The book- Water for Elephants

So I wanted to read the book before the movie comes out in April. Luckily for me, the book's been out long enough and there's not that much press for the movie yet that I was able to find it relatively easily at the library. Which was good for me since I got it and was finished with it the next day. It was really good! And I liked being able to picture the actors who are playing the characters while I read rather than making them up myself.

As for my "review", 4 stars!! Definitely worth your time!!


Before I could find Water for Elephants to read, I came across Sara Gruen's latest book Ape House. It's about a scientist who works with Bonobo Apes. I had recently heard about these apes on Oprah. They are amazing and can communicate with humans through American Sign Language and lexicons on a large board or computer. It's unbelievable. The author did a ton of research on them for the book so it's really very educational as well as entertaining. I really enjoyed it.
Although I have to admit, I would probably have liked it better being able to picture Rob Pattinson in the lead male role like I did in Water for Elephants!! Ha!

Saturday night with the kids

Grace and Carter are over to spend the night tonight. So far the big thing is Wii of course. We got some new games and another remote for Christmas and they're having a great time playing.

As you can see they're paying close attention to what's happening on the screen.

Logan was punished from playing Wii today, so it's been hard for him to sit back and just watch them having fun. As a result he's been acting crazy to get attention. He was jumping around and wanted me to take his picture. It's hard with my cheap little camera since it takes a second after you push the button for the actual picture to take.

When I looked at the pictures guess what I saw? My sweet little boy? No... Demon Logan, complete with red eyes!!
Think again, it's see-through Ghost Logan. Guess that's what happens when you have a cheap camera! It is a cool effect though!

My other little guitar hero

Logan has gotten really good at guitar hero in the last 2 weeks. Yesterday he got 99% on the easy settting on "Love Gun", I think. I was laughing when I looked over and saw him playing like this...

He looks so casual. He also likes to do "guitar moves" while he plays like bending his knees and doing little kicks, etc. Sooo funny!! I need to take a little video.

Water for Elephants

I didn't start out as a fan of Robert Pattinson. I always loved Edward. But somehow the 2 have morphed for me and I really like him now too! I wish he would do a movie where he uses his natural English accent though. I like the accent and I get distracted knowing he's altering it in all these movies where he's "American".

I just saw a preview for his new movie Water for Elephants (also with Reece Witherspoon). It looks great! And he looks great in it. Not so white. Really clean-cut with short hair. Me like. It takes place in the 30's and I liked the look of the men back then. The clothes, hair, etc.

What's really funny is that his name in the movie is Jacob!

It comes out on April 15. Who wants to go with me?

Frank

I'm getting a little worried about my old basset hound, Frank. He turned 13 in October and his health has been declining for a while. The last 2 weeks or so though, he's been acting very strange. He wanders around the house a lot and just seems confused. Can dogs get Alzheimer's? On top of all that he's deaf and has a hard time getting around. He falls down sometimes especially on the tile. What to do?

I think another trip to the vet is in order. But what will happen? The last time we went I was worried about the same thing and that was over a year ago. Maybe they can help him without it being too big a deal? He's just so annoying. He wakes us up a LOT at night now. It's getting to be a problem. I know we're suffering, but is he? Hard to say. Dogs don't complain a lot. He's got to be suffering some though. Uuugghhh!

Aren't they cute laying on the rug like that? You'd think I'd posed them. But they did it on their own! Look at that lovely, fat cat, Jack! He's magnificent! Too bad he likes to poop on the garage floor. We got him a new litter box hoping that will help. We'll see...

I'll keep you posted on Frank. I think a trip to the vet is imminent.

Christmas in Houston

We went to Houston on Christmas Day to see all of Stuart's family that lives there. Stu's Dad took this pic of our family that I think turned out pretty good for a snapshot in the living room!
That's Stuart's brother Garrick. Cute how Logan was mimicking him!


On Monday we went to the Houston Zoo. Although it was a cold day the sun was out so it wasn't so bad... at first. They had some new little elephants that were just adorable. Especially the little one!

What a cute picture of the kids with their Grandma!

This big male orangutan came right up to the window and was staring at all the people. It was really cool.

Of course the kids had to ride the big carousel.

The children's zoo has a petting zoo and they give you brushes to brush all the goats. That's all there were... goats. But they were really nice!

I like this guy's idea! Sleep right in the food bowl!

I guess you can't expect all the pics to turn out great!!

Our little "Rocker"

Who knew that Ellie would like Logan's new guitar hero game as much as he does. She says she's "addicted" to it! So cute! She's pretty good at it too. She's scored as high as 84% in the beginner mode.


On a side note, I made beef stew in my new dutch oven. Delicious! Today we're making black-eyed peas. Yummm!