7QT: Birthday, Well Check and Cirque Du Soleil

one. Today is Husband's "birthday." It was really last Saturday while we were gone. But the kids didn't get to celebrate and if you know anything about almost 4-year-olds it is that they take birthdays very seriously. We are going to do all the normal things, special dinner, cake, etc. It is going to be a fun evening! 

two. M had her 18 month check up today. Can you even believe that she is halfway to TWO?! Oh my goodness I can't stand it. My girl is healthy, happy and completely convinced she's three. No concerns. Passed her ASQ and MCHAT so that's about the best she can be. She has been adding new words to her vocabulary every day, today she said "apple" finally. So cute!

three. I love Cirque du Soleil. I have seen La Nouba twice, Corteo, Allegria, One of the stadium shows and I just love Cirque. So when we knew we were for sure going to Vegas I started pricing out shows. For a long long time it has been on my bucket list to see "O" it's the show in the water. (Eau is water in French.) As I was looking at tickets, it is just really expensive. And I eventually decided that we should put our money towards another less expensive show and bought tickets for "Ka."

four. We saw "Ka" last Wednesday night. It was amazing. The theater was spectacular. It was as much a character in the show as the talent.

This is a picture from the internet. This is what it looks like. 

This is the picture I took of the exact same thing. Don't judge it by my picture.

The preshow brought us to amalgamation Asia, with ninjas, warriors, spears and a haka. The show was the first Cirque show that had a real and true followable plot. That was really cool. The real star of the show was the set which was this giant rotating plate. It was amazing. I can't even describe it. It was really really good. 

five. So because "Ka" was SO good I felt even more like I should just try and make "O" happen. Then the stars alligned and we bought tickets. This theater was gorgeous. Like breathtaking. It was designed to basically be a European Opera House and it is just beautiful. 

The internet wins again.

My picture of the ceiling. 

What the ceiling actually looks like. 

And the show started. The synchronized swimming was as cool as I imagined. The Russian Swings that turn to diving was my favorite part for sure. I loved it. I am so glad I saw it. 

But at the price point I was expecting it to be AMAZING and blow me away. And it was just like any Cirque. I think I maybe even liked "Ka" better. Also we saw the 9:30 show on a Saturday. Which meant a great deal of our audience was clearly inebriated. I have never in my life seen so many people come and go from a show before. It was unreal and very distracting, which also may have contributed to my feelings on the show. 

But I am SO glad I saw it and have no regrets. 

six. I don't really like Michael Jackson and I pretty much can't stand the Beatles so I will never spend money to see "One" or "Love." I am unsure that I would appreciate the adult themed Cirque so "Zumanity" is out. I would however see "Mystere," the original Cirque show and "Zarkana" should I find myself in Las Vegas again. (There's also the Criss Angel one that I am rather un-opinionated on.) 

seven. We have more exciting plans this weekend and I can't wait to tell you about them next week! Have a terrific weekend friends!

Linkin' w. Kelly 

Viva Las Vegas!

Saturday morning in Vegas was the good show. It is Husband's favorite food show of the year because he doesn't really have much to do except for make the rounds, be seen and get some free stuff. He nabbed me a brown butter sea salt rice krispie bar. It was delicious. He wasn't gone too long.

Saturday was also Husband's birthday! So that was kind of fun. Don't worry, we are celebrating tomorrow and the kids have no idea that they missed it. The joy of littles. I had this great fear that if C realized that it was his dad's birthday he would be upset because to him birthday's = cake. We weren't even having cake so I didn't think he needed to know.

We lazily sat around on our balcony and watched the world. The temperature cooled off significantly but by Vegas standards, not normal people standards. So it was in the 70s and awesome! We met the entire group from Husband's location in the lobby at 12:15. We got on a big bus which was the first air conditioned vehicle we had been in the entire trip. (Apparently cabs don't use the air conditioning until it's in the upper 90s or they didn't think it was hot or I don't know.)

We went back to Fremont Street because the company had scheduled us for "team building" which meant going zip/zoom lining on Slotzilla.

