a.k.a. Genius

Step into the shoes of one Gabe Carpenter as he navigates the daily challenges of life as a seventh grader in the book a.k.a. Genius.  Gabe is your typical 7th grade boy dealing with the normal challenges of life: an annoying sister, a locker that won't open, parents who don't quite understand him, changing social status at school, and that ever annoying lunch room.

Years after being released from the confines of a school environment, I felt all of the insecurities of life in school rushing back at me as I read this book.  Being one of those lucky people who attended 4 schools between 7th and 12th grade, I remember well that constant fear of will I fit in, will everything work out, and for goodness sake who on earth will I sit with at lunch.  The shifting sands as all of the other kids are trying to determine where they stand in the pecking order so the folks who were your friends yesterday suddenly won't speak to you today. I will honestly say that I've not read a young adult book recently that so accurately captured that struggle every kid deals with while navigating the halls junior high.  Or am I dating myself by even calling it that anymore?

After reading the book myself, I handed it to one of my sons to read.  He loved the book as well. His favorite character in the book was Linc, best friend of Gabe Carpenter.  I do believe he said he enjoyed his sense of humor.

Although this book does have a typical cheesy everything is perfect eventually ending, I did find it otherwise an enjoyable read. Gabe doesn't ever figure everything out or get his act completely together but does eventually start to come to terms with being ok with the person God has created him to be. In a library full of empty preteen literary suggestions, this one stands out in my mind as a positive yet realistic choice for young readers.  A welcome change from the current popular offerings out there.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on a.k.a. Genius. The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.

Popcorn

No, not the Boy Scout kind. Although if you'd like to buy any of that, I have 3
boys who would just love to take your order. The real kind, growing in fields. Not sure if we picked enough so I might take a few kids back tomorrow to get a bit more.

I've learned many things about my kids this year.

One is that they know much more about where their food actually comes from than I ever did. Another is that for the most part, I have a crew of very hard workers.  There are a couple of kids who like to go hide or mope or pout anytime they are asked to do any work, ever. But we're working on them.

I did try to get pictures of the older boys but they were rather elusive among the corn.

Now the corn must be allowed to dry for a week or two before we remove it from the cobs. Yes, you can leave it on but since we usually use an air popper, that just won't work for us.

Karate Belts are not Just for Karate

Raising God First Kids in Me First World

Did you ever find yourself really looking forward to a book only to be entirely let down once you actually finished it? I finally got around to reading Raising God First Kids in a Me First World by Barbara Curtis. I know I kept putting it off because it was the last book she wrote before she died and I felt like once I finished the book, I would be closing the book on a source I had become used to looking to for wisdom. I always loved that Barbara was so real and honest in sharing about her life.  You could always feel the love she had for her family and yet she never held back from sharing some of the painful stuff. The real nitty gritty stuff that helps you relate to someone and maybe, just maybe makes you feel like you aren't such a failure at this parenting thing after all because someone else is dealing with less than perfect stuff, too. Let's be honest here: there simply are not many truly large family bloggers who are sharing the less than perfect stuff with the world.

Yesterday I finally sat down during karate class to finish the book.  And although you could feel the love she had for her children and just knew she put so much of her heart into the book, I have to say there was nothing new in the book for me at all. Or much concrete advice to be honest. There were lots of stories about her children but no real suggestions.  So I guess I'm feeling a bit disappointed.

It is wonderful to see that she felt such closeness to her high school and adult children. I don't think many parents feel that connection. I doubt many kids feel that connection. And it was obvious she poured her heart into the book in her last few months. But I have to call it more of a final memoir than a parenting book.  Wonderful stories of a wonderful family, but not quite a parenting book.

And, yes, I do still miss reading the stories she would share with her readers every week.

Our Sunday

The older two boys spent the weekend at a Eucharistic retreat and had an awesome time. I'm hoping maybe we can convince a few more folks to go with them next year.  After picking them up, we spent the afternoon with some friends. There is one rule when it comes to visiting this particular family: your children will leave soaking wet. It is just part and parcel of visiting this family.  Seemed to happen in Florida (granted the kids were almost always in the pool) and it seems to happen here.  Yes, half of the kids spent part of the time on the lake but even the kids who were dry after getting out of the boat ended up soaked before we left for home.

Everyone had a wonderful time and it truly makes me wish we lived just a little bit closer so we could see each other more often.

Pumpkin Patch

We visited a pumpkin patch with some friends yesterday. We took a nice long tractor ride, got lost in a corn maze (yes, it took a while to get out), played in a corn box, had cider and donuts, picked pumpkins, and just in general had a good time. I managed to not get a picture of all the kids together because they were too busy hanging out with their friends.

Please forgive the entirely unimaginative photo bomb and just enjoy the pictures.

Fire Safety at Home Depot

October is fire safety month so it's fairly easy to find free stuff at the fire stations.  This is also the month when the Home Depot kids' workshop turns into a fire safety workshop. This month there was a fire truck for the kids to explore, several police cars for the kids to climb in (Liam pointed out that the criminals ride in the back behind the screen and found the weapons hanging up behind the front seat), free LEGO kits, hats, pencils, stickers, snacks, a raffle, and a fire plane to build.

The sirens on the police car kept going off in the store, the sirens on the fire truck kept going off outside the store.  It was kiddie heaven. While holding a nail for Gabe at one point he tells me as serious as can be "I'll try not to hurt you, Mom."  Good thinking, kid.  Of course, I forgot my camera but thank you to the Gates police and fire departments for coming out and letting the kids play. They had a blast.

Happy Birthday Katie!

Miss Kathleen turned 9 yesterday.  Which means Alan has officially been in the Air Force for 9 and 1/2 years and I've been driving the big green van for 9 years. 9 years ago the roof of the house suffered damage from a hurricane and Alan flipped out insisting  I pack up the kids and evacuate for the only hurricane out of the 4 that hit us that year that was a big fat nothing. Yes, it was a momentous year that year. (Have I ever mentioned that those months before and right after Katie was born were, um, super fun for me to manage alone.)

Alan insisted we call Katie Kathleen at first. I spent 2 months telling everyone her name was Kathleen. Then he came home and said nope, she's a Katie.  Funny how those things happen.

This year we went to the waterpark to celebrate on Monday (because that is the cheap ticket day right now). I have pictures but  they are on the other computer which is fighting with me right now so they'll have to wait. Dad had to work out of town yesterday and all weekend so we'll have to put off her birthday dinner until our schedules collide somehow.  Katie made her own birthday cake yesterday and let Robert help her. I felt a tad guilty until Alan pointed out that she wanted to do it herself so it's not like she was forced to because no one else would make one.

Happy birthday little lady. Hope you had a wonderful day.