Sad Made Happy

That feeling when you look at the clock at 3:30 in the morning and know you have to get up in slightly more than 2 hours.  Then realizing it's Saturday morning and you don't have to get up until you want to.  What a feeling!

The Joy of Having a Boy

**Disclaimer - This post contains bathroom humor.  If that's not your style, you may not want to read this.

My conversation with Luke after he came home from school today:

Luke:  "Me and Dad had Chocolate Frosted Flakes for breakfast this morning."
Me: "Mmmm...that sounds good.  Did you like them?"
Luke: "Yeah.  They were really good."  Pauses.  "The only problem with chocolate cereal is that it makes me poop a lot."
Me (laughing):  "Really...like more times?"
Luke: "No.  Bigger loads."

Yep.  Your welcome.  I'm about to die laughing again just thinking about that conversation.  It had to be documented.

An Update...Finally

I've just spent the last 5 minutes trying to come up with a good title for this post.  Then I decided that if I spent much longer staring at that little space coming up with nothing that I might not ever finally update this thing.  There's really not a lot to tell, but I'll fill you in and then some.

On avoiding getting sick so far this school year...we haven't.  However, I'm counting us lucky that we've avoided the stomach bug so far (knock on wood).  Luke and I have both had colds/respiratory junk that just lingered long after we felt better.  Seriously, Kleenex owes us big after all of their product that we went through during the month of November.  I think we've finally made it through, but the season is still early, so I'm sure we'll meet up again before March.  I went through 2 bouts.  The first was in my chest and I completely lost my voice at one point.  By the time I lost my voice, I was actually feeling better, so I still went to work, despite being able to speak in a voice no louder than a whisper.  I knew it would be a challenge to keep my 7th graders in line when they would have to be quieter than usual in order to hear me.  Surprisingly, it was no challenge at all...in fact, I joked with my team members that I should permanently lose my voice.  My usually rowdiest class, which somehow has 16 boys and only 7 girls, was actually my very best class of the day.  I was completely shocked.  You just never know with middle schoolers.

Ginger has been on the disabled list lately too.  At some point a few weeks ago, she tore her ACL...yes, apparently dogs have them too.  We had noticed she was limping on and off for a few days, but one day, she yelped several times when getting up, so we knew something was really wrong, and it wasn't just her old age catching up with her.  She was on "bed rest" for a few days...as much as a dog can be on bed rest.  She can't do stairs or her normal walk.  If you've been to our house, you know we're in a split front/back, so anytime she needs to go out, there are stairs.  She's gotten by us a few times, but for the last 3 weeks...and more to come...we've been toting her up and down the steps anytime she needs to go.  And, she now has a physical therapist that she sees each week.  We have to do exercises, or as we call them - pilates - each day to re-strengthen the muscles in her leg that she stopped using when she injured herself.  Her physical therapist thinks she's made great progress in the last 3 weeks, but she informed Brandon that we'll likely be doing these exercises with her the rest of her life in order to try to avoid re-injury.

How's your Christmas shopping going?  Mine is nonexistent.  I am no shopper even for myself, really, but I am terrible at trying to come up with gift ideas.  We do have a few things for Luke, but none of them are actually fun and I really don't have any good ideas for a fun gift - or gifts, really, since Santa must provide too.  I signed up to fill a shoebox for a 6-9 year old at church and I'm wondering what I was thinking since I don't even know what to get my own 6-9 year old!  And Brandon...don't even get me started.  I have NO ideas for him whatsoever.  He is a really good gift giver too, which makes me feel even worse about it!  In my world, Christmas would be a lot merrier if there were no gifts involved.

And since I haven't done a book blog in forever, I'll include a bit about my 2 favorite books I've read recently.  The first is called After Ever After, by Jordan Sonnenblick.  This book follows Jeff, an 8th grader, who has survived a bout with cancer.  Jeff has attention problems because of his chemo and he's just found out that he must pass a standardized test in math, which is his worst subject, to move on to high school.  Add to that, a new girl, Lindsey, is showing some interest in him and it makes for a great story.  Jeff's narration was spot-on as a teenage boy (at least from this teacher's perspective).  I laughed out loud throughout this book...loved it from beginning to end, though it isn't all butterflies and rainbows.  I highly recommend this book to any age reader.  I haven't had a chance to read it's companion book, Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie, but it's on my list.  It's actually told from Jeff's brother's perspective 4 years earlier when Jeff was actually going through cancer.  One of my student's borrowed my copy, but as soon as she turns it in, I'm on it.

