weekend + book review

My title makes me think of the before & after category on Wheel of Fortune:

 

weekend

book

review

 

aka Weekend Review aka Book Review!

 

 

Moving on...

 

I love being busy on the weekends but man, it sure does make them go by a heck of a lot faster! My parents came down to visit this past weekend and we all loaded up and went to the Houston Zoo! It was a lot of fun! I love the zoo... It really is amazing to me to see a lot of those animals up close. I believe little B enjoyed the zoo too. Yes I am aware she is not yet 4 months old and will never remember the day but she was a good little girl and you've got to start somewhere, yes??

 

disclaimer: brooklyn stays in bibs now of days due to never ending drool coming out of her mouth.

 

After the zoo we went and tried out Gringo's Tex-Mex for the first time and we all very much enjoyed the food! It even got the seal of approval from my mom which is darn near impossible! I will say though that we had starved ourselves by skipping lunch so by the time we finally ate around 4:30pm it was declared that gas station sandwiches would have tasted good. Ha! After our senior citizens dinner we were all a pitiful sight (I take that back... Bret, Brooklyn and my parents were a pitiful sight). Brooklyn passed out around 7:00pm and everyone else was pretty much down for the count by 8:30pm... yes, 8:30pm was bed time. Bret makes fun of me all the time for being a fuddy duddy but I was up and kicking still! so... I read. I am in the middle of the second Beautiful Creatures book, Beautiful Darkness. So far so good!

 

Sunday was a lazy day around the house. Due to her earlier than normal bedtime, Brooklyn was up and ready to go around 4:45am. Knowing we would need a mass amount of coffee that my keurig just wouldn't be able to tackle, I went and bought me and my parents a big travel container of Starbucks. I know that's is pretty sad but whatever. We hung out with my parents during the morning then after they headed back to Longview we did the normal Sunday things (grocery store, bottle making, laundry, etc). Side Note: Our sacker at HEB gave away our reusable bags to the person that was in line in front of us! We didn't notice because I was taking care of little B and Bret was busy with the groceries. I've never heard of such things! I got to pick out more bags for free but they aren't as nice as mine were :-/

 

Bret and I decided Brooklyn is going through a growth spurt. Our baby girl normally eats about 5 bottles 5-6 bottles a day with 4-5oz of milk. Yesterday she took EIGHT bottles all with 5 or more ounces. She was a little piggy!! You would have thought we were starving her! By the time bedtime rolled around she had put herself into a milk coma.

 

 

 

On a different note, I finished another book this morning - Yay! This is another one of Gillian Flynn's novels, Dark Places, and it is probably my favorite thus far (I have read Gone Girl and Sharp Objects). It is about three members of a family that were murdered in 1985 leaving behind a brother & sister combo. The brother however is in prison for the crime. The book goes back and forth from 1985 to present time and you learn about what happened the day leading up to and the day of the murders. I think what made this book fantastic was that I listened to it in my car driving to and from work and as the book flips between characters the person reading changes. It was fun having different voices for different characters. I would definitely say this is a must read. And if you are into the audio books like I am, this is a must LISTEN!! Must.

 

 

to read is to fly

ok. i am officially in love with Little Free Libary! haven't heard of it? please read about this wonderful little program! i hope i get to build one of my very own one day!

red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple giggles!

Yay! Another 5k is on the books! Not only was it my first time to run with Magan (FINALLY!!) it was also my first color run (Color Vibe)!! While I did have to stop and walk for 2 minutes at mile 2, I still finished with a smile on my face - Yay!! Let the running-itch begin though. No, that isn't a rash of some kind. That is the "ok, I have a race under my belt and the environment is infectious so I want to register and do a million more races now" running-itch. Makes sense to me at least. I have to confess though... I did avoid getting completely covered in color. Lame, I know. But next go round, when I don't have big & little b with me, I will go all out and even stay afterwards for the color party at the finish line! None-the-less, we had a great time!

Brooklyn and her boyfriend, Connor, were the key players in our cheering section!

(them and our wonderful husbands of course!)

peace out bread.

Ash Wednesday is here people!

just like every year, although I am not Catholic, I observe Lent.

this year i am giving up bread.

BREAD

this is definitely going to be a difficult one but for God, and with God, all things are possible.

book review: beautiful creatures

another book down! yay! i am a firm believer that books are better than the movies. always. so when i saw that the movie coming out, Beautiful Creatures, was based on a book I quickly purchased it on my kindle. Good buy. it's right up there in the fantasy world with Vampire Diaries, Once Upon a Time, etc. It is a sweet little love story that has just enough darkness to keep you on your toes and intrigued. one thing i enjoyed very much about this book is the relationship the main dude has with his mom, even though she is dead (something you learn on like page one so it's not a spoiler). it's the most precious thing and even though the story isn't revolved around that, it pulled at my heart every time their relationship was brought up. Beautiful Creatures is a really quick read - pick it up and knock it out before you see the movie.  And the fun part? it's 1 of 4. Bring on book two!

candy? or not to candy?

i love this face. 

i have no doubt i will do anything for this girl.

 but really? add another "eh" notch to Brooklyn's current day care because i have been instructed to provide her class of 6 weeks - 18 month old kiddos with "valentines that are signed with her name and 2 bags of individually wrapped, age appropriate candy." call me crazy but i didn't think there was such thing as age appropriate candy for babies. 

but.. then i get this look and think "you're right baby. it makes perfect sense for babies to have candy."

what a second. No! It doesn't make sense!

i refuse to buy bags of candy. i will compromise.

i bought valentine cards with suckers attached.

if they don't want it then so be it - i don't want to give it.

 

(i think valentines are super cute, for the record, and i am sure if i liked her daycare i would be nicer about this whole thing. but i still think candy for babies is dumb)

you have GOT to be kidding me!

and oh how the saga continues... so the other day I posted about Brooklyn's horrible day care, yes? (I am not giving their name away because I know they will turn themselves around and be a top-class place in no time). Well, listen to this business! I went in Friday morning to drop her off and as I was walking out the receptionist asked if she could have a word with me...Yes, the receptionist. Who doesn't take care of the kids. The woman who mans the front desk. And that isn't a dig at receptionists out there. I use to be a receptionist. I met my husband when I was a receptionist. Receptionists rock! But in this situation NO. This lady proceeds to tell me that the day Brooklyn came home with wet, urine-stained clothes that she saw the nursery change Brooklyn's diaper so there was no way what I think happened, happened. This woman pretty much called me a liar to my face! I told her that that's nice but my problem wasn't with a wet diaper but with her wet CLOTHES and that if she wanted me to bring Brooklyn's outfit up with the giant stain on her booty then I gladly would. I also explained to this woman, even though it was none of her business, that Brooklyn's car seat wasn't wet so I KNOW this didn't happen on the way home when I picked her up. THEN Ms. Receptionist goes on to tell me the lady in the nursery's husband had surgery Monday so she was probably distracted hence the other problems. Ok... while I am sorry for the lady and her husband and the surgery and her stress but fine. Put somebody else in there to help her out. My daughter, who cannot speak for herself at the moment, should not have to suffer. Then there was the "please give us another chance to prove to you" non-sense and the "our baby room is highly regarded" tag line and just complete bull. BULL. By the time I left there yesterday morning I was LIVID. It was 6:30am and I had already been called a liar and excuses had been made for the poor treatment of my daughter. I do not think so. Needless to say, my sweet coworker is seeing if her neighbor, who home schools her kiddos would like some baby time until March 1st. If not then I will just keep posting about all the little things that annoy me about Brooklyn's daycare.