book therapy

shortly before i left for my paris trip a few months ago, the mister bought me a nook color to take on the trip for my reading pleasure. i swear, i kept the receipt because i wasn't sure that i'd get as much use from it as it's worth.

boy, was i wrong. me and my nook are attached the wrist and it is constantly in my purse or diaper bag. it keeps me company while the kids are at their various sports/practices or while waiting at the doctor's office or pretty much anytime i need to wait. i whip out my handy dandy e-reader and all is right again in the world. i also love how i can check my e-mail and hop on facebook with it, too. anything that keeps me connected is awesome all the way.

just this past week-and-a-half, i haven't been able to put the darn thing down. i'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but i read the entire fifty shades trilogy...in less than four days. umm, yeah. i didn't realize i was into mom porn either, but hey. we learn something new about ourselves every day, right?

when that trilogy ended, i was like a train wreck. i had grown so attached to the characters, i didn't know what to do with myself when it was all over. i found myself flipping back through different sections of the book and re-reading, just to keep it going. i know. sad, right?

i finally came to the above realization and decided i had to move on. pretty sure i looked like the woman slumped in the chair, too. it was a difficult decision, but i had to be done. for the sake of my children, disaster of a house, growing mountain of laundry and neglected husband. my poor family didn't have a hot, cooked meal that didn't come out of the microwave for four whole days!

right after fifty shades, i dove into the marriage bargain. it has a naughty looking cover but, i swear, it wasn't as racy as fifty shades. it did have a similar story line of forbidden love, which is probably what got me so into it that i finished it in a day.

just this morning, i finished keepsake. i started reading it last night around 6pm and finished this morning around 11am. insane. but it was suuuuch a good story. it has the forbidden love story line just the like the others i recently read, but it also has so many other struggles going on at the same time. it is really great book that kept me at the edge of my seat and wanting to read more.

if you haven't noticed, i'm not very good about writing book reviews. i have a hard time writing them without giving a spoiler. maybe that's one thing i can work on as i blog more about my reading.

any good books you can recommend that i add to my summer reading list?

and btw, if you want to connect via NOOK friends - e-mail me! keepsake and the marriage bargain are both lendable! ;)

hello again

sorry i've been such a stranger to this blog lately. truth is, i have a lot on my plate right now. but i guess that's always the case, right? well, this time it feels different. it really feels like a lot. i've been feeling overwhelmed and emotional, but it's not all in the bad sense, i promise. there's always the good, the bad and the ugly to face, isn't there?

number one culprit for draining my emotional bank lately - we have some hurdles to jump with wyatt regarding his development. we learned today that he is being referred to the autism clinic for evaluation. so here we go, getting all pumped up for Round 2: Autism. {ding ding ding}

we are also in the middle of getting liam ready for typical preschool in the fall! that's right - {{typical}}!!! i'm super stoked that his peeps think he's ready for this huge transition. he'll be going to a preschool with typical kids {even better, it's the same preschool that isaiah and mikey attended - and i couldn't love that more} two mornings a week. then he will spend the rest of those two days, as well as the other three days of the week at the special school that he is in now. so i've been running around getting papers together and forms filled out and school physicals done and immunization records ordered and my emotions in check - but i'm sure i'll be crying a river on his first day.

then there's the boys finishing up with their school year. mikey's last day of preschool was last friday. he's getting ready for a week of kindergarten bridge camp next week, where he will spend the mornings in his future kinder class meeting his teachers and classmates for the fall. exciting times for our baby mikey. isaiah has two more days and he is home free. he's already telling me about how he is going to stay up late and sleep in and play outside all day long. that reminds me, i better stock up on sunblock for the summer!

poor liam has school all year, so he doesn't get a summer break. but his brothers will be joining him at his school for their month-long social skills summer camp. the school invites typically developing peers to participate in camp activities with the autistic students to help improve their peer play and social skills. i really love the "kids helping kids" program at liam's school. the students at the school get great friends to play with and model, while teaching the typical kids about patience and empathy and tolerance. it is a "win-win" for everyone involved and i love that my kids look forward to their time at liam's school.

lots of transitions going on in the adams casa - mostly further driving in the sad {yet exciting} fact that my boys are growing up. maybe that's why i'm so emotionally flustered. but in a few more days, it will officially be summertime! i look forward to not having to wake up super early, not have to shove breakfast down kids' throats, not have to threaten to take away choices if they don't brush their teeth, and not have to herd a flock of sheep into my truck to drive them all to school. i also look forward to having some extra free time to get back into blogging and crafting. :) wish me luck!

what if..

today, i sent a message to our pediatrician and asked for a behavioral evaluation of wyatt. my heart has been heavy lately and i've been struggling with the thought that i could have another child with autism. i won't go into detail right now about the things i'm noticing in wyatt's behavior that are significant traits of autism. just know that they are there.

the mister and i keep telling ourselves that he's still so young. or he does ____. but doesn't _____. our conversations always start with those two words that can drive a person crazy (or a marriage into turmoil)...what if. i just can't keep thinking what if anymore. i just want some answers. i want to know. or maybe i just want to know what someone else thinks about it all.

in all reality, wyatt really is still very young. but at the same time, liam was only two months older than wyatt is now when our pediatrician noticed his behavior. 18-months-old. and it turns out, liam wasn't too young and the early intervention was so crucial to getting him to the developmental point he is at now. so i guess, the earlier we figure it out the better it will be for wyatt.

please pray for us, friends. please pray that we have the strength and courage to face what may come. and that we can get through it all with grace.

paris by mouth

on our way to paris, my mother-in-law suggested we take a tour called "paris by mouth" so that we could experience the array of delicious food available there. good thing we didn't pay for that tour...turns out we were completely capable of experiencing paris by mouth on our own. 

diet coke. i mean, coke light, as it was called in france. (and probably most of europe?)

banana nutella crepes. that's a must, right?

french onion soup. yum.

coq au vin, which is a stew made with game and wine.

 macarons from laduree.

drinks at bar hemingway inside the ritz carlton paris. really expensive drinks, might i add. they were E30 each, which is about $40 a drink! but it was certainly a beautiful hotel and bar - a wonderful experience.

i was amused by the water always served in a glass bottle. i'm easily amused, i know.

i failed and forgot to put something to show scale in this pic. these were humongous jugs of nutella for sale at galeries lafayette, i think about a gallon each!

pistachio and ecuadorian chocolate gelato. 

mango and raspberry sorbet.

my brithday dinner! steak and fries from le relais de l'Entrecote.

my birthday drinks at the la vue bar, on the 33rd floor of the hotel concorde la fayette. what a treat!!!

this was breakfast every single morning. i think the quiet breakfasts, chatting with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law, is the part of the trip i miss the most.

melting butter kept atop the grill at la petit josselin, a yummy creperie near the hotel we stayed at. my SIL and i observed that a one pound slab of butter only made about four crepes. it should be illegal.

savory crepes made with said butter.

dessert crepe made with more of said butter and served with ice cream and cafe au lait.

diet? psshh. what diet?

 and finally, martinis at hotel costes.

 that's all that i have of us taking on paris by mouth. but i'm sure my mil has many many more pics of our other foodie adventures. she's realllllly good about taking pics of food. hahahhaha

friends

a dear friend of mine texted this picture of our boys to me. they are one of the first families we met when we moved here to tracy. jake was 3 years old and isaiah was 4 when we met.

it's fun to watch them grow up and experience childhood together. sometimes, they fight and bicker like brothers - a sure sign of a wonderful friendship! :)

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