Next Book Review

I got Family by Design by Heather Justesen in the mail today and already finished it, so that should tell you something!  I LOVED it!  I'm so glad that I paid full price for it (even though I love a good sale)!  Luckily I got the companion novella for free and that helped my bargain-conscious mind.  Anyway, on to the book!  Rena is the epitome of the older than 30 Single Adult who is dying to have a family and desperately wants to find Mr. Right.  She is dating someone, but there's no spark.  She still considers him, because she is starting to feel desperate.  On the other hand, Tucker is her best friend and has a LOT going on!  His brother and sister-in-law die in a car accident, telling him that they want him to get their two kiddos, but as a Marine and businessman, it is a concern to the Social worker.  Tucker comes up with a great plan to propose marriage to Rena, since they are best friends, get along great, and obviously they are both sadly single.  Rena starts to consider it, but when he kisses her, her doubts fade pretty fast.  So, she says yes and they have about two weeks to plan a small wedding.  In the midst of it all, the kids and their Great Aunt get into a car accident and the kids are fine, but she's stuck in the hospital for awhile.  Then they have to work, plan a wedding and take care of two kids.  Chaos ensues.  Poor Rena is suffering through all of these random mistakes at work (turns out they aren't her mistakes), and has to fix things in the midst of the hurried preparations.  They get married in the Temple (Aaahhhhh...) and start working on progressing from friends to spouses to find...Du duh dum...To be continued when you read the book.  It's great!  I promise!  You will laugh, cry, and feel their pain and joy!  P.S.  Heather if you read this, I want to know what happens next!  I read the novella to hear about Chelsea, but what about what happens in ten years.  How does she handle mommydom with her awesome interior design work?  I'm curious!

Contention

I don't do well with it.  At all.  When my kids fight, it makes me feel all antsy inside.  When someone frowns or says something sarcastic to me, I start to shut down a little.  You know that "Fight or Flight" reflex?  It totally kicks in for me whenever there is contention.  I want to fly and then when I'm away, I seriously shut down. 
Explanation:  I was talking to my mom late last night (after ten), and she was letting me know that Mamaw isn't doing well.  I love my Mamaw, but don't call her near as much as I would like to!  So, I already felt like I wasn't doing enough, and then to find out she wasn't doing well hit me pretty hard!  I posted on Facebook that I was worried about her, and things went crazily downhill from there!  People started asking what was going on and my Aunt was able to tell them.  I didn't see anything until this morning.  Craziness!  Then after church one of my cousins had commented that she was mad that no one had told her.  Commence the shutting down...  I understand that people don't want to be notified about big things on the Internet (I learned that from announcing a pregnancy on there and my sister-in-law getting upset, for good reason).  I knew that Jan and my mom were likely the only ones that knew, since my Mamaw was hiding it, but why do I feel like I'm the one who's being attacked?  It makes me want to not write on Facebook.  Which is silly.  I have feelings and I shared them.  Is that bad? 
So, now I'm somewhat shut down and Ben keeps picking on Emma.  I don't understand it!  Why do people fight over completely STUPID things?  Why don't we just work together and be nice?  All of us should have learned about that growing up, so WHY DON'T WE DO IT???  As a parent, I tell my children all the time to be nice and not fight and try my very best to model that as a parent and future teacher!  So, what is the deal?  Aren't we adults?  Shouldn't we be able to talk things out nicely?  Anyone know and can help me out here? 

