3 Types of Crazy

Book Review: Chasing Mona Lisa by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey

2012-01-21T23:19:00.001-06:00

The year is 1944 and France is so close to being free from German rule. But as France is busy fighting, some Nazis are planning ways to get out of the net that is closing around them. Art-lover, and second in command of the Nazi army, Hermann Goring, has hatched a brilliant plan - steal the Mona Lisa and use her as a bargaining chip to escape the doom that is sure to come.
Lucky for the Venetian Lady, there are people who are willing to put everything on the line to see her safe and sound in the new, free, France. But can they get there in time to save her?

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in this read. It wasn't awful, but it did not draw me in the way I was hoping. It was a great idea for a story line, but I think they took too long to get into the main plot. It was probably about a third of the way into the book before the Mona Lisa was really even mentioned. I know the authors wanted to make it true to fact and history, but I think there were almost too many details to keep my attention. I also felt there were a few too many sub-plots going on and a few references to a former book that seemed a little awkward having not read the previous book. It was just an ok read, unfortunately.

Even though it wasn't my favorite book, I want to thank Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

My Sweet Boys

2012-01-14T20:47:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to write down a few sweet things the boys have said/done lately before they got lost in my brain :-)

The other night, Jonathan was out for dinner so I fed the kids alone. When Aidan was finished, he cleared off the table and put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher without even being asked! It's his new favorite job - you are welcome future daughter in law :-)

Tonight, as I was getting Aidan ready for bed, he gave me a big hug and said "Mommy, you are my best, best friend!" Let me just say, if you are loved by Aidan, he will never let you forget it :-)

Eóin and Molly are such little buddies. She smiles and laugh whenever he walks into the room. Tonight, Eóin was in bed and i stopped by to check on him. He said, "Tonight I am thinking about Molly, because I just love her so much!" (He likes to plan what he is going to think about so he doesn't have bad dreams :-))

Here is a pic of the boys tonight. Daddy was at a friends wedding so we had pizza and cookies and a few games of Hi-Ho-Cheerio or as Aidan calls it "the apple game."

So thankful for their unique and special personalities!

Book Review: The Keeper by Suzanne Woods Fisher

2012-01-08T14:37:00.000-06:00

Julia Lapp cannot wait for her wedding day to Paul Lapp. She has been planning to marry him for what seems like forever, especially after he postponed their wedding just weeks before their last date. But now it seems like they have hit yet another roadblock when Roman Troyer comes to town and puts more doubts in Paul's mind.

Roman Troyer, or the Bee Man, lives a nomadic life, travelling with his bees and nothing else. No attachments to anywhere or anyone. But this year when he arrives at Windmill farm, he finds Julia's father, Amos, very sick and decides to stick around to help the family much to Julia's dismay.

It seems like everyone at Windmill Farm has some growing to do in discovering that what we plan for our life, and what God plan are sometimes very different indeed!

Suzanne Woods Fisher has done it again! I enjoy her writing so much and this book is another wonderful example of how she takes a pretty common theme (amish life) and takes it to a while new level. I love how deep her characters are and how she slightly changes her narration to match their personalities. I also enjoy that even though her characters are Amish, they still live in the 21st century and still act and think like normal people. She has a great ability to make me laugh and usually cry too. I would highly recommend this book!

Stop by the Keeper facebook party on January 17th, and sign up here for a chance to win an iPad2!

Available January 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

Thank you to Revell for a free copy of this book to review!

Top 10 of 2011 and New Year's Eve

2012-01-04T16:00:00.000-06:00

We had a lovely relaxing New Year's Eve as a family this year. The boys went to the library to pick up some new books, followed by a trip to the zoo because it was such a lovely day, and finishing up with dinner at Culvers.

We are thankful for all the blessing from 2011 - here are the top ten events from the year and a few pics from New Year's Eve.

Bought a new van
Eóin turned 4
Jonathan takes and passes his CFP test. He is now a Certified Financial Planner!
Trip to Watertown for 4th July
Aidan turned 2
Molly is born!
I turned 30 :-/
Mam came to visit
Aidan is potty trained
Trip to Indiana for thanksgiving

Looking forward to what next year holds :-)

Ha ha - Jonathan and Aidan have the same face ;-)

Aidan's friend/enemy he made at the park :-)

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-04T15:40:00.002-06:00

Christmas morning was so much fun this year. The kids actually slept pretty late from a few busy days the night before. Eóin was up first and just came in a snuggled with me for a while. As he was laying there he says, "I wonder if Santa came last night." I told him he probably did. "I think Aidan ate all his cookies," he added. I said that I thought Aidan was asleep the whole night. "I bet he got up, ate the cookies, and then went back to sleep." he he he

When Aidan showed no signs of waking soon, we went in to wake him up. "It's not Christmas," he said. "Christmas is in the pond." I think he was still quite sleepy :-)

Next we sat on our bed to read the Christmas story and pray to say Happy Birthday to Jesus. Funniest story ever! Went kinda like this:

It started out pretty normally until we got to the shepherds - then it kind of went downhill from there...

Jonathan: So the shepherds were out taking care of their sheep at night. Then the angel appeared to them. Do you think you would be afraid if it was dark and a bright shiny angel appeared?

Eóin: No. Sometimes it is dark in my room and a light comes, but it is just a car.

Aidan: I think Jesus was driving the car.

Jonathan: The angel told him not to be afraid but to go see Jesus lying in a manger.

Aidan: He has birthday cake because it's his birthday (not really part of the story, but he got the birthday bit down at least :-)

Jonathan: finishes the story with some more funny interjections. I wish I wrote them down sooner because they were hilarious but these were the ones I could remember.

Anyway - then we went and opened presents, went to church and then over to the Stanley's for dinner and presents there. A lovely Christmas Day :-)

Christmas Story Time

Finding presents. This is Eóin's thinking face. Aidan half dressed from the day before...oh well :-)

Molly's Present

Eóin's camera

Eóin asked for a train

Aidan asked Santa for chocolate - so voila :-)

Sweet Christmas Gift

Aidan opening Eóin's present - sly little monkey!

Eóin making his first real lego!

sweet matching cousins :-)

Christmas Eve 2011

2012-01-04T15:15:00.001-06:00

Well I didn't get caught up by New Year's Day but I am working on it now. Just a few more from 2011 :-) I really want to put them up because I love looking back so it's worth the time to go back and get everything up. And so...a few pics from the days leading up to Christmas Eve as well as Christmas Eve itself. The Harrisons arrived so we did a few activities with them (which of course included going back to the trains AGAIN). Christmas Eve we opened stockings and tried to head home early. The boys both feel asleep on the way home but Eóin woke up enough to put his stocking out and some cookies for Santa :-) He tried soooo hard to fall asleep even though he was so excited - it was cute to peep in and see him squeezing his eyes closed.

3 Harrison Men (Aidan was off exploring)

True Love :-)

Christmas Eve Shirt (says "for santa, not daddy")

Stockings

Stocking

Noise Makers were a big hit :-)

even with the big kids :-)

Book Review: Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist

2012-01-04T13:00:00.000-06:00

To say that Georgie Gail was annoyed when the telephone company send a new man to work with her would be an understatement. After all, she has been managing fine by herself for so long and is proud of her independence.
But there is more to Luke Palmer than meets the eye. In fact, there is so much more to the quiet little town than meets the eye. Somewhere, hiding among the innocent townspeople are a gang of notorious train robbers and it's Luke's job to find them.
Twists and turns abound in this fun and exciting story!

The thing I really enjoy about Deanna Gist is that she finds little gems from the past to base her stories on. I love that she bases her characters on real people as it makes them so much more interesting - just those little details that bring life to the story. I really enjoyed Georgie's interest in birds and some of the history about women's fashion and independence from the early 1900's. A fun read for historical fiction lovers :-)

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Molly's First Food

2012-01-02T16:20:00.000-06:00

We interrupt the holiday pics for a quick video of big girl Molly eating her first cereal. She ate the whole bowl with no problems at all. I knew she was ready because she was getting mad every time she saw us eating and staring at our food :-) She knows what she wants alright!

More Christmas Fun!

2011-12-30T13:44:00.002-06:00

No wonder Eóin starts to ask when Christmas is in April - what a lot of fun things to do!

Candy Canes waiting in line to see the holiday express

Such a good girl while we were waiting!

Not so sure about the helper elves!

checking it out from the outside

10 points if you can spot Eóin. They put a tall kid in front of him at the last minute!

He did a great job singing though!

Picking out some Teddy Bears to send to the Teddy Bear Brigade.

Christmas Activities

2011-12-30T12:46:00.001-06:00

Wow - so many pics, so little time! I am determined to get caught up before New Year's Day though :-) Here are a couple of fun things we did leading up to Christmas day. Might have to do this in two posts!

hot chocolate to warm us up after playing outside on a cold day! (Eóin doesn't like it)

driving to see the lights on Jingle Bell Drive in our jammies :-)

my favorite light display - the grinch :-)

Christmas Playland at Crown Center (I took all three by myself and the boys were very good!)

they love slides of any kind!

Visiting with Santa. This was the first year they actually wanted to say hi.

Eóin asked for a train and Aidan asked for chocolate :-)

A trip to Fritz's for some fries just to watch the train bring them to us.

More Christmas pics to come...

Molly - 4 month update

2011-12-27T15:08:00.002-06:00

So even though Molly is almost 5 months now, I thought I would post her 4 month stats for remembering later on. At her checkup she was 12lbs (35%), 24 2/4 inches (75%) and her head was in the 80%.

She is just such a joy! She always has a smile pretty much whenever I look at her, and she especially loves when the boys talk and play with her. She rolls from back to front and almost can roll the other way but she doesn't like to be on her tummy so she doesn't have much motivation :-)

When she wants attention she will fake cough to get you to look at her and then have a big smile when you actually look her direction. She has been a right chatterbox lately which is just so cute! She loves baths - she has moved to the big tub now where she has lots of room to kick and splash.

Probably her favorite thing to do is dance around - always gets big grins and silent giggles (she rarely laughs out loud, in fact you can only tell she is laughing by the big breaths she takes in between her silent laughs :-) )

I am loving dressing her in girly clothes and bows and totally loving having a little girl :-)

4 months pic :-)

Harrison Christmas Fail

2011-12-10T22:02:00.001-06:00

Eóin was sooooooo excited to put up our Christmas tree! He has been asking me since June when Christmas will be here. During the day, I let them put up the little tree Grandma got for their room and then in the evening when daddy was home, we put up the big one. It was funny to have Aidan "helping." It seems like he has like 8 arms at time like this. He would pick up ornaments faster than we could help him and they were going everywhere! The bottom of our tree just had ornaments shoved in it but he was trying, bless him :-) It's still a bit messy - one of these days I will get around to fixing it. The fail part came when I decided to wait to turn on the lights until it was decorated so we could have a big reveal. It is a pre-lit tree so I thought I had it all plugged together right. Wellllll....not exactly - so our big reveal was a bit funny, but daddy got it fixed and all was well again :-)

How Aidan decorates

Aidan will love this one when he grows up...

taking the tree out

could not be more excited!

Aidan was ready to chop it down :)

just a little messy :-)

ta-da!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-10T21:43:00.001-06:00

A few days after my mam left for home, we headed on our long trip to Indiana for thanksgiving. The kids did a fabulous job in the van for what turned out to be a 15 hour trip. We added an hour because 1/2 hour into the trip I realized we had forgotten Molly's bed so we had to turn around to get it - oops :-) The boys were asleep when we got there but woke up as we brought them inside and boy were they awake. It took quite a while to get them to simmer down and the worst part was it was 3am and we were soooo tired! Good thing they just hopped right out of bed and ran out to see everyone in the morning. Not shy at all so I could stay in bed - yay :-)
We really enjoyed catching up with everyone and of course enjoying all the fab food! The boys just loved having so many people to play with and Molly was pretty much glued to grandpa :-) We stayed an extra day and even got to have a date thanks to Lori, Katie and Erinn watching the kids for us.
The trip home was also super long and Molly was DONE travelling but not too bad really. The really great thing was that Aidan kept his pull ups dry during both trips! yay :-) Here are some pics from the trip (the rest are on facebook).

