Escapeing into a Good Book or 4

This last week I have read more than anything else. I have given up much sleep and much time that should have been spent cleaning my house to it. Here is the list of what I have read
Forest Born- Shannon Hale 389 pages
Book of a Thousand Days- Shannon Hale 306 pages
Fablehaven Keys to the Demon Prison- Brandon Mull 588 pages
The Host- Stephanie Meyer- but only the best parts.... I skip through some of it so I probably read only like 250 of the pages
I am not going to do the math because I don't really want any guilt about how much time I spent doing "hobby" type things this week.
Something you need to know about me is I am an escapist reader. When I delve into a book I don't really do it for intellectual purposes. I have in the past but at this point in my life it is an indulgence to read. I like nothing more than throwing myself full force into another world and living with the characters through the stories. I don't like to be the character I just like to pretend I am curled up with them and hearing the story first hand. My favorite brand of escapism is YA fantasy. I love it. It is easy to devour and usually really fun. The thought provoking things are there if you want to look for them but they don't bash you over the head. You can still just enjoy the story without feeling like you are being told that you should think or feel a certain way. I am also a person that can read books over and over and over again. I have always been that way. A lot of times I get to the point like I was saying above that I skip parts and just read the ones I love the most. I have lost track of how many times I have gone through many of them.
I just love to read and I hope that my enjoyment rubs off on my children. I want them to see the joy I get from literature and feel that joy when they read. My parents both read all the time. I grew up thinking everyone just loved to read. It never occurred to me that there were house without books. My house was overflowing with books.... I don't exactly know where I am going with this post maybe you have something you would like to share about your experience or style of reading. I would love to hear about it.

Neglect

So this blog is a little bit neglected....sorry I never can think of anything interesting to write. But I did start another blog- this one is for school so it is not really about me but more about what I do everyday in my class. It is designed for a teacher parent communication tool. If you want to check it out that would be totally cool with me. www.dinofours.blogspot.com. That blog is getting updated all the time this one however.....
Just as an update we are doing good right now. You know busy busy work, school, kids, church calling, not cleaning my house.... good busy though.
Hope that all of you are doing fabulous and starting to get as excited about the spring as I am
All my LOVE
Trina

How much is TOO Much?

So let me start by saying that I think my husband is hilarious. He is wonderful and I love him but something happened this week that I have to share. Cam has spent the last month pouring over websites that sale cell phones. He really dislikes our crappy free phones and we still have until Nov. on our contract. He thought a good way to spend some tax money would be to get a new phone. But all the phones he wanted were like 500 dollars without a contract. 500 for phone is too much for me. Does anyone else feel that way?? Besides that, our track record with his phones has been bad (cracked screens, going through the wash....). Then all of the sudden this weekend his phone cracks. He "flipped it open and the screen flew off" ..... I really do believe him but I can't help be reminded of just before we moved to our condo. Cams obsession at the time was flat screen TV's. He spent hours pouring over TV's on the web. Then one day I came home from work only to be told. I tried to fix the TV today now it won't turn on. What was wrong was loose audio visual cables (something I could totally live with). So Cam got his new TV because the old one conveniently "Broke". So I have to wonder do these things really break or is it sabotage :) hehe
So Cam is getting a new phone because the universe willed it to be time- and who am I to argue with the universe.

Haircuts

Here we all are with our new haircuts. We got it done last Monday. I asked Bananas how she wanted her hair cut and she said "to my chin" soooooooo We all got or hair cut to our chins. Sometimes having all girls is really fun. Here is another one of just the girls. They are just the cutest things ever! I was really excited because of how easy it was to flip their hair out with the new flatiron I got for Christmas.

I am Still Alive

Just a quick post to say that I am still alive. We had a fabulous holiday and in spite of our efforts at simplicity our kids were once again spoiled by our families. We stayed in WJ for a week and a half. I slept in until 9 or 10 every day thanks to grandparents who fed my kids breakfast and let us sleep. It was wonderful!! I maybe shouldn't have been so lazy though cuz now I am playing catch up. This time of year is so busy. New Primary Stuff for church list after list after list, activities, board meetings. We also have new kids at work. Busy busy busy but that is how I like it. I know a lot of people that have it a lot worse than me so I can't complain.