Fun kiddos

Because it's Friday, I finally get to spend quality time with my lil' girls!  It's always fun to play with these girls that have such interesting ideas!  Emma is trying so hard to become Kira, which is no bueno.  Very much no bueno!  She is trying so hard to be helpful though!  She was worried about Leah going down the stairs the wrong way, so she helped her.  She also took stuff away from Leah, because it was Kira's stuff and we all know that taking Kira's stuff is bad news!  Emma helped me add the flower to her shirt.  So, she was able to sew for the first time.  She did pretty well!
  I love that Leah girl, she can be so sweet!  She walks up and says she wants to comb my hair and so I asked her if she had a comb (which she didn't) and I grabbed  a brush for her.  She's been a lot nicer lately (as opposed to the head banging and/or hair rolling/tangling)!  Phew!  She even brushed longer than four times.  She loves having her hair brushed too, so usually she brushes my hair to get her hair brushed.  So sweet!  She'll give me big hugs and tell me: "I love you too mom!"  Of course I tell her I love her too! 
Cecilia is in the adorable toddler stage, which sadly includes the accidents stage.  She climbs up the bench a lot!  Sometimes on top of the table.  I keep a pretty close eye on her, although I'm still not fast enough every time!  I'm working on it!  I keep hoping she learns to stop climbing the bench!  Poor baby was so tired, so I put her in bed and I love how usually she settles down pretty fast after snuggling up to Violet and listening to the classical music she plays at "bedtime," but tonight not so much.  She was too tired.  She went to sleep pretty fast though!  Phew!

 In the flower shirts that I adorned.

 In their Valentine Dresses from Old Navy (I LOVE Old Navy)

Ben is catching on to the times tables and can add pretty well, it's subtraction that is harder for him.  I'm trying to help him as much as I can!  He's prepping me very well for my future Masters in Special Ed. 
Kira was thrilled to get a 100 on her Spelling test!  I'm pretty excited too!  She's getting better!  I like to think the glasses are the reason she's doing so much better!  And today Emma accidentally pushed her and Kira was hurt, but she stayed calm!  Hurray!  Scott and I immediately complimented her ability to stay calm!  Positive reinforcement immediately! 
Fun times at the Westhoffs, even if Scott didn't get a call back about the job.  Bummer!  But, I'm still hoping for the Bilingual Teacher Aide job for him!  I think it would be awesome!  We have to figure out something!  The daycare I checked out seems pretty fantastic, but expensive ($160 for my three girls for two days a week).  So, if Scott did get the Para job, he'd be making maybe $100 more than what we would pay for the two full days I go to school.  Stink!  We're also thinking hard about what we're doing in the Fall.  I'm having a baby in July, and school starts in August.  This will also be the Semester where relationships die (from what I hear), and I won't know what school I'm assigned to until right before.  So, either I find someone awesome to watch my baby (MY BABY!!!) plus my other babies and get Emma and Leah into school in Olathe.  Or we figure out how to make a ton of money, because it will cost about $5000 for daycare for the Semester.  And my student loans aren't anywhere close to that.  So, lots of prayers and thinking going on here!  LOTS! 

Day 2 of Weaning

Why do I always forget how hard this is?  I made it through yesterday okay, but last night she drank hardly any of her milk (strawberry flavored, of course).  So, this morning I had the opportunity to wake up at 4:30 to go downstairs and get her milk out of the fridge.  In the meantime, I'm hurting!  Luckily on only one side, because I weaned her from the other side last week.  Yikes!  I sure love this adorable little girl, but I wasn't producing anymore.  The baby in my belly was getting everything, so Cecilia was just hurting me and still hungry.  Poor kiddo!  She seems pretty happy about her milk, and we're hoping to wean off the strawberry relatively quickly!

