How can I resist when she is this cute??

What can I say? This girl loves her mama! (see shirt above)

The Three Books I Read on Vacation

One of the best things about visiting family is that everyone wants to play with Violet, which gives me more time to READ!  Here are my thoughts on the three books I read over vacation:

1.  State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

4.5/5 STARS

I loved this book.  It was engaging, and I hardly put it down once I started it, but it was deep too.  This is the second book I've read by Ann Patchett, and I have absolutely loved both.  It is about these scientists that are doing research in the Amazon because they found this tribe of natives where the women are bearing healthy children into their eighties.  So they are trying to develop a fertility drug.  There are some really interesting themes of child-bearing and fertility, but also about social constructs and native traditions.  Plus there were like 3 twists in the ending!  I love twist endings!

2.  The Death of Ivan Ilyich

2/5 STARS

I completed my mini-resolution to read something by Charles Dickens and something by a Russian by reading this book.  And you guys were right.  Russians are depressing.

3.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

5/5 STARS

An oldie but a goodie!  It has actually been years since I read this book.  Probably since just before the seventh book came out.  In my memory, the HP books got better and better with each one, so I always think of the first one as kind of childish and not that great (compared to the other HP books.  Always great compared to most other books).  But this time as I read it, I was struck by how awesome it was!  There are some details in the first one that JK comes back to many books later and makes into an important part of the story.  For example, in one part, Harry says that he thinks that Snape can read his mind.  And then in the 5th book, it is revealed that he is a great occlumense.  Cool.  

I will leave you with a quote about Harry Potter that I read recently from an article titled "10 Books to read to your daughter (or  how to keep your daughter from ending up like that horrid girl from Twilight)":  

You’d be hard pressed to find a book series with better female characters. ... I love that Rowling can depict a strong, brave, capable, intelligent, and compassionate woman in such a variety of characters: a middle-aged stay-at-home mom of seven, a pink-haired dark wizard catcher, an elderly spinster teacher, and an overachieving teenaged student, to name a few.  If my girl emulates Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, Minerva McGonagall, or, of course, my beloved Molly Weasley, I’ll be a happy mama. And it doesn’t hurt that the whole plot pivots around the sacrifice of one amazing mother (Lily Potter) for her son. 

Amen.

The Highlights

Hello!  Sorry about my long hiatus from blogging!  We're back, with tons of pictures to share!

Here are some of the highlights from our trip to Arizona!  Looking back at these pictures, I wish we'd gotten some with our families in them!  Every single one is of Violet, occasionally with Glenn or I in the background.  Can you tell we think she is cute??

There was a lot of playing in the water in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard (sometimes in the buff):

Violet swam everyday in at Glenn's parents' house, but we never took any pictures!  Here is an after swimming shot:

Violet took swim lessons! She cried the whole time every day, but she learned the things she was supposed to!  Please don't, but IF you threw her over the edge of a swimming pool, she could turn around and find the wall and pull her head above water!

I made dinner for everyone one night! From front to back: naan, Indian Butter chicken, spiced lentils, and cute Violet. :)

And just a few more random pictures for good measure:

It was a great trip, but we are glad to be back! 

(I would be gladder if there wasn't another mouse in our house.  But there is.)

Violet is a star!

My brother-law-law is starting a really cool company, and took some pictures of Violet for the website! Check it out!

http://babiesofhope.com/

(p.s.  Is it horribly politically incorrect to say this?  I am afraid people are going to think Violet is one of the poor babies because she is so skinny.)

First Hair cut!

Violet got her first hair cut on the first day of our trip here to Arizona!  She did not like it much, but she looks like much less of a hooligan now!

(before ^)

(during)

This is the best after shot we have!  I don't know why we didn't take a real "after" shot, but her hair looks pretty much the same, just less shaggy.

We are out of here!

We are headed to Arizona for a couple of weeks, and we leave this afternoon!  So excited to see everyone!

p.s.  I am extra excited to get away from this apartment right now because there is a RAT in here with me.  It was been here for three days and the management hasn't done anything about it.  It has been back and forth between the kitchen and the storage room and I have still been doing the dishes back there.  Feel free to commend me on my bravery.

The very disappointing thing that happened to me recently

A while ago, I booked a photographer I know to take our family pictures on the beach on August 3rd, which was last Friday.  It was perfect, because Glenn had Friday off school.  If you have coordinated family pictures before, you know there is some planning involved.  I ordered a dress online (and rushed the shipping so it would be here on time) and hemmed it myself (which was quite a risk considering the extent of my sewing skills!) during Violet's nap on Friday.  We did our laundry in the morning instead of in the afternoon, rearranged Violet's nap schedule, and Glenn got his hair cut.  About an hour before we were going to leave for the pictures, Glenn went into the bathroom to shave and I looked at my phone.  And I had a text from the photographer canceling the photo shoot.  

So I changed back into sweats, and told Glenn he didn't have to finish shaving if he didn't want to.

Anyway, we went to the park instead.  It was fun and I met a mom who was really nice, and Violet had a great time.

I just wish I had family pictures to show you instead of these ones!

2 more pictures

Sorry family, I have not been keeping up with my goal of posting every day lately!  However, I did find two more pictures we took during the family reunion!  On Thursday, we went to the California Science Center.  We have been once before, but this time was way more fun!  We had the whole family there, which was great, but also Violet could walk around and really appreciate some of the exhibits.  Here were two of her favorites:

The baby chicks!  We were hoping to see one hatch, but we had to settle for watching the the older ones.

The gift shop.  Her dad easily enjoyed this one as much as she did. :)