Peaches

Most Recently Read Book:

Peaches

By Jodi Lynn Anderson

This book is about three unlikely friends who actually become the best of friends while working at a peach orchard in Georgia. It seemed like it took a really long time for these girls to actually get together and for anything climactic to actually happen in the book. And then when it did get interesting, it wasn't all that interesting. I like the girls' friendship though and how they become loyal to each other. I know there is a sequel where the girls go off to college, maybe that would be better now that their friendship is all set up and we don't have to read so much about that. I did like the author's descrptions and can't hardly wait any longer for summer to get here. It's on it's way!

Everything On A Waffle

Most Recently Read Book:

Everything On A Waffle

By Polly Horvath

This was a very cute book about a young girl named Primrose whose parents are lost at sea during a storm. She feels in her heart that they are still alive and knows they will come home, but in the meantime she meets and spends time with various people who try to help her. My favorite parts are the ends of the chapters where there is a new recipe. It makes me feel like I could cook any of the recipes she gives in the book easily just because of the way she presents them. They aren't like a normal recipe with exact measurements, it's more like a friend telling you how to make an old family recipe. I think this book would be very fun to read a chapter a day and make the recipe she suggests. It had my mouth watering for waffles!!

Our Cute Little Squeaky

It's good to be home again with our drooly Squeak Martin. We bought a roasted turkey at Target today and he just gobbled it up for dinner (pun definitely intended). He also had some Yo Baby! yogurt, which Chad sampled and said tastes really good. The cutest part though, after he had been eating for a while he started twisting his little hands to say, "All Done!" Chad and I started doing it and saying, "All Done!" and he was so happy. We are convinced he totally has figured out to tell us he is all done. He hasn't done it for Patty, our babysitter, yet. I think he's catching on, though. He has his sleepy sign mastered. When Jordan is tired, he will put his right thumb in his mouth, and at the same time use his right hand to pull his little left hand into his sleeve. It's adorable. As soon as we see that, it's upstairs, read a book, lights out, kiss, two seconds of rocking and down to sleep. It's a beautiful thing.

The Thief Lord

Most Recently Read Book:

The Thief Lord

By Cornelia Funke

I just finished listening to The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke in the car today. I love when you don't quite expect books to be all that good, but then they surprise you. Something about the cover intrigued me, but I wasn't really overly excited to start this book. It is a story of a group of orphans who live in Venice. Their leader, the Thief Lord, steals objects that they, in turn, sell to a shopkeeper in order to make money to live off of. Everything seems to be going well until Prosper and Bo's aunt comes looking for them. She hires a detective to track them down. In the meantime, the Thief Lord is commissioned by a strange old man to steal a wooden wing from a woman's house. The wooden wing belongs to a winged-lion from a famous merry-go-round. There are lots of secrets that are revealed along the way. My favorite part was reading about and remembering the streets, bridges, and canals of Venice. Overall, two thumbs up.

We're Off To See The Millers!

...the wonderful Millers of Bloomington-Normal!

Knowing Jordan was safely in the hands of Grandma and Papa Jack, we headed off to visit our friends Emily and Derek Miller. Emily was one of our roommates in college. Her and Derek just got married last July. First, we drove to pick up our friends, April and Tom, and from there we all drove together down to Emily and Derek's. It was a nice, short road trip but we still felt like we were far away from home.

We headed straight to Emily and Derek's house where we were greeted by their dog Millie...who's picture I didn't take! Wait, I do think I have one picture of Millie. We got a tour of their new house (they moved in in December). My favorite room was the book nook. It was so cute and cozy. There was an oversized armchair and ottoman and two windows. Perfect for snuggling up to read.

For lunch we had chili and a yummy cake for dessert. After that the girls wanted to find some boutiques downtown. We wandered a little through the shops and then made earrings at a bead store. The boys hung out at a bar while we designed earrings for ourselves. It sounds easy, but it does actually take some time to come up with just the right beads. Next, we ate dinner at an Irish bar called Maggie Miley's, on the Victorian side, if you were wondering. Who knew leek and potato soup could be so good?

After a quick stop to relieve Millie, we were off to watch the Bloomington Prairie Thunder hockey game. We took our picture with the mascot, Chip, who April seemed to take a liking to. We saw the world's most flexible man wiggle his way through a tennis racket. We got our weeble wobbles signed by random-hockey-player, Parsons, although Emily doesn't quite remember. We tried to throw our pucks into the sunroof of a car to win it...but we didn't make it. We tried to win the 50-50 raffle...and Tom really did!!! That was highlight of the night. He went home $119 richer!

Sounds like a busy day, but the night was still young. Back at Emily and Derek's we played Kemps, a card game. We played 3 games to 5 and each couple one one game. I really do think luck is a huge part of the game, but there is a strategic side as well. We had fun trying to signal our partners when we collected four of a kind.

Finally, it was time for bed, we all retired to our respective sleeping areas. For some reason I was up at 7:30. What to do when you are the only one awake at 7:30 in the morning? Read in the book nook, of course!

When everyone else woke up we made a killer breakfast of waffles, bacon, eggs, and toast. In honor of the book I am currently reading, Everything on a Waffle, by Polly Horvath, April and I piled our breakfast onto our waffles. It was very tasty.

Before we left, we played one more card game: Mow. I learned Mow in high school at camp. It is such a wild but fun game. Basically, you can't know the rules when you start. The Mow starts by saying, "Play goes to the left of the dealer. John, Paul, George, Ringo. The game is Mow, it's starting now." And then everyone has to play and figure out the rules as you go along. There are tons of variations to the game, but that is how I know to start it. We just played with basic rules but it was fun.

Then we were off. Back on the road we played "Name That Tune" with Chad's iPod. Overall, it was a great weekend. We took lots of pictures so I could post them on my blog. I chose the most blog-worthy pictures for this post, but I am going to hopefully figure out how to make a slideshow. I can't seem to figure it out...check back later!