Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day

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Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day

By Teri Crane

I'm ready!  I read the book and I can so do this!  I'm really excited.  I think because Chad and I are teachers we totally get the idea of positive reinforcement and the ideas in this book are all about positive reinforcement.  Somehow I'm going to have to make Chad at least read the chapter all about what exactly you have to do and say, but I think we can totally pull this off.

The main question is, is Jordan ready?  I think he actually is really close.  I think mentally he will grasp the concept and then it shouldn't be too hard.  I'm a little nervous about when we'll have to be away from home and everything but we'll make it work.  I can't wait to have the potty party actually!  Basically, Jordan will wake up one day and we'll just have a major potty party.  He'll get a doll that can pee and we'll start by teaching the doll how to go to the potty.  Then, after lunch, he'll practice going to the potty.  What really cracks me up is that we're supposed to just pump Jordan full of juice so he'll pee all afternoon basically and so we can practice going on the potty.  And what cracks me up even more is that at the end of it all everyone comes over and Jordan gets to throw his diapers away while we all watch.  It's gonna be a blast.  So, who's in for the potty party?  I'll be sure to post when we actually try and see if we can potty train Jordan in one day!

A Writer's Notebook

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A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You

By Ralph Fletcher

This book is one of Ralph Fletcher's many books about writing.  Having gone through school being taught with the reading and workshop models, when I heard about this book at a school inservice, I thought I would like it.  I finally ordered it through inter-library loan from the library and read it this week.  I really like Fletcher's ideas about keeping a writer's notebook.  It is so true that in order to be a good writer you have to be a good reader, but you also have to look at everything with a writer's eye.  If you read a lot you can immediately recognize an idea that would easily fit into a book and then you have to write it down.  He spends most of the book talking about how to use a writer's notebook.  Already, after reading this book I had myself noticing things to write down.  Here's my favorite so far: 

At the Third Eye Blind concert, the group Low Versus Diamond was opening for them.  The lead singer to LVD introduced the song he was going to sing and said something along the lines of, "I knew this kid who had a Yoko-Ono-kind-of-girlfriend.  He had this Yoko-Ono-girlfriend and he just needed a song written about him."  And then he sang the song, but all I could think about was the way he introduced the song.  

I am super excited to set my students up with writer's and reader's notebooks next year and to see what a difference it makes.  

The Westing Game

Most Recently Read Book:

The Westing Game

By Ellen Raskin

Literally, just finished this book and sat down to right my review because it was awesome.  I love this book!  I can't believe I have never read it before.  It was such a sneaky mystery.  I'm not really good at mysteries to start with so I'm not sure I can really gauge if it would have everyone fooled, but I enjoyed it.  I love the resolution.  This book kind of reminded me of the movie "Clue" and it also reminded me of the new series called The 39 Clues.  Basically, there is a murder and the man who is murdered calls 16 people together to tell them that whoever can figure out who murdered him will inherit his fortune.  They are all paired up and they call get clues to try and decipher.  Of course, I can't give away the ending!  You HAVE to read it!

How Reading Changed My Life

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How Reading Changed My Life

By Anna Quindlen

Well, I basically devoured this book in one day because it's so short...but, I'm not sure I actually got the point!  I liked her revelations about reading and that we read for so many different reasons.  I liked how she pointed out that the real life books aren't going away just because we have online books or those new book reader things.  I also liked that she concluded that we read to take us places and that we can be nomads inside our own heads.  I'm not entirely sure how reading did change her life, except for that she feels grateful to have reading be a part of her life.  Unfortunately, there wasn't too much factual/research support even.  Oh well, I liked reading about someone who loves reading at least!