I did the "zoom" which is the doors that fold down over where it says Slotzilla.

That roughly translated to about 20 of us actually doing it and the rest of the people chickening out. The weird part is that every single female who was on the trip as a guest or sales rep went and tried. It was mostly men who didn't go.

It was awesome. I was slightly unsure when I was dangling there like superman before it was time to start but I really enjoyed it. Because the group had prepayed for 50 people I was able to go again, It was even MORE fun the second time. The wait was shorter, I knew what I was doing and I made sure to keep my arms in for speed.

That's me flying. I didn't pay $40 for one of the professional pictures.

It was a really wind day and people weren't making it all the way to the end where the tow thing was. So then an employee would have to come out and hand-over-hand pull them all the way to the end. There wasn't any chance in heck that I was going to have that happen to me, so I pushed off really well and kept my hands in per the instructions. The person next to me the second time Kellie got stuck and it's really kind of sad because you're just like an upside down turtle. She was moving her hands and arms but she wasn't going anywhere.

The company had opened a tab at both a bar halfway down Fremont and at the end. Which was great because I really needed a water! So yes, I had 3 bottles of free water and a coke during the course of our outing.

A funny story, when ALL the reps get together, they're loud. And they all try to out do each other. One guy started doing this yelling walking thing and people kind of made a circle around him, just from our group, Only because Fremont Street is full of street performers doing all sorts of things, this one guy came over and watched for a long time. Then started interacting with the rep from Husband's company. Everyone was dying.

We got back to the hotel in time for Husband to go down to his training for his roll-off table. I started getting ready, which was a good idea. Note to self: if going back to Vegas pack my own hair dryer. The hotel one was REALLY bad.

We went to the roll-off which was a buffet dinner and cocktails, a shorts dance performance and then the actual roll-off. Where all the many many many reps rolled the dice fifteen times to see how much money they'd win. I'm just going to go ahead and explain here that the event was kind of a cluster. It was disorganized and overcrowded and generally ridiculous. I would have words with Fred from corporate who planned the whole thing on how he could go ahead and solve at least some of the problems.

When the roll-off was nearly over, I took off for the Bellagio and when it was actually over, Husband joined me. We had tickets to see O and this was a giant bucket list item for me. O is the Cirque du Soleil show with the water theater. I had ALWAYS wanted to see it. We didn't think it was going to be possible but we made it happen. And I am so glad.

Post show however, I became extremely disenchanted with Las Vegas. Too many drunk people in miniskirts and I did not like it. Plus I was really missing my babies. 

Sunday we walked the strip down to the Mirage to go to The Sigfried and Roy Secret Garden gift shop. I got the kids some white tiger souvenirs because animals! And that just seemed really Vegas to me. I got a gift shop only ticket which gave me 15 minutes to get in and out. Husband couldn't come too. But in order to get to the gift shop you had to go right by the dolphins, like they were 2 ft. away in their pool. It was super cool. C would have loved it. I would definitely take kids there if I were to bring them. We walked to the Venetian and walked around and had lunch. I wanted to go on the gondola ride but Husband didn't. He has an aversion to doing tourist-y things. 

Then we went back and got our bags and headed to the airport. I did a lot of waiting because Husband's flight left hours before mine and we obviously got there in the recommended time for his flight. But our gates happened to be right next to each other which was kind of handy. I made it back to my parents house and looked at my sleeping kiddos and all was right with the world. 

That in a nutshell was my trip to Vegas. It was really fun! Made more fun by the fact it was nearly free! Plus 5 days of kid free time with Husband?! I mean, that never happens and while I was missing the kids after a while it was SO good. Thanks to my parents for watching them! 

Going To Set My Soul On Fire

Thursday and Friday were largely the same on my trip.

Husband was at the marketing conference all day and I was on my own.

Thursday I slept in, went to get my ring cleaned and then I headed to the pool. His bosses had reserved a cabana and had a tab going so I was able to have some lunch and drinks poolside. I read a book and had a lot of time to myself but soon enough more people came down and so I spent the afternoon getting some sun and talking to husband's co-workers and their spouses.

