Art Wall: March 2014

Art Wall as of the first of March. 

Top Row: Painting of a boy in red, painted for mom and dad; a self portrait; four snowflakes; a painting of a red house

Middle Row: a self portrait of Grant playing outside; a snowman with lots of buttons; a lamb made of cotton balls; a girl snowman with a hat and necklace; a Valentine picture (Grant did a really good job coloring it)

Bottom Row: a bear color by number; the letter L; a snowman with a black hat; an award for being kind and caring

10 Months

This girl was 10 months on March 1st.  She is crawling like crazy!  She is really fast.  She has one tooth and is learning how to drink from a straw.  Celeste loves to smile at everyone!

The Walk

The Walk by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is not the greatest of book in terms of a great "story" but it is very thought provoking.

There are already enough reviews about the story itself.  I will say that the story is a little far fetched in terms of actually happening, but sometimes that makes a good story.  I enjoyed this book because it made me thing about the important things in life.  I like to read books like this once in a while.

No sex and no swearing.


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Grant's 6th Birthday

Grant's "real" birthday was a great day!  He was so excited to be 6.  We spent the morning playing and I took him to DK Donut shop.  I let him pick out his birthday donuts.  Grant didn't want birthday cake, but rather birthday donuts.  In the afternoon Grant went to school.  He was excited to tell his friends that he was now 6.  While he was at school I finished wrapping his birthday presents.  We had French Toast for dinner, per Grant's request.  Grant opened his presents and thanks to modern technology Uncle Lee in Arizona and Grandma and Chris from Utah were able to watch him open presents.   He had a great day and is so excited to be 6!

Kindergarten Birthday Celebration

Grant's kindergarten teacher celebrates all of the birthdays in a month at once.  So, the Friday before Grant's real birthday was a birthday treat day.  The kids in the class sang to the birthday kids.  Then they ate the special birthday snacks.  Grant wanted to take rice kris pie treats, however Ms. Clegg doesn't like to have more than one sweet treat.  We had the choice of bringing crackers, cheese or carrot sticks.  Grant's exact words are, "that is lame! Carrots aren't a treat.  I don't want to bring stupid carrots for my birthday."  We decided on crackers and cheese.  Another girl brought cookies and someone else brought fruit.  Grant liked having the kids sing to him and having me come to his class. 

Fireflies In December

Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My neighbor's daughter let me borrow this book.  She is almost 11 years old and I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I did.  It is a sweet story of a young girl coping with the prejudice South.

I liked the way the story flowed.  It was smooth and captivating.  There were parts when I didn't want to put it down.  The story wasn't deep and the plot not very complex which is why I am not giving it 5 stars.  I also didn't like all the focus on Jessilyn's crush on Luke.  I found it a little cumbersome.

Clean!  No swearing and no sex.


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The Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this novel to my 6 year old son.  He really liked it, but was a little confused by the story flow.  He found it confusing.  He kept asking who the main characters were and when we would find out more about them.

I didn't like the ending.  I found it lame.  I don't want to spoil it, but I thought the author did a really job building to the climax of the story.  She did a good job merging all the stories, but a horrible job finishing the story.  I was very disappointed.  My son didn't find it disappointing, but he did ask, "it's over already?"

Fun book.  I enjoyed reading this with my son.


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A Cousin, A Friend

Grant and Evy wanted to watch a show.  Grant knows how to work the t.v. by himself.  The kids went upstairs and when I came up a few minutes later I saw these two cute cousins sitting on the rocking chair together.  They were both intrenched with the Ninja Turtle show and didn't even notice me when I took this picture.  

I hope and pray these two will be friends forever.

Double Birthday Party

On Sunday we had a little party for Grant and Evy.  In the past my sister and I would throw the kids a big themed birthday party.  We haven't been able to have joint cousin parties since we moved away.  This was as close as we could get. 

Grant opened a few presents from my mom.  A Star Wars book and the Millennium Falcon.  I love the picture of pure surprise.  It is a little blurry, but I love the look of pure shock on his face. 

I made a pumpkin cake (per Grant's request) and we blew out candles twice.  We also sang Happy Birthday twice.  Happy Birthday to Grant! Happy Birthday to Evy!

Being Monkeys

Grant loves it when Granny and Evy come to visit.  Evy is a great play mate.  One afternoon the kids went outside to play.  Evy got herself stuck on this trapeze.  I had to RUN and help her get down.  Once I got her down she decided it was fun and so she purposely got "stuck" again.  Then Grant wanted a turn.  Silly monkeys!

Murder On The Orient Express

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16304.Murder_on_the_Orient_Express" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388267702m/16304.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16304.Murder_on_the_Orient_Express">Murder on the Orient Express</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/123715.Agatha_Christie">Agatha Christie</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/869805348">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I was really excited to read an Agatha Christie book.  I was told you don't have to read the Hercule Poirot books in order so I just picked one that sounded good.  <br><br>I was quite disappointed.  It really was such a drag.  I felt like I was listening to an 8 hour version of "How to host a Murder" party.  I dreaded it, but kept listening hoping it would get better.  <br><br>I don't want to spoil it for any other readers, but the ending was kind of hilarious.  I found myself asking, "I listened to the whole book for this? You have to be kidding!"<br><br>Clean.  No swearing or sex.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2251204-kelly">View all my reviews</a>

The Fallen Body

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18883433-the-fallen-body" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Fallen Body (Taylour Dixxon Series)" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388420527m/18883433.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18883433-the-fallen-body">The Fallen Body</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7399675.Stone_Patrick">Stone Patrick</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/869810683">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I enjoyed this clean mystery!  It was captivating and moved quickly.  <br><br>There were parts of this book when I couldn't put it down, which is why I would consider giving it 5 stars.  However, there are parts where the story didn't flow well.  There is a whole section on the LDS sacrament that is pretty detailed that I felt was completely unnecessary.  There were a few other parts that were a little pointless and I found them distracting.  <br><br>No swearing and no sex.<br>Overall this book is a great read and I would consider picking up more books by this author.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2251204-kelly">View all my reviews</a>

Grant's Friend Party

Grant had his first friend party this year.  I planned the party for the weekend before his birthday so his cousin Evy could come.  Grant was more excited for this party than he was for Christmas.  He woke me up 3 times the night before his party to ask me if it was morning yet.  We had the party at Wahooz (a bowling and arcade center).  The kids got to bowl for an hour.  They had so much fun.  

Then they had pizza.  The kids were starving!  Grant opened his presents and our party hostesses played a few party games with the kids.  They made these fun glasses out of pipe cleaners.  Grant wanted donuts for his birthday cake so we sang Happy Birthday and he blew out his candles.  

The kids went on the new 3D ride call X-Ride.  The one boy didn't want to go on the ride and so I stood with him.  (I was kind of bummed because I wanted to go on it too.)  Oh well!

After Grant's friends went home we stayed a little longer to let Evy and Grant play on the arcades.  Grant had so much fun!  

My Baby Girl

Celeste is the happiest little girl I know!  She is always so smiley. She hardly every is upset and has such a pleasant demeanor.  We love her to pieces.
(Pictures taken February 8, 2014)