Mommy Brain

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Cleary
Knights of the Kitchen Table (Time Warp Trio #1) by Jon Scieszka

Horrible Harry Goes to the Moon by Suzy Kline
Horrible Harry and the Dungeon by Suzy Kline

Days With Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel
Spot’s Windy Day and Other Stories by Eric Hill
Buzby by Julia Hoban
Small Pig by Arnold Lobel

The End by Lemony Snicket
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Heaven for Kids by Randy Alcorn and Linda Washington
The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography by Lemony Snicket
A Window to the World by Susan Meissner

Heaven for Kids by Randy Alcorn and Linda Washington
Fly by Night by Francis Hardinge
A Beginning, A Muddle, and an End: The Right Way to Write Writing by Avi
Sad Underwear and Other Complications: More Poems for Children and Their Parents by Judith Viorst
If I Were in Charge of the World and Other Worries: Poems for Children and their Parents by Judith Viorst

In the craziness of a weekend of family togetherness, with two of my three sisters visiting - one with husband and kids, one with just her kids - I almost forgot. Thirteen years ago today, Kevin and I got married in a small ceremony in the living room of my grandmother’s new house. Thirteen years!

I love you, Kevin. Here’s to thirteen more!

I borrowed an idea I saw on CaribousMom, and have added two pages to the sidebar: Book Reviews by Author and Book Reviews by Title.

I’ve got a great weekend planned - my sister Deb is coming across the state from Silverdale to visit for three days. I am ignoring the reason she’s coming: to see Marni and Hans and their boys before they move to St. Louis in June or July. We’ll spend most of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday together and then Deb and the kids will head back home on Tuesday. Pray for good weather on Snoqualmie Pass as she crosses the mountains.

We had three inches of snow here yesterday! It didn’t stick on the roads, and mostly melted in the afternoon, but it came down like the dickens for a few hours. March comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb, my foot. I think March got things topsy-turvy this year.

I have red fingertips and my hands smell like vinegar. Anyone have a guess about what the kids and I did today? And, no, we didn’t dye our Easter eggs a week late.

Kevin and I are watching Stranger Than Fiction right now. Well, he’s watching - I’m half-watching and typing this post. I’ve seen it before - with Michelle - but he hasn’t, and I knew he would like it. I like watching movies again, but for some reason it drives Kevin crazy if he knows I’ve already seen a movie. I try not to let him know - while avoiding out-and-out lying, of course - because I know he’ll like it if he just watches it.

Well, I better get on to the links, because it’s getting late and I should be heading to bed soon.

~ This young reader is amazing. Be sure and watch the video. Hat tip: Lawanda.

~ Yahoo! has listed the 10 Most Historically Inaccurate Movies. Bummer - I really like Gladiator and Patriot. Why do they have to change so much in films? History is fascinating enough as it is!

~ In this video, author Khaled Hosseini talks about the process of adapting his book The Kite Runner into a film.

~ Remember the writing contest I told you about? Well, it’s time for part two - and your entry is due on Wednesday. Only 300 words. Don’t hesitate - enter, okay? (You know who you are. )

My wonderful online friend and fellow book-lover, Carol at Magistramater, is leaving on the trip of a lifetime to Scotland in eight days. Her husband, Curt, has pneumonia and a sinus infection. He is on a hard-hitting antibiotic. Please be in prayer that the meds work, that he recovers completely, and that they don’t have to cancel their trip. Thanks!

…is telling a flat-out lie considered a “mistake?”

But during a speech last week on Iraq, Clinton stretched the truth to the breaking point. “I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia and … there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn’t go, so send the first lady. That’s where we went. I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

Hogwash. The truth is:

� There was no sniper fire.

� Nobody ducked for cover.

� Bad weather, not security concerns, kept her husband from making the same trip a few months earlier.

Clinton and her aides stood behind the story � which she has told more than once � until video surfaced showing the former first lady, her daughter, Chelsea, and their entourage strolling off the plane and walking calmly across the tarmac.

“I made a mistake,” she said Tuesday. “That happens. It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.”

Around our house, that’s called telling a lie, not “Oops, I goofed.” Sheesh.

I finished listening to Home to Holly Springs on audiobook yesterday, and it was the perfect book to listen to during Lent, and especially to complete on Easter.

Jan Karon revisits the character of Father Tim, but this time the story is set outside of Mitford. Father Tim receives a two-word note in the mail, post-marked from his hometown of Holly Springs, Mississippi. The note reads, “Come home.” He travels to Holly Springs, and comes home in so many different ways. As he travels the places of his childhood, we travel the memories of his childhood, and come to a greater understanding of who he is and the people who have helped shape his life.

I thought I would miss the quirky characters of Mitford, but it turns out Holly Springs has a few oddballs of its own. I have always enjoyed - and envied - the way Father Tim makes friends with people, bypassing the small talk and getting to the depth of relationship. During his time in his hometown, Timothy sees resolution and reconciliation in so many areas of his past.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the Mitford series is watching how God answers prayers in Father Tim and Cynthia’s lives. It often takes time, and doesn’t happen in an expected way. Sometimes the answer never comes. I agree with Carol, who said when she blogged about Home to Holly Springs, “Life is complex; things don’t always happen in the clean and tidy way of our dreams. Which leads me to my last critique. Karon cleaned up all of Father Tim’s loose ends in a way I found facile and unbelievable. I wish she had left some dangling threads. It’s too neat ending felt formulaic.” It was wonderful to see all of Tim’s prayers and hopes answered when he traveled home, but it did seem to be too good to be true - especially considering the way I experience God’s answers in my own life.