Fish tacos care of the tab! 

View of the strip from the cabana.

We had a dinner that evening, the special Charlie dinner. He's the president of the company and took the two VPs, two marketers and the two accompanying spouses out to dinner. It was delicious. It was at Charlie's favorite restaurant Del Frisco's. Apparently he goes there a lot. I thought it was great. But this was the third time it was underwhelming for some of them so I guess he is going to get a new favorite restaurant.

I had the signature drink which was called the VIP. It was Svedka Clementine Vodka that had fresh pineapples soaking in it for two weeks. It was like candy. I only had one because it was so good that I am sure it was lethal!

It was a very nice dinner. Afterwards one of the VP's and his wife went with Husband and I to see the Bellagio Fountain right next door. It was pretty cool though I guess I wanted it to play Clair de Lune like in Oceans 11. But whatever, my life doesn't have to be a movie.

Picture this only with like 1000 more people everywhere. And no Brad Pitt. 

Then they took us to Fremont Street, the old downtown, and really what I expected the strip to look like. It was everything you'd expect. Lots and lots of lights, people, booze and crazies. It was a hoot. (Again, I was horrified at those who brought their children. It was even more inappropriate than the strip. Unless you wanted to give your child an anatomy lesson I guess.)

Prince died, as I am sure you've heard. Nothing tells you you're from Minnesota more than the day Prince dies and it is literally your entire news feed! But the Fremont Street Experience Viva Vision Light Show was Prince based which was great by me! We watched the end of the Blackhawks game, had a drink and listened to a really great band while we people watched. I am not entirely sure where you would even buy some of the things we saw masquerading as outfits. I really enjoyed Fremont street. Definitely more fun than the club scene!

Friday, I was again on my own. I slept in and read in the room then headed back to the pool. Because Friday was the day most of the crew showed up, they had two cabanas. I am glad I got there when I did and put in an order because the sales reps had run up the tab to $2300 since the pool opened at 9:00. The tab closed soon after that. Husband's meetings got out at 1:00 and he joined me not too long after that. We sat around sunning until 3:00 and then headed in to get ready for dinner.

Friday was the cocktail reception for everyone in the company nationwide and then big group dinner with all 75+ people from Husband's location. All the everyone. Dinner was at Milo's at the Cosmopolitan. They did the whole fixed menu with choice of entree which was awesome. The only flaw with big dinners is that there's a lot of waiting around between courses.

When that was over, we went back and changed and then went to the casino. We are high rollers and only played penny slots. Once that wasn't fun anymore, we went to a restaurant called Holsteins for one of their milkshakes because we had heard a lot about them and how good they are. We had a campfire smores shake which did not disappoint. Then we sat for a while to people watch because it was a sport basically. We tried to figure out the science between who would get in to the club or not but I never figured it out.

So that was how Thursday and Friday went. :) 

Bright Lights City

Every year about this time, Husband has a marketing conference and the Rolloff which is the big promotion pay out event. It's basically where the rep rolls dices 15 times and then they get paid out based on the formula. It's kind of a big deal.

A few years ago it was in Orlando and I tagged along. Last year it was in Baltimore and I didn't. Because of my six month old and all. But this year it was in Las Vegas and I had never been to Vegas and ALWAYS wanted to. So I went along. 

I left our house on Tuesday to take the kids to my parents house then flew out from there early Wednesday morning. (Like I had to be at the airport by 4:00.) It was kind of funny because with the time change I was in Las Vegas by 8:30 AM! Husband's flight was supposed to get in around 9:45 but was delayed a bit. So I had a lot of time to kill in the airport. 

But finally there he was and then finally, there was the suitcase and we could take our town car to the hotel. It was really nice that he was on his own flight with no one else from the company because usually we are on a bus but because it was just us we got a fancy schmancy car. If you've ever been to Vegas you know that you can see the strip from the airport, but then it takes a long time to get there because the lights take forever!

We obviously arrived in daylight but this gives you an idea.

We checked in to the Cosmopolitan and were able to get our room immediately. I didn't take any pictures but the internet is helpful in situations like this and they're better than I could have taken. 

