Tuesday 25 June 2013

A Week in Review (June 16-22)

A Week in Review (June 16-22)

Watched: The Way, Way Back with my friend Laurie.  Thanks to my friend Katrina, we have been seeing a ton more movies in the theater.  It is fun to see movies early and for free.  This movie would get a 5/5 from me.  It made me laugh and tear-up.  It was so odd to see Steve Carrell and Sam Rockwell change character types.  Definitely worth your time to watch it!

Read:  I finished up A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty.  This was a fun book with a great story about what it means to be a family. It shows that sometimes the secrets that we keep locked away really aren't worth hiding. I know that this book really captured me because I stopped everything else I was reading and focused on it.  I also made a bit of progress on Cinnamon and Gunpowder.  I started the book Zero at the Bone: The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease, which is a true crime book based on a kidnapping that happened in the Kansas City area in 1953.

Listened
: To the sounds of the cousins laughing together as they all splashed about in Grandma Denise's pool.  It was so funny to watch them together. The realized that you could put PVC tubes up against the jets and make water cannons.  These four should be quite the group as they get older!

Made:  A Pinterest Project that turned out fabulous.  I found a pin that suggested putting a scoop of Oxiclean in warm water to take off the labels from glass jars.  I did it and it worked wonderful!  It even had the nice benefit of leaving the sink nice and clean too!  I will attach a photo of the pickle jar that I cleaned, so you could see how smooth it was.

Felt: Excited to see Jack taking on so many new skills.  He started swimming lessons this week and is doing a really good job.  He has also decided that he is going to learn to ride his bike without any training wheels.  He is also gaining new sight words and will have almost all of the 50 words that they want him to know in Kindergarten.  It is fun to see him acquire all these new skills!

Planned: To visit my Alliance family as soon as Jack finished up his swimming lessons.  I am not sure that we will have another chance to see my brother before he leaves for his year in Australia.  Hopefully he is decent about skyping us.  It will be weird to have him so far away, but I am sure he will enjoy it!

Loved: Celebrating Father's Day with the amazing man that I share my life with.  He is an excellent dad and I couldn't ask for a better partner to raise my son with.  We didn't go over the top with any great presents.  We gave him a KU tie that he can wear to Dads and Donuts, some balsa wood planes, a frame that said "World's Best Farter...oops Father". and a mix a six pack of beer.  We also treated him to Buffalo Wild Wings.  It was a nice relaxing day.

Here are the pics for the week:



We visited our friend who was in a hospital downtown for appendicitis and we took a trip to Crown Center and enjoyed the Lego sculptures and free Curious George exhibit. 




My crystal clear pickle jar


And a pic that sums up our summer--late nights and fun with friends!


Tuesday 18 June 2013

A Week In Review (June 9-15)

A Week In Review (June 9-15)

Watched: More movies that normal as it was the safe activity for the whole family together so that Jack wouldn't harass his dad into doing things a little bit more physical than he should have.  We watched Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix.  Jack thinks because he got through that he should already be able to watch The Half Blood Prince.  I don't remember it well, and will need to watch it before deciding if he is ready.  However, I think it's just a big set up for movies 7 and 8, and I know that I am not ready to take him there yet.  We also attempted to watch a Transformers movie, but no one was particularly thrilled with that one.  Nick and I also watched the 5th Die Hard movie and I thought it was pretty bad. but Nick liked it.  Plenty of explosions, I guess.

Read:  I finished up Seduction.  I am surprised that this is labeled as historical fiction. I would definitely be with the minority who group it as paranormal fantasy. The language and styling of the book made it hard for me to get into. It wasn't until a little over half way into the book that it grabbed me. The author did a good job of bringing all the story lines together. I wonder if some of the story would have been more engaging had your read the previous novels.  I also started Cinnamon and Gunpowder which is about a chef who gets kidnapped by a lady pirate and forced to make her fancy meals in a sub-par kitchen.  I didn't get very far because I was sucked in by that audio book I was listening and began reading more if it instead.

Listened:  A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty.  I am really enjoying this book.  It is so good that I have given up my other pursuits in reading and am just focusing on it.   I am sure I will have a review for you next week.

Made:A science project with Jack.  It was one of my chore chart choices and when he pulled it, he was pretty upset.  He thought it would be hard.  This was so hard for me because I am used to my students being thrilled when I told them we were doing a science experiment.  I had planned to do one of the many pinterest ideas I had pinned, but instead we came up a color mixing activity together.  We even made a chart so that we could chart our predictions an the results.  Jack has asked to do it again, so it must have been fun.

Felt: Proud of my hubby.  He was not thrilled about having to have the procedure done so I could get off hormonal birth control and still keep our family at three.  He did pretty well about following the doctor's orders and was actually able to take his motorcycle to work on Thursday which surprised us both.

Planned: On taking three little boys to the pool, but instead, we ended up with a thunderous downpour and a drastic cool down.  The kids enjoyed playing inside and we went out and messed around in the yard after the rain had stopped.  The older boys had a blast playing on the tire swings and running through the sprinkler.  The older friend actually turned the sprinkler into a helicopter.  It was fun having a house full of kids, but it is amazing how quickly they can trash the place.