Firegirl

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Firegirl

 

By Tony Abbott

I did a book talk for my students on Friday and we were talking about Jerry Spinelli who wrote Stargirl and Love, Stargirl and they mentioned Firegirl.  Of course, I had to go and get it from the library!  Firegirl is actually completely different from Stargirl and yet somewhat similar actually.  Firegirl is about a 7th grader whose class gets a new girl one day, except this new girl has suffered severe burns all over her body.  The main character, Tom, is so interested in this new girl, Jessica, but not really sure how to be friends with her.  No one feels comfortable around her and they all come up with crazy reasons to explain how she got all the burns.  Tom ends up distancing himself from his friends because they are so immature around Jessica.  He becomes friends with her and finds out the truth about her burns.  In the end, Tom accepts Jessica and learns what it means to be a friend.  

This book reminded me of Stargirl a little bit because Stargirl is about a girl who completely walks to the tune of a different drummer and she ends up shaking up the high school that she moves to because she is so eccentric.  Both of them teach a lesson in accepting others despite their differences.  (Stargirl is still one of my favorites, although I'm not sure I would say the same about Firegirl.)

Bowling

This weekend we went out to lunch with our friends Chris and Nikki and they gave Jordan a bowling set for his birthday.  He had fun playing with Chad when we got home.  Here he is with his bowling ball.

Here he is trying to set up the pins.
Getting ready to knock them down!
Woo hoo!  Looks like a strike!

Chicago Craft Social

Last night, Kathy and Silvia and I went to the Chicago Craft Social.  It was an ingenious event and I would totally go again!  It was so simple but so perfect at the same time.  Basically, it was a bunch of crafters all gathered in a giant room with tables to work.  Some people graciously brought other projects for people to work on and there was great food.  One crafter made extra sticky rice krispie treats with little toothpick cards with labels on them!  It was awesome!           

Here is Silvia working on one of the projects!  It was her birthday!  Happy Birthday, Silvia!

Here are Kathy and I!  My pictures uploaded as "small" so it's hard to tell, but I'm holding my clothespins (scroll down!).  

This was the first project we chose and it was so simple but so much fun!  I'm so going to frame this and put it in my office at school.  I'm going to add the letters r-e-a-d in the yellow squares!

This is a magnetic bookmark.  It was so simple and quick to make but it was sooooo cute!  Can't wait to use it on all my new library books!  I had fun meeting and chatting with Cindy who provided this craft.  She was really nice!  I just checked out her blog and I love the crafty ideas!

This kind of gives you an idea of what the tables looked like.  This was the table for our "Paper-embellished Clothespins".  You can see our clothespins hooked onto the sides!

And here are the clothespins in action on our fridge!!!!!  Gotta love it!  I am definitely going to make more bookmarks and clothespins!


I was definitely inspired to do some simple but fun crafts and even just to get together with friends to craft again.  We all had our sights on duct tape wallets we didn't have time to make!!!

I Love You, Library!

I confess, I am completely head over heels in love with our library!  It is one of my absolute favorite places!  I especially love it now that I have signed up to manage my account online!  That means that I can see what books I have checked out, renew books, and even order books from other libraries...it is completely dangerous because I end up with armloads of books!  

Yesterday I had a big enough stack waiting for me that they had it on the special shelf for "big" holds!  I was picking up books on CD, fun books for me to read, educational resource books for me to read, and some picture books for Jordan!  I can't wait to read them all!  Here are a few from my pile:

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted, by Elizabeth Berg

The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier

The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin

Savvy, by Ingrid Law

Tripping Over the Lunch Lady and Other Stories, by Nancy Mercado and others

Sold, by Patricia McCormick

I Was a Really Good Mom Before I had Kids, by Ashworth and Nobile

Little Oink, by Amy Krouse-Rosenthal

Chicken Cheeks, by Michael Ian Black
The best part...IT'S ALL FREEEEEEEE!  Have you visited your library lately???  What did you check out!?!

Jason McKie Celebowl 2

On Tuesday night, Aunt Jacquie came over to babysit so Chad and I could go to the Jason McKie Celebowl which is a charity event that lots of Bears players come to.  We went last year and got tons of autographs so we were excited to go again this year.  Since this was their second year they had it a little bit more organized...or maybe, controlled is the word I want, and it was harder to get autographs.  