Note to self: the mini bar is weighted and if you life the extremely overpriced items  for more than 30 seconds it charges it to your room. We did not have any room charges but the warning was only in the fridge not on the snacks on the counter. And when I say overpriced, I mean $8 for 6 mini-sized Snicker pieces. Not even fun-sized! 

Plus our room came with a terrace balcony with a little love seat and footstool, and the bathroom included a water closet with LOUD wallpaper and a double vanity. 

We had lunch reservations at Fogo de Chao which is one of my favorite chains. In Las Vegas it's just a regular restaurant. But it was delicious and we were allowed to expense one meal that day so it was free. Since we had both been awake since 3:00ish in the morning, we opted to take a nap. Then we got ready to walk over to MGM and see Ka. 

I am going to do a Cirque specific post later but I will say this, I loved it. If you've ever been to Cirque before you know there's a preshow, make sure you are there early enough so you do not miss the preshow of Ka! You wouldn't believe all the people who missed it and they don't let you in at all because they are in the aisles and it was really cool. 

After Ka we walked back a different way, stopping at Walgreens to pick up some incidentals, and then ate a late dinner at Earl of Sandwich. The last time I had this sandwich was in Orlando and I was hoping it would live up to the last time. It did and we parked ourselves in a perfect people watching situation. 

Even on Wednesday night I was horrified at the parents who had their babies and preschoolers in strollers at 11:00 at night. I couldn't convince myself that they were all traveling in from Hawaii and it wasn't late for the kids yet. There are some interesting things for kids in Las Vegas to be sure, but I think I wouldn't take mine at all, and certainly not until they were at least upper elementary age. And even then, not on the inappropriate strip at 11:00 at night! 

After our people watching we headed back to our room and went to sleep. But not before standing out on the balcony and marveling at how nice the weather is. No bugs or humidity? That's kind of awesome. And that was our first day in Vegas. 

IOU

This is my little IOU to let you know that I haven't forgotten you! I will be blogging again sometime soon. I just walked back in to our house after being away for a week and I have a lot of unpacking to do. But never fear, once I get settled back in you are all invited to hear all about my trip to:

Happy Monday: A Photo Dump

A week ago it was practically winter. The sky spit out some snowflakes. It was cold. And then Mother Nature remembered it was in fact April and in a week's time went from Winter to Spring straight into Summer.

It's glorious.

We celebrated National Grilled Cheese Day, because apparently that's a thing. And so we had grilled cheese. As it happens, C likes "Cheesy Walrus Sandwiches" over "Grilled Cheese" so there you go. 

Wednesday was our second soccer day. It was still "Spring-y" that morning so he wore his under armour but it warmed up later that afternoon! C has been doing so well with soccer, I am very impressed. He is excited to go and he is a very good listener. M is a bit more of a struggle. She truly believes she is three and has no interest in sitting on the side lines. Poor kid! And truthfully, she is very good. I didn't know 17-month-olds could kick soccer balls so well! 

M and I took a girls only Target trip and I cried and died a little when I saw this in the book section. They made a graphic novel of The Baby-Sitters Club. As the Edward D. Neill Elementary #1 fan of the BSC I was horrified. The books aren't even hard to read! 

It was otherwise the most stellar Target trip ever. The regional people were in town going through the store and talking about upcoming changes and maybe even reviewing the store, I'm not sure. As such the store brought their A-game. Like, 6 people asked me how my day was and if I needed any help. And they had SO many lanes open. It was dream Target. Plus M was super cute and talking about everything so it was really awesome. 

After three sessions in a row, we had our final art class on Friday. I really liked this class and I am sad it's over. We took the first two sessions with friends but the last one by ourselves. C really got good at doing the crafts by himself and we really loved to have an fun outing once a week. M will probably be ready to take the class in the fall, which she will LOVE. 

There was always a play-doh table and sensory table which were among the favorites each week. C made this polar bear on Friday. I loved it. I was so proud of his creativity. Usually he just used the play-doh tools to make noodles, or whatever shape the cookie cutter was etc. 

