What I'm readong in June

Right now I'm a little swamped in books...and I love it! I haven't really been into a book since I read "Devil in the White City," in January of last year. Yeah, I know. I've read a couple of books since then, but not many. I just ordered several books from Amazon.com.

I just finished reading aloud "Homer Price" by Robert McCloskey. It was so cute. I ordered "Centerburg Tales" at the same time and that is more stories of Homer Price. Homer is an average boy in the 1940's. The book "Homer Price" is 6 stories from his life.

Miles is reading aloud to me "Dick and Jane and Friends."  That is still going very well.  Of course some days are better than others, but he is still reading!









Personally, I just finished reading "The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure," by William Goldman.  It was excellent!  I really enjoyed the book, but I LOVE the movie!








Currently I'm reading "In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin" by Erik Larson. So far (page 160 out of 480) it is excellent! I'm really enjoying the story. It is about the American ambassador to Germany appointed about 6 months after Hitler is appointed as chancellor. He brought his family with him to Germany, and his daughter was an aspiring writer so there are many documents from their stay.






I'm also slowly making my way through "Praying the Scripture for Your Children" by Jodie Berndt.  It is very good, and I'm enjoying the new aspect of scripture.








 I also have another Erik Larson book, "Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities," and  "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" by Laura Hillenbrand just waiting on my nightstand!  I'm so happy to have found a couple of books to really enjoy!

Reading Breakthrough

I know I just posted yesterday about the reading, but I just have to tell you! I think we are having a breakthrough.

I wrote yesterday that we had borrowed some easier readers; they are totally working! Miles had so much more confidence, and he didn't fight reading at all today. Not to mention he hardly made any mistakes. I would think I was a good reader if I could do it well too.
Here is what we borrowed
The pictures are so cute, and while there isn't much of a story, Miles really likes it. He can make it through a page before he forgets what he is reading!

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

New Camera and other stuff

Yesterday we got up early to get haircuts, then we had breakfast at a great little cafe.  Then we went over to a camera shop and I got a new camera!  I picked it out myself, and I'm a little proud.  Even though until now we have been a cannon family, I picked a Sony NEX 5N.  I have a few good photos, but nothing great yet.  Soon I promise!  This really looks like a great camera, I'm so excited!

Today we went to mom and dad's house.  They asked for help moving their good mattress into the new trailer; which we got accomplished.  They take off on Friday for the summer.  They had wanted to leave on Wednesday, but dad didn't think they would have it together until Thursday.  They wanted to take Anita & I out to dinner for our birthdays.  We chose La Hacienda Ranch on my birthday.

So far reading is going great this summer (keeping in mind that the summer is only 2 weeks old at this point).  We are reading for 20 minutes almost every day except Sundays.  Of course I'm still reading to Miles every day at least 20 minutes at bed time too.  I'm loving it.  I can really see progress in his abilities.  He's doing great, and we just borrowed some readers from Doris.  I'm hopeful that those will give him more confidence too (mine are a little too hard).  Math and writing are not going quite as well, but we will work on it.

Update

I guess I could have called this Whole No More.  I got to 15 days on Whole 30, then I slowly started adding in other stuff.  As of late, I've added in junk too.  I'm starting working out again (yesterday).

Miles and I made a list of stuff to do this summer.  Want to come along on our journey?
Well, I lost my camera, so you can't!  Just kidding, I'll have a new one soon.  Here is our list for the summer. 

Summer Wish List

A: Art Project, Ants, Adventure Journal B: Botanical Garden, Build a Fort, Biography, Bubbles! C: Cook Brownies, Camping, Color Hunt D: Diet Coke & Mentos, Dining Room Airplane E: Eat from the Garden, Engraving – Bureau of F: Fire Museum, Fly Kite, Float or Sink Game G: Geocaching, Garden Stepping Stones H: Hunt Bugs, Hopscotch I: Ice Cream Making, Ice Cube Boats J: Journey by Train K: Kayak, Kickball L: Library, Lowes Project, Laundry Basket Toss M: Movie with Mom, Magazine Mosaics N: Nature Rubbing, Nature Museum O: Obstacle Course Olympics P: Pet Rocks, Pajama Day, Poem Time, Paper Doll String Q: Quest Scavenger Hunt R: Roller Skate, Reading Program S: Swimming, Sprinkler Play, Scoot around the Block T: Target Practice With Water Balloons, Toy Car Wash, Trains (Children’s Med Center) U: Under the Table Fort V: Volunteer @ Missions Car Wash, Vacation W: Wind Chime, Water Balloon Catch x: Xperiments Science, X Marks the Spot Y: Yard Popcorn Fight Z: Zoo

Miles insisted that I add Legos to the list.  We have our list in a pretty frame on the kitchen counter that my sister gave us.  We are just crossing things out on the glass.  So far we have crossed off Botanic Garden, but just today we built a pretty rocking fort.  Miles wants to do it again tomorrow, so we will cross it off then.