Another favorite that I just read last weekend is called Okay For Now, by Gary D. Schmidt. First of all, you've just got to love the cover.  This story takes place in 1968 and is about Doug, the youngest kid in a family of, well, basically, losers.  His dad is abusive, his older brother is a thug, and his oldest brother was a jerk too, but he's fighting in Vietnam.  His dad loses his job and a "friend" helps him get a job in a new town, which Doug hates.  Doug gets judged unfairly by other kids, by his teachers, and other people in town, because of his brother's bad behavior. Doug also has some secrets that he doesn't want anyone to learn.  However, as Doug begins to settle in, he makes a friend and gains some much-needed adult support to help him begin to change and grow into something more than he might have been.  This story has a lot of ups and downs, but it just left me feeling good at the end.  It had some sad parts, but some laugh out loud parts too.  I'm really considering reading this one out loud to my students 2nd semester.  I've never done the whole reading aloud thing, but this book has made me consider it.

Well, I still haven't figured out a title for this thing, but at least I've made an update.  Now...off to other sites seeking inspiration for Christmas gifts for a 7 year old boy and a 30-something year old man.  Wish me luck!

Get Out & Exercise Yours

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Halloween Revisited

We had a fun Halloween.  Luke dressed as a "scary ghost".  It worked.  As we walked up to one particular house a little girl walked a wide circle around us and I heard her say to her mom, "That scares me!"  We have been indulging in candy by the handful every evening and it still seems like we haven't even made a dent in it.  I can't imagine how much candy people who have more than one child come home with.  Yikes!

Luke with his lop-sided faced friend, Herbert the pumpkin.

Ginger wasn't scared.

The weekend before Halloween, Brandon and I went to a get together with friends where we had to dress as an idiom.  I was "the last straw" (see my pocket) and Brandon was a "string of good luck" (his hat is frayed and has a 4-leaf clover on it).  Now that's my kind of costume party!

Wordless Wednesday

Sniff, sniff...I can't believe how grown-up my baby is edition.

Randomness

Pros & Cons of this early cooler weather:

Pro:  We lit a fire last night and enjoyed its warmth while we watched TV.

Con:  Showering when the house is freezing at 6:00 a.m.

Pro:  Oh shoot...can't think of another one.

Con: I exchanged my summer clothes for my winter ones.

Con: My nose is running because I'm cold.

Con: It seems like there is way more laundry when we start wearing bulkier clothing.

Con:  My skin is already getting so dry...despite plenty of moisturizing.  A return of my eczema is just around the corner I'm sure. 

Clearly - I am not enjoying this weather!  Really, I truly like fall.  I'm just not ready for it to be this cold yet.  I'm not ready to haul out my coats.  I am enjoying the changing leaves and all that...but I would take a few more days in the 70's, please.

Lunch yesterday was embarrassing.  I looked at the tray of one of my co-workers and asked him what those green little heads of lettuce were.  Apparently, I've never seen a brussel sprout in my life.  I'm not going to lie...I got made fun of.  A lot.  I'm 36 years old and have never seen them...much less eaten them.  In my mind they looked a lot more like a bean sprout...or something sprout-like.  Or maybe like asparagus (which I am not sure I have ever eaten either, by the way, but I DO know what it looks like).

Luke brings home a self-report each Friday that gives us an idea of how his week went.  They rate their behavior, tell something they need to work on, and then tell about something they learned through the week.  He usually rates his behavior as "Excellent", but yesterday he marked it as "Good", and said he needed to work on talking less.  When your mom is a teacher...that's not okay.  Especially when you ask him about it and he tells you that he's the one who starts the talking.  You see...when you're a teacher, you know that teachers' kids are either the best kids you'll ever have...or the worst.  Seriously.  I am determined that my kid will not be in the latter category.  He knows that some of his favorite things are on the line if we hear that he doesn't get his under control.  Poor kid...

That about wraps up the random things I'm thinking about this morning!