Summer hit this weekend as it was in the 80s! Our grass needed mowing and so everyone chipped in. 

No one wanted to be left out of the fun! We really do love our little old fashioned reel-mower. It's so handy that it doesn't throw rocks and stops cutting if you stop walking. But I think we are going to need to upgrade to an actual mower this year. The weirdly warm and wet winter left our yard a lot less flat than the past two years. But to flatten a yard is time consuming and costly.

We broke out the water table today. Well, we moved it from inside to outside and added water. The kids were happy! 

So that's what we've been up to lately. Lots of time in the yard and lots of fun. We are officially into the kids need a bath and at least two outfits every day time of the year. I love it. I hope the shorts I ordered for C come fast! We are going to need them! 

Have a great start to your week. 

You Can't Always Get What You Want

A good life lesson.

There is a long round about story that basically leads to this: we brought the Duplos up from the basement. We rotate toys so that things can be "new" again.

Husband was super duper into Legos as a child. I was not.

C appears to be mostly taking after me. He mostly likes to stack like two Duplos on the "car" base and then play cars. Or he acts out adventures with the Duplos people. It's creative in it's own way certainly but it's not the "hours of building" that some people and kids can do.

Even though the world of math lost me when we had to start caring about "x" I tend to be very literal.Which is okay. I played with my doll house a lot. It was easily my favorite toy.

Not mine. But this was the set I had.

I had the patio, the pool, the horse stable, the car... pretty much if they made an expansion I had it, except for the porch room, which I didn't know existed until I was searching for a good picture. This picture doesn't have all the right things either but it was a good overview. But I played doll house. I would spend hours having the kids come home from school, and live life. I was never huge on the whole "open ended play" thing. 

I didn't want that for my kids so I made sure to get all the right things. Magnatiles. Duplos. Megablocks. 

But C would rather read. Or play with animals. Anyway, M got Sofia Duplos for Christmas and we opened them up on Monday. So it came with a little catalog. And one of the sets was "Around the World." It is in fact, super cute. It comes with little sets that represent different continents and their animals. Pandas and tigers for Asian, penguins and whales for Antarctica, Lions and zebras and  hippo for Africa. 

But it's really expensive. And while my guy thinks he wants this set, he really doesn't. He just wants to play with the animals. And we already have lots and lots of animal figurines. So it is really not worth the investment. 

My guy is not to be dissuaded however. So when Mom said no, he asked Grandma. Luckily I tipped her off via text message so she knew to downplay it. Here's to hoping he forgets about it soon! Unfortunately he has also inherited my long memory so... we'll see. 

Panda-monium

C really likes to read. Non-fiction. Fiction. Catalogs. Magazines. Whatever. But some of his favorite books to look through, especially at bedtime are Hello, Cupcake and What's New Cupcake? *Not affiliate links

We've made some of the cupcakes for birthday in years past. Well, we did walrus cupcakes that weren't in the book (though there are walruses in What's New Cupcake but we didn't have that one yet.) And we made penguins last year.

C has really been wanting to make cupcakes again, but who really wants to make complicated cupcakes for no reason? But my parents and brother S came to visit us this weekend and we used this as an excuse to let C pick a cupcake.

He is going to have an arctic birthday theme so we told him he had to pick something besides that. So he chose the panda bear cupcakes. He has always loved Bears: Spy in the Woods (and all the other spy cam documentaries available on Netflix) and has recently been super into pandas again.

It probably has to do with the fact I just got the kids Shu Shu, the new Scentsy Buddy. Which he has claimed as his own. Because he's bigger and basically claims everything. *shameless Scentsy link even though seriously this post is in fact about cupcakes I swear*

Whatever the reason I am so glad he picked out the Panda cupcakes because they are SO easy! And I think they will be very tasty as well, because devil's food cupcakes, frosting, Oreos and one M&M all sounds good to me. 

But I am especially excited that he picked them because they are really very cute. 

