Movie Night: How to Train Your Dragon 3

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #TrainYourDragonAtWalmart http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

School is finally out for Summer! To say we are all excited is an understatement. We limped through the end of the school year, and still aren't quite sure how we survived the chaos that is the month of May. We've determined that this summer is going to be epic and what better way to kick off our celebrations with an epic movie night in?

Just before school let out the latest movie in the How to Train Your Dragon series was released. My kids have been begging to see How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. We missed it while it was in theaters, and for months they have let me know how bummed they were about this. So while the kids were wrapping up their last day of school, I was busy planning a fun movie night in.

I already had the perfect themed snack idea in mind, and wanted to grab a few other fun themed goodies to make it a special movie night for the kids. As I was placing my order for Walmart's pick-up in store option, I was so excited to learn they carried a special How to Train Your Dragon 3 Walmart Exclusive DVD Gift Set.

The set contains both Blu Ray, DVD, and Digital options of the movie as well as two super cute Funko keychains I just knew the kids would love. I quickly added the How to Train Your Dragon 3 Walmart Exclusive DVD Gift Set to my cart and threw in a fun How to Train Your Dragon t-shirt for Cute, and a few new toys as well. I couldn't wait to surprise the kids!

MEET THE LIGHT FURY

If you haven't heard of the How to Train Your Dragon series, get ready for lots of fun and dragon filled adventures. The story line follows a young viking chief, Hiccup, and his best dragon friend Toothless. The duo have had many adventures over the years to protect one another and each movie is jam packed with amazing animation, tons of adventure, and laugh out loud characters.

In How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, a new character is introduced. A girl dragon - the Light Fury! My girls were so excited about this! The original duo now both have female counterparts to share their lives with, but are faced with the ultimate challenge - stay together or be split apart to stay safe?

Grimmel the Grisly is hot on their dragon tails to steal Toothless and use him as a prisoner to be the alpha dragon and give him ultimate control of all dragons. Hiccup, Toothless, and their fellow dragon riders search for safety in the quest to find the Hidden World.

REVIEWS ARE IN

My kids loved the movie! It was just as fun and entertaining as the previous movies in the series. I was extremely impressed with the storyline and the roles the females played in it (there might be some alpha males, but the females become the heroes in this one!).

The animation in this one is also beautiful! There is one part in the Hidden World that is just stunning! My kids were so amazed and wanted to know if it was a real place they could visit. 

Our fun celebratory movie night was a huge hit, and the kids have already requested to watch the movie several more times. 

NIGHT FURY + LIGHT FURY SNACK MIX

For movie nights I usually just do a quick snack or charcuterie plate for everyone to munch on. For our How to Train Your Dragon movie night I wanted to do a little something special. We were celebrating, and the kids were so beyond excited about seeing the new movie. I came up with a quick themed dessert bar, including a themed snack mix.

My special How to Train Your Dragon snack mix was inspired by the new movie. I loved the idea of creating a black and white snack mix to represent Toothless and the Light Fury. Snack mixes are also great because they require little to no baking - just the way I like my snacks.

I opted for a salty-sweet snack mix, and at first thought a black and white only combo would be tough to come up with, but in the end it was actually quite easy and I had to limit the amount of sweet ingredients I used. The black and white snack mix was super easy to make and was ready to go in just under a minute (perfect for the movie goers who requested a refill and a mommy who didn't want to miss any parts of the movie).

What You'll Need

• Popcorn (use as your salty base)
• Black and white chocolate morsels
• Cookies and creme crumble candies
• Mini-marshmallows
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips

**All sweet items can be found on the candy aisle.

What To Do

1. Pop popcorn according to instructions.  
2. Place popcorn in a large mixing bowl. 
3. Add in candy items and marshmallows. Stir together. 
4. Serve and enjoy!

Note: Let popcorn cool completely before mixing in chocolate candies otherwise the popcorn will be warm enough to melt the chocolate. Still super yummy (obviously), but might get messy with small children. 

Family movie nights are always so fun! I love that we were able to kick off summer with something the kids had been looking forward to for so long. And that I was able to be little "extra" about it with it feeling like additional pressure and stress at the end of the school year. Everything came together with ease and very little effort. Between the How to Train Your Dragon 3 Walmart Exclusive DVD Gift Set, the fun themed apparel and toys, and the convenience of in store pick-up, the movie night took no more than a few minutes to put together. Their little smiles were huge, not a single snack was left over for me to munch on for breakfast the next morning, and now we have three options to watch the movie where ever the kids summer adventures take them.

