Zoo Lights

   For my kids grandma's Christmas weekend, she took them up to see the zoo lights.  What a great light display, but wow was it freezing cold. All of us (my sister and her family, my mom, my kids) were all bundled up as warm as we could get. Loved the heaters they had around the zoo.   Here are a few pictures of the lights they had on display.

my girls with the elephant

the awesome water fountain light

i liked this one.

they had vintage carolers

the mommy kangaroo

dragon!

Nana and my girls

1st Dance Recital

   My oldest had her first ever dance recital.  We wanted her to do something for the winter season, and she's never really tried a dance class.  She's apart of a little jazz class.  My daughter loved that she could wear makeup. but note to self: do not use non-waterproof mascara on daughter. You'll see in the picture that she has a mascara streak on her cheek from crying before the dance started.

   Still very proud of her and what she did. Takes a lot of guts for any kid to get on stage and perform in front of all those people.

Book Review: Son of Neptune

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

   I have to wait until next fall for the next book?! my fault for starting a series that's not finished. Great book, just as good as the first book in the series. Dying to know what happens next in The Mark of Athena. Not only do you meet a few new faces, but it was nice to go back to Percy Jackson and see what happened to him. Riordan has to be one of my favorite authors. Here's his website: http://rickriordan.com/home.aspx

  This books starts with Percy Jackson (yay) and he is running around San Fransisco with his memory wiped..all except for the name Annabeth.  He finds his way to the Roman Camp, Camp Jupiter, where he meets a lot of skeptical people, but also meets some new friends Hazel and Frank.  The three friends find themselves on a quest to the North in Alaska, where everyone in the camp thinks they will fail.  The book is fast paced, exciting, and very entertaining.

Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

    What? I went to a movie! I know. shocking.  I love the movies, but haven't seen as many as I would have liked this year.  But last Friday we went on a triple date (my sister/hubby, my cousin/hubby).  Dinner and a movie!  What a treat.

    All I have to say about Sherlock Holmes, is I really liked it.  Not sure I liked it as much as the first, but definitely entertaining.  Maybe I'm biased due to my love for Robert Downey Jr.  He plays this character so well!!  The guy that plays the evil villain was phenomenal.  Was it the best movie of 2011? Nope, but worth watching.. 3 stars.

 Here's rotten tomoatoes overview:

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) has always been the smartest man in the room...until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large-Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)-and not only is he Holmes' intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective. When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder-a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by Professor Moriarty. The cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead of Holmes as he spins a web of death and destruction-all part of a greater plan that, if he succeeds, will change the course of history. -- (C) Warner Bros

Final Day at BootCamp

    This post is mostly for me, wanted to write down my bootcamp experience/results.  I've just finished my 18th straight week of bootcamp and have not signed up for another session.  This all started earlier this year in March when I signed up for the first 6 week session. Then I took a break over the summer and eventually signed up again in September and did 3 sessions in a row.  Amazing how great you feel when you really push yourself and reach a goal. I'll definitely miss going, but now I need to figure out my own work-out routine that will work for everyones schedule. Honestly I'm really out of practice in making my family a nice dinner. :)

Here are the results from when I started in March and finished in December. (4 month break in between)

Arms:  11.5-----> 11
Chest:  41.5-----> 37.5 (back fat people...although none of my bras fit anymore)
Waist:  36.5-----> 32.5 (yay!)
Butt:  39.2----->  36
Thigh: 20.5----> 20
Calf: 15-----> 15 (funny.. never changed. small legs.)
Weight....um..lets say I lost 20 pounds this year.

    Not too shabby.  Now I just need to keep it up to lose the 10 to my goal, and then 5 for vanity reason. Although my instructor pushed the point that he doesn't care about the weight on the scale, but the body fat%.  There was a really cool scale at the center.  You would have to take off your shoes and socks, then stand on it, then the scale would take everything from your weight, water intake, body fat, and then the information went directly to the computer where it was on a graph to show your progress. Every 2 weeks I had him measure me, just so I could see the progress. When I started was in the yellow for body fat, low water intake, but now I'm in the green (healthy!) and I've definitely increased my water. 

I'm going to miss a lot of people there. Made a lot of new friends, good people.  Now that I'm no longer a part of bootcamp, I'll be at the rec center most morning if anyone wants to join me!

Book Review: Wicked Lovely

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

   This was one of those books I saw on goodreads with good reviews. The story itself was fine, almost sweet, but nothing I'm going to run to the store to buy. Definitely a teen-book. Here's an overview I found on bn.com.

