Patty Jane's House of Curl: A Novel by Lorna Landvik

Patty Jane's House of Curl: A Novel by Lorna Landvik

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book. The characters were very likeable even though each had their own flaws. It was very sad at different points in the book and each person had their own personal demons they had to face. But overall, it makes you feel that even if you have had a bad life, there's always something good around the bend and life is worth living.



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Pictures With Santa and Christmas Card

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you have a wonderful holiday season
and a blessed New Year!

These are the kids' pictures with Santa and our Christmas card this year!

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The book was great, just like the other two in the trilogy. I felt like it was a little slower in the beginning but once I got to the main part of the book, I couldn't put it down! I had to know what was going to happen. The good thing about this author is she doesn't mind killing off characters that the reader has become attached to, so you never know what's going to happen and it keeps the suspense alive. Great chapter ending again... loved it!



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Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Loved this book! It was a great continuation of the trilogy. The author has done it again with ending each chapter so that I feel that I have to continue reading to find out what happened. There were a lot of twists and turns in this one which kept me interested from start to finish. Can't wait to read the third book.



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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow! I loved this book! The concept behind the storyline was very interesting and I really enjoyed how the author would end each chapter making you want to continue to find out what happen. I found myself not being able to put the book down and really caring about the characters involved. Even though it does have some violence, it didn't turn away squirmish people like myself. Great book... can't wait to read the next two.



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Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Overall, I liked the book a lot. Anything spooky is right up my alley. However, some of the things in the story didn't make sense to me, and I couldn't get over them throughout the story. In Part III, I couldn't put the book down and I couldn't wait to see what happened at the end. However, the ending disappointed me so much and I hated it. I would have liked to have seen Valentina's character do more than she did.



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The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney

The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book so much. It is about four really different women who started a women's group and kept it going for over nine years. It is about their personal struggles as well as some group conflicts at times. The book discusses some background of each woman and is interesting from the start, however, the last half of the book really kept me captivated. I found myself laughing and crying... a really good book.


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Eat, Pray, Love by Melissa Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book, not as much as I thought I would, but still, it was good. I found myself devouring the Italy section and the Indonesia section but the India section became really boring for me. I guess there was only so much I could read about someone else's meditation. At some points, it even became annoying but once I was through with it, the book picked up for me.



I LOVED the Italy section and found myself wanting to go to Rome to check out everything, the food, the people, the language. She wrote about Italy with so much passion that I just felt I needed to visit.



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Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It was a very interesting concept about a child being kidnapped when she was 4 but growing up not realizing she was. Twenty-eight years later, they arrest her dad for kidnapping and then the book is about all that takes place to find out if he was at fault or not. I really enjoyed it.

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Remembering Christian and Christina

It has been two years today that I miscarried my twins and I just wanted to remember them. It was a rather uneventful day today except that I got tons of work done on our websites and I ran almost the entire five miles. It feels like my little angels have been with me all day.



Here is their rememberance link:

Christina and Christian Saieh's Rememberance Site

Eclipse Movie : The Twilight Saga

Last night, my friends Jessica, Daphne and I went out to Alamo Drafthouse to see Eclipse. We had such a nice time talking and laughing. It was great to get a chance to hang out with them and watch a movie that we all enjoy.



The movie, in my opinion, was really good. I had read the book over two years ago and in the last few days leading up to the movie, I listened to the audiobook on youtube to refresh my memory. Several things in the movie were out of order (for example: Rosalie's story of her previous life, the slumber party, etc.) but done really well and kept the story moving along. Had they followed the book exactly, it probably would have been really confusing for the movie goer and wouldn't have been beneficial at all.



One thing I really like about The Twilight Saga so far is that there isn't a whole lot of gore at all. They keep the vampire/werewolf fights quick, to the point, and no blood. I'm really glad that even as they are doing these movies and getting better at them, they still haven't changed the fact that it's, bottomline, a love story or a love triangle, if you will. I am really excited about the next two, Breaking Dawn, which will be in two parts. They should be really good and I'm anticipating great things.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this short read. It gave more insight into the character of Bree and why she behaved the way she did in Eclipse. I enjoyed reading the author's note saying that once she finished this book, that she wished she had ended Eclipse a little differently. It was good.

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10 Pounds Down - A Whole Lot More To Go!

Since the kids started summer school, I have been jogging about 3 miles every week day morning. It feels so good to get in some much needed exercise. I also have been watching what I eat but not to the point where I feel deprived and surprise! I'm down 10 pounds.

My goal is to continue with the 3 miles and try to build up a little more every week. Hopefully, by the time school starts in the fall, I can lose 20 more pounds and I will be where I'd like to be. Wish me luck!

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved it, such a great read. I never really liked historical novels but Michelle Moran does a great job painting a picture for you. The only thing I wish I knew before I started reading the book was that there was a glossary for all the terms in the back. I figured the terms out regardless without having to look at a dictionary but if it was mentioned in the beginning, I totally would have used it.

The story begins in Egypt with Cleopatra, Marc Anthony and their children. The children are captured and taken back to Rome to live out their life there. It is extremely interesting and I loved every minute of it.