Reason #236 Why I Love Teaching Middle School

When the lesson for the day has gone completely smoothly all day long until the last group of the last class does their part.  We've been talking about context clues, so yesterday, I read the kids a story paragraph by paragraph and they had to use context clues to figure out what a nonsense word in the story meant.  Today, they worked in groups to write their own very short "story" with a nonsense word, with the goal of providing enough context that the rest of the class could guess what they were talking about.  They did great all day long.  Even this group, I truly believe, had good intentions.  But when you read it out loud...in a room full of 7th graders...chaos rules.  See for yourself:

“Every day, people comment on my flooby.  Sometime, they even touch my flooby.  I don’t see how my flooby is so interesting.  My mom says my flooby is one-of-a-kind . Guys date me because of my flooby.  Then again, my flooby is really soft.”

Can you guess what flooby is?  Interestingly enough, in the midst of the laughter of 20 seventh graders who could hardly contain themselves, the first person to guess, got it right.

For All the Book Lovers Out There

I have clearly been quite lax when it comes to blogging lately.  Which is ironic since I am always disappointed when some of my favorite blogs go through a phase where they are not updated frequently.  You'd think I'd try to do better with my own, just for the principle of it.  Such is not the case, though.  Quick updates about us...school is good for all.  I can't believe we're nearing the end of September.  Time seems to be flying, as usual.  Luke is loving 2nd grade and I am having lots of fun with our new crop of 7th graders.  These kids I have seem to really enjoy reading and are constantly seeking me out for book recommendations, which is keeping me on my toes, reading-wise, because I barely have enough time to keep up with all the books on my shelf/Kindle!  I know I shared at the end of summer that I had read 50+ books over summer break and I've read close to 20 more since then, so I'm going to limit this post to some of my very favorite books that I've read over the last few months.  Thank goodness for Goodreads...otherwise I'd forget half of what I've read!

I'm going to start with my absolute favorite books that I've read.  In my last book post back in June, I wrote about Divergent, by Veronica Roth.  I mentioned in that post that I was going to the library that evening to pick up a copy of the 2nd book in the series, Insurgent.  Wow...it so did not disappoint.  In this book, the factions are going to war and Tris must decide where she stands in the face of all this.  She has decisions to make and has to learn how to deal with her divergence.  It was once again action-packed and I could barely put it down from start to finish.  The third and final installment of this series will not be out until sometime NEXT YEAR!  The author wants to make sure she doesn't disappoint the reader because she rushes it, which I do appreciate.  However, I'm thinking I'll be going back and reading book 1 & 2, so it doesn't feel like it's been so long since I've spent time with these characters!  I highly recommend this series if you loved The Hunger Games series.  It will not disappoint!

My second favorite thing I read this summer was a series called Chaos Walking, by Patrick Ness.  It starts with The Knife of Never Letting Go where we meet the main character Todd.  Todd is a nearly 13-year old boy who lives on New World, a planet colonized by people from Earth when the resources began to run out on the home planet.  Todd lives in a town of only men, because all the women died after a war with the natives of the planet, called the Spackle.  The Spackle release a germ on the colonists which causes everyone to be able to hear all the thoughts of every man, boy, and even animals.  As you can imagine, this creates a lot of "noise"...and some people can cover their thoughts with dishonest ones, so you never really know where people stand.  Todd was led to believe that the noise germ was what lead to all the women, including his mother, dying off.  One day, Todd discovers a secret, though, and must escape his town for a safe haven that he never knew existed...and he learns that everything he's ever believed, just might be a lie.  Todd's journey and further adventures continue in the 2nd & 3rd installments...The Ask & the Answer and Monsters of Men.  When I first started reading The Knife... I didn't think I'd be able to finish it.  The author wrote Todd's "voice" as Todd spoke - completely ungrammatical with spelling errors all over the place.  It was hard to follow, but I kept plodding along and when the action started, I couldn't put it down.  Amazing, incredibly awesome series.

Some other favorites - I read a couple books by Sarah Dessen.  She also writes young adult novels.  These are sweet coming of age/love stories.  I can't wait to read more by her.  I loved Along for the Ride and The Truth About Forever.

