A Week in Review (April 3-9)

A Week in Review (April 3-9)

Watched: Jack receive an award for Outstanding Novice for his wrestling club.   I was so excited for him.  He really worked hard all season and dedicated himself to the sport.  I thought his coach gave a nice little speech about him.  You can see it HERE.  It's recorded from my phone so the sound isn't ideal, but you can definitely hear him.  He was also one of a select number of children who were recognized for being a Champion of Character, which I am super proud of as well.  There were a lot of stories of wrestlers who received other award that I hope motivate him to keep up the good work.

Read: This week wasn't too busy, so I was able to get quite a bit of reading done.  I began and finished Matched, which was recommend to me many years ago since I like the Hunger Game trilogy. It was okay. I can see why they would make the recommendation because both stores are dystopian love triangle novels. For me, they just didn't have the same punch. I felt that this one had more angst to it and I felt like I spent a lot of time listening to a teenager whine. Even with that being said, I will finish the trilogy.  I immediately started the next book in trilogy, Crossed. I haven't gotten very far into it though.  I am glad that it seems to pick up where the first book left off.  I also starts a new book with my reading partner, Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour Bookstore.  I am really enjoying it.  It has a lot of modern day references that I think will be funny for people to look back in ten years.

Listened: To the doctor's advice on how to proceed with Jack's head bonk. He was playing football with some boys after school and he took an inadvertent elbow to the head.  He didn't cry when it happened, but he did freak out when he saw himself.  He may have sustained a mild concussion. He passed the pupil test and the cognitive test, but his balance was a bit off. He took it pretty easy for the rest of the day.  When he woke up, he didn't have a headache. He did have to call me to bring him some Tylenol. He managed to get through the rest of the day which included PE, after school sports camp, and baseball practice.  We are lucky in that he really showed no adverse effects and was able to continue with life normally.

Made: An official claim to get the ball rolling to replace the contents of my purse.  It is hard to actually think about everything that you have inside there and attempt to value it.  The highest value item I lost was my prescription sunglasses.  It's kind of crushing because I know that the thieves will have gotten nothing out of them and probably just tossed them in the trash.  We will see what the insurance company says.  I must say that I don't feel that they are really living up to their good neighbor slogan.  I have much better neighbors.  :)

Felt: Joyous about the nice Spring weather that we have been having. It's so nice to be able to be out and about without bundling up.  I really do think we might have to look at getting some sort of room air conditioning though. Our bedroom is already 78 at night. 

Planned: On Opening Day ceremony for little league being kind of silly and it was.  However, Jack enjoyed it way more than I thought he would have.  They got to walk down onto the field and have their team recognized along with every other team in the league.  He was selected to read the Little League pledge as representative of his team.  The board gave some nice speeches and honored their all star teams from the last year.  It was much toastier than I had envisioned though.  Jack wasn't happy that I had put him in a long sleeve black t-shirt.

Loved: Spending good chunks of Friday talking to my mom.  While the subject matter wasn't ideal, I was reminded of how fiercely I love her and would do anything to protect her.  I was also really reminded of the power of words and how you need to be aware of how you feed into others.  I've got a great mom and I don't like anyone messing with her.

Here are the pics for the week:

The head bonk 

Nora attempted to kiss and hug it better

Walking onto the field during his Opening Day ceremony

A baseball memory popped up in my Facebook memories. I couldn't believe how lucky that was. These pictures were taken exactly six years apart. 

Jack with one of his wrestling coaches and his award. 

A Week in Review (March 27-April 2)

A Week in Review (March 27-April 2)

Watched: I got all caught up on my shows.  I am just so in love with The People vs OJ Simpson.  I tell anyone who was somewhat interested in the trial to watch it.  I look forward to every episode and will be quite sad when its over.  I am not loving any story line on Days of Our Lives write now and that makes me so bummed.  It just doesn't do anything for me at the moment.  Sure hope the story line changes quick!  Nick and I also watched several Better Call Saul episodes this week.  I also watched Jack excitedly come home and build an egg transporter.  We made a video to show his teacher.  We took a couple, but I only uploaded one to YouTube.  You can watch it HERE.

Read: I read Mirror, Mirror this week.  This book was unique. It's definitely nowhere close to Disney's version, not that I expected it to be, but it was just so different. Along with other reviewers, I agree that character development is totally lacking. Also, plot points seem very disjointed to me. If you like variations on fairy tales, you may enjoy this one.  Next I decided to start Skylight Confessions.  It is pretty short, so I don't foresee it taking me too long to get through.