Chad mainly wanted to get Jay Cutler's autograph.  He is the new quarterback for the Bears.  It was really hard, there was a bodyguard standing at his lane to keep people from going up to him and he basically stood up on the boards the whole time and didn't sign any autographs.  Bummer, dude!
I took my picture with Lance Briggs....I had to apologize for the picture of his hand.  Who knew it was going to be news...it really was lame news.  He forgave me.  I felt so bad!
Me with Urlacher!!!!  We were so excited to see that he came out to the event!
Me with Devin Hester!  Woo hoo!!

Mall Party!

On Monday, we finally celebrated Jordan's birthday for the last time!  It was my idea to do so many little parties but I'm not sure it was a good idea!  Here's my cute munchkin-head.  When we got there he was the only kiddo playing in the play area!

After our friends came and we played for a while went upstairs for dinner and then the kids decorated safari wooden masks using markers!
Our friend, Kathy, made these awesome safari animal cupcakes for us!  The animals are made of chocolate.  They were awesome!  (I had two!)
Jordan blew out his two candles (eventually)!!!
Dad and Jordan opened presents!
Bubbles and his own mini-musical boombox!  It's just his size!

Extras

Most Recently Read Book:

Extras

By Scott Westerfeld

Loved this book!  This book made all the other books in this series worth reading.  I still thought it was a tiny bit plot-missing at the very end, but overall, I liked this book a lot.  Extras is the 4th book in the Uglies series.  I had high hopes for the series and was a little bit disappointed but I really like how this book tied them all together.  I read somewhere that this book is not technically part of the series because Tally Youngblood, the main character in all the other books, is not the main character in this one, but I think if you have read the other three it's worth it to read this one!  This book takes place three years after the "mind rain" that Tally causes.  It's interesting to see the evolution of the world through these books, according to Westerfeld, at least.  I actually felt more connected to the main character in this book.  I only wish that in the end she would have officially changed more than what is suggested just to teach a lesson, but I still liked the ending.  

Allie Finkle's Rules For Girls: Moving Day

Most Recently Read Book:

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day

By Meg Cabot

After seeing Meg Cabot speak in February, I was excited to read her new series for the younger-than-the-Princess-Diaries kids.  You can definitely hear Cabot's voice in this book, but I felt like it might still be written a little bit too hard for the kids who would be reading it.  The main character is in 4th grade, but I would imagine a 3rd/4th grader reading this book would have a little bit of a hard time...but maybe that's just me.  Overall, this is a cute story about a girl having to move to a new house and the whole experience.  

Happy Birthday, Jordan!!!!!!

On Sunday we celebrated Jordan's 2nd birthday with all our family!  We all hung out in the backyard for birthday fun!
My watermelon creation!
The gift table!
Jordan and Alex eating at the kids' table!
Grandma Sue's parrot pinata!!!
Alex and Jordan had fun trying to hit the pinata...it took someone a littel stronger to break through though!
Once the candy was out, all the kids were excited!!!
Here's Jordan with his cupful of candy!
Cake!!!!  My friend, April, helped me make and decorate Jordan's monkey cake!!!!
Jordan with his monkey cake!
Time for presents!
More presents!
Jordan loved the trucks that he got!  Here he is playing with Sergio.
Cool dude with new sunglasses!
Mom and Jordy!
Alex and Jordan had a ton of fun splashing and playing with Jordan's new water table from Gama and Papa!
He's two!!!!!!