Loved: Making Nick's Father's Day card with Jack.  His Aunt Debbie had sent us a link to a Martha Stewart card that was fill in the blank answers about dad.  He also got to draw a picture of his dad on the front.  His answers were right on the mark and will serve as a great marker for their relationship.  We are looking forward to showing him the other gifts that we made him as well.

Here are the pics for the week:

We went out to neat little trail just outside the Lake of Hillsdale. 

Jack chose these Black Licorice Dots for our movie night. Nasty!  But he enjoyed them. 

Our color mixing science experiment. 

We went to the pool a lot. Thanks to my Lifeproof case, I can even snap some photos. 


Sunday 9 June 2013

Week in Review (June 2-June 8)

Week in Review (June 2-June 8)

Watched: Frankenweenie.  And let me say, it was horrible!  It takes a certain kind of Tim Burton movie for me to love it and this just wasn't it. I think Jack thought it was pretty bad too. 

Read:  I wrapped up 
When You Are Engulfed in Flames. It was an odd little book. I think this is better suited for people who have travelled a lot or lived in a major city. Have spent my life in a small town and the suburbs, I didn't find that it resonated with me. I will be sending it media mail to a friend who I think might enjoy it.

Listened: For the sound of ice cream man.  Little else gets Jack as excited as the sound of ice cream man. For a while, he said he was going to be an ice cream man when he grew up. Now he's back to thinking he will be a super hero. 

Made: Two LEGO creations. This is really more something you should see Nick doing with Jack, but since there are directions, I was able to make it through. He has been very proud to show off his car to anyone willing to listen. 

Felt: Grateful that our friends offered to take Jack for the night so that we could watch The Internship together. It was a funny movie, but I wouldn't say that you just had to see it in theaters. Probably fine to wait until it comes out at Redbox. 

Planned: To meet up with a friend at Worlds of Fun. Jack could spin again and again, but his friend didn't take to that idea as well.  They had a good time, but I think that they had a better time playing hide and seek at the Wendy's.

Loved:  This cool weather we have been having. It's been so nice to be outside and not be miserable. It hasn't been good for using the pool passes that we purchased this year, but I'll take it!  Our neighbors put up a pool similar to the one we had last year and they were nice enough to let Jack go in and freeze too!  Warm days will be here soon enough!

Here are the pics for the week: (Sorry--
There's not a whole lot to offer.)



Jack and a friend stand united in their love of Happy Cola gummies.  Nasty!!  You should also note that I think this picture makes my boy look all grown up. 






Monday 3 June 2013

Week in Review (May 26-June 1)

Week in Review (May 26-June 1)

Watched: A couple movies with my hubby. Since my MIL took Jack for a 3 day weekend, we were able to watch some adult movies. Sadly, we chose a PG one without realizing it. It was one of the only ones that didn't look like a cheesy horror movie from Redbox.  We watched The Watch and Here Comes the Boom. Neither were big winners, but each provided a few laughs. 

Read:  Not much. Odd, I know. I am starting a book called 
On the Island that looks to be pretty good. Hopefully I'll be finished next week.

Listened:  I started listening to 
When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I originally found this book at a garage sale and picked it up simply because of it's title and cover. It's a unique collection of essays.  Was nothing like I thought it would be.  Classic example of don't judge a book by it's cover.

Made: The start of a chore chart for Jack and I. I could spend almost every day just playing with my boy, but then one day it hits me how behind I've let things get. So I've put together a list of things that we can do to help the house run more smoothly. I also added a daily learning activity section. I am excited to see how it works for us. 

Felt: Sad to see my mom go home. We had a blast during her visit. We played a ton of Monopoly, took her to a lot of our favorite places, and enjoyed two-on-two basketball.  I am so glad she was able to take some time off work and play with us. 

Planned:  Not a lot. It's summer and I want to be able to enjoy it. I tried to think of laying out the nursery rhymes that I will  use for my class next year, but I kept finding other things to do instead. 

Loved: That my MIL was nice enough to meet Nick half way and take Jack for a long weekend. It helped me get stuff done around the house and get to spend some time with Nick. We mixed work and play, so things that needed his touch got done too.

Here are the pics for the week:

I can't believe that failed to mention this boo-boo in the above lines.  I decided taking the boat out would be fun and so when Nick was parking the truck and trailer, I drove the boat back to the dock. I knew I was going to bump and said so, but I didn't look at Jack. He had his mouth right next to the window and smacked his gum pretty hard. It was horrible.  He hated the salt water rinses I had him do.  Live and learn, right?



He can now reach the peddles at Chuck E Cheese!  He and Grandma went their on a date while I had my yearly doctor's appt. 


I'm not good at the self portrait, but I still think this a fun photo. 


A shot of the two on Jack's favorite (and our least favorite) ride. 



Last WOF one


Here is one that Denise sent me of the boys on Saturday.