March Review

For the month March I have chosen to review Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Let me just start off by saying that I really enjoyed this book and hope that more people will read it and open their minds to the importance of education to make change. While hiking down from a failed attempt at K2 Greg took a wrong turn and ended up in a remote village in Northern Pakistan. The village welcomed him in and helped him to recover from his journey. While there he noticed that there was no school building for the children to study in, and promised to come back and build a school. From this one meeting he worked to open the doors to Pakistan’s poor by providing their children, especially girls, with an education. Greg Mortenson feels that education of both boys and girls will enable the people of Pakistan to do more for themselves, and their children.

The book continues to show the trials that he faces in trying to build his first school; from raising money, making sure supplies make it to the remote areas and building the right relationships in a culture vastly different from America. Not only did he help to raise funds and build schools, but also water support, a bridge and relationships into Afghanistan. This story is an amazing journey of one mans vision to bring education to a people who might not have had the means to do it themselves. Plus his schools give the people a choice in how they want to be educated; by empowering the girls who will become women to do more to help their communities.

I highly recommend this book, and hope that you too will read it and experience Greg Mortenson’s vision to see education for the children of Pakistan.

Random Thoughts

Just a short update, Cooper is a healthy baby boy. He weights 12 pounds 11 ounces and is 25 inches long. He is so tall, for a baby. I wonder how tall he will be as he gets bigger. Anyway, I think he is doing great, and so does the doctor. Now if only I can get him to sleep through the night. As my vent for the day, the lady at the doctors office who sets appointments was very frustrating. If only she could just answer my questions, instead of asking the same question over and over. Does she not understand that I want to get my stuff taken care of in a timely fashion so as not to have to worry about what my two other kids are doing or not doing. Apparently that did not matter to her, she could really care less if our conversation move on or if the kids tor apart the office. Needless to say I'm sure my level of frustration is not fully coming out here, but I could really do will less of her.

Oh yea, the bunny had a friend, and he/she wondered into our trap last night. We figured it had friends, but the friends took a while to check out our garden. I would not think it was the same bunny but who knows. Without being able to tag the bunny, we have no way of knowing.

As an aside, I'm finally able to watch Twilight again on DVD. I've only had it for a week. And still I have not been able to watch it all the way through. The kids would just not leave me alone, plus we had things to do. Anyway, too much fun. Probably not as fun as a Twilight party.

2 Months

Cooper is two months old today. Where has the time gone? He is getting so big, so quickly. He has found his hands, and has already rolled over from his tummy to his back. The only thing bad about when he looks at his hands is that he will sometimes hit himself in the face. He also likes to stair at you, as if he is memorizing your face for future reference. He also gives great big smiles, that light up his whole face. They are just precious. His brother and sister just love him, and want to hold him and talk to him. He does not seem to mind too much. He mostly sleeps on our outings but will sometimes take things in as well. Over all he is a great baby and so much fun to have around. I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming months.

King Tut

King Tut was great! I really enjoyed seeing all of the artifacts that the pharaohs would take with them to the after life. I really wanted to his coffin and the headdress that they put over his face but those were not included in this collection. We did get to see the coffin of one of his Aunts, and possible offspring. Afterwards we took the kids to a more hands on exhibit, to make items out of random materials and do some rub drawings.

Mud

This is why you don’t water the garden with the kids. Or at least you should have a hose that does not leak. They make a mud puddle. I think that they were much more dirty than what Ben got pictures of, because they had to take a bath before dinner. At least it was not a “. . . muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle . . .”

Bugs Bunny, Captured

No not really but we did catch the bunny who has been eating our garden. Last year when we moved in we noticed a bunny in the early morning, personally I did not think much about it, I thought the kids would get a kick out of seeing a bunny in the “wild.” Shortly after we put in our fall garden we noticed that it was not growing like it should. The culprit, you guessed it was the bunny. We finally got a bunny cage, compliments of Ben’s Dad, set it up last night and he/she was captured. Now we are not going to hurt the bunny but release him back into nature on the other side of the freeway. Hopefully he won’t be able to make his way back to our house and we will have a plentiful spring and summer garden.

Texas Plates

One of my last Utah hold outs changed today. My car is now officially a Texas resident again. A little bit late but finally done no more Utah plates. I no longer live in the state with the greatest snow on earth. Now I just have to change my drivers license and Ben’s car.