One Thousand White Women

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One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

By Jim Fergus

One of my co-workers told me about this book.  Fergus says it is a semi-historical fiction book because lots of his ideas started from pieces of Cheyenne history but the main character and her journals are totally made up.  The journals tell the story of May Dodd, a woman who was put into an insane asylum by her wealthy family when she had two kids out of wedlock and went to live with her lover, whom the parents deemed not suitable for May.  After being in the insane asylum, May learns about a government program.  A group of Cheyenne made an underground deal with the President of the United States to trade 1000 horses for 1000 white women.  The President declines the offer but then secretly accepts the offer with the Cheyenne.  Where does he get the 1000 white women?  He finds women in insane asylums and jails who are willing to go live with the Cheyenne.  Pretty wild, huh?  I really enjoyed this book.  May Dodd and the other characters are great and I loved the exciting events at the end.  

The Book Whisperer

Most Recently Read Book:

The Book Whisperer

By Donalyn Miller

I can't remember how I heard of this book but doesn't it just sound entrancing?  I was so excited to pick it up from my library and I have been thinking about reading it every chance I get.  I love books that have you itching to get back to them when you are stuck doing something else.  This was such a book.  Now, I have to say, I'm a teacher, so that's probably why this was so intriguing to me, but I think as a parent it was worthwhile to read, too.  

I am a huge reader, for many reasons, but most recently because of a consultant who has worked with my school district since last school year.  He would come and start off a workshop telling us about what he was reading.  I would leave with a list of books I was dying to go home and read.  He instilled in me the idea that I should be reading juvenile/young adult fiction so that when I could talk to my students about what they are reading I can recommend books for them.  I knew what my students were reading, but I knew I could be reading more...so that's what I did.  I have focused on reading as much children's/young adult literature as I can.  I summarize/comment on the books on my blog to keep track of books I have read and I have a list of books that I read every month.  In 2008, I read 87 books and already in 2009 I have read 52 books.  Just like Miller says in The Book Whisperer I find time everywhere to read.  I listen to books on CD in my car and snatch up books any free moment...my husband complains that what I consider a "free moment" could also be considered "house cleaning moments" but I tend to disagree.

I love this book because she talks about how just getting kids to read and giving them time to read and being a book lover with them and role modeling reading can truly help kids.  It wasn't a short book but I read it easily and quickly because the writing is very readable and it all makes sense.  To me, anyway.  I was able to recognize the cool stuff I am doing with my students and I also got some new ideas for what I am definitely going to do with my students next year.  Now I'm just waiting for the library in my students' neighborhood to open from a year-long remodeling so I can get them in there and get them reading.  

Miller talks about building a classroom library.  I have a great collection of books, but I could definitely use more!  If anyone has any gently used books you want to send my way I would gladly accept them!   

My Girls

Had to post this picture of me and my girls!  I was so excited that April and Tom and Emily and Derek came to celebrate Jordan's birthday with us today.  We try to all get together every few months because we all live so far apart.  It makes me sad that my closest friends are so far away...but I love that when we do get to hang out we have as much fun as if we did see each other everyday!  

It's so much fun to laugh about fun memories and to be able to make new ones.  Jordan had a blast being the center of attention and gave out hugs to everyone.  Chad got to play Wii with someone other than me.  I got to go to Target and get Starbucks with Emily and April.  It was an awesome day.  Can't wait until we get together again!

April, Jen, and Emily

Birthday Party # 3 (???)

Today we had a friend party for Jordan's 2nd birthday.  I guess you could say this is his 3rd birthday party if you count our little mini-family party on his actual birthday, and then his party at Patty's house yesterday.  This weekend is full of birthday celebrations!  Our friends the Miller's and the Lanzara's came to play for the day.  We had cheesecake today since it was all adults and Jordan!  

Yesterday at Patty's house Jordan got one candle blown out and then couldn't get the other one out!  Today he did great!

I wasn't sure if Jordan was going to like the cheesecake...and he didn't!  He basically gagged on it and spit it out.  He did give it another try but then was sure he definitely didn't like it.  He did, however, LOVE the whip cream and had quite a few servings of that!

After cake, Jordan opened his presents!  He was so excited to open them!
He was so cute sitting contentedly playing with his new Magna Doodle.  What a great day!  

