BOOK REPORT: March

So much for doing a book report each month! Totally forgot to do it in February. Whoops! Here is a super sized one because it includes February as well as the books I read while in Grand Cayman plus anything else covered in March.

I read this first one in February- some neighbors and I are doing a little book club and this was the first book picked. Oh, how I loved it. It wasn't easy to read- and I often had to shut it and walk away from it for a bit... but it was wonderful. There are three main characters and they all are from different views during WWII (one prisoner in a concentration camp, one doctor during the war and one living in NYC). And through their individual stories, we get one beautiful story as they are woven together. Each chapter is from a different girl and they are often ended with a MEGA cliff hanger. Like you want to skip the nest few chapters to get back to reading about the girl you are left hanging about. SUCH a well-written book!

Lilac Girls

I have mentioned this next author a bunch on here, and even said in the last book report that I was going to take a little break from her, just because.... well there was grieving in some of her books and it was feeling a little....like I needed to take a break! But I decided to read this one- and I am so glad I did! I loved it! It was a happy, chick lit, but there was also a lot more to it. I laughed several times and I didn't want to put it down. The characters are great and lovable too, which helps!

Now That You Mention It

The next book our book club decided to read is the next one. Oprah liked it, so you know... it MUST be great ;). I liked it.....okayyyyy.... The book takes place in present day and there are some aspects of race that are addressed, but it is not a central theme of the book. We discussed it and I found myself liking it more once we hashed it out a bit. I will say this: I am very glad I read it.... but I am not sure I would recommend it to you to read.

American Marriage


After that heavy one, I needed a light read, and this one was just it! I can't quit this author, I guess! ha! Plus, you put a golden on the cover and I am sold. This was a sweet book- total chick lit- and I flew through it. Loved the characters, laughed a lot, and really enjoyed this book! If you need a light beach read, this was great!

The Best Man

Just like I am currently on a Kristan Higgins kick currently, not too long ago, I was on a Colleen Hoover kick. I haven't read anything by her in a while, so I read this one while on vacation. It was good! Her characters are just enough screwed up that you feel for them and you want to read more about them. This was also a quick read for me!Loved reading about this pieced together family and how they function....and how they don't. Put them all in a church-turned-home together and there were definitely some interesting parts!

Without Merit


And finally this month:

The Light We Lost

Apparently Reese Witherspoon makes book recommendations...? #whoknew?! And this was one of them. Not sure if you can see in the picture of the book above, but she has a little emblem on the books she recommends....! whaaaaat?
Any way, I can see why she thought this was a good one. It was sooooo good. It's not a tear jerker book, but it kept me reading and wondering what would happen to this character. I loved the format of the story- and it wasn't clear how it was being told (this makes more sense when you read it....)- so I loved figuring out WHY it was being told like that. Add this to your must read list this summer. It was that good. You will finish it in no time.


Remember when I was in a rut for books? I am SO not in a rut any more. This little book club has opened my eyes to so many more books. I have an on-going list of books to read. I am hoping to make a dent in the list over spring break.

Are any of y'all on Good Reads? I created an account, but I don't do anything with it. Maybe I should. i have a friend who swears by it and uses it religiously to track her books (read and want to read).


 

FORE!

Golf has started back up again and the boys had their first match this past Sunday. It wasn't pretty, but it sure was a pretty day!

 "flossing"

 Party of four on the golf cart!

 Nug's buddy LeeBear was in our group- these two are such good friends.

Golf is not an easy sport. It is easy to lie or cheat, or miscount your strokes. It is frustrating. It can be boring. I truly feel like it is teaching my boys so much- not just about golf....

Fingers crossed for good putts....!


 

Take me out to the ballgame

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks!

As I mentioned in the last post, baseball season is upon us! This season, the boys are on different teams (different divisions) so my life just kicked up a few notches. I LOVE our league- and can not say enough great things about it. However,  each team practices around two times a week and has around 1-2 games a week. There is not a consistent schedule (ex practices T, Th, games Saturday), everything changes every week- days, times, locations, etc. It is daunting. Add in a second team and my head is spinning.

THANKFULLY we have coaches who are so so so great about communication and the emails help to keep me on track. Because....woah.

Way off track here...

We are a SOX family this year: Cal is a Red Sox and Andy a White Sox! We had first games on Saturday and both boys did well! Andy's league has some "newbies" who aren't real sure of the game yet- but there are a few who do, thankfully. Cal is still in machine pitch this season (the league expanded or something like that, and they reached the limit on teams, so they bumped everyone down a level). I am actually really happy with kid pitch- he's getting good and his team seemed to play really, really well together. There isn't anyone who is totally clueless (always a plus!) and they all can hit! Which is fun to watch.

 He decided again he liked playing catcher...

 (should have checked the outfit before leaving house... he forgot belt and fly is half way down....)

The cheering section for Cal- check out those blue skies- my favorite

Cal loves to slide- into any base- but coming home is always extra special! 

 All smiles post-win!

If you are looking for me the next few months, you can probably assume I am at a ball park, somewhere in Durham... although, I couldn't tell you which one. Or which day. Or what time.


 

Flag Football

Another season of flag football has come and gone! I say this every year, I know, but it is truly Cal's happy place. He LOVES being on the field and running plays and everything that comes with it. Andy enjoys it and has a great time, but Cal is beaming the whole time he is on the field.