If you have that book and want to make them, we made a few changes: 

• We made Devil's Food cupcakes because that is the cake the boys prefer over white cake and we were willing to sacrifice over style. We just double paper-lined the cupcakes to make sure they would be white. 
• We bought the black tube of Wilson decorating frosting instead of dyeing our own.
• We used M & Ms instead of chocolate covered sunflower seeds because you can find M&Ms anywhere and no one wants to take time to dip sunflower seeds in chocolate or deal with finding them. 
• I couldn't find Oreo-O cereal (do they even still make that, Google says no) and used mini Oeros instead. Which I think are cuter anyway. 
• I also thought we had mini chocolate chips and we didn't so we just skipped that for the eyes. 

Anyway, we are looking forward to eating our cupcakes. Happy Saturday!

Super Fast 7QT

one. It's not even 1:00 and today has been super weird.

two. We got to art class late and left early. We did EVERY single station. Usually we skip one or two and leave late! I have no idea how this is possible. M even got in and out of the stroller twice at art class without throwing a fit. Typically once she's out she is not going back in.

three. I have no idea what's going on with my dishwasher but right here can you throw up a little prayer that it is perfectly fine and I am just losing my mind? Because that'd be great.

four. I got home from art class and checked the mail. It wasn't there. I popped online to make sure that my package was still coming and it said "delivered." I opened the door and there it was. I didn't hear the postal carrier.

five. I went back outside to get the soccer balls from the car and the garage and car were locked. I never lock either. I don't know how that happened. Seriously it feels like a ghost (that I don't believe it) is following me around and messing with me today. That better change!

six. I saw this yesterday:

It's getting me all excited and I am going to meet some goals this year. Yes. Yes I am. I am dreaming big and setting some real challenges for myself. I turn 30! this year. I am kind of whatever about it because I am really holding out for 31 (my golden birthday) but it still seems milestone-y and like it's a good year for some goals. 

seven. I am sponsoring a giveaway over at Martin Family Moments so I can share the Scentsy love. Pop on over to enter, it's super easy! If you want to visit my site and vote for Happy Birthday for Bring Back My Bar (no registering or purchase needed) I'd really dig that. You can vote once every minute from the time you hit submit so if you're bored... 

Have a great weekend! Linkin' with Kelly.

An Open Book: Two Months Worth

Hello friends! I have been reading a lot lately and though I totally missed last month, I did not forget and definitely want to tell you what I have been reading for An Open Book. Hosted by Carolyn Astfalk, this is the new WWRW linkup.

Have I mentioned I joined another book club? It's been really good for me. I can already tell I like the new book club a little better. The books they pick are discussion worthy which is great. I think I am probably going to slowly start breaking up with my original book club. Not right away or anything, but probably by Christmas or early next year.

Okay, so I kind of wrote here  about Orginial Book Club's (OBC) February book which was The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King.

It is maybe my favorite Sherlock Holmes continuation I've read. It's smartly written. It has been a long time since I've had to look up definitions while I was reading. Admittedly a lot of the words turned out to be British slang but still.

The plot follows Mary Russell becoming Sherlock Holmes apprentice and them solving crimes. I love a good series and this book is the first of thirteen so that's nice. They are suspenseful but again, it's a series so not too suspenseful.

Verdict: Definitely Read

OBC's March book turned out to be The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Elliot.

For my 8th birthday my friend Ben Watson got me the Chronicles of Narnia series. I promptly read them. I didn't like them. I hadn't read them since. 

I read this one again for book club last Thursday. I still didn't like it. I know that makes me an odd duck in the world but I just don't get it. C.S. Lewis is a beautiful writer but I cannot figure out why this plot and these stories are so enchanting. I mean, I get the Christian allegory (Even though Lewis says it's not so much allegory as it is supposal.) but that's not enough to sway me. 

The world of Narnia just doesn't appeal to me I guess. Magical wardrobes taking children to a land with talking animals is just not my thing. I'd rather hear about their lives in the big house waiting our WWII as it happens. 

Verdict: You should probably read it if you haven't because it's a classic. You don't have to like it though. 

The March book(s) for my New Book Club (NewBC) were To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. 

You've probably read Mockingbird before. I don't even feel the need to expound upon it. Because Atticus Finch.