Listened: To several rounds of April Fool's from everyone in our house.  Jack started out the morning by trying to pretend he puked.  He chewed up some gold fish and spit them out on the floor and tried to tell me it was puke.  His teacher told them that it was tradition in France to place a paper fish on someone's back for the holiday.  They made one to bring home to their parents, but I got him with it instead.  Sadly, it pulled off when he put on his jacket and he didn't make it school with it.  I got Jack by changing his iPad screen saver to a cracked screen and yelling at him for breaking it.  He was quite perplexed and scared.  I also wrapped up all his food in his lunch in crepe paper.  I put a brick behind Nick's tire so that he would have hard time making it out of the house.  He returned the favor, but I wise to that so it didn't delay us.  Jack tried all sorts of sayings like he got in trouble at school, etc.  He was quite bummed that I didn't fall for any of them.

Made: A very simple Easter dinner.  Jack had requested french dips since he had one that he just loved on our trip.  I needed the traditional ham, so I got myself a small ham steak.  We also had just a few deviled eggs, a fruit salad, and some veggies to go with it.  The boys had some movie popcorn when they went to see Batman vs Superman, so it was good that it wasn't too heavy.

Felt: Very grateful for the good help that we have developed for our Popcorn Fridays at Jack's school.  We were able to get a ton popped and bagged before the kids even got out of school.  It is good to see mom's talking with each other and just enjoying the experience.  I had two helpers who helped me count and deliver bags the next morning too.

Planned: On just being crowd control for Jack's team in the dugout during their first game. Coach informed me that he needed me to keep the book too.  Man that really changes things up.  It definitely made the game more exciting and intense.  Although no official score was released, our team won impressively 12-4.  Jack and I took a picture of ourselves before the game.  I don't love the picture, but both my boys say I look okay.  It's funny how differently we perceive ourselves from how others do.

Loved: Having an Easter Egg hunt with Jack.  I was up several hours before him so I gave him a head start since I had a chance to spy several of the places the Easter Bunny had hidden them ;)  He loved racing after them and beating me to them.  He ended up finding most of them but I think Nick and I got 5 or 6 for sport.  The eggs had gummies, junior mints, bubble gum (which I pretended I thought were Robin Eggs), and money in them.

Here are the pics for the week:

Jack dressed up for the movie 

Jack's fish. He didn't know it was there. I snuck it on with a hug. I had a ton on me after I stopped in their room on Popcorn Friday. 

A Week in Review (March 20-26)

A Week in Review (March 20-26)

Watched: A fun game between the Jayhawks and Maryland.  It was good to get a dose of revenge for our loss so many years ago.  Jayhawks hold grudges to the teams that take us out of the tournament.  Speaking of grudges, we will have to hold one against Villinova now.  It was a painful loss, especially in a year where so many people predicted we would win it all.  I may have taken it worse than normal since we had driven home for the game going 55mph on a 450 mile trip.  That really makes quite tedious and awful trip.

Read:  I finished up What Alice Forgot.  I thought the author did a great job about putting everything back together. I'd recommend this to anyone who is looking for a book.  It would make a great "beach" read.  Of course, I didn't take two books on our trip.  I am going to start Mirror, Mirror next.

Listened: To the nephews having a great time playing together.  Sadly Q was out sick with both the flu and strep, so we only got the see Declan and Keegan.  It was definitely a different dynamic without the oldest  one around.  They had a lot of fun swimming, building a tent, messing around in the empty trailer, and just talking to each other.  I really wish that we saw them more often then we do.

Made: A million phone calls and trips places because of my most colossal mistake.  After our trip to Pueblo, I took my purse out of Nick's truck to check the mail.  I set it down, most likely on the top of my car, and walked inside.  We forgot to close the garage door that night.  The next day the boys decided to take Nora for a walk while I was going to run to the store to get the stuff from the Easter Bunny and for Easter dinner.  At that point, I realized I couldn't find my purse.  I was sure that I had just put it somewhere silly.  I spent an hour searching and kept getting more frantic.  I checked the two main credit cards that were in my wallet, they did not show any unauthorized activity.  After Nick got home, and still couldn't find it, I checked one of the lesser used cards that wasn't in the main part of the wallet and there was activity.  I was so upset.  I lost my purse, my keys, my wallet, and Jack's wallet.  It is going to be a very expensive mistake to repair.  I really want to kick my own ass repeatedly.  Luckily, both my husband and kid are pretty understanding and are pushing for me to move on.

