There's a Book Feature

I have a huge smile plastered on my face this morning. I woke up easily, the alarm wasn't that annoying this morning, I found a fun outfit for today, I came downstairs to check my e-mail and remembered I'm being featured this week on over at There's a Book!!!!! What a great day! I am so excited because I have never been featured before. I love sharing my blog and am so happy Danielle is posting about my blog and one of my favorite books/series when I was a kid in her When I Was Young series.. Here's the link to check it out!!!!

There's a Book

I actually found There's a Book though Twitter. I started following her on Twitter and then made my way to her blog. I love her energy and her excitement about books. She's got too kiddos and, get this, her (current) favorite books are The Maze Runner and Catching Fire! Those are two of the best books I have read this year. If you haven't read them, add them to your list...and make sure you check out There's a Book, too!!!

Also, welcome to any new readers of my blog!!!

Random Update!!!

I just uploaded pictures onto my laptop and realized I have lots of random pictures to post!

Here's Jordan dying eggs last week!

He was completely rapt!
Mom and Jordan - with our painted t-shirts!!!
This week, one of my schools invited me to a shower they held for all the girls who are pregnant there! There are 5 of us all together. It was so sweet of them to include me. Here are the diaper cakes I got to take home. I was sniffing the diapers...the Pampers ones smell soooooo good. I can't wait for this new little baby to come!
Aren't they pretty? I loved the colors and I loved the ribbon...and oh, the smell of Pampers Swaddlers!
This weekend we drove out to Rockford. We took Jordan to the Discovery Center, which is a children's museum. We spent a lot of time outside at this awesome, humungous playground!
Chad and Jordan explored the whole playground!
Jordan got to go to dinner with Grandma Sue and Bubba last night while Chad and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert. This is the second time we've seen her this year. I was excited to go to the concert, but once we were there it wasn't all the great to me. Don't get me wrong, she's awesome, but it didn't have me up and dancing and singing along and having a great time. A lot of her songs were actually slow and we sat for a lot of it. She did put on a cool show though. This was when she hopped onto a truck that floated around the stadium so she was actually pretty close to us. It kind of had me feeling like she was on the parade at The Rio in Las Vegas where they're up in the air dancing and throwing beads...so it didn't work for me all that much. Now, Craig Morgan opened for her and he was awesome. I thought he was fun and I only know a few of his songs. He had tons of energy. The bay loved him and was kicking up the craziest storm the whole time he was on stage singing!
This morning we ate a great breakfast here at the hotel and then Jordan and Chad played in the mini water park they have here. Jordan loved swimming around. It has been a great weekend for us, it's like a vacation. It just feels so relaxing to be away from home and to not have a schedule, even if it's only one night.
That's my week in review update!!!!

Journey of the Sparrow

Most Recently Read Book:

Journey of the Sparrows

By Fran Leeper Buss with Daisy Cubias

One of my students is reading this with her class so I decided to read it to so I can talk to her about it. It's about a girl and her siblings who cross the border to live in Chicago. They are escaping turmoil in El Salvador. I've read a couple of books this school year about crossing the border. This wouldn't be my favorite, although I do like that it's told from a girl's perspective and I think it appeals a little more to girls than the others I have read.

My one complaint about this book is how much time the author spends building the story of their travels and their lives in Chicago...but then the end of the book all of a sudden speeds up like she realized she just wanted to end the story and get it over with. It loses it's charm and strength of message for me at the end.

Always Looking Up

Most Recently Read Book:

Always Looking Up

By Michel J. Fox

I have a soft spot in my heart for the movie Back to the Future, and therefore, for Michael J. Fox. I was excited to hear about his life since he's not really on TV or in movies any more (at least not ones that I've seen...). It was really interesting to read about the most recent 10 years of his life as he deals with Parkinson's disease. It took me a little time to get used to listening to him read the book aloud, but after the first CD I was used to his style. I like how he talked about his life and how there are tidbits from movies and TV. I didn't know at all that he grew up in Canada as an army brat.

I can't not write this post and not say that in a tiny way it reminded me of Wicked by Kristin Chenowith. There was just a little confusion for me when it came to the timeline. There were times when I had to think about where he was chronologically because he wrote the chapters more along themes in his life versus in order. But this book was easier to follow than Wicked if you ask me.

Adam Canfield of the Slash

Most Recently Read Book:

Adami Canfield of The Slash

By Mike Winerip

After reading Cover Up by John Feinstein recently, it took me a little time to get used to the different style of this book that was also about kid journalists. Adam Canfield is a start reporter for his school newspaper The Slash. One thing that bothered me was that this is the first book in this series but Adam Canfield has already written some great stories the year before this book takes place but we don't get to read about them. The other thing that bothered me was that the adults are so goofy in this book, but in the end they were fun. It reminds me of Series of Unfortunate Events in a way because the villians are so goofy...and, like Unfortunate Events, I think they'll be back in later books in the series. I'm not too interested in reading the following books in the series but it was a fun book, maybe a little hard to understand all the little tidbits thrown in, but fun.