Rodent bones

Yesterday was my looooong day at school!  Luckily I was no longer contagious by lunch (from the Strep Throat) and I felt fantastic!  Woohoo!  Either way, I dropped the kids off and went to school.  My first class I'm working on a Pecha Kuchua (Not postive on the spelling) Presentation about me.  I only got 8 slides done!  Yikes!  In an hour and a half.  That's not a good sign.  So, I have to go back and work on it some more.  My next class (still across campus) I didn't manage to finish drawing my cacti.  It's looking cool though!  I came home for Scott to make a salad and me to feed Cecilia.  I had to take the salad with me.  Though the teacher doesn't mind!  We spent the next two hours going over the huge project we need to work on (although I'm not completely worried).  Then we rolled our cans and mine EVEN ROLLED UPHILL!  Woohoo!  So, I had to show him!  We hung around for our next class and managed to make it through.  I wanted to work on my owl pellet while I was still there.  I worked on it the next hour!  And the bones are still in my head, I was seriously concentrating on it.  I still need to finish getting out the hair (YUCK) and separate the bones out into skeletons to glue onto paper.  Um, yeah.  Fun times.  I called Scott to let him know what was up and found out that he had called Sears to fix our dishwasher and a guy had come and fixed the dishwasher.  The bad news was that it just wasn't plugged in well enough and cost us $130.  Then as he was working on it, Scott had to get Ben and the van wouldn't start, so he had to bring the girls in the stroller to get Ben, in the cold!  Ben had a Think Sheet.  Which I didn't find out about until later that night.  He pointed his fingers like a gun at his Resource Room Teacher to get out of the classroom!  Gggrrr!  So, we had a talk!  Anyway, I left the bones to get Kira.  No problem there.  Phew!  Scott had cleaned rather nicely, but cancelled the babysitter (since fixing the dishwasher was so expensive).  So, I used my free Redbox code for a movie and we put the kids to bed a little early and watched Monte Carlo.  We really liked it!  We laughed, which was great!  I LOVE clean shows!  I had to work hard to find a show that was PG and not a cartoon!  Ridiculous! 
Either way, we made it through yesterday and I'm praying that Scott gets this job at the Middle School that he's interviewing for right now!  Even if I have to figure out a sitter!

Tenth Review

Phew!  I'll be all caught up and can start reading again!  This is the sequel to Timeless Moments-Forget Me Not by Michele Ashman Bell, although technically it can be read alone.  This is when they decide to go to Vietnam to help heal them.  The husband-Dalton wants to go and get past his PTSD from being a POW.  The daughter Skyler wants to get to know her mom's side of the family and why her mom was so depressed and committed suicide.  At first Skyler doesn't want her stepmom to be there (although she loves her), but changes her mind once she realizes her dad needs her help!  Crazy things happen as they try and get answers!  Wow!  Seriously, I can't give it away, but Skyler does get to meet her extended family and finds love on the journey.  There are some loose ends tied up in this book from the last book-so we find out what happens to her best friend and how her son does on his mission and how his life is going.

Ninth Book review

In case you're wondering why I am able to do these lots of reviews, it's because I'm contagious and can't leave my house.  Fun times.  So, I'm finally able to write up all these reviews of books I've read this past couple of weeks!  Since I started in the Michele Ashman Bell part of my bookshelf, I went on to Timeless Moments by her.  This one is absolutely gripping!  It's about Paige, who got breast cancer and her selfish husband couldn't handle it, so he divorced her!  Leaving her to fend for herself and her son (who was in high school)!  Mad craziness!  Luckily, she had her best friend who gave her a MIA/POW bracelet when she was 16, which leads her to write to the soldier's family and when her son finds out about it as they're going through stuff before he leaves for college, he makes her promise to write them and see if he was found.  She does and gets an immediate response, which she brings with her to visit her son and best friend who live close to him (what a coincidence)!  They end up spending lots of time together and he has lots of flashbacks to the Vietnam War.  He has a daughter who is a teenager and Paige is able to understand her pretty well!  So, she helps him out with his daughter who acts out.  Her son starts doing crazy things thanks to his "friend" and who helps him out is quite the surprise!  A very great story!  Especially for those who are dealing with or have dealt with cancer (her best friend gets it and she tries to help her out).

Eighth Book Review

I started picking some of my old favorites out of my bookshelf and picked up Finding Paradise by Michele Ashman Bell.  I really enjoy her writing.  This is about a librarian Morgan who goes out of her box to Cancun to her best friend's beach wedding and how her life completely changes because of it!  She hangs out with the groom's best man and he helps her do things she was too scared to try.  The largest part of the book is her trying to figure out if it's really love or if she should just go for the guy who's there (her on-off boyfriend).  Because the other guy, yes she felt a connection but they hadn't seen in each other and he hardly ever talked to her, so she just wasn't sure.  I'm super glad that she figured things out, because the boyfriend was BORING!  Great dialogue and certainly encourages going out and doing fun things-especially karaoke!

