Life: Beautiful

On a trip a while back, my parents found this Christian magazine called Life: Beautiful. They bought a copy and liked it so much that they bought a subscription to the magazine. And I have to agree with them, this magazine is so awesome. It's kinda like "Real Simple" with a Christian perspective on everything. The down side is that they only publish four magazines a year, so it's like a quarterly thing. Besides that though, I only have good things to say about it. I'm not normally super into magazines. I read the parenting ones every once in a while to get some fresh ideas, same with ones like Southern Living or Martha Stewart.

If you like magazines like Real Simple and Martha Stewart though, you'd probably enjoy this one. It has a good layout too. I guess that's the graphic designer part of me, sometimes I read magazines just because of their layout. For example, I probably read Wondertime for 85% layout/design/it's pleasing to the eyes and 15% content. I love their use of space and how they don't feel the need to cram something into every little space on a page.



Anyways, back to Life: Beautiful. The last issue had 53 ideas of things to do with your kids to spend quality time with them, educate them, socialize them, teach them about God, and a lot of other teaching things. I'm constantly running across lists like this in parenting magazines, like "30 ways to have fun with your baby this summer" and such. Most of those lists have a few good ideas and then a bunch of lame ideas that are things you already do, have to buy a lot of extra stuff to do, or are just space fillers so they can in fact have exactly 30, or however many, things. This list, on the other hand, was very unique and specific in ideas. It was sort of a like a things to do before you turn 12 list. I actually went through with a pen and circled everything that was age appropriate for Jack and Riley. And I plan on doing them. And I will blog about them. I will share the list when I can find the magazine, seeing as it's night time and I don't want to go searching around the house for it right now.

Book Review: Little Women and March

Recently a friend asked if I'd read "March." I hadn't so she lent it to me along with the book that it's spun off from, "Little Women." I actually had never read the classic, so I decided to read it first to familiarize myself with the characters before reading "March." So, here are my opinions of both books:


"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott:
In one word: lovely. This book was so good! It's obviously a very old book, but I was entranced with it in the same way I was with "Twilight," except to a slightly lesser degree of obsession. It captures the essence of the time so well. Girls were so different then. They had much more class overall and were much more modest and polite on the whole. The sisters' innocence was so captivating to me and made me want to be more like them. The old language they use is awesome to me. While reading the book I found myself referring to nice men as capital young fellows and using many more old timey phrases without even thinking about it. One thing that I found funny was in one part, the girls were laughing about this guy using a word that they deemed as old-fashioned. The funny thing was it is a word we use all of the time, although I can't recall it right now.

Anyways, the book basically covers nearly a decade of the March family's life, focusing really on the four daughters. The author actually based Jo on herself, so she does seem to be kind of the main character at points. She was definitely my favorite character though. For anyone who's familiar with the character Jo and knows Claire Colmans, she reminds me so much of Jo. I told her that they need to do a Little Women play at her school and she needs to play Jo. It would be perfect!

This book covers everything from love to loss. It's neat to see the girls mature and grow into women in this great classic novel. I could write more, but I'll stop here and move on to........


"March" by Geraldine Brooks:
Although this was a good read, I was sorely disappointed. I wasn't disappointed in the book itself, but more the main character. This book is about the father of the March family, who is off at war for most of the book "Little Women." He's a decent man, but in Little Women, you read about him through his daughter's eyes. He is much more idealized and reverred. He's a great man who would do anything for his family. If you want to maintain that view of the character then don't read this book. You really won't be missing much. Some might say that's a bit harsh, but it's just my opinion. In "March," he's somewhat of a coward, an adulterer (big no from me), selfish, and a bit more self-centered. On the other hand, he's also very giving, kind, has a good heart, and does love his family very much. I know it's hard to think how someone could be all that at once, but he is. I guess my dilemma was that I read LW, which really is meant for the young, full of goodness and morals and great characters, and then I went right from that to a book meant for a much more mature audience, filled with the hard experiences that life brings.

Good aspects of the book are the eye-opening and heart wrenching stories about slavery and post-slavery attempts during the Civil War. Although the specific stories are made up, I'm sure similar things happened during that time. It's good to think about things like that once in a while, though, because it's a wake up call to how blessed and fortunate we are. People went through such hardships to get us where we are now. It really gives me such a grateful and sympathetic heart. I did love that aspect of the book. God has blessed us so much!

So, both are good books. Definitely read "Little Women" if you haven't, and if you have some time on your hands and want to find out about Mr. March, then read "March" too. Although, I wouldn't recommend it if you want to maintain a high opinion of the character.

Riley is Two!