But anyway it was probably a bad idea to read them back to back. If you've been living in the complete dark you probably know the scandal about Watchman. But just in case: Harper Lee wrote Watchman first and never wanted it published. Then she got dementia and her sister ran her estate. When her sister passed away, suddenly, after years of saying no, Lee signed the papers that Watchman could be published.

Even under these very fishy circumstances I was still wanting to read it because adult Scout and Atticus Finch sounds fascinating. I admit, now after reading it, I wish I just left it alone. First off, the Atticus we all know and love is radically different, which was actually fascinating. Not that I particularly love this older Atticus but since he regularly wins "Best Fictional Father" awards it was kind of nice to see that he is in fact human. (Not that I agree with his personal stances.)

But that is about the best I can say about it. The book reads like a rough draft and it is certainly clear why Lee never actually wanted it published. Not only does it undermine Mockingbird but it is not an easy read. Fragments and run-ons and thoughts not fleshed out entirely make up a good solid portion of the book. It is a hard read in many ways.

Verdict: If you didn't read Mockingbird for school at some point or since you should get on that. It's an American legend for a reason. As for Watchman, definitely not worth purchasing. Could potentially be an interesting read but proceed with caution. You cannot unread it. Consider reading the spoilers even. 

This afternoon I read the book that NewBC will be discussing on Sunday evening. The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin.

The book follows Suzy as she grieves the loss of her long time best friend who drown even though she was a good swimmer. Suzy becomes convinced that it was actually a rare Jellyfish sting because things don't happen without a reason. Throughout the book we get in depth with Suzy while we discover that her friendship had grown complicated in the way that middle school friendships can be, 

When I started reading this book, which is geared for young adults I was rolling my eyes. Suzy is written very complicated and it was hard to read at the start. There are reflections of the past in italics and she is very smart and thinks very fast. Also Benjamin definitely pushes a fair amount of liberal ideas at the beginning. I even began Kindle highlighting the biggies. A supporting character is written as gay even though his sexuality doesn't influence the plot at all, lots of references to the save the planet movement etc. 

But as I got into the book and started to really understand Suzy, her friendship history with Franny, and her grief, it was actually a really beautiful story. I wish I hadn't felt the need to eye roll at the start because the deep heartfelt emotions I felt in the middle and the end were intense. Everything that she experiences was raw and real. It brought tears to my eyes and an ache in my awkward-middle school self's heart. 

The ending was bright without being too unbelievable. It was good. I was really not expecting it to be. I wanted to hate it. But I didn't. It was solid. 

Verdict: I don't know that I would let my 12-year-old read this book but at the same time I would want her to. Definitely a book I am glad to have read as an adult. If M was older and the right age, I would maybe do a "read together at the same time" kind of thing so we could discuss it. There's a lot of openings for some heart-to-heart communication here. 

These aren't the only things I've read this past month but they are the ones worth talking about right now. I am linking up with An Open Book and I hope you'll go over and see what other's have been reading lately. 

Banana "Squirrel"

Once upon a time there was a little boy and girl who enjoyed to watch Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.
Their mother thought the show had it's merits certainly. While some negative behaviors were learned from Daniel (things being "scary" and "too noisy") for the most part it was okay. Though their mother certainly wished that her little boy wanted to "try new foods 'cuz they might taste good" more often, Daniel didn't seem to inspire him on that front.

The end.

Except it isn't the end. I mean come on, you know me. So in the "try new food" episode Daniel and the real life clip make Banana Swirl. Which is basically that banana "nice" cream that's so popular on pinterest. You freeze bananas and then throw them in the food processor until it is the consistency of ice cream.

I love banana ice cream. Like real ice cream. It's my favorite. I especially like Coldstone Banana with coconut and chocolate chips. Or Ben and Jerry's Banana Split. Or Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey. So I don't really understand how Banana Swirl constitutes "a might taste good" thing. It's fake ice cream. What kid doesn't like ice cream? My kids love  ice cream and bananas. But whatever.

