Adventures in La La Land

1. We're home from our fabulous anniversary getaway so the Saturday 7 shall henceforth be penned. Although I make no promises that I'll actually make it to 7, since not much happened last week worth writing about. Hence the reason I used up a whole point to tell you that. 2. We made cookies, had a playdate with a couple long-lost friends, and survived a trip with all 3 kids to the beach. It was Lucy's reward for completing the summer AR program at school. She got 30 AR points between June and last week, largely in part to the American Girl books she's started reading. They're worth a lot of points. Last year, I took all 3 to the beach for the AR party immediately following a busy day of VBS and was beyond frazzled. I was thrilled that it didn't fall during VBS week this year, but I was still pretty frazzled . . . Levi is at a hard age for the beach. He loves the water and wants to be in it, but is unsteady on his feet and has zero fear. So I can't take my ...

1. Levi took off walking this week. He's been slowly gaining confidence and moving between pieces of furniture with no hands, but on Monday I noticed that he was walking everywhere! And he's progressed all week. He definitely walks more than he scoots now! If I see him scooting, I'll stand him up and he'll usually take off walking. A weird quirk to remember: it's been hot this week, so he's been going shirtless a lot. When he walks he doesn't know what to do with his hands, so he honestly pinches his nipples half the time. Lol. I have yet to get a picture, but trust me - it's hilarious. 2. We had an appointment with Early On on Monday. She was impressed by the strides (literally - ha) that Levi's taken with his gross motor skills. He crawls, climbs stairs, can stand up in the middle of the room, and walks, so he's essentially "passed." She's mildly concerned about his verbal development, but I am most assuredly not. He commun...

Affiliate Link Colleen Coble writes some of the best Christian suspense/mystery on the market, so when she released a new book set in Rock Harbor, I was thrilled to read it. She did not disappoint. It was fun to see cameos from the old characters from the series, but it wasn't entirely necessary to read the previous books before this one. And new characters, Boone and Dana, were a welcome addition. Of course, there are always points of contention with this kind of novel. Why do the leading ladies (who are inevitably being hounded by a maniacal serial killer) always decide to go for a walk or get some air or blindly trust men who they should be afraid of? I did guess who the killer was fairly early on, but Coble did a great job of creating suspense and keeping the story moving. 4 stars from me! I received this book from BookLookBloggers in exchange for an honest review. 

1. I spent all week spring cleaning . . . just a few months late. I decided to tackle a project a day that I've been putting off. I cleaned and organized the girls' desk, purged, re-organized, and vacuumed up 4 years worth of dust in my bedroom, and spent 6 hours deep cleaning and organizing our front porch (the catch-all room). Whew! 2. While I was cleaning my room, I came across a bin full of Perler beads and templates. I bought the set for Lucy for Christmas a few years ago. She showed minimal interest in it and it just sat on top of her dresser. Until the day we hosted a playdate and some of her little friends spilled the entire bin alllllll over her bedroom floor. From that day on, the beads found a new home on a high shelf in my closet . . . and were subsequently forgotten. A couple weeks ago, at the Michael's craft class, the girls did a Perler snowflake and loved it. So when I found them in my closet this week, I set it out for them and they became totally obsesse...

Affiliate Link Yuck. Just yuck. I was under the false impression that the publishers I've been getting free books from only printed Christian books. The premise of this one sounded interesting, the couple of reviews I read said it was riveting and un-put-down-able. So I started it without a second thought. At first, it was just boring. I realized soon enough, thanks to the language and content that it was not a Christian book, but it wasn't terrible. I just didn't enjoy the writing style (back and forth in time and characters). The characters were all un-likeable. I kept reading, hoping there was going to be some dramatic twist or major plot turn. There wasn't. It just plodded along, bouncing from one character to another. The dialogue was stilted. The action was boring. There was very little plot. And then came the chapter on Vera. When I realized where it was going, I skimmed much of it, but I wish I had skipped the whole chapter. It was disgusting, even for s...

1. I didn't read a single book this week. (Unless you count "Curious George Visits a Toy Store") We were too busy celebrating Independence Day and hanging out with friends. It was a great week! On Monday, we went to my Uncle Joel's house with the extended family for swimming, food, and fireworks. In the pool with Tater Doing his magic disappearing leg trick. Splashing in the water with Grandma Sparklers The girls actually liked the big fireworks this year! Although Lucy did have her ears covered for most of them. (Levi went home early with my parents.) 2. On the 4th, my family came over for more food and fun. We played Bocce (old against young . . . I was on the old team . . . is this real life?), The Name Game , and cards. And just had a blast hanging out together. Lucy and Niki Dinner See my great-niece in this picture? Haha. 3. On Thursday, we went to a friend's house for Redneck Slip N' Slide. A huge tarp+a hose...