(ice-cream break on the way :-)

making turkey cookies

So much fun with Granny

2011-12-10T13:26:00.001-06:00

We LOVED having my mam here for the month of November. Since her two week visits always seemed to fly by, we decided to make this one 4 weeks long and we are sooo glad we did! The kids really enjoyed getting to know her. Even though we didn't do a whole lot of activities, we had fun just being together and the kids wore us out so much, all we wanted to do at night was chill with some apples and caramel dip :-)

Some things we did get to do were trick or treating at the zoo, carve pumpkins, go to the Passion Awards, go to the Women of Faith conference, see the opening of the Christmas trains at Union Station and lots of eating out :-) We also got to have some photos taken by Bethany Thompson so we have some really nice ones of Granny with the kids. So thankful for our time together :-)

Soooo far behind!

2011-12-10T13:23:00.001-06:00

Okay so these last few months have been soo busy. Obviously blogging has not been a top priority, but I'd like to get everything caught up so looking back I can have something to look at to remember these fun times we've been having :-) I also have a few book reviews to add so be prepared for an onslaught of blog posts :-) Here we go!!!!

Women of Faith - Over the Top Conference

2011-11-09T09:48:00.000-06:00

I was so excited to receive 2 tickets to the Women on Faith Conference at the Sprint Center here in Kansas City this year. Now, to be honest, I had not really heard of it before I got the e-mail from Thomas Nelson Publishers inviting me. I am always up for an encouraging night out, though, and I am so glad that I signed up!

Friday, we heard from speakers Patsy Clairmont and Andy Andrews. I had reviewed a children's book by Andrews in the past, so I was excited to hear his story in person. He was so funny and a bit all over the place. Though most of what he said wasn't really Bible, it was common sense and very applicable to the Christian Life.

I'd never heard of Patsy Clairmont before, but after hearing her speak I will NEVER forget her. She is a tiny lady with so much fire and humor, I was so refreshed laughing to her stories. She had some very serious things in her life to deal with, and it was so great to hear how God helped her overcome them.

Saturday Morning we listened to more fabulous testimonies from Lisa Whelchel on friendship, Brenda Warner on how God used heartbreak in her life for good, and Sandi Patti on seeing dreams from a different perspective. Sandi Patti also did a mini concert which was AMAZING!

I was so impressed by how they handled box lunches for 6000 women - so orderly!

After lunch we had more from Patsy Clairmont and a concert from Amy Grant with some final thoughts from the all the ladies. So great!

I have to say, it was not really what I was expecting which was more of a Bible conference. In fact, I didn't even need my Bible. But that is not to say it was not encouraging and challenging. The testimonies from these women were powerful and had us laughing and crying together. I enjoyed the fact that these ladies knew how to have fun and yet share how God worked in their deepest struggles. A great balance for a great weekend!

Here are a few pics from the weekend:

LOTS of women!

Patsy Clairmont

Mam at the Sprint Center

Lunch Break :-)

My Irish Molly

2011-10-22T20:29:00.002-05:00

How much do I love having a little girl? A LOT :-)

At her 2 month check up, she was 35% for weight, 75% for length and head size (gotta keep up the big head tradition). She is a complete joy. Always has a smile pretty much every time I look at her and she has the cutest little gurgle and coo. She has been trying to laugh but it keeps coming out as a smiley cough - it's so funny. She does chuckle in her sleep though :-)

She loves to swat at things, and especially loves to hold on to things - she always has something in her hands - her clothes, a toy, my hair!!!

I am totally in love with this little bundle! Here are some recent pics:

She loves hanging out on the changing table.

On Eóin's bed with Stinky the dinosaur

Aidan thought the phone was for her (also that she needed a snuggle with tiger)

Fell asleep with Tiger - so peaceful

LOVE this girl!

More Eóin Funnies

2011-10-05T09:13:00.000-05:00

At the dinner table the other day:
"Dear Jesus, thank you for the soup and the bread. Thank you that we have a baby sister. Thank you that Aidan sometimes eats while I am praying. Thank you that grandma is here. Amen" Way to rat out your brother :-)

We were talking to Eóin about what he learned in River City and how Jesus washed his friends feet. Jonathan told him that is called serving. Eóin said "I like to do that on a board in the water." Apparently, in his mind, Jesus was very good at surfing :-)

Book Review: The Lady of Bolton Hill by Elizabeth Camden

2011-10-03T13:21:00.002-05:00

Clara Endicott wants to change the world. She hates the injustice she sees in the world and so fearlessly and boldly writes to expose them. When one of her stories lands her in more hot water than she ever dreamed of, Clara returns home to write for her Father's publication.

Daniel Tremain wants to change nothing, including the bitterness he has been harboring in his heart for 12 long years. A successful entreprenuer, Daniel plans to use his power and fortune to ruin the people who ruined his home.

Hard to believe that such opposite people could once have been best childhood friends. After 12 years apart, Daniel and Clara again cross paths wondering if they can ever restore what they lost now that they are so different. But there is more at stake than just their friendship as danger and mystery appear at their doorstep!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. First of all it is one of my favorite eras to read about. Then there is the great mystery which keeps you guessing about how all the pieces will fit together. Lastly, I really enjoyed being challenged by Clara's faith and heart for other people. I highly recommend this read!

The many moods of Eóin and Aidan

2011-09-29T17:25:00.001-05:00

(ok so Aidan's might be a little confused :-))

Are You a Genius?

2011-09-16T16:04:00.001-05:00

The boys just had this hilarious conversation while they sitting in the tub:

Eóin: You're a genius!
Aidan: No I'm not!
Me: Eóin do you know what a genius is?
Eóin: um - no
Me: A genius is someone who is very smart.
Eóin: Ooooh - Mommy, you are a genius!
Me: Aw - thanks :)
Aidan: Eóin, you are a genius
Eóin: Aidan, only girls can be geniuses!

I had a good laugh at that one!

What did you say?

2011-09-13T20:53:00.000-05:00

Just some funny quotes and conversations from the boys the last few weeks. Most I have posted on facebook, but I wanted to write them down somewhere I could find them later.

This one was IN FRONT of the church when the boys went up to the front to listen to the children's story.
Pastor Troy: Have you guys ever been on a boat?
Aidan: No, not a boat, but we go in our van all the time.
Eóin: Aidan, they know we have a van.
Aidan: No they don't!!!

This one was on a walk through the park the other day when we walked under an oak tree. Eóin noticed all the acorns on the ground and asked "hmmm do you think a squirrel dropped his lunch?"

Aidan: "Mommy - the floor hit me" (he fell)

One day, I looked at Aidan and his mouth was blue...
Me: Aidan, is that paint on your mouth?
Aidan: Yeah it's so tasty!

Tonight the boys were playing pretending to be animals...
Eóin: I'm a Tapier, I eat grass
Aidan: I'm a frog, I eat chocolate :-)

Book Review: Deadly Pusuit by Irene Hannon

2011-09-09T17:08:00.001-05:00

Alison Taylor is a social worker who tirelessly works to give families a better life. Even pushing past her own pain and exhaustion from a car accident, she fights for the children she cares so much about. That doesn't give her much time for a social life, but it seems there might even be hope for that on the horizon in her brother's partner on the police force. Mitch Morgan is handsome, charming and caring and as an ex- Navy seal, he is definitely someone you want on your side in a dangerous situation. And that is just what Alison finds herself in.
Alison starts to get some unwanted attention from a secret admirer - or maybe not so much of an admirer. When things start to get creepy, the people who care about Alison need to fight as hard as Alison to keep her safe!

This is the second book in the Guardians of Justice series and I enjoyed this book as much as the first. It's funny to think that someone who looks as innocent as Hannon does in the picture on the book can write such twisted characters :-) It was definitely a page turner, especially as the action heightened and there was lots of action. Just don't start it too late at night :-)

Thanks to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

Book Review: The Colonel's Lady, by Laura frantz

2011-08-20T12:34:00.001-05:00

Roxanna Rowen left all things comfortable and familiar in her Virginia home to join her father on the edge of civilization on the Kentucke frontier. On her way, she encountered hardship and danger, but nothing was more of a blow than reaching her destination, only to learn of her Father's death.

With not a penny to her name and with nowhere to turn, Roxanna makes a temporary home for herself at the fort where her Father served. As she works to find a way off the frontier, Roxanna spends much time with the leader of the Fort, Colonel Cassius McLinn, and soon finds that there may be at least one good reason to stay. But Cass has a very dark secret that may damage the relationship forever, and there may be a dangerous foe at work at the fort!

I really enjoyed this story from a time period that I don't think I have read a fiction from before. Besides the ugly hairdo's on the men (ugh long ponytails!), I loved reading about this time of hardship and war and the joy that love can bring to a harsh situation. I also enjoyed the bit of mystery that Frantz wove through the story - it added another layer of depth to a sweet romance.

Available August 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Molly's Story

2011-08-17T13:11:00.000-05:00

We are so happy that almost two weeks ago, Molly Hope Harrison joined our family. It has been so fun to have our sweet little girl with us. She is pretty mild tempered so far and smiles more than any newborn I have ever seen - obviously not on purpose yet, but lots of practice ones :-)

In case you haven't heard it yet, here is the story of how Molly was born:

It started out a disappointing week, as I was supposed to be induced on Tuesday morning, but the nurse called me on Monday to tell me she had made a mistake and I would have to wait until Thursday. After a morning of crying and feeling disappointed, I finally decided to get over it, after all, as Eóin told me "Molly is not going to come until her birthday"

Wednesday evening, we took the boys to see Cars 2 and then to Chick-Fil-A before dropping them off and Aunty Tina's to spend the night. Then I went home to finish packing my suitcase - I know - you would think being 3 days overdue I would have done it already, but I really hate packing :-)

Thursday morning, we arrived at the hospital a little before 7, only to wait in the waiting room for about 45 minutes while they got our room ready (I was getting a little nervous that they were going to send us home!). Finally we got into our room and filled out paperwork while the nurse tried in vain to find my veins - he he. Finally she got the IV started around 8:30, my doc broke my water, and they started pitocin at 9:00. For the next hour and half I just chilled, watching tv, checking facebook and such. Then I started to feel some uncomfortable contractions so I thought I should probably at least let the nurse know they were getting stronger and to let the anesthesia people know I would want to see them soon.

I am soooo glad I called when I did because they were just about to go into a C-section and once in there, they would not have been able to come for an hour or so. About ten minutes after I told her that, the contractions got strong REALLY FAST! Soon they were about two minutes apart and really painful. Then the anesthesia nurse came in (and she looked like she was 15!), and gave the run down of all the terrible things that could go wrong and signed the paper saying I don't care just give me DRUGS! By this point I was uncontrollably shaking from the pain.

