Something Real.

"Teach Every Child About Food"

Jamie's talk is only 22 minutes. Things to watch for:

• The sugar wheel barrow, & pile of sugar related to chocolate milk
• The "plus size" coffin both shocking and sad
• Elementary school kids who can't identify a potato (He then helped teach these kids about veggies)

Have you heard that kids will teach grown ups about things that are good for them? I've heard this a bunch. Have any you seen "Wall-E"? Remember the people? (screenshot) I just watched Jamie Oliver's talk, he's a cheeky, caring English chef who believes we can make changes that will save lives - and increase how long you will live. Jamie's not judging anyone, he's educating us about just how serious things are.

"I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." - Jamie Oliver, Ted 2010

If you have a Family Game Night, Family Home Evening, Family meetings... whatever your family calls it, see if you can be in charge of it for a night and watch Jamie's talk (and maybe Wall-E for fun after!) brainstorm how you can make changes. We have choices - we can cook at home, we can eat fresh food.

Share the link to this movie with your friends and family: http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

xoxo, Suz

USB Robot Owl - "Cuuuute!"

USB Robot Owl at ThinkGeek.com

A Shirley Temple to drink while reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians!

hi guys! lauren made me jealous by her AWESOME post (i love that series!), so i decided i had to share a super delicious drink to drink (sounds weird, doesn't it?) while reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series!

Shirley Temple

1 can of Sprite or Sierra Mist
a jar of maraschino cherries
a big glass

optional:
ice cubes
fancy little umbrella :)

alrighty, to begin, take the big glass (if you're going to add ice cubes, now is the time to do that) and pour the can of Sprite into it. then, open the cherry jar and pour about 1-2 tablespoons of the cherry juice into the Sprite. take a few cherries and drop them into your beverage and ta-da! you have made yourself a Shirley Temple! feel free to add a fancy umbrella to your glass! :)

Cheers!
Em

book review!

Sorry guys, I have really been slacking with this whole book review thing. Oops :) But now, for the review, one I'm sure Em will be VERY happy about! So, for quite a while, Em has told me to read this series. I was going to, but then my little brother told me to read them. If you know me, then you know that if someone tells me to do something (especially my brother) it just makes me want to do whatever it is less. But then my friend Henry told me to read them, and I think very highly of his opinion (he loves the Fablehaven books too;) So I finally got the first one (borrowed from a friend), then bought the second one, and my brother got 3 and 4 from his GATE library and, thanks to Em, we have five. Now on to the review!!

*PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS*

These books are amazing! Between books 1 & 2, when I couldn't get the second one, I was dying! Luckily, I didn't have to go through that again. But anyways...these books are SOOO good!!! There are five, Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, Titan's Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth, and Last Olympian. I would *highly* recommend these books to ANYONE!!

Instead of doing a review for all five books, I'm just gonna do one for the whole series. But first, a little background info. Percy is a demigod, or a half-blood, which means he has a mortal parent and an Greek god parent. He happens to be the son of Poseidon, who wasn't supposed to have any more kids, because the kids of the "Big Three" (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) were super powerful. Now...

In all five books, Percy, Annabeth (daughter of Athena), and Grover (a satyr) go on quests to save Olympus. In the first one, they have to get Zeus's main lightning bolt back. In Sea of Monsters, they have to get the Golden Fleece to save their camp, and save Grover from a cyclopes. In Titan's Curse, they team up with Thalia (daughter of Zeus) and have to escape an old friend turned enemy. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, is coming back to power. Time is running out. Then in Battle of the Labyrinth, the Titan army is growing stronger, and it's again up to Percy, Annabeth, and Grover to save Camp Half-Blood. They travel through the labyrinth, and eventually, they end up back at camp and then have a battle with part of the Titan's army. And in the Last Olympian, Kronos is back in power and it's up to the demigods of Camp Half-Blood to protect Olympus. The gods are fighting Typhon, trying to keep him away from Olympus, and they are having a very difficult time. With some surprise twists, and the help of some "party ponies", the final book in this amazing series ends amazingly.

I was pretty upset when I finished Last Olympian because the series was over. Honestly, these books were the most amazing books I've ever read, after Harry Potter of course. ;) Fablehaven also is up there with these two series, but I'm not sure where quite yet. That depends on Keys to the Demon Prison. That'll definitely be a review I will do! Anyway...READ PERCY JACKSON. That's all I have to say.

Till next time, peace out!

*lauren*

p.s. who else is insanely excited for the movie???? Feb. 12 baby!! one week from today!!! AAAHHHHH!!! here's a trailer for the movie from