My Twilight Saga

I have recently become addicted to a book series called 'The Twilight Saga' by Stephenie Meyer. The saga includes four books, which I have all read now. I believe my Goodreads reviews will illustrate my 'obsession' with this series the best, so I will include those below. Please take note that some do contain spoilers, but I have placed an alert in bold, red type as warning before they begin, in case you are ever interested in reading these books. This post will be extremely long since I will be copying previously written reviews, so I completely understand if you all do not read it all! Just enjoy the pictures and read a bit about the books, in case it's something you might enjoy as well!

I have 'recovered' a bit from my compulsion since finishing the last book, but as you'll notice to the right, I am DEFINITELY looking forward to the first book coming out as a movie in December!!!


I am HOOKED!!! I seriously read this book in ONE day, start to finish between the time of waking up and going to sleep. It's been a long time since I was entranced by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Anne Rice, and here I go again. I have to admit, I feel I little too old to have enjoyed this book so much, but I can't help it. It's a Shakespearean romance...Romeo and Juliet...but with a Buffy and Angel twist. I was hooked from the first chapter, as I couldn't wait to discover more about the 'weird' kids who sat the separate lunch table, especially the rude one who ended up as Bella's lab partner. ** SPOILER ALERT ** And once the story began to unfold, Edward became absolutely enchanting and captivating. I couldn't turn away from him, I wanted to learn so much more about him. I felt as hooked as Bella. (I make myself feel better by remembering that he was born in 1901, so he's older than 17 yo...in fact, much more my age than Bella's!) I'm an adult; I know that the kind of romance that develops in this book is as fantastical as the idea of vampires...but it doesn't mean that we can't all WISH for a love like theirs. What woman hasn't craved for a man as beautiful on the inside as he is on the outside, with the incredible ability to express his feelings in such a passionate way, just like Edward? I don't think this book is for everyone; but if you are addicted to vampire stories...as I am...and a hopeless romantic...as I am...this book should top your charts as well. I can't wait to read the next one!



There are no other words I can find to describe this 2nd book, in a continually tantalizing series, than those already used in countless reviews of praise:
"...another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural spin."
"Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns..."
"...Meyer is just a good storyteller..."
In this book, the reader becomes even more entranced by the characters and involved with their lives. I, once again, became gripped from the very first line and could not put the book down...finishing, again, in less than a day. For those who have complaints about the 'unrealistic' love that exists between Bella and Edward and the affect that may have on the young readers out there, I'd like to first remind you of a 'story' known as 'Romeo and Juliet', that is actually required reading for most teenagers these days. Also, I just have to say, falling in love with a vampire is a pretty special circumstance, which is why, to me, their rare and remarkable love affair seems more realistic (if that's possible when talking about vampires!)...and seriously, I could handle being in love with Edward Cullen, and DEFINITELY having him love me back! Another GREAT read!


Only 4 stars this time, yet I still loved this book, and continue to obsess over this series, but this was definitely my least favorite of the 3. There were just several components of the story that 'bothered' me, I guess. **SPOILER ALERT** I mean, what is Bella's problem with marrying Edward?! Seriously?! Your eternal, true love wants to MARRY you and you're worried about how the town will react? The town you are about to leave forever to become a vampire?! She continues to mope that she doesn't deserve Edward, that she is unworthy of his love, etc. Come on, get over it already, hasn't he proved it enough by now?! I'm still a huge Edward fan, but he was a little 'lovesick' in this book; not quite as charming and mysteriuos has he has been. I don't REALLY see that Bella does deserve his love, especially after all of the stupid and selfish decisions she makes in this book, including some that hurt Edward personally. But maybe that's what we love about Bella, that she's NOT perfect and still receives his undying affection...gives all of us imperfect gals out there some hope! Ha ha. (Plus, we all know that if you can read EVERYONE'S mind, the one person's who you cannot has to be the most interesting and intriguing person you have ever met, no matter what) And I refuse to believe there is any competition between Jacob and Edward. Sure, I'll buy that she's in love with Jacob...on a completely different level BY FAR than Edward...but so what? And maybe her love with Edward is a bit...addictive...but so what?! Jacob is too obnoxious and cocky for a 'true love'...I can handle it in best friend capacity, but so far, he's treated Bella more like a trophy than a soul mate. There was a lot of storytelling in this book, as far as learning Rosalie's past, Jasper's past, as well as the history of the 'spirit wolf'. It was interesting, but slowed down the mood of the book a bit. I was constantly thinking, "Get on with it already!". Unfortunately, I believe our favorite characters seem to lose some of their lovable traits in this book. However, after becoming so 'involved' in them and their lives over the two previous books, I still couldn't put it down. I think this book lacked the 'big' mystery that the other two held...Edward for 'Twilight' and Jacob for 'New Moon'...the smaller questions of who the intruder was, or what's going on with the newborns, just weren't as interesting or gripping. I almost didn't care about that stuff, I was just worried about the love triangle. **SPOILERS END** I could just keep going on and on, but I feel I would eventually end up going in circles. Sometimes the things that bother me most about a character, or a book in general, are reflections of what I love most about them. It's very much that way with this book, providing me with enough to talk about for days. What's most important to me is that the books are addicting, whatever I love or hate about each individual story line, I still cannot put the book down...if only to read until the part I don't like is resolved! It has taken me less than 24 hours to read each of these books, and I don't expect anything different with Breaking Dawn. Let the countdown begin...5 days left!


