Wednesday 22 October 2014

A Week in Review (October 19-25)

A Week in Review (October 19-25)

Watched: The Royals win 2 and lose 2 in the World Series. They won the lucky 3rd game and now get a chance to bring the Win back to KC. 

Read:  I didn't finish up anything or start anything new.  I just keep moving farther away from my reading goal of a book a week. I will really have to pick up my game to make it. 

Listened: To my little man get sick Friday morning. I had heard that there was a stomach virus going around, but I was so bummed he came down with it.  On the good side, it passed within 6 hours and he seemed back to his regular self that evening. 

Made: The long trek back from my mom's. It was full of bad news. We got the call that our buyer had fallen through again. It is seriously upsetting. I almost feel like there is a curse on the house.  When we were almost home, I got a text from my mom saying her kitty had been hit by a car that afternoon. It was so sad. 

Felt: Thankful that my dear husband stopped and took the time to buy me flowers after hearing all my tales of woe on Monday. There bright yellow blooms make my heart more light when I see them. 

Planned: To just have to wear random blue things for the World Series, but then my shirt arrived in the mail. My former boss, Rhonda, was awesome enough to think of me and mail me a Royals shirt. I was pretty glad especially because they won the first night I wore it. 

Loved: Attending the Spook Alley at a local church with our friends. Jack had such a good time playing all the games and doing the Spook Alley. They did a pretty good job making it freaky. He even ran into a classmate and they had a great time playing together. As you will see from the pictures below, Jack was all about the donut on a string activity. 

Here are the pics for the week:

The framed pic that Jack submitted for his school's Reflection contest.  I was so glad my mom had a mat for it so I didn't have to track that down Monday night. 




Nick was unable to stay home and watch the whole Thursday night game with us, so Jack took this picture to be able to text him the final score. :)

A Week in Review (October 12-18)

A Week in Review (October 12-18)

Watched: The Royals sweep the ALCS. I am not a baseball fan, but there is something infectious about these boy's spirit. Plus, it all really counts now and they seem to manufacture plays out of nothing. I am so into it that I have the batting order memorized.  Because they had to cancel Monday's game due to rain, Wednesday's game was played in the afternoon. It really cramped my style, but thankfully we awesome cable that has an app for watching TV on the go and so I took my tablet with me do I wouldn't miss anything while I picked up Jack. 


Read: I am still working on Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I am enjoying it, but it isn't a fast paced read. I also decided to make the commitment to 11/22/63. I am starting it on audiobook as I wrap the other three books I need to finish . I say it's a commitment because it is 25 disc long.  While I am only just starting out, it really has been drawn in. I also had the book Rooms come off my hold list. It looks to be a fun book for the Halloween season. The other Lauren Oliver books I've read have been very fast paced. so I am hoping for this one as well. I also need my November Book Club read to come off my hold list so that I can have it done by the 1st. It's getting to be quite full on my reading palate.

Listened: To the roar of lawn tractors during the Lawn Tractor races at the Harvest Moon Fall Festival we went to on Saturday. It was pretty funny to see them zoom around. They had really suped them up. A couple even turned corners on two wheels. Kyle and Jack both participated in their first ever cake walk. We also got to play the human foosball game that is sweeping the Pinterest boards.  It was a ton of fun. I hopped out to share my spot with a younger kid and so I could take photos.  Jack also decided that a haunted maze that kids had warned us was scary couldn't be. So we paid our money and went in. A first it was pretty boring, but about half way through one of the actors wearing a half mask and swing a plastic machete ran at us and said "It's your time to die!"  I see Jack look down at his pants to see how much had leaked out. It truly scared the piss out of him. He laughs when I tell the story. Although he wanted to cut and run out the back way, we pushed on and the people kept coming. It was pretty well done for something so small. I don't think we will forget it anytime soon. 

Made: The 600 mile trek to see my family on Thursday. We are having a great time with them. I hope that when Jack is my age he still loves coming home. I know that my mom's tradition of taking care of the kids will live on. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mom.  We are also loving having Kyle back in Alliance too and Jack continually wears him out with his requests for one game of football, baseball, or whatever other high energy game he can think of. 

Felt:  Super lucky. On Thursday, while driving through the poor cell service in Wyoming, I was lucky enough to be able to orchestrate getting the owner of the other side of the duplex to sign a document. The lender's bank requested that this be done within four hours. Say what???  I am just now hoping for no more glitches in the road. I couldn't believe it actually worked out.

Planned: For Jack to play to soccer on four Saturdays in November. One of the area rec centers has an indoor soccer league. There are no practices, but I think it will be good for him to try it out and see what he thinks of the game.

Loved: The beautiful views of the Alpine Loop in Northern Utah county. It was so breathtaking and the pictures below don't really do it justice. I loved seeing all the names carved into trees. I think the oldest one I spotted was from '77.  I think it was so funny that Jack chose to go out in his full football gear. He was really just in the mood for pass, but did okay just enjoying the scenery. Definitely something unique for our time in Utah.

Here are the pics for the week:








This just really cracked me up. 

Jack at an Abraham Lincoln monument at a WY rest area on our way to my mom's. 

Jack boxing Poppa's ears. Notice he is smart enough to wear the helmet to save himself from retaliation.

Me in my new Bronco's shirt that my mom got for me. 

Harvest Moon activities




Tuesday 14 October 2014

A Week in Review (October 5-11)

A Week in Review (October 5-11)

Watched:  Jack have such a great time playing with the big kids of the neighborhood.  They played some box trolls game, played some stuff in the house after snacking, and then tried to play baseball.  I wish we had some kids his age that lived closer, but he seems to have fun so we just embrace it. 