A few minutes after she got everything in, she thought something may have gone wrong, part of me was numb, but every time I had a contraction, Molly pushed off my ribs and I felt like they were cracking - worst pain ever! 15 year old nurse kept shooting more drugs down my back and doing tests on me - I was ready to strangle her! Then the nurse in charge of my care said she had a hunch and she would check me. When she did, she said I was at a nine so she called my doc and they got everything ready to me to push (me still lin pain, with teen/doc still testing and shooting drugs). They said "I don't think the drugs are going to catch up - she is coming." At this point I am begging God to let the drugs work! Well, my doc checks me and apparently the baby moved and I was back to a 7. We all sat there waiting to see if it would change and for a while nothing did so they put everything back together to wait again. I think God must have moved Molly for me because soon after my drugs kicked in and about 30 minutes later, I was a ten and Molly was ready to come :-)

All of this happened in 4 very short hours! It was definitely my most dramatic birth :-) Molly came into the world at 12:26, weighing in at 7lbs 1oz and measuring 19 1/4 inches and we just love her to pieces!

Cousins

2011-07-15T17:25:00.000-05:00

We got to babysit little Madison while Aunty Tina and Uncle Eric went out for their anniversary. The boys were so excited! They were very sweet and gentle with her. We had to keep an eye on Aidan who wanted to share all his toys with her, but they really did a great job.

Madison loved having the boys near. She watched Eóin everywhere he went. He sat by her and read to her and played cars while explaining what he was doing. He told me "I will teach to play cars gently, and not to be afraid of the crocodiles at the zoo." Not sure where the crocodile thing came from :)

I think they will be very good big brothers to their new sister when she gets here.

Trip to WI

2011-07-15T17:18:00.000-05:00

We took a short trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa at the beginning of this month. The kid's were so excited since they had been asking to go for so long. They did really well in the car and really learned that we meant it when we said it was far away. Last week in River City (our church's kid's program) we were talking about Grandparents and Aidan said "Grandma lives faaaaaar away" :-)

We didn't much except relax and read which was just what we needed. Grandma got some great deals on some Thomas toys at a garage sale and the kids played with those every chance they could! We did brave the heat and go to the parade on the 4th of July and light off some fireworks in the backyard. It was a nice to see some old friends at Calvary and Brookside too.

Here are a few pics from the weekend. I let Eóin use my camera to take some pictures and made a little slideshow of his first photo shoot :)

Driving far away. Reading the magazines they got with their Wendy's meal (such a load of rubbish!)

Culvers with Grandma

Picnic at Brookside

Playing some carnival games at Brookside's picnic

Aidan's turn for a game :)

Watertown 4th of July Parade :)

Catching Up: Aidan's Birthday

2011-07-15T16:32:00.001-05:00

Since we plan on being a little more busy in the weeks to come with the arrival of a new baby, I wanted to be sure and make sure that we were caught up on all the events of the past few months.

On June 2nd, Aidan turned two. We had a small family party here at the house and the kids really enjoyed it. Really - they enjoy anything with pizza and cake :-) Eóin and Aidan helped grandma make the birthday cake which turned out sooo cute! I'm glad grandma was here to do that because I would be headed to the nearest store to buy one - cakes are so not my thing!

I posted the pics on facebook already here but here is a short video of blowing out the candles that never made it anywhere past my desktop. (He had a little help from big brother :-)

Book Review: My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren

2011-07-11T12:11:00.000-05:00

Isadora Presley is host of a very popular radio talk show. Listeners hang on her every word as she gives them advice on how to find true love as Miss Foolish Heart. Little do her readers know that Isadora is not giving advice from experinece. In fact, she can't even leave her own house, let alone find true love. After a tragic accident, she is plagued by panic attacks which keep her trapped inside her home and safe world she has created for herself.

At least it was safe, until she gets a new neighbor. Caleb Knight challenges everything she has set up to keep herself from facing the world and Isadora can't decide if she likes it, or if he just drives her crazy! Then again, she has always reminded her listeners that the perfect love could be right next door :-)

I thought this book was so cute! I thought it was a lovely romance while still dealing with issues like trust in God and letting him heal you where you hurt the deepest. I read it in one day which is always a good sign of an easy, enjoyable read.

Thank you to Tyndale Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

How can I resist that grin :-)

2011-06-30T12:39:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of pics and videos of Aidan - just love his laugh and smile :-) I still haven't posted on his birthday yet - I am so not with it these days!!!

Eóin the Otter

2011-06-27T12:03:00.000-05:00

Daddy took the boys to a friends house to go swimming yesterday while I had a little break. It was nice to have a quiet house for a while and a nice surprise to hear how well Eóin did in the full size pool. His feet didn't reach the bottom at all unless he was on the step, but with his floaties on, he swam around on his own no problem. Jonathan originally tried to teach him to "doggy paddle" but Eóin wasn't getting it. Eventually he decided he wanted to swim like an otter and off he went, so I guess he "otter paddles" :-)
Aidan was a bit more cautious and stayed in the raft all day, but he still had a good time.

Cool In the Pool :-)

2011-06-23T19:47:00.002-05:00

Today the kids spent three and a half hours in their new pool. Great birthday gift Grandma :-)

My Daddy - an interview with Eóin

2011-06-19T19:40:00.001-05:00

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy there is! We love you!!!

This is a little interview with Eóin about his Daddy.

What is something daddy always says to you?
He says "obey"

What makes daddy happy?
the boys (Eóin and Aidan)

What makes daddy sad?
getting spankings

How does your daddy make you laugh?
by doing a funny joke

What was your daddy like as a child?
he looked like Aidan

How old is your daddy?
6 or 7

How tall is your daddy?
tall like mommy

What is his favorite thing to do?
check on the computer

What does your daddy do when you're not around?
he goes asleep.

What is your daddy really good at?
Checking on his phone

What is your daddy not very good at?
things - and that makes him sad

What does your daddy do for a job?
stuff on his computer

What is your daddy's favorite food?
fish (we are eating that right now)

What do you and your daddy do together?
Have fun.

How do you know your daddy loves you?
He is patient and kind

What does your daddy like most about your mom?
Because she makes him very happy

Where is your dad's favorite place to go?
Maybe to the beach where he can make something (hmm - I don't think we have ever been to the beach together) :-)

And the winner is....

2011-06-13T09:09:00.001-05:00

We have had a busy few weeks here at the Harrison house and my morning sickness is back (boo), so I am a little behind in the blogging world.

I have lots of pics and news to post. but business first!

Congratulations to

Lacey

for winning a copy of Project Dad. I will contact you to get your address and get it on it's way to you very soon!

The winner was drawn using random.org (this line is is brown because Eóin asked me to make it so)

Book Review: A Great Catch by Lorna Seilstad

2011-06-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

Emily Graham is anything but graceful and her well meaning aunts are getting worried about her marital status. Even more worrisome to her aunts than her clumsiness, is her independent streak and loyal commitment to the suffragist movement. The last thing on Emily's mind though is marriage - she doesn't need a man, but women's rights need her!

Carter Stockton is working hard to be a success, although not the kind his family would like. While he is expected to join his father's business, Carter is spending the summer playing baseball for the Lake Manawa team.

When Carter and Emily's worlds literally collide, they have quite a time figuring out whose goals and plans are really the most important.

The second book in the series, I again enjoyed the carefree, easy writing style that fits the summery backdrop of Lake Manawa. I enjoyed that some of the characters from the last book returned, but you would not have to read the first book to follow the story at all - it reads well by itself. While not a super deep book, it is a nice light summer read that still has a few lessons to teach.

Thank you to Revell publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Book Review: A Killer Among Us by Lynette Eason

2011-05-28T23:00:00.000-05:00

The third book in the Women of Justice series, A Killer Among Us follows hostage negotiator Kit Kenyon and her partner Noah as they hunt down a serial killer. While trying to figure out the clues he leaves behind, Kit and Noah are also trying to figure out their feelings toward each other. What they have yet to discover though, is that the killer is now hunting one of them too!

As this book is the third in the series, I think I would recommend reading the other books before starting this one. I had read book two but it still took me a while to remember who everyone was since it has most of the same people in it. I did enjoy the story, but like the last book in the series, I was able to figure out who the killer was pretty early on - but that did not detract from my enjoying it. It is a little stretching that so much trauma happens within the same family, but if you look past that, it's a good read.

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Cloudy Day Blessings

2011-05-23T21:08:00.000-05:00

I didn't take any pics this week - so all my pics are from today :-)

Eóin was thankful for the clouds today. In fact this morning he looked outside this morning and said "Quick - lets go outside before the sun comes out!" Crazy child!

I am also very thankful for safety during the tornadoes that seem to be so bad all around us, but have jumped over our area each time so far.

And now the pictures.

Our Big Tree!

I don't even feel like we live in a city :-)

Fun Outside

The Sandbox - hours of fun!

Indestructible Flowers

(I cannot understand how they still bloom after my kids pick them and smoosh them every year)

This Picture has double thanks

1 - Drinking From a Big Boy Cup

2 - Washing Machines!!!!

(I am NOT thankful daddy bought red kool-aid)

Great Dad Giveaway!!!!

2011-05-21T21:07:00.001-05:00

Ok - I am not giving away a great dad, but I am giving away a book on being a great dad :-)

Project Dad is a humorous and practical guide book written by a dad to other dads. Todd Cartmell’s warm and engaging style will have fathers laughing from the first few pages, and gives doable hands-on advice for becoming a better dad. This book will make an excellent Father’s Day gift!

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment with either a favorite memory of your own dad, your husband being a dad, or what you think makes a great dad.

When I think of my own dad, I think of an example of a hardworking man, who always took care of us. I think of doing math homework at the kitchen table until all hours, and even though he never did the way my teacher told me to - somehow we came up with the right answer! In fact we used to joke about marking it on the calendar whenever he didn't know something :-)

When I think of my husband being a dad - I think of his sense of fun. He really knows how to get in the mind of little boys and make them laugh!!! A good example is this VIDEO we made last week.

So let the memories begin - I'll randomly pick a winner next Friday.

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a copy for myself and one to giveaway!!!

Book Review: A Heart Divided by Kathleen Morgan

2011-05-18T21:05:00.000-05:00

The Caldwell and the Wainwright families have been fighting each other for 20 years. But it seems that lately, Sarah Caldwell has noticed that her father's unrelenting pursuit of vengeance has taken a much uglier turn that usual. Worst of all, his latest plans include using Sarah herself as part of the plan.
Unfortunately, his plan goes south with Sarah is placed under house arrest at the Wainwright ranch as an accessory to robbery. With Cord Wainwright keeping a close eye on her, Sarah has no choice but to accept her circumstances and make the best of them. What she does not expect is to feel such a part of this family that is nothing like what she expected, especially Cord himself.

I thought this was a really sweet Romeo/Juliet type story set in the old west. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching them grow in their trust of God and each other. It moves quickly and keeps you turning the pages until the very end.

Thank you so much to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Sunny Monday Blessings

2011-05-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted my thankful list for a while but I have been writing them down and taking pics so some of these are a few weeks old but I'm still thankful for them :-)

Little Helpers

A New Cousin!

Family Game Night

Goofy Boy

Warm weather for grilling

Learning

Packages in the Mail

Pajama Parties with Grandma

Once Upon a Time...

2011-05-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

The kids and daddy were playing this game for ages last night. I really wanted to capture their giggles on video - I may have gotten carried away ;-)

Another Great Read by Siri Mitchell

2011-05-10T20:52:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed the last book I read by Siri Mitchell, so I was very excited to see another of her novels appear on my list of books up for review. And I was not disapponted!

A Heart Most Worthy follows the story of three seamstresses living in Boston in 1918. They are each so very different from each other, although they have one thing in common - they are Italian. The book follows each of the women as they face their past and family traditions, and try to forge futures for themselves during a time when life for immigrants in America was anything but easy.

Although it took me a while to get to know everyone in each of the girl's lives, I found it was worth forging through the first few chapters to delve into a wonderful story. It is filled with history, and I learned a lot about life for immigrants during the time period. It takes a while for all the threads of the tale to wind together, but once they do, they create a rich story that you will be glad you took the time to read!