So I think this week we might all go get hair cuts- maybe not Cam- I cut his last month. I will post pictures if we do it.

I just finished the Percy Jackson and the Olympian Series. I totally loved it an recommend it to anyone who is like me and can't get enough YA fantasy. I studied mythology a little in HS and took an ancient civilizations class in college but these books really increased my knowledge of the Greek Gods. It was a fun way to learn them without feeling like you were learning at all.
Anyways a great read if you haven't checked them out yet you should. Oh I read the last Book of Bayern Forest Born by Shannon Hale. I really love those books and the Characters. I really hope that some day she will write more about Isi, Enna Dasha, Rin, Razo and Finn. I recommend these too.

Hope this informative post wasn't too boring....... Happy New Year!!

Holding Back

The TreeMy girls in Front of the Tree

Around our house at Christmas we try to keep things really simple. We made a decision the first year we were married to not go overboard. We really wanted Christmas to be more about spending time together than getting lots of presents. Once we had kids we decided even Santa should keep it simple. Santa brings one present for the kids and fills stocking for everyone. He does not bring the grown-ups gifts. Then each of us gives a present to the others. About this time every year I start getting anxiety because the pile of presents looks so small. I have to constantly remind myself that we have everything we need. Cam really helps me stay focused on our goal to keep it simple. I would probably go broke at Christmas without him- or crazy- maybe both. We are constantly bombarded with images of what Christmas "should" look like. Stacks of presents- all in coordinating wrapping paper and bows, a giant tree with matching ornaments and ribbons, trays of goodies, fancy meals, clothes and toys and lights and the list keeps going. Not that any of these things are bad but..... It is easy to get caught up in other peoples ideas of what Christmas should look like. I am finally starting to figure out what I want my Christmas to look like. I don't have the biggest best tree, my decorations aren't fancy- in fact I made most of them myself or got them as gifts. My Christmas is a modge podge of memories all put together in a way that makes me feel happy and loved. I love looking at my Christmas tree and not seeing tons of matchy matchy ornaments that I just bought. I love that almost every ornament reminds me of someone or something. Christmas is a great time to remember not only Christ and the gift his life is to us but also remember all those around us who bless our lives every day. This is me wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful new year full of new memories to last a lifetime and beyond.Our Gingerbread cookiesUs singing the Christmas song we wrote( I couldn't get the video to upload here so I posted it on Facebook if you missed it)

Below are the words and Chords of Our song- for fun.....

All Aboard!!!

Today was one of my favorite days at school. It was Polar Express Day. Let me start by saying I don't love the book or the movie- but the concept I love. I read about polar express parties about 4 years ago and couldn't wait to have one. Sooo I convinced my co-teachers to go along. We now look forward to this day all year- almost as much as for the Fairy Tale Ball. We go on a fake train ride, sing carols, make train ornaments, drink hot chocolate, and do cotton ball "snow" in the parachute to songs on the Polar Express Soundtrack. We sing "When Christmas Comes to Town" in Sign Language. We do watch the movie at nap time as well. This year I had another idea (which usually means a lot of work cuz I have no idea how we are gonna pull it off) - I admit I come up with a lot of ideas. You should see the look I get when I say to Diana (my co-teacher) "I have and Idea." She is excellent at helping me realize my visions. I am slowly learning from her how to do and make-do to create a lot of fun things. Not all of my ideas are good or work out but this time it did. We made some big gingerbread houses out of cardboard boxes. My class looks so cute right now! Anyways I promised I would try and post some pics. Oh and I forgot the best part of Polar Express Day is that we all wear PAJAMAS to school. I have to buy a new pair every year just for Polar Express Day- silly me......
My gingerbread VillageMy class holding up their ticketsMe and Bananas in our Jammies