Deck the Tree

For FHE this week we decorated our Christmas tree. All the kids were really into it this year. 

 After the boys put the ornaments on, Adelia pulled them back off, and so the cycle went....

Notice how nice and evenly spread the ornaments are. Haha. Aaron and I rearranged them after the kids went to bed, so that the tree wouldn't be quite so bottom heavy.

St. George...Intro

We went to St. George for Thanksgiving to be with Aaron's family. I did remember my camera. But I forgot the memory card. So I took a total of 5 pictures (which was all that would fit on the camera's internal storage). Luckily every one else had their cameras and so over 300 pictures were taken to document our trip. I just haven't gotten a hold of any of them yet. So here's what I took on my camera. I'll do a bigger post with all the awesome details of our trip when I get the other pictures. Consider this a sneak peek.

 Lisa found an awesome, appropriate for all ages hike that ended in this mini-slot canyon.

 Adelia enjoyed toddling around and sampling the sandstone.

 Lincoln climbed

 Krystal and Ivan, hiking and rock climbing buddies

The Turkey List

Remember our Grateful Gobbler? I wanted to list all the things we wrote down to be thankful for this year. Here it goes:

Cell phones
Aunts
Holiday decorations
Cars
Art projects
Indoor plumbing
Uncles
Modern prophets
Chocolate
Fracine Cowie Brownies
Firesides
Extra folding chairs
Parotts
The Sacrament
Explode the Code
Children's books
Meat
Bathtub
Lunch
A loving Heavenly Father
Hymns
Brownies
Pizza
Youtube
Having free days in my schedule
Lincoln helping Ivan w/his pajamas
Refridgerator
A child who can dress himself
Signing Time
Sleep
Ryan and Melissa
Lincoln, Ivan, Adelia
Blogging
Hooper people
Aaron
Naptime
BOB books
Driving safely
Our anniversary
Mountains
That Krystal made this turkey
Friends
Music
The calendar
Dinner
Books
Primary songs
Artistic husband
Gloves, coats, hats, scarves
Internet
A knowledge of God's eternal plan
The seasons
Licking the spoon
Leggings
Fall colors
City Lights
Parents
Cotton balls
Family history
My glasses
Comfy clothes
Sunshine
Hot water
Our van
Having feet
Electricity
Turkey
Our Savior Jesus Christ
Sleeping in
Washing my hands
Good friends, mine and my kids'
Employment
Chap stick
Bedtime
Moms willing to stay and help out at Little Boys Club
PB&J
2-story house
Growing
Wood projects
Rice milk
Campfires
Crafts
Popcorn
Having legs
Softball socks
Working together on projects
Mail
Sunday naps
Extended family
Watching movies
Snow
Kids laughing
Eating my dinner
Amazon Prime
Facebook
My mouth
Email
Eyes
Dishwasher
Eating food
Pepsi
My rabbit
Our primary presidency
Tools
Home school
Kind cashiers
Good friends
Stories on CD
Church
Phone calls from friends
Krystal
Little Girls
Church movies
Our awesome neighborhood
Healthy kids
Hot glue gun
My bed
Talents
My kids' primary teachers
Friday Fun Class
Hometeachers
Giving gifts that make people happy
Being able to write words
The American Dream
Weekend get-a-ways
Lunchtime phone calls from Aaron
Petting cats and dogs
Little Boys Club
Meaningful conversations
Toys

Have I?

Have I Done Any Good? (Hymn 223)
 

Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?

[Chorus]
Then wake up and do something more
Than dream of your mansion above.
Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,
A blessing of duty and love.

There are chances for work all around just now,
Opportunities right in our way.
Do not let them pass by, saying, “Sometime I’ll try,”
But go and do something today.
’Tis noble of man to work and to give;
Love’s labor has merit alone.
Only he who does something helps others to live.
To God each good work will be known.

Text and music: Will L. Thompson, 1847–1909, alt.

I sang this to my boys as I put them down for a nap today, and it touched me. It's funny that that is often the case when I sing Primary songs and Hymns to them. I begin a song without thinking much of it, and then all of a sudden the Spirit hits me so strongly that it almost knocks me over. Several lines in particular stuck out to me. The first, "When they needed my help was I there?" and the second, "There are chances for work all around just now," and the third, "Opportunities right in our way."