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for a free copy of this book for review!

Book Review: The Dawn of a Dream by Ann Shorey

2011-04-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

Right away this story has a shocker for you when Luellen's brand new husband takes off and leaves her on her own for scandalous reasons. The rest of the story follows Luellen as she chases her lifelong dream to become a teacher. She pushes past obstacles after obstacles to reach her goal, and I enjoyed being on the ride watching her strength and courage in very difficult circumstances.

This is the third book in a series, but I did not feel like I needed to read the first two in order to follow along. Anything that needed to be explained was explained in a natural manner. I very much enjoyed learning about the family in this book, especially because they were not perfect. The story had enough twists and turns in the plot that I didn't always know what was coming and enough predictability to enjoy waiting for the endings I knew were coming :-)

Thank you to Revell publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T19:06:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of videos and pics from yesterday. We had a busy morning with music practices for everyone so we waited for all the goodies until after dinner. Eóin did a really good job at trying to sing with the other kids this time. I know he is still a bit spacey, but usually he is so nervous he stands there with his tongue sticking out (his nervous/shy look). He was so proud of himself for singing along :-) Here are some vids for the grannies...

Then we came home and Eric and Christina came for dinner (although I forgot to get a pic of them), and then the kids got to go on their egg hunt. They were a lot more into it this year than previous ones so it was fun to watch them :-) It was a nice fun day as a family!

Eóin was very patient and let Aidan find a few ;-)

On the hunt!

Eating the spoils (Aidan like sto shove as much as he can get in there!)

Happy Easter from the Harrisons!

Book Review: Tomorrow's Garden by Amanda Cabot.

2011-04-22T18:03:00.000-05:00

Harriet Kirk packs up her five siblings to find a new beginning in Ladreville Texas. While she is there she faces some old challenges with her brother that she was hoping would be resolved with the move, and with her fears for her family's safety. She also faces new challenges in her school room and in issues of the heart.

This book contained a lot of foreshadowing in the first few chapters so I could pretty much guess what the storyline would be. Besides it's predictability, I still thought this made for a nice easy read. Nothing really page turning, but if you are looking for a sweet read for a warm summers day, this would do very nicely :-) It's the third book in a series, but I thought it stood on it's own very well and didn't feel like I was missing anything.

Thanks to Revell Publishing for a free copy of this book to review.

Rainy Day Blessings

2011-04-19T16:26:00.000-05:00

So I didn't post my thankful list yesterday, but I have a very good reason. In fact it is so good, it made it to my list!

1. Jonathan gave me the night off last night to go to the mall and take a break. He took care of cleaning up after dinner and putting the kids to bed. Lovely!

2. Free Farm Fun

(even if we do spend most of the time at the playgrounds)

3. Cheesy Grins

4. Long Naps

(He likes to be surrounded by blankets but not covered by them!)

5. New Colors for Our Household!

6. Imaginations

(Eóin is being a digger - his hand is his hook)

7. Technology that makes even boring jobs funny!

I have been trying to write down 7 things to be thankful for at the end of each day and it has been very good for me. I just picked a few that I had pictures to match :-) I realize that none of these ones are very deep or insightful, but I have been finding that looking for joy in small things changes my attitude in big ways.

A Springy Day of thankfulness.

2011-04-11T19:45:00.000-05:00

I really enjoy reading this blog about thankfulness (http://www.aholyexperience.com), and so I think every Monday I am going to post my thankfulness list. The goal is to get to 1,000 things you are thankful for. Here are some for today. I am thankful for...

1. A beautiful blue sky to play under

2. Healthy children who are able to enjoy playing

3. Trying new things

(he would never even go near a swing before today).

4. Determination ("I do it" is the phrase of the week)

5. Bravery

This slide was pretty tall and he loved it!

The Life of Aidan

2011-04-05T21:12:00.000-05:00

I've included a lot of Eóin's funniness the last few months, so it's time to turn the spotlight on the other short one in the family for a post of two :-)

Love those eyes - even on a muddy little face :-)

I can't believe Aidan is almost 2! He is growing in new ways every day and it's a lot of fun (and work) to be his mommy. He is our family parrot at the moment - he repeats EVERYTHING! It's so funny to hear things that Eóin and I say repeated during the day. Things like his newest "Sorry mommy, I can't", or "just a second" - such polite ways to disobey - it's hard not to laugh.

I decided to try a go at potty training the last two days. He always tells me when his diaper needs changing and even sometimes before he even goes, so I thought it might be worth a shot. Today, he went twice on the potty and 4 times in his underwear (although one was my fault for not bringing him in from outside sooner). I can't decide whether to keep going or not...have to think about it more. I asked him today if he needed to go potty and he said "No mommy, I don't think so" - another Eóin phrase he picked up along the way.

He loves singing and makes up songs about everything. Not necessarily real songs, but songs about what he is doing or eating - it's so cute. He also LOVES to color! He probably colors 3 or 4 times a day. He especially loves to draw "circles" and is learning his colors pretty quickly from all his art projects :-) Cars and trains are his toy of choice and when he is not coloring, you'll find him playing with those.

He is also a snuggle bug. We can't go for more than an hour without needing a hug and kiss or snuggle :-) I won't complain - I know he won't be asking for snuggles when he is a teenager!

Well that's about all for now - time to put said kiddo to bed :-)

Book Review: Save the Date by Jenny B. Jones

2011-04-04T11:46:00.001-05:00

Lucy has come back to South Carolina to make a difference in her world, despite the fact that she spent her young adult life being sneered at by the socially elite. She works tirelessly to help girls who age out of the foster system have a chance at life and things seem to be going well. Then she gets the news that a major source of funding is being cut and once again, Lucy has to face the same people who shunned her to find hope for her girls again.

Alex on the other hand has it all, money, fame and now a chance to be in congress. But his race is not going well and he needs help from an unlikely source...Lucy.

When Alex asks Lucy to pose as his fiancee until the election in return for the funding she needs to keep the doors open on her ministry, Lucy doesn't realize her life is about to change in a HUGE way!

I thought this was such a great read! I love the great sense of humor that the author has, and found myself laughing out loud many times. I also really enjoyed the godly perspective on their struggles that the story presents. It was funny, romantic, and challenging - I've already read it twice since I got it :-) Two thumbs up from me!

Thanks to Thomas Nelson Publishing House for a free copy of this book to review.

Catching Moondrops - a long lost book review!

2011-03-25T09:57:00.000-05:00

Last summer, I received an advanced copy of this book to review. I read the book, wrote the review, and for some reason forgot all about posting it! So, here it is, the long awaited review of "Catching Moondrops" by Jennifer Erin Valent.

Jessilyn Lassiter has had a hard life in a community full of racism, but she plans to put aside her past filled with hatred, when Luke Tally comes home. She has loved him for as long as she has known him, and now that she is almost nineteen, it's time to show him how much she has grown up. He doesn't need convincing and soon, a courtship begins.
It's all so fun and romantic until all sorts of trouble happens in town. Jessilyn's best friend is in love with the town's new black doctor, but the rest of the town does not appreciate having a black man stepping out of his place. As the hatred and violence escalate, Jessilyn's heart becomes full of anger and hate too. Will she be able to face what is in her heart in time to save her relationship with Luke, and she is completely engulfed in her rage?

I thought this was a very good read. I did not realize that it was the third in a triolgy though, and I think it would have been helpful for me to read the other books first. It took me a while to figure out who everyone was. Some events from the other books were referred to, and while I don't know exactly what happened, I was able to get the basic gist. It took me a while to get into all the "southern talk" but once I got settled into the story, I was drawn in. Reading the book alone, I thought the love story jumped in way to strong, too fast, but If I'd have read the others, it probably wouldn't have seem that way. I thought the storyline was excellent though and I would recommend the read!

Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Bathsheba by Jill Eileen Smith

2011-03-14T16:06:00.000-05:00

Biblical fiction is a difficult medium to write. We already know what happens in the story and (at least I) tend to watch out for contradictions or inaccuracies. For me, the closer the book stays to the real story, the better and more real it feels.

I thought Smith did a pretty decent job with her retelling of David and Bathsheba. The first section for me, was a bit of a stretch as it was mostly extra-biblical, but I loved when it followed the biblical timeline more accurately in the later sections. It is always good to be challenged to think a little deeper about what the people in the Bible went through, and I felt that this book really made me think about what happened on a more human level. I have to say, one of my favorite aspects of this book was making David's writing of the Psalms really come to life.

I would definitely recommend this one to lovers of Biblical and historical fiction.

Available March 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thank you to Revell publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

It's a....

2011-03-14T15:47:00.002-05:00

This has been posted on facebook for a while, but for those of you who are facebook-less, I thought I'd post it here too so you can see how we shared our news with the world :-)

Fashion Police

2011-03-06T17:54:00.000-06:00

Conversations with Eóin this morning:

Eóin: This shirt looks like a daddy shirt (It was a striped button down shirt)
Me: Yes buddy it does look like daddy's shirts
Eóin: But what if the children think I look silly...

I guess now he's decided he cares what others think about his clothes!

Later that morning I was looking for something to wear and pulled out a maternity shirt.
Eóin: Not that one Mommy, it looks like jammies

Oh ok. I did actually pick something else to wear and when I came out in a different outfit, he looked me over for a bit and then says "nice clothes Mommy"

Wow - I'm in trouble when he gets a bit older!

"Sometimes..."

2011-03-03T15:56:00.000-06:00

Lately Eóin has been teaching me some lessons on being a boy. Apparently, I must only make him do things he doesn't want to do because I don't understand boys. If I was a boy, I would certainly never ask him to get dressed in the morning because "Mommy, sometimes boys just like to wear pajamas - they don't want to get dressed." Ohhhh - I have been so blind all this time :-)

Here are some other "sometimes" quotes. It also includes some lessons on babies which I must not know too much about either.

"Sometimes, boys like to just watch tv and not clean up their toys"

"Sometimes, boys don't want to go to bed"

"Sometimes, babies aren't very good at praying" (after it was Aidan's turn to pray for dinner)

"Sometimes, boys like to eat lots of treats. It makes them big and strong."

"Sometimes, babies don't like obeying"

I need to start writing them down when he says them, because there are some hilarious ones that I forget when I finally sit down to write about it.

Today, the kids were eating the last of the cookies as Jonathan came home from work. When Jonathan pretended to be sad, Eóin offered him a bite of his cookies "just not the chocolate parts" :-)

Right now, he is outside with Aidan teaching him about writing letters with chalk on the ground and playing with "yucky dirt." Love that kid :-)

Eóin turns 4!

2011-03-01T20:05:00.000-06:00

Am I really old enough to have a 4 year old? So crazy! So every year, I have taken a picture on the minute that Eóin was born - this year he was stinker and wouldn't let me get a good pic. He pretended to be asleep first and then made goofy faces! The last one was the best I could do :) Well - shows his personality I guess! I am posting it so late because we were struck down with the flu actually on his birthday and it's taken a while to re-coop! More to come to Eóin in a later post - he's been saying some funny stuff lately - I'll put it in it's own post :-)

2/15/07 1:40pm

2/15/08 1:50 pm (I forgot that day)

2/15/09 1:40pm

2/15/10 1:40pm

2/15/11 1:40 pm

Book Review: Lady in the Mist by Laurie Alice Eakes

2011-02-19T19:26:00.000-06:00

Tabitha Eckles is no ordinary midwife. The generations of women in her family before her had all been married by this time, but no such prospect lies ahead for Tabitha. Nevertheless, the community trusts her training, good judgement and reputation despite the fact that it is very unusual to have a midwife who has never given birth herself. Her reputation is called into question though when a patient dies under mysterious circumstances and Tabitha is the only one who may know why, yet her profession calls for secrecy. Adding to the mystery is her strange relationship with the new British servant in town. During a time when the townsmen are being taken by Britain to use in the navy, the town is filled with suspicions about the newcomer.

