Book review

My Mother in law gave the kids some books dealing with American History written by Lynne Cheney. I thought I would look over them this morning just to get an idea of the content. I was pleasantly surprised that the books were very easy to read and very well illustrated. The first one is called "We the People the story of our Constitution"
I have never been very strong in remembering my American History. I was telling my mother in law last night it was not something I was overly interested in... until recently. With the Presidential election looming just over a month away, and all that is happening in our great US of A it has come to my attention that this is certainly the not first time our great country has been in peril.
As I was reading this book I got to thinking about all that went into the writing of the constitution. The time and energy of the great minds; Washington, Madison, Franklin and others who wrote the document that has shaped our nation for over 200 years. The part that stood out to me in the book was when Cheney wrote about Benjamin Franklin, and how after much time and quarreling he wanted to send for a Chaplin to lead them in prayer. "How has it happened... that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?"
Wow. What an amazing statement... I would love to see our current government take such a stand.
I would highly recommend this book for all who want to teach their younger children about the American Constitution. It really made me think about how our country was formed by this particular document.
The other book I read this morning was also by Cheney called "When Washington crossed the Delaware" Now I am familiar enough with the story to know the basics. This book however, really made me think about all that Washington and his men went through to make that historical journey. The book is just detailed enough to show their hardships but is still appropriate for younger readers.
This was another book that got me thinking about the situation today. Our country has been through, and is going though so much, and yet we are still here. Mostly due in part to these great men who fought for the rights we take for granted today.
I learned much from this simple child's book. I learned about the strength of the early American people, and how that compares to our Military today. I learned that determination and grit, can see our country though hard times. We may have to sacrifice, but America will continue to stand strong, even in light of our current political situation. I was also reminded that sometimes we need to go back and look at our history to see our future.
There are several books by Cheney on Amazon.com, and I would highly recommend them to anyone wanting to teach their children about American history. I am looking forward to reading "A time for freedom" which goes into much detail about our history.
Anyway I just thought all this seemed relevant to some of the events that were happening today, and thought I would post my thoughts.
Hats of to my mother in law for finding these books... I know she and these books will be treasured in our house for a long time.

Update

Well here is a quick update of some things the kids and I have been up to the last few weeks.
We attended a birthday party for a boy at our church. It was fun, they held it at a place called Pump It Up. It's one of those inflatable play areas. The kids had a blast!
Both kids liked the slide the best... but there was LOTS of bouncing and climbing in some of the other areas as well. :)
Our son is growing up, and wanting to use tools like daddy. So we signed Tim up for a free class at Lowes to make a fire truck. He is so proud that he was able to make this all by himself. (Ok so there was a little help from Daddy... but for the most part he did it all.) He has a lot to be proud of, he did a great job. Future builder? Guess we'll see. LOL.
Well I guess that's about it... it's still pretty warm here (100 degrees plus) so we are still pretty much homebodies these days. Hopefully things will start cooling down here soon, and we can get out a little more. I will try and get some good photos for everyone. :)
Although I suspect there will be lots of pics of our newest addition, once he/she decides to make an appearance. (Hopefully sooner rather than later... LOL) Being pregnant in the desert during the summer is really not very fun... thank goodness for air conditioning and water bottles filled with ice water. ROFL!
Anyway just wanted to keep everyone posted. Check back soon, as we have another class at the Space Museum coming up and another birthday party in the next few weeks, so hopefully there will be more pics and antidotes to post. Thanks for checking in!

Sigh

We just cannot get it together... every time it seems like things are looking up we get dragged down again.
Ok so maybe I am over exaggerating, but I blame it on the flu like haze I am in at the moment.
As if being 8 months pregnant was not hard enough on my system... what with the kid using my organs as kickboxing practice... I now have managed to contact the flu virus.
(Sigh)
So once again we are now behind on getting things together for the new baby, and the other two are trying really hard to understand why mom cannot take them to the park to play.
(Sigh)
I want a Dr. Pepper really bad at the moment... you know one of those tremendous cravings that you either give into or it takes a REALLLY long time to work through. (Even though at the moment it is like 2 AM here... LOL)
(Sigh)
Well, why I am in complain mode lemmie tell you... my house is a mess, dishes and laundry just begging to be put away, toys everywhere, and me sitting on the couch looking around thinking "Calgon take me AWAY!"
(Sigh)
This too shall pass... i just hope sooner rather than later.

Sorry about that guess I needed to vent...Thanks for listening.

Too Funny!

Ok for those of you that know my husband, you will understand this cartoon! It fits Mike to a T!

Challenger Space Center

We managed to make a trip to the Challenger Space center the other day to learn about the planets. It was a blast. The kids had a great time learning about Venus and the instructor made it fun for all the kids. Here are some pictures:

Adjectives galore

Frustration
Excitement
Amusement
Uncomfortable
Happiness
Scary
Interested
Itchy
Mushy
Wonderful

These are only a few of the things that I have been feeling the last few days. Once again I was hoping to have some BIG baby news to post... and once again the baby has chosen to be uncooperative. Every time the Dr. would be in a good position with the ultra sound the baby would move. At this point the sex of the child will be a surprise to us all. But on the upside of things, he did manage to get some measurements and all looks well. The baby is healthy (yea!) and is a decent size (nearly 5 pounds already) so what ever happens now... happens. We even managed to get a fleeting site of the baby sucking his/her thumb. So that was neat.
Anyway, please just continue to be in prayer, however, as I seem to be having some pregnancy issues also. I have been having some pretty major contractions and I am for some reason very dehydrated (I thought I was drinking enough water... but I guess not)so that has been wreaking havoc with my system too. (Plus it will certainly make the next month to 6 weeks incredibly uncomfortable.)
Anyway just wanted to post a quick update for everyone. I will try and get some stuff up of Tim and Lex from the Space center here in a few, so make sure to check back soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I just wanted to take the opportunity to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful Hubby! We are so blessed to have such a man in our lives. As he is a little shy (yes I realize this is Mike we are talking about... LOL) in front of the camera, I am re-posting our daughters recent drawing of him.

Happy Birthday... we love you.

Busy

Well even though it has been so hot here we have managed to get out and do a few things. Just the other day I took the kids to the pet store so we could peruse the animals, while still being someplace cool. Alexa LOVED the birds, and practically begged me to get one. (The answer to that one was no, just in case you were wondering... I am not a big fan of cleaning up after birds. LOL) Of course then there was Tim... He soooo wants a turtle. We are considering it possibly for his 5th birthday, but we'll see how things go between now and Feb. Heh.
On top of that we have been trying to get things ready for our new addition. I cannot believe that the baby will be here soon. Alexa is so excited. She loves to help out. We call her a mini mom. Here are some pictures of her with her baby... we have been trying to give her a heads up on what it will be like with a new baby in the house. I actually think she is almost as excited as we are...


She is soo cute!
We are still hoping to get out of the city for a few hours tomorrow, so I am hoping to have some more stuff to post over the weekend. So make sure to check back soon! :)