I expect by the time school starts in August I'll have How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World completely memorized.

Enjoy your own movie night in! Head to Walmart and purchase the new release of How to Train Your Dragon 3 Walmart Exclusive DVD Gift Set today! 

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Trolls {Movie Review}

Last Friday night I took Little Mama and Boo-Boo to the movies to see Trolls. Blondie had seen it the week before with some friends at a birthday party and told us how great it was so I knew I definitely wanted to take the other two littles to see it.

The Story (via DreamWorks website)
From the creators of Shrek comes DreamWorks Animation's Trolls, a smart funny and irreverent comedy about the search for happiness, and just how far some will go to get it. 

This hilarious film transports audiences to a colorful, wondrous world populated by the overly optimistic Trolls, who have a constant dance in their step and a song on their lips, and the comically pessimistic Bergens, who are only happy when they have trolls in their stomachs. 

After the Bergens invade Troll Village, Poppy, the happiest Troll ever born, and the overly-cautious curmudgeonly Branch set off on a journey to rescue her friends. Together, this mismatched duo embarks on a rescue mission full of adventure and mishaps - trying to tolerate each other long enough to get the job done. 

The Review
This movie was surprising SO good!!!  It wasn't at all what I was expecting.  I mean, some kid movies are fun and cute while seriously lacking a good message, but that was not the case with this movie at all!  This was fun, cute, and packed a great message about the importance of finding happiness within yourself and not relying on other people or other situations to make you happy.  There is singing, dancing, hugging, tons of great music and lots of visually appealing colors and animation.  We were dancing and laughing throughout the entire movie and when it was over I asked my kids what they thought.  Boo-Boo had a huge smile on his face and Little Mama told me she wished she was a troll!  I can't blame her.  These colorful creatures have fun hair and spend their days dancing and singing the day away.  I think I'd like to be a troll, too!

The Music
The music in this movie was amazing. Justen Timberlake produced the soundtrack so you know it's got to be good! Lots of fun twists on familiar tunes and some original songs, too by hit artists like Justen Timberlake, Ariana Grande, Anna Kendrick and Gwen Stefani.  There is everything from disco to pop to hip-hop.  I immediately bought the album for the kids and we have been listening to it nonstop.  In fact, I've even been listening to it when my kids aren't around.

I'm telling everyone I know to go see this movie. I would definitely go see it again and I know my kids would also.

So curious to see what others think!  Have you seen the movie?  Did you love it as much as we did? 

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Date Night

Today was a fun Saturday, and to cap it off tonight Mr. Cute and I were able to sneak away for a very rare date night. We always say we need to take time away more, but life often gets in the way. Plus having seriously cute fun loving kids is hard to leave behind, right? :) 

Our first order of business was to eat a meal at a place that does not have a playground attached to it. We chose a local restaurant - Salt Factory. If you live, or visit, the northern part of metro Atlanta it is a must try. There are two locations - Downtown Woodstock, and Historic Roswell. We've been to both and they are delicious with a yummy drink selection and a fun laid back atmosphere. 

On this visit I enjoyed the London Broil and Mr. Cute enjoyed the Ahi Tuna. 

We wrapped it up with a decadent Brownie Cake, but we must have been so entranced by it's chocolatey goodness that we didn't even stop to take a photo.

After we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant, we made our way to the movies to see a non-animated movie. Not a fan of sic-fi flicks or anything to do with dinosaurs, we opted for comedy and saw Trainwreck. Complete with a large popcorn. 

THE STORY:

A raunchy yet heartfelt comedy from director Judd Apatow about Amy (Amy Schumer), a commitment-phobic binge drinker living in New York City, who must reevaluate her feelings about intimate relationships when a sports doctor pursues a romance with her.

REVIEW: 

We laughed non-stop! The movie was exactly as described and definitely had its raunchy moments, but it was also a cute story and we thought Amy Schumer was hilarious. We hadn't really seen much about the movie before we bought the tickets, but it was funny how many people were in the movie. There were tons of sports stars sprinkled throughout the film, and my husband loved this. 

Lebron James was one of the surprises for us and played a fairly big role. James was also super funny throughout the movie. He made fun of himself a lot and had a very likable character. 

