Bloggy Love...

Thanks to Julie over at Book Hooked, she gave me this sweet award! I love your blog too darling!

I am passing this on to Musings of Amber Murphy, She Wears a Red Sox Cap and Heir to Blair! Smooches!

Don't forget to vote on our April Reading Selection..

Five Little Bunnies Hopping on a Hill

I read this to my class last week because it seemed like a good welcome to spring book. My kids were not impressed. It's written in the style of 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. So, when a line like, "4 little bunnies digging up holes in the hill, one found a mole... mama called the doctor and the doctor said, no more bunnies digging on the hill.." that is roughly what it said. My kids were like uhhh why did the mom call the doctor?? What happened??

Yeah, it didn't make sense. I can't do little kid books where they don't make sense. Isn't happening. My kids kept questioning the book and I questioned why I picked it up to read before I had read it myself.

This would be a book you could skip. Or just read it to kids who won't ask questions. ;) Age range would probably work best 2-4.

What kids book could do you do without?

Happy Birthday toooooooooo me!!!!!!

Hello lovelies! I am off on my way to Nashville to enjoy a MUCH needed fun vacation with some friends and the husband. I have a few posts planned for next week, I may have something to say from TN... but probably not. ;)

Oh and don't forget to vote for April's Group Read... I will have it run thru next Thursday.. I should be back in town late Thursday night / early Friday to announce it.. or you can just look at the poll ha..

Yesterday, my kids threw me a surprise party, complete with a present from the class and a cake from a parent! I was so surprised and it was awesome. ;) I also had parent / teacher conferences ALLLLLLLL day. I wore a skirt for the conferences and they asked me if I was going to a fancy dress party. Hahha.. I may never wear skirts. ;P So, Thursday was an exhausting night of packing / ironing / de-smelling because who was going to wash the clothes? Ha. Not me.

I did get a fabulous new camera from my hubby for my birthday so I will be sure to take lots of pictures. It should be a great road trip!

5 questions

1. When is your birthday and how old will you be on your next birthday? - I am 26 today!!! (eek)

2. What was your most fun birthday? - I've had a lot of great birthdays.. Disney World when I was 16 or any of my bday's in my 20's have been a blast! Probably because I make a huge deal about them ha.

3. What was your most fun spring break? - I've had some pretty great spring breaks as well. Disney World, Gulf Shores, Clearwater, Ft. Myers Beach, Toronto, Scottsdale, Nashville... and once again I will be heading there this week! I think the top ones would be Disney World, Ft. Myers and Nashville..

4. Does anyone else hate the Big East as much as I do? SERIOUSLY. Why did I give them ANY wins. Next year, you get no love Big East.

5. Who do you want to win the NCAA tourney? - I WANT MSU or OSU to win. Or you know West Va. so I can do well in my brackets. ;)

Have a great week! Be back for real next Friday!

Wedding Wednesday - Picture taking...

So, that lovely time between ceremony and reception when all you want to do is have a drink and perhaps some food with your friends.. totally doesn't end up relaxing in the least. We were jam packed with pictures, missed out on hors 'doeuvre and didn't get a drink. Sad face. Oh and I hate all of my wedding photos. That minor detail. Whoops. Anyway, we had some pictures taken before the ceremony, but it seemed like we took a bunch afterwards too. The lighting/photos do not do the background justice.. Pretty disappointing.

My advice to everyone is honestly, care about your photos and photographer. I did not and we went with cheap and someone we knew. I really wish I would have. If you don't splurge on anything, SPLURGE ON PICTURES. THEY LAST FOREVER. AND BAD PICTURES DO EXIST. / end of public service rant.. you will thank me. (oh and even after i filled out a ridiculous form of what photos and who i wanted in them to be taken.. there is not a single family photo with my brother in it .. )

now some pictures that I can stand..

giving the tude..

aww.. ;)

wedding party...

parents...

hubby and his gram..

Taking a break next week when I am on vacation... look for more Wedding Wednesday in April! If you have a wedding story you would want to share on the blog contact me at pinkflipflops44 at gmail dot com!

Middlesex - Book One

I will be dead honest. This has been super hard to get into. Not only have I been super busy with life and work, the book hasn't drawn me in. Sure, when I am reading I am all into it, but then I get sleepy and have to go to bed. So, not sure if I am going to finish this by the end of the month. How is it going for everyone else so far?

Book One

We are introduced Cal and the Stephanides family. I find the history of the family story quite interesting. What I find hard is the "fluff" or the extra stuff some of us agreed we don't like last week. ;)

Cal's grandma, Desdemona, and grandpa, Lefty, are revealed to be brother and sister. We learn of the Turks invading and them leaving behind their homeland to escape to America. In their travels, they meet a nice doctor, who helps Lefty when he is in need. He is Armenian and has a paper keeping his family save because of services he gave to the Turk leader. However, the soldiers who 'visit' is family are illiterate and they kill his entire family. Lefty pretends they are French to get them safe passage to Athens and to a new life. Desdemona uses a different name, and Lefty and her "meet" and marry on the ship to America.