I am afraid that often I am the one who says, "Sometime I'll try." aka...When I have more time, I'd love to serve. And sometimes I truly find that the opportunities to do so are "right in my way". In the way of what? In the way of my self imposed busy schedule. In the way of some "important" thing I have to do. For example, Monday is my house cleaning day. But it's only my house cleaning day because I decided to make Monday my house cleaning day.  It could just as easily be Tuesday, or Wednesday, or never. ;) It's good to have a house cleaning day, but it's better, or even best to be able to put aside the cleaning and be there for a friend who needs a listening ear. People don't usually have the luxury of picking the day and time when they'll be in need. And so the phrase, "When they needed my help was I there?" stands out to me today, not as "Oh ya, I just happened to be completely available and un-busy when so-and-so needed a baby-sitter/hug/meal/encouraging word/shoulder to cry on." But more like a willingness and even a desire, to push aside those things that don't matter as much (cleaning day, grocery shopping, etc.) and make the time to do the more important service. I would even insert a word...When they needed my help was I WILLING to be there? I hope that I can answer yes, to that question more often than not.

And, as is usually the case, serving benefits us more than it does the person whom we served. I was reminded of that today. I got a phone call this morning from a dear friend. We live farther apart than I'd like, and therefore don't see each other or spend as much time with each other as I'd like. But somehow, we can always pick right up where we left off, even if it's been a long time since we've talked. Anyways, she called me this morning, and needed some to listen. Which I did gladly. And during the course of our conversation, it dawned on me that I needed this conversation just as much as she did, though maybe for different reasons. I needed to be reminded of strong friendships, of Christ-like attitudes, and about not judging others. So thank you, my friend, for your phone call this morning. 

Isn't it funny, how sometimes in life, we have these little, seemingly unrelated experiences, but they all serve to move our thoughts in a certain direction so that we can obtain a new level of understanding? I'm having a week like that. While my visiting teaching companion and I were out visiting teaching yesterday, I was reflecting on some of the experiences and different conversations I'd had this week. I was also wondering if my companion thought I was a complete slacker as a visiting teacher because I have a tough time making appointments, and my thoughts on the visiting teaching messages are always so scattered and seemingly unhelpful, and on top of that I suck at making small talk and putting people at ease. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just stating facts. Visiting teaching is one of the things I struggle with. I believe in it, and it's purpose, but putting it all into action is challenging for me.

Anyways, as all this was tumbling around in my head, an interesting thought hit the surface of it. Isn't it interesting that Heavenly Father makes us all so uniquely different and then puts us all here together on Earth and gives us the opportunity to be in situations where we can see each others' weaknesses? Why does He do that? It's a learning experience on so many different levels.

It occurred to me recently, that (especially in church callings) no one is really trained as an expert in their area. For example, I did not spend any of my years in college or otherwise, training to be the 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency. I am not an expert at my calling. And while it's true that the Lord has given me some talents that have come in handy while I've been serving in this position, it is also true that there are PLENTY of areas where I can improve. And I think the same is true for just about everyone. It's easy to see where people need improvement isn't it? But it's trickier to try and look past that and see the potential. Besides, if I was always placed in a calling that I was good at and comfortable with, I'd never get to stretch myself, and I'd miss a lot of awesome opportunities for growth.

Snow Way!

Saturday morning we woke up to a backyard full of snow. The boys appreciated it. They had a grand time, and I was happy enough to send them out there without having to go out myself. :) I love our backyard.

Dear Dad,

My boys wrote Aaron notes the other day to tell him they were grateful for him. Aaron is not my dad, so I didn't write one. But then it occurred to that I still could, and probably should, write one to you.

You'll never get to read this. It's probably just as well though, seeing as how you were never really the sentimental type. I remember you telling me when I was a teenager, that showing emotion when I was upset about something was a sign of immaturity. I'm still pretty immature in that regard, I'm afraid.

