sum - sum - summer - summer - time!

So, happy summer to everyone! How's it going so far? For some of us, school is still going on. My kids got out last week. Technically I was done May 11th, but Chemistry 130 has me busy busy busy! In fact, I'm a bit ahead of schedule and hope to take my mid-term later this week or early next week. It's not hard, but with the abbreviated schedule, I have four things due each week, so I'm definitely cramming it in.

Really nothing else going on. We have the usual plans of eating brekky and lunch at the school starting in June, the summer movies started today ($5 for 10 kids' movies, can't really beat that), and doing lots of reading (currently "Discovery of Witches", loving that!) while laying out on the trampoline in my new zebra-striped bikini. No joke. I bought a bikini. But I only wear it at home for sunning purposes. Way too much skin for the public eye, lol!

Dan's taking his Anatomy & Physiology II final today and he will be so happy to be done with that class. He's taking Chemistry with me, but I'm afraid it's taken a back-seat to A&P. He's been working lots but making his days home with us really count. We went on an awesome date last Friday to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides"...of course I loved it! I liked the addition of the new characters and the mermaids. They were really well done. Afterwards we went to one of my favorite places, Red Robin--because the next day I started the HCG diet again. Gotta get off what I gained stress-eating this semester! Ha!

My boys have already been busy with friends and late-overs, the ever-obsession with video games, and pestering me for a chance on the computer. (Sorry kiddo, Mom has homework) Cameron's been reading approximately a book a day and Sean's looking forward to a week stay with my parents early June. He's also been busy with lots of fun scouting activities, boating, camping, hiking, and more. His Boy Scout leader is awesome!

We have plans to go camping this weekend (and Father's Day weekend with friends, yay!) and one trip to Cali planned over the 4th weekend, but other than that we're stickin' close to home. Summer classes don't allow for a lot of breaks--though I'd not-so-secretly love to take the family to Disneyland for a few days. That just isn't in the cards this year. Nor the next. Nor likely the next!

Dan and I are also going to see "Les Miserable" in June. Super excited for that! I haven't seen that one since college way back in the day. I love the story of that one. We got the annual passes for the water park again, so we've already used that just about every weekend it's been open. It's a nice little getaway, and whether we stay 2 hours or 5, it doesn't matter having the season passes.

So, I guess we'll stay busy this summer! :) How about you?

boy scout progression court of honor

These aren't the best pictures because the primary room of the church is hardly conducive to good picture taking; lighting stinks, the room is crowded, hubby is taking the pics, etc.  But here is Sean earning his Tenderfoot placement (badge?  award?  advancement?).  He is really close to the next two advancements as well and should be close to a Life by the time he turns 12, which is pretty awesome if you're familiar with the Boy Scout program at all. 

 

The boys always pin the moms as well when they advance.  Though I don't feel like I've done much to deserve a pinning!  Boy Scouts is so different from Cub Scouts; I still haven't really found my groove.  And on that note, Cam's been a Bear for almost 2 months now and we've yet to do one thing in his book yet!  School is just dominating, I tell you.  And now with Chemistry and the Lab (and Dan is in his last week of Anatomy & Physiology class!) we're still pretty swamped.

No excuse, we'll keep workin' with them.

In the mean time, I'm very proud of Sean for his accomplishments!

alice in wonderland play

Sean was so very excited to get a part in this year's Drama Club play, "Alice in Wonderland, Junior."  He played the caterpillar.  :)  The Drama Club was gifted a large chunk of money from the PTO for costumes, so it seemed like quite a step up from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" last year.

We went both nights to see his performance, and though the actual video is better on the first night, the second night he was more comfortable, showed more personality, and got a lot more laughs.  So I'm going to include that one below.

The main Alice actress (there were 3 Alices for the different sizes as she eats-this and grows and then eats-that and shrinks) is a good friend of Sean's and actually sent him the cutest love letter a few weeks ago (through a friend of course, nothing was said or delivered in person!) and I would so love to share that note here because it was the most adorable thing ever, but to protect Alice's privacy, I'll keep that offline.  But if you come over I'll totally show it to you.  :)

Though nothing came of that of course because 1) Sean is eleven and 2) they decided they'd be better off as friends.  It did however give Sean a huge ego boost and he was on cloud nine all night after reading it.

Sets and props designed by my friend Laurie.  :)

Here's Caterpillar after his transformation.  Dear Future 17 Year Old Sean, About To Go To The Prom:  You hated this cumberbund.  Hated.  But you looked cute in it.  Love, Mom.

See?  Cute costumes!

 

My favorite parts are between 1:25 and 1:40.  :)

rollin' in the church parking lot

It's the best place because it's a generally safe place to ride around and there are no sidewalk cracks.

 

Here's Ethan on his new roller skates, using his new walker.   Hopefully he won't need it too long, but it's pretty neat!

      

ethan's birthday

Well  another birthday came and went in April, little Ethan-Bug turned 7.  We had a great day with him ditching school for breakfast and a movie.  Here's his wild hair that morning.  (I just recently got around to cutting shaving  it.  He now looks like Charlie Brown.  *smile*)

The movie was OK.  Nothing spectacular about this one except the use of color which was pretty cool.  And then when we watched the Rio episode of "The Amazing Race" we realized how dead on the writers and illustrators really were.  Carnival is crazy down there with all the dancing and music and outfits and colors.  This movie really does that justice.