I am pretty grossed out about the brother/sister relationship. Like ew. Anyone else having that problem?

How far along in the book are you?

April Book Club suggestions...

I am doing this early because I am going out of town next week and want to put the poll up before I leave. (Don't worry I have a Middlesex post coming up later this week!)

So, what book would you like to read together next month?

I don't know about you, but I need something light!

Here is a link for April themes if you are so inclined to check it out!

I will post the poll Thursday, March 25th or early Friday, March 26th (my 26th birthday eeeek!).

In attempts to forget about my brackets..

Here is an award to brighten your Monday, and to help you forget about your blown brackets!

Thanks to Stacy from Stacy's Books for giving me this award because of my love of Spartan and Buckeye sports. ;)

This award is to honor certain bloggers that are kindhearted individuals. They regularly take part in my blog and always leave the sweetest comments. If it wasn't for them, my site would just be an ordinary book review blog. Their blogs are also amazing and are tastefully done on a daily basis. I thank them and look forward to our growing friendship through the blog world.

I am passing this along to Kelly @ She Wears a Red Sox Cap , Amber @ musings of amber murphy , Lisa @ Lisa's Yarns , Becky @ Love Everyday Life and Amber @ Girl With The Red Hair ..

Thanks ladies for always commenting! It's nice to know people actually read my drivel!

Anyone's brackets NOT jacked?

Booking Through Thursday - Plain or Pretty?

Which do you prefer? Lurid, fruity prose, awash in imagery and sensuous textures and colors? Or straight-forward, clean, simple prose?

Straight-forward and simple for sure. I seriously skip most descriptive paragraphs in all books I read. In my head I read, blah blah blah. I'm terrible I know.

I hate descriptions. True story.

What about you?

Wedding Wednesday - The Ceremony

The day of the ceremony I woke up and it was 39 degrees outside. It was August 18th. WTF? But do not be alarmed by 4pm when I waltzed down the aisle it was a sweaty late afternoon with a hint of rain in the future. My wedding day was beautiful.

I woke up on the couch of my best-friends house early and the hair work began immediately. She did my hair, my moms and some other girls and another friend came and did a few other girls hair. The only people not with us were my future sis-in-laws. It was a great morning of laughs, food, drink and girlie time.

Wedding Day regret number 1 began with having someone else do my makeup and hating the way it looked later in photos.

Oh and did I mention I swell BADLY in summer? Yeah, I was an effing whale bride. Yay me. I gained a CRAP ton of weight the summer of my wedding.. Hello stress eating. Why can't I be of the not eating because of stress variety?

Anyway.... we arrived at the wedding/reception site LATE of course.. Whoops.. After telling the boys an hour earlier time that they all showed up on time for .. whoops.. We got ready in a hurry and that just meant the boys were done early and had more time to sit around and drink.. ha.

Our wedding started promptly at 4 and I walked down to my uncle singing "She" by Elvis Costello. It was beautiful. The ceremony was what I wanted. Full of laughs, friends and love. Short and sweet. (Did I mention the outrageous comment my uncle made out exotic shaving during our ceremony? Yeah.. that may be why my family was mortified I was having him marry us.. ohh the drama) It was made longer only by my attempts to fit people into it that meant a lot to me/us. My uncle sang a song that he had performed at my parents wedding and my friend sang a song cuz she is AMAZING. All too quickly the ceremony was over and it was off to picture time.. blech

We did not have any bible readings at our ceremony mainly because we have seen Wedding Crashers one too many times and laugh out loud at weddings when we can guess the readings they will have. What is ONE thing you always roll your eyes about at wedding ceremonies?

The Night Before the Tooth Fairy

The Night Before the Tooth Fairy, cracks me up with its very first lines..

'Twas the night before the Tooth Fairy

would come take my tooth,

I'd been so excited

ever since it got looth.

Okay, so maybe I just find little kid talk adorable?

This starts out telling the story of a little boy with a loose tooth and the various strategies his parents suggest to get it out. It eventually pops out and he plops it under the pillow for the Tooth Fairy. This is when the story picks up into the same writing style as Twas the Night Before Christmas. It's cute, the pictures are adorable and both little boys and little girls LOVE the Tooth Fairy!

I really like the pictures in the book and I always make sure to check them out since I know that is what my students are checking out. Some weird things I noticed, are the DISTURBING pictures on the wall of the boys room. He definitely likes making pictures of monsters!

I would say that this would be best for ages 4-7!