Last Sunday (Nov. 13) was Stew Lemmon Day. It's a tradition that the Ropelatos helped me start all those years ago (has it been 8 years now?) to remember and celebrate you.  We had just gotten back from Hooper. I didn't bring it up while we were up there, because Mom hates to "celebrate" the 13th (the day you died) and would rather celebrate your birthday (Nov. 20th) instead. Me, I do a little of both. We usually have stew and lemonade for dinner on Stew Lemmon Day, but the 13th was kind of a crazy day with meetings and such, so we will probably do that on your B-day this year too.

I reread The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes this month. I thought of you and how you used to read that to us with a flash light when the power went out. Lincoln is almost old enough for me to read him The Mouse and the Motorcycle out loud. I remember when you read that to us too. One of my very favorite memories was sitting around as a family and listening to you read out loud to us. I do my best to recite Green Eggs and Ham to my kids, the exact same boisterous way you used to recite it for us. I don't do as good of a job, but the kids love it. I'm grateful that you and Mom taught us to love reading. I wish we'd always kept reading together as a family.

The other day, I wore earrings, something I rarely do, and I thought of you. Remember that time when I was in Jr. High, and Abby and Alicia and I pierced our ears in my bedroom with a needle and a safety pin? I was pretty sure you were going to kill me, since you'd forbidden me to get them pierced until I was 22. I was very careful to wear my hair down over my ears, but I must not have been careful enough, since you found out. I was so surprised that instead of grounding me until I was dead, that you took me out to lunch (at Sizzler) and presented me with a pair of real diamond studs. You said you wanted to be the first person to ever give me diamonds. I also recall you saying that if you ever caught me with more than one hole in each ear you would rip the earrings out with your bare hands. You never were one to sugar coat anything. :) You told me that the only reason you'd set the rule about being 22 before I could pierce my ears, was so that I had something to rebel against that wouldn't get me into more serious trouble. I'd rebel by piercing my ears, instead of doing drugs, or something like that. I'll admit, I go through phases of understanding your logic and being totally baffled by it.

Growing up, I always thought your rules were harsh and unfair and the punishments over done. Now that I'm an adult, and have slightly more perspective, I don't think it was so much the rules that were the problem (with my own kids I'm starting to see how many of the rules are a great idea), but it's the lack of anything else, I think, that makes me angry. I feel like after I turned 12 our whole  relationship consisted of you telling me what I couldn't do. But we never did anything positive together to reinforce the relationship. We used to read together. We used to go Christmas dress shopping together. But somehow, once I was a teenager the rules and discipline was all there was, because we stopped reading, we stopped shopping, we stopped going for rides in the car to talk about politics, we stopped taking the horses out to pick asparagus. I feel angry and bitter about this. I'm sure I'm partially to blame for it as well.  But since it is the way it is, I'm grateful that I have taken from it a real motivation to keep a strong relationship with my kids. To make sure there are plenty of positives to stick alongside the negatives that will inevitably come.

I feel the need to clarify something. When we were up in Hooper the other day, I was talking with Kyle, and somehow the subject of sneaking out of the house came up. I was telling Kyle how I was always terrified to sneak out because I would have to make it past your bedroom door first. Mom seemed to be under the impression that there was one occasion where I did sneak out, and this is what I would like to clarify. Not true. I never once snuck out of our house. It's true that I made myself a ladder out of wood, and hid it behind the bush that was underneath my window, and that I practiced using it, so that if I wanted to sneak out, I could. But knowing that I could do it was enough. I never actually did.

Did you hear that the NBA is in a lock out right now? I don't watch sports much anymore, because we don't have a TV, but I do always get a little nostalgic twinge in my heart during basketball season. Looking back on it, I don't even know if you were that big of a Jazz fan, but it was something we always did as a family, and I have so many great memories of being a Jazz fan family. Remember you bought those big banners to hang up on the house during the playoffs? And Jazz Jello? You even bought Kyle and I "Get Jazzed" the CD, which takes a bunch of popular songs and changes the lyrics to cheer the Jazz on during the playoffs. I still have it. I play it for Aaron sometimes, but he doesn't understand. I don't think I've even been to a Jazz game since you and Mom had season tickets. I wonder if the personal pan pizza we always got from the Pizza Hut stand would taste as good as I remember it. I wonder if Mom ever wears the leather Jazz jacket you bought for her anymore.