C got it in his head that we needed to make banana "squirrel" and so we did. The bananas took a lot longer to freeze solid than we anticipated so it was supposed to be our after Saturday rest snack and turned into our Sunday snack instead. (I am sure the bananas would have been ready by Saturday evening but we weren't home.)

He enjoyed making the banana swirl and putting sprinkles on it. It was good. I do like how frozen mashed banana is the texture of ice cream. We were going for the healthy true recipe of banana swirl but in the future I may add coconut and chocolate chips.

All smiles, though she probably was the least excited about eating it.

He was trying on his new soccer shoes with his soccer uniform and taking his Banana "Squirrel" very seriously.

Overall it was a fun activity using an ingredient we already have in our house because we go through bananas like crazy and we almost always have some unless it's grocery shopping day or just about to be. C was very excited about the whole activity. I wish C had taken away the "eat bell peppers and tomatoes" lesson from that episode of Daniel Tiger but you can't expect all kids to fall for that.

7 Not Fooling QT

one. It's Friday. It's April. I am not playing ANY April's Fools tricks today because I am gullible and don't really care for them.

Except I would be just fine if this was somehow true. 

two. Because it is April there are some exciting Scentsy things that I want to talk about.

It is Bring Back My Bar voting this month which means they have a list of retired scents and the 20 with the most votes will be available for sale in July. If you have no opinion at all use all five of your votes for Happy Birthday okay? (No registering or purchase necessary.) I love it and I have been warming it on birthdays but I am down to one cube. So... I am going to just vote for that a whole bunch. And Fresh Cut Grass because my dad actually keeps asking for that scent.

The warmer of the month is an adult coloring book warmer. It is so cute and I can't wait to color mine. It would be a fun night in for a group of girlfriends young and old! Or a fun gift. Sharpies are recommended and a little bit of rubbing alcohol will take it off so you can have a do-over if you're so inclined. At $31.50 in the month of April it is a steal compared to some of the wine and paint places, plus at the end you have a warmer and not a potentially mediocre art project you don't know what to do with. 

I really love Scentsy. I am not in this for the money, I swear. I just get so excited for these products and want to share the love. 

three. I am going to tell you a story. You should know that C loves taking baths and showers. Like it's right up there as one of his favorite activities. It was after bedtime and I had already taken a shower, but someone who was 3-years-old was still awake and talking in his room. So I went in to talk to him. 

C: Mom is this your hair?

Me: Yes. 

C: Did you take a shower? 

Me: Yes I did. 

C: Did you play with the fun toys? 

Me: No, I didn't. Grown ups don't really play with the toys in the shower.

C: Just children. 

I died. He was all excited and conspiratorial and really thought he was on to me. 

four. One of C's school friends had her birthday yesterday and they had a little party. It was so cute. They did a scavenger hunt and he was very proud of his goody bag and was super excited about going to the party. He had a really good time. 

five. So every year I make a basketball bracket. I should note here that I know basically nothing about basketball and on a list of all the sports it's ranked pretty much at the bottom of my opinion but over wrestling. (It's the squeaky shoes and the crazy repetitive back and forth with no discernible excitement.) Well I have no correct picks in the Final Four this year. But apparently I am right on par with most of the world so that's nice. 

six. Our niece has her golden birthday next weekend. We got her a 3 month subscription to Doodle Crate. If you read Grace you know she does Koala/Kiwi Crate with Julia and Sebastian. Doodle Crate is their arts and crafts box geared towards age 9-16. I am betting my niece will like hers a lot.

Anyway, they sent a link today where anyone shopping through it can get $10 off and then I could also get a $10 credit.  So I thought I'd throw this up there in case you have been eyeing getting a box to try and want a discount. We are probably going to get C a subscription for his birthday. They have a polar bear box in the Koala Crate set that looks exactly up his alley.

seven. Art class was fun today!

We played Play-Doh, had our snack of a bagel with cream cheese, made the shaker, (the thing wrapped in duct tape with glasses) an umbrella, a bird in a nest that suffered the loss of an eye in a stroller mishap and we played in the birdseed-filled water table. 

And now I need to make my minions some lunch so Happy Friday! 

Partying with Kelly.