I also loved the Last Survivors series by Susan Beth Pfeffer.  The first book was definitely my favorite and the third my least favorite, but overall, I loved the concept of the books.  Everything is going along normally for Miranda and the rest of the world, as they all anticipate an asteroid hitting the moon.  What was not anticipated was the size of the asteroid and the fact that it would knock the moon far closer to earth than it was supposed to be.  Since the moon controls the tides, there was immediate flooding on all the coasts and millions of people died.  This leads to food shortages and just general chaos in the world.  And when volcanoes all over the world start erupting and the sun is now covered by smoke and ash - even in areas that aren't near to volcanoes - things really start to get desperate.  This is Miranda's story and in the second book, Alex's story.  The third book combines their stories.  It's a tense story of the struggle for human survival in an apocalyptic situation.

Finally, for YA books, I'm currently in the middle of the 3rd book of The Iron King series, by Julie Kagawa.  I started this series late this summer, because I had several girls last year who loved it and kept telling me to read it.  I picked up the first one, The Iron King, and discovered it's about faeries - not Tinkerbell, mind you, either.  And, I thought - I don't know if this will be for me.  As usual, I was wrong.  I am loving this series.  It follows Meghan Chase, a normal, very uncool 16-year old girl, who gets pulled into faery land - otherwise known as the NeverNever, when her little brother is kidnapped by the king of the Iron Kingdom.  Meghan goes on to learn that she is the daughter of the summer court's king and is half-faerie herself.  It is an adventure and quite a learning experience in all things fantastic.  Of course, there is an fabulous love story throughout.  Love, love, love this series!

Okay, my favorite adult books I've read have really been few and far between lately, so I'll pick the 3 best ones.  I just finished One Thousand White Women, by Jim Fergus.  Goodreads recommended it to me and Katie also wrote about it back in May and I was intrigued by the subject matter.  In 1875, the Cheyenne Indians requested that the US government provide them with 1000 white women as wives in order to better assimilate their culture into ours.  (true story)  In real life, the government said no.  In the book, the government agreed and we learn the fate of this "Brides for Indians" program through the eyes of one of the women who volunteered for the program, May Dodd.  It was fascinating and hard to put down.  I highly recommend it.

I also recently finished Gone Girl, by Jillian Flynn.  This one is about a wife who disappears on her 5th anniversary.  The scene is suspicious, and of course, the husband is always the first suspect.  The story is told through the wife, Amy's, journal entries prior to her disappearance and through the husband, Nick's, eyes as the mystery unfolds.  You don't know what to believe the whole time...one minute you sympathize with Amy, the next with Nick.  It is truly diabolical and you come to the end pretty well shocked at how things turn out.




And, I'll end with Moloka' i, by Allan Brennert.  This story follows Rachel, a young girl growing up in Hawaii in the late 1800's.  At this time, leprosy ran rampant through the Hawaiin islands and the native Hawaiins were very susceptible to it.  Rachel contracts this disease and is banished to the leper colony on the island of Moloka'i where she lives out most of the rest of her life.  It is the story of her tragedies and triumphs...and excellent, emotional read!





That's it for now.  More later!

School is now in Session!

We now have 3 whole days of school under our belts and are spending this weekend trying to recover from the exhaustion of it all!  Here are my first day 2012 pics, with a little twist.  Kristen - the twist is for you.  Some of the shots I have of 1st days date back to Luke's first year in preschool (2008), so you can really see how my little guy has turned into quite a big guy!  I tend to take the same picture every year, but we're just older, so I'll group the similar ones together so you can see how we've all changed. :)

First day of 2nd Grade - 2012

1st Grade - 2011

Kindergarten - 2010

2nd Grade - 2012

1st Grade - 2011

Kindergarten - 2010

1st Day of Preschool 2009 (age 4)

2012

2011

2010

2012

2011

2010

2009

The best for last - First day of Preschool 2008!  Love that cheesy smile!

There you have it!  I can't believe how quickly my little guy is growing up!

So Long, Summer...

I really had this lofty goal that I would post often this summer.  Hmmm...I think I made a total of 3 posts (4 counting today) over the past 11 weeks that I have been off work.  I blame it all on the fact that my camera broke on the 4th of July.  It has since been fixed, but I haven't taken a single picture with it since I got it back last week.  Therefore, this is just a hodge-podge post because I feel guilty that I go back to work tomorrow and the neglect of my blog will likely continue...lost in the busy-ness of the beginning of the school year.