I'm grateful that we had scripture study as a family. I remember it being kind of sporadic. We'd go for awhile, and then we wouldn't for awhile, and so on. We tried different times of day, different lengths of time, having everyone read, having only one person read, and so on. I don't know if you ever knew that I was listening. I don't know if I even knew that I was listening. But when I read my scriptures now, I occasionally come to a verse here, or a chapter there, and I have a distinct memory of something you taught us about it. I can hear your voice in my head, stopping whoever was reading so you could give further explanation. We complained and whined and rolled our eyes. We just wanted to get through as quickly as possible and be done. But you taught us anyway...and now, years later, I remember. Thank you.

One night for Family Home Evening, we made a family tree for the kids, because Lincoln was a little confused about the extended family relationships. We just did grandparents, and great grandparents. We explained that you don't live on Earth anymore, but that you are up in Heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus. Since then, it's not an uncommon thing for Lincoln in his prayers to say that he's grateful for "Papa Stew" who lives up in Heaven with Jesus. I know you've met all my kids...for all I know you probably had a hand in picking them out. But sometimes I really just wish you could be here to see them. They are the coolest things. I and wish you could see me too. See that I actually "turned out" so to speak. That somehow I made it past being the selfish, sullen, stubborn teenager, who just wanted to prove the she could be in charge of her own life. I bet there were days (probably years) where you didn't think that I would.

Aaron and I are trying to be in the process of buying a house. Boy, do I wish you were here for that. I could use some advice from someone who knows what they're talking about. If you feel like sending me any from up there, it would sure be appreciated. :) 

Well, this is some letter, eh? I just started going and couldn't stop. I hope things are going well up there in Heaven (that's probably a really stupid statement, of course they're going well...it's Heaven.) I know we all miss you down here. We all have different ways of showing it, but I see it in all of us.

Happy Stew Lemmon Day last Sunday and Happy Birthday this coming. Love you Dad.

-Krystal

Piggy Tails The First

It occurred to me that other day that Adelia's hair was probably long enough to try piggy tails. I suppose we could have done one of those awful stick-straight-up-in-the-air troll like ones a long time ago, but I'm not a fan. But her hair is finally long enough to do real, genuine piggy tails. And they're adorable. Since her hair is curly the ends of the piggies curl under very nicely all on their own. That's a luxury I never had as a child.  Aren't they cute?! Too bad they'll be trashed after nap time.

November Art Projects

We've been trying our best to do Thanksgiving justice around here. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, but even with that, it's still hard not to let the Christmas tidal wave pick me up and carry me away too soon. (Like, except for Aaron's parents, my parents, and Aaron, I'm completely done with my Christmas shopping.)  Ivan and Lincoln and I made these cute hand print turkeys. I improvised from a pattern I found on Home School Creations (the link to it is in my last post), and I think ours turned out cuter. They were super easy too. I traced a small bowl for the body and let the kids paint that circle brown. Then I let them each pick the order of colors they wanted, and one by one we painted their hands and stamped the feathers. Then we glued on the head, beak, and waddle. Then the leg meat, and drew the legs with magic marker. Then we glued on googly eyes.

We're still working on our count down too. It's been fun. The other day we drew out, "I am thankful for my dad. Do something nice for Dad." We made him cards and decorated the front screen door with them. So Aaron came home and was greeted with this:

 This is Adelia's card. I taped it to her high chair try and she scribbled it, and then ripped it to pieces (hence the taping back together), and I wrote the note for her.

 This is Ivan's card. He drew the pictures, told me what to label them, and then dictated what he wanted his note to say. I am not sure where is statement about money came from, but I second the motion. ;)

 This is Lincoln's card. He spent his whole time drawing the turkey and spelling it out, which I thought he did an excellent job.(I did tell him to add the Y at the end, but he'd spelled it "trke" all on his own by sounding it out. I was impressed.)  He dictated to me what he wanted the note to say, and was very particular where we taped the turkey. He also has a new fascination with question marks, and made sure to put a couple in. "That's a question, right Mom? Did you put the question mark?"

