Books in Review 2010

If this annual post drives you nuts, please disregard.  Here is my book list for 2010:

Ape House by Sara Gruen
Swimsuit by Patterson and Paetro
The First Love Cookie Club by Lori Wilde
The Christmas Passage by Saperstein and Samerjan
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber
Resistance by Anita Shreve
Cross Roads by Fern Michaels
Made in the USA by Billie Letts
Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
South of Broad by Pat Conroy
Fortunate Harbor by Emilie Richards
Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult
Mommy by Mistake by Rowan Coleman
Right as Rain by Bev Marshall
Happiness Key by Emilie Richards
The Shack by William Paul Young
Game Over by Fern Michaels
Mending Fences by Sherryl Woods
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Dear Emily by Fern Michaels
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Dairy Queen Days by Robert Inman
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Deadly Deals by Fern Michaels
White Hot by Sandra Brown
The Land of Mango Sunsets by Dorothea Benton Frank
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Scoop by Fern Michaels
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Lucky Man by Michael J Fox
Vanishing Act by Fern Michaels
Trouble in High Heels by Christina Dodd
Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons
In Memory of Junior by Clyde Edgerton
Razor Sharp by Fern Michaels
Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen
Stand-In Groom by Suzanne Brockman
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
About Face by Fern Michaels
Where or When by Anita Shreve
Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
the green book
Land of the Living by Nicci French
Pawleys Island by Dorothea Benton Frank
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Fifty-four books, which is funny, since I feel like I have less time to read than I used to.  A vast majority of the books are still loaners, and I've decided to start donating the books that don't consign to a local do-good organization.  My hunch last year was wrong; I have not gone broke buying books at Costco.  It's the consignment shop that has done me in!  I manage accounts for my mom, Nathan's mom, and myself, so sometimes I'm there on a weekly basis.  I am drawn to the 75% off book rack every time I go in.  At the time, I cannot walk away from a book I've been wanting to read for less than $2.  I rationalize it in my head, that it's definitely worth it if I read it, and then maybe loan it out before reconsigning it.  But truth be told, I need another book like I need in a hole in my head.  What can I say...I love books!

creative advertising...

...or wishful thinking?

This is Amelia's present for us she made at preschool.  Nathan says it is going in her wedding video.  I just want to know how they made her look so sweet?  She has had a, um, fiesty personality this month.  Yes, we'll call it fiesty.  :)

playing in the white stuff

Of course we played in the snow Sunday...you never know how long it's going to stick around around here!  I've tried to only put unique pictures on this time...you know I'll have the same coat for a decade or more, Amelia has the same hat, mittens, and snowpants as last year, and Seth still fits in last year's coat.  Our house looks the same...anyways, here we are buddled up and ready to play!

Someone plowed the top part of our driveway (still haven't figured out who), which was nice, but took away the speedy area of our sledding run.  Seth really wanted to make a snowman, but the snow wasn't cooperating.  It was perfect to pack into beach pails and make a snow fort, though!

And then, one of our favorite things to do in the snow, play on the swingset!  Our swingset is in a very shady area near a creek, so it gets super muggy/buggy in the summer and takes a long time for the ground to dry out after a rain.  But when you're wearing snowpants and boots, it doesn't really matter, does it?

Seth noticed this as we were cleaning up...if it has happened before, I don't remember it!

I looked out the front door Sunday afternoon, and thought this was really pretty:

Monday afternoon, we took a family trip to the YMCA.  I did make it up the driveway, and we ran errands in the morning and then went to see Tangled after lunch.  Cute movie!  I think I know what theme Amelia will want for her birthday party now!

WHITE CHRISTMAS 2010!

Here they are, all dolled up for Christmas Eve service:

We tried to keep the kids up late, but Seth went to bed kind of early.  Amelia woke up at 1am, worried about whether she had any presents or not, because she has received a video from Santa telling her she was on naughty watch.  I told her Santa hadn't come yet, and it was about 6:45 before we heard from her.  Seth woke up a little after 7.  I'm sure next year will be a much earlier morning.  Here are our gifts from Santa:

 And our Christmas tree:

It started snowing around lunchtime, and after lunch we headed to Cary to celebrate with my side of the family.  My parents put up their little tree this year, because originally the plan was to meet at our house.  Last week the plans changed, but it doesn't really matter the size of the tree, does it?

