Book Review

Last night I stayed up and finished reading The Lost Hero. Not sure what that is? It's the follow up series to Percy Jackson. I LOVED Percy Jackson - despite being hesitant to start it, I found I couldn't put it down! I will tell you, this book is HUGE. It was kinda intimidating to think about starting a book that big right now. But, I bit the bullet and bought the book (the library STILL doesn't have it on their shelves, even though they've ordered it and received it).

At first, I couldn't figure out how this book and the Percy Jackson books were connected. Sure, they talk about Camp Half Blood and you get to see some of the characters from Percy Jackson. But, there was a disconnect for me. The more I read the book, the more I felt a disconnect. I knew that Percy was missing and Annabeth was looking for him, but it seemed to me that the previous series' characters made only brief appearances and I was kinda bummed out about that. I wasn't disappointed with the book, that's for sure. I just couldn't quite get over this feeling of disconnect between the two series.

HOWEVER, it wasn't until about the last chapter, that the author finally came out and defined the distinction between the two! I felt like a serious idiot when I realized that he'd been saying it all along, I just hadn't caught on.

So, without giving anything away, I will tell you that if you pick this up and start reading and you feel a disconnect, don't quit reading it! If you're faster than me to get it, awesome (just don't tell me so I don't feel like an even bigger idiot! ;) )

And now, I must wait until Spring to get the next Josie Kilpack book, Fall to get the next book in this series, and I'm not sure about when the next one in the Kane series will come out. I guess I'll have to keep digging through my pile that I've collected but haven't read!

Happy reading!

Hair cuts - and a few random pictures...

Here's me in all my glory at 22 weeks. I actually don't look as big as I thought I did! Maybe that's just because I don't want to see me as big as I feel! I went to the dr. today and ended up taking all three kids with me. They love hearing Brookelyn's heartbeat. I've gained 39 lbs! YIKES! Let's hope that it slows down a bit!! Otherwise, I think I'll surpass the 62 lbs I gained with Caleb!! I go back in 4 weeks for everyone's favorite...THE GLUCOSE TEST..I had the pleasure of getting my blood drawn today too though because they are checking my thyroid. I was wondering if my mono was back. Now we play the sit and wait game.I LOVE that these two are such good buddies. I think they have a relationship like my brother and I do. That's AWESOME!
The boys needed haircuts so I got some scheduled for today. I thought Sam just wanted a trim. I should quit thinking I know what that girl wants! I am in serious trouble when she hits 13!
I didn't realize just how long her hair really was! This cut looks really cute on her. It's a lot like the cut I had last January. She seems to really like it and I guess as long as I can braid the front for dance competitions, we're ok!
Nash's hair hasn't been this long since before he cut his own hair a couple months ago! He gets serious bed head! I haven't managed to get a good "after" shot of him today. He woke up quite croupy and hasn't felt too hot. But, he's "bald" again!
My little Caleb is growing up WAY too fast! This boy talks NONSTOP these days. He's just so stinkin cute! His hair was SOO long. This past weekend he fell asleep and when I went into Les Schwab to get my tires rotated he just slept on my chest. When he woke up, his hair literally stood straight out to one side. It looked just like the wing to a plane! I loved it long, but since my father in law started commenting on it, I decided we'd better get it cut. It's quite short again, but seeing as how all my children have hair that grows like weeds, I'm sure it won't last too long!
Thanks Nat!

I'm awesome

I love coupons. Shutterfly is offering 30% off photo books until Thursday, Jan. 12. Plus, they are offering free shipping on orders over $40. I now have ALL my Oregon/Mt. St. Helen's & (yes, AND) Yellowstone pictures scrapbooked & ordered! I'm pretty sure it was cheaper than if I printed the pictures and did it the "old fashioned way"! Especially when you consider there's a total of around 400+ pictures to print!

At least I can say I've made a dent in my New Year's Resolutions!

Poor Samantha. Here's what her ear looks like about 2 days after her surgery. It actually looks worse (and hurts more) now than when I took these. The only reason she let me take them is because she wanted to see what the back of her ear looked like!This is the front of her ear. I told her it looks like she has a purple earring in. Now it looks like a much bigger purple earring in her ear!
We got to watch a lot of this while Travis was home this past week. We have had a treat because after he went back to work after Christmas he only had to be gone 1 week instead of 2 (he had been given extra days off at Christmas time). While he was at work he found out they had way too many guys on the schedule so he was home for a week, will be gone for 1 week and then be home for a week again. After that he will go back to his 2 weeks on at a time. The bummer part of that is that he'll be gone for the kids' birthdays again. This was the first time in 3 years he was going to be home on their actual birthdays. Oh well, I guess we'll take him being home more often for a little while instead!
Remember how I mentioned that Caleb sleeps with like a zillion animals at bed time and that I needed to get a picture of it? Last night Samantha tucked him in & I went in later to check on him. This is what I found! He's hard to spot! Usually I put all his animals at the foot of his bed. His sister was kind enough to pile them up around him! There aren't even any books in there! It's a really, really good thing this kid will be in the double sized bed when they move downstairs!
Nash got some Star Wars legos from Christmas from Grandma Terri. It was a big box that you could build one of the ships from Star Wars. He also got a smaller box with a bunch of guys and a smaller ship. He built the small ship and the guys with no problem the night he got them. The big ship though, well, that took mom. So, once I finally got it assembled, we had to have a photo!
New Year's Eve was fun. I just realized I didn't post about it. I thought we were going to be spending it (just the kids and I) at home because Caleb hadn't felt too hot. We ended up going over to my mom's house instead. Caleb was as enthusiastic as ever and was awake until we got home at 1 am! I found the Happy New Year tiara's at the grocery store for 89 cents & Caleb really wanted them. So...
I was also the smart one that bought the noise makers at the dollar store. The hats and noise makers combined made for some great entertainment by the kids. I love the look on Nash's face in this picture!
Oh my brother is special, isn't he? Let's hope his weird doesn't rub off on my daughter any more than it already has!

And I was worried about the weirdness of my brother? Check out my dad's AWESOME outfit he wore to go outside & light off fireworks!
Here is my ever talented mother showing my children how to pull the ugliest faces on the planet! Actually, this isn't the worse face she can pull. She's already taught them that one!

Sam's Tonsils

Today we had the pleasure of going to the Specialty Hospital to have Sam's tonsils out and the hole in her left ear drum repaired.

We had to be there at 8 am. They didn't take her back to anesthesia until just before 9:30 am. She wasn't happy about going back there, but she did good.

After she was safely in the recovery room, our ENT, Dr. Blotter, came out to talk to us. He said he's done easier tonsillectomies on adults! He said that her tonsils her so big that she likely had obstructive sleep apnea as well. Good thing those suckers came out!

To fix the hole in her left ear drum they made an incision about an inch long on the back of her ear where her head and ear meet up. They took out a small pad of fat from the back of her ear and used that to patch the hole. Hopefully it will work!

She's been completely zonked out all day. Not sure if it's because of the pain medicine they gave her or if it's from the anesthesia. Oh well, I'm sure she's better off this way for today!

I told Travis, "It's only the sixth day of the year and we've already met half our deductible." Awesome.