We are definitely grateful for Aaron around here. I don't know what we'd do without him. I love that my kids each had something funny (money, candy) to be grateful for, and something a little deeper (blessings, that Aaron can pass the Sacrament).  Aaron is such a good example to our kids, and I know that they pick up on the things that he does. Even though they don't know what the priesthood is, they get to see their dad fulfilling his priesthood responsibilities and they can feel the spirit that comes with.

School Lately

 Well, it's November. How did that happen? Last year, in November we made a paper turkey and wrote down things that we were thankful for on his feathers. This year the Grateful Gobbler returns. Our turkey this year is much improved from last year's model, and it's hanging on our toy room door, where we see it all the time. It's been really fun (and sometimes funny) to hear the things the kids come up with to be Thankful for.

On top of the Grateful Gobbler this year we're also doing an awesome Thanksgiving countdown that I found on Sugar Doodle. "Valerie writes, 'Here is a fun THANKSGIVING THANKFUL COUNTDOWN.  This is a fun activity to do with your family.  Each day you draw a scroll of paper from a jar which gives you a thankful activity to do.'" Just to give you an idea of what the scrolls say, so far the thankful activities we've drawn have been, "I am thankful for my eyes. Watch a special movie together as a family." We watched Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown. "I am thankful for modern prophets. Read a talk from President Monson together as a family." We actually watched his opening address from conference where he announced the new Provo Temple. "I am thankful for books. Go to the library and check out books about Thanksgiving." We're going to do that one tomorrow, since Thursday is our normal library day.

We've been reading The Story of Thanksgiving by Nancy J. Skarmeas at least once every day. It's a nice, simple, explanation of the reasons we celebrate Thanksgiving. I like that it specifically focuses on giving thanks to God for all that we have. There are a whole bunch of books similar to this one that explain different holidays, events in history, and famous people from history. We've checked out The Story of the Statue of Liberty from the library before, and it's equally good. I think we might have to start collecting these.

Today we made hand print Mayflowers. I thought they turned out so cute. I got the idea (along with lots of other great ideas) from one of my favorite websites homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com she has a new Thanksgiving Preschool pack up, that I might have to go take a look at and see if we want to add it into the plan for this month.

I embellished her idea a little, and instead of cutting the clouds out of paper and gluing them on, we dipped cotton balls into grey paint and made the clouds that way.  I thought these turned out so cute, I'm probably going to do them again next week when I host Little Boys Club.

And we've still been doing our reading and writing and math stuff. It should occur to me more often, when I have an idea, that someone else has most likely already had that idea, made it better than I could ever hope to, and shared it on the internet. :) I've been spending a lot of time recently trying to make little activities to help Lincoln with his budding reading skills, and low and behold I do an internet search and find that someone has already done it for me! I found this awesome series called Explode the Code, and the first book is right at Lincoln's level. When I saw it, I remembered Aaron's sister telling me about it a year or so ago, but since we were far off from being able to use it, I'd tucked it away in my mind for later. Well now it's later. Here are some samples of the pages with the activities it has.

So far we love this book. It works on Lincoln's reading, as well as writing, comprehension, and spelling all at the same time. Lincoln does about two pages a day out of it, and that seems to be about right for him.

And occasionally, Lincoln comes up with a project of his own that he wants to do, and of course, I encourage that as much as possible. Today he wanted to make a card for our little neighbor girl who is his friend, to tell her he was thankful that they were friends. :) A little while ago he wanted to build a road for his cars, but first he had to draw up the plans and all the directions for how to make the road. (Bring the dirt, smash it down, paint the lines, etc.) He worked on it for a long time, and it looked great when he was finished.

And that's how school has been going for us lately. What cool crafts/activities are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Schtuff

 We woke up the other morning to find our back yard looking like this. And it occurred to me for the first time, that we live right at the base of the mountain, and are probably going to get a lot more snow here than we did in Provo. I hate to be cold, but I do like the snow (as long as I'm not driving in it), and I think the kids will have fun playing in it. I have lots of great memories of playing in the snow as a kid.

Daylight Savings Time, is another matter altogether, however. And I hate it. Even with the "extra" hour we get of sleep this go around *roll eyes*. As a mother, what I like is consistency. I like to know when to expect that the kids will be hungry/tired/getting up in the morning, etc. And with Daylight Savings, no matter if you're springing forward or falling back it screw EVERYTHING up. Grrrr.....Plus I hate that it's dark at 5pm.