I enjoyed the intrigue and mystery in this love story by Eakes. I also liked the historical addition of press-ganging and the effects it had in the families whose loved ones were taken. It was fun to read the banter between the servants. All in all, a pretty entertaining book.

Available February 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell for a free copy of this book to review.

Gotta Love 'Em

2011-02-14T21:55:00.000-06:00

We had a pretty fun valentines day around here! Here are some pics of the day's events:

We started by opening a package from grandma! Lots of candy, stickers and cars!

Not too messy considering the huge chocolate heart he just ate!

Eóin asked me to take a pic of his messy hands

But said I didn't need to wash them - he could just lick them :)

Next, we made valentines cards for Daddy

Eóin drew the heart and wrote the word all by himself!

Aidan found the markers and went to town!

When Daddy got home we had a romantic candlelight dinner for four. We had heart shaped meatloaf and pink mashed potatoes :-)

Everybody got a card by their plate with some of the reasons I love them written on it.

Here's what they said (I'll just put a few of Jonathans - he had lots :-)

Jonathan:

He is gorgeous!

He has a kind heart.

He makes me laugh.

He shares his food with me :)

He works hard to take care of us.

Eóin:

He also makes me laugh a lot.

He is lots of fun - great imagination.

He can be a very kind big brother.

He does a great job using his words to encourage people.

Aidan:

He is so goofy.

He sings all the time - he lives in his own personal musical :)

He is always excited about life.

He gives great hugs!

I Love our family!

Thank You Granny :)

2011-02-07T15:19:00.000-06:00

We thought our latest package was lost for good when it took two weeks to get here, but it arrived today and we are very happy to have some yummy chocolate here :-) Thanks Granny Caffrey! Sorry my voice sounds like I'm screaming. I have to take vids on my phone til I get a charger for my camera. Guess I need to hold the phone a bit further away from me next time :-)

Sledding Fun

2011-02-05T19:02:00.000-06:00

We took the kids sledding today. It started off with quite a bit of crying. First, when we had to get all bundled up which Aidan HATES. Secondly, when we had to walk through the every deep snow and they kept falling down. Thirdly, when Eóin went down on the sled - he did NOT enjoy it.

Finally, we discovered that if they slid down on their bums everyone was happy. So it ended well :) Here are some videos. You can't hear Eóin screaming in the first one, but you can hear me laughing at his screaming - he he.

Book Review: Fatal Judgement by Irene Hannon

2011-01-29T14:44:00.000-06:00

Jake Taylor is a US Marshall who has been in plenty of scary situations. But his next assignment will take all the strength he has to give. He has to protect federal judge, Liz Michaels when it seems her life is in danger. The problem is that Jake already knows Liz. She was married to his best friend and with her drive for work leaving no time for anyone else, may have driven him to commit suicide.

But Jake has to put his personal feelings aside if he is to do his job well. The problem is, that is hard to do when everything he thought he knew about the woman is proving to be wrong. Not only is she a kind, selfless lady, but she is also very attractive, and Jake has a hard time keeping his heart out of his mission.

I would recommend this book if you enjoy a good suspense read. Although it always bothers me a little when people "fall in love" pretty quickly, I still enjoyed getting to know the background of the characters. The end was a good page turner and I probably stayed up too late finishing it :)

Available January 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell publishing company for a free copy of this book to review.

You know you're tired when...

2011-01-27T11:55:00.000-06:00

You can fall asleep standing up!

I think Eóin is having a growth spurt. I have never seen him so tired! I can't believe he is going to be 4 in just a few weeks. I'll post more on his funny personality on his birthday. Just thought I'd stick up this pick from the other day :) I love the shiny drool on his face and messy hair - he was really out cold!

Book Review: The Search by Suzanne Woods Fisher

2011-01-22T09:00:00.002-06:00

I was so excited when I saw that Suzanne Wood's Fisher was doing another blog tour because I enjoyed the last book of hers that I read so much.

I will admit, when I read the back cover, I was a little disappointed to learn that the main character was only 15 years old. However - if this would normally throw you off, don't let it deter you from reading this - it was so great.

Bess Reihl is shipped off by her widower father to spend the summer with a sick grandmother she hardly knows. A very large, intimidating grandmother. Very quickly, though, Bess sees that there is nothing weak and sickly about this lady - a lady who seems to have a very different reason for bringing Bess to the farm. It seems like a very long summer of hard hard work looming ahead, until Bess meets Billy, her grandmother's help.

Lainey O' Toole grew up very near the town where Bess will be staying the summer, and it seems as if God is drawing her back. Here she learns how her past choices have affected the town and now will affect her own future.

When all these fabulous characters come together, you get a story full of secrets, hope and love.

Such a great book. The characters are wonderful and the plot and storyline had just enough twists and turns that it's not one you can easily predict! I highly recommend Fishers books to anyone!

Available January 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thank you so much to Revell for a free copy of another great book to review!

A Modern and Historical Fiction: Two Great Reads

2011-01-01T21:39:00.000-06:00

I wanted to put these two reads in a post together because although they are in different time periods, I enjoyed reading them both very much.

First, the historical fiction:

Nancy Moser's Masquerade was one of my favorite reads in quite a while. The story follows a wealthy girl and her maid in 1886 as they switch places to start new lives in America. Charlotte Gleason finds herself somewhere she never thought she would be and finds her heart and life changing as she finds out how the other half really lives. Dora, her maid, is living the dream of every girl - new clothes, lavish lifestyle, and everything whim granted, but finds it might not really be what her heart desires after all.

Although, the "prince and the pauper" story has been told many times, I really enjoyed how this gave a glimpse into the lives of people during the time period, especially how the immigrant society lived. It was heartwarming and sobering at the same time. Although this might not be a part of the story line, Moser gets huge props from me for adding illustrations of the clothing in her book in the back. I usually look up the time period on the internet when I read stories like this to get a better picture of what they were wearing, and I LOVED that the pictures were right in the book!

Thanks so much to Bethany House for a free copy of this book to review.

Next up, the modern fiction:

I have been kind of disappointed by the last few modern fictions I have read, but I thought this book was a really good one. A Rush of Wings by Kristen Heitzmann is about Noelle St. Claire who is running away from all she knows. Although she can't quite put her finger on what the problem is, she feels she is in real danger, surrounded by a mixture of terrifying dreams and vivid memories of recent events. She flees to the Rocky Mountains, where she is taken in by two completely different brothers. As she begins to let them past the walls she has put up to protect herself, she has to finally face the dangers she has been hiding from.

I have to say, that my favorite thing about this book was that the characters were so human. Romances, especially tend up idealize at least one person in the story, but even the most godly person in this story makes mistakes and has to deal with the consequences of those mistakes. I also enjoyed that the relationships took time to build, I didn't feel like it was rushed. Definitely the best modern story I have read for a while.

Thanks again to Bethany House for a free copy of this book to review.

Catching Up Before the New Year!

2010-12-31T12:37:00.000-06:00

So today, I hope to get all caught up on family news and then add some book reviews that have been waiting for a while for me to write. News first!

1. Aidan turned 18 months
Aidan has grown up so much in the last few months. He is definitely more little boy and less baby. He LOVES trains and cars and actually probably likes Thomas the tank engine even more than Eóin now. He is a total snuggle bug and loves to cuddle with his nookie and blankie (this is getting limited to bed soon which I am not looking forward to!). He hates wearing pants and would run around naked all day if I let him. It seems like every time I turn around he has his pants off! At his check-up he was 35% height and weight and 90% head :-)

2. Christmas Celebrations
We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the Harrisons. We had 15 people at our house for Christmas dinner and we managed to get everyone around the table! It was yummy and lots of fun. Eóin especially loved having everyone around. He also loved opening all his presents! The boys are quite worn out from all the fun - it might take them a few days to recover and get used to our quieter schedule again! I lost my camera charger so I don't have many pics from this year - I'll try to post what I have soon though.

3. New Baby
We are expecting our third (and final!) baby on July 31, 2011. When I told Eóin there was a baby in my tummy, he told me that it was only chicken and crackers (what we had for dinner that day). Obviously, he doesn't quite get it yet :-) We are very excited and a little nervous about being outnumbered - lol

That's about it from around here. I'll try to get pics up soon! Happy New Year :-)

Great Kid's Book!

2010-12-09T15:53:00.000-06:00

One Hand, Two Hands, Five Fingers, Ten

God, Thanks for my hands, please use them again!

This is an adorable children's book by Max Lucado that shows the you are never to small to be a help and serve others. First it shows all the ordinary ways we use our hands every day and scores big points by using words like "stinky" and "oo-ey goo-ey." Then it shows all the ways that even little kids can use their hands to care for others and be a help from giving hugs to picking up your stinky socks :-)

My son is three years old and enjoys this book. The first day we got it, we probably read it five times in a row. The only thing I wish was different was if they used pictures of boy too, instead of just a girl. He doesn't care too much right now, but my son is starting to enter the stage of "that's for girls" and I wouldn't want him to miss out on such a good lesson because there are only pictures of girls. (Even though they are very cute pictures :-)

I would highly recommend this book though. It's a great and simple way to teach our children about serving others!

Thank you to Thomas Nelson for a free copy of this book to review.

Love's First Bloom by Delia Parr

2010-12-04T19:55:00.000-06:00

Under the cover of darkness, Ruth Livingstone is ferried to a new home, under a new name, with a new charge under her care. Scandalous accusations have been raised against her father - a minister! She leaves town with a small baby in her care under the name Widow Malloy until her father's name is cleared and she can be free to be herself again and find a real home for sweet Baby Lily.

When things don't go well with the trial, Ruth finds herself feeling lost and alone. She finds comfort tending a old forsaken garden until Jake Spencer arrives. Can she trust this stranger? Finally, a friendship forms between them which starts to blossom into more. But when the secrets they each hold finally come to the surface, their love is in danger of being lost forever.

I found this book a little slow, but I still enjoyed it. Although it had a little mystery behind it, it didn't grab me til near the end. The concept was good though and the love story was sweet. I'll probably read it again some time in the future.

Thanks to Bethany House Publishers for a free copy of this book to Review.

Leeeeaaaves

2010-11-06T13:02:00.001-05:00

What's a good fall without playing in the leaves? Even though the tree in our backyard still has plenty o' leaves left on it, I managed to rake up a pile for the kids to play in and work off some of their wiggles :-) It was pretty windy so the leaves went everywhere. Good fun!

I had music for this whole thing but after the first song it stopped working - too lazy right now to fix it - maybe later :-)

Book Review: Don't Look Back by Lynette Eason

2010-10-23T16:08:00.000-05:00

Jamie Cash has spent the last twelve years trying to get on with her life after she was brutally abducted 12 years ago. Although she struggles with trust and keeps her life very private, she is finally starting to recover her independence and make a good life for herself. There is even a guy interested in her, and though she is not quite ready for a relationship, she finds herself drawn to him too.
Everything seems to be going well until her attacker comes back to finish what he started - to end her pain and be her hero. The one that got away will pay!

As the second book in a series, I thought this read pretty well as a stand alone book. I could tell there was a story behind some things, but everything important was explained and it didn't take long for me to catch up. I enjoyed the action and though I had a pretty good guess about who the bad guy was, it actually probably made the story more exciting for me. I thought it was scary enough to keep me on my toes but not keep me up at night :-) A good read.

Available October 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book!

