Thanksgiving De-Brief and Thankfully Reading Weekend Kick-Off

Today is the kick-off of Thankfully Reading Weekend. I haven’t mapped out a reading plan, I’m just going to pick up what looks good to me. I think I’m going to start with The Girl With the Pearl Earring. I’ve been re-reading Breaking Dawn because of the movie coming out and I’m not finished with it yet so I may read that as well. I wish it wasn’t 800 pages long!

Yesterday was a great day. Cash and West spent to morning before everyone arrived making Thanksgiving decorations. This is a life-sized turkey that West made:

While waiting for dinner to be ready, the boys took full advantage of Grandma time, playing games and reading stories.

Happy Thanksgiving

From me and my little turkeys:

What West Is Thankful For…

As I was putting West to put last night, he said, “My teacher said that we couldn’t write down that we were thankful for toys.”

“Well, she probably wanted you to think of other things that you were thankful for.”

“Yeah, so I said I was thankful for money.”

Me, thinking to myself: Yikes, that’s even worse than being thankful for a toy – talk about materialistic. Me, out loud, “West that’s so silly!”

To which West responded, “I’m thankful for money because I can share it with others and they can use it to buy food.”

My heart melted into a big puddle right there on the spot.

Book Review: Papertoy Monsters

Papertoy Monsters: Make Your Very Own Amazing Papertoys! by Brian Castleforte

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book has 50 paper monsters that you punch out, fold and glue. Cash (seven years old) and West (five years old) had a blast putting these together with the help of their dad. Cash could put some of the easier monsters together almost all by himself but West needed a lot of help with all the monsters he put together.

The book recommends using glue to adhere the tabs together but that requires patience to hold the tabs together while the glue dries before moving on the next step. Since patience is not a virtue my boys have mastered, they used scotch tape. The monsters still turned out looking just fine.

This book is great to pull out on a rainy day to have fun projects to work on with your kids.

Here is Cash and West’s little army of monsters:

By this book at:
Amazon Powell’s Books

Epcot

Epcot was the first park we went to on our Walt Disney World vacation. We flew out of Kansas City around 9am in the morning but the boys were so excited about our vacation that they woke up at 5:30am that morning. They were too excited to sleep on the plane or on the Magical Express bus that took us to the hotel. By the time we checked into our hotel and then got to Epcot, they were exhausted! But we had dinner reservations at The Coral Reef and then plans so watch the IllumiNations fireworks show which didn’t start until 9pm. Luckily the boys powered through. They were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel and then we had to get up early the next morning to meet Cinderella for breakfast!

Here the boys are in front of the restaurant at Epcot:

Week In Review – November 14-20

This week was really busy. Monday West had his five year well checkup and flu-shot. When Cash got his flu-shot a few weeks ago, he tried to bite the nurse! So unless West pulled a knife on the nurse or something, I was pretty sure he’d do better for his shot. And he did. He just sat in my lap, no restraints or reinforcements were necessary. He did cry but not until like five full seconds after it was over.

Tuesday was Grandparent’s Night at school. Grandpa Jim (my dad) and Grandma Celia (Travis’s mom) were able to come up for it. They visited the boys’ classrooms, made a craft with them and had a snack. It was a fun night.

Thursday was Open Library Night at school. Once a month the boys’ school library has a special night where families can come to the library and make a craft, have a snack and listen to a special storyreader. Students who attend also get to check out an extra library book. I love that Cash and West look forward to Open Library Night all month. I also love the sense of community at their school; I haven’t heard of other schools in the area doing anything like this.

Friday I went to see Breaking Dawn with my girlfriends while Travis took Cash to his first Cub Scout meeting. He is so excited to be in Scouts. Travis and I have a few philosophical disagreements with the BSA but there is really no alternative in this area. We tried a Campfire Boys and Girls club a few years ago but then our regional Campfire office went out of business so we had to disband.

Saturday I spent most of the day working on our digital album of our Walt Disney World vacation. I pre-ordered the album before our trip (because it was a lot cheaper) and it expires on November 25. Disney gives you less than two months after your trip to get your shit together enough to edit all your photos and make an album!

