Book Review??

I just finished James Patterson's "Sundays at Tiffany's" on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I finished it at 1:30am on Sunday morning, and stayed awake til around 2:30am analyzing it???? I REALLY need for someone else out there to read it!!!! I just don't understand so much of it. I think I must have missed what Mr. Patterson was trying to relay to us, or maybe I was reading too much into it?? I want to write a review, but I don't know where to start?? I'm so confused by it! It was a good book. I didn't like it nearly as well as his other two "love stories".....just because it was so "out there" for me. If you read it, you'll understand what I mean by that.
This is a great book for a book club because there are so many different elements to the book, you could interpret it so many ways I think?? Or maybe it's just as it reads....kinda science fiction. :-) (i know, that sounds crazy!!)
Don't get me wrong, it was a good, easy read. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around parts of it. If you have read it, or if you plan to read it soon, let me know! I would love to get your take on it! Also, I didn't think it was nearly as sad as his other 2 love stories. Although they were sad....I LOVED them! I had a few friends who were scared it would be too sad (based on his previous love stories), but I think I only shed one small tear! LOL

Book Club

Wow, another post today?? I thought of something else tonight as I started to sit down and read my new book! First, I'm in a Book Club through my moms club. We got started last year and have been enjoying it ever since! I thought I would start posting what our "book of the month" is, so if any of my friends, that aren't already in our book club, would like to join in, they can do so online! I'll start doing a post about the book after I finish it, and if you read it too, you can add your comments about the book as well! We'll see how different everyone interprets the books. That's always interesting to see! Some people will love a book, others won't.

So, this month our book for book club is, "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult.

However, I am a huge James Patterson fan, and his book, "Sundays at Tiffany's" just came out, so I started it first. If anyone is reading that, or would like to read it, I'll be doing a post on it as well! I love his love/suspense stories. His other two "love" stories were "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas", and "Sam's Letter's to Jennifer".....both were amazing, and tearful!!

Also, after I finish "My Sister's Keeper" and "Sundays at Tiffany's", I'll be reading "The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks. He is my all time favorite author!! I absolutely love his books!! Sometimes they don't end like I think they should end, but I'm sure there is always a reason. And in real life, things don't go always as planned either.

And one more, after I finish those three, I'm going to start on "Love the One You're With" by Emily Giffin. Sounds like a great summer beach read!

So if you're reading any of these books, keep reading, and I'll be doing a post on them sometime soon. Please join in on the discussion of these books. We'll have our own "blogging book club"! :-)

Also, let me know of any "good reads" you've found!

Been on the computer too long!!

Whew, my eyes are crossing! I was trying to get "caught up" on my blogging! I just posted a lot! I should have done "week of lasts" last, instead of first?? Oh well, I think I caught up April and May so far! Nathan took a really long nap, then his daddy got home early, so I blogged away! I hope you enjoy! Have a great weekend!!

Mother's Day

I had a good Mother's Day this year filled with hugs & kisses, flowers from Nathan, a nap, and no power!

Early Sunday morning, around 4am, I heard the storm hit. It was loud w/ thunder, lightening, wind, and very hard rain hitting the windows. I am terrified of tornadoes, so I got up and turned on the tv to watch the weather. Every local news program was on telling about the weather, so you know it was bad if they are on in the middle of the night! There were tornado warnings in all the counties around us, but fortunately not us. Then as the storm was getting closer, our electricity went out! So I went and got my cell phone, which has web access! I could see the radar and any warnings that went out! After the storm passed, I fell back asleep.

Brian let me sleep in until I had to get up to get ready for church. While I was sleeping, Nathan & Brian went out in the field behind our house to look at the Canada Geese. While Nathan was outside, he found some little yellow "flowers". He told his daddy he wanted to give them to me for mother's day! When I got up, he gave them to me and he wanted to put them in "blue" water, so I put some blue food coloring in the water along with the "flowers".

The power went out again for a little while, so my hair went undried! We went to church, went out to eat, came home and took a 3 hour nap!!!! It was a great day!!