Book Review: The Waiting by Suzanne Woods Fisher

2010-10-11T10:29:00.002-05:00

Jorie King is waiting for Benjamin Zook to come back from war to his own people. She is hoping he will have grown into the man she knows he could be - free from his discontent and ready to settle down among his own kind. The plain kind. But she is devastated when she receives the news that Ben will never come home - he has been killed at war.

Caleb Zook is dealing with his own grief while trying to raise a family by himself while fending off the match making wiles of his well-meaning aunts.

As Jorie and Caleb become friends and help each other through the pain, a new love begins to grow. Everything is turned upside down when they receive some shocking news that could change everything.

This book was the best book I have read in a while. Because it's the second in a series, it took me a while to get to know everyone. But once I was into it, I was hooked! I loved that even though the characters were Amish, the book focused on their "normalness" rather than their customs. They struggle with things everyone struggles with. You will definitely need a box of tissue for this - I must have spent half the book balling but it was so good! I will definitely be looking for the rest of the series!

Available October 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review!

Book Review: The House on Malcolm Street by Leisha Kelly

2010-10-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

Leah Breckenridge's life is unfair. How could God take away both her husband and baby? And on top of that, there is no more money and she doesn't dare look to her father for help. She turns to her only hope, her late husband's aunt who has invited them to visit. With her young daughter's strong faith challenging her at every turn, Leah is constantly confronted by her bitterness against God.
As Leah settles into her new home, she begins to heal and find hope for her future again. Will she be able to finally trust God with her hopes and fears and find her faith again?

Grab your box of Kleenex for a great story that looks into the hard time of life. I really loved this story. The characters were real hurting people who were struggling with hard issues and it was great to watch them grow and heal together!

Available September 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Book Review: No More Christian Nice Girl by Paul Coughlin and Jennifer D. Degler

2010-10-04T13:39:00.000-05:00

Sugar and Spice and all things nice - that's what little girls are made of. So we've been told, and have been expected to be in society for centuries. But Paul Coughlin and Jennifer Deglen say differently. Jesus expects Christians to be like him and although he was always loving,he was not always what today's society would consider nice. He was instead, GOOD. He did what was right no matter who was offended or who got upset. He was not afraid of whether others perceived him to be nice or not. And he expects us, as women, to be like him.

Coughlin and Degler give examples of how we are nice but not good in our marriages, friendships, churches and workplaces. When we try to love up to every one else's expectations instead of obeying what God has for us we damage the relationships around us and instead end up burned out and resentful of all those that take advantage of our "nice-ness."

I thought this book had some good things to say about being an authentic Christian. I especially liked their explanation of how conflict increases intimacy when handled correctly. I wasn't the biggest fan of their writing style, however. I thought the examples were a bit cheesy and I didn't like that they used acronyms for everything. It was a bit over the top for me - almost seemed a little condescending. But I thought they made valid points and I'm sure others would enjoy the writing style - it just wasn't my cup of tea :-)

Thanks to Bethany House Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Book Review: A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin

2010-10-02T21:22:00.000-05:00

Lieutenant Ruth Doherty brings cheer and hope to the many World War II soldiers who have been injured and are under her care. Her gentle ways and easy laugh beings many declarations of love and offers of marriage from the men, but Ruth will have none of it. Her goal is to support her orphaned family at home and not to be distracted from that goal by any man. So she lets nobody past her kind and polite barriers she has erected around her heart.

Major Jack Novak has always succeeded in every area of his life, until a mission lands him under the care of Ruth Doherty and it seems he will not succeed in getting to know her better.
Slowly, Jack is able to befriend the Lieutenant, but as World War II comes to a dangerous climax, everything he has built threatens to fall apart around them.

I am not usually one for stories about war - they are usually just too sad for me to handle, but I thought that this book did a great job of presenting the story with the backdrop of a war without it being too graphic and heart-wrenching for me to read. I thought her details were great - in fact, I looked up pictures of the planes she described and that really made her descriptions come to life! I enjoyed the plot too - some turns I didn't expect. A great story of following God's will, forgiveness, and friendship! (I totally did not even mean to aliterate that but it's pretty cool ;-)

A big thanks to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to reveiw!

A Story, by Eóin William Harrison

2010-09-26T22:53:00.001-05:00

Tonight, Jonathan was telling Eóin a story but since Eóin kept interrupting with his own ideas, we let him tell his own story. I grabbed the computer and tried to dictate it as he was telling it. Next time I'll have to tape it because there are lots of actions involved (I added some where I thought it necessary :-) Enjoy.

There was a triceratops. And he was orange, and he had to get some food. He was a baby one. He was flying to get some food. I think there was another bird. It was a daddy bird. And then there was another one - it was a mommy bird. And then there was another dinosaur picking some ovals. It was like this (scratching motion). And then he saw a washing machine. It was building the foundation. There was another machine pulling dirt (like this - moving with swishing sounds). And then there was another one - a mixer pouring concrete. And then they put some walls on it. And then they paint the house. And then there was people and then the people go inside the house. The End (book closing motion with a pretend book).

So if you couldn't tell, he is really into dinosaurs, food, and building stuff at the moment :-)

Book Review: A Hope Undaunted by Julie Lessman

2010-09-24T13:43:00.000-05:00

Katie O'Conner has just graduated high school and has endless possibilities ahead of her. Living in the 1920's opportunities for women are opening up and Katie plans to take advantage of that. After being under her father's unbending rules, Katie has no plans to be under the same kind of husband. That is why Katie is dating the wealthy and good-looking Jack Worthington. He is besotted with her and will let her do as she pleases with enough money to fund it. Both planning to be lawyers with the same dreams and goals, they are the perfect fit. Everything is going as Katie planned.

Until Katie is forced to spend the summer working for Luke McGee, the boy who made her childhood miserable. Except he is not a boy anymore. Can they put aside their differences to work for a greater cause? And will Katie still follow her dreams to fight for women's independence after a summer of conflict, hope, and maybe even love?

I enjoyed most of this story. I definitely wasn't expecting all the twists and turns in the plot - so that made it really interesting. I enjoyed getting to know the O'Conner family, although there was so many of them it took me a while to keep them all straight in my head. I also liked seeing into that time period. It is the first book I've read which looks into the themes of women coming into independence and being freed from the restraints of the past so it made a good fresh backdrop. My only complaint was that it seemed to focus on sensuality a little too much for my taste. I realize that as society became more freed from the strict restraints it had before, that it was more abundant but it seemed a part of nearly every character and it was a bit overboard, I thought. Besides that, I really did like the plot, characters and themes.

Thanks you to Revell for a free copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Making Waves by Lorna Seilstad

2010-09-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

Marguerite Westing feels trapped in courting Roger Gordon. He is the most boring man she has ever met, especially considering that Marguerite is anything but boring. Always looking for a new adventure or way to brake out of the norms of the confining society she lives in, Marguerite cannot stand to be chained to a man who never talks of anything but himself and expects her to listen in rapt attention, just thankful to have caught a wealthy man. But riches are not enough for her, and when her father suggests the family spend the summer camping at Lake Manawa, she is elated at the thought of escaping Roger's company and having a new adventure.

And adventure is what she finds! A new love of sailing - but how is she to accomplish learning to sail when all the rules of polite society forbid a woman out on the water? Of course, nothing is impossible for the spunky girl, but while she is hiding her secret, she finds out her family has other secrets of a much ore dangerous kind. Meanwhile, Marguerite starts to fall for her sailing instructor - the handsome and never boring Trip Andrews. But it seems like marrying Roger is the only way to save her family from ruin. Marguerite learns many lessons about secrets, lies and the danger of hiding the truth as she decides whether to follow her heart, or save her family.

This is another one of those books that you cannot judge by it's cover. I almost didn't read it because it looked a bit goofy, but I'm glad I did! This is Lorna Seilstad's first novel and I think it is a fun, exciting read. I love the spunky character in Marguerite and the funny way she thinks. I also enjoyed reading about the "camping" of the upper class - hilarious :-) A great summer read!

Available September 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review!

Book Review: Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

2010-09-10T20:56:00.001-05:00

I have to admit that usually when I hear that someone will be preaching or writing about the book of Acts I sort of inwardly groan. And I know why. Chances are, if you are going to be talking about the book of Acts, you will have to talk about sharing your faith. I know I do not do a great job of sharing Christ with others and so, knowing I will feel guilty, I dread hearing the truth again.

This book is different. Lucado goes through the book of Acts and encourages us to follow the example of the early church, while reminding us that they were ordinary people just like me. Not only that but he tells wonderful stories of ordinary people from today who are touching the world with the choices they make every day. I don't come away feeling discouraged about my failure, but excited about what God could really do through me if I follow Christ in faith. The topics are practical, including using your home to reach out, reaching out over cultural boundaries, unity among Christians, and so much more!

The chapters are short and include Scripture and a prayer at the end. Perfect for reading along side your normal Bible reading. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to any Christian!

A HUGE thank you to Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program for a free copy of this book to review. I loved it!

Book Review: The Boy Who Changed The World by Andy Andrews

2010-09-07T09:54:00.000-05:00

Every choice you make can make a difference. That is the main story behind this book for children about the super seeds that fed over 2 million people all because of some young boys who made good choices. The story follows 4 boys as they grow up and all end up having a part in feeding the hungry of the world. Norman wanted to help hungry people as he looked at all the corn on his family farm, Henry wanted to use his knowledge of plants to help others, George had a kind heart that he used to help his friends, and Moses reached out and saved a little boy in need of help. All of their lives touched each other by the choices that they made, and eventually they changed the world!

I love the idea of this story and the pictures are fabulous. I will only say that it is a little confusing to go backwards each time. I even had a bit of a hard time connecting the people - I had to look back and see where they fit in. I read it to my three year old son and he seemed to enjoy it but by the last story, he was losing interest. I think that as we read it over again though in the future, he will be able to connect the dots. I think it just takes more than one read for younger kids. For older kids, though, it would make sense and they would learn a lot. A great way to talk to your child about the choices he makes every day.

Thank you so much to Thomas Nelson Publishers (through their BookSneeze program) for a free copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Sixteen Brides by Stephanie Grace Whitson

2010-08-23T13:26:00.000-05:00

"April 7, 1871: Another cargo of war widows arrived in Plum Grove last Tuesday morning, sixteen in number, and filed upon claims adjacent to town. This was decidedly the best lot of widows that has arrived so far." (from newspaper clipping on back cover)

Hamilton Drake has promised land, homesteads, and freedom to sixteen eager and willing widows. Each one embarking on her own personal journey to start a fresh start in the world. What they don't realize is that while it is legal for women to homestead in Americas new territory out west, that is not at all what Mr. Drake has in mind. Men will be lining up to marry these women once they get to Nebraska, and he plans to line his pockets from the matches.
The women find out his plan just in time, and while some don't mind the idea, marrying is the last thing the others have in mind. Teaming together, these brave women build their own homesteads, form new friendships, and even find love out in the wilderness of Nebraska.

I thought this was a great look into this interesting event in history. I really grew to love the characters and cheer them on as they faced obstacles and worked so hard to achieve their dreams. It was a little hard for me to learn all their names, especially when it switched back and forth from their formal names to their Christian names, but besides that I have no complaints. I loved learned each woman's individual personality, history and goals and watching them all come together!

Thank Bethany House for a free copy of this book to review.

Blog Tour Book Review: The Bishop

2010-08-12T22:43:00.000-05:00

A grotesque murder, with no trace of evidence has been committed in DC. FBI Agent Patrick Bowers is called to the case even though it seems to be a stand alone crime and his specialty is serial killers. But as he delves deeper into the case, more deaths occur and all he can find are loose threads that lead nowhere.
With his personal life falling apart, trying to solve this case is even harder. Will he be able to find the killer before it's too late and someone close to him gets hurt? Time is running out!

