sherwood village book club: the last child by john hart.

saturday, september 25, 2010.

i STARTED reading the book on AUGUST 31. i managed to read the first hundred pages over the last three weeks, but my MOMMY DUTIES always interrupted my NUMEROUS ATTEMPTS. it was killing me to have to keep putting it down and try and remember what all had happened in the chapters before. i know lots of people who read before bed, after their children are asleep, but that is when i am playing catch up with the blog...and my blog is way more important to me than reading. luckily, the blocks wanted to take the kiddos on a road trip the same weekend as book club, so i put it off until yesterday, knowing once the boys were gone i'd have NO INTERRUPTIONS! my only worry was that i am such a slow reader that i might not get it done in time. i set a timer to see how many pages i read in an hour. it was 25. then i did it again and got 23. i'd try to read faster, but felt i was missing details. i even used a book mark the way i was taught in "reading and comprehension" tutoring. my calculations estimated it would take me about 9 more hours to finish. my intent was to get a good nights sleep, knowing i wouldn't have abraham or levi waking me up in the middle of the night, but joshua was at the pixies concert and i couldn't sleep without him here. as i mentioned in the previous post, joshua called me at ONE IN THE MORNING to pick him up from the light rail. i wasn't expecting to have to get him, but it was a nice little break from the book which was getting A LITTLE INTENSE! the book had me A LITTLE JUMPY and with no boys making noise, every time the air would turn on or the wind would blow leaves outside, my heart would race. by the time he got home i was TOO FAR into the book TO PUT IT DOWN. it was nice to finish the book with him beside me, even if he was sleeping.

...

i read so slowly that i found A TYPO. "hunt pointed 'a' the door."

373 pages...a little long for my attention span and way too time consuming with kiddos and blogging;)

i FINISHED AT 3: 44 AM. it was looking like i was going to be disappointed by THE ENDING, but the very last line made me smile. my eyes welled up, a few tears fell, and i got chills.

* i have to admit, i found the author's writing style to be very annoying. overly descriptive i guess is how i'd describe it. i kept thinking if it wasn't so descriptive, the book would be a lot shorter:)

prescott for the boys, pixies for papa, and mama finishes her book club book.

friday, september 24, 2010.

the block's asked, a while back, if they could take the boys up north for the weekend. it sounded like it was going to be quite an adventure, so joshua and i agreed to let them go. A WHOLE WEEKEND AWAY...i was excited to have the "time off," but nervous about having them so far away (i.e. what if one of them got hurt?). it worked out perfectly, though, because i had 273 pages left to read in my book for book club by tomorrow night.

the boys are all set to go on a road trip with g'pa and g'ma block!

look at all their healthy treats.

and tons of books and clipboards of paper for drawing.

g'ma and g'pa excited to take the boys on a mini vacay.

joshy helping me put the girlies away for the night. abraham is usually the one who handles that. hahaha.

joshua came home after school to change and eat before he was off to see the PIXIES at the mesa amphitheatre. they were playing through the whole DOOLITTLE album! after he left i started having second thoughts about me decision to not go. am i really that lame that i would stay home and read instead of going to see a show? i think in the back of my mind, what it really came down to was money, and our lack there of. the whole computer virus really set us back and was intirely my fault, so if someone had to stay home, it was me. joshua had to use money from his "plasma cutter" fund to pay for his ticket and, honestly, i'd much rather see BUILT TO SPILL in october. i'm already missing grinderman in november because we just don't have the dough right now. i love the pixies, but i got into them around the bossanova album which came out after doolittle. anyway, those are my excuses and i'm sticking to them. having watched some youtube videos of the event, i am definitely kicking myself now for not going!

*joshua was so cute and called me during "here comes your man." he held the phone out so i could hear:)

**joshua also called me at one in the morning to pick him up from the light rail. i wasn't expecting to have to get him, but it was a nice little break from my book which was getting a little intense! the book had me a little jumpy and with no boys making noise, every time the air would turn on or the wind would blow leaves outside, my heart would race. it was nice to finish the book with him beside me. even if he was sleeping.

eggs, hair cuts, tree climbing, and a visit from sammy sam.

thursday, september 23, 2010.

our morning routine. levi found an EGG.

abey bringing nemo over for her breakfast.

feeding the girlies their healthy grub. strawberries and tomatoes.

...

abraham ready for a long overdue HAIR CUT!!!

side view BEFORE.

levi's BEFORE.

side view BEFORE.

lity man AFTER with his lolly pop "reward."

ahhh much better. check out abe's face in the background:)

haircut twins.

 joshua had always intended this to be a CLIMBING TREE, when he planted it.

 looks like THE TIME HAS COME!!!

abraham ringing the bell.

he kept hitting it so hard the croquet hammer broke.

no biggy, he just hit it with the stick instead.

we had a surprise visit from ms. stacy and sammy! sammy had been on vacation, we hadn't seen him in weeks.

abraham quickly caught a chicken to show sammy sam.

mid happy hop.

sammy was more into the toys.

 abraham, without my knowing, went to go look for another egg to show sammy and stacy. he found one, but he dropped it on the way over. oopsy!!! what was really gross is the girls ate it! ahhh. nature can be gross.

the rest of the pics are just me messing around with my RETRO camera app.

...

mr. handsome.

/monkey.

my sweetie pie.

free range chickens.

wednesday, september 22, 2010.

 free range chickens. hahaha. i love that they just get to roam around our back yard. they seem so happy!

 levi finding nemo's egg

 junior's came about 2 hours later.

 junior's eggs are always darker and have lots of dark brown speckles.

 her's are shinier than nemo's too. i'm thinking it has to do with their age. i think junior is younger than nemo.

 the girls new favorite spot. digging around under the citrus trees.

 they probably feel safer under there. it's too hard for abraham to catch them because the grapefruit branches have nasty thorns. it doesn't stop him from trying though.

 while taking pics of the girls i notice joshua put all of the crosses under the citrus.

 i'm assuming to help them rust.  all the laundry water soaks this whole area.

the crazy shaped ones.

they sure are beautiful!

i was so tired during piano lessons that i just laid down on the floor in the boys room. not sure if it was being out in the heat or what. i grabbed the pig pillow off of levi's bed and curled up. levi layed down next to me without a fuss, but abraham kept climbing on me. i just kept my eyes closed and eventually he fell asleep too. thankful for a much needed nap. it's just so weird because neither boy naps any more. i had to snap a pic. 

more about eggs.

tuesday, september 21, 2010.

 levi with an egg.

...

abraham and his big belly hanging with the chickens.

we've managed to save almost a dozen. we hope to collect 4 to give to the stein's because carmie is the one who "negotiated" the "chicken deal" with the roberts;) and 8 to make fritta. one of my favorite meals.