Beth gives this book 5 stars
After "The Given Day", I went right into "Firefly Lane" by Kristin Hannah. I saw this book on the bestseller shelf at Barnes & Noble, and so when I got home, I reserved it at the library. I would describe this book as being perfect for a cross-country airplane trip... it's fun, it's a page-turner, but there's nothing so deep going on that you would mind being interrupted by a flight attendant getting a drink order. I actually liked the first half of the book alot, but I found the second half to be predictable and cliched and kind of annoying. I saw the ending coming from a couple hundred pages a way and was not a big fan of how it was carried out. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but there was one part about the ending that really annoyed me, and it was such a small thing. But, it bugs me every time I think about the it. Anyway, when I was just grabbing the book cover photo, I noticed that one reviewer compared this book to a Lifetime Movie, and I think that's fairly apt. Still, in its defense, it was always entertaining.
Beth gives this book 3 stars
The boys and I spent the morning at the library - they enjoyed storytime, while I got to pick out their books in peace and chat with friends. Loved it. After that, I decided to do something a little nutty and take the boys out to lunch for Thai food. The boys were so well-behaved and fun, and I just really enjoyed it. I just really enjoy in general that I can take the boys out to eat by myself and have it be fun and relaxing and not the least bit stressful. Both of them kept saying the cutest thing...
Brandon: "Pad See-Ew is what Brandons like best!" (Tigger reference there)
Parker, after the owner of the restaurant asked if I take care of the kids every day: "Sometimes Mommy goes to the gym and then Daddy takes care of us!"
Parker, after I scooped up some rice on his spoon for him: "Who did that?? How did that get there??"
Maybe you had to be there, but I wanted to cover them in kisses pretty much the whole meal, just because they were being so darn adorable. I think they were just both pretty psyched to go out to lunch on whim for no special reason.
On a totally different note, we had a kind of a mixed bag of a weekend. Saturday was really fun... we took the kids to a new (to us) children's museum, and they really liked it. So, I was pretty psyched to discover that place, and I'm considering having Parker's birthday party there. It's relatively inexpensive and they take care of all the paper goods and cake and such so that all I have to do is show up. It's tempting because unlike for Brandon's birthday, the weather probably won't be nice enough to have Parker's party outside. So, you are looking at something close to 30 people in our house, which gets to be a bit insane, especially when half of them like to run around and scream the vast majority of the time.
But, back to our weekend... Chad was knee-deep in a new desk the rest of the weekend. He went to IKEA on Saturday night, after the kids were in bed and bought the sucker (which means I really didn't see him at all that night), and then I took the boys out all Sunday morning so that he could work on putting it together. I was none to pleased to be getting the boys dressed, brushing their teeth and taking them out all morning on a Sunday. We actually had a good time, but I still just have a hard time being left alone with the kids, pyschologically, on the weekends. I just feel like, do I really have to do this again, on what is supposed to be as close to a day off as I'm ever going to get?? As I said, we actually had fun, and I know that Chad was happy to have the time to work on the desk, but it just made the weekend feel a bit more tiring than I would have liked! On the plus side, one of the things the boys and I did on Sunday morning was sign them up for swim lessons, starting later in March. I'm so excited that I finally remembered to sign them up for a session before it filled up! I took them to the pool to show it to them, too, and they are all excited now to start. And since they are taking the class together, I think they are going to really enjoy it. I hope they grow up loving the pool and swimming as much as I did, and still do.
Speaking of pools, the new gym that I joined in November finally opened this weekend! It was supposed to open in late January, but had some delays. It's a nice facility, but, get this, the pool is still not ready! The rest of the gym is open, but not the pool. Funny because I'm still paying the full monthly cost that includes use of the pool. Not to mention that I am a bit uptight about not missing workouts, so I need to get at least one swim in a week. My membership at my old gym expires on Saturday, so I was able to go there this morning and get in a swim. So far, the new gym is saying the pool will be open in another week, so I'm hoping I can get in one more swim this weekend at my old gym and then make it a few days until the new one opens. If not, my back-up plan is to visit some other local gyms with pools and do tours and then use the one-day pass they usually give you to go for a swim. Aren't I clever?
Chad had a 8am meeting scheduled this morning, so I got up at 5am to swim. Apparently, the meeting was then canceled at 7:55am... not cool, people!! I could have used some more sleep! As I'm sure Chad could have. Not to mention the boys who also got up by 6am because they never want to missing seeing Daddy before he leaves for work. Luckily, they also canceled his 8am on Thursday, so hopefully this is my earliest morning of the week.
This has been a marathon post, which apparently what happens when I wait so long! If I don't get back here for a few more days, you can just re-read and savor this one.
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