Book List 2011

Bear with me