Today I’m meeting some girlfriends for cropping and socializing at a local scrapbooking store. I haven’t gotten together with this group of friends in a long time because of being sick, having surgery, being in the hospital, etc. I’m glad it worked out that I could meet them this month because I’m going to have to miss our annual Christmas dinner next month. I found out after the dinner was already scheduled that I will be up at the Mayo Clinic during that time. It was too late to reschedule the dinner so I’m really bummed. But I’ll have a lot of fun today I’m sure!

Movie Review: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Breaking Dawn – Part 1 was great overall but it had a couple of really bad, cheesy parts. There is a scene with the werewolf pack that was supposed to be serious and intense but the audience was cracking up at the absurdity of it. Not good.

I didn’t have a chance to re-read all of Breaking Dawn before I saw the movie so I can’t make specific comparisons between the book and the movie; however, I did notice that a few things were added that weren’t in the book. I didn’t think it detracted from my enjoyment of the movie though.

I wish the honeymoon scenes would have been more explicit but I guess they have to keep their PG-13 rating so screaming pre-teen and teenage girls can see it.

Make sure you stay for the credits. You will miss something important if you don’t.

All in all I was very pleased with how the movie turned out. I can’t believe we have to wait a whole year for Part II to be released!

Book Review: Stupid Fast

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fifteen-year old Felton Reinstein can’t stop eating or growing. In just a few months, he’s gone from a small, scrawny boy to a tall, fast jock and he found a really cool girlfriend. That’s all well and good, but Felton has his share of problems too. For one thing, his dad hung himself in the garage when Felton was five years old. Also, he has an annoying little brother and his mom is suddenly depressed and won’t get out of bed.

Stupid Fast is a funny and emotional coming of age story, reminiscent of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It’s so real. Felton is the narrator of the story. I’m not a fifteen year old boy but Felton’s thoughts and the way his mind works seemed very authentic to me. I could not put this book down; it got very intense at times. I wanted to strangle Felton’s mother, some of the things she did while she was having her depressed episode had my stomach in knots.

There are so few good young adult books for boys – Stupid Fast is definitely one of them. I’m excited about my boys reading this when they’re old enough. I hope they’ll enjoy it as much as I did. If nothing else, they will think I’m an awesome mom after reading about Felton’s mom! Seriously, this book is fantastic – I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about it around the blogosphere. I highly recommend it for everyone.

By this book at:
Amazon The Kindle Store Powell’s Books

What’s In A Name Challenge

It’s that time of year again – time to sign up for the next year’s challenges! One challenge I know I want to do for sure in 2012 is the What’s In a Name challenge hosted by Candace at Beth Fish Reads. It’s so fun to try and find books that fit into the different categories. Head on over to Beth Fish Reads for more details and to sign up!

Here’s the list for 2012:
1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title
2. A book with something you’d see in the sky in the title
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title
4. A book with a type of house in the title
5. A book with something you’d carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title
6. A book with something you’d find on a calendar in the title

Let’s see how I’m doing on this year’s What’s In a Name challenge:

1. A book with a number in the title – Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
2. A book with jewelry or a gem in the title –
3. A book with size in the title – Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot
4. A book with travel or movement in the title – The Art of in the Rain by Garth Stein
5. A book with evil in the title – The Murderer’s Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers
6. A book with a life stage in the title – The Accidental Athlete: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Middle Age by John Bingham

Looks like I just need a book with jewelry or a gem in the title. I’ll have to check my TBR stack and see if I have anything that will work. What books have you read that have jewelry in the title?

Giveaway: The Wandering Falcon

I ended up with two copies of The Wandering Falcon so I’m going to host my very first giveaway for one lucky reader to receive my extra copy! Because I’m paying for shipping myself, this giveaway is open only to readers with a United States mailing address. To enter, fill out the form below by November 28. I’ll delete all of the information I’ve collected after I randomly choose the winner. Good luck!