So...what have I been doing?  I've spent a huge chunk of my summer reading.  A couple weeks ago I tried to go back and make a count of how many books I have read this summer (thank goodness I was keeping track of mostly everything I read on goodreads) and my estimate is that I'm on book #52 of the summer.  Which means I need to do a book post...and obviously not post about all 52.  Some have been excellent reads, a few have been stinkers.  I just started a book called Diva, by Jillian Larkin yesterday.  It's a young adult novel...and I put it on hold because I liked the look of the cover.  It turns out it's the 3rd in a series, but I decided to go ahead & read it anyway.  I'm not totally into the story yet, because obviously I've missed a lot of back story from the first two in the series, but what I do love is that the book takes place during the 20's & the author is using a lot of 20's slang in the dialogue.  Last year, my students did an assignment on 20's slang (we were studying slang in general) and they loved it.  They went around using it for weeks afterward in my class and reading this brings back good memories of how much the kids liked it.  I mean when you read lines like "Yeah, you lousy piker!" (cheapskate, if memory serves me correctly) and "Have a seat, rest your gams (legs)," you can't help but enjoy it.  How I feel about the entire story remains to be seen.

What else have we been doing...not a whole lot.  Since our trip to Arizona, we've just stuck around KC.  We were going to take a little trip, but Luke said he'd rather do some stuff around here.  We took him to Worlds of Fun for the first time.  It had probably been 10 years since Brandon and I had been...maybe even more.  Luke had a blast...rode some roller coasters for the first time, though we couldn't talk him into the Mamba.  (I was secretly relieved, because I rode it last time I was there and though I love roller coasters, it was a little too tall for my liking).  Brandon and I both discovered rides we will NEVER ride again...the Sea Dragon for him and the Finnish Fling for me.  We've also been roller skating, swimming, and to the movies.  I've been working a lot of afternoons trying to get ready for the school year...I'm teaching 7th grade this year, and so it was a little bit like starting from scratch again.  I'm feeling pretty good about what I got accomplished, though!  Maybe the beginning of the school year won't be TOO stressful!

I'll end this rambling and kind of pointless blog with a funny story about Luke.  He's been really into shooting his Nerf guns at things this week, so Monday evening I suggested he make himself a target.  He thought that was a great idea & he started working on it.  He finished yesterday morning and proudly brought it in to show me.  A little later I heard him shooting away in his room.  Awhile after that, I went in to check it out.  When I looked at it, I couldn't figure out how he got it on the wall...I didn't see any signs of tape or sticky tack, so I asked him about it.  His answer, "Oh, I glued it to the wall," then hesitated, "Is that okay?"  Yep...he glued it to the wall.  Thankfully, with a glue stick & only across the top & bottom of the paper.  It came up with very little trouble.  Then he says, "How am I supposed to know these things.  I'm only a kid!"  So funny.  Well, so funny because it came up...if it hadn't, it probably wouldn't be quite as funny!

So, tomorrow I return to the world of reality.  Summer only lasts so long, and though I love every minute, I do admit that I am looking forward to being back at work in some ways.  Summer really does refresh my attitude and give me a positive outlook for a new year, new kids, new adventures in the classroom.  I just need that attitude to last me through May when it's time for another summer!

Happy 4th!

We had a happy 4th of July spending the day swimming at my mom & dad's.  I got a few pictures before my camera broke. :(  And I just got it for Christmas...which is a huge bummer!

Ellie was having lots of fun with Grandpa.

She's pretty photogenic, don't you think?

I was pretty thrilled to get one of them both looking at me...and smiling!

Luke was EXHAUSTED...but managed to make it until 10:30 watching fireworks!

So I've Been Doing a Little Reading...

My last post about books was at the end of April, and I have read an abundance of books since then.  I started an account on Goodreads, which I love, because it helps me keep track of what I've read and makes recommendations for other things I might like.  If you love to read, check out Goodreads...the more books you rate, the more (and better) recommendations it makes for you!  Here's a rundown of what has come & gone on my bookshelf and Kindle over the last few weeks.

