Can you say expressive?

It is so fun to see Kaman’s facial expressions. He is a very animated child and we love to watch him transform his face. These are only a few…

You'll notice that on most of the pictures Kaman has either food on his face or all over his shirt, that is because he's happiest after he eats.

Together again.

I remember it as far back as in the year 2004, probably only a couple months after we moved into our house in Cedar Hills. Yes, it was a quite day, a peaceful day - if you will, everyone was getting along, no arguments, no contention…..until, Danielle decided she wanted something for herself. She was tired of the sharing and the big sister responsibilities that came along with having to share this. Her change of mind started out with a simple plea, and then escalated to a constant nag. She wanted it and she wanted it….NOW! So, after 4 years of all this nagging, and pleading, and insistence we finally gave it to her……….her own room. It was Dec. 23rd 2008, I remember the day was a happy day, a joyful day - if you will, we had returned to the once peaceful time before all the contention. Everyone was pleased, well, with the exception of Kaman, he didn’t appreciate change as much. But we finally managed to put a smile back on Danielle’s face. She was rid of the ‘big sister’ responsibility of cleaning her and Ashley’s room and she didn’t have to share. She was happy. Or was she…..

Fast forward 3 months, I’m working on the computer and I get a tap on my shoulder from my oldest, she looks at me with those big blue eyes and says, “Mom, can Ashley sleep in my bed with me?”

She’s baaaaack…..



Danielle loves her little sister and just couldn’t part with her for very long. Isn’t that sweet? But then again, now neither can Kaman, so Ashley is aloud to sleep in Danielle’s bed with her on weekends and then she has to return to her bed on the weekdays. I’m glad those two girls are getting along so well. They have their arguments, but deep down they really love each other and I know they are going to be best buds for eternity.

"The Book Thief" review

“The Book Thief” written by Markus Zusak, is one of the most interesting and profound books I have ever read! WOW! This book is so out of the ordinary but wonderful in so many ways. First of all, it is written from the point of view of…death. It’s not a morbid book, you won’t feel evil for reading this, but you’ll get a different perspective and a small glimpse of how a human life is viewed by the carrier of souls. The book is mainly about a nine year old girl named Liesel and her life, and how death reflects back to the first of three times he saw her and how intrigued he was by her. She lived one of those lives where death has to step back and say, “Wow, this is one of those souls you carry away with reverence.”

I also loved this book because it’s written in a way that makes you step inside yourself and remember the courage and love for life we all have inside us.

Here’s a little summary of The Book Thief…

Liesel Meminger is only nine years old when she is taken to live with the Hubermanns, a foster family, on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany, in the late 1930’s. She arrives with few possessions, but among them is The Grave Digger’s Handbook, a book she stole from her brother’s burial place. During the years that Liesel lives with the Hubermanns, Hitler becomes more powerful, life on Himmel Street becomes more fearful, and Liesel becomes a full-fledged book thief. She rescues books from Nazi book-burnings and steals from the library of the mayor. Liesel is illiterate when she steals her first book, but Hans Hubermann uses her prized books to teach her to read. This is a story of courage, friendship, love, survival, and grief.

I can now say I have found one of my favorite books of all time.

p.s. I will recommend this book to anyone 13 years of age and older. It does have swear words in it, but most of them are in German.

Guilty Pleasures

Ok, you know you all have them – guilty pleasures. Like the Britney Spears song “Womanizer”, yeah, I know you all are secretly doing the jig to that song in your living room. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. But it does help to know you’re not the only one, right, so please comment and give me your opinions after reading this post.

Anyway, one of my guilty pleasures is the show “The Bachelor”, yes, I’ve tried to stop watching it, but it can be SO addicting. I don’t know what it is with watching 25 beautiful women, living in the same house, fighting over the affection of one man and then being dumped on national T.V. And, yes, it is kind of ridiculous how all their dates with “The Bachelor” are the most romantic, adventurous, and expensive dates that no “real man” in the “real world” could possible come up with, let alone afford -- unless you’re Brad Pitt, of course. The producers work their magic and anything else they can to confuse these women in to thinking “The Bachelor” is the “perfect” man for ALL 25 women. How is this possible? I don’t know, but I can tell you the chosen Bachelor is on cloud 9. Who wouldn’t want to be gushed over by 25 beautiful men/women?

Ok, so, this season of “The Bachelor” was by far one of their best. The Bachelor’s last season was “The Bachelorette” (a women choosing her #1 man out of 25 men) and at the finale she has the 2 finalists picked out, one of which is Jason (which ends up being the next bachelor) and the other is some unemployed ski bum. The Bachelorette chooses the ski bum and leaves Jason hanging. Well, needless to say, he is devastated and goes home. Afterwards the producers chose Jason (the dejected, stepped on, kicked to the curb, 2nd choice) to be the next bachelor.

Jason starts the show out eliminating the girls one by one, until he finds the two girls at the end that he is in “love” with. Well, the girl he ends up sending home is Molly and before she gets in the limo she looks him in the eye and says, “you made a big mistake, I really care about you and I’m afraid you’re going to get hurt again.” Well, he sends her home, proposes to the one he “loves” the most, Melissa, and they end the show. After the finale, they have another show that tells how the couple is doing, well...they start this show with Jason sitting on the couch with a forlorn look on his face. They bring Melissa out to sit on the couch with Jason and Jason proceeds to tell Melissa that their relationship isn’t working out and he wants to break it off. She calls him a few choice words, hands the ring back to him and walks off the stage. But hang on, it’s not over yet...Jason wants to start dating Molly (the girl he dumped at the finale) and see if it will work out with her. SO, they bring out Molly and he starts out saying he couldn’t stop thinking about her, he broke it off with Melissa and wants to start dating her. She has no clue this was going to happen and she keeps looking at the host like he’s going to say it’s all a joke and start laughing. Anyway, she finally says yes and they leave happy. Can you say good television! Holy cow, I have never been SO glued to an episode and feeling SO guilty at the same time for watching like I was with this show. Afterwards, a lot of people had a lot to say about how Jason should have handled it. But I’m curious to see what you guys have to say…

Now you tell me your opinion….Do you think the right thing for him to do was to end it with Melissa? Or work it out with her, even though he still had feelings for Molly?