Read:  I finally finished up Pride and Prejudice.  So it makes me feel rather low brow to say this, but I really did not like this novel at all.  I only gave it two stars.  It just was so redundant without much story line.  I still don't understand why women would just die for a Mr Darcy in their life. I will be watching the BBS mini series to see if the actors add more to the story for me.I also made some progress on Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  Not sure if I will have a review for you next week with the trip to my mom's. 

Listened: To Jack's teacher during conferences. They want him to practice reading "nonsense" words to help build phonics blending. I knew that he was more a sight word reader and so I am not surprised that he had trouble in that area. On the plus side, his math skills continue to excel. 

Made: Some more reader's theaters for Jack's teacher. I actually have a really good time breaking down the books into different parts.  She said she received lots of compliments from the parents and so she will be doing it again.

Felt: Glad to have signed and shipped all the documents for closing the house. Now just to count down the days until it happens!  So glad this journey is almost over.

Planned: To try and build something from these Crazy Fort balls and sticks.  I stumbled upon directions on their website and was able to make a really fun igloo. Jack turned it into an obstacle trying to get his body and football through without hitting any of the sticks. It was a lot harder than it seemed like it should be. 

Loved: Spending the day with Jack at the Children's Museum downtown. I feel like he is just on the border of not enjoying those places anymore, unless he would take a younger friend, so I am glad that we got to go and explore. We even saw a bird show done by another group here in town.  The museum was in the middle of a outdoor shopping area and Jack fell in love with the store called Fanz. We had to end up going their twice.

Here are the pics for the week:



Jack's car that was cooler than mine as voted on :)








Monday 6 October 2014

A Week in Review (September 28-October 4)

A Week in Review (September 28-October 4)

Watched:  More baseball in this week than I have in the last decade combined.  We tuned in the late innings in both the Royals games on Wednesday and Thursday, but with the extra innings we saw plenty of ball. Friday we tuned in from the beginning and were still treated to extra innings. ;) As much as Nick doesn't want to admit it, I think he is enjoying it and since he picks TV in the evening, I am guessing we will watch more. 


Read: I finished up True BelieverIt was by far and away the worst Nicholas Sparks books I have ever read. The characters were unbelievable. I didn't like one of them. Not a book I'd recommend.  Next, I started Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. My friend Laurie brought it back for me after a trip to Savannah.  Apparently there is even a movie I can add to my watch list after I finish it. 

Listened: To several Shel Silverstein poems. Nick read books on Tuesday night and picked up Where the Sidewalk Ends. Jack really enjoyed Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Snout Would Not Take the Garbage the Out. We have read it several times since and also found several others that we like too.  If you haven't picked up it up in a while, you should.
Made:  I saw a new recipe for a French dip.  I thought it was good, but the boys weren't a fan because I used a roast.  I might keep the base and add in roast beef sandwich meat next time. The base was a can of beef broth and an onion soup mix. It made a delicious au ju sauce. 

Felt: Sore Saturday morning. Jack didn't have school Friday and so we played the hat game. The afternoon was packed with physical activities.  Jack invented a way to play baseball with just two people. It involves a lot of running.  After dinner, he was going to take Nick down to the park and show him how it worked. Our neighbor girl was out and they decided two on two would be more fun. We did have a good time. I love beautiful Fall days when we are able to play around without getting all sweaty.

Planned:  I saw an advertisement in a magazine for a Pinner's Conference. It's an one or two day event that will have vendors and classes from different bloggers. It's pretty reasonably priced and I think I might spend a Friday there.

Loved: Watching all the kiddos perform their readers theater. They did such an excellent job and I was proud of all their hard work. :). I did record Jack's group. It is an almost 10 minute video that is pretty quiet, but I think it's worth a watch.   You can find it here:  
http://youtu.be/CHKk0HE9bf0

Here are the pics for the week:

Jack's 1st grade photo


His team flag football photo 


We had fun at Lego event at the library





Jack and I's paintings




Wednesday 1 October 2014

A Week in Review (September 21-28)

A Week in Review (September 21-28)

Watched: The first show of the last season of Parenthood. It was pretty emotional and I think this show is going to go out with a bang. 


Read:  I didn't really embrace reading this week. True Believer is totally not sucking me.  I hope to wrap it up by next week. I am falling quite behind in my personal reading challenge of a book a week.

Listened:  To more of Pride and Prejudice. This book must have an great middle and ending as I am finding the first third to be nothing special. 

Made: Some delicious PB Rice Krispy Balls covered in chocolate.  Yum. I found it on Pinterest (of course). I posted a screen shot below.  Jack and I both preferred them without the chocolate but the girls at Book Club seemed to prefer the chocolate.

Felt: Sadden that our original buyer financing fell through. Luckily we had a back up offer who was still interested. Bad news, it means starting the month closing process over again.

Planned: To do something fun for Jack's early release day. We were able to have our friends over for visit. The boys were playing at the park and Jack invited them over. It was nice to chat while the boys played.

Loved: Getting to help out in Jack's classroom on a daily basis. They are going to be performing a reader's theather in small groups and I am working with them to gain some practice reading their lines.  I also helped out another teacher by volunteering for her for an hour as well.

As I was reviewing for the blog, I realized I didn't snap any pictures of us. So instead you get the two screen shots from my phone. 



The recipe for the PB balls