We brought all our reindeer antlers and hats, and the kids passed them out before we started opening presents.  I had the grand idea to take a group picture.  I think it turned out pretty good!

Seth and Amelia's new overalls, straight from Marvin Windows in Warroad, MN:

The snow finally caught up with us Saturday night.  We woke up to a white...day after Christmas.  Here is the view out the front door...

 ..and the back. 

The roads weren't great for the first three counties, but we made it home safely Sunday.  We had two exhausted kids in the car, and our portable DVD player bit the dust, but the ride home was much better than it could have been.  Our roads were perfect, but the refreeze has made things a little tricky.  I'm going to attempt to run some errands right now...if I can make it up the driveway!

in the cheap seats

One day at the Y, I saw a promotion for $4 tickets to the Wake Forest-Presbyterian game.  The Johnstons came with us, and we had a great time!  Evan and Amelia, pre-game:

 Ryan and Seth (Seth has ANOTHER left ear infection, hence the peakedness):

Will and his flashy shirt:

We met for dinner before the game, so our only purchase was ice cream at half-time.  Most of us picked Wake Wacko cookies and cream (which looks like Amelia's shirt), but Nathan and Will got chocolate.  (And Wake Forest lost to Presbyterian, a team L-R used to play, by 2 points.  The end.)

RC/KM Christmas

Friday morning was busy, as I tried to get us organized for an overnight trip in time to celebrate with my coworkers for lunch and be the mystery reader at Seth's class (For the record, the kindergarteners want me to bring a longer book next time).  I came home, we loaded up the car, and picked Seth up from school.  We ran into a little bit of traffic, and made it to Nathan's parents' house in time to unload the car, finish cooking my casserole in the oven, and get dressed up.  Then we were back in the car...destination, Rutherford County, NC.  I love driving through downtown Forest City:

The last time we went to the Mayse Christmas party, Seth was 18 months old.  There were a lot of new little ones in the group!  Nathan's dad showed me a picture he has in his wallet of his grandparents.  Everyone at the party was related to them (or married in).  It was a BIG group.  My camera didn't like the lighting in the building, and it was having a hard time focusing on Elise escaping from the picture at last minute, but here is the latest picture of the six grandkids:

I put Amelia in her pajamas for the ride back, but Evan rode home with us, so there was a whole lot of giggling, singing, "Pinky Dinky Doo"-ing, and ABC game playing...the kids had a blast.  Amelia still loves her Evan.  In fact, the kids paired up this time:  Evan and Amelia, the kindergarteners, and Will and Brian.  Any other babies have to come in pairs, ha!  They slept fast and were up early, ready to open presents (and disappointed that EVERYONE had to be awake and EVERYONE had to eat breakfast before we would do Christmas).  Festive Will:

We opened presents in our pj's.  We do a name drawing for the adults, so the kids get to open presents much longer than the adults.  This year was the year of board games.  No one should be complaining their bored any time soon!  Later in the morning, we had a surprise snow!  The kids went out just long enough to get a picture, I promise!

One of Seth's gifts was Guess Who?  Nathan loves this game.  I came around the corner once to see him playing against Eric.  Hilarious!

Today was just a normal Sunday around here...Sunday School, errands, Christmas shows, Guess Who and more Guess Who...let the holiday break begin!

brrr

I will try not to whine too much, as my Minnesota cousins experienced one heck of a blizzard about the time in started to get ridiculously cold here.  As in "this is the coldest December we have had in almost 100 years" cold.  I can't remember the last time the kids got to play outside at school.  Seth wears a hat and gloves every day to school, and they don't even let the kids sit outside during dismissal.  I think I took this picture Wednesday morning: 

BBRRR.  Our first "wintry mix" came Thursday morning.  There is always a lot of drama with "wintry mixes".  It could be bad; it could be nothing.  I was a little annoyed when they cancelled school at 9pm the night before.  It wasn't supposed to start raining/snowing/sleeting/whatever until 3am!  It was a yucky day, and I'm sure it was probably safer that they cancelled school, but they could have waited until Thursday morning to do so.  Anyways, the kids and I enjoyed our morning watching cartoons, baking cookies, playing board games, and reading books.  Nathan has been working half days for the past week, and he said the roads weren't bad on his way to/from work.  I didn't want to cook, so we went to IHOP.  You should see Seth eat pancakes at IHOP.  It's impressive!  Friday school was on a 2-hour delay, which was probably smart.  Our driveway was a little slick, but that's it.  And it was our last day of school, so I'm glad we got it in!