Here is a review of this year's goals and where I am...

*Weight Loss:
~I will lose 10lbs in the first 3 months of 2012
This is proving to be as hard as everyone says it is.  Bah.  For now I'm just eating right (mostly) and working out again.

 * Cleaning Goal~I will keep a cleaner home
My house looks great today!  It needs to be moped so badly, but other than that, I'm happy.  We finally have an organization strategy going for the Legos, and even the game room is picked up.

 * Picture Goal
~I will take more photos this year
I will do this by
Complete 52 of 52 challenge.
Try to take pictures of Miles at least three times a week.
Take Mother's & Father's day pictures this year!
I am doing a terrible job of this! Only part of the reason for this is losing my camera.  I'm so sad about this, but it is what it is.  Totally forgot to take Mother's Day photo.  I'll get it on Father's day though. 
* Bible Study Goal
~I will have a daily Bible study and I will read the Bible in a year.
Nope.  I'm getting better at daily prayer time though.

 *Christmas Goals
~I will have a low stress Christmas this year.
I will accomplish this by:
Hand making at least 5 Christmas gifts this year. I will work on one every other month.
Trying to have complete list by early/mid October.
Buying 3 stocking stuffers a month (15 stockings to stuff).
Completing Advent activities.
I'm going to have to look at what I have going on here.  I've gotten a few things. 
*Family Goal~I will go on a field trip with Miles each month this year (and take plenty of pictures helping my photo goal).  April was Spring Break and we went camping.  I'd call that a field trip.  May was the end of school.  We went to the big school play "Once Upon A Mattress," and somewhere else...it is slipping my mind just now. 

Whole again

Whole30 that is. Had a great day and worked out too!

This morning at church we found a tick on Miles' ear. Behind his right ear, there it was. It had bit in and everything. Right in the middle of church. Jared and I grabbed him and dashed into the kitchen. Jared went for the tick nippers, and I grabbed Doris to help me find a zip lock bag. We go it out no problem and popped it in the bag still alive. It looks like it is an American Dog Tick. We can't figure out if they carry Lyme Disease. For now we are just watching.

Thursday we went to the aquarium store after school and bought 2 ghost shrimp and 2 platys. I love them and the aquarium looks so much nicer now! Friday night we saw a little tiny baby fish! Jared and I were watching it and debating about if we should take it out of the tank. All of the sudden our beta swam by and...no more baby fish. :( I went to bed feeling terrible. Saturday night, another baby! First thing we did was take the beta out of the tank, then get the little guy out into his own area. We stopped by the fish store today after church and chatted about the little guy. As it turns out, both of the platys we bought were female. We bought a nursery holder thing and put him in it. We also added the one that we thought was having the babies (although neither looks pregnant) just in case. If she has no more babies by tomorrow morning we'll get her out of there. Baby seems to be doing great!

Shortly before dinner, Jared asked if I wanted to go look at doors for the bathroom at Lowes. I didn't but agreed. We found a beautiful 5 panel door and bought it. There is also a bifold, so we are thinking about replacing that one as well!

Day 6

So far the Whole30 has been going great. I've really been doing well and making really good food decisions. Yesterday I was chatting with a more experienced friend and she suggested I might not be getting enough fat. In an effort to work on this I added some butter while cooking my eggs this morning. While eating them I was meal planning and looking at food sites focused on Whole30. One of the sites mentioned using ghee. That was when it hit me. I'm not supposed to have dairy! I'd basically finished the eggs already. Doh! So, then after a very long day, Jared came home and said he wanted to go out to dinner. We were splitting a burger salad (which was fantastic!) and my favorite slaw. Oh yeah! The slaw has blue cheese! Darn. I did it again. Twice in one day. Bah. I'll try again tomorrow.