Zoo Trip

I think I've started the last three posts with, "Our MOMS Club"....we've been busy lately!

Well, our MOMS club went to the zoo last week, it was a great weather day for it! We had a great time! The kids made all kinds of animal noises, and saw lots of fun animals! During lunch the kids enjoyed each other's food. It's funny how kids eat everyone's food but their own! Nathan will eat someone else's grapes, but not his, and they are the same purple grapes!!?? Some went home early for naps, etc. but Nathan, and his friend Giana, stayed and enjoyed the merry go round, train, playground, and ice cream! We've enjoyed the zoo so much lately, we decided to get a zoo membership so we can enjoy it anytime we want!

Strawberry Picking!!

Our MOMS club went to a strawberry farm in April. Nathan and I picked over 5 lbs of strawberries! He loves finding the bright red ones, but he also likes to eat them on the spot, so I have to watch him closely! We had a fun time!
That week we had strawberry french toast, strawberry pancakes, strawberry pie, and just plain strawberries!

"March For Babies"

Our MOMS Club participated in the March of Dimes "March for Babies" this year. It is a wonderful organization to support! Our club more than DOUBLED it's goal of 700.00!! We raised over $1500.00! I am so proud of all of us!! And I am so thankful for all the support I got from friends and family! It was a lot of fun to be there and walk over 3 miles.
I have a lot of friends who have had babies prematurely, some survived, others unfortunately didn't. It is such a tragedy when they don't survive.
I walked in memory of my friend Christy's triplets. It was an emotional day for me. It brought up sad memories of what she and her husband have gone through. I thought about everything from the first phone call I received from my friend Atina, in December of 2004, telling me Christy was in the hospital and that it wasn't good, to the phone call from Christy, in January 2005, telling me the last baby had passed away. I remember falling on my knees in prayer for them, and how my heart broke for them. They have went through so much.
But it was also a happy day for me because I was thinking about Christy's upcoming baby shower! She is now pregnant and due in July!! She is doing great!! I'm so happy for her and David! Please keep them in your prayers.
During the walk, my friends and I talked about our own babies deliveries, and problems we had in our pregnancies. Some had lost babies b/c of prematurity, others had babies in the NICU because of prematurity, but are happy and healthy now! Some of us had experienced miscarriages, and scary moments in our pregnancies.
We also walked to celebrate the lives of our children we have now. It is such a blessing to have healthy and happy kids!
All of these stories, are the reason we walked!!! I don't want another family to go through what some of my friends have gone through. I feel like the March of Dimes works hard to prevent this from happening to families, so I will work hard for them to help prevent it as well.
I'm looking forward to the walk next year and raising even more money for the organization!
Thank you all who supported me during the walk by giving money, and by your kind words!

April and May happenings...a little behind!

In one of my previous posts, I said I would get my blogging "caught up". So here is my attempt!

We had a fun April! Our MOMS Club went to Imagine It Children's Museum in Atlanta. The kids loved it! They had a "pretend" farmers market, grocery store, kitchen that the kids could shop from then "cook" what they bought. Nathan especially loved the "fishing" exhibit. The fishing rods had magnets on them, then you caught a fish from the "river", complete with a waterfall, frogs, and snakes....all pretend of course! The museum had a train table, tree house, crane, a ton of balls that would move everywhere through tubes and fans, etc. It was a hit! There was also this great sand that didn't stick to them and fingerpainting on walls, and lots of cubbies to climb in! We definitly need to go back some day....daddy would enjoy this!

My mom and dad, sister, and niece, Kalyn, came for a visit in April! We had a great time. The kids love playing together! We celebrated my dad's and my sister's birthdays as well. They both have birthdays in April. We went to the zoo while they were here, and the kids had so much fun! They both were asleep once they got in the car after we left, they were so tired!! We hope they get to come back really soon!!

A week of lasts....

