A Jammy Jam Review

These were his first jammies in the hospital.

Kaleb and Daddy swaddled up in his usual night time jammies.

Safari jammies

Truck jammies. I thought they were robots forever until I looked closer at them.

Sweet footie jammies with trucks.

A blue onesie that I used as jammies alot because it was so sweet.

Blue striped jammies

Shrek jammies

Footie jammies with a butt flap

Green dino footie jammies

Christmas jammies

Puppy dog jammies

Newest summertime jammies

I'm sure a few got left out, but there's some pictures of Kaleb's first 2 years of jammy jams.

A Little Summer Fun

My parents wanted to take Kaleb for the weekend so we dropped him off with Eric's parents for lunch on Friday. We ended up spending a good amount of money in Hattiesburg that day. We bought a book and a shirt for Kaleb, 2 pairs of shorts for Eric, and 2 pairs of shorts, a pair of capris, a dress, sunglasses, and a shirt for me. Of course, I really needed some shoes for Heather's wedding, but I didn't find any. In fact, all of the shoes I like end up being out of stock or not in my size. I'm hoping we can get back to Hattiesburg or Meridian before the wedding because I HAVE to find some before June 11th. We also got sushi and ice cream while we were there. When we got home we watched Justin Bieber's movie. It's actually really good. I like learning more about the people I listen to or watch. I kinda want to see it again, but that would seem too lame. Maybe in secret.
Today we slept late then watched Lemony Snicket since we're both reading the series. We did some cleaning up (not much, I'll admit - that's for tomorrow) before we went to Wal Mart to shop for the week's food. We ran into some people from church, who happen to have a pool, so we spend about an hour at their house while they were out to eat. Don't worry, we got permission. We bought a lot of fruit so I'm about to go make a fruit salad then watch The Time Traveler's Wife.

Summer Rules

There are a few rules for summer that I'd like to set in place from the beginning. Yes, even summer has rules.

1. Limited TV time - Only a couple hours a day


2. Eat fruits every day


3. Play outside a lot


4. See at least 3 movies in a movie theater


5. Go to the library


6. Keep the house clean, or at least clean enough that I'm not miserable all summer


7. Go out to eat once a week


8. Read every day


9. Make some home improvements


10. Declutter my life

A Speech

It seems like all of my blog posts lately have been about book reviews. As of right now I'm reading the Lemony Snicket series so it'll be awhile before I post another book review (there are 13 books in the series). Instead, I'm going to write the speech I'm planning to give at Heather's rehearsal dinner. Heather, if you are reading this, STOP RIGHT NOW!

I haven't known Heather since we were kids or anything, but I did live with her for a couple of years so I learned a few things. She doesn't separate her whites and colors when she washes clothes. Her favorite movie is You've Got Mail. She and I both cried when Rory told Logan she wouldn't marry him. She gets really silly around 3 am. The most apparant thing I learned is that she loves God and her family above everything else.
I got to be there at the beginning of Mark and Heather. I got to be there to peek out the window to see if Mark's light was on in his room. He lived in an apartment across the street from ours. I got to hear the first, flirty text messages and figure out what to say back. I got to hear about the first time they held hands, the first time they kissed, the first time they broke up and got back together, and the second time, and the third time. Through all of those ups and downs, while all her girlfriends were telling her how crazy Mark was, she always had a peace that God would work things out for her. Well, Heather, all your faith has paid off because tomorrow, you're going to walk down the aisle and marry the man I got to watch you fall in love with. And I've never been more sure about two people. Congratulations.

Book Review: Chocolate Fever

Chocolate Fever is no Newbery book, but it's a cute book to read to a group of school kids in the afternoon. When I have to proctor for the MCT2 I always bring a book to read to the kids before and after the test while we wait for the teacher to get back. Usually I read The Twits by Roald Dahl but it never lasts the full amount of time so I'd probably add this to my repretoire. In the book the main character is obsessed with chocolate and develops chocolate fever. While he's running away from the powers that be he meets an unlikely friend who helps him deal with his newfound problems. I'd recommend it to middle school students, but for the most part it's one of my in between books. (Book I read in between books that are on my list)

Book Review: The Final Journey

I just finished reading The Final Journey about 2 minutes ago. It's a story about a young Jewish girl named Alice and her trip in the infamous cattle cars. Many (most) stories relating tales from the Holocaust focus on what happened at Auschwitz and other camps. This story is all about the journey to the camp. You'll read about how Alice becomes aware of life, death, truth, and growing up in a matter of days. You'll feel disgust, heartache, outrage, and disbelief. The first 20-something chapters detail the trip. The last couple tell what happens to them when they reach their final destination.