I'll start with some of the YA novels I've read recently.  I am trying to read as many as I can get my hands on, so I can make recommendations to my students about what they might or might not like.  My very favorite that I've read so far:  Divergent, by Veronica Roth.  I'm starting with that, because I just got book 2 in the series Insurgent from the library today.  I can't wait to start it.  Divergent is the story of Tris Prior, who is part of a society where everyone is set apart into 5 factions:  Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful), Dauntless (the brave), Candor (the truthful), and Erudite (the intelligent).  Tris grew up an Abnegation, but at age 16, you take a test to see which faction you best fit into.  You then make the choice to stay with your faction, or join another.  When Tris takes her test, it turns out she is divergent - she could fit into more than one.  Her tester warns her not to let anyone know she is divergent, because it's dangerous to their society.  Tris doesn't really understand why, but has to make a choice.  Once she does, she discovers a plot that could threaten her whole society and has to figure out a way to stop it.  It is non-stop action, and of course, Tris meets a boy and romance ensues, as well.  It is fast-paced and just oh-so-good.  I could not put it down & I can't wait to pick up book 2 later tonight!

In April, I told you about Lauren Oliver, who wrote Delirium and Pandemonium, both of which I loved.  She had one other novel that she wrote first called Before I Fall, so I decided to check it out.  This story follows Samantha, who dies in a car accident, but then proceeds to live the last day of her life over 7 times...until she gets it right.  I don't think I would recommend this book to a middle schooler, but I really liked it myself.  It was an intriguing storyline and I enjoyed seeing Samantha grow from a person I really didn't like at the beginning to someone I did like at the end.




Next up...the Heist series by Ally Carter.  The first book Heist Society, follows Kat Bishop, a thief born and raised in a family of thieves.  She has to pull off her biggest heist yet to save her father.  It was a really fun read.  I just finished the second book, Uncommon Criminals, a couple days ago.  Again, we follow Kat Bishop, who is no longer your everyday thief.  She now steals to return art lost or stolen during the Holocaust to their rightful owners.  When a woman approaches her to steal a famous emerald that was stolen for her family, Kat wants to do the right thing.  Unfortunately, it turns out to the be the wrong thing and Kat has to find a way to make it right again.  These are quick fun reads...written for teens, but I gotta tell you, enjoyable for anyone!

I also read I'd Tell You I Love You, But then I'd Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter.  This is the first in a series about a girls school that trains them to be...spies!  I love the premise.  It follows Cammie, who is a legacy.  Her mom is a former spy and the current headmaster of the school, and her dad (also a spy) was killed in action a few years before.  In the book, Cammie has to grapple with whether becoming is a spy is right for her, because she'd really just like to be normal sometimes.  This was also a really fun read.  I'm definitely planning to read the rest of the books in the series.



I also read Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater.  This one was not really up my alley, but a several of my students read it, so I thought I'd try it out and see what I thought.  The story follows Grace and Sam.  Grace was attacked by wolves as a young girl, but one of those wolves ended up saving her life.  She continued to see her wolf from time to time as she grew up, only to discover that her wolf is actually a werewolf (which is why this book is not up my alley - I've never been able to bring myself to read the Twilight series for the same reason).  Anyhoo, the werewolf is Sam...he is a wolf when it is cold, but when the weather turns warm, he is able to become human again.  However, it is Sam's last time as a human...he's reached the point where once he turns back into a wolf, he'll be a wolf forever, so they have to try to figure out a "cure" to keep him human.  My biggest problem with this book for middle school kids is that the characters have sex...and I'm just not completely comfortable with that with a middle school crowd.  I liked the story better than I thought I would, but for me, it is definitely not a middle school book.

Last in the young adult category...The Selection, by Kiera Cass.  The book takes place 300 years in the future.  The United States was defeated by China in a third world war, and what was once North America is now the country of Ilea, which is ruled by a monarchy.  Whenever there is a prince who comes of age, all girls in each province of a certain age who apply, are placed into a lottery in order to compete for the prince's hand in marriage.  America Singer doesn't want to be part of the selection, she is already in love...but with a boy who is from a lower caste than hers.  He encourages her to apply, so she does, and SURPRISE, she is one of the 35 chosen to go to the capital, live in the palace, and have her life broadcast on national television.  Kind of a futuristic reality show.  She goes, because it will provide much-needed money for her family, and get her away from the boy who broke her heart.  Now...she develops feelings for the prince...but the story ends before the selection is made.  Darn the cliffhanger!  I will definitely be looking for book 2 when it comes out!

Okay...so actual adult novels.  I do read those too.  However, I am really finding that a lot of the young adult fiction out there is every bit as good as what is out there for adults...sometimes better!