I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the plot and the twists in it, but it was a little too gorey for me. It's not like tv when you can look away at the gross bits - you have to keep reading in a book :-)
I really liked getting to see the relationship between him and his step daughter evolve, but the romantic interests kind of annoyed me.
I spent the entire time trying to figure out who the murderer was, but wasn't able to guess. I enjoyed how he set up my expectation for the ending - a good page turner. I would recommend this book if you have a strong stomach and like a good mystery, but if you prefer less detail about the gorey side of death you may want to pass on this one. If you are interested in his take on writing about evil, you can visit his blog here.

Thanks so much to Revell Publishing for a free copy of this book to review.

Note: I can't put a cover picture up at this time due to poor internet quality. Will post one as soon as possible.

Blog Tour Book Review: The Seeker by Ann H. Gabhart

2010-07-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

Charlotte Vance has known exactly how her life would turn out since she was a little girl. Marry the boy next door, join their lands, and continue their family's legacies together. All was on track until one day when everything in her world got turned upside-down. On that day, she learns about her new, very young stepmother, who has no intention of keeping Charlotte around. Then her fiance tells her that he plans to join the local Shaker community. But Shakers don't believe in marriage, so what of her plans? Not only is her personal life is turmoil, the country is on the brink of civil war with her homeland right in the middle!

Not one to stand idly by, Charlotte escapes her stepmother's plans for her and goes after the man she wants to marry. She joins the Shaker community with hopes convince her fiance to return with her and set everything right. But all does not go according to Charlotte's plan and she finds herself on a new path - one she never would have dreamed of!

I thought this story was very well rounded. I learned a lot about the Shakers that I never knew before - I just thought they were the same as the Amish but this book did a great job pointing out the differences. Also, the insight into the people surrounding the civil war was really good. The plot moved at a good pace and the characters were great! I also loved how the romance came about - very creative. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Available July 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

You are invited to The Bishop Facebook Party

2010-07-21T10:53:00.009-05:00

Steven James is launching his new book "The Bishop" on Facebook on Wednesday August 4th from 7-9 pm Eastern Time. Meet the author and win great prizes! (YOu must have a facebook account to participate)

Also stay tuned to this blog for a review of the book - coming soon!!!

Book Review: The Last Operative by Jerry B. Jenkins

2010-07-17T23:09:00.001-05:00

Jordan Kirkwood has been faithfully working for the NSA for 20 years and finally felt like it was time to settle down. He is finishing up one small mission before he plans to meet his wife in London for a much needed time of rest and reconnecting. But just before he finishes his mission he receives intel of a serious terrorist threat to the US and he can't trust anyone - someone is working from inside the NSA itself!

When an attempt on his life is made, Jordan is forced to face secrets from his past in order to stop the threat in the future. He has to find whoever is involved inside the NSA without them knowing, while stopping a terrible attack from happening with very few people to help. Will he be able to figure it out on time?

This book was a nice change of pace for me than the fiction I have been reading lately. I enjoyed the fact the the protagonist was older and very human - the down sides of working in intelligence are well portrayed. It had a good bit of excitement but the details were not too gorey which I appreciated. The only disappointment for me was that the climax seemed to happen all at once and very quickly. I liked the general idea of the ending but it too seemed to be a bit short and choppy. Still it was a good read - I'll probably read it some time again in the future.

Thanks to Tyndale Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Blog Tour Book Review: Touching the Clouds by Bonnie Leon

2010-07-13T17:36:00.000-05:00

Kate Evans does not want to settle down and be a wife and mother like every other woman - or at least not just yet. She has a dream she wants to realize - being a bush pilot in Alaska! So she breaks off her engagement, leaves her family behind in Washington and sets off not really knowing what lies ahead. She does know that she is glad to leave bad memories behind her in hopes of starting fresh.
It's not easy for Kate, though. Flying is still a man's arena, and especially in such a hard terrain to fly in, people are cautious about hiring one of the weaker sex.

Kate finally lands a job (no pun intended) and begins the life she has dreamed of. She loves the challenges and adventure and when she comes across a mysterious and handsome stranger living in the wilderness, her job becomes even more interesting! Will Kate overcome her past memories to keep her dream alive, and will she get past the mystery man's walls to find love with him? You'll just have to read it to find out :-)

I really enjoyed this book. Obviously, since people are in old planes flying in dangerous territory, there is going to be danger involved and I found myself almost worrying every time someone got in a plane. It kept me on my toes :-) I liked how Kate and Paul are hiding such similar secrets - that was a nice detail. I also enjoyed learning more about Alaska and it's beautiful landscape. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series when they come out.

Available July 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

Thanks to Revell for a free copy of this book to review!

Book Review: Hearts Awakening by Delia Parr

2010-07-06T09:42:00.001-05:00

Spinster. Elvira Kilmer is 31 years old, poor, and plain. With no friends or family to help her, she is truly on her own. She needs to find work to support herself so she goes to work for the widower, Jackson Smith. Two weeks volunteering in his home cleaning and taking care of his boys will earn her a reference so she can look for somewhere to live and work permanently. But her plans change when Jackson presents her with a marriage proposal after only a few days of work. He needs a housekeeper and someone to raise his children, and with her looks, she will not likely have another chance of a family of her own.
This strange marriage is surrounded by mistrust, secrets and scandal. Can they work to make their marriage work, or will they let hurt and deceit drive them apart again?
Hearts Awakening is a great story of forgiveness and the goodness of God!

I really loved this heartwarming story! I was drawn in from the first chapter when it just jumps right in to this new and strange relationship. All the background is uncovered as the characters learn about each other. The only flaw I can think of is that in all the fights and misunderstandings in the marriage it seemed the man was always at fault when in reality, no matter how godly a spouse is, I am pretty sure there should have been times when Ellie needed forgiveness too. She seemed almost too patient to be true :-) I may have picked a different name for her too (Elvira!?!) but that is really not a complaint ;-) I will definitely read this more than once!

Thanks so much to Bethany House Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Watch Out World

2010-07-01T17:40:00.000-05:00

Here is just a little clip of Aidan walking. He is sooo much happier now that he can walk by himself - and can get into so much more trouble ;-)

Book Review: Somewhere to Belong by Judith Miller

2010-06-30T21:54:00.001-05:00

I will admit to being hesitant to read this book when I first got it. Something about the whole communal living thing just does not shout "interesting plot" to me. I mean, how interesting can it be when everybody does the same thing? On top of that, it's not only in the first person, it's two people switching back and forth, talking in the first person.

All of that said, despite all the things that I usually do not care for in a book being in it, I really did like this book :-)

The story follows two girls, Johanna Ilg, who has grown up in the Amana colonies. She enjoys her life there, and although she does having desires to see more of the world, she follows the rules and tries to live a life that would please her elders and the Lord.

Berta Schumacher has just moved to the colony from a pampered lifestyle in Chicago. She resists all aspects of life in the colony and gets into any and all kind of trouble!

These two completely different girls have been thrown into each others path and as Johanna is given the responsibility to train Berta, the girls from an unlikely friendship, though it's not without its' frustrations! When troubling secrets are exposed, the girls face the question of where they really belong.

I will definitely say that I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. Nothing in the plot is hugely dramatic or climactic, but it's the characters themselves that drew me in and kept my attention. Seeing the same story from two different viewpoints was a great way to get to know the girls better. A great story of family, friendship and the things that are really important in life!

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

When Life Gives You Lemons....

2010-06-23T14:41:00.001-05:00

How to make Lemonade:

First, roll the lemon to get the juices flowing

Then SQUEEZE them to get every last drop

Still got lots more to do!

Mix sugar and water and lemon zest and boil to make a simple syrup

After it's cooled, add the syrup to the lemon juice

Stir very carefully

Add some more cold water and some lemon slices and ta-da!

Cheers!

Book Review: A Love of Her Own by Maggie Brendan

2010-06-22T20:27:00.001-05:00

After her engagement is called off and her heart is broken, April McBride sets out on a trip for her brother's wedding. She had no idea what she was getting herself into!

While her brother is on his honeymoon, April waits for his return among the people there. Used to her father's money buying her everything she wants when she wants it, she is not prepared for the way things work in Lewiston. Nobody is about to fulfill her every wish here including horse trainer, Wes Owen. From their very first meeting, April and Wes are at odds with each other over everything! Each convinced that they are not looking for a spouse, they fight their attraction to each other.

Through embarrassments, frustration and even adventures, April gets a glimpse of how selfish her life has been. As she grows and changes her ways, will she also open her heart up to find love once again?

This book is the third book in the Brendan's Heart of the West series but I thought it was pretty good as a stand alone novel. It didn't take me long to catch up with the events that happened in the past books and they weren't really that relevant to the story. I had a hard time with the fact that someone could fall in love or even change so much in such a short period of time. It just seemed a little far fetched. Sometimes it seemed a little cheesy, but overall I it was still a good read.

Available June 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

Thanks to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Blog Tour Book Review: Out of the Spin Cycle by Jen Hatmaker

2010-06-15T21:21:00.000-05:00

I seriously can NOT say enough good things about the book I am reviewing today. Out of the Spin Cycle (Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load), is a book of 40 short devotionals written by a mom to a mom. I love Jen's style of writing and her sense of humor! Sometimes I felt like she was looking through my windows as she wrote these devotionals because they seemed to zero in on so many of the issues I deal with as a mom of little ones.

I love that the devotionals focus so much on the life of Jesus and how we, as moms, can be more like him as we raise our children. They are funny (Jen's kids sound like a riot), and so encouraging! I found myself sitting on the couch crying my eyes out more than once just because someone understood what I was going through and encouraged me to take it to the Lord and lean on him in this big job of growing my kids up to be like Christ!

I think I have found my go-to present for baby showers! Every mom needs a copy of this book!!!

A big thanks to Revell publishing for a free copy of this book to review. And no - it did not influence my review - I really did just love it :-)

Available June 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Book Review: Love on a Dime by Cara Lynn James

2010-06-12T22:43:00.000-05:00

Lilly Westbrook has been brought up as a genteel young lady. The daughter of a banker, she is destined to marry well and preform her duties as a wife and a member of good society. And all outward appearance show her to be such a young lady: courted by a rich young man, soon to be engaged and involved in worthy charity work.

But Lilly's calm life hits troubled waters when a local gossip paper threatens to unveil her biggest secret. Lilly has been writing dime novels under a false name and it seems the editor of the newspaper has found her out! Grossly looked down upon by her peers and family, if anyone finds out about her hidden work, both she and her family will be put to shame. To make matters worse, Jackson Grail, an old love, has bought the publishing house that publishes her books. How can she keep her secret from her family, her new love and her old love?

I enjoyed reading this story, although I will admit that the main characters struggle seems a little too drawn out. She is presented with many opportunities for help and I found myself getting annoyed with her stubbornness (although maybe that was the point). I found the Christian viewpoint of the guilded age interesting, and I liked watching especially her mother grow in her struggle of what people think about her. I wouldn't exactly call it a page turner, but it was a pretty good read. I'll probably read it again sometime down the road :-)

Thanks to Thomas Nelson, the publisher, for a free copy of this book to review.

Aidan's 12 month check up

2010-06-08T19:45:00.000-05:00

We went for Aider's check up this morning and it wet well :-) He is now in the 35% for weight, 50% for height and 93% for head - lol
He is a few months ahead in his vocabulary (6 whole words! wohooo) but the doc said many time kids who are like that do well in music and foreign languages (same with Eóin) so to get him a little xylophone or baby piano and let him "make music."
He got two shots today and gave the SADDEST cry ever! He just looked at me like I betrayed him and had the biggest tears :-( We went to Mc Donalds as our traditional post-doctor treat.
That's the news from here.
Lots of book reviews to follow - I've been reading like crazy since I got back from vacation! Some good ones coming up :-)

Blog Tour Book Review: Momology by Shelly Radic

2010-06-07T17:04:00.003-05:00

I am so excited to have the opportunity to blog about Momology: A Mom's Guide to shaping great kids by Shelly Radic!

