The Books of April

Hello Friday! I am so glad you are here!

I am slowly plugging away at my 2018 reading goal. I think I'll make it but who knows? It's the weirdest thing. I've noticed lately that for me reading has been a feast or famine. I either don't have anything to read that I want to read or I have all the things that all got automatically checked out to me all on the same day. This week I have been doing a lot of reading in full on feast mode. 

In the Order I Read Them, R-L in the picture. 

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin. A friend in one of my bookclubs recommended this. I know there's a PBS show about her life right now. I am a huge fan of the royals and I just couldn't deal with this book. It took me well over a week to read it and I just did not care. Historical fiction is fine of course but this one didn't bring anything special to the table. 2 stars. 

The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve. This book was a strange look at the historic fires in 1947 Maine. (The fire was historic but I had never heard of it before.) Anyway, our heroine Grace has to pull herself up and survive for the sake of her children. This is not a happy book but Grace does learn a lot about herself in the face of tragedy. 3 stars. 

Not Perfect by Elizabeth LaBan. Ironically, I started this book within minutes of finishing The Stars are Fire and it's practically the same book! A missing husband, no money, figuring out how to survive on her own and still provide for two kids. But instead of 1947 Maine, in this book, Tabitha is struggling in modern day NYC. I enjoyed this one more because it was less introspective and more relatable. 4 stars.

Do This for Me by Eliza Kennedy. I got this one from Penguin First to Read. It will be released on May 15. I loved this. I loved The Good Wife when it was on so this was right up my alley. Raney finds out her husband has been unfaithful and the book follows her reactions to it. I thought this book was going to be very predictable and it kinda was but not with the obvious choices. A fun read. (Not a PG read, however.) 4 stars. 

When Never Comes by Barbara Davis. This book was just solidly a meh. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good. It kept me interested enough to finish but I didn't particularly like the characters or the situation. Christy-Lynn's husband (a famous author) has died in a car crash with an unidentified woman in the car with him. So she takes off and starts a brand new life! The ending was a little too predictable and while I am glad Christy-Lynn was able to heal from her childhood of taking care of her addict mother and horrors of foster care, I find it highly suspect that she would decide to become a parent and fall in real, actual love, in such a short period of time. 2 stars. 

The rest of April was a bit more of a famine. 

Again R-L

Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibaziga. I wrote a little about this earlier in the month, but Immaculee was going to be visiting our area and speaking so a bunch of us read her book about surviving the Rwandan holocaust. Her faith in God and strength and love for the rosary could teach us all something! 4 stars. 

Flat Broke With Two Goats by Jennifer McGaHa. Do not read this book. Don't. Unless you are a goat farmer. And then you probably already know how to raise goats and how smelly they are so you don't even need to read this book. This was the Big Library Read and it is the dumbest book. It's a memoir where Jennifer and her husband don't communicate. Jennifer finds out they owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes, so they lose everything and learn no lessons. 1 star. (Because that's the lowest rating you're allowed to give on Goodreads.)

Flying at Night by Rebecca L. Brown. This book was really gorgeous read. It's a new release and it follows a family through three different voices (and generations). It touches on special needs parenting, abusive marriages, strong personalities, brain injuries and just doing the best you can. I really enjoyed this book and will definitely come back and reread this one. 4 stars. 

Made for This: The Catholic Mom's Guide to Birth by Mary Haseltine. You've probably heard about this because Mary is a blogger and so many bloggers have their voices heard. Including yours truly. Colleen is hosting a giveaway right now. If you know of a Catholic mom who is newly pregnant, this would be a lovely gift. 5 stars. (A super biased but honestly well-earned rating.)

Led by Faith by Immaculee Ilibaziga. Let's say that her first book was the broad brushstrokes version of her life and this one really digs into the heart of the matter. While you really need the first book for context, this one is so much more powerful and beautiful! 4 stars. 

So that is this month in books. I may squeeze a few more out this weekend, time will tell. Enjoy your weekends everyone!

April 25

Happy Wednesday Friends! Make it a perfect date today. 

And happy unofficial Miss Congeniality Day. (As it happens, it's sunny with a high of 64 so actually, it is exactly as she says.)

Rice Krispies

Everyone has those days, right? The ones where you feel like a failure even though, by the book, you've done everything to the best of your ability? Yesterday was one of those days. I felt really defeated but it was also Husband's birthday and that was reason enough to pull up my big girl pants and get it together.

I am so thankful for Husband. I am glad that he picked me and I get to go through life with him. When we discussing his birthday plans somehow we decided on a Rice Krispie theme. He loves Rice Krispie Treats. The ones you make yourself and the store-bought kind.