This week was a busy week of "lasts" for us. We had the last day of Mother's Day Out on Tuesday...and I cried???? Nathan's teachers were so sweet all year, and he loved them so much! I hated to see it come to an end for him... and for me. There were also 3 or 4 kids in his class that he talked about all the time, so it's sad to think he won't see them much anymore. Most of them are going on to preschool, but Nathan is going to do one more year of MDO first. He has an August birthday, so he won't start school until he is turning 6. (otherwise he would be 4 when he starts kindergarten, and I don't want that...neither do most teachers)

His teachers got him a sandbucket with his name on it, and filled it with outside toys! They are so sweet! He will be going back to the same school in August, but will have different teachers.

Then, we had our last music class on Wednesday....again, tears came to my eyes??!! (i must be pms'ing..lol) He LOVES music class and miss Jenny! We will probably go back in the Fall, but we're taking a break this summer b/c of vacations, swim lessons, etc. Nathan had such a good time in music class this week, he tried to help miss Jenny w/ the boxes of instruments, which was so sweet to see him do! He sang and played. Just an overall great class to end on! We'll hopefully see all of our music class friends next Fall!

Thursday was our last MOPS* meeting of the year. It was a very uplifting meeting. Our "mentor mom" had a wonderful brunch/teaparty for us. Nathan has really begun to enjoy going to "moppets" (this is what the childcare is called for MOPS). Our first year in MOPS, he cried and screamed everytime I left him, which was so stressful! I decided if he didn't do good this year, we would stop going. But he did great this year! No tears! He talked about the kids in his class and he seemed to like his teachers. So we stayed with it, and I'm glad we did! I always leave our MOPS meeting feeling inspired and uplifted as a mom and a christian. They are a great group of women who love God and encourage each other! I have made some really good friends through MOPS. We'll start back in September, and I'm already looking forward to it!

We have had a very busy week, but a very fun week as well! I am really excited about this summer! I have a lot of friends having babies, we will celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in July, and hopefully go to the beach soon! Potty training is also on our "things to do this summer" list, but I'm not sure how excited I am about that!! haha

Have a wonderful weekend!

*MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. It is for moms w/ kids under the age of 5.

will be caught up soon...I hope!!

Well, I'm behind again...imagine that! I have pictures and blogs to post about my family visiting, the zoo, the awesome March of Dimes "March for Babies", and how our MOMS Club more than DOUBLED it's fundraising goal!!! Anyway, I'm going to get busy downloading pictures, blogging, etc.
Now that my back is all better, I need to get busy cleaning up my house!!
Tomorrow is Nathan's last day at Mother's Morning Out for this school year. I'm sad to see it go! I can get so much done in those 4 hours, or simply nothing at all, just relaxing! Nathan will be sad to see it go too, he needs a break from his mommy sometimes too. I'm sure he likes seeing different people. He loves his teachers, he talks about them all the time! He wakes up on Tuesday mornings saying, "I want to go see Ms.Kandi and Ms.Margarite"! They are so sweet and patient.
While Nathan is at MMO tomorrow, I'll be getting my hair highlighted!!! YAY!! I'm so tired of the "natural" brownish/reddish color?? I wanted to go back to my natural color, and I liked it at first, but then my natural really started showing, and it has a touch of red to it?? I don't remember my hair ever being naturally red?? It actually has a hint of red when the sun hits it a certain way?? Red hair is pretty on other people, but NOT me!!! I need some blond in my life! LOL I think it's just been kinda blond for so long, that I'm just use to it, and I miss it. My natural "mousey brown" w/ a hint of red is just not for me. I'm not going drastically blond again, just a few blond highlights! (I'm sure you can all sleep better tonight, knowing that!) HAHA
Getting my hair done always makes me feel better, it's kind of like therapy!LOL
Right now, I'm in an overweight, bad hair, bad skin, bad clothes funk. Maybe since I'm getting one of those things worked on tomorrow, I'll feel better!! :-)
I hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!!! It is such a wonderful blessing from God, to be a mom!
Have a great week!!