Seventh Book Review

Back to Love Inspired Suspense-this one is The Last Target by Christy Barritt.  This one has a single mom and her young son who are suddenly shot at while at a public playground!  The good guys swoop in and save her and continue trying to do so while being attacked at every turn in super sneaky ways.  I suspected who was the ultimate leak, but was super surprised as to the why (although it was good news for her)!  And everything turns out alright at the end.  Phew!

Sixth Book Review

A Love Inspired Book called Rocky Mountain Hero by Audra Harders.  This one is about a single mom and her son who are on their way to her job interview when her truck goes off the road and crashes big time!  She needs help, but doesn't have the money to fix her truck and start life in a new place, so when her rescuer offers to fix her truck if she just takes over helping with a barbecue, she gives in!  Talk about a run-on sentence!  She learns to love the town, the people, and of course, her rescuer.  Very cute story!  I can't imagine anything like that happening in real life, but it's not meant to be real, right?  I especially like the ending, very nicely done!

Fifth Review

This one I read on my Kindle on my husband's laptop.  It is Dusty Britches by Marcia Lynn McClure.  If you've never read any of her books, SHAME ON YOU!  She is fantastic!  Her writing is clean with some very good kisses and the romance is outstanding!  She has written a ton of books and of the many I have read, I've enjoyed every one!  I find I prefer the historic ones, but I love all of them!  Anyway, this one actually has three romances in it!  I know, a three-for-one, fantastic!  It is how a whole family finds love!  The main female character Angelina (known as Dusty) and her sister Becca and her Dad all manage to end the book happily in love.  It's interesting that all of the female characters fell in love with their men when they were young, and they have to deal with those feelings until old enough to act on them.  I really enjoyed the backstories that were put in, so we could see them younger!  And the ending-totally wasn't expecting that!  Talk about a conflict!  I could have done without the imagery of skin being torn though.

Fourth Book review

So, I'm about to start a slew of these, so be prepared!  This one is Princess in Peril by Rachelle McCalla.  This is one from the Love Inspired Suspense Line which is fantastic!  Reclaiming the Crown is the series and I really enjoyed this one!  It's about Princess Isabelle from a made up country Lydia, that is saved by her bodyguard when insurgents attack their motorcade.  It progresses to the point that she figures out who the bad guys are and she has to figure out how to save herself and her family from their evil clutches.  I LOVED IT!  I was actually upset that the next one isn't out yet (even though I know it's hard for authors to churn them out)!  I assumed that the whole series had already been written and was just being printed.  I'm looking very much forward to seeing how the rest of the family survived the attack and who they end up with (since they are all romances)!