Felt: Such a roller coaster of emotions.  Monday was an awesome day in Pueblo, Tuesday was awful discovering the loss of the purse and the start of that entire process, Wednesday was lucky because escaped a crazy snow storm on our way out, Thursday and Friday were nice seeing family and getting away, and Saturday was quite disappointing.  I am hoping next week is a bit more even keeled.

Planned: On avoiding the winter weather by leaving early enough on Wednesday morning.  There were some very crazy parts.  Luckily Nick was driving and he just took it nice and slow through the dicey parts.  On saw on Facebook that a lot of my friends were talking about I80 being closed, so I decided to google I70 being closed.  Sure enough, roads that we very recently gotten off were shut down!  Guess we didn't get out early enough to avoid the weather, but we did get out early enough to avoid our route being shut down!  The storm dumped a ton of snow in the Denver area.  I stole a picture off my cousin's Facebook page to show you!

Loved: That Nick was able to take off the whole week of Spring Break.  I am very glad he wasn't at work when I found out about my purse.  I really benefited from his calming presence and the way he helped me make calls to cancel credit cards, change the locks, and just reassure me that I was more than my mistake.  We also got to take a fun trip down to Pueblo on Monday.  We did the river walk and enjoyed a doggie diner.  We went out the lake and had fun messing around out there too. If we lived closer to Lake Pueblo, I am sure we would already have a boat.  Being near the water really made us miss being able to be out on it.

Here are the pics for the week:

Nice, huh?

Look at all that snow. They had predicted 5"

Nora thought she needed Jack's seat

Cousin time

A Week in Review (March 13-19)

A Week in Review (March 13-19)

Watched: A lot of March Madness.  It is always a great time to just enjoy the thrill of the tournament.  Jack cracked me up because he said it was called March Madness because the kids were mad that all the parents wanted to do was watch basketball.  Haha!  He has gotten into a little bit this year with his bracket picks.  He is doing pretty well in the Wilson and Company bracket.  He was hurt, like so many others, by the loss of Michigan State.  However, we all still have our national champions--The Kansas Jayhawks.  Luckily they haven't faced a huge challenge yet, but I think the next couple of weeks will be a challenge.

Read: I kept reading What Alice Forgot.  My reading partner has had illness and her kiddos Spring Break so we haven't read this one as quickly as we might have otherwise.  I am really enjoying the story line.  There are lots of questions raised and it makes you examine your own life with the eyes of your former self.  Quite the original tale.

Listened: To the boys have a ton of excitement as they went and built a rocket to launch.  It all went pretty well, until the launched and the wind caught it and we couldn't find it.  We asked a couple people if we could look in their backyards, but didn't have any luck.  We came back home and were grilling dinner when we looked over and saw it on the roof of the house directly behind ours.  We launched from the bottom of the sledding hill, so this was really quite impressive!

Made: Food for our staff conferences.  We decided on doing a taco bar for lunch and then having a potato bar for the smaller group in the evening.  It was nice because dinner didn't require a whole new setup as they were able to just use the leftovers from the taco bar on top of the potatoes.  Everyone seemed to really like them.  The fellow parents really stepped it up from the fall and I didn't have near the work.  Thank goodness as it was on the first day of March Madness!

Felt: Proud of Jack.  He had a good conference.  His teacher says that he is an all around great kid.  I like knowing that he is making a positive impact in his classroom.  I was a bit worried because I know he said he had been having trouble with the students he had been sitting by.

Planned: On a trip to Wichita for our Spring Break trip.  Since work has slowed down a bit, Nick is ready to bring his motorcycle home.  I am not sure that it will fit very well in our current garage/outside situation, but we will find a way to make it work.  It will be nice for him to be able to enjoy his commute for work.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Wichita.  It is their Spring Break this week, so we won't get to see them as much if they had been off school, but we will make the most of it.

Loved: The hanging of our dart board. Because Jack is moving onto multiplication in math, we decided that we needed to get the dart board out for some good practice that is a lot of fun.  He has even beat us in one of our first games.  I am really going to step up my game.

Here are the pics for the week:

The clean up from the teacher dinner

A Week in Review (March 6-12)

A Week in Review (March 6-12)

Watched: The final Downton Abbey episode.  It was a fond farewell from the writers.  There was so much more to be told, but I understand the actors and writers want to move on.  I kind of wish that someone would pick it up and write about their lives in book form.  I know I would buy them!