"Painting Fun"

I went to a friend's "Pottery Party" back in March in Alabama, it was great! You bring your child/children and the hostess paints your child's hand/hands, or feet, then puts it on the piece of pottery you picked out. There were so many things to chose from, it was hard to decide! She had picture frames, platters, Christmas ornaments, big Easter Eggs, cookie jars, coffee mugs, spoon rests, piggy banks, flower vases, water pitchers, etc. She makes them very creative! You can also use your childs fingerprint to make ladybugs, butterflies, bugs, flowers, etc. She can also paint your family on a large platter.....very cute! You pick what colors you want to use, and what extras you want on your piece.

I got 2 coffee mugs. My husband's had Nathan's handprint turned upside down, and she made it look like an elephant! So it was Daddy's"Alabama Crimson Tide" mug. I had Nathan's handprint, name, age, and a bible verse put on mine. My sister and I went in together and got our mom a flower vase that had both, my niece's handprint and Nathan's, on it. It turned out beautiful, she added extra stuff on it to make it creative!

The lady is from Birmingham, and she travels all over Alabama doing this. It's hard to get an appointment b/c she stays so booked!

I would love to have her come here, because there is so much more that I want!

I've been tagged.....

I've Been Tagged...
My friend Julia tagged me. So I thought I would give you some insights into my life. I hope you enjoy these random facts about me.

What was I doing 10 years ago?-I had just graduated college in Dec. of 97, I was planning our wedding! We got married in July of 1998, and I was working full-time at Parisian in Florence for Clinique.

5 Things on my T0-Do List:
-work on laundry
-catch up on housecleaning stuff that I couldn't do last week b/c of my back
-work on Christy's shower invitations
-buy stamps
-dry my hair!

5 Snacks I enjoy:
-chips and guacamole
-rita's ice
-fruit, especially strawberries & watermelon
-cake (any kind)
-the chocolate chip cookies w/ the buttercream icing in the middle (called double doozies) from the Great American Cookie Company in the mall....I only get this like twice/year, they are really bad for you!!!! :-)

5 Things I would do if I were a Billionaire:
-give to charities/missionaries/church
-pay off all my bills/house
-pay off my families bills
-buy my dream home in my dream place....not sure yet where that is, and buy a house at the beach
-go traveling for a long time!

5 Bad Habits:
-not exercising like I should
-going to bed too late
-staying on the computer too long
-procrastinating
-letting the laundry pile up


5 Places I've Lived:
-Moulton, AL
-Florence, AL
-Baltimore, MD
-Atlanta, GA
-Moundville, AL

5 Jobs I've Had:
-Juvenile Probation Officer
-Account Manager for MBNA
-Bridal Consultant
-radio DJ
-stay at home mom

Now that you have been enlightened (LOL), I am tagging, Jonnelle, Jessica, Jennifer, Amanda.

update....

After a week of muscle relaxers, pain meds, anti-inflamatory injections, and physical therapy, I'm happy to report I'm feeling a lot better! I still have pain and can't move as well as I should, but nothing like it was all week. I'm actually able to stand up straight now and sit for a little longer than before! I haven't had a severe muscle spasm since Thursday morning. My breathing is better, and like I said, the pain has gotten much better! I still have to continue with physical therapy for another week or two, I'm still taking the muscle relaxers, and I'm still not supposed to lift anything over 5lbs for a couple of weeks. But I am much better today than I have been!!
THANK YOU all for the well wishes and most of all the prayers! And, THANKS SO MUCH to my MOMS Club for bringing me dinner every night this week, we appreciate that so much, it really helped out! All the dinners were wonderful! We had the most wonderful green beans ever!! Julia, if that's not a family secret recipe, I need it!! My good friend, Catherine, watched Nathan for me while I went to physical therapy, so Brian could go back to work. That was so sweet of her, and it helped out so much. Thanks to all of those who offered to help w/ Nathan and meals, etc. It was all so very thoughtful of everyone! Thank you most of all for the prayers, they really helped!
I am hoping to be back to myself very soon!!
I have a lot of blogging to catch up on! So as soon as I can sit longer at the computer, I'll have to catch up!