To add something else

So, I felt HORRIBLE yesterday and could not figure out why!  I wasn't able to eat much of my cereal before going out into the horrible cold world to drop my kids off at school and walk across campus (because I refuse to pay for parking unless absolutely necessary).  I just felt weird (lightheaded, achy, just not well), so I splurged and bought a bacon and egg biscuit and Naked juice (that name cracks me up) to eat in the hopes that that would help me make it through my long day.  It made the nauseousness fade (which was TERRIFIC) and I managed to make it through my first class with a minimum of antsiness.  Then another walk across campus to my next class (so then I was by my car) and did okay there (have I mentioned how much I LOVE one hour classes?).  I really wasn't feeling well, but was able to get past it.  But after I came home and fed Cecilia and had to hightail it back to school (I have 40 minutes to feed myself and Cecilia and go to and from class, so usually Cecilia eats and I don't).  I had managed to microwave some frozen mixed vegetables to eat during class.  It took forever for me to eat them!  That was my first sign.  Then I felt super light headed going up and down the stairs and standing there.  After that I felt sick at having to pull apart an owl pellet.  I was having a super hard time by the time my next class started.  I could not sit still and it was an hour and a half class where you just sit there the whole time.  UGH!  If nothing else, it's helping me feel for those kids that are told to sit still for long periods of time.  Poor kiddos!  I can't do it, so I can't imagine forcing kiddos to!  We'll have a very active class I'm thinking!  We'll see, I still have awhile and I have to make it through the next 3 semesters! 
Either way,  I wasn't feeling well!  I was feeling very overwhelmed with all the work I have to do in the next week and was just feeling it.  I have to make a can roll forward and backward and can't google it!  By tomorrow!  Plus we have to finish taking the owl pellet apart, putting all of the bones into a skeleton(s) and write a story about the crime committed. (Ours are going to be traitors that are punished by being eaten.)  So, after I finally got out of class (I'm in class from 9:30-11:50 and 12:30 to 4:20), I went to the grocery store, because the only thing that sounded good was fruit and fresh bread.  So I got lots of fruit, OJ and frozen pizza.  Yum!  I was able to eat a whole slice!  Scott gave me a long blessing and I really felt Heavenly Father's love and concern for me!  My headache immediately went away and I was able to function that much better!  After I got the girls in bed I got to take a break!  Then I ate cherries while watching Storm Riders.  I was able to straighten up some and went to bed at 9:30 (which is unusually early for me).
Due to the early bedtime, I was wide awake at 5:17, but refused to get out of bed until 5:30, so I got my full 8 hours of shut eye.  Then I was able to separate some clothes before Cecilia woke up.  She really enjoyed mommy and Cecilia time!  She was so cute and oh-so-funny!  She walked over with Kira's hula hoop and set it down around her and looked down at it like: "Hey!  Why aren't you circling around me?"  She was very confused!  Then Scott got up and she had both parents to herself!  Talk about excitement!  I very impatiently waited to call into the nurse to inform her of the possibility of having strep throat.  Scott thought he had it again too.  I brought the kids to school and then Scott took his turn getting swabbed and then I went in.  There was no way I was going to get these girls dressed and out for us to have stuff gag us.  No thanks!  So we took turns.  Scott was negative and I was postitive.  Hurray.  I do feel much better today!  My throat hurts, but not horrible.  Mainly feels clogged.  My body doesn't hurt all over.  So, all in all, I think my blessing REALLY helped.  I'm so grateful for the Priesthood in my house!

Some of my new creations

To share some of the fun things I made this weekend!

 Three leaf clover clippies for March

 A Heart clippie for Valentine's Day

And check out the adorable little girl I did a photo session of yesterday! 

I cut out the heart rug, plus the I and U (and a little heart).  So cute! 

I might do Valentine's Day minisessions!

My creativity just left!