Overall we had a great time seeing Trainwreck and I would definitely recommend it for a fun date night out as long as you don't mind a little naughty humor here and there.

Have you been to the movies lately? What did you see? 

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Minions Movie {Review}

To continue our Minion fun this month, over the weekend we took on a date by himself to see the new Minions movie. Cute thrives on one on one time and we thought this would be a fun treat for him.

We have a Movie Tavern a few miles from our home and we love seeing movies there. With their large seats that you are able to order directly from its hard to beat. When we arrived something was apparently wrong with our tickets/seats. Without us even being aware of the problem the manager refunded our purchase and took care of everything seamlessly. So add great customer service to the aforementioned attributes and you have a customer for life. Go ahead and sign me up for the extra large popcorn please! 

THE STORY

The story of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions begins at the dawn of time. Starting as single-celled yellow organisms, Minions evolve through the ages, perpetually serving the most despicable of masters. Continuously unsuccessful at keeping these masters — from T. Rex to Napoleon — the Minions find themselves without someone to serve and fall into a deep depression.

But one Minion named Kevin has a plan, and he — alongside teenage rebel Stuart and lovable little Bob — ventures out into the world to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow.

The trio embarks upon a thrilling journey that ultimately leads them to their next potential master, Scarlet Overkill (Academy Award® winner Sandra Bullock), the world’s first-ever female super-villain. They travel from frigid Antarctica to 1960s New York City, ending in mod London, where they must face their biggest challenge to date: saving all of Minionkind…from annihilation.

THE REVIEW

The Minions movie was a huge hit amongst all three of us. The Minions hardly speak throughout the movie, but you get a great idea of what their plan is through their actions and expressions. Like in the Despicable Me series, the Minions antics are silly and often unintentional. Cute thought they were simply hilarious. 

The movie discusses villains throughout, but everything was pretty child friendly and silly. Even the weapons they used were silly (i.e. lava ray guns, and hypnotic hats). The few parts I thought could be scary to a little one were diffused with Minion humor. 

If your little one has seen the Despicable Me movie series, stick through the beginning of the credits because you get a little peek at a younger Gru and how he interacts with the Minions, and Cute loved this part. 

Over all we give it three thumbs up and it was a fun afternoon date for us with Cute. He already can't wait to bring the "Minions movie home with us" to share with Little Cute.

Did you see the Minions movie this weekend or have plans to see it soon? What did you think? 

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Movie Review {Home}

A little over a week ago when the Mr. was out of town, I took the kids to dinner and to see a movie. My kids LOVE going to the movies and had been talking about seeing Home since we saw the poster for it last time we were at the movies. 

Honestly, I had not really heard anything about this movie, no real promoting of it and had no clue what it was even about.  Here is a brief synopsis from Fandango.com 

When a misfit alien named Oh crash lands on Earth, he forms an unlikely friendship with Tip, an adventurous but untrusting girl. Together they form an odd couple friendship and embark on a global road trip while on the run from Oh's own alien species. Their wild trip and growing bond of friendship plays a vital role in intergalactic relations. 

From the very first scene this movie makes you love the alien character "Oh" and we were constantly cheering for him as he and the Tip's friendship grew and as they learned how to trust each other in their greatest times of need.

There were cute parts where the aliens were discovering household items we have here on earth and when they were learning about dancing.  There was good music, lots of humor and a sweet story about friendship to go along with it.  I only wish this movie had gotten more publicity because I really think it is the perfect movie for kids!  I've been telling everyone I know that they should go see it and now I'm telling all of you!  I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a kid-friendly movie. Go see it!  

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Fifty Shades of Fun

I absolutely adore the time I get to spend with my girlfriends. We always have a ton of fun together and can spend hours talking and laughing together without even realizing it. We do a great job of seeing each other often, but its rare when we are sans children and husbands. 

This past weekend we made plans for a fun girls night out and fortunately Mother Nature decided to cooperate. We decided to celebrate the break from cold, "snow", and ice with a little girls night out pre-game shopping. 

We had a blast hitting up some of our favorite boutiques, and checking out some of the new spring fashions and seasonal home trends. We even got to try on an item or two with out an audience, or the fear that a little mini someone figures out how to crawl under the dressing room door and run away while chasing them through a store full of patrons while wearing nothing but your underwear. It maybe has happened once before. Possibly twice. 

I fell in love with these cute Pick Me Up canvas pouches by Lilly. I am definitely dreaming of all things summer right now.