Read: I finished up Someday, Someday Maybe.  I wasn't a fan of this book.  There wasn't a lot of action, but a lot of self-loathing.  I also don't like books that don't wrap the story lines for you.  The book was cute, but no really substance was to be found.  If you are on the fence about reading it, I say skip it.  I stared The Shock of the Fall next.  I was given it by a fellow reader at Jack's school after giving her a book in November.  It's been sitting on my bedside table since then so I decided to give it a go.  This book was just too out there for me. It is told by an unreliable narrator in a nonsensical order. They kind of cleared up the order issue a bit at the end of the novel and I understand why the narrator was unreliable, but the story didn't have enough substance for me to justify dealing with either of them. One I would only recommend to someone looking for a very specific type of book, not general audiences.  Now, I am doing another buddy read with my friend.  We are reading What Alice Forgot.  I am about 1/3 of the way through and loving it.

Listened: To the sound of rocks splashing in the pond at a park on the prairie. We had two extra kiddos at our house for our Friday off school. I was looking for fun things to do for free around the area and found it. It is about a 25 minute drive from our house, but the Google pictures looked to fun not to give it a try. The kids all had a blast playing on the equipment, in the open spaces, and by the pond. A nice fisherman showed up and let the littlest one in our party use his spare polls. He even was taking request for different types of bait from his tackle box. While we probably won't go often, I can see us making the drive a couple times a year to enjoy the beauty. 

Made: A major purchase on Sunday.  My washer and dryer set were 16 years old and just weren't performing as well as I would enjoy.  Nick knew I had been dreaming of a new one and so he finally went out with me and made me commit to a new pair.  They wanted to charge $30 to haul them away.  I thought that just seemed silly.  So Nick came home and disconnected them and I listed them on Craigslist.  They were gone within the hour.  I probably could have sold them for more than I did because I had so many interested people, but we got a very small bit of cash out of them and didn't have to pay to get rid of them.  My new pair arrived on Wednesday.  I set straight to washing because Monday was my normal wash day, but I didn't own a washer and dryer that day!

Felt: Jilted. Apparently Jack's school picked a "Volunteer of the Year".  Now while I know that a lot of people help the school to run, I know just how much I am up there doing. I was extremely upset when I found out that my name was not listed under the title. It really made me rethink some of the commitments that I might sign on for next year.  I know Jack appreciates how much I do for the school and how much he sees me there, which is what motivates me to keep going.

Planned: On just another run of the mill Wednesday, but instead I spent my day helping my friend with her math homework and then going to Chipotle with her.  I think she saw my truly nerdy side because of how much fun I had challenging my brain in a way that I haven't in a while.

Loved: My whole Saturday.  I took a long shower, got a text that invited Jack to go on an adventure with his friends family which allowed me to have an impromptu date with Nick at a sushi bar downtown, watched the Jayhawks clinch the Big XII championship game, went with Jack to GameStop, came home and yummy omelette for dinner, then watched MythBusters until my boys fell asleep on me.  It was a nice relaxing day in which everyone had a great time.  Can't ask for better days than that!

Here are the pics for the week:

The park on the prairie

Inside the Sushi Bar

Isn't she the cutest?

My boys fast asleep

A Week in Review (Feb 28-Mar 5)

A Week in Review (Feb 28-Mar 5)

Watched: As much as I could of the new series True Crime Story.  This season they are focusing on The People vs OJ Simpson.  My boyfriend at the time was totally engrossed by this story and so I remember more of it than I would guess the majority of people my exact age do.  It is a behind the scenes look at a people who captivated America's attention for so many months.  If the trial interested you at all, I would highly recommend watching it.

Read: Not as much as my current pace had me moving along at.  My reading buddy and I decided to hold off on our next book until Monday so that she could catch up on some other reading and I could hang out with family.  Sadly, I caught a pretty strong cold on the Friday before and didn't have a lot of energy.  It was much easier to lay on the couch and just watch TV.  We did up getting about half through Someday, Someday Maybe.  It is a pretty lighthearted book.  I am having a hard time figuring how it made the list with the other three books we have chosen from.  Maybe something pretty intense happens in the second half.

Listened:  I finished up Something Borrowed. I'm not sure how this book was picked up for a motion picture. All the characters are unlikable. I was unable to find myself rooting for any of them. The only thing that I liked about was that it ended fairly quickly and no one seemed to get a fairy tale ending, which would have been extremely unbelievable in this book. Not one I would recommend.  I started listening to Someday, Someday Maybe, as well as reading it.  It is read by author which I always enjoy because they are getting at setting the intended mood for book.

