Why You Should Watch "Once Upon a Time"

This TV show has made me so happy this season (along with “Downton Abbey”). I really hope it doesn’t get too weird or lame next season. The basic gist is that all the fairy tale characters have been put under a curse by the Evil Queen and the punishment is that they live in the present day, but they don’t know they are fairy tale characters. One boy knows the truth, and he knows who can break the curse. The story spins out from there with flashbacks to the Realm. Allow yourself to believe and enjoy it.

No spoilers here... I'm just making my case...

• “Once” harkens back to LOST in many ways, and not just all the random nods like the Apollo bars or Oceanic 815 flying above. The relationships of the characters are what make the story, and every episode reveals more and more of the puzzle while making you ask more and more questions.

• The creativity of the fairy tale back stories is excellent. Really, really excellent. I love the nods to Disney’s versions, and also how they spin everything all around. Snow White kicks butt! There was an 8th dwarf! Rumplestilskin was a coward! That little teacup is Chip! I couldn’t even remember some of the fairy tale stories and had to read up on them. There is endless potential for all the back stories.

• The present day characters aren’t quite as much fun, but still pretty likable. Little Red Riding Hood made me laugh every time she showed up, and the Stranger on the motorcycle is super cool. Charming is a bit of a wimp, but I suppose that’s to counteract his dragon-slaying self in the Realm.

• Yes, there are some cheesy plotlines and yes, you have to just deal with some of the craziness of putting the 2 worlds together. Just deal with it. The overall direction makes it worth it.

• It is a story of redemption.  Emma makes the bad things come undone.

• The show goes in directions you don’t expect. The Smoke Monster? Seriously.

• I like that there are 2 clear sides: Good vs. Evil, and that True Love trumps any curse. I’m old fashioned like that.

• The Evil Queen / Mayor Regina is hands down the best character of them all. She makes any scene so much better. She isn’t in a couple episodes, and she is clearly missed. She is SO mean, and yet there are times where you want to root for her to come around. The actress playing her is very good.

The DVD will be out this summer. Put it on your list, and give it a try for at least the first 4 episodes.

Anna's year 3

Here's Anna's 3rd year of life with Jack Johnson singing in the background...

Joshy in Motion

I'm trying hard to get our videos organized.  Once upon a time we made year end montages of the kids, but that hasn't happened in a few years.  I did get Joshua's most recent year put together. 
The song is "Boys" by Jars of Clay.


More to come...

Leaving the Three's Behind Us...

Our favorite 4 year old...

...  4 years ago.

Joshua Brunner Dempsey Moore

Kansas City Royals visit SC

This week our Kansas City Royals visited.  Well, 3/4 of the Buckinghams came back.  Uncle Pol had to work or something silly.  We a family birthday party for Josh, even though his birthday is next week. 

Baseball was the theme of the weekend!

Well, unless Liam was in charge.  He loves his Hot Wheels!

Now Joshua is a Royal, too!!



The best present was baseball gloves.  "You wear them when you bat, Mommy!"

 It is ridiculously hard to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time.  We managed to get a few semi-decent pictures.  Notice the baseball T shirts!

 She's the one who has figured out how to work the camera!

Craggy Gardens

We took the kiddos for a hike last Saturday. I have to admit that western NC is wasted on me - at least that's what most avid outdoorsy people would say. I went to App. State and went skiing a total of 5 times, and I never went camping. However, I did go hiking quite often when invited with friends. And I went hiking often enough when I lived in Asheville. At least, often enough for me.

That all changed when we had kids. Kids reveal what is really in you, right? Well, deep inside me is a need for life to be easy, not to mention that I don't like bugs or being hot (unless near a pool). According to me, taking kids on a hike isn't particularly easy when they are small - I don't want to carry them the majority of the way, after all.

So we decided the kids were old enough at 4 and 6. We went to an easy spot on the Parkway. About 100 yards into the hike, Joshua fell down and got muddy and started crying. Anthony and I looked at each other and both thought, "This is why we don't hike." But Josh rallied and got cleaned up and did fine the rest of the way.

I admit I was surprised by how fun it turned out to be. They've been asking to go on another hike.

Downton Abbey reviewed

We spent the past 2 weeks watching Downton Abbey, the British TV series. It took all of 20 minutes for me to be sucked in to the pre-WWI world of British aristocracy, though I admit that I am a pushover for any British period piece. This is about a wealthy, landed family (and all who orbit around them) that has to deal with changes a’ coming to their world of privilege. I don’t care that all they do is walk around and talk – I find it fascinating! This particular series is intriguing as it explores a time that I don’t know much about. World War I? What was that war about, anyway?

A few comments… No spoilers – just general comments…

I appreciate that none of the characters are over the top caricatures. They seem like they’d be real people with the real problems (i.e. mid life crisis, love lost, value in their job) life throws at you. They just happen to live in a world totally unlike mine.

There is class warfare, but it isn’t anything new under the sun. Some servants can’t wait to get out, while others are very proud of their profession, and others see being a servant as quite a step up in life.

