Pumpkins

Bubs sent us this picture of the umps strike zone from yesterday's game. I laughed and laughed.

Stockton and I went to the courthouse today to pay his ticket. Hopefully we can get him signed up for the four hour class at the police station so he doesn't get any points on his record. Maysen sent me this picture with the caption, "Food I own right now." Should I be worried? Looks like she is officially a stereotypical college student.

Maysen's fridge

Evan and Hailey came over and hung out with Jorja. Evan had extra tickets to Cornbellys. Jorja could go, but they couldn't find anyone else to go with them. (Hailey had to leave to soccer practice in the middle.) They ended up carving pumpkins at Evan's house. This was great because Jorja wanted to invite friends over to carve pumpkins. I did not want to deal with that. I have so much to do to get ready for Australia, I couldn't add one more thing. Jorja had a great time. She tried to carve 'scary' in Chinese on her pumpkin.

Evan, Jorja, Hailey

I took Stockton, Preston, Gavin and Janelle to diving today. Stockton did the best twist I have ever seen him do. I love that he is working with Ted now. Ted speaks in a way Stockton can understand. Plus, he gets to dive with Gavin. Perfect. I spent my time at diving writing my book review that is due tomorrow. I was asked to review More Than Enough. I really loved it. Usually non-fiction is not my favorite, but there were so many good things that spoke to me right now. I loved her analogy of glass balls verses rubber balls. You can't juggle all of the balls all of the time. You have to focus especially on the glass ones. The rubber ones will bounce. The trick is to make sure the rubber balls don't turn into glass. She talked about how God says no to us all the time, so it is okay for us to say no to things too. There was a great chapter on dealing with hurt and one about sometimes being nearby is enough. I loved the chapter on shame and guilt as well. I will have to buy this one when it comes out in the stores. I think I want to highlight some things and look at them often. I did get the review sent off tonight! Yay! The rest of my day was spent on laundry.

Stockton's Reading!

I have loved seeing Stockton reading.  He has been reading a lot.  I just had to take a picture.

 Stockton

Stockton said, "Mom!  I'm only reading because I have to!"  That's okay, I still love to see him read.  Maybe next trimester he won't wait until the last two weeks to read four books.  At least I'm glad he didn't wait until the last day!

For Young Womens' tonight we had a Camp Wrap-Up.  They showed a slide show that Maysen put together.  She did a great job.  The girls (and leaders) all loved it.  Nice work Maysen!  

PI!

Wednesdays are our crazy day. We couldn't celebrate pi day properly, but we did manage to have pizza (pie) for dinner and chocolate pie for dessert.

Stockton

Notice how the oranges counteract the delicious goodness below?

Preston

Stockton & Preston

Tomorrow book club is at my house. I'm not sure if I need to lead the discussion or anything, but I wanted to be prepared. We are reading Out of My Mind. The book Maysen gave me and I totally love. Anyway, I was looking at random questions about the book when I started browsing Sharon Draper's website. I thought, I should tell her how much my family enjoyed her book. I have never written to an author before, but I decided to anyway. This was my e-mail.

Ms. Draper,

My 8th grade daughter asked me to read Out of My Mind. I am so grateful she did because I loved it! I then gave the book to my 6th grade son to read. He hates reading but needs to do a small book report each week. He is asked to rate the books from 1 to 10 as part of his reports. Stockton usually rates his books between 2-3. Imagine my surprise when he gave your book a 10 out of 10. Wow. Thank you for writing. Our family has sure enjoyed it.

Thanks,

Stephanie Smith

Well . . . she wrote back! Today! The same day I sent the e-mail. I couldn't believe it. When I opened the mail, I was sure it was going to be a form letter, but it wasn't. Here is her reply:

Dear Ms. Smith,

Your letter made me smile! :-)

Tell Stockton I said hello, and tell your daughter I said thanks!

All the best--Sharon Draper

ps--Tell him to try the books of Mike Lupica and Matt Christopher. Great for boys--lots of sports stories. Also--No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman.

Now that was COOL! Her e-mail made me smile!

Out of My Mind

Maysen gave me a book to read called Out of My Mind by Sharon M Draper. I LOVED it. I really, really did. It is awesome reading a book, not really expecting anything - then BAM! it turns out to be wonderful. Jorja is reading it now. I had Stockton read it as well. Stockton has to do mini-book reports every week. He gave this book a 10 out of 10. Now that is really saying something!