Book Review

I love to read, it is one of my favorite things to do. There is nothing better than taking a break from the world and immersing yourself in a good book. I have to tell you about a book I read that I highly recommend, it's titled The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne. My 11 year old actually brought it home from school to read. You may remember if from a movie that came out last year. It is a young adult book and an easy read. It is a story about two boys, one a prisoner in a concentration camp one the father of a Nazi prison leader. It was a beautifully written and poignant story. The author said he felt that the best way to write about such a controversial subject was from the point of view of an innocent child. The ending is sad, yes but done in such a simple, meaningful way. Please read it and have your kids read it. It would make for a great conversation about a too often forgotten subject. Along the same subject, if you are not familiar with Goodreads.com check it out. It is a great way to see what other people are reading and what they thought about it, as well a keep track of books you want to read. You never have to go to the library without a recommendation again.

More vacation pictures.



We don't know how to have fun !


The flowers were almost as eyecatching as him.



They fit right into the California scene.

They kind of look alike.




Pure happiness.







Love long car rides, they did pretty good.

Spring Break Fun

We had a great family vacation. It really went much better than I expected. We spent the week in a condo near San Diego, just off the beach. I admit I was worried, it's hard to plan things that teenagers and 5 year olds will enjoy. We left Friday and got to Vegas, then got to our condo Saturday afternoon. Spent a few days on the beach, enjoying the sun. Monday we went to Seaworld, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Disneyland. #5 hasn't been to Disneyland and #4 was a baby. So we really wanted to take them. The funny thing is they did not have a typical Disneyland experience. I am embarrassed to admit we really only went on very few kiddie rides. Most of are time was spent riding Space Mountain, Indiana Jones and Tower of Terror. I don't think they even realized that they had the option of not going on them. Luckily my youngest was just tall enough. They did get kind of scared the first time on tower of terror but was asking to go on it after that. Space Mountain was the absolute favorite. Love the FastPass We had a three day pass, but two days was enough. I love Disney but the walking is a killer. The rest of the time we relaxed on the beach and saw some sights in San Diego. The older kids were great, they tried really hard to be positive and thankful. We got some really good time together, something we really needed, plus no emergency room visits - always nice. I was very aware that there will not be many opportunities that all seven of us will be together, I just wish it didn't cost so much.

Frequent Flyer Progam

So do they have a frequent flyer discounts for emergency room visits, because if they do, sign me up. I long suspected that we have our local instacare at a greater frequency that than the average family. This week my suspicions were confirmed. Twice we made late night visits, two visits within 3 days. That may just seem like a just a run of bad luck, but as I contemplated I realized that this was my 5th visit in 3 months. That seems like a lot, in fact I was actually concerned that I might actually start getting questioned from child protective services. We do seem to spread the bad luck around though, all my children are clumsy/unlucky, and my husband also is missing the "I probably shouldn't do this" gene. I remember once I was in the emergency room while my husband was getting stitches and my neighbor called saying he was bringing in one of my children so just stay were I was. Two totally seperate injuries on the same day, that just shouldn't happen. Maybe our last family vacation will give you a better idea of what I have to deal with. We were staying in a kind of remote little mexican town, that had a nice hotel resort but not much else. About the second night we were there my oldest son slipped at the pool and cracked his head open. It was late, we found a local pharmacia and got some supplies and super glue and glued it up. Two days later, my youngest son did almost the exact same thing, but worse. This time we found a little medical clinic, where we gave them pesos and they had someone who we hope was a doctor stitch him up. It was quite an interesting experience. After that I threatened the kids with severe bodily injury if any of them got hurt again. The last night we were there my husband took the kids out for some fun, that fun apparently included mexican fireworks. Can you guess the rest. Yes, don't trust the fuses on cheap fireworks, one firecracker exploded in my husbands hand. He dropped the kids off and went back to the medical clinic and got it bandaged up, he didn't even let me see it. We left for home the next morning, he was in a lot of pain for the 14 hour drive home. When home he went to the emergency room and they sent him up to the burn clinic . His fingers were black and he had to have the skin scraped off. OUCH. Followed with weeks of special skin treatement. So yes we had a fun packed week. But I digress, this week we were lucky only a severly sprained wrist from doing a back hand spring, and a severly sprained ankle from volleyball practice. (He shouldn't have even been at volleyball practice because he had his wisdom teeth taken out the day before, but that is another story.) The picture is from two weeks ago, my middle son slid into second base at school during a kickball game and ripped up his knee on the screw holding the base in place. That was a good 40 stitches wound. The funny thing is when he slid they threw the ball at him and missed him so he got up and ran home with a mangled knee. I love my kids but sometimes I wonder if I can survived them. I do know that Heavenly Father sent them to me because there probably aren't very many other mothers who would survive it.

Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get me Down

It is sunday night and I am sitting here dreading tomorrow. Why do I hate mondays so much, what is it that makes that day so much worse than the others? Well here is what I did last Monday, maybe you can understand.

7:00 am Try to get the teenagers out of bed, they aren't moving because they stayed up too late because they took a nap on Sunday afternoon.

7:15 take #1 to HS (can't wait till he can drive himself)

7:45 take junior high carpool

8:00 get other kids out off bed. My kids have always been good sleepers, not something that is so great when they reach school age.

8:45 Take last 3 to school. (How do shoes get lost over the weekend.)

9:00 start a load of dishes I swear I did the dishes on Sunday, but there is a whole load in the sink. I quess I shouldn't make big desserts on Sunday night (who am I kidding, that's not going away). Get a load of laundry started. Where did all these dirty clothes come from. Sure the kids may have cleaned there rooms Saturday, but they just threw everything in the laundry room.

10:00 got to #5's class and swap out books for home reading.

10:15 go to #4's class and listen to the same 3 kids read out loud to you.

11:00 go to # 3 class and wonder why anyone would want to teach 5th grade.

Note to self: no volunteering next year.

11:30 time to pick up the kindergartener, didn't I just send him.

What's for lunch,? Cheese bread because I haven't been to the store since forever and the kids ate everything that was edible over the weekend.

12:00 Why is this house so messy, what is it about Sundays that makes everyone turn into absolute pigs. Keep working on that laundry room.

1:15 #1 calls and needs a ride home from school. I HATE EARLY OUT DAYS!!

1:45 pick up jr. high carpool.

2:00 listens to complaints about how there is nothing for afterschool snack (didn't they just eat lunch)

2:30 Pick up 3 & 4 from school.

2:45 Take #2 to piano lessons, we are late because she is trying to practice her songs one last time, something she hasn't done all week.

3:15 pick her up, then try to make some attempt to get the kids to do there afterschool chores(but my hearts not really in it so they disappear the first second they can.)

4:00 Take #2 to volleyball practice.

More laundry, pile it one the bed - I might fold it later.

5:00 Take #3 to bb game 30 min away (He can't even play, he has 30 stitches in his knee, so at least I don't have to stay and watch)

Make dinner, feed kids, start homework. DH and #2 get home about 7:30.

8:00 make some lame attempt at a Family Home Evening that ends with me yelling at everyone and generally being onery.

8:30 I don't care if your not tired, GO TO BED.

9:oo time to start on the 6 loads of laundry on my bed, at least I have a 24 recorded to watch while i fold.

Tomorrow I get to do it all over again.

Kitchen Floor (Part 2)

I am finally done. Hallelujah!

It was a lot of work, and hard to live without a fully functional kitchen. I don't know how I would do with a complete remodel. It was worth it and I think it looks great, a big difference. It took a long time to grout it, but I think I did a pretty good job. Because of the varying thickness and all the nooks and grooves, it was a bit tricky. I had to seal the stone before the grout so the grout would clean off the surface. The grouting part went fairly smooth, but it took forever to clean it up. I had to go over it about 3-4 times, on my hands and knees with a scrub brush and a flat screw driver getting each tile clean and grout free, before I sealed it one last time ( I used aquamix enrich and seal for future reference) I had to do this in sections so that we could at least walk on part of it. It was also best done after kids were in bed, so I have a had more than a few late nights. The stove and dishwasher are back in place (how I missed that), but the fridge is still sitting in my entryway. Hope we don't scratch the floor up putting it back. I still need to reinstall my built-in bench and my baseboard. It has only been two weeks but seems like longer. Now I have to think about the missing tile in my entryway and get ready to lay the hardwood. Which I think I will attempt to install myself. My husband thinks I am crazy, but is glad he doesn't have to do anything. If I waited for him to get involved it would absolutely never happen.