Koi, Koi

Today we visited the Japanese Gardens at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. The highlight of the Japanese Gardens is that you can feed the largest koi ever. I could hardly believe how big these fish were, and they were all hungry. At a quarter a turn for fish food I’m pretty sure we spent another four to five dollars at least feeding the fish. Isabelle and Bear thought it was great. Plus we were there early enough that things were not too crazy and there weren’t too many people. I must say though that the gardens were very nice and will probably look even better once all the flowers and trees have fully bloomed. Right now you can see the signs of spring every where at the gardens and it was wonderful. The kids did great, and Cooper slept through it all. Isabelle was a little impatient and wanted to keep moving to find more fish. Bear just wanted to check it all out. Over all it was pretty fun, and something I think we’ll have to do again. I really wish we had the time to explore more of the other garden areas, Fort Worth usually has a large section of Iris’s that are in bloom now maybe another day.

Fair Park Fun

The Museum of Natural Science holds many wonders. As a special feature they have is an exhibit called Raise the Roof, which displayed a Mongolian gar which I thought was pretty cool. Isabelle was really intrigued by the technology of the exhibit. She enjoyed using the touch screen computer, to learn about the gar and the people who live in them. Imagine having only those possession that could be moved in a day, and your main concern is where you next meal is coming from. It could be argued that a life like that is simpler than ours, but how is the major difference. I digress. Along with checking out the exhibits we also watched an IMAX film called Coral Reefs. Bear and I had to leave early since he was having a talking and moving around problem but what we got to see was pretty cool. I figured that he would totally dig the all around screen and of course the fish. Oh well maybe when he is older. Isabelle really enjoyed the show; she stayed with Aunt Penny and Morgan to finish it out.

Then after the show we made our way back outside to ride the swans on the little lagoon. We had to take turns because they would not let me take Cooper on since he was so small, even though I was wearing him. (I forgot the stroller in my car at the auto repair shop.) Barrett went first and made it around two times before he got bored and wanted out. I was worried about making it all the way around by myself so we made Morgan go twice. Her legs are young, she can handle it. It was pretty fun and nice way to see the lagoon from a different point of view, and an up close of the turtles.

Back inside I really wanted to check out the DNA exhibit but a four year old and two year old did not think that was very interesting. In stead we went down stairs to check out the farm. Bear quickly figured out that you “planted a seed” it would come out of one of doors at the bottom, to be planted again. He was fascinated. Isabelle enjoyed “shopping” for fresh produce. Cooper was a wake for a few moments so I turned him to face out and then he was asleep. Who wouldn’t fall asleep to the natural swaying and moving of Mom?

After a quick trip back to the house to freshen up, we joined Penny, Morgan and Nana for Hibachi. Always a good time especially for the kids; since they usually light stuff on fire and toss eggs into the air. Bear really enjoyed the show and talked to the chef, Isabelle mimicked his movements with her own. It was pretty cute. Cooper woke up long enough to eat and by passed around.

Going on Bacation

It started out last night that just Isabelle was going on “bacation” but now Bear is too, once he heard her plan this morning. Last night Isabelle packed her bags and outlined to me how she was going to get to grandma’s house, who would be taking her and who would be picking her up.

With her bag all packed she unloads it to show me what she is brining with her. Three sets of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, two toys, her camera (she must take after me there), Bitty Baby, a “sleep bag” for Bitty baby, and after I reminded her, socks and underwear. Oh yes and a pair of jama pants and two shirts. Now she is all ready for going on her bacation with Grandma Susie.

Bear on the other hand packs very light. He only needs one diaper with a liner, his “Guy, guy, and E,” plus a pair of shoes. No need for clothes, he’s just going to wear the jamas he has on. He is going on bacation with Oma.


As I sit down to write this, here is part of the conversation we have about said bacation:

Isabelle: “It’s just time for me to go, Mom.”

Mom: “No, you need to wait until later; you have to go to dance today.”

Isabelle: “No you need to take us now. We are going on a bacation. Can me and Bear just go on bacation. We very do want to go.”

Mom: “You’re going to have to wait a little bit.”

