5 Books in 2 Weeks!

A while back I posted a list of goals that I would like to accomplish in 2012.  One of those goals is to read 20 books in 2012.  I don't think that is going to be a problem!!  I have read 5 books in the last 2 weeks. 

The Hunger Games Trilogy-Seriously, if you have not read these books, what are you waiting for?  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G is all that I can say about them!  All 3 of them are fantastic.

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Sh*t My Dad Says-This book is so funny.  I was laughing so hard I was crying while reading this book.  Warning, though, there is some bad language in this book but I guess it was softened in my mind by thinking it was coming out of a 70-year-old man's mouth.  (I know that doesn't make much sense)

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Growing Up Amish-An interesting look into the hold that the Amish community has over its followers.  There were times that I wish there would have been more examples for the author to make his point but, overall, I was drawn in to the turmoil that he experienced about leaving his family and his religion.  Definitely worth the $3.99 it cost me on the Kindle.

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Wrapping Up Hockey/Father-Son Game

Last night we had a fun night of hockey.  The season ended a couple of weeks ago but our team booked one last sheet of ice and had a Father/Son game followed by pizza and some awards.

Last year Scott helped coach Kanin's team but he couldn't commit this year so he was very excited to finally be out on the ice with Kanin again.

They were the first two on the ice and they had it all to themselves for a bit.  I love this picture.

They played 4 on 5 (dad's 4, boys 5).  Of course, the boys wanted to take the dads down.

The dads were grateful for shift changes!

They played cross-ice and the other half of the ice was shared with another team doing a dad/son game.  Scott got "checked" in to the "boards" and went over.

When the kids were in "Learn to Play" hockey, the league provided little awards and a pizza after the season.  Since moving up this year, each team was responsible for doing their own end-of-the-year activities.  About half way through the season, we decided that all parents would donate a quarter for every goal scored.  Wow, we scored a lot of goals!

We ended up buying these great hockey picture frames for each kid with a team picture in it.  They also got a little medal.  We had pizza and some cupcakes, too.  Our team record ended up being

31-8-3.  Not a bad record, I'd say!

The best thing they received, though, were these cute little books.  Each page had an action shot of the players and a place for them to sign. Every boy got a book of their team with autographed pictures underneath.  Here is Kanin signing his page for somebody.

So, that wraps up hockey for this season.  He could play 3 on 3 and some other little clinics but I think he is going to take a break until tryouts in August.  We don't want to push him (A LOT of parents do) and I think it is good for HIM to decide what sports he wants to be involved in.

I love his smile here.  What a happy boy.

Sleep Needs

I was watching the news on Direct tv last night and they had some pediatrician on talking about ADHD and ADD. My children don’t have any issues with attention or hyperactivity, but I did gain an interesting piece of information that I wasn’t aware of before the show. Did you know that the average 5 year old needs between 10-11 hours of sleep a night to be healthy? I know my son, who is five, is not getting near that amount. The show was talking about how much growing a young child is doing within a 24 hour period, and how rest is required for the cells to build and rebuild and prepare for a new day. It really motivated me to move my son’s bedtime up an hour and stick to it. He has been going to bed at 9, but now I’m thinking 8 is a much healthier time for him to be going to sleep. That means I will need to start his bedtime routine around 7. I am happy to do it.

Kanin's 1st Baseball Practice

This past Saturday Kanin had his very first baseball practice.  I have wanted him to play baseball for so long but he never had very much of an interest in it until this year.  When he announced he wanted to play baseball this year, I was so happy!

I was also a little apprehensive because he never played t-ball or anything before so I wasn't sure that he would pick it up.

Well, he showed me wrong.

I don't know how he caught this ball with his glove turned that way.

Since this was the first practice the coach started them off on a tee just to see their mechanics.  They then switched to coach pitch and Kanin did great.  He said that he wanted to hit left-handed, too.  The coach indulged him and let him try it and wouldn't you know it. . . I think he had a "prettier" left-handed swing than right.

His first game isn't until April.  He absolutely loved the first practice so I'm hoping that he really enjoys playing.

InstaFriday-Vegas Style

So must of you are probably tired of hearing me talking about Vegas or looking at Vegas pics.  This is the last post, I promise.  These pics were all on my Instagram (you can follow me here)

First beer of the trip.  We have made it a habit to always stop in at the Chili's at the airport and drink a beer before we hop on the plan to Vegas.  I'm thinking that we need to change this, though, because we haven't had very good luck the last few times out.  (Yes, I am very superstitious.  You can read about some of them HERE.

Once we got to Harrah's, we stopped in at the little gift shop and this was the first thing I saw.  Made me want to puke in my mouth.

I was really sad to find out that my favorite dive casino, O'Shea's, will be closing as of April 30.  I love this place.  It is being torn down and a new complex is being built in its place. 

