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.