Book Review

So, a friend of mine started this crazy notion of putting up on her blog, a list of 100 best books to read. Then one by one, many other bloggers started to do the same. I am embarrased to put up the list, because mine is not quite as "read" as the others. Being a student, I have enough to read to broaden my knowledge horizons. Once I have degree in hand, I look forward to devouring the list, as well as adding many books to it....until then, I will share with you what I do happen to get read.

Mitch Albom's "The Five People you Meet in Heaven" is a book for those who want to read something quickly. It is short and sweet and of all the books I've read, it is the first to bring tears to my eyes. Sadly to say, I can cry with the best of them at a movie, but for some reason books do not have the same effect on me.

It follows the death first and then flashes back on the life of a simple old man named Edward. In heaven, he gets the opportunity to meet five people that have been a part of his life, and explain to him what his life meant. The author's creative imagination of what heaven is like is heartwarming and comforting; not flashy and "expensive" like some of us might think. It is sweet and innocent.

I liked this book. I wouldn't consider it a "classic" by any means but I also was not dissapointed by spending time reading it. It was nice. I hope you like it too!!

It's Pajama Time!!

One of "The Crew's" favorite books is "Pajama Time" written by Sandra Boynton. They love the colorfull illustration and the funny, dancing characters. I love reading all of Boynton's books to them. She is incredibly creative and, at times, I find myself having a chuckle along with "The Crew".
In our house, however, "Pajama time" takes on a different meaning completely. Pajama time is the time of the day when Lucas decides to take on a completely different persona and make 20 minutes of the day.....Hair pulling, CRAZY!!
Each night at 7:00 we begin our bedtime ritual. I give the girls a bath while Mario gives Michael a shower. Michael gets dressed for bed while Mario dries the girls hair and I start Lucas' bath. Once Lucas is finished we start to get his pajamas on..."What's so crazy about this", you ask? Well, Lucas goes through the painstaking process of choosing the perfect bedtime attire. Footed pj's?...um no!! Green flannel bottoms? Yes! (Ok, one down) Grey shirt or fire engine henley? Fire engine..Ok, not so bad. "Wait Mom...Now I want my Blue pj pants." Ok, you got it. "Mooommmmmyyyy...this shirt has a tag, rip it out...hurry, hurry, hurry!! "Tag's gone, lets get on our socks!" "Mommy, where are my basketball pj's?" "They're in the laundry Lucas."
-Meltdown of epic proportions ensues......."Lucas, you can wear those tomorrow. It will give mommy a chance to wash them." *sniff, sniff* "Okay". Socks are finally on the feet, Lucas is just about to make it to storytime with Daddy when...."I want my grey shirt instead, mommy."
ARGGG......At what age to boys just start sleeping in their clothes?? Oh well, a day in the life....

Wedding Bells

We had a wedding in the family this past weekend. My mom got re-married and had a big ceremony and reception celebration of which we all were a part. A small part because, as in all weddings, the kids stole the show. I was unable to snap a ton of pictures on my own because of the professional photographer, but here are a couple of the kids I could get.Marissa(L) and Francesca(R) ...."Mom, take these flower things off our heads...we can't boogie well with them bopping in our faces"
Michael and Lucas; permanant fixtures to the dance floor. Boy, did they crash when we got home!!
These two kept dragging each other to go dance. I might need to put in a dance floor in our rec room. They had a blast.
Here are the "cheese faces"...only allowed after the professional was done snapping pic's. Cutie pies!!
A little blurry, but what angelic faces...Can't wait to see how the other pic's turn out. :)

Blog Worthy?

So you may be wondering why all of my blogs up to this point do not have a title. I will dispense that information if you all promise NOT to laugh. (whispering)....I just figured out how to get the title line to show up!! Sad, sad...I know. Am I still worthy to blog???

Wanna hear something bad...Right now, at this very moment, I am in Spanish class in the language lab. I minimized the screen I am supposed to be watching and decided to post a blog instead. Sadly, I am already ready for summer break. It is too soon to feel this way... Well, mi profesora esta aqui. Adios!

Well, this lovely weather has given the kids one more activity to pursue after dinner....playing out in the snow!! I love watching them interact with the elements and each other. It makes me think of when I was a kid and we would get large amounts of snow. Doug (the sibling) and I would build tunnel forts in the high piles of snow that accumulated on the parkway, either from the plows or from my dad's shoveling. One time, we tunneled to the next houses' parkway area. We were very psyched!! Ahh...memories.
Tonight, there is just enough snow for them to throw snowballs and do snow angels. Poor M had to be out plowing but here is a preview of what I got to witness.
"The Crew" attacking each other with as much snow as they could get their little hands on!

"I think I'll take a little rest"
"Hee, Hee, Mommy, why are you taking pictures?"
"I AM COOOOLD!!"

"Hey Mom, Isn't this great?" "Giggle, Giggle"

Francesca is incredibly proud of her large snowball!! "Look Mommy!!"

So for those of you southerners that frequent the blog.....it is snowing up here. Crazy, crazy weather!! I was about to start complaining when I woke up this morning to cloudy, grey skies and cold, wet weather but then a thought occurred to me. Snowy weather causes salt trucks to grace our city streets, salt trucks dump hoards of car dirty-ing matter that jump onto cars across the city, the salt dries and ~voila~ cars need a CAR WASH!!
No... I am not secretly obsessed with car washes. For those who may not know, M and I opened a car wash recently. We've been rather depressed since the snow is gone and has left us with rather cloudy weather, so this snow fall is rather exciting for us. Hoping to scrounge up some business :)
This weather did, however, make me miss my after-dinner walk sans kids...so hopefully I can muster up enough self-motivation to hit the treadmill before bed (unlikely). Oh well, tomorrow...