Wild Thing, Part 2

There was a reason Seth had Wild Things on the brain earlier in the year.  He has art class every Monday, and for several weeks straight, the kindergarteners worked on their Wild Things.  They have been on display all over the school, and Seth brought his home this week. 



2's Christmas party

Tuesday morning Amelia's class had their Christmas party (and good thing, too, since school was cancelled today!).  In the 2's class, they keep parties simple, and two other moms and I were responsible for snack.  I'm pretty sure none of the kids needed lunch, because we had cookies, cheese, fruit, pretzels, and juice boxes!  Amelia wore her cute reindeer dress and insisted on wearing her reindeer antlers in the car.  I was sure her teachers would make her take them off.  Nope.  She wore them all morning.  If you look closely, you can see her hairbow attached to her right antler.  It was fun!  Wish the parents could come to every party, but there just isn't room!



supporting the ladies

Sunday afternoon, Lewisville held its annual Christmas parade.  We have never gone before, but we had a few little reasons to go this year.  The weather was yucky that morning, but the rain stopped, and it was comfortable enough in coats to watch a parade.

Most of the participants were local churches or civic groups.  Almost everyone threw candy!  We came home with a bag full of candy, a pair of gloves, a puzzle, two teddy bears, and two plastic footballs.  Here is a pig from our vet's group...

 ...some very festive-looking sheep...

 ...and the little reasons we came to the parade!  Most of Seth's little girlfriends have started Girl Scouts this fall.  This was their float.  I love these girls!

 And last but not least, Santa! 

I forgot to mention in the last post...when we left the theater Sunday night it was snowing!  Two snows so far with no accumulation or delays or school closings, I'll take it!  More weather coming our way soon, hopefully it won't mess up any of our holiday plans!

our overzealous angel

Sunday was our Children's Christmas Play.  Our church hasn't had one in several years, so it was kept simple...a handful of older kids narrating from a script, the younger kids singing the first verse of hymns throughout.  Before the play, the kids played two songs with the handchimes.  Seth was REALLY into it.  AFV, here we come!

Other things to note:

• This is our 700th post.  Thanks for stickin' around with us.
• Seth had an ear infection last week, and weighed in at 40.6 lbs at the doctor's office.  He immediately told me it was time to remove the back off his booster.
• Sunday was the 10th anniversary of the night Nathan proposed.  Saturday we called one of our sitters and she was able to come over Sunday night so we could go see Harry Potter.  That's about as impromptu of a date as we'll ever get!

snuggles with Santa and Mrs. Claus

Here is our 2010 picture with Santa, from the holiday bazaar at Seth's school last month!  Seth told Santa he wanted ZhuZhu pets, Transformers, and a checkboard.  Amelia asked for ZhuZhu pets and a dollhouse.

we'll try again next year...

I thought it would be fun to make a gingerbread house this year.  Then I started hearing horror stories about other friends' attempts.  Amelia was watching a movie with Nathan last night, and Seth needed something to do (his teacher is out of town, and I can tell his brain hasn't been stimulated as much as usual).  I cracked out the gingerbread house kit.  Four walls up?  Piece of cake.

Roof added?  Check.  We put on some reindeer antlers and took silly pictures while we waited for the house to set.

And then we started decorating.  Amelia can smell out candy a mile away, and suddenly we had another helper.  She was in charge of decorating the tree and people, and she did a really good job.

Seth got bored of decorating, but there was still candy left, so Amelia wanted to keep decorating.  It wasn't perfect, but the kids had made it, and it was a fun change to our evening routine.  I went upstairs to get one thing.  I don't even remember what it was.  I didn't go on the computer.  I didn't switch out a load of laundry.  I was gone 30 seconds, tops.  Someone had started eating her handiwork.  There was about an inch space between the two sections of roof.  It was probably salvagable.  And then...

I gave up.  I didn't even try to fix it, because I decided it would just be a constant struggle trying to keep Amelia from eating stale icing and candy.  It is in the trash.  We will try again next year. 

First Snow!