  We bought a full sized popcorn and drink for the first time in like forever and believe me it WILL be the last.  $7.50 for a Large Popcorn.  Did you know this?  (I'm one of those cheapos who smuggles in my own treats to the movies usually)  While we were standing slack-jawed staring at concession stand prices, we also learned that a full-priced adult movie, err, ticket, is now $10.75 at our theatre.  INSANE.  I'll stick to my $1 redbox movies and freebies at the library!

But hey, this is a birthday so it was special.  :)

    

  Onto the party!  Again, didn't plan much -- didn't plan anything, really -- but did put together these fun party favors for the guests.

With a yummy treat and racecar tied to the bottom.

 

This is the infamous DS game that he snuck from under the tree and opened a week before Christmas.  And played with.  And subsequently lost.

Ironically, Cameron had done laundry the day before E's party, hadn't checked any pockets, and washed Ethan's DS.  It's toast.  Anyone know how to fix a water-damaged Nintendo DS?  (This story reminds me of The Gift of the Magi.  Lol)

 

Ethan asked for roller skates and the "walker that you get at Great Skate".  I was laughing with Chris about this and she says "James can make him one."

And so he did.  Is this fun or what?  Just to use while practicing until he gets his balance.  (Pictures of that to come!)

 

My favorite part, the cake!

This was a pretty easy one, but I thought it turned out so stinkin' cute.

And Ethan was thrilled with his big day!  Love you Buddy!

book butterfly reviews -- april

I just realized I never posted one of these for last month!  I'm actually amazed that I was able to get through three whole books with everything else going on, tearing my hair out at clinicals and school, (writing out careplans has got to be one of the most tedious and time-consuming tasks in existence) and still semi-participating in my children's lives.  Time-Suck is a real thing.  It's in the Bible.  Look it up.

"Magic Study" (Study #2) by Maria K. Snyder

After, I don't know, a year since I read Book One in this series (Poison Study, LOVE it!), I was excited to get back into this story. 

I liked it...not near as much as Poison Study, but it was a good imaginative story. As Yelena learns about her magic, I found it slightly too convenient that she was able to make up and do things without even knowing she could just exactly at the right time. *shrug* And personally I found the whole magic blanket/string analogy tedious, but that's just me.

Like many, I never knew who to trust. I was insistent that one character was going to end up double crossing her, but it never happened. And then of course the big crossover for the bad guy(s) at the end. The plot definitely kept me guessing!

I don't really understand the whole reason for the He/She character. I just don't get the point of having him/her in the story at all. Perhaps it's been too long since I read Book 1. I do love Ari and Janco though, they add a lot of fun and lightheartedness to the story.

 

"Caleb's Crossing" by Geraldine Brooks

{foreword: long review because I'm actually getting paid for this one on another site}

I didn't completely love it, and I'll tell you why: it simply didn't go the way I wanted nor expected it would go. I made some assumptions early on and when those never came to fruition, I was disappointed. Be advised this review will have mild spoilers.

"Caleb's Crossing" is told from the perspective of Bethia, a teenage Puritan who by chance meets Caleb, a Native American of her same age in the mid 1600's. She is the daughter of a Christian minister, he the nephew of a tribal chief. Their friendship must remain secret until he goes on a quest to become a man, so to speak.and then, it pretty much fizzles out.

Bethia believes that everything wrong she ever encounters or suffers from in life stems from her transgression of the unapproved earlier friendship with Caleb. Even so, as he is slowly allowed to take on instruction and eventually go to Cambridge and Harvard, she watches out for him and does anything she can to assist him.

The story of his endurance and eventual graduation is very inspiring. However, I was really hoping their friendship would regain its momentum and become more of a plot line in the book. I realize this is based loosely on a true character in Caleb, and that Bethia is complete fiction, but when it became apparent that her main contribution to his life was the introduction to the crossover to English and school and Christianity only to pretty much part ways, well, I was disappointed.

Neither did I completely believe the relationship with Samuel and in fact, was not pulling for him to win her affections. She refuses him, he chases her, grabs her roughly by the hair and forces himself onto her and--what? She's in love/lust with him all of a sudden?

Having said that, the language and writing are otherwise beautiful in this book-- very pleasant to read. Brooks has a wonderful way with words and I really enjoyed her writing style. Bethia is a strong character whom I really believed. I hated seeing her curiosity stifled, I hated her guilt when she blamed herself for tragedies, and I cheered for her when she was able to somewhat audit the Harvard classes by way of her job in the buttery.

The resolution is not a happy one, but it follows Caleb's true history. In the end, I would have liked to learn more about him, more about his motivation for higher learning, more about what he thought of Bethia. In truth, right up to the end, I was still hoping for him to profess his undying love and devotion to her--even if they just shared a moment such as:

"I want..."
"But we can't..."
"How will I go on...?"
"Yet you must!"

Not so much. Thus, the ending left me feeling kind of flat.

 

"The Dead Don't Dance" by Charles Martin

I was very excited to read this after LOVING "When Crickets Cry" by the same author. This is another beautifully written story, about Dylan whose newborn baby died in childbirth and whose wife has been in a coma ever since.

The symbolism and description is so well done. Like "Crickets" there are a couple of "HOLY COW" chapters that left me literally near-breathless. Martin is a fabulous writer. Though I didn't enjoy this as much, it's really well done and I look forward to starting the follow-up sequel.

What have you been reading?  Actually, no.  Don't share with me.  I currently have 259 books on my To Read list.  I may get through those by the year 2020.