Not that I blame it!  It has been a rough week!  I fell down the stairs on Friday night and have still been feeling it!  My poor tailbone!  I'm feeling much better now, but am sitting on a pillow, so that might not count.  I'm just excited to be able to get up and down without concentrating!  I was very happy the first few times I did it!  I managed to get through Nursery on Sunday with no thanks to my fellow worker (who didn't show or call) or my husband who was sick and stayed home.  Speaking of said husband (mainly because I LOVE tangents), he has been falling to pieces lately.  The only good news that he has gotten is that his heart is good (which is TERRIFIC news)!  He had strep throat (he thought it was just a cold). And he will be having surgery on his umbilical hernia in a little more than a week and then he has a sleep study to see what is wrong with him!  I'm alternately praying that he gets a job, but not until February, so we can get through all of this first!  Then I have to figure out the whole babysitter thing, but I'm taking things one step at a time!
I started school this week and had the blessed opportunity to get a TB test and my blood taken, all within two days.  I feel incredibly lucky though, because my test was negative!  One of the girls wasn't, and I can't imagine how she feels!  I had to spend over $600 on books!  YIKES!!!  I seriously wonder about how they really feel about teachers.  Are we supposed to be privately funded, because those books cost a fifth of what I got, and we still have to make it to August!  There's no year-round Pell grants anymore.  Thank you wise government.  I appreciate the opportunity to vacation and not go anywhere, because I have no money.  Especially when I start school in August and have no time for work or my family.  We were told that if we had family or fiances to let them go.  Say what?  I say NO WAY!  Especially with a new baby coming (I heard the baby's heartbeat on Wednesday)! 
Sorry, off the soap box.  Either way, I'm excited for the chance to become a teacher and help children learn!  I am really looking forward to all of the teaches I get to do this semester that will better prepare me for the craziness that is Block 2! 
Now if I can just get my photography business off the ground, Leah potty trained, Cecilia weaned, and Scott just trained, I will feel like I am going the right way!
I sure had fun this morning after a very early night (I had my version of a migraine-black spots, so I can do much of anything and went to bed early)!  I woke up early with my little bit and got to having fun!  I straightened up some, cut out a heart and I heart u out of a pinkish shag rug.  I was using the wrong scissors and felt rather silly when Scott pointed out that the Cutco scissors weren't for material.  They can cut through pennies, but not fabric.  Weird!  Then I made a cute little Valentine onesie for the baby coming on Wednesday for pictures.  I also made more of the cute heart hair clippies.  Adorable!  Then I wanted to work on March hair clippies too, so I made some three leaf clover clippies too!  So, now I have two months taken care of in my year assortment (I want to make bows for a whole year to sell)!  I think I'm going to do flowers and rainbows next.  Or butterflies.
Either way, that is why my creativity is gone.  I used it all up this morning in between my girls making each other scream.  While asking if I was making bows for them (of course).  Hurray for Fridays!  Bring on Saturday!

Third book review

Yes, I did read two books in one day.  Mainly because my tooth hurt and I had to wait for almost three hours at the dentist's office waiting to get squeezed it, but they did and I'm very grateful!  I found out about this book last night when my friend (who's the author) mentioned she had a book out and it was FREE on the Kindle on Amazon.  Score!  I have been wanting to read it since I heard she was working on it, but wasn't one of the lucky few.  Oh well, I am now!  The book is called On Little Wings and it's by Regina Sirois (who is completely amazing)!  Now, for the book review: 

Oh how I loved this book! It was great writing! It was long enough to make me sit down and read for more than a couple of hours! Hurray! I desperately wanted to read, even when I was supposed to be cleaning right before the babysitter came, but I had to know what would happen before I could clean! (Don't worry the 45 minutes we had after I finished gave us time to clean the main floor) I loved the ending, I didn't feel like it was abrupt or left us hanging (too much). I also liked that the...moreOh how I loved this book! It was great writing! It was long enough to make me sit down and read for more than a couple of hours! Hurray! I desperately wanted to read, even when I was supposed to be cleaning right before the babysitter came, but I had to know what would happen before I could clean! (Don't worry the 45 minutes we had after I finished gave us time to clean the main floor) I loved the ending, I didn't feel like it was abrupt or left us hanging (too much). I also liked that there wasn't an epilogue, but a list of where we could find all of the awesome poems used in the book! I love, love, love the characters! They were all very real, with understandable hopes, dreams, frustrations... There were a lot of laugh-out-loud parts that I HAD to read to my husband! I only got tears in my eyes once, so I'm a happy camper! As for Jennifer, I hope to convince my kids that they shouldn't be interested in the opposite sex until they're at least 16! That sounds like a really good plan to me!  I'm really looking forward to more books from her!  This one made for a very enjoyable read during a somewhat sad day!  If you want to get a free one for YOUR kindle before the 8th, go here.  I considered not posting this until after the 8th, so she would get some money for it, but it's too good to not share!  If you do read this after, it's only $3!  For an awesome, long book!  It's worth it!