I think every mother at some point or another has doubts about how she is raising her kids. It seems like every other mother we know has all her ducks in a row and never seems to have that stressed out, hair pulling moment where we feel like we are totaling blowing this whole motherhood thing.

On top of that, we read books about how to schedule our kids days so that they will never throw temper tantrums,disobey, or flush another valuable item down the toilet again. Or we read websites about games to play with our children that will have them ready for college by age 4. More guilt - another thing we are not doing right.

This book is not one of those books. It offers practical thoughts on real life parenting and I found myself challenged and encouraged by it but not guilty!

The book is divided into four sections:

Core: Getting to know ourself better. How has our childhood effected our parenting; Our strengths and weaknesses; how we deal with stress; taking care of ourselves and other topics that deal with helping us parenting from our individual personality.

Finesse: The really practical part! Instead of rules to follow, seeing the big picture of what our real goals are in parenting. Forming attachments with our children and just the day to day things of life - doing them to fit our goals and our children - not a prescribed method or formula.

Circle: Building relationships. Marriage, Family and Friends all play a big role in our parenting. This section works on improving and building those mutual relationships.

Grandscape: Probably the most important section, it deals with how our relationship with God is essential to our relationship with our children.

There are so many things I liked about this book. Hearing what other mothers said through surveys, the nice SHORT divisions so that when someone has a potty accident I always have a good stopping point close by, and the practical questions that help to apply the ideas to my own parenting.

I highly recommend this book to any mother - especially ones with younger children!

Available June 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

A big thank you to Revell for the free copy of this book to review!

Book Review: She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell

2010-06-03T14:57:00.000-05:00

Clara Carter has been dreading her debut into New York's finest society. She has been putting off learning about dancing, socially acceptable conversation, and which fork to use at meals, in favor of math, poetry, and science. All of that changes suddenly when her Aunt decides she will debut a year early. New York's most eligible bachelor will be choosing a wife during this season and Clara must win his heart and a proposal before season's end. But how is she to capture his attention when she knows nothing of the rules of society?

Clara is rushed through a whirlwind tutelage from her aunt and thrown into operas, balls and parties. She soon becomes the debutante of the season, but what will it ultimately cost her?

Although I have to admit that stories written in the first person are not my favorite, I really enjoyed this book. Not only was the overall plot interesting, I learned quite a bit about the "gilded age" that I never really considered before. The note to readers at the end of the book shed extra light on some of the social issues from the time period that were mentioned in the story. I loved getting to know the characters. Even though it is written in the first person, I felt that I got to know them well through the eyes of Clara.

I look forward to reading more from Siri Mitchell!

I received a free copy of this book to review from Bethany House Publishers.

Happy Birthday Aidan!!!!!

2010-06-02T21:13:00.001-05:00

I can't believe a whole year has passed since Aidan joined our family. That went by soooo quickly. We had his big party while on vacation at Grandma and Grandpa Harrison's house (pics to come with our vacation pics) but today we had Aunty Tina over for dinner and had a cake just to mark the day :-)

Still no walking which surprises me because he loves to walk holding our fingers. He took a few wobbly steps at the Harrison's between me and Grandma but nothing since. We'll keep working on it. He'll be a MUCH happier guy once he can do it on his own.

His favorite thing to say is "hi" which he is usually saying trying to get you to walk with him :-) He also says "da-deeee" and "all done." I think that's about it on the talking front but he is always babbling!

He doesn't really have a favorite type of toy - just whatever Eóin is playing with at the time.

He is much more of a snuggle bug than Eóin was. He LOVES his blankie and has hugs and kisses for any teddy bear who should need one.

Here is his "birthday minute picture." He was climbing on me so it was hard to get a good pic :-) We love our little Aider Tater - Happy Birthday buddy!

Aidan James Harrison

June 2nd, 2009 3:07p.m.

Aidan James Harrison

June 2nd, 2010 3:07p.m.

So he was a bit crabby up until he got to actually eat the cake - then he cheered up a lot!

Book Review: Happily Ever Laughter

2010-05-20T11:46:00.001-05:00

Happily Ever Laughter: Discovering the Lighter Side of Marriage by Ken Davis

One of the first things that attracted me to my husband was his ability to make me laugh. We love laughing and we love laughing together. WAY too many times we have stayed up late laughing at funny videos on the internet :-) So the title of this book seemed like it would fit our marriage well.

There are a lot of books on marriage out there and they are mostly very serious. Which is ok - marriage is a serious responsibility. But it's easy to get lost in the seriousness of life and forget to enjoy each other. I enjoy how this book points out the lighter side to marriage. It's also interesting to me that a lot of these funny stories are looking back at situations that may not have been so funny at the time. Arguments, things that irritate us about our spouse, personality differences... We can either let all the little things build up or find a way to laugh at ourselves.

This was a great read. The chapters are short - just a quick laugh and short thought and adding humor to your marriage. I tried reading one of the stories out loud to Jonathan and couldn't finish it because I was crying laughing so hard. I actually read a few chapters while I was making dinner and finished it off when the kids went to bed :-) I think it's a great addition to any family library!

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers.

Aidan is 11 Months!

2010-05-15T15:27:00.002-05:00

So this is quite a bit late but I missed Aidan's 11 month update.

There is never a dull moment with Aidan. He is always on the move and desperately wants to walk. He follows me around the house using my legs to pull himself up to stand, then grabs my hands and starts walking. He can walk just holding my one hand now but if he is tired he won't go unless I give him two hands :-)
He and Eóin have a love/hate relationship at the moment. They love giggling together and getting into mischief but they have all out knockout fights too (usually over trains or the tv remote). Aidan is usually the one to inflict damage though - he is one feisty kid!
He is getting to a stage where is he really starting to enjoy reading now. He will sit still on my lap for a good few books - I love the extra snuggles :-)
He also LOVES music. He will "sing" and dance along to music on toys, tv, anything :-)

Here is a comilation of videos I have taken over the past few months and forgot to ever put up. The first one is from when he first started to pull up to stand. The only place he could do it was on Eóin's bed so he would scoot down the hall to stand up there. It's kinda long but I figured the grandma's wouldn't mind. I just wasn't in the mood to edit it much.

Book Review: The Rewards of Simplicity

2010-05-12T14:30:00.001-05:00

Keeping a home functioning, raising children, involvement at church - sometimes life just feels a little hectic around here. That's why I was pretty interested when I saw this book up for review. I was especially drawn by the subtitle: "A Practical and Spiritual Approach."

Pam and Chuck Pierce Co-athured this book and each took half the book to deal with different aspects of simplicity. Pam takes the first half which contains a lot more of the practical approach. Although I did notice along the way that I definitely have a completely different stand on how God speaks to us today (ie. they believe God still reveals himself in dreams), I did like a lot of her ideas. We love technology in our house, and though she came off as a bit of a "techno-phobe" (if that is even a real word), she made some good suggestions on how to not let it take over your life so that you are forgetting the important things. I enjoyed the section on sabbath - it was a good reminder to take time out of a busy life to recognize God's hand in creation and my life.

The second half of the book was by her husband and I have to admit I really thought it to be a bit weird. He made some good points about stress but when he started to get into how physical and spiritual things mix it sounded a bit strange. I also thoroughly disagree with his stand on modern day prophesy. He goes into something called "dominion rest" which were backed up by Scriptures that I think he took way out of context. It just did not sit well with me.

So, like many things - you could just take the good and ignore the bad, but it probably wouldn't be at the top of my recommendation list.

I was given a free copy of this book by the publisher to review.

Book Review: Hunter's Moon by Don Hoesel

2010-04-27T15:12:00.000-05:00

I was so excited to get this book in the mail. It's been a while since I read a good intrigue book. Something with a good mystery and lots of suspense was just what I was in the mood for.

Unfortunately, this book was none of those things.

I was really disappointed in this book. I kept waiting for the good part, for the excitement to build, but it really never did until the last few pages. If I didn't have to read the whole thing for the review, I probably would not have made it that far.

The main idea for the book was not a terrible one. C.J. Baxter is a successful writer who draws on his childhood home for his stories. Though he claims his stories are not autobiographical, everyone at home knows the truth and some are not too happy about it. Not that it matters - C.J. hasn't been home in years.

When his grandfather dies, C.J. makes the journey back to his childhood home where he is confronted with the story he never wrote about. The one secret that his family would do anything to keep hidden, especially with C.J.'s brother running for senate.

Sounds like a great plot - I was expecting some good confrontations, investigations, action maybe. Instead I read a slow moving, deep look into C.J.'s thoughts about everything. I really was bored through most of it - it just seemed dry to me. The last chapter or so finally has a good showdown, but it came too little, too late for me.

If you like a lot of introspective insights, then maybe this book is for you. But it was not for me.

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers for review purposes.

Book Review: Beguiled by Deanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

2010-04-20T14:29:00.000-05:00

Rylee Monroe is a dogwalker in historic Charlestown. She loves her job and is loved and trusted in return by the families she works for. But when her client's homes start being broken into, Rylee looks like the obvious suspect. To make things even worse, someone is after Rylee!

As she teams up with reporter Logan Woods, Rylee needs to uncover the secrets of her past to prove her innocence and find the person threatening her. Will she be able to do it in time?

This book had everything I like in a book: a good mystery, a bit of romance, and a little danger and suspense. Everything was well described and I had an easy time picturing the surroundings even though I have never been to Charlestown. I thought the idea of having the main character be a dogwalker made for a unique heroine. I didn't have a good guess as to who the real culprit was until toward the end so it made for a good read. I really enjoyed watching the plot unfold. It only took me a few hours to read this one and I have actually read it twice since I received my copy.

I usually don't prefer modern fiction as much a historical but I really enjoyed this one! I look forward to reading more from these authors.

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers for the purpose of reviewing.

Book Review: Different Eyes: The Art of Living Beautifully

2010-04-12T21:58:00.000-05:00

There are not many non-fiction books that I have a hard time putting down. Usually, I take them chapter by chapter and it takes a few weeks to get through one. I read this one in two days (probably would have taken only one if it weren't for the two very short people in my house who also need attention :-)

When I read the title of this book, I thought it sounded interesting so I immediately signed up to be a reviewer. THEN I read the description. ETHICS and MORALS! Ugh - sounded deep and probably one of those books complaining about how liberal our culture is becoming. I totally regretted signing up. Not that I don't care about issues, but I just don't care for the doom and gloom mentality I hear so often.

So anyway, I pick up the book hesitantly and straight into the first chapter I am hooked. It's all about GOD! Not issues, not politics, but all about GOD! I was immediately drawn in and challenged about how I make decision in my day to day life!

This book is full of surprises. First of all, the chapter titles really give you no indication of what they are really about so you just keep reading to find out what they mean :-) Then after two sections of discussion on how the story of the Bible and Jesus affect our morals, there is a section on a controversial ethical topic. Instead of telling us where our morals should stand on a certain issue, they provide two sides (both from Christians) and then ask thought provoking questions about where the reader stands (which also makes it great for small group discussion).

This was one of those books were every other sentence really struck me - if I had a pen I probably would have underlined half the book. I see some really great facebook statuses coming from this book in the future :-) I would definitely recommend this book to any Christian and I will also be re-reading it myself. There is so much to think about!

Click here to read a sample chapter from the book.

I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan for the purpose of reviewing. Thanks!