***DEFINITELY contains SPOILERS*** Sorry so long, but I had a lot to say about the end of one of my favorite series. This is a hard one. Overall, I got what I wanted – The wedding, Bella’s change, Jacob imprinting, and minimal loss of life. It was the perfect fairy tale ending with a ‘happily ever after’. So I should be happy, right?

To begin with, I think the book was too crowded and rushed. It could have easily been 2 books, giving us so much more in every aspect. Everything was too neatly taken apart and put back together, and I really think SM could have been more creative with that if she had more time and space for it. It just seemed a little surreal and disjointed. If she had some of these things planned all along, she really should have prepared her readers a little better. Honestly, this book didn’t feel like her writing; in fact, it felt a little shallow. However, there were a lot of surprises and twists, and I was on the edge of my seat throughout a few of the chapters, which is one reason I won't say it was bad.

Bella & Edward – Not enough romance…at least not once the honeymoon was over. Their relationship is my favorite part of the series and it just went forgotten in this book. Part of the reason I read this series is because of the ‘feeling’ I get when I do (if you've read it, you know what I mean), and that was lost after the first 200 pages or so. I’m so happy they got married and she was changed, but it stopped short there…and the rest of the book didn’t really seem to fit with the rest of the series because of this desertion.

Edward – Did he DO something to SM? I mean, I feel like she TOTALLY slacked on his character in this book! I always thought he was her favorite as well, but he was just not a strong character in this book at all. Edward is what made Twilight so ‘magical’ for me. He was mysterious, romantic, beautiful, clever, intelligent; he was everything a knight in shining armor should be. Edward stole my heart by the 4th chapter. So much of that was lost in BD. You almost find yourself feeling sorry for him for becoming Bella’s loyal lapdog. It just didn’t feel right.


Bella – The clumsy school girl turns perfect vampire in record time? Seriously? Where is the angst, sorrow, pain and sacrifice we were expecting? This is what made the love between Bella & Edward so fantastical, their willingness to sacrifice EVERYTHING for each other. Then there is no sacrifice? How is that fair. Everything was just too easy for Bella in this book. I realize now that Bella is SM’s favorite character, not Edward. Bella gets to have the love of her life, amazing human sex, a baby (and we didn’t have an inkling she WANTED to be a mother), and become a super powerful vamp with no ‘newborn’ stage at all (although I was happy to finally discover her immunity to the powers of others is actually a special talent of her own…even though she did gain control over it a little too quickly for a newborn vamp, it’s nice to have an explanation nonetheless). We should all be so lucky. It was very hard to get past how everything worked out so perfectly for Bella. Even the pain during her change was overshadowed by the fact she was capable of hiding it from Edward, she was that strong already. It was actually a little annoying, I guess. The conflict with Jacob is also easily repaired as he falls out of love with Bella the moment he realizes he has imprinted on her baby daughter. But as much as Bella can’t live without Jacob, this news isn’t good news for her; she’s upset that it’s worked out so perfectly for everyone. Like I said, a little annoying.

