true boy tales: Happy Birthday to Nana

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Happy Birthday to Nana

To celebrate Judie's birthday, John booked a room at a hotel in Ankeny so that we could all go swimming! It was so much fun...especially in the dead of winter. Bennett didn't miss a beat from the last time he was swimming more than 5 months ago and was jumping in on his own and swimming around with his water wings on. Boy, does that kid take after his mom and dad though...he thought the big pool was too cold and spent probably 75% of his time in the hot tub. (And no, never more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time for all you safety nuts out there thinking, 'isn't he too young to be in there that much??'). We all had dinner and cake together after a couple hours of swimming and Nana and Poppy were sweet enough to let the newlyweds (Aaron and Bria) have the room for the night :) My favorite thing about being tight on money these days is that stuff like this seems so special now. That may sound cheesy, but I can't tell you how excited I was about it and how much fun it was telling Bennett we were going to get to go swimming. I just really appreciate my new found perspective on everything these days. You'd think we'd be feeling negative about a lot of things, but its the complete opposite--I find ways to think of everything as a positive now. We're so blessed and I love spending time with our whole family. Thanks again, Poppy! And thank you, Nana, for wanting your birthday to be a special day for all of us!

Dawson snoozing poolside:

1 comment:

AnonymousMarch 3, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Judie told me to check out your blog and now I know why! How fun! What a great birthday gift idea for a Nana who loves her grandkids and kids! I bet it was so fun. Bennett is so adorable. I'm sure you miss his curls...they were so sweet and wispy. But he looks adorable with the cut too! Looks like you're having fun! -Sarah
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for the book lovers {my recent favorites}:

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan: An incredibly haunting medical memoir. There's a lot of medical info to read through but I didn't find those parts boring and difficult to wade through. I thought she shared just enough. But if you like a book that's easy to read, this isn't it. I couldn't get this one out of my mind for a very long time. An unforgettable true story.
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes and What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty: I'm just going to lump these two together because they're in the same category. I'm calling them deep chick lit. A perfect summer book to get lost in. Read them. Both. I promise you from the bottom of my heart that you will LOVE them. (I liked them both way better than Where'd You Go, Bernadette.)
These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner: Most of my favorite books have a main character with a whole lotta grit. I wasn't quite sure about this one when I first started it but, oh, did it sweep me in and not let me go til the last page. I also love a book that makes me "emote out loud" as I like to think of it. This one had me smiling all the way through and crying my eyes out at the end. It follows a young girl through her life in the Arizona Territories in the late 1800's. A must read for anyone who likes Historical Fiction.
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill. I LOVED this book. Its a very well researched historical fiction novel about a young girl kidnapped from her village in Africa and sold into slavery. It follows her through her whole life and the unbelievable heartache and trauma she lives through. I've been telling people I liked it as much as Unbroken but the main character is so much more endearing and has so much spunk.
Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison. I have a thing for modern day memoirs of utterly heartbreaking stories (Like Breaking Night and Blackbird). This is a Foster mother's first-hand account of the children she took in over the years and the unbelievable trauma they went through before they came to her.
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. I loved this lighthearted yet emotional story of a strong woman making the best of a hard life in the Southwest, beginning in the 1930's. I love her writing style--just cuts to the point of every story without too much "fluff" and yet tells it in a way that you can picture everything in vivid detail. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, is one of my all-time favorites, and this true-life novel about her grandmother didn't disappoint.
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Modern day fiction about a girl raised in Foster homes and her struggles throughout life. She learns about the Victorian Era language of flowers and that becomes a huge part of her life. I finished it in two days. An easy read but very emotional and moving.
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. The true story of a man's experience after Hurricane Katrina when he decided not to evacuate in order to look after several properties he owned. Quite an unbelievable story and so hard to believe this happened in the US only a few years ago.