Easy enough.

Here's his birthday banner. Yes, those are Rice Krispie Treats with the writeable wrappers. They are definitely still hanging in my kitchen too. We kicked off the day with a bowl of Rice Krispies for everyone. Nothing but fancy birthday breakfasts at our house!

Worst lighting ever for a birthday cake picture but I will go ahead and share it anyway:

Instead of a cake, I got a Rice Krispie Treat Sheet and stuck some candles in it. (That's 34 in candle math.) As it happens, our regular grocery store doesn't carry the Treat Sheets, so I ordered one from Amazon. But it got delayed and I had to go to a different grocery store to get it. Then today the Amazon one showed up. Good thing he likes Rice Krispies!

Today is a bright new day. It's going to be a good one. At least it's sunny and going to hit 70 I think so that's stellar.

My Girl

My girl is in the full throes of threenager let me tell you.

Yesterday was Wednesday. Which is the short school day so she doesn't have to take a nap. She decidedly loves "short" days and asks every morning "Is today a long day or a short day?"

Sunday is also not a rest day. And Monday was the spring program so she didn't have to take one. However what that meant was my girl was tired and she was cranky yesterday! Not all at once. The day started out great.

She wore her new hedgehog socks. Which was pretty exciting.

And while C was at school we did some of her last Koala Crate activities. She got to make a xylophone.

But round about dinner time. Woosh. She was at the stage of cranky that resulted in full on shrieking mode. And everything was wronging her. So she went to bed a little early last night and that was just fine.

Luckily for her (and me), I had a sense of humor about the whole thing. She was just so irrational it was funny.  And today she woke up with a smile on her face and a want to snuggle so that always helps too.

Have a lovely Thursday

Spring Program Day!

Today was the TK Spring Program! And we woke up and the yard looked like this: 

So not super springy, in fact, the cold killed my three daffodils but nevertheless it was program day. 

C was ready to go. Freshly showered. He vetoed his Easter tie but I still think he was super handsome. 

A little fun fact about me is that I hate being late. Immensely. As such, we were 25 minutes early for a program that lasted 6 minutes. But that's okay because I was able to score good seats and take pictures of all the art. And it was super duper cute. 

That sun has their little hands traced and cut out on paper. So cute!

My favorite is the kids blowing bubblegum! 

You can't really tell here, but C drew himself as a walrus superhero. Which basically means he's flying and there is a walrus on his shirt. So cute!

Then it was time for the program to begin. 

The class sang 5 songs and a poem: 

1. It's a Beautiful Day
2. I Hear Thunder (poem)
3. Special Me
4. If All the Raindrops
5. Let's All Sing
6. The TK Song

Afterward, we had some cookies and juice which was M's favorite part. She has been talking about the juice since breakfast I kid you not. What a funny kid. 

I got a picture of C and his teachers. It's so nice that they adore these kids and mine in particular. 

Also attending the program was Walrus. He sat in my bag and watched. He liked it. His favorite song was actually the poem, I Hear Thunder.

We as a family went to Red Robin for an early dinner to celebrate the program and make the day special. This is Red Robin Royalty Rewards freebie week with a different free thing every week and we got a free milkshake. Which is a real treat because we never get dessert when we are out. 

Oh, what a fun day!

Thank You Lord!

Thank you, Lord, for the sunshine and nice weather! Today I sent C to school without a coat for the first time since October!

It will be short-lived but I will take it!

Thank you, Lord, for beds! C has been on my mattress from grad school since he graduated to a "big-boy bed" and it had seen better days. My parents got him a new mattress when they were visiting for Easter and it was delivered yesterday.

It doesn't look like a whole lot but not much beats clean sheets on a new mattress.

Thank you, Lord, for friends. My table group from my CEW retreat had a get together last night. We are going to meet monthly or so and it's just wonderful. We somehow got incredibly lucky, with a really diverse, faithful, wonderful group who all bring uniqueness to our discussions.

We read Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza.

Immaculee will be speaking in our area next week. What a story she has to tell about trust, God and faith. She has so much to teach the world. Amazing.

Happy Thursday friends. I hope it finds you well.

Soccer Has Started!

Uh. Guys. That is a picture of soccer practice. Because it was cold but they have a game on Saturday so probably they should have at least gathered once or twice prior to that. It's the first sign of spring!

And today it is going to actually be spring-y. In the 60s! Tomorrow and Friday should also be spring-like.

Because obviously winter is coming back Saturday. But whatever. There's some respite and I will take it. Happy Wednesday!