Today it was the day to go, drive some miles and watch Noddy and The Treasure Map.

Today we had high temperatures, we are used to have a fresh brise where we live so going to the interior made us have hotter temperatures and a dry air. The complex where the musical took place had no air conditioned so we were all sweeting during the show.

The show started half an hour after the established hour, this is something I really don’t like because the children become impatient and it’s a little complicated to control them.

When Noddy and his friends arrived it was a blast. My daughter was speechless and impressed with all those animated characters she’s used to watch everyday on TV. My son was also excited and participated in the activities that were requested from the stage.

The clues to find what the treasure was were English words (the show was in Portuguese of course). The words were: “to work”, “as a team”, “much better” and “together”. Putting them in the correct order:

“Much better to work together as a team” - the message was: when we get together and try to solve something as a team is much better than alone. Friends have to speak with each other no matter what is going on, even in bad days when we are not in the mood.

I personally found the musical very interesting, I really liked it and I’m happy that my kids were able to watch them live.

It was not allowed to film the show but I was able to film 15 seconds movies (my camera doesn’t allow more time) without a problem. It was not possible to get close to them, only at the end of the show we were able to go near the stage so no photos with my kids and Noddy.

Here are some photos I took during the show:

I tried to insert here one of the movies I made but it didn’t work out. This was the first time I tried so I have to check what am I doing wrong.

Surprise, Surprise.

Noddy And The Treasure Map Musical is going to be in a city not too far away from us so today, without saying a word, I bought tickets online for me and the kids for June 28th.

Tonight I’m going to tell them about this and I’m sure they will be thrilled, especially my daughter who loves Noddy.  Catherine is not very fond of masquerades and outfits so I hope she’s not afraid of Noddy and Friends.

It’s a special gift from me to them and I know they will love it.

I guess spring, although still shy, is finally arriving. I’m really tired of rain and cloudy sky, I want to get out and be able to walk without worrying about carrying an umbrella or getting wet shoes. It has been a hard spring for the kids because the weather is never good for them to play outside. Most of their free time is spent in the computer, video games or TV.

My daughter likes to color and draw so it’s easy to keep her entertained inside the house, my son, well is a boy and therefore likes to play soccer and more outside related activities. With the weather change and bigger days we will be able to play more outside. Although we arrive at home at around 7pm we still have daylight and if the weather is warm than they can play in the back or front yard.

I’m not that kind of mother that worries about dirty clothes, dirty faces, dirty hands, everything can be washed so I just let them play outside freely. My daughter loves to catch bugs and worms (ugh! yes worms), one day she even arrived at daycare with one on her hair, a black one, she didn’t noticed and she must have touch her hair while having a worm in her hand and it just stayed there.

One thing I don’t like is when they come inside after playing and wet the floor or forget to rub the sand away from their legs and feet. This is something I have to start imposing once they start playing outside for good.

For those wanting to spend some time outside, in the nature, in the backyard in the woods the book i love dirt! is the right book for you to buy. It shows activities we can do outside no matter if we live in the city or in the country.
Quoting:

I Love Dirt! is a call to parents, educators, and caregivers to help children recover one of the great joys of childhood. Through fifty-two activities, readers will find a wealth of creative ways to actively engage children, ages four to nine, in nature. Each project is meant to promote exploration, stimulate imagination, and heighten a sense of wonder.

Organized by season, and appropriate for both urban and country settings, each activity is accompanied by a fun fact to help further a child’s understanding of the natural world and open up a conversation.

We must be aware that in outdoor activities we must protect the children’s body: appropriate clothes for the weather temperature and a sun protector. Be careful with sunburns.

This last few days the Top/Most watched movie in my house was “Enchanted“. This is the most beautiful movie I’ve seen lately and my daughter (4) and my son (9) just love it, meaning this is a movie for all ages.

The story starts with a princess that talks to animals and lives in the woods and looks forward to the day she’ll meet her Prince. The Prince hunts trolls and looks for the day he’ll meet his Princess. That day arrives but a queen is against and will fight to end their love, that’s when the real world movie starts.

Plot Outline:
A classic Disney fairytale collides with modern-day New York City in a story about a fairytale princess who is sent to our world by an evil queen. Soon after her arrival, Princess Giselle begins to change her views on life and love after meeting a handsome lawyer. Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?

