Summer Reading & Summer TV

Two of the things I LOVE most about summer is getting to catch up on my reading and all the fun summer shows on tv. Thought I'd share some of my favorites:

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet - takes place in medieval England, it's the story of a man whose dream it is to build a great cathedral. This is a long book - we're talking almost 1,000 pages. Most of the story flows easily, but there are definitely sections of the book that draaaaaaag. Overall, I enjoyed it. And it was made into a mini-series for Starz that you can instantly stream on Netflix. I always love to watch movies based on books I've read!




















The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb - the story of a couple who both teach at Columbine High School in 1999. One of them is at the school the day of the shootings, and the other one is a thousand miles away dealing with the death of a family member. This was a page-turner for me, but it did have me sometimes asking myself how many bad things can happen to one person. Liked it a lot though.

Currently reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This one is about American missionaries working in the Belgian Congo in the 1960s. Can't say it's a real page-turner, but I am determined to finish it.





















Still on my nightstand, waiting to be read - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Saw a lot of people of facebook talking about how good this one was so I thought I'd give it a try. Not sure exactly what it's about - think it has something to do with car racing and is told from the point of view of the dog. We'll see...













My absolute favorite summer tv show is So You Think You Can Dance. I love, love, love this show. There's not a clear favorite for me yet. I like Marco a lot and his partner, Melanie (I think). I guess this show lets me live out my inner-dancer ;-)









Big Brother. Love this show too. It makes me laugh how everyone comes into the house with a "strategy." I'm really liking that they've brought All-Stars back into the house for this season, although I still cannot stand Rachel and I cannot believe Brendon was dumb enough to propose to her!














Rizzoli & Isles. A new favorite for me. It's another detective show (my favorite kind), but I really like the 2 lead actresses.




















Design Star. I really love watching this show. It gives me all kinds of ideas of things I'd love to do in my house. Some are a little off-the-wall, but I love to see how the decorators can transform a room.
















MTV's Rivals. Another Real World/Road Rules challenge show. But this one's got a twist. This season everyone is paired up with a person they've had a fight/issues with in a previous season - hence, their rival. It's awesome!












And finally, anything on Bravo, I LOVE! The new season of Flipping Out just started. When I watch this show, it really makes me wish I could work at the Jeff Lewis office. I'm really liking Bravo's new show Million Dollar Decorators. I love how prissy Mary and Martyn are, and I really like Jeffrey's boyfriend/design partner Ross. Hope this show comes back for a second season. Of course, there's The Real Housewives of NYC and New Jersey, too. Can't help but get sucked into watching those.

More Ramblings

• Brady and I just got back from a 2-week visit to Ohio. We had a nice time visiting with lots of family we don't get to see that often. Brady really enjoyed getting to play with cousins and still asks daily about "Hio." I know Michael was glad to have us back. He actually said to me, "I have a lot more chores to do when you guys aren't here." DUH! I didn't take any pictures of our trip. I suck.
  


• Right after getting home from Ohio, Brady started his first day of swimming lessons. I'm always nervous about how he's going to do in any type of "class." I guess the teacher in me is afraid he's going to be "that kid." I worried for nothing. He did great and more importantly, he had a lot of FUN! Took a couple of pictures of his first class.

• Since school got out, we've really been putting a lot of effort into potty training. I definitely don't want to have to buy diapers for TWO kids! Brady has always been pretty easy with transitions - bottles to no bottles, taking away pacifier, etc. Potty training, by far, has been our hardest challenge. He would occasionally pee-pee on his little potty, but that's it. But, I think I may have been making things harder than they needed to be. Just this week, I've been putting him in only underwear, with no pull-up underneath, and finally, FINALLY we're making some headway. Fingers crossed that I've purchased by last box of Pampers Pull-Ups size 5 for a while!!

Room Make-Overs

Right after getting home from Destin, I got to work on redoing Brady and the baby's rooms.



Brady got new "big boy" furniture and we really needed to change the color of his room from nursery blue to a more big boy blue ;-) We also went with a "sports" theme - not many choices when it comes to boys! The pictures of Muhammed Ali and The Three Stooges were specially selected by Daddy.



I don't have any before pictures, but here are a few afters:

















































Then I got to work on Foofa (aka, Ava)'s room. I found bedding with birds and owls that I really liked, so I guess if there's a theme to her room, it would be that. I went with pink and green paint for the walls....predictable, yes, but I really love the way it turned out.


