I Know, I Know. Stop Yelling Already!

I'm back from Blog Failures Anonymous. I haven't posted anything in a long time and I've missed a few birthdays, too.

So quickly, here you go.

Nathan, I love you, happy birthday!! I'm so grateful to have you in my life. You are awesome and you will always be my Samwise.

 Jeremy and Emma

There aren't a lot of times where they get along this well, so we had to take a picture to document the occasion. Jeremy was reading to Emma and both were enjoying it.

Star Bellied Sneetch Brownie Balls!

I finally found a tutorial for making these that is actually helpful! yay!

More Lincoln

cause he's cute :)

Megan's Birthday!!!

This deserves it's own post, but time isn't really something I've got right now. So here ya go.

This is what we did to her door while she slept

this is what we did to her floor while she slept

more decorations

Love you, Megan!!

Lincoln Turns 1

Happy Birthday, Lincoln!

Lincoln's last night of being 11 months old.

Then we cut his hair. Sad, but good.

Nelson Ledges State Park

This place was really cool! Green moss everywhere, caverns you could get lost in. . . . We plan on going back and taking family pictures :)

Bound- Book Review!

Today I'm reviewing C.K. Bryant's debut novel, Bound, as part of the Dark C.A.R.M.A. Tour. I'm excited to share this book and fabulous author with you. I had the pleasure of reading and doing an edit on this book this past summer.

Bound is a fast-paced read. Here's the book blurb.

When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive.

BOUND is a heroic tale of true friendship, infinite sacrifice and untamed love.

 

 

Seriously, what more of a secret can you keep from your best friend than having two completely different souls inside of your body? C.K. Bryant has created a fun story here, with plenty more amazing secrets. I really liked Kira's best friend, Lydia, and her less of a best friend alter ego. Kira was a great heroine who I enjoyed rooting for. I loved her determination to help Lydia despite the dangers. And as with many great stories, the male love, Octavion, interest is interesting and complex and gives opportunities for swooning if you're the swooning type.

 

If you enjoy adventurous love stories with fantasy twists, you'll enjoy Bound! 

If you'd like to learn more about C.K. Bryant and her great book, you can visit her website.

You can go to Smashwords to download the book or Amazon to get it for your Kindle.

The Dish Washer

 I can't do anything with the dishwasher without Lincoln getting into it. He loves it.

Apple Picking!

 Before General Conference on Saturday I took Megan apple picking at Patterson's Farm.

We went with a group of friends and it was a lot of fun. 

The guy cut Ben off the picture, but he was there next to Maggie. You can use your imagination because he looks a lot like Austin on the other side of Maggie since they are brothers.

  It rained the whole time ;)

Megan and Ben did a lot of apple squashing.

And just for fun, here's a picture of Lincoln. He fell asleep in his high chair and Emma (I still can't believe this happened), took a nap at the same time! Just the fact that she took one is amazing, but that it happened at the same time as Lincoln and, get this, I told her she needed to take a nap so she went upstairs, laid in bed, and fell asleep. All on her own! Holy Cow! I was shocked.

Monday Zoo Trip!

 Out of nowhere I decided at the last minute to take Emma, Lincoln, and one of the little boys I babysit to the zoo.  We had a blast!

The kids were so funny with this monkey statue. They asked me if it was alive before sitting next to it. Emma and Sammy kept patting it and talking to it.

And this is just a cute picture of Lincoln sleeping on a mattress in the living room. We are painting Megan's room and so everyone and everything was displaced for a while.

Playing Catch Up

I promise we had a first day of school just like all the other Mommy Bloggers out there. I've just been really lazy about posting. Sorry, mom :) Here are pictures, as requested.

To get ready for school we had a tea party. Here is the tea party before the tea party. Seriously, for days there were tea parties. Poor Jeremy. I promised him a treasure hunt to celebrate the beginning of school in a more manly way, but it hasn't happened yet. I kind of ate the treasure. . . .

Guess I'll just have to plan another one and go shopping again.

Here is the real tea party that the girls had to celebrate the new school year. There were tons of junk food, freely flowing Kool Aid, and real tea cups (bone china from our local thrift) for the girls I thought could handle them. I made feather barrettes for each of the girls so they could be "fancy."

First day of school for Megan and Jeremy.

Yes, I know this is a picture of Megan and Emma and not Jeremy. I don't remember why he wasn't in this picture.

The cool first grader

Here's Jeremy outside the "Elephant Doors" which lead to the kindergarten classrooms. We were really blessed, he got the perfect teacher and is in the same class as his best friend, Patrick. I was so afraid he would get the grumpy teacher and not have Patrick with him. Of course, the first day of school they were separated for goofing off!

But they've promised to behave and now they get to sit together again ;)

Emma on her first day! So excited!!!!

Notice she's wearing the same jean jacket Megan wore for her first day of school. They are already sharing clothes :)

Very typical pose for Emma, here.

Anyway, there's at least the beginning of the new school year. I'm starting to catch up! More to come :)

Book Review--Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Every time I read a book by Shannon Hale, I end it thinking, "I want to BE Shannon Hale." I'm giving this book 5 stars because I love her prose. I love how she writes. It's as if she pays special attention to each sentence and makes sure that each sentence is perfect and almost musical.

I really love Miri. I love that she is a strong character and at the same time, isn't sure what she wants until the end. There were times I was able to relate to Miri, thinking back to being in grade school and wanting the friendships I felt I saw other girls having without me, not caring that I was excluded, but at the same time hating it. Then only realizing later that it was partially my own fault for not taking the initiative.

I'm debating reading it to Megan. There is a scene that I think will scare her, but I think in the end, she'll be fine. Especially if we read through it to the end so she can see it ends ok after the scary stuff.