That said, though, I am very glad that the Father Tim story didn’t end with the Mitford series, and I still highly recommend this book. (4 out of 5 stars)

A note on the audio: I have read all of the Mitford books at least twice, and I have listened to all of them on audiobook. The reader of the Mitford series was John McDonough, and he became the voice of Father Tim in my mind. When I started the audio of Home to Holly Springs I was very surprised and disappointed to hear a different narrator. I almost gave up, because it was so different. I am so glad I didn’t. Scott Sowers is one of the best audiobook narrators in my experience - and I’ve listened to a lot of audiobooks. He gave each character their own voice, and helped me to “hear” Mississippi. I was sad when the book ended, both because it was a good book, and because I wouldn’t be listening to Mr. Sowers read any more.

For my next audiobook, I have chosen Blasphemy by Douglas Preston. My dad is a huge Preston fan; his books could be considered supernatural thrillers, I believe. Dad’s raved enough about Preston that I decided to give him a try, and when the “new purchases” list on the library web site included Blasphemy, I snatched it up. I was pleasantly surprised when I started disc one and heard, “Blasphemy by Douglas Preston, narrated by Scott Sowers.” Yep, same guy.

(Virus on Orbis 1 and Betrayal on Orbis 2 were provided to me by the publisher for the purpose of review.)

P.J. Haarsma has created a completely new world in his science fiction series The Softwire. Johnny “JT” Turnbull is a softwire: a person who can enter and communicate with a computer in his mind. He arrives on the Rings of Orbis, along with dozens of other human children, where they are informed that they will become slaves of the Citizens, the upper-class that rules the planet.

JT’s talents as a softwire become public, which makes him a hot property, and gives him a chance to prove that he is more than just your average “knudnik.” The knudniks are humans and aliens that hold a status between slave and indentured servant on the Rings of Orbis. In order to gain his freedom, JT is expected to serve one rotation (year) on each of the four rings.

In The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1, JT discovers that there is something seriously wrong with the central computer that controls everything on Orbis, and his softwire abilities are pushed to the limit as he tries to figure out what the problem is, and how to fix it.

Virus on Orbis 1 was P.J. Haarsma’s first book, and the writing is a little choppy. The world he creates is so unique, and vividly described, however, that I couldn’t put it down. I started the sequel right away.

Betrayal on Orbis 2, the quality of Haarsma’s writing increases considerably, and he manages to create another unique world in the mind of the reader. The world of Orbis 2 is very different from Orbis 1. JT didn’t think that things could get much worse than they were on Orbis 1, where he worked for Weegin, a bully and cheat. He was wrong: his new “guarantor,” Odran, is much worse - and JT is called on to use his softwire talent to communicate with creatures unlike anything he’s ever seen.

This series would be perfect for kids 6th grade and up. Boys will especially enjoy them, but there are some strong female characters, too, that will engage female readers. If you have younger kids that read at a higher level, keep in mind that there is some mild violence, but nothing I would consider gratuitous. Noah, my 9-year-old is glad I’m finished with these, so he can dive in. We will definitely be watching out for the next two installments in the series.

Virus on Orbis 1 is already available; Betrayal on Orbis 2 becomes available tomorrow, March 25th.

(Johnny and the Sprites: Meet the Sprites was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review and giveaway.)

The winner of the Johnny and the Sprites: Meet the Sprites DVD is…

… Jennifer!

Congratulations, Jennifer! Watch your e-mail box; I’ll be contacting you for your mailing address.

(Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby was provided to me by Special Ops Media for the purpose of review.)

My kids have enjoyed all of the movies that give the viewer a new twist on an old fairy tale, like Hoodwinked and Happily Never After. We can now add 3 Pigs and a Baby to that list, because the kids absolutely loved it and have watched it three times since it arrived. (They were sick over Easter weekend, so a lot of movies were watched while everyone took it easy.)

In 3 Pigs and a Baby, the Big Bad Wolf is foiled in the way we all remember from “The Three Little Pigs.” After he meets his demise in the fireplace of the brick house, the wolf pack is determined to think of another way to get into the pigs’ house and have a nice big pork dinner. Their plan? To leave a baby wolf on the three pigs’ doorstep. After they raise the wolf to adolescence, they will then approach the wolf, reveal his true nature, and have him leave the key to the pigs’ house under the welcome mat.

There is some great humor in this film, including all the usual “three guys raising a baby” gags. The pigs are voiced by Brad Garrett, Jon Cryer, and Steve Zahn. The teen wolf is voiced by Jesse McCartney, who will be very familiar to any Hannah Montana fans out there.

The DVD special features include three featurettes: “The Voices of 3 Pigs and a Baby,” “Re-Imagining a Classic,” and “Animation Education.”

Natalie liked it so much, she wrote her own review on her blog.

Noah’s review: It was really, really funny, and it teaches you an important lesson: not to betray your family. 4 1/2 stars out of five.

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

Everything Is Illuminated