Jordan's Party at Patty's

On Friday, Chad and I went to Patty's in the afternoon to have a birthday snack with Jordan and his friends.  We all ate scrumptious ice cream sundaes with chocolate syrup, strawberries, whip cream and sprinkles!

Jordan was preparing himself to blow out his candles!
Yum!  Jordan couldn't get enough sprinkles!

Spring is in Bloom!

This week Gama, Mamita, and Guise came over to play with Jordan.  We had fun walking around outside and took some pretty pictures with one of the trees in our backyard!

La mamita!
Mamita, Jordan, and Gama
Gama, Mamita, and Guise
This 

Jordan's 2nd Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jordan!!!!  Jordan's 2nd birthday was on the 10th.  I can't believe he is already two!  We are celebrating his birthday this weekend, but on his actual birthday last weekend Chad and I gave him presents from us.  He was excited to open presents! 

My sweet little honey bunches of oats!  I actually got him to a) look at the camera and b) smile!
He had fun tearing into the presents!
Fun!  He got his own Mickey Mouse digital camera!
Cool!
He also got an Elmo computer game that lets him practice using the keyboard and the mouse!  

Jacquie Graduates!!!

The NIU graduation ceremony was nice...it was fairly short and sweet.  I have to admit I played some games on my iPod while they were calling names...and my cousin was reading our book club book.  Is that bad?  It's not like half of the graduates were texting the whole time!

Jacquie and Joe
The family!  Me, my mom, Jacquie, and my dad.
Congratulations, Jacquie!
Woo hoo!  You did it!

Senior Crawl

I am a little behind in my blogging!  Last weekend we went to DeKalb to celebrate Jacquie's graduation from NIU!  Friday night (after our crazy Danny Gokey day) we went drove to DeKalb.  Chad and I went out to Fatty's with Jacquie and her boyfriend, Joe.  

Joe and Jacquie


Chad and me


Jacquie and me

The soon-to-be graduate!

So B. It

Most Recently Read Book:

So B. It

By Sarah Weeks

This book is about a girl whose mother is mentally disabled which means she doesn't really know who she is.  Heidi is twelve but doesn't know anything about her mother or where she is from or who her grandparents are.  One day she gets a clue to her mystery when she develops a roll of film that she found in the back of her mother's closet.  The clue takes her all the way across the country in search of who she is.  Overall, liked it.  

Milkweed

Most Recently Read Book:

Milkweed

By Jerry Spinelli

Who doesn't love Jerry Spinelli?  I read Maniac Magee in middle school and loved it.  I will never forget that book.  Stargirl and Love, Stargirl...loved them.  Next on the list, Milkweed.  This book is about an orphan boy growing up in Poland during WWII.  The poor boy is just trying to take care of himself and the people who are important to him.  I can't tell you much more because then I would be giving it away.  I would definitely add this to my extensive list of WWII reading.  

Danny Gokey Video

Here is my little video montage of Danny Gokey on Friday.  I have been searching for any footage from the AT&T store but nothing comes up.  The Fox 6 News website from Milwaukee has tons of footage of everywhere that Danny went on Friday EXCEPT for the AT&T store!  It doesn't make any sense.  I'm really hoping that means American Idol will use some of that footage, but I'm not sure.  

He really was there for a short time and didn't say much, he didn't sing either.  He talked about his voice and asked everyone to go to his concert.  He would stop and sign autographs and then would get sucked into doing that before he would talk again!  His grandmother was there with a sign that had a picture of him with his wife that he went over to look at...that's what he says is beautiful.  At the end, he actually comes over to us and we were trying to get him to sign an autograph...if you listen, you can hear Chad begging him for an autograph.  In the end, we got a signed professional picture signed!!!! 

GOKEY!!!!!!!

Here are a few pics for now!  Danny is wearing the plaid shirt!

We got to shake his hand!!
Autographed pictures!!!!!!

A Visit With The Cousins!