I've always been tender-hearted so I don't know why I'm interested in books about the Holocaust. I always feel like crying and can't imagine what it would be like to have lived during that time as a Jew. I can't fathom having a child going through it. It seems like it couldn't have really happened even though I know it did. I borrowed this book from Crissy about 12 years ago and just now got around to reading it even though it's a short read (154 pages). If you read it, be prepared.

My Favorite Post

This isn't a list that I saw anywhere, it's just one that I've made up as I went along. I really just wanted to do a blog post and didn't have anything to post about.

My Favorite(s)....

...book - Gone with the Wind, Tale of Two Cities, Harry Potter
...movie - Gone with the Wind, Becoming Jane
...restaurant - Keifers, Bonsai
...show - Gilmore Girls (RIP), The Office
...color - pretty much all greens
...number- 20
...letter - K or G
...ice cream - tub: mint chocolate chip, out: Katie's Crunch
...drink - Diet Coke
...Bible verse - Romans 8:38-39
...memory - oh man! There are so many! That summer in the mountains, lots of times with Kaleb, vacations with Eric
...actor - Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp are pretty awesome, but I don't watch a lot of the types of movies they do
...actress - Anne Hathaway, Ellen Page
...CD - Bruno Mars
...vacation - Hawaii was AH-mazing
...flower - orchid
...part about my job - the kids love you so much and you can literally see them learn and grow
...part about my church - either my pastor or the group of girls that I've come into
...part about my husband - he's always willing to do anything I need

Book Review: Love the One You're With

I stayed up until almost midnight last night (yes, I paid for it today at school) so I could finish this book. Emily Giffin, the same author who wrote the now book-turned-movie Something Borrowed also wrote this one. In this book, the main character, Ellen, is unexpectedly faced with a decision between the one who got away - Leo - and the one she married - Andy. Each decision, however seemingly small, about what to do about the surprise run-in with Leo impacts future decisions and leaves the reader wondering who she is going to choose. She keeps you in suspense until the last few chapters. At some points (one, actually) you're actually rooting for Leo. I won't ruin it for you, but it's worth the read.

Girl's Weekend

We had our annual girl's weekend with our Sunday School class this weekend. We went down to Orange Beach Friday afternoon and left Saturday. It was so nice to take off half a day on Friday and know that I was going to the beach with some friends. It ended up being 8 of us - me, Jessica, Erin, Julie, Jenni, Mandy, Carrie, and Mel Ann. Mel Ann got us four rooms so we each got our own bed, which was awesome. We left from the church parking lot around 11:30 and stopped in Citronelle to eat some McDonalds. All I wanted was a chocolate milkshake, since I was on a strict $70 budget, but when I went to pay I realized that I left my debit card at school and had NO cash! I was so embarrassed to have to borrow money from my friends. Of course if the situation was reversed I would be more than happy to lend some cash to one of them, but being on the other end wasn't any fun. Erin lent me $60 in cash so my $70 budget was slashed to $60 in an instant, but I was so grateful that I didn't care. After we left McDonald's we were on our way to Loxley to stop at the fruit stand and get some stuff to snack on. We made it to Orange Beach around 3:00 and immediately hit the beach until about 6:00 before we went back to the room to get ready for supper. It was nice to just sit around on the beach talking about nothing and sunning. It was windy so we didn't get too hot. In fact, it got a little bit chilly. By the end we were in our bathing suits, chairs facing the sun, toes in the sand, and covered up by our towels. We went to Doc's for supper and it was pretty good. We had to wait FOREVER and we were pretty hungry (and just a little bit ill) by the time we sat down and got our food. Once that first bite of food hits your mouth, everything is better. Unless you're sitting at a table next to a table full of loud, drunk people. Seriously, there was a girl by us that was busting out of her dress and was as loud as they come. She wasn't just talking loudly, she was talking loudly about totally inappropriate things - like pooping. And her mom was right there with her! My mom would kill me. After we finished eating we all went back to our rooms and changed into our jammy jams then stayed up til about 12:30 talking.
We got up around 9:00 the next morning and the rest of the girls hit the beach. They said it was a little cold so I stayed in the room and read my book and talked to Eric on the phone. Much what I prefer to chilly beaches. My book is very good, too - a book review will be coming shortly I'm sure. We had an 11:00 check out so the girls came back, got ready, packed up, and we went to eat lunch at Lulu's. I got a fried green tomato BLT that was super good, although all of the fried food made me feel sick that night and a little bit this morning. We were so tired from the sun, staying up early, getting up early, and being full and warm that Erin and I were having a hard time staying awake while Jessica was driving. We stopped near the Bass outlet to catch up with Julie and Jenni because Julie was going to ride with us from Buckatunna. We were sitting on a bench, waiting, falling asleep so we went to McDonald's (again) and got some mocha frappes to help keep us awake. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful but I was very ready for a nap when I got home. Luckily Eric is the best husband ever and he let me take a nap even though he had taken care of Kaleb all weekend. And that was my weekend.