Book Review #2

I read Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and LOVED it!  Wow!  I wasn't expecting to like a werewolf book, but I really enjoyed this one!  I was completely surpised by the conflict and the outcome!  Amazing!  The characters are very interesting, especially: Bryn, Chase, Devon, Lake, Callum and Ali.  There is something there for everyone, all different skill levels and gifts can all be a part of a family (pack).  Fantastic!  And the romance was very nicely done as well!  I can't wait for more books from her!  PS Bryn is a strong female character, so if you prefer the boring wimpy girls, you might not like this!  I personally disliked the Twilight books strictly for the lack of a real female lead, so I loved this one!  You can check it out on Goodreads here.  It's a great read, but be prepared to finish it that day!

First Book Review

Since part of the 100 book challenge is reviewing those books on my blog, I'm going to review the one I finished right before yesterday.  It is Seers-book 1 of the Seers trilogy by Heather Frost.  Since I'm just reviewing it for fun, I won't be including the blurb or pictures or anything.  If you just have to see those, you can go here.  The good news is that is definitely worth $5 for your Kindle!  I thought it was a very interesting idea, but I'm already getting very tired of all the paranormal books out there.  Become, No Angel and this one.  It's probably because I've read all of them lately, otherwise it would be fine!  I believe that Satan exists, so the whole Demon thing wasn't too much of a stretch.  But, the needing people who can see auras to find the demons?  Huh?  And the guardians eat, sleep, kiss?  That was going too far for me.  That and the constant reference to pizza!  Aaahhhh!!!  Eat something else!  Not that I don't love pizza, I do.  I just expect to not have constant references to pizza.  That can't possibly be healthy!  I liked it, but didn't love it. 
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
The premise is that this poor girl loses her parents in a car accident, and she lives, so she becomes a "seer" and can see auras around people and knows what they're feeling.  She sees/meets two guys who don't have auras and it freaks her out and then almost right after she finds about black auras, she sees one (what a happy coincidence).  Then it gets completely unbelievable for me.  She pretty much dumps her alive boyfriend to hang out with a guy who's been dead for over 200 years.  Yeah...  She goes to be with the Guardians when they know a big demon that wants her is in the area.  Because every novice should be allowed to hang out in the car by herself.  Always a good idea.  Then her sisters get kidnapped by the demon (which they had told her was going to happen) and she doesn't tell her boyfriend why she's skipping out on Dance Fun?  I mean, really, her sisters were missing.  Then her grandpa helps with the getting the girls back and she manages to escape from the car that was taking her away and they let her?  I just thought it was too easy.  Way too easy.  I'll probably read the next ones to see if the series can be redeemed.  There are lots of fun parts, because her best friend is awesome!  But the whole lying lots, cheating on her boyfriend, and such makes it hard to like her.

Speaking of babies...

I'm pregnant!  I'm due July 17th, but we'll see what the first ultrasound says!  Here's my first look at my rapidly expanding belly!

Yes, it looks like rolls.  For some reason the top of my belly is hard and the bottom is just now starting to, so it looks strange!  I'm looking forward to my first appointment on the 11th!

My baby is one!

Today is Cecilia's First Birthday!  So, of course she had to eat at four in the morning!  But went back to sleep very nicely after.  Then she woke up at an okay time (eight)!  The kids were desperately wanting me to give her her presents and have cake, but I made them wait.  Kira, Ben and Cecilia all had appointments this morning!  So, we did the divide and conquer thing.  That went well.  Cecilia only cried a little when her blood was taken and Emma had her eyes squeezed shut with her hand over them, so she didn't have to see it!  Leah just wanted a sticker, but got a book instead.  I had to keep Cecilia's coat on once we got home to keep her from ripping the bandaid off.  Funny kiddo! 
Then I got the backdrop all set up and grabbed her presents for some photo session fun!  Hurray!  Scott was my baby wrangler and I could tell he was getting pretty tired of grabbing her and bringing her back to the spot.  Then Ben worked to help her smile, so I got a lot of cute profile shots!  In about the middle of the photoshoot, I realized my lens was covered in dust!  So, the second half are way better!  If you want to see the whole set they are here. 
Cecilia has only had 2 baths today, which is fine because she loves baths!  She really enjoyed her cupcakes and small piece of cake!  She was covered in blue!  She looked like a smurf!  Great times!  Great kids!