But I think I've got the kids all ready for winter. They've got all their coats, snow pants, boats, gloves, and so forth. I even found this great monster hat for Adelia. In this picture she's marching around the house in it, waving her toothbrush (which she would take everywhere with her if I let her) and just generally being very silly. I love her.

She's been talking up a storm lately, and it occurred to me that I should try to write down all the words she can say. Here is goes: Mama, Dada, water, milk, shoes, socks, toes, baby, panda, raff (giraffe), Eeee-en (Lincoln), Mah-maw (grandma), blanket, finished, bird, pants, ball, dog, meow, chicken, walk, no (except it's always more like NO!), ears, nose, and mouth. And she repeats mostly anything you say to her. It's cute. She's doing pretty good with her signs too. She can sign finished, milk, water, horse/cow (she does the same sign for both), shoes, more, food, dog, baby, ball, bird, and chicken.

 It's kind of funny how night and day different this kid is from when she was a baby. I tell people all the time what a hard baby she was, and they don't believe me. Don't get me wrong, she still has her share of drama and throws tantrums and fits, but nothing like the 24/7 unhappy, non-sleeping, screaming, colicky baby that she was. Now she's just a funny little person who makes Aaron and I laugh multiple times every day with her silly antics. I think we need to get a picture of Adelia and Aunt Melissa in their twinner monster hats. :)

 I was cleaning out the camera card, and found some pictures. This one of Lincoln showing off his apple sun catcher. I did a post about these back in September. They were an art project we did for Little Boys Club. I thought they turned out so cute. I still have both Lincoln's and Ivan's hanging up on my sliding glass door.

Another picture I found was this one of Lincoln and Ivan wearing their fake fangs that they got at the Van Orman's Halloween party. They love their fake teeth, and each have several pairs. Apparently they loved Halloween too. They keep asking me when it can be Halloween again, like I just make up holidays whenever I want, haha. I guess to a little kid that has no concept of a year, that's probably how it seems. I'm trying to get them into Thanksgiving mode.

 Potty Training. Oh how I loathe you. Someone please tell me... if you wait long enough, will the child eventually just train himself? We keep flirting with the idea of potty training Ivan, Aaron really wants to, but I just don't have a solid week that I can block out to stay home all day and do it. It's A LOT of work to take the child potty in public because I have to hold him up on the potty, which leaves Adelia free to run around and touch every single disgusting surface in the bathroom while I'm at it. Not to mention squeezing 4 of us into a stall is no small feat. And let's be completely honest here, cleaning up pee and poop off everything in my house from sun up to sun down isn't the most appealing activity I can think of for myself to do all day. Not to mention having to be a constant form of entertainment to keep the child sitting on the potty while we wait for him to do business. Ugghhh. I told Aaron that if he wants him potty trained so badly, he can stay home with him until it's done, and I'll go to work. Ya, I'm sure imSAR would be thrilled with that solution. Seriously though, I'd rather give birth than potty train. At least when you're in labor you're done after a few hours. Yes, they are long, painful, exhausting hours, but hey, after that you're done. Mission accomplished. Potty training, not so... you're in it for months. How long did it take to potty train Lincoln? About 9 months. 6 in the very least. Please, not again. Ivan my friend, you might be on your own with this one...I just don't know if you're mother is up for it at present.

Book Review: Preschool Art: "It's the Process Not the Product."

by MaryAnn F. Kohl
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It really helped me gain a perspective on preschool art. It's ok if there is no real expected end result, for the kids the most important part of art is the process of creating it using different mediums. I liked that. And even though we'll probably still do some projects with a "finished product" in mind, I really like the idea of letting the kids create art for creation's sake. In fact, it's kind of funny, but while reading this book the light bulb came on in my head about artists like Andrew Pollock and I suddenly understood, "It's the process not the product!" and why none of my art teachers could have ever mentioned that, I have no idea. :) But I'm probably going to have to buy this book and a few of the others in her series.

Oh ya, and I should probably mention that the book is chuck full of ideas for how to let your preschooler create art. Check it out.