A lot of it is quite hilarious. I think the writers must have had the best time thinking up the lines for the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith). And I love how everyone reacts to “progress” of telephones and electricity.

Apparently not all the good British actors were in the Harry Potter movies – here are good actors I’ve never heard of before! I like that they aren’t super famous people. This will make them famous.

Some themes are universal, no matter the time period. Women are catty. There must be a good guys and bad guys conflict. Everyone has a dream of True Love. Families fight. There must be a knight in shining armor. There are consequences to choices made, good or bad.

I really liked almost all of the characters and plotlines. A few seemed kind of random, but I know they were trying to show various aspects of life (unmarried mother, soldiers cast off from the war, etc.).

My favorite storyline is about Mary and Matthew (duh). I really like how they play out her shame and the consequence of her decisions. She goes back and forth from being proud and stubborn to shattered and disgraced.

Anything sounds good with a British accent. And anything sounds like Old English when someone is wearing a fancy dress. I’m pretty sure I heard a few phrases that aren’t correctly placed in time. “I’m just sayin” and “Here’s the thing” were probably not uttered in 1915.

I’ve never considered all the global changes that were going on around the WWI era. I want to learn more. I’m sure Wikipedia can tell me everything.

The new series won’t come to PBS until January 2013??? That is forever away! Alas, I waited for LOST, I will wait for Downton Abbey.

In case you’re wondering, yes I think this is worth your time.

Easter pics redux

This year the Easter pictures went slightly better than last year. I'm pretty sure that's because I threatened them with no egg hunt if they didn't cooperate. "All your friends will get candy, but you won't..." kind of thing. Excellent parenting, I know.

Joshua is still the holdout in most cases. He thinks he's funny.

The payoff... what a great day for an egg hunt!

Spring Break Staycation

We received a couldn't-pass-it-up offer from Grandma and Granddaddy Everette to keep the kiddos for a few days during Spring Break. It was really helpful, as it meant we didn't have to take the entire week off of work since there was no school. But I kept asking Mom if she was sure about this - Anna and Joshua can quickly exhaust a person!

Reflections of the Staycation:
1. I can get a lot done when the kids aren’t around, especially like purge their rooms of useless toys and they don’t find out! AND I actually mopped all the floors with no one walking on them while still wet!

2. Anthony and I went out to eat three times AND we saw a movie in the real theater (The Hunger Games).

3. I carried a much smaller purse for 3 days – no wipes, yogurt raisins, or band-aids required.

4. We kept thinking the TV volume was too loud and would wake the kids. Even if the kids were home, it probably isn’t true. Downton Abbey doesn’t have too much intense action going on.

5. Every night I couldn’t wait to watch Downton Abbey. I’m a sucker for those British period pieces where everyone just stands around and talks. Sense and Sensibility (with Emma Thompson) is still the gold standard.

6. It was kind of weird to only have Anthony to talk to every day – took some adjustment!
I didn’t have the feeling of “I should be doing something else” like I usually do when I’m playing Legos but thinking about the laundry to be folded.

7. We didn’t laugh nearly as much as usual. Anna and Joshua are pretty funny.

8. Immediately upon their return on Wednesday afternoon, Anna broke the handle on the toilet and Joshua drew tattoos all over his arms with ball point pen. Anthony texted to ask how they were and I replied, “the same”.

9. They loved their time with Grandma and Granddaddy – eating candy and cake, going to Monkey Joes inflatables, playing baseball, watching Peter Pan. That’s what grandparents are for. Parents are the big meanies who take it all away!

We went to Fun Depot on Thursday (Chuck E. Cheez on steroids) and drove Go-Karts and played Air Hockey and putt putt. Anna had never done the climbing wall – she did great!

We finished up the day by celebrating the beginning of the baseball season - watching Detroit beat the Red Sox. Joshy was very happy to sit and tell me what was going on.

Let's hear it for the Boys of Summer!

10. And finally... We told them we were going on a hike on Saturday, and Joshua said, “What’s a hike?” Hmmm… we need to get him out more!

For Love of the Game

One of the greatest joys as a parent must be seeing joy in your children. That is what I prepared for as I took Joshua to his first T-ball practice this week. Little man loves everything that involves a ball…baseball, basketball, football, even four square. I expected a giddy almost 4 year old running around the field.

Instead, I witnessed a boy with a focus and intensity I have never seen before. Some kids were talking; some were picking their nose; some played on the ground. Joshua never took his eye off the batter, but flinched and reacted with every swing. He "played" third base and scooped up so many balls (whether or not they actually came to him) that some adults were calling him the vacuum cleaner.

I was also worried that he would have a hard time batting with a real bat. After a few swings, he got the hang of it and sent some of the kids to the outfield to retrieve his hits. Here is his first baseball injury - a pretty big strawberry. If this had happened at home he would have cried and camped out with his mom or me.

Instead, he powered through...for love of the game.