Renesmee - I actually liked the chapter of Renesmee’s birth the best. I was surprised, shocked, horrified, disgusted, absorbed, hopeful, worried, and much more. I actually felt SOMETHING, which is what was missing the most from this book compared to the others. I am in the minority, I think, in that I was happy to find out Bella was pregnant. Before I realized the fear Edward possessed over this unknown, I thought it would take a different direction. I should have known better. Either way, I still thought the surprise was a good one, and I didn’t focus on the irrationality of a vampire siring a child because, well, come on people, we’re talking fiction…fantasy…supernatural already, our minds should be open to all possibilities. I thought the explanation of why this was ‘possible’ was pretty believable. I also liked her special talent and how it was directly related to the talents of both her parents. However, I am NOT in the minority when I express the opinion that I despise the child’s name. Renesmee? Are you kidding me? Thank goodness Jacob nicknamed her ‘Nessie’ and everyone followed suit, so I had to read that name less. Why not Carlie? I mean, really!

Jacob – I actually liked Jacob more in this book than any other, I think. I was always ‘Team Edward’ when it came to Bella, but I still wanted Jacob to be happy. I kept hoping he would imprint on some nice girl and they would go double date with Bella & Edward. I even started to wonder if Leah was imprinting on Jacob and how that would work? I thought that would definitely be an interesting story line. But no. Things are tidied up nicely and Jacob imprints on Bella’s daughter. Are we supposed to believe this is why they cared about each other SO much, because of his already existent attachment to her unborn child? And now he will become their son-in-law. Does that seem weird to anyone else? I expected this once we found out Bella gave birth to a daughter, but it was still a bit disappointing. I think Jacob could have ended up happy without Bella in a much more pragmatic way, personally.

The Cullens – First I’ll say I missed Alice tremendously!!! I said before BD came out that someone had to die, it just had to happen, and I speculated it would be Rosalie (I was right that someone had to die, luckily I didn't care about Irina one tiny bit). I figured she would be the easiest loss for the readers to swallow. So I was definitely surprised at the more frontline role she actually played in this book, and disappointed that Alice disappeared for so long. I also wish there was more story around the Cullens helping Bella as a newborn. Having her get control so quickly and easily was actually disappointing. I was looking forward to the expanding roles of each Cullen family member helping her through that time with their different strengths. I also wish we’d had more of the other vampire tribes, I thought it was very interesting having them come together with different talents, histories and personalities. I go back to why this could have been two books, one giving the story of the wedding, the honeymoon, the baby, the change, and more of the newborn years…yes, I wanted years; another giving more of the story of these new tribes and the battle against the Volturi.

With all that being said, I want to reiterate that I did enjoy the book and I was very happy with the way it ended. I just wasn’t as pleased with the story leading up to my desired ending. I wanted the ‘happily ever after’, but I wanted it to be more supernatural/vampire/even horror and less ‘fairy tale’ I guess. I hope SM gives us more of our favorite characters though, and that she takes a little more time to do so.

Some Favorite Quotes:

“So, I’m your brand of heroin?”…”You’re exactly my brand of heroin.”

“Do I dazzle you?”

Edward: And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.
Bella: What a stupid lamb.
Edward: What a sick, masochistic lion.

Bella: I'm not scared of you.
Edward: You really shouldn't have said that.

"Dammit, Bella! You'll be the death of me, I swear you will."

Just a Few Reasons We Love Them:

Because the lion fell in love with the lamb.
Because she's exactly his brand of heroin.
Because he can't live in a world where she doesn't exist.
Because she found true love, lost true love and chose true love, and it all came back to him.
Because he's not leaving again, unless she orders him to, and that's not happening.
Because she saw both worlds, and she chose the one with him.
Because without the other, nothing makes sense.
Because if he could dream it'd be about her and he's not ashamed of it.
Because he dazzles her frequently.
Because all of the top ten best nights of his life happened after he met her.
Because forever is all she's asking for.
Because he loves to watch her sleep.
Because "there's no competition".
Because he finds her very interesting.
Because when he goes away, he leaves his heart with her.
Because she's the only one who's ever touched his heart, and it will always be hers.
Because he loves to listen to her heart beat.
Because 'how hard is it to understand!?'
Because the bed is definitely necessary.

“Every child is an artist...

The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” - Pablo Picasso

Riley has always enjoyed any kind of art, so we signed him up for an art class through the city Parks & Rec. Although we enjoyed it, it wasn't QUITE worth the money, as it's something we can easily continue to do at home, but he made a few neat projects.

This is a neat 'Duck on Water at Sunset' craft...the duck can actually be moved, but pulling a string, so it's fun for the kids.

Here's Riley moving the duck.

Gives you an idea of how it's put together. He, of course, got to glue and paint...the best part about the art class was that all the shapes and stuff were pre-cut...by someone other than me! LOL

Here is a shot of Riley's 'art wall' in our kitchen, where we hang his latest 'Picassos'

This is a really neat 3D Foam Art kit we got at WM - it was so fun and easy to put together, Riley really enjoyed it. We'll definitely be picking up another one soon.