We had so much fun playing LCR at the base of the Paris.  Anytime is a good time for LCR but the best part is that Scott went in and bought $20 in $1 chips from the Paris so we were out on the Strip playing with real chips.

I love Vegas at night.  It is so beautiful.

And, I love this man.

Vegas Weekend

Well, I'm back from Vegas and what a trip it was! 
The first thing I did when I got to the resort was to go cash in my tickets from betting on the Cardinals last year.  I was up $171 within the first hour!  Unfortunately, that was the only time I was up all weekend.

Friday night all 34 of us went to dinner at the Harley Davidson Cafe.  I've wanted to go there for a few years but have never made the reservation.  It is a really cute place and the beef brisket sandwich was fantastic.  I loved how they had the conveyor belt of motorcycles flying through the air.  I also loved the chains on the wall that were painted like the American flag.

Believe it or not, I usually go to bed pretty early on the first night in town.  It's always such a long day on that Friday and I know way too many people that try to "live it up" on the first night and then the next few days they are just spent and don't want to do anything.

So . . .I went to bed early on Friday and ended up waking up around 6:00am (Vegas time, 8:00 STL time).  My friend, Janice, was up too so we decided to get dressed and head down to play some craps.  Yes, we were at the craps table at 6:45 in the morning!

After about 3 hours, Scott met up with us and we headed to my favorite people-watching spot to play some LCR. 

After hanging out all day, we had to stop by Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville for chicken nachos and strawberry daquiris.  It is a tradition and one I look forward to every trip.

On Saturday night we went to dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. We discovered this place a couple of years ago and always try to stop in.  We've made friends with one particular waitress, Michelle, and we love sitting in her section.  One thing about the Hofbrauhaus is getting paddled.  You do a shot, they paddle you.  That's pretty much the concept.  Yes, I've been down that road and will never do it again.  Two of our friends, though, decided to take part.  I don't think they will make that mistake again.  Ha!

After the Hofbrauhaus, we walked across the street to the Hard Rock.  I've never been there before so it was kind of cool seeing all of the memorabilia.

We left the Hard Rock and headed back to the Strip.  Remember, I had been up since 6:00 in the morning so I turned in to that girl.  Yep, the girl sitting at the oxygen bar.



It was so weird sitting there with that thing blowing oxygen up my nose but, to be honest, I did feel better afterwards.  The best part was that the lady massaged my back and head.  She gave me eucalyptus to rub on my hands and put peppermint oil on the base of my neck.  Then, she attached a stem unit to my back that had 8 different massage settings.  After 15 minutes, I was ready to go again.

Sunday was our last day in Vegas.  We always try to take it easy but it turned in to Sunday Funday for Janice and me.  Before to do more gaming, we decided to walk down to the Fashion Show mall and eat at this fantastic pizza place, Grimaldi's.  (I think they have them on the East Coast but I'm not really sure.)

via Instagram

Janice and I split a white garlic cheese pizza with sundried tomatoes and basil with a caraffe of their house red wine.  It was amazing.  We will definitely be going back!

via Instagram

Before leaving to go eat on Sunday morning, Janice decided to play $100 of Keno games.  This $100 lasted for 5 hours so later on in the day when she went to check her tickets, she had won $2,300!  Are you kidding me?!  We were jumping up and down and screaming.  I'm surprised the whole Strip didn't hear us.

For Scott and me, the party was over, though.  We had to head back to the airport and back to reality.  Our other friends weren't coming back until early Monday morning but our flight was late Sunday night.  So, off to the airport for us . . .

When we got to our gate, the workers were asking if anyone would be willing to give up their seat on the flight and take a different flight on Monday morning.  Guess whose hand shot up?  THIS girl's.  In exchange for giving up my flight, I received a roundtrip ticket plus the value of my flight so I ended up getting a voucher for $483.  It worked out great because we had booked our room until Monday anyway so that we didn't have to check out at 10am AND our friends were still back at the resort.  I kissed Scott good-bye and headed back to the hotel.

I wish I had a before/after pic for you.  I went to the airport in yoga pants, a sweatshirt, hair in ponytail, and sandals on.  When I got back to Harrah's, Janice instantly became my stylist and hooked me up.  I was back in Vegas going out mode within minutes so we headed to the Bellagio. 

The night ended watching the fountains.

via Instagram

It was another fun trip to one of my favorite places in the world.  And, of course, I already can't wait to go back.

My Vegas Adventures

I'm leaving in a couple of hours for Vegas but don't worry . . .

you can follow my trip the whole way (if I remember to do it-ha!)

Follow me on Instagram to see the pics this weekend.  Just click
HERE

I will also be Tweeting all weekend.  To follow me on Twitter, click HERE.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!