Yesterday, my brother came to visit with my nephews so we went over to my parents house to hang out with them!  It was a fun middle-of-the-week thing to do!  The boys gave Jordan his birthday gifts, which he loved and played with all night!  We ate pizza, played soccer outside, and played some Nintendo even!   

Jordan was excited to get two trucks and a fire truck that makes noise and lights up!

Here's a close up of his fire truck!
He played with them on the table, on the floor, outside, in the basement!  He took them everywhere with him all night!



We brought Wyatt and Sawyer their party favors because they won't be able to come to Jordan's party next week.  Wyatt blew up the monkey almost all by himself!
Sawyer was having fun playing with Papa's Thomas trains!  He did a good job of keeping them all on the tracks!

Eric and me

Sawyer and me

Wyatt and Papa

Chad with Sawyer, Jordan, and Wyatt

The Book of Dahlia

Most Recently Read Book:

The Book of Dahlia

By Elisa Albert

This is our book club book for the month...that I finished two weeks early!  Woo hoo!  It was a pretty easy read because the voice of the main character, who narrates the book, is very much like a real person talking.  The girl is young, in her 20's and basically tells it is about her life, in the present, and in the past, in terms of how she is dealing with finding out that she has a brain tumor.  The jacket says it's a book that has you laughing even though it's about cancer the whole time.  I have to say I really did like this book, I can't say it's a favorite or that you have to have to have to go out and read it, but I did like it.  It ended unexpectedly for me, but I think that made the message of the book stronger.  I'm excited to talk about it at book club!

Give a Boy a Gun

Most Recently Read Book:

Give a Boy a Gun

By Todd Strasser

This book is a fictional story told through the perspective of multiple people involved a high school shooting.  We read The Hour I First Believed not too long ago for book club, and that book is partially about the Columbine shooting.  I think Give a Boy a Gun would be good for teen to read in order to think about why school shootings have taken place and to foster discussions about how to prevent them in the future.  I like that there are so many different accounts from so many different people all involved in different ways, but I also feel that because of that it was a little hard to follow.  If there was a narrator then it would be easier for the author to kind of sum up exactly what happened and to come to some conclusions, but instead the reader has to figure it all out.  I, personally, feel that it would be more compelling if it was a true story, but it's not.  Like I said, it's a good starting point for discussions or further study of school shootings.  

Chocolate Fest

Saturday night I realized it was the Long Grove Chocolate Fest this weekend so we took Jordan early on Sunday morning.  It was the best time to go.  We didn't have too much of a problem getting a parking place and it was pretty calm until about 12:00 when we left.  Jordan likes all the fun kiddie games.  They were exactly his size!  It was perfect!   He rode the train by himself.  It was so cute to see him in there, but I felt bad that he was by himself.  Next time, we'll have to plan to go with friends.  It's kind of hard to see his little face, but it's there. 

Jordan on the carousel!  He's too little still for the horse that goes up and down so this was kind of boring.  He wanted to get off but we made him stay on for the entire ride.  
This he LOVED!  I have never seen anything like it.  It was a big blow up thing and inside there were balloons being blown all over the place.  He thought it was fun and was screaming with laughter!
After the games, we found a cool art studio for kids.  Jordan colored a wooden snake with markers...
...for a little bit at least, and then Chad took over.  We paid $5 for the art project.  Normally, it would have been $10.  I don't think I could have paid $10...I almost felt like $5 was a lot!
We walked around through some stores and then ate lunch at Timmy's, which is a sandwich shop.  On the way out, Jordan took a picture with their moose.  He wasn't shy at all.  He walked right up to him and gave him a big hug, posed for a picture (kind of), and gave him a big high five!
Before we left, Jordan went on this inflatable slide.  I wasn't sure he was going to be able to climb up it, but we have been going to lots of parks lately and he's been climbing a lot.  He had no problem!  It was so cute!  I didn't do any fun editing to this video, but it's cute the way it is.  Watch 'til the end...Jordan gets up but then totally face plants.  Am I  bad mom for laughing at that?  It was just so cute!