Here is his 2nd art project from art class...it's a snail. I don't have a pic of his 3rd project, but it was a neat fan, that had a moon/night setting on one side and a sun/sky setting on the other (they got to use GLITTER, so of course the kids loved that one!).

Here is Riley DURING his last class this week (usually I was also covered in paint, but only 2 of 8 kids showed up for the last class, so the teacher was able to work one on one with Riley, leaving my hands clean to snap a couple of pics).


I have to throw in a bit about how BRILLIANT my child is! We were working on our phonics yesterday and Riley spelled his first word (besides names and stuff) - BAT - and READ his first word - SPOT - by sounding out his letters! It was a big day for our 3 year old!!!

Then we moved on to our 'Letter of the Day', which Riley chose to be 'F'. We worked on writing the letter F, colored a picture with Fire (starts with the letter F), drew some Faces and Fish, he got to Finger paint (starts with the letter F), and we also painted a giant F and a Flag. Later that day when we were cleaning up his play room, we went on a 'scavenger hunt' for toys and books that begin with the letter 'F'...it certainly made cleaning up more fun and educational! He just loves to learn, and I'm enjoying teaching him very much!


Here is Riley's final art class project - A scuba mask and snorkel! This was pretty cute! I think I'll check out a craft book at the library to give me some ideas like these! (and maybe they will have stencils to help me out?!?! lol)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and update. Riley is truly enjoying life and we're so proud of the leaps and bounds he is making with everything! He has a week off from 'classes' and then starts Soccer Skills after Labor Day! I CANNOT wait! Be ready for TONS of pictures! After that, he's got Jump Bunch and then he will end the fall with a gymnastics class. Keepin' him movin'!

"Money will buy you a pretty good dog...

...but it won't buy the wag of his tail."


For those who do not know, we have a chocolate Labrador Retriever named Bailey. We have had Bailey since she was a puppy, 6 weeks old. She just turned 6 years old in July and we had her annual vet check-up that month. I asked our vet what I could do to make Bailey's fur feel better to pet, because people just don't like to touch her. After looking her over and checking her file, he decided we should do a thyroid blood test. The next day we receive a call...she has hypothyroidism. What? A dog? Really?!?!

She exhibits several symptoms of this condition (weight gain, coarse & brittle fur, constant skin & ear infections) and we look forward to clearing them up with her daily prescription. Apparently normal levels for a dog her size are 1-1.4, and her levels were below 0.2 at her first test!



She has been on her medication for almost a month now. She has already lost 10 lbs. and her coat feels SOOO much better! Unfortunately these symptoms had led to Bailey being a bit of an 'outsider' in our family, because she did not feel good to pet and she often smelled due to infections. She's already doing so much better, and gets a lot more touch!

We're very happy to have a way to treat her and look forward to seeing that tail wag more and more every day!

Backyard = Parking Lot?

It was a normal Wednesday...water day...our family had JUST come inside from setting up the sprinkler in the back yard and settled in on the couch to read bedtime stories to Riley, when all of the sudden...SCREEEEEEEEECH...CRASH!!!!!!!!

I look up at Chris, "What was that?!" and he answers, "Either someone just got into a wreck right outside our back yard...or IN our back yard.". Of course, we immediately head to the back yard and this is what we find:




Luckily, no one was hurt, including the driver...but more importantly our dog, Bailey, and our entire family. Yes, he was drunk driving...at 7:45pm in the evening...and it was a single car accident.

We're not exactly sure what happened, but the police officer speculated that he had done a U-turn (would have been 3 houses down from us where the u-turn occurred), sped out of it, and lost control. Right now our fence is STILL not repaired, but there is a temporary wire piece set up to keep Bailey in at least.

I'm REALLY trying not to focus on the bad luck that seems to plague us (ie: in our old house about 4 years ago we had a car drive up INTO our front yard, about 3 feet from our master BR window where we were sleeping, and run over our mailbox on his way out of our yard) and focus on the blessing that no one was injured, or worse.

Riley's First Dentist Appointment

Riley went to the dentist for the very first time last month and did GREAT! He's even reminding US to floss his teeth every night now! The dentist said he's got great teeth, no cavities of course, and plenty of spacing for his permanent teeth when they come in. So, YAY Riley's teeth! LOL

Of course, we had to crazy with pictures!