Literary Tour 2011-Panem

Last summer I got really into reading and I did these posts about the books that I read. Well, I'm at it again, so I thought I'd fill you all in on my literary journeys. To start with, in May I read To The Rescue which was amazing! I could not put it down which is saying a lot because I usually have a hard time reading biographies. Anyway, that's a post for another day, because I have a lot to say about the book.

Right now though, I'm finishing up the Hunger Games trilogy. The whole thing has taken me a bout ten days to read which is really fast for me! But these books are awesome! They are young adult so they are very quick easy reads and I'm halfway through the third book so I don't know how it all ends, but the first two were awesome!

If you haven't read the series, I won't give any spoilers. But I will let you all know what I think about the books generally. First of all, I have to say that the concept is pretty interesting. I was reading on the wikipedia page about the book and it said that author, Suzanne Collins got the idea when she was watching tv. On one channel was a reality tv fighting competition and on the next channel was footage of the Iraq war so I thought was interesting inspiration.

I really like how Collins developed the characters I in some ways, I really want to be like Katniss. She is the main character and I really admire her strength. She has a humility about her when it comes to her abilities and doesn't see herself as extraordinary even though she totally is. Katniss is my new running alter-ego.

The cool thing is that these books have really made me think. They make me think about how I view entertainment, how I value life and what I want the future to be like versus what it could become and how I effect that.

My sister mentioned that it's probably not her cup of tea and I think a lot of people would say that-I even thought that at first. But I'm really glad that I gave it a chance. It's a fun read even though it's pretty heavy stuff. Another great review is over on my friend Kathleen's blog where she talks all about the love story and her distaste for certain characters-while I disagree with her, she makes me laugh. But beware of spoilers, so don't go look at it if you haven't read the series. Plus, you can see her cute daughter!

Anyway, the books are great and I'm well on my way to reading the required amount of books for the summer reading program at the library, so that's cool! Free book here I come!

Next up, Tonga as I read about John H Groberg's missions in the pacific islands in 'The Other Side of Heaven' and 'Fire of Faith'.

The Day I Felt Like A Bad Girl From the Bible

'She tied you to a kitchen, She broke your thrown and she cut your hair'

-Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

Today, I took the kids to the park. It's always to take the kids someplace where they can let loose and blow off the energy and steam and of course get the wiggles out. And boy did they play hard!!! By the time we left, all three were dripping in sweat.....especially Mr. Will! The poor boy was just going and going. It made me think of Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite when he goes home from school after the FFA competition and he thinks that it's because of his hair (I'll get back to that in a minute). So we got home and were eating Popsicles to cool off and I looked at Mr. Will in his booster and he looked so miserable. So I made a split second decision and grabbed the hair clippers. While he was strapped into his booster, I kind of felt like Delilah when she cut Samson's hair (see the lyric above). So using Pedro's rationale and Delilah's method, I went to town on his little noggin and didn't look back. Boy was he mad!!! I think he could feel his strength draining right out of the top of his head and being sucked into the clippers. There were a lot of tears and the girls kept telling me that I cut off enough even though he still had huge patches of long hair left.

Mr. Will yesterday. It was long, shaggy and lacking in any sort of style. Not good, right?

The girls kept telling me to cut it short like Daddy's. Well, in the process, his back ended up looking like Daddy's as well. hehehe!

The pile of hair when I was all done. There was also a lot more in the booster seat too! The kids has so much hair!!!!

When all was said and done...still as handsome as ever!

Royal Wedding

I've been wanting to post about this for a while and I just haven't gotten around to it.

The girls and I were so excited for the Royal Wedding. We kept talking about Prince William and Princess Kate (even though she's not really a princess until he's next in line). And since it's practically a law in England for ladies to wear hats to a wedding, we decided that we needed have fancy, fabulous hats as well. The girls thought their hats were so fun and they were very specific about their color choices-purple for Siobhan, green for Audrey. (perfect timing by the way, right after Easter, we were able to get Easter bonnets at the dollar store and decorate them up with supplies from the dollar store). I had DVR'd the wedding so the girls and I could watch the wedding in the evening. We had a tea party (orange kool-aid) and pizza. It was a great time!!!!

These fabulous hats from the royal wedding...A-MA-ZING!!!

Audrey wanted Green for her hat. You can't tell, but there is a butterfly coming right out of the top of the hat!

Siobhan wanted Purple. We had lots of fun with hers!!! Thank you dollar store.

Ethan had a great time!

Mr. Will was obsessed with the hats!

My best snooty British face!!

First image found here.

Second image found here.