waving to her daughter as she leaves home for good, in her compassionate arms swung open wide as she picks up her precious grandson after Shelby dies. She’s one of the best movie moms ever.

C ome to think of it, a lot of these examples showcase what a strong marriage can look like, which has a definite effect on the children involved. What about you? What portrayals of movie motherhood have stood out to you? Share it in the comments section. And by the way, I love The Family Stone. I think Sybil Stone is a great mom (I love how she has a definite, adoring relationship with each of her grown children).

JENNY!!!!

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Our contest below will be over at 10pm and not many of you have entered. Enter soon!!! The winner will be announced tomorrow morning, so get on it!! Read the contest rules in the post below this one!

As I shop for Christmas presents for the children in my family I have been reflecting on what toys really get the most play at my house. Here’s a list of the top toys we own (we own A LOT!)

1. Leap Frog Learn and Groove Musical Table – If we had to go to a desert island and could only bring three things, this would be one of them! This toy was the best toy purchase we have ever made and I think every child should own one. We have had ours for three years, and it has always been the “hot toy” in our home. It really grows with your child and I highly recommend this toy!

2. Plush Bunglie Donkey by Jelly Cat – You can’t get the donkey very easily anymore since he is now officially retired, however Jelly Cat makes the most adorable stuffed animals. Darah has been sleeping with her lovey for three years and will not go to sleep without him. They are incredibly soft and cuddly and a must-have in our home!

3. My First Stacking Cups – These classic stacking cups are a hit in our home and have had multiple uses. They’ve been everywhere from the sandbox to the bathtub to the kitchen. Connor loves crawling around with one in each hand and one in his mouth and Darah likes to stack them up high and knock them down. They’ve been great for all kinds of fine motor activities (stacking, sorting, pouring, etc…)

4. Swirlin’ Surprise Gumball Machine – This is just a really cute and really fun toy. Darah received this toy as a first birthday present from a friend and it has been very loved. The music it sings is cute and it has a volume control adjustment (so great!) I really liked it when we were working on teaching the concept of “cause and effect” with Darah and she was very attentive with this toy!

5.Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - My kids love this book (and so do I!) The pictures are really bold and crisp and it’s a fun book to read with the kids. Darah knows it so well that she’ll start signing the name of the next animal to come before we even turn the page. In the kids’ stockings this year, they are going to be receiving Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?”

6. Baby Signing Times and Signing Times DVD Series - We love these dvd’s! Darah’s vocabulary has increased so much since she started watching Rachel, Alex, Leah, and Hopkins on Signing Times! Signing has been such a great communication method for Darah and now Connor and I know your little ones (or even bigger ones) would really enjoy this series. My 5 year old brother very proudly told me the other day, “McKenna, this means ‘be careful.’” Very cool!

What are your favorite toys for your little ones? What will Santa be bringing this year to your house?

Last week, I took the kids to have their Christmas pictures taken. The kids woke up that morning without runny noses and with limited scratches and bruises on their faces so I called Portrait Innovations to see if they had an opening that day. I have heard good things about Portrait Innovations, so I was excited to give them a try.

We had a wonderful experience! Not only were they able to book me a same day appointment, the waiting area was comfortable, clean, and had a Lego table for the kids to play at while we waited. The employees were warm, inviting, and extra friendly. We walked out of there with our pictures in hand, spending what we would have spent had we gone to Target like I’ve done in years past. They do not charge a sitting fee, and their $9.95 package has no catches…except that you can only chose one pose for the package. However, you’re probably going to LOVE a lot of other shots they take and want to order more more more!

There were many things I appreciated about Portrait Innovations.

• I loved that the photographers had hand-held digital cameras. Our photographer was able to reposition herself a lot more easier than constantly readjusting my 3 year old and almost 1 year old! She moved with them! At Target and other commercial photography studios, the cameras are stationary.

• I also loved that the kids weren’t placed on a table. For the most part, they were on the floor and this freed me up from having to make sure they didn’t fall to be able to help with the circus acts required to get Connor to smile! Darah’s smile wasn’t hard to get that day, but Connor was a little nervous about all of the attention.
• The photographer had an assistant who’s job was to get my kids to smile. She had some of the neatest tricks I’ve ever seen! More than just the fake sneeze I usually try to get them to smile.
• The photographer paid extra attention to drool, snot, and flyaway hairs on the kids and pointed them out to her assistant and myself. I really appreciated the extra attention to these details!
• I got to keep the c.d. for free! Whenever I want to reorder anything, all I have to do is bring the c.d. of all of the pictures they took (including shots I didn’t order) and have them print them in the store. I am also able to share the pictures with friends and family. The photographer told me that if I wanted to print some of the pictures from my home computer, that would be fine as well! Very very cool!

I really can’t share anything negative about our experience, except that Connor didn’t want to take his hand out of his mouth during the shoot. The only other thing that is somewhat of a con is that they do not keep any pictures in the store. If you lose your c.d., then you are out of luck if you ever want to reprint any pictures. Other than that though, I strongly recommend Portrait Innovations!