 We had a bunch of weather issues this time around, and it felt like the season was super quick due to cancellations. But they threw in a double header to make up for lost time and next thing we knew, the season was over!

Gotta love the sportsmanship award! In this game, Andy and another little brother both won the award for hauling tail to keep up with the bigger boys. 

Not sure you can see Andy....

Eddie coached again this season- I think all three boys enjoyed their time together out there!

You know this sign had to come home to our yard....

A few games later, Cal had a couple great plays and was a decent leader out there so he won himself the sportsmanship award! 

Cal and his favorite receiver! Henry was catching whatever Cal threw to him- and he even caught the other team's ball a few times!

 The final game of the season! These two were ALL smiles! Loving that sunshine too!

 We were missing a lot of players, but here is some of the motley crew.

 Dancing the "floss".... tell me your children do this dance constantly.....

 And, the highlight of Andy's season was Mrs. Lee showing up at a game. I swear, he was standing on the field not doing much of anything and then he spotted her, snagged the ball, sprinted down the field and then on the next play, dove to catch a ball that I don't think was thrown to him. Eddie said "what got into Andy???" then he saw Mrs. Lee and wants to ask her to come to every one of his sporting events from now on. hahahha

 So, with flag done, we are down to baseball, swimming and golf!



 

Just keep swimming...

The weekend before we left for our vacation, the boys had a swim meet in Greensboro, on both days. We got the arrival times (6:45am) for each day and just had to laugh. It was a solid hour and ten minute drive to get there, so we had two early mornings in a row.

As I mentioned before, Andy is new to this swim program, so this was his first meet in this arena. The place is HUGE and there are about 5 pools with a LOT of people in each one (for warm ups).

We arrived Saturday and Andy freaked the freak out. Like, wouldn't go down on deck (parents aren't allowed down there- just kids and coaches), wouldn't stop crying, whole body shaking...scared. So we told him he didn't have to do it! Just sit in the stands; it would be fine! But that upset him more because he really really wanted to do it. We finally got him down on the deck and bribed Cal with a milkshake if he would stick with Andy to get him where he needed to be and when. It was  cluster- I was in a full blown sweat and it wasn't even 8am.

Let's back up.

Driving to Greensboro at the CRACK of dawn:

When we finally got Nug down on deck. Cal was by his side, Andy was NOT having it. 

But I took a pic to show them how proud I was!

The boys' coach giving Andy a pep talk.....Andy crying. A lot. 

 His first event was 25 backstroke. And wouldn't you know it, the kid won the whole event. Not just his heat. Nope. The whole dang thing. Seriously.

He got out of the water after winning and burst into tears and refused to swim again. But his coaches didn't let him quit. They got him in the water for his next event- and Cal happened to be in the same lane in the heat after his, which was pretty neat.... the previous heat stays in the water until the next heat takes off....so Andy was under Cal as he dove in. 

 First day was super dramatic and difficult and surprisingly successful! It wore Bruce out!

 Day two, everyone was all smiles. Go figure. We told Andy he could skip warm ups and he was good to go! We figured out there are about 30 kids per lane all doing circle swim and basically running over each other and that scared him to death. So when we said he could skip it, he looked at us like this:

 The two stuck together again, which was great.

Cal had a BIG day this day. He placed in his events and his relay! Super cool. 

 It was an exhausting weekend in that we were up early each morning, but it was also super rewarding because the kids were really proud of their efforts when all was said and done. Thank goodness we had a week vacation to recover! haha

 

Grand Cayman

As I sit here and stare out at the snow coming down (?!?!?!), it seemed like the perfect time to post about our trip. Also, I haven't blogged in a million years. Whoops.

We left last Monday morning for the Grand Caymans. My sweet father in law flew in to keep the boys, and my parents assisted.  They are the BEST. So so so so thankful that they are willing to put their lives on hold to allow us to take  trip together. Amazing.

We were able to fly first class down there and let me tell you....I took full advantage. Drinks. Hot nuts. Lunch. More drinks. Cookies. It was amazing. 

 See that smile? I thank titos. And also heading south to warm weather!

We arrived and checked in and had a dinner and crashed pretty early. It was an early morning and we were worn out.

We did a whole lot of beaching:

 and relaxing....

 ....and eating out at fun restaurants (sunshine grill was my FAVE!)

We enjoyed time together with no distractions- it was lovely!

 Back to sunshine grill for breakfast- holy yum.

 I read 3 and a half books, drank a lot of vodka, and took naps whenever I wanted to.

We played tennis one morning on some gorgeous courts- their tennis facility was impressive! I love is in the fist set 6-0, which is don't usually do, so I had to go trade in my rented racquet for a different one. Thankfully it helped me- hahaha

 Eddie got to spend a day kite surfing, which made him very very happy. The spot to kite surf was not very convenient so we on'y did this one day.

I love this next pic- we look rested and happy and relaxed!


We were told we had to get the burger at sunshine grill- they are known for their fish tacos, but the burgers were to die for. And they really were. I don't want to think of how many calories were consumed in this meal. Holy yummmmmm.....

 Ed took full opportunity to relax.

 one last sunset dinner

 And then we were back home! We landed and it was cold and rainy and then today the kids were released from school early due to inclement weather.... and then the weather arrived. It is currently snowing and sleeting- crazy! I am not complaining though.... I missed these fools so it's good to get more time with them... all activities tonight were canceled: no baseball and no swim. Just us hanging out at home together. Love it. Clearly the trip refreshed me. Sheesh!