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

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 :)

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 Believer. It 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

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

A Week in Review (September 14-20)

A Week in Review (September 14-20)

Watched: Jack have fun at his school's Classic Skating Night. Apparently twice a year, the PTO pays for the families to have free skating time. All the other offerings in the building are on a reduced cost too. Jack had really been wanting to go and do this foam block jump.  It worked out okay.  I didn't get a picture of the foam block jump, but I did get a picture of him doing his scooter in the innerSkate, but it was horribly blurry.  He did pause for me to grab a picture of him as climbed the bridge in the jungle. 

Read: I finished up Dead to Worse. It was a great audiobook for the car. I'm so tired of Sookie flitting in and out of relationships with men.  She doesn't seem fulfilled without a relationship either.  I am wondering where the True Blood Series picks up with books. Seems like something I might be able to watch.  I also finished up Big Little Lies. Once you get past the character development of the first hundred pages, it really picks up.  It shows some of the dark elements of life, but yet you enjoy it all. I would recommend it to the average reader.

Listened: Because I finished up Dead to Worse, I decided I needed something else to listen to. I have never read the classic, Pride and Prejudice, so I decided that it might be easier to listen to the old English rather than read it. I am enjoying it, but haven't gotten very far.  Everyone says I am really missing out by not watching the BBC mini series that was made, so I will be able to rectify that in a couple weeks.  

Made: It through my back log of Days of Our Lives.  I had let several of them back up while I was watching Parenthood (yep, my life has really become this exciting).  I was bummed that the show hadn't had any exciting revelations in my absence.

Felt: So excited that the buyer agreed to our terms for repairs. I had been nervous that might be a breaking point, but my worry was for nothing (as it seems to be most of the time!). Now we just have to wait for the final signatures and it will be all done. Woo Hoo!

Planned: To try and find Jack a new pair of cleats because he has been complaining that the 13's I bought pinch his toes.  We couldn't find any at the second hand store, but we did score some footie fleece PJs, which he was super excited about. He has been upset that I had to give away the pair that were too small. We found three pair, so he was thrilled.  We did end up finding a general pair of cleats from Payless that he loves because they are red, blue, and shiny.  He played great on Wednesday, finally be aggressive in going for flags and getting out to block and he credits the shoes. 

Loved: That Jack had the day off of school. It starts the Canyons "Who needs a full day on a Friday?" run.  His Friday schedule goes like this for school: Off, Early Release, Off, Off, Off, Early Release,  Halloween. True story.  Any who, we decided to take advantage of the cooler weather and visit the zoo here. Afterwards, we went to Fazoli's to celebrate his getting an A+ on his first spelling test. We were going to see Earth To Echo at the cheap seats theater, but ran out of time, so we settled for Frozen at home. It was a good day :)

Here are the pics for the week:

A blurry pic, but Jack is on the far left and his friend is in the middle. He was glad to have someone to mess around with. 

Jack wanted a picture in his footie jammies

My first Halloween decoration that I put up. Had fun crafting these up while Jack was at school one day.  It's just a simple foam cone, cut in half and wrapped with yarn 

Jack's A+

Some pics from the zoo

This isn't a great picture, but we went to a party at one of Nick's coworker house. Across the street was a house with a moat. Seriously, a moat....  It went all the way over their house and they had built a small bridge for their driveway. Living the childhood dream they are!

A Week in Review (September 7-13)

A Week in Review (September 7-13)

Watched: Dolphin Tale 2 at the drive in. Jack has been wanting to see this movie since the previews for it were on the Lego Movie. We decided to try our local drive in. There were lots of screaming and/or crying kids. I was surprised the other adults weren't better about keeping them quiet. The movie was pretty similar to it's predecessor. I keep waiting for Jack to try to hit us up to go see Winter and Hope. 

Read: Sunday morning, I finished up A Man Called Ove. Charming book about a grumpy old man whose principles take him off his original course to something much more wonderful. A good lesson in appreciating people for who they are.  Next, I started on Big Little Lies.  It is a big book at 480 pages, but I find myself relating to the characters as they are all mothers of Kindergartners. 

Listened: To a lot more of my book From Dead to Worse. I have been surprised at how quickly I have been able to get through it. I should have a whole review in next week's blog. 

Made: A little painting project for our master bath. It is clearly designed with me in mind. I wanted to do a little something more with the word you, but I felt I would ruin it by going overboard. It was fun to do something a little different with time.

Felt: Frustrated with Jack's football team   It had been a rainy day, but the cancelled practice even though the sun had came out.  They do feel a lot different about moisture than the average person in Kansas. The boys he had two games and only one short practice. I try to remind myself that he's only in first grade and he's having fun, but my competitive side is annoyed.

Planned: Another week of meals for our family. It probably doesn't seem like much, but we went from a family that ate out at least 50% of the time to one that eats at home 95%, it is quite change. It took Jack some time to realize that he wasn't going to love every meal, but he had to eat at some of each meal without complaint. We found that he loves teriyaki tofu a side to almost any meal.

Loved: Finally getting to volunteer in Jack's room. Even though I did a lot of questions, I felt that I did some helpful work for his teacher.  She was away at training so I got to hear a lot of the student teacher and I think she is quite ready for her own room. :)

Here are the pics for the week. Not very many since our week was pretty routine. 

The storm that brought us the rain on Tuesday. Kinda cool, eh?

My master bath project 

Waiting for the movie to start