First up, my friend Rachel has a reading blog and recommended How to be an American Housewife, by Margaret Dilloway.  I just finished this one today and I loved it.  The story is told from the perspective of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American soldier after WWII and her daughter, Suiko (Sue).  Shoko came to America and wanted to be the best American wife she could be, but her upbringing and culture often play a huge role in who she is as a wife and a mother.  She and her daughter Sue work throughout the novel to come to a place of understanding and closer relationship.  It was a really heartwarming book based on the author's own Japanese-American mother.  I would definitely recommend this one!

Next up, two Nora Roberts' books.  First, The Witness...a story of a genius woman who was witness to a double murder by the Russian mafia at the age of 16.  She has developed a new identity and is living in the Ozarks of Arkansas.  The local chief of police meets her and is intrigued by her eccentricities and true love ensues.  Of course, they also have to bring down the Russian Mafia, who is still after her for all these years.  I loved the main characters in this story - Elizabeth/Abigail was so quirky because she was so incredibly intelligent, yet very literal-minded.  The laid-back chief of police, Brooks, is a great match for her.  Their romance was sweet and funny.  Definitely, a good fun, yet mysterious read!  Also by Ms. Roberts, The Last Boyfriend, book #2 in the Inn Boonsboro series.  In book number one, the first of 3 brothers fell in love and in this one, it is brother #2's turn.  Owen, the middle brother is organized and keeps the family's construction business running like clockwork.  Avery, owner of the local pizzeria is an old friend.  Owen happens to be Avery's first boyfriend...and eventually becomes her...you guessed it, last boyfriend.  Again, a short, fun romance.  The characters are likable and fun to read about.  It would be a great poolside read!

My first book I read poolside on vacation was Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble.  In this book, Lizzie is heading to London to join her boyfriend Andrew.  However, she really only met Andrew briefly before he headed home...and it has been 3 months since she's seen him.  But...it is going to be an adventure!  Unfortunately, for Lizzie, things don't turn out quite as she'd hoped and she ends up joining her friend Shari in France for the summer...and meets a handsome stranger on the way...who ends up being her host.  It's a funny, laugh-out-loud, total chick-lit kind of book.  A great summer beach read.

Another fun, easy read is The Bake-Off by Beth Kendrick.  Linnie and Amy are sisters who haven't spoken to one another in quite some time.  Linnie needs money and Amy needs a break from the chaos of being a mom of 2-year old twins.  Their grandmother decides it's time they fixed the problem in their relationship and tricks them into joining a national bake-off competition as partners.  They learn to bake from their grandmother and find a way back into each other's hearts again.  This was an entertaining and heartwarming story.




I've actually read some non-fiction too.  First up, I read Anna Quindlen's memoir Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. I really have liked her novels, so I thought I'd try this.  It was just okay for me.  She had some interesting and funny stories about her life, but I found that I couldn't really relate to her on some things.  But...if you like memoirs, then I think you'd probably enjoy this one.






I also read Heaven is For Real, by Todd Burpo.  I had heard of the book, but didn't really think much of it until one of my students asked me if I had read it.  Now...he asked me this probably back in November and I just now got to it.  It was a really fascinating story of how the author's son revealed to his parents a visit to heaven when he was deathly ill in the hospital.  The author, a pastor, shares his son's story and the fact that many of his son's experiences line up with what is in scripture.  It is a fascinating story and I would highly recommend it.  Now...hopefully, I run into my student sometime in the near future so I can tell him I read it. :)

Finally, I will close with one of the audio-books Brandon and I listened to on our way home from Phoenix this year.  A Dog's Purpose, by W. Bruce Cameron follows a dog through several reincarnations.  First as Toby, whose mother is wild.  Then as Bailey, a young boy's dog as he grows up.  Next as Ellie, a search and rescue dog, and finally, as Buddy...who finally learns what his real purpose in all those lives was.  This was a great audio-book.  I wasn't sure at first, but it turned into a great story that was really funny, heartbreaking, and heartwarming.  We were excited to see that there is a sequel A Dog's Journey that I think we'll be listening to on our next long road trip!  I would definitely recommend A Dog's Purpose as either an audio-book or to read yourself!

So...there you have it.  I have read some others too...but frankly, these are my favorites of what I've read in the last 2 months, and this post is probably quite long enough!  Especially for someone who has not been a regular blogger lately...

Happy reading!