Book Review: Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences

by Leonard Sax

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was even better than Boys Adrift, by the same author. I thought the things he studied about gender differences were really fascinating. Basically, he spends the first half of the book talking about how genetically boys and girls are different. These differences effect the way they hear, see, feel, and perceive things. He gives a lot of research to back up his findings. The second half of the book he talks about what to do about these difference, and some of the consequences of ignoring them. Some of those were pretty scary. Be prepared to take a very up close look at the sexual trends of teenagers and the things to watch out for and warn against. Even though that chapter was a little bit uncomfortable to read, I thought it was really eye opening. Things have changed a lot for teenagers since I was in high school, and I think parents need to be aware of what the pressures and trends are, so they can talk with their kids about the best ways to avoid them.

Like every other parenting book I've ever read, I don't agree 100% with everything in this book, nor do I agree with all of his solutions to the problems. For example, he seems to think that gender segregated schools are a cure all, and for sure his research shows that they might be helping, but I'd be really interested for him to do a study on homeschooling and see how it compared. I don't think gender segregated schools are necessarily a bad idea, but I'd like to see him take other options and compare them side by side. The only ones he compares side by side in this book are public schools and gender segregated private schools.

However, I did think that this was worth reading and pondering over. I would recommend it to anyone who is a parent.

Book Review: Life of Pi

by Yann Martel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been wanting to read this book for years. It didn't disappoint. I flew through it. I thought the author had an interesting style, most of the chapters were about the main story of a boy whose family owns a zoo in India, and how when they are on board a ship moving to Canada, the ship sinks and the boy is left the lone survivor in a life boat with a nice collection of zoo animals, and how he uses his brain to survive. But every few chapters or so, is a short blip from the narrator's perspective of when he meets the boy in the future to interview him for the story. And the blips are short enough and mysterious enough, that as a reader you begin to wonder, and sense that there is more going on than is being related, but you (or at least I) have no idea what that is.

The twist comes in at the very end. It's abrupt, and then the story cuts off, leaving you to stew over it for weeks and wonder which truth you prefer and why. Which is one of my favorite kinds of books, but I realize this style might bother some people who don't liked to be dropped from a story without much of a conclusion, or wrap up, or explanation.

This would be an awesome book to read for book club discussion.

Book Review: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just finished this collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. I started reading this because Aaron and I are currently reading The Sherlockian our loud together, and I wanted to review some of the cases and writing style of Doyle because it had been awhile since I'd read Sherlock Holmes, and The Sherlockian quotes a lot from the cases.

When I was a kid the power went out a lot at our house because we lived kind of far out in the country. When that happened my dad always pulled out a flash light and read Sherlock Holmes to us, so the four stars might be mostly nostalgia. But the book is still a fun quick read. It's suspenseful in that you want to find out "who done it", even though I still think that the story itself never leaves enough clues to allow you figure it out on your own anyway. Still fun...still worth four stars. :)

Oh, and by the way...I can not wait for the movie to come out in December! The first Sherlock Holmes movie is, if not my number one favorite movie of all time, than for sure in the top three. (And it really possible could be my favorite, but I'd have to think about it a little longer.)

Book Review: Eve and the Choice Made in Eden

by Beverly Campbell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I couldn't finish this book. It was not keeping me interested at all. From what I did read, I don't feel like the author really had anything new to add to the subject. In her preface, she talks about how one of her goals in writing the book is to bring the world around to a new way of thinking about Mother Eve. Which I thought sounded cool. But in the couple of chapters I read she using so much LDS jargon without explaining any of it, that anyone not of the LDS faith trying to read it, wouldn't be able to follow it clearly. The language she uses suggests that her target audience is the LDS people, but if that's so, what exactly is she trying to bring to their attention, as they already believe the things she's writing about? My suggestion would be this, if you want to know what LDS people believe about the roll of Eve in the Garden of Eden, read talks and article by the LDS Prophets and Apostles, which you can find on lds.org

Despite the fact that I didn't like, or even finish the book, we had an awesome book club discussion using it as the base. Only a couple of people in our book club bothered to finish the book all the way through, but The Garden of Eden is a familiar topic to all of us, and we enjoyed talking about it together.