Basketball and Pizza!

Well, unfortunately, I'm writing this AFTER the Bulls game...that we lost if you don't know already.  If you weren't watching, then you probably don't care that I just ruined it for you if you didn't know.  Anyway, we went on a nice long family walk after Jordan woke up from his nap and then came home to make pizza together.    

We bought the pizza dough, it was kind of like a Boboli...but not.  First, we brushed some garlic olive oil on the dough.  

We spread the tomato sauce and the cheese!
And then we added our toppings.  Half of the pizza was pepperoni, green peppers, and onion.  One quarter was pepperoni and jalapeno pepers.  The last quarter was ham and pineapple.  

Yum!!!!

It was a great night until the Bulls played...and lost!!!!!!!!

Little Brother

Most Recently Read Book:

Little Brother 

By Cory Doctorow

Honestly, I'm torn on whether I liked and would recommend this book!  This book is about a 17-year-old computer hacker who lives in San Francisco when it gets bombed by terrorists.  He gets arrested after the bombing and held captive and tortured because they think he somehow had something to do with the bombing.  After being released, he leads a computerized attack on the Department of Homeland Security that basically takes over San Francisco.  I listened to this book and I really think I would have liked it better had I read it.  There was lots of computer talk...and the author actually did a good job of explaining all the computer talk, but because he had to stop and explain it I think it kind of took away from the plot of the book.  It definitely had me thinking, which is a good thing.  I recommended it to some more computer-focused people to see what they think of it, just because I feel like I'm an outsider trying to judge a book I know nothing about.  One thing that really bothered me is that they never explain who exactly did bomb the city...I wish the author would have clarified that.  I think this book would be a good read for anyone who is into computers or even gaming.  

Walks

We have been taking lots of walks lately around our neighborhood!  Tonight Jordan and I played a little in our backyard and then walked down the street a little bit.  

Here are our lovely tulips in our back yard.  Tulips are my favorite favorite favorite flower!  I love that we have them at our house and they just come up without us having do to anything!!!

Jordan found a long stick that he wanted to give me.  I have a feeling this year I'm really going to see what it's like to have a boy versus a girl because he is already interested in everything he sees.  He likes sticks and rocks...and especially worms!  Yuck!  I try to refrain myself from yelling at him not to touch them, I think it's a good thing that he isn't afraid to pick them up, but it just goes against my nature to do it myself!
He had to go back in the house and all the way upstairs to get his ladybug to take on our walk with us.  He was hopping it down the sidewalk saying, "ribbit, ribbit, ribbit!"On our walk we saw these cute ducks!  This pair has actually been living in our neighborhood for at least two years now because I remember seeing them when Jordan was first born.  They are so cute.  They always hang out together and in this same grassy area between houses.  I love ducks.  Jordan and I were talking about how they waddle.  We also saw a squirrel, two dogs, and a lady exercising.  We stood next to the sidewalk and clapped as the lady who was power-walking walked by.  Jordan gave her a high five and I said, "Good job exercising!"  The lady was excited that we were cheering her on.  (Secretly, I hope it made her day a little better.  I remember when I used to run and my parents would come cheer me on, it's just that much more rewarding and worth it when others recognize that you are doing something good for you.  But I digress!)
Here are my toes after running around in the slushy, muddy grass.  They aren't actually that dirty...but dirty enough for me.  Jordan said, "Oh man, your toes are muddy!"
And here is where our walk was taking us.  This whole week the highlight of our walks has been to go see Jordan's truck.  This is his truck.  All the roofs are being redone in our subdivision so this big truck has been parked so far in two different spots in the neighborhood.  I was sad when I thought it was gone but then we found it around the corner.  Jordan loves this thing!  He calls it his truck.  
He loves it so much he had no problem letting me take a picture with his truck!  Of course, he had his eehee with him on the walk, too!