Do you think I should tell her that Grandma Susie is coming to town on Wednesday? Oh yea she is also taking a picture with her. No not of her mom and dad but of her cousin Gabby, Grandpa Bernie and her building the teeter totter from last summer. At least Cooper has elected to stay with me, probably so he can be close to the boob.

Springtime

Ok so I do not usually like to talk about the weather because it seems so impersonal, but I have to give some pros and cons of Texas springtime. Today is overcast, humid and supposed to reach 80 degrees. I know those of you in Utah would kill for 80 degrees in March. But to bring us back to reality on Wednesday it is going to be in the 50's. Yes that's right a 30 degree temperature drop in two days. Normally spring is a great time of year in Texas, it's not too hot and not too cold, but frustrating. You can't fully get rid of those winter clothes nor can you bring out your summer ware. You have to be completely prepared for anything. And take advantage of those nice days when they come. Because when summer hits, who wants to work in the yard, with 100% humidity and 90 plus temps. I guess I just would like the weather to pick a course and stay that way, preferably nice pleasant days where the kids can play outside at anytime, and you don't have to worry about heat stroke, or jackets for those colder days. The kids did come in one day with Popsicle hands because it was so cold. Ah Texas spring!

Roll Over??

Cooper is really strong and has been since his arrival. Today he might have been showing off or his head is too big and pulled him over, but I set him down for tummy time and I came back into the room and he was on his back. Of course I asked Isabelle first if she turned him over and she said no and my Mom backed her up. I tried to get a shot of the action again but no such luck but you can check him out holding up his head. He thought the soccer ball was pretty cool to look at.

Isabelle's new room

After months of asking for her room to be painted Isabelle had her request granted. I think it turned out great. She really wanted a diamonds and a rainbow on her wall, so we went with diamonds in Purple and Pink. Imagine that! It looks great if I must say so myself, after all I did help pick the colors and paint the room. My parents did come up and help me since Ben has been working so much and they did a fantastic job. I think that Isabelle is very please with her room. I just need to finish decorating it. Print out a few more pictures and my Dad is going to make her a window seat. My Mom is going to make a pretty cook window treatment. More on those later, once they get her. For now it is painted and it looks great. I hope you enjoy our creativity. Now we just need to decided what type of bed to get her and she will be all set.

February Review

Here is my book review for February, sorry it’s a little late, but painting took precedence for the weekend, and I was having some internet issues. Technology can be so unreliable. I wanted to do something a little more deep than a chick lit book but the book I really wanted to review was not at the library when I went, so instead I am choosing to talk about Love the One Your With by Emily Griffin. At first I was not going to choose this one since I did not really care for the book, but decided that good, bad and in between reviews should be written, not everything can be good or have a gushing review. Life just does not work out that way.



Basically this book is all about one woman and her thoughts about her life and where it has taken her. Her old flame and her husband did she make the right choice and I guess you could say the need for closure. Let me start off by saying that yes I’m sure at one point everyone thinks about the past and what might have happened if things turned out differently and then they move on. Instead the main character Ellen dwells on her past almost to the point of wanting to relive it after she randomly runs into her old love interest. Who knew that one woman’s thoughts and a few intermingled conversations could make a book. If that’s the case I over analyze almost everything and should write down my thoughts and call it a book as well.

Shortly after running into the former love of her life he calls up with a job opportunity for her that would really help out her career as a photographer. This is all well and good except for the fact that she never tells her husband who got her the job and that she ran into her ex. Of course it all comes out later, which is more damaging because then it seems as though she has been hiding the truth. All the while the reader is dragged through her random musings on whether or not she should tell her husband everything but she feels that it is too late, therefore justifying her actions or lack there of to herself.

As the story goes on Ellen and her husband Andy make a big change in their lives and move back to his home town of Atlanta, Georgia from New York City. This affects Ellen because she is basically moving to run away from her past, only to return to see if things would have been different. The only thing that stopped her from throwing away her charmed life is her sister who calls Ellen while she is with her ex; therefore saving her from herself and a marriage ruining mistake. I think the main reason I did not enjoy the book was the lack of courage in the main character, which I know was part of the point but still if you are married then move on from the past and go with today and the future. I felt that she was just a bit whinny as well. She had established herself in her field, had a good, new marriage and still seemed too interested in the past that had been over for many years. I would say if you still want to read Love the One Your With, go for it, you might see more than I did.