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Seaworld Trip

We had a one week break between the end of school and the start of summer school, so we took a two day vacation to Seaworld San Antonio. The first day, we covered all the shows and dry things and the second day was all rides and wet things. We all had a really great time and it was the first time Kamal's cousin Rajaa had ever been. He even went on a few of the rides with me which was great considering that Kamal won't step foot on anything but the Rio Loco ride (river rapids). We had a wonderful time.

My brave little boys went on the Sidewinder ride and the Bowl ride (which is double innertube riders and Mom can ride with them) and Austin went one step further and rode a slide all by himself (which worried me so much). But he made it down without any problems and ended up doing it two more times! He had a blast!

Austin's Pre-K Birthday Party

Since Austin's birthday falls during the summer, his teacher said that it would be okay if he wanted to celebrate his birthday at school with his friends. So we took Buzz Lightyear cupcakes, juice and goodie bags for all his friends in Pre-K. They had such a great time sitting on the wall eating their cupcakes, and even his brother got to join in on the fun.



This was two class pictures I took of his class. They are so cute!

Lance's 6th Birthday

We were invited to celebrate Lance's 6th Birthday at the YMCA pool, however, the weather didn't turn out and the pool party was moved inside. The kids didn't seem to mind and had a blast playing on the playscape. The boys had a great time. Thank you Lance, Amber and family for inviting us to such a fun party. Great homemade cupcakes too!

Splashpark Playdate

This was a splash park playdate that we had with our friends. The kids had a great time playing in the water and then we had a "mini picnic" which the kids enjoyed as well. It was a great time.

Field Day at School #2

This was the postponed Field Day for the school and the kids had a blast. I had to keep running back and forth between Austin's and Danny's different field days but it was well worth it to see the smiles on their faces.

Austin's field day was in the courtyard of the school and they had a blast playing catch with water balloons, running through a cool sprinkler and playing with pool toys with the kiddie pool. Austin LOVED throwing water balloons with Mrs. Watson and I got some video of him and her enjoying their time together. After they were done with the outdoors stuff, they went back to the classroom to watch a movie... Sleeping Beauty. It was so cute how all the kids loved that one.

Danny's field day was in the parking lot and playground area and their class went from one fun thing to another. There were jumpers and water slides and relay races and ice cream pops. It was an awesome day!

After all the festivities, Austin and I joined Danny for lunch in the cafeteria. Afterward, the kindergarteners were doing bathroom break and Mrs. Francis included Austin. He felt so big. She told me that they were doing Fun Friday and that Austin was welcome to take a nap with them, watch a movie and do centers if he wanted to. I said that would be fine, that I would pick up my cooler (that I brought the water balloons in), take it to my car and would come back to get him. When I came back, it was so cute to see Danny and Austin lying down together with their heads next to each other whispering. Then, when naptime was over, they went next door to watch "The Lion King". We got half way through the movie and I told Danny that we should just go home and he threw a fit! He wanted to stay for centers. We ended up staying and they both had a really good time at the computer for centers. It was a very long day but the boys loved it. I'm glad I let Austin (and me) stay for the day.

Field Day at School #1

The school had a field day scheduled but it got rained out. However, Austin's pre-k class still did part of theirs because it was indoor activities. They had a lot of fun doing scooters, playing in shaving cream, bubbles and having popcicles as they watched a movie. It was a lot of fun. I also got some pictures of Austin and his friend Melody getting their faces painted... it was so cute!

Kinder Field Trip to Crowe's Nest Farm

The kindergarten class had a field trip to Crowe's Nest Farm and I went along to help out. Danny's teacher, Mrs. Francis, assigned each parent 2 kids to watch while we were at the farm and to make sure they go to the bathroom, etc. She pulled me aside when I got to the classroom and told me that she had assigned me 3 kids but that it was Danny, Evelyn and Andres and since Evelyn and Andres are really quiet, I shouldn't have a problem. I watched them get on the bus and then rode to Crowe's Nest Farm with my friends Melissa, Bob, Michelle and Kristen.

Once we got there, everyone walked over to the pavillion to have lunch. It was really nice as all the kids were eating, laughing and enjoying themselves and the parents were getting to enjoy eating with their kids. Then, we had a bathroom break in which I took my three kids to the bathroom. Around 12pm, they led us into the farm to a barn where they gave us an overview of the whole farm and what it was about. Then, we got to see turtles, snakes, spiders, etc. The kids had a great time.

Next, we got to go on a hayride driven by a tractor. While on that ride, we saw buffalo, ostriches, and longhorn cattle. It was a lot of fun. After we got off the hayride, we went over to the milking barn where we saw a cow being milked. Then, it was off to see the other animals like praire dogs, goats, pigs, chickens, etc. We also made our way through a wooded Fairy land. Fun!

I was so glad that I got to share this day with my Danny. While Mrs. Francis was right about Evelyn and Andres not giving me any trouble at all (they were AWESOME and always listened to me), Danny was not as cooperative. I was about to pull my hair out because he kept trying to walk ahead and leave us. And mom calling him back was cramping his style. But still, it was a lot of fun.