This movie has all the fairy tale ingredients for an entertaining and amazing movie:

• Princess
• Prince
• Princess that talks to with animals
• Princess that sings
• Princess Dresses
• Evil queen
• Evil queen with poisoned apples
• Music
• Love
• and much more

This is a family movie, if you haven’t seen it yet, you should. If you want to buy it, it is available at Amazon.

Lori from A Cowboy’s Wife is having a Giveaway and the good news is that I can enter the contest. Why am I referring this? Because most Giveaways are US ONLY and this one is open to Europeans too, so I’m in.

Lori is giving away 3 copies of Walt Disney: Classic Caballeros Collection DVD. This DVD has four stories and it will for sure entertain children and grown-ups. To participate you just have to leave a comment on Lori’s post until April 30, 2008 around 10:00pm CST. I’m heading there now to leave my comment.

Yesterday I thought I was going to have a relax day although I know with all the housework and kids to take care is a little difficult to accomplish that.

Today it was an important holiday here “Carnation Revolution“, and although I already knew my son was having a birthday party in the afternoon, I thought I was going to have a calm day. I was wrong.

The news came when I picked up my son yesterday at soccer class: Your son has a soccer tournament tomorrow and he has to be at 9.30am in the local park field. The tournament will last until 12.00. What?? This meant I was not getting a calm and relaxed get up the next morning.

Today, my husband went to work early in the morning, I got up to prepare a few snacks, woke up the kids and got into the field. Fortunately the tournament took place in a park where besides, tennis/soccer/basketball fields there is a play park so my daughter could be busy. The problem was that I couldn’t rest a minute. Catherine wanted to swing and swing and swing and I had to push her in the swing all the time. Of course watching a soccer game bothers her so she refused to get near the field. Fortunately I was able to watch my son’s goal.

I went home already tired but I had to cook lunch. At 12.30 Catherine was asleep in the couch, I was cooking in the kitchen. Lunch ready, time to eat, Catherine continue to sleep, at 15.45, Dani and I left home to the birthday party, Catherine was still asleep. I left Dani in the birthday party and I met my best friend who was in the park where we had been in the morning and we spend a few time talking there, this was the only relax moment of the day (beside now).

18.30 time to pick up Dani, I took Catherine with me and I didn’t expect what was about to happen. I ate something at the party, Catherine too but Dani and her didn’t want to leave because all the other kids where still there. I’m not going to enter into details but at 21.05 I was able to grab them back home.

Baths and movie watch ended the day. We had started to watch the “Enchanted” movie the day before and we watched the rest. Excellent movie.

Now, the big moment of the day, everyone is asleep and I’m in the computer all by myself. I needed this!!!!

The movie we went to watch was: Winx- The Secret of The Lost Kingdom. I’ve seen the Winx as a series on TV and both my kids love them. I must confess that the only thing I knew was that they were fairies with magic powers to protect people and the world from evil.

The announcement of this movie immediately caught my son’s attention and the requests to watch the movie were too many. Here is the trailer:

Bloom and her friends search for Bloom’s parents, Oritel and Miriam, while trying to uncover the secret of the lost kingdom Domino, which could change Bloom’s life forever. However they stumble onto a plot by an evil force named Mandragora and her three witches to infiltrate a dark realm called the circle of Obsidian, which will raise their dark power to a point that will allow them to conquer everything! The only thing that stands in their way is the Winx, who might not even be able to stop them.

Although there are a lot of color and magic around the Winx, the dark side, evil, bad people, dark magic are a strong presence in the movie. In my opinion this can transmit some fear in the kids although they know that in the end the good will always win.

It was a little hard for me to follow the movie since my kids where never quite and still.

Due to my overload explosion I had other side effects in my body and mind that I decided not to detail here because I would turn this blog into a disease research center. I’m taking a strong anti-stress pill for now and let’s see if I can recover soon.

Last Sunday, on Easter Day, we decided to spend some money and go to the cinema. I say “spend some money” because here it’s very expensive to buy four tickets and some popcorns and watch a movie in a local theater. So this was really a special thing we did. The day before it had been Catherine’s birthday and it was Easter without the visit of godfathers and godmothers because they were spending the weekend away, so we decided to do something different.

Here’s a look at the main chamber of the cinema:

We went to the 14.10 presentation and that meant having a full room only for the four of us.

The kids behaved…what can I say… they can’t keep still for too long so it was a little hard to watch the movie.

I’ll have to write a little review of the movie in another post otherwise I will leave this post in the middle and more days will pass without publishing it. I can tell you that we went to watch: Winx - The Secret of the Lost Kingdom.

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