Saturday morning we headed into town to run in the Mistletoe 5k.  I had been asked to be a run volunteer for Girls on the Run, which at the time seemed like a really good idea, since I haven't been running and I had bumped my knee Friday night.  I was asked to run with a 5th grader who supposedly could run the whole thing.  She started out to fast and the cold got to her lungs.  We finished in 40:30.  We'll just call it my good deed for the weekend.  Nathan had an awesome run and placed 23rd overall (out of 1425!). 

We came home, warmed up, and I made my grocery list.  Both kids wanted to go with me to make sure I bought chocolate for our Advent houses (see our mantle in the last post).  All of the sudden, the grocery store got nuts.  Want to know why?  It was snowing!  We were supposed to just get some flurries, but it actually started to stick, at least enough for the kids to test out their boots on the deck!

Winston got more snow than we did, so church cancelled play rehearsal.  Amelia didn't nap, so it was a LONG evening.  Sunday was a much better day!  We went to church, made sausage balls, and the boys put up the outside decorations while Amelia and I braved Target for a good deal we saw in the sale flyer.  I am so spoiled that I normally get to go to Target on weekday mornings!  What chaos!

Advent

We are waiting...and enjoying the holiday season as we wait.  Ms. Trena gave us a Jacquie Lawson Advent calendar that we installed on the computer, and the kids eagerly await when I let them click on their ornament for the day.  Seth's class went on a field trip to the Children's Theatre Friday to see A Christmas Carol.  They rode the school bus all the way into town.  It was Seth's first time on a bus.  Agh!  (He did fine.  Mommy, on the other hand, was a huge worrywart all day.  First time on the bus and on the interstate to boot!)  Friday afternoon, we bought our Christmas tree.  This picture was a misfire, but I think it turned out kind of neat.

I hadn't planned on bringing my camera, but Seth asked me to, so I could take their pictures in front of all the inflatables:

Here is the finished product.  We have upgraded to LED lights on the tree.  I am actually going to recycle our old lights as soon as I finish this post.  Nathan added garland to the mantle this year.  If you look very closely, you can see Cricket, our elf, in front of one of the houses:

Seth made this bell at school.  Each night he is to tear off a ring, and when he reaches the top, it will be Christmas Eve!

I haven't started cards, or baking, but I have made a good dent in the shopping!  :)

Turkey Time!

I am not a good patient.  By Tuesday night, I was ready for stronger antibiotics.  I ended up settling for the strongest behind-the-counter generic Sudafed they had in stock, and an old school Minnesota remedy.  I woke up without a fever for the first time in four days, and mid-morning we made our way down to Kings Mountain, with a detour in Charlotte to pick up race packets. 

Seth continued his tradition of making placecards...this year he decided to rainbow write them and make a pseudo-graph based on the number of letters in each name.  He was tickled that his group was the biggest!

The guys ran the Turkey Trot in the rain...this turkey was more than happy to sit on the couch and watch the children.  Nathan's grandparents joined us again this year, and it was great to see them again.  Here is a picture of our celebration, from Grandma Sarah's end of the table:

Elise asked me to take some pictures for her.  Brian has learned how to wink and thought it was hilarious to do it every time I picked up the camera.  What a ham!

The natives were a little restless, so we had some outside time.  There were several boisterous games of jump the creek.  Seth would monopolize the rope swing when he got out of the game:

The oldest and the youngest:  best buds.  Amelia even tried to sleep in the tent with Evan Thursday night.  Since I was getting up at 4am to go shopping, I didn't want to test it out that night. 

one little...two little...

Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids off at school and spent the rest of the day on the couch.  While I was resting, the kids enjoyed their class Thanksgiving feasts.  Seth's class made Native American garb out of old pillowcases:

My two little noisy Indians!

Holiday Bazaar

The PTA hosted a holiday bazaar last Saturday.  I bought the cutest reindeer hairbow for Amelia.  Anyways, Nathan volunteered to spend an hour bagging up popcorn for the movie room.  I don't think he'll eat popcorn again any time soon.  While he was doing that, I took the kids to storytime with Santa and Mrs. Claus.  Santa is actually one of the teachers...Seth talked to him while he was still in street clothes, but didn't make the connection once he was dressed up! 

The kids had their pictures taken with the couple by a photographer there...I'm very hopeful that this year we have a fantastic Santa picture!