How cute are these little plates for Easter? We thought they would make an adorable teacher or hostess gift. (source: francesca's)

After working up an appetite shopping, we headed out to one of our favorite restaurants California Dreaming. If there is a location near you and you haven't tried it yet you are missing out. 

Not only do they have yummy food and excellent cocktails, they make these delicious croissant rolls drizzled in honey that I might have a slight addiction too. I might be tiny, but I can down six of these in the blink of an eye. I ate five before I remembered to take a pic. 

Our dinner did not disappoint, and we were all happy that we chose to wear pants that had a little stretch in them. Carrie Beth stated it best when she said, "I'm so full, but it's just too yummy to leave any behind."

After dinner we made our way to the movies to see a certain new release. 

Jen's Outfit: Sweater | Love Tee | Boots
Carrie Beth's Outfit: Jeans | Boots

Now we realize the 50 Shades of Grey book and movie have been the hot topic of some controversy lately, but we knew going into the movie, via a close friend, that the movie wasn't nearly as graphic as the book. All but one of us had read the books prior to the movie and as mentioned a few weeks ago, were curious as to how they were going to portray the story on the big screen.

Only one of us went into the movie blind, and we asked her afterwards what she thought. Without giving too much away she felt that they hype of the movie led her to think it would be much more graphic than it was. 

I think overall we all enjoyed the movie. It definitely concentrated more on the push/pull of their relationship and the nature of why Christian Grey became what he was. And that was just fine by us. Again, there are some things my eyes should just not see on a 25 foot screen. There was just enough naughty to make a point. 

Our friend who hadn't read the books had a ton of questions afterwards, and I think looking back the movie just touched the surface of introducing some of the other major characters of the book outside of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. I can see where if you hadn't read the story there might be a few holes in the plot for you. 

I think prior to the movie we had a hard time picturing the actors as the characters they were chosen for, but now seeing them play their roles, Jamie Dornan seemed to be almost spot on. Mr. Dornan might have just gained a few new fans. Just saying. 

With out spoiling the ending we were definitely left wanting more. The movie was fun, sexy, and dramatic - a "vanilla" version of the book, and we were glad we made it part of a fun girls night out. 

Now hopefully they will make the sequels so we have an excuse to plan a few more girls nights. 

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Movie Review {Into the Woods}

While my kids were still on Christmas break last week it rained and rained for almost a week straight.  To get out of the house for a little while one day I took them to the movies to see Into The Woods.  They were all intrigued by the plot of four popular fairytales being combined into one story and being a Disney film, I thought for certain this stage play turned movie musical would be done exceptionally well.

The story combines the well-known fairytales of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and at the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and Rapunzel and connects them all in the woods by a witch and a childless couple who are trying to break a long-standing curse.  

The majority of the movie done in song with very little actual monologue, so to catch it all you have to really be paying attention.  Some of the lines are incredibly witty and there is definitely some humor weaved in, too.  The cast is fantastic and they all deliver a wonderful performance, portraying the beloved characters in their own way and bringing them to life on screen.  

What I wasn't prepared for (because I had never seen the stage play) was the dark twist that would occur towards the end of the movie.  It showed that the "happily ever after" ending that we all know and love so well, isn't really as happily ever after as we think.  Honestly, I could have left the movie and been totally content with the happily ever after ending.  Up to that point, I loved it and so did my kids.  The second part of the movie goes darker and deeper into the woods has a different and more tragic tone that wouldn't always be appropriate for young kids.  Thankfully, most of it went over my kids' heads so it wasn't an issue.  

Little Mama (7 years old) absolutely loved the whole movie.  Blondie (five years old) was entertained until the dark twist and then she was ready to leave because it had nearly lost her attention.  Boo-Boo (3 years old) surprised me by really staying attentive and focused the whole time.  At the point where the giant comes down from the beanstalk though, he was incredibly frightened and told me he wanted to leave.  I talked him through it saying that everyone would be OK and then he was fine. Later on in the afternoon he asked me why giants lived in the sky so he obviously took that part to heart.  

Overall, I would recommend this movie because despite the unexpected ending, I did enjoy it.  If you are planning to take your kids I think older children would understand and enjoy it more than younger ones.  Just be warned for the darker turn at the end and be prepared to answer a few questions that might come up as a result of that.

Before you go, be sure to check out our White House | Black Market gift card giveaway HERE.  Happy Thursday!!!  

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