Made: The trek out to Woodland Park, CO for a traditional wrestling tournament.  It took us 45 minutes to get there, even though we were only about 17 miles away the crow flies.  We had to go clear down south to trek up the mountain pass north.  The drive was pretty.  This tournament started a little bit later because they were able to combine both sessions into one with a smaller number of wrestlers.  Most of the clubs stop practicing after state, as ours does.  You have to register for the final two on your own if you are interested.  Jack loves wrestling and wanted to participate.  He ended up with this first again with a 2-1 record. There is debate if his second match was with a girl. After talking to a couple coaches, it appears it was a boy. I don't know if we will know this season. You can watch his matches HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Felt: Excited about how well the Fun Run went for Jack's school.  I didn't have to do a lot of planning for this event as the wellness committee ran with most of it.  I did a few things in the background like coordinating the parents who volunteered and trying to help think of logistically issues.  My main contribution was in working my booty off that day.  It was easier than some events because there was a lot of good energy and excitement coming off of everyone.  They had it on Dr Seuss's birthday and had decorated the halls for it.  I didn't catch any pictures of it, but I did take a picture of Jack's part of their classroom door.  I thought the quote he picked was so perfectly him!

Planned: Out Jack's various outfits for his Spirit Week. On Monday, he wore a hat. Tuesday, he wore his crazy lucky socks. Wednesday, was mismatched workout clothes--not an easy happening. Thursday, he dressed up as what he wants to be. It was nice that he already had a jersey with his last name on it. Friday, was wear a mustache day.  The only one he didn't love was mustache day. I wanted to make it fuller, but he doesn't like the marker feeling on his face.

Loved:  Watching Jack participate in Rookie State. He ended up getting 5th out of 20th. His last two matches came too close together in my opinion. It didn't give him a lot of time to get over the first lost that had sent him reeling. It's the name of the game though. He was pretty disappointed that he didn't walk out with a trophy, but he learned some good lessons and continues to want to strive for better. He needs to continue to learn how to handle himself on the mat after a loss.  I hope he keeps it up and we continue to see growth for years to come. I am definitely a wrestling mom. They asked us to not record the matches and sadly, they lost his first match which was a good battle. You can watch the other matches HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. 

Here are the pics for the week:

A Week in Review (February 21-27)

A Week in Review (February 21-27)

Watched: A good chunk of the series How to Make a Murderer. It really leaves you feeling conflicted about the justice systems. It also makes me thankful that my family never made the wrong side of the law in a small town. If you haven't watched it, I think it's worth the time commitment.

Read:  While The Dinner reads pretty quickly, its hard to say very many good things about it.  Here was my review from Goodreads: Do you want a book where a single character is likable? If so, don't read this book as none of them are. Do you like a book that answers all your questions? If so, don't read this book. Do you wonder what it would be like if two very damaged people attempted to raise a child? If so, read this book.  I also finished up Deadlocked, mostly from my audio book.  It was a very fast listen for me.  I was really hoping that this book would be about Sookie moving on from Eric, as I was sure that they were finished at the end of the last novel. Sadly, they are still together and still can't get on the same page. I can't imagine that she can wrap up so many story lines in one more book. While I think that I would like to know, I can tell that I need to take a break from Sookie and her friends so that I can fully appreciate the ending.

Listened: Since I finished up Deadlocked so quickly, I started on Something Borrowed. It had been sitting on my bookshelf since Olathe and it seemed to fit the light and easy mode I've been going with audiobooks. That is holding up as true, but all the characters are so unlikeable.

Made: Both a new Star Student board and 300 bags of popcorn for Jack's school. While I had help on the popcorn bagging, it is still a lot of work. I wish these two events didn't happen on back to back days.  It's not horrible, it is just a lot of work in one week when others are more empty. :)

Felt: A bit sad that this was Jack's last week of wrestling practice. He has had such a good time and learned a lot of important lessons. It will be weird to have our Monday and Wednesday evenings open again. I hope that all of his hard work pays off at Rookie State on Sunday.

Planned: On just Valerie visiting this weekend, but on Thursday, we got the good news that Mom and Lee would be driving from Vegas too!  I am so glad we live in a space that can easily accommodate a larger number of people. 

Loved: Playing Life with everyone before we went to bed Saturday night. 6 people playing takes quite some time. But we had lots of laughs. In the end, the almost penniless Aunt Valerie, won by calling the number of the Day of Reckoning. :). I feel so thankful that Jack is surrounded by people who love him and are willing to engage on his level to make awesome memories for him. 

Here are the pics for the week:

She sometimes carries around the tennis ball.  You know, just in case. 

Aunt Valerie and Jack's selfie

Papa Lee and Jack playing foxtail