Riley's pony stable birthday cake from her party:

Riley and the Beast

A while back, Jack and Riley's big "sister," Savannah was in her first play! So, we had to take the kids to see what was also their first play to watch. And watch it they did! I wasn't sure how they would be because they're so little still, but they sat there and watched the whole thing without having to get up once.

The play was Beauty and the Beast, and I think it was the junior high students play. A few kids were picked from the elementary school to play village children and Savannah was one of them. She did really good; it was cute to see her really getting into character. The other kids did such a great job too. The little girl that played Belle was great!

Riley was particularly enthralled with the Beast, though. I think she was kind of scared of him because she kept asking me, "Is the Beast mean, Mama?", to which I would reply "Yes, he's mean, but he's getting nice." Then later, after he "got nice" she kept asking me if he was mean. I kept telling her that he was mean, but now he's nice. Really she was quite obsessed with this whole Beast transformation thing. Later on the way home she kept saying "The Beast was mean, but then he got nice, right mama?" Then out of nowhere, "The Beast is so cute!" This cracked me up!

Which actually leads me to a side story. Yesterday, we were swimming at someone's house and Riley got sunblock in her eyes. She kept crying and whining and I think she did probably get a little bit of sunblock in her eyes, but mainly was sleepy and being a bit overdramatic. The reason is because when my mom took her into the bathroom to wash her eyes out, she was crying and fussing over her eyes, and then she just stops all of the sudden and points to the soap (which had a bow around it) and said "That lotion is so cute with that bow!"

She loves pointing out what things she thinks are "so cute!"

Pop Pop's Potato Picking Partner

We just got some of our first foods from the garden a couple of weeks ago. Every spring my dad plants a garden, and usually it's pretty stocked with vegetables. For example, last year we had potatoes, eggplant, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, okra black eyed peas, green beans, and cabbage. This year, the garden has gone on the back burner though and is much less attended to. So, this year all we have is potatoes, cabbage, okra, peppers, squash, and some peas. I think that's about it and some of the plants have already died. :( We did get quite a few potatoes, though.

Jack had so much fun picking these potatoes with my dad. My dad would dig them up and Jack would locate the potatoes and pick them off the plant. He was really into it and totally took up his picking duties with pride and seriousness. It was a great experience for him.

My friend Erin and her husband Chad have an awesome garden going on this year. They have maximized the use of their outdoor space and are a good example of how much food you can grow in a small space, for those of you who would like to have a garden, but don't feel like you have enough land for a good one. Her site is here, where there are a few different posts about her garden's progress.

Montgomery 003: Splash Pad Fun

I'm a bit behind on my Montgomery Challenge posts. I've actually been to quite a few places that I need to write about. So, to help catch up, here's a good one.

For those of you who I see on a regular basis, I know you've heard plenty about how much fun the splash pad is. In fact, a friend and I tried going there the other day with our kids, and I was so excited. You know how it's fun to take people to places that you've told them all about and how much fun they are. Well, this was like that. I don't know how much I've mentioned this splash pad to people and how much fun I think it is, but it feels like I've said it a lot. Anyways, we got down there and it was closed for some silly wedding rehearsel. I know, not cool. We did end up getting to go swimming.

Anyways, this is a must-see "attraction" (if you will) in Montgomery for kids of all ages. I've already taken the kids here about 4 or 5 times this summer. They have so much fun, and I'm thinking about even having Jack's birthday party there. It's just your regular splash pad, but still is a nice, cool break from normal summer activities. I think my kids like it so much because they have more control than they do in a pool.

To add to the fun, we ended up taking a picnic lunch. The amphitheater is right next to the splash pad, so it's a perfect spot for a picture perfect picnic (try saying that 5 times fast). The kids had such a great time. I tried showing them how to roll down the hill, and they tried, but I guess they're a bit too young for that because they didn't ever really get going.

Oh, and I almost forgot the best part about this kid venue. It's free! Absolutely free, fun, and open to the public, except when it's been reserved (which costs $3000, by the way........crazy). If you do decide to go check it out one day, do what I should have done this last time and call (241-2100) ahead to see if it's open and not being reserved for something. Also, if you get there and the water is not on, just place your hand on the black top of the blue post and the water will start. It's weird, but it works. I guess it's some kind of pressure sensor or something.

INFO:
Riverwalk Splashpad
355 Coosa St.
Montgomery, AL 36104

Bring change for parking meter!

Bunnies

Okay, I've been meaning to put pictures up of my first sewing project ever, inspired by Ashley. I totally copied her bunnies, but I enjoyed it and I think they turned out pretty good for someone who's never sewn. Sorry about the bad lighting on the pics.

I wasn't sure how big to cut the fabric for the body so I just made two different sizes and ended up giving the smaller one to Riley and the bigger one to Jack. I know they're not near perfect, but I can't tell you how excited I was that I actually made these by myself.