Again, no before pictures, but believe me this room was a MESS before - a weight set, broken entertainment center, old work-out equipment, floor fan, etc. Pretty much a dumping ground for any junk we couldn't find a place for! Here are some pictures of the finished product:

Destin!

We attempted our first real family road trip back in June. We drove to Destin, Florida to spend a week relaxing on the beach. What a fantastic vacation!

We stayed at an awesome, family-friendly hotel. It had all kinds of fun stuff to make a vacation just a little more enjoyable for families - free DVD rentals, kids eat free, daily activites for the kids (magic show, birthday party, movie night, etc.), free popcorn & ice cream daily in the lobby. I could go on and on. This place was great! So great, that we really didn't leave the hotel much.

I snapped a few pictures of Brady (and Michael) playing on the beach. I think we might make this a yearly family vacation.

Ramblings....

Just thought I'd ramble on about some things on my mind lately -

• ONLY 2 DAYS OF SCHOOL LEFT!!!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!

• We leave for Destin in a couple of days, and I cannot wait. I checked out the weather forecast, and right now it looks like rain is forecasted for 3 days of our trip :-/ Hopefully Florida weather is like Texas weather - changing at the drop of a hat. I don't have much luck with planning vacations. Last year when we went to Galveston, we happened to be there right as a hurricane was on its way - first June hurricane in something like 15 years, by the way. Just my luck. Fortunately, the hurricane made a turn and didn't end up hitting Galveston, but we got quite a bit of rain and crazy ocean waves. Ended up getting only 1 good beach day the whole week! Hope our luck is better this year.

• Brady has been sick with strep throat all weekend :-( This is the sickest I've even seen him. He's really only had ear infections and croup in the past. Those aren't fun by any means, but he was still up running around playing when he had them. This time, he didn't even have the energy to play. I knew he was really sick when he wanted to sit on the couch and cuddle. He NEVER does that. He ran a temp of 102 or higher all weekend. Poor guy.

• I stayed home from work yesterday to be with him. He no longer had a temp and was up playing a little bit. I could really tell he was feeling better when I took him to get a hair cut and while in the barber chair he says, "Mommy, who farted?" I tried to ignore it or pretend like I didn't hear him, but he would NOT let it go! He kept saying it over and over and over. I finally got him to change the subject. So. Embarrassing.

• Did I mention there are only 2 days of school left?!

"No! I don't want to! Leave me alone!"

These words have become the bane of my existence. My once sweet, compliant boy has developed opinions of his own - and definitely isn't afraid to share them. Half the time he's saying "no" before I've even finished my question. Ugh!















Can you believe this sweet looking face talks
back to his mommy and daddy?


Whoever said 3 is worse than 2 wasn't lying! Not that things are bad all of the time or even most of the time. Most of the time Brady is my sweet, compliant boy. But boy, he sure can get some attitude. And luckily, he is always the sweet, compliant boy when he's at school - although, I've probably just jinxed it by saying that. His teachers have said that he's very helpful and always follows directions. Good boy!

Let's see, what else has he been up to?

We are amazed at how quickly he picks things up, especially songs. It seems like he only has to hear a song once and he knows the words. Some of his favorites are "Firework" by Katy Perry, "Neon Moon" by Brooks & Dunn (totally random), that one by Lady Antebellum.....you know, "It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now"......and "I'm Coming Home" by Ditty Dirty Money.

He's still really, really into cars. We have so many matchbox cars and hotwheels at our house, it's outta control! It's fun to watch him play because his imagination has really taken off. He's also mildly obsessed with the movie Cars. I saw that there's a sequel coming out this summer. Maybe we'll try going to the movies again. Our last attempt (Toy Story 3 last summer) didn't go so well :-/

Lots of people have asked if Brady's excited about having a little sister. I don't think he really understands though. He picked out a name for her, Foofa (from Yo Gabba Gabba), but it's just so abstract to him. He doesn't get it, but he soon will!

And in other news......school is almost over!!!! Eleven days and counting. Shortly after that, we'll be leaving for our family vacation in Destin. I. cannot. wait.

Giving it another try

I'm going to give this blogging thing another go.

More to come...