"All teenagers have problems, but few of them can match those of Aislinn, who has the power to see faeries. Quite understandably, she wishes that she could share her friends' obliviousness and tries hard to avoid these invisible intruders. But one faery in particular refuses to leave her alone. Keenan the Summer King is convinced beyond all reasoning that Aislinn is the queen he has been seeking for nine centuries. What's a 21st-century girl to do when she's stalked by a suitor nobody else can see? A debut fantasy romance for the ages; superlative summer read."

Book Review: The Lost Hero

My first book to read on my kindle! and I couldn't have asked for a better book. Can not wait until the next book is available at the library for ebooks. :)

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

   Loved this book! I didn't know anything about it other than Rick Riordan wrote it. I really enjoy the way he writes and gives life to each character. What a great surprise to find out that it's a spinoff from Percy Jackson series?! But in this book, Percy Jackson is missing... Here's an overview of the book.

"This new series weaves Greek and Roman mythology, where the gods show different personalities. Jason wakes up on a bus filled with problem kids from the Wilderness School who are headed to the Grand Canyon. He has no memory of his previous life, but seems to be with his girlfriend, Piper, and his best friend, Leo. The action takes off quickly: storm spirits attack them and capture their coach, who turns out to be a Satyr. Searching for Percy, who is missing, Annabeth arrives and takes the three to Camp Half-Blood, where they learn that they are demigods. By sunset of the solstice in three days, the teens must rescue Hera, Queen of the gods, or Porphyrion, the giant king created to destroy Zeus and unseat the gods of Olympus, will rise. Their quest takes them across the United States, sometimes flying on a mechanical, 60-foot dragon, as they use their power and wits against Medea, King Midas, and the giant cannibal Enceladus."

my Kindle and a Lost pet.

   You know I love to read.  It's only taken a month, but I finally figured out HOW to put a library book on my new kindle fire.  Rick Riordans The Lost Hero was finally available from my library and ready to transfer to my kindle. yay!! I'm still new to the kindle and how it works, so I'm learning from mistakes...reading q&a online...asking my brother in law (haha)..anything to figure out what I need to know.  Sooo nice to have something work! and I can't wait to start reading library books on my kindle.

and then there was my daughters lost pet....

   Earlier in the week this cute little ferret decided to take a trip outside the house.  Honestly, I thought she found a comfy hiding spot and took a long nap (it has happened before).  By the next morning there was still no trace of her.  Now I was getting worried.  There's always a chance that the ferrets will sneak out of the house when the kids are going in and out playing with friends, but usually we catch them before it happens.  Out of our 2 ferrets, I would not have thought the white one would actually leave.

    Luckily I got an email from a friend less than 24 hours after I last saw the white one (not 24 hours after I thought she was missing). She got a message from another neighbor saying that they found a white ferret, but unfortunately she didn't get the message in time before they called animal services.  The moment I got that message I was down to the house where they found my ferret.   Of course I was upset to find out that animal services was already there and my ferret was gone the night before.  I didn't stay to chat, I literally ran home to call animal services to check on my ferret and to make sure she was there. me = emotional wreak.

   To make a long story short, we went down to the "animal jail" where we had to bail out our ferret. Did you know that ferrets have to be licensed in our city?! learn something new every day. I'm just happy that we have her back. She is a very sweet and shy ferret, and I wouldn't know what would have happened with our daughter who is really attached to her ferret.

Book Review: Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just a quick overview for this fun book:

January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

Really enjoyed reading this book. It's basically a book comprised of letters back and forth between the writer Juliet, her friend, publisher, and a lot of new friends on Guernsey, one of the Channel islands. Very interesting, touching and informative of how it might have been during the German occupation on the island. Definitely add this one to your list.

Turkey Day Feast!

What's Turkey Day without some fun HATS! My big sister made these AWESOME turkey hats for everyone, and I mean everyone. AND we all wore them, the entire dinner. Loved it. Loved the Turkey hats. Kids got a kick out of them too. Above is the picture of my dads little family, my sisters kids, and my kids all wearing their turkey hats in the leaves.

Here's my sister making/sizing the turkey hats for everyone.

Sisters...Sisters....in our turkey hats.

The dessert plate. Now I'll point out that this is my dads plate, he tried a bite of everything!! Remember the mini pies? There they are. My mini apple, mini pumpkin, my sisters mini chocolate, my hubby made the pecan pie, and my dads wife made the banana cream. Sooo good. I love turkey day.

Here's a picture of the kids table. You know how we were always at the kids table when we were kids? I totally understand now!! So nice to have the kids in one place, it was quieter, they were happy, we were happy.  Makes perfect sense now. We gave the kids coloring pages, candy, their own food table...they loved it. Once they were done with the food, they were outside playing in the leaves, and the adults were able to eat kid free. Love the kids, but love the quiet too.

Such a nice Turkey Day. Thanks Dad for hosting!!