Monday, February 22, 2010

Eóin turns 3!

Well - my plan was to make a little video of an interview with Eóin to put on here for his third birthday but the poor little chappy has been sick so it will have to wait. I can't believe my little guy is already three years old. He is such a joy!
He is a great big brother most of the time - just don't ask him to share his trains :-) He loves to make Aidan laugh and is very protective of him. I really enjoy watching them play together - so goofy!
He LOVES trains of all shapes and sizes. Thomas the tank engine of course is a must but he even will sit and watch boring PBS shows about trains too.
He also loves anything to do with the alphabet! He knows all the letters in capital and most of them in lower case too and their sounds. He got a new kids laptop from Jason and Cara and he loves to sit and "work" on it naming letters and such.
It's amazing to see how his memory is improving and how he remembers things in so much more detail now. He can tell you all about what happened at Christmas right down to what color button he had to push to make his Mario Kart guy move on the computer :-)
I usually do a list of his "favorite" things at birthdays and such but I want to try it on video - hopefully he will be feeling up to it some time in the next few days.
Here are his birthday minute pics from the last three years :-)
I also included a link to birthday party pics at the bottom.


Feb 15, 2007 1:40 pm 


Feb 15, 2008 1:40ish pm



Feb 15, 2009 1:40 pm



Feb 15, 2010, 1:40 pm


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Couple o' Videos

 Here are two quick videos of the kids the other night. The dancing Aidan one ust cracks me up - He looks like a little bobble head. The other is of the boys "racing" around the house. Eóin just gets down and army crawls right beside Aidan - keeps them busy for ages. Aidan got sidetracked by the bathroom though :-)



Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Books Reviews Galore (ok - well only two)


I've finished two books this week so I am just going to review them both in one post :-)

The first is a new edition of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I am conflicted about my opinion of this edition. Of course, there is not much need to comment on the actual story since it is a classic. All throughout the book, the people at Bethany add their thoughts, insights, and facts along the margin of the story. There are a few different categories that they comment on: Religious notes, things they like (marked by a smiley face), ranking of characters they dislike (marked by frowny faces), facts about the time period, and facts/comparisons with the movie versions.

While part of me felt like I was reading along with a friend, the other part of me felt like that friend was a little too talkative. For example, do we really need to go as far with comparing scenes from "Sense, Sensibility and Sea monsters" - I don't really think so. The other thing I didn't like was that often, they inserted the commentaries at very awkward places. Like a reference in mid-sentence, that I would read thinking it pertained to the history or understanding of the passage, only to find who they thought was better looking in the films.

On the up side, some of the remarks made me laugh or helped with understanding life during that time period.

So while I did not love this edition, I did like it. I think I would not recommend it for a person who just wants to enjoy the story, but if they have read it before, it would be a fun way to read it in a new light.


The second book I finished was called "The Hidden Flame" by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke.

The book is set 6 weeks after Jesus ascends into Heaven after his resurrection. Believers are multiplying at an astounding rate, and among these "followers of The Way" is Abigail, a women both of outer and inner beauty.
Abigail catches the eye of two very different suitors - a Roman centurion and a wealthy Jewish merchant. Neither are believers in her resurrected Lord, so her faith is tried as she learns to depend on the Lord as her fate does not lie in her own hands. On top of this trial, the leaders of both Rome and the Jewish people are growing more and more uncomfortable with the floods of people joining the followers of the "dead prophet" and persecution seems imminent! Will Abigail's faith hold in spite of the many trials facing her?

Right before I started reading this book, I noticed it was the second in a series called "Acts of Faith." I debated about getting the first book and reading it, but I decided to read it alone so I could review it as an individual book. In some other series' you can read the books alone and they still make sense as they only give passing references to other books in the series if at all. I don't think this one is like that. There were a lot of references to the preceding book and it took me a good few chapters to kind of piece together in my mind what had happened previously.

Many of the events and characters in the books are taken right out of the Bible, which in some ways is fun, but in others is annoying because you already know what is going to happen. While it is insightful into the culture and times surrounding the events in the book of Acts, I don't know if I would want to give it to a new believer who is not sure on the real facts before they start reading.

I think I will probably read the first book and see if I would like this book better after having read it, but over all I would just give it a "meehhhh - it was ok" for now. I'll finish the series as it comes out if it includes the characters I already know, if not, I would probably take it or leave it.

I received free copies of both these books from Bethany House Publishers for the purpose of reviewing.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Aidan - 8 Months


It's amazing to think that 8 months has already gone by since Aidan was born!  He is so fun and loves to laugh with his big brother. He is also a little rascal! Below is an average day in the life of Aidan (I only used the time for the first few minutes as the rest of the day is pretty similar):

7:-00 - Wake up starving. Whine until breakfast is served. (Sometimes he wakes up in a good mood and will play on our bed for a while with Eóin before hunger strikes.)
7:45 - sit down to play in living room
7:46 - Play with wire connecting tv to vcr
7:47 - Get in trouble for playing with said wire
7:48 - Play with curtains (mom is too tired to move me)
8:00 - Find outlet - try to get the cover off (it looks yummy)
8:01 - Get in trouble (Eóin ratted me out!)
8:02 - Play with toys
8:05 - Find lamp wire - that looks yummy too
8:06 - In trouble again

Continue this until nap
Wake up ready for a snack. (cheerios or the gerber toddler puff things - he pretty much inhales them!)
Play in high chair while Eóin plays at the table. 
Throw toys off as fast as possible.
Whine for more snacks.
Just get more toys. (bummer)

Lunch - loves fruit, toast, scrambled eggs...(the less like baby food the better)
Nap - ahhhhhhhhhh

Restart mission of finding dangerous objects until dinner.
Dinner - get as much baby food in my hair, chair and face as possible while gesturing for what is on mommy's plate! 

Play with Eóin and Dad (LOVES his daddy!)

Jammies, bottle and bed - ahhhhhhhh

We love our little adventurer even if we are totally worn out by the end of the day. It is so fun to see his personality really coming through now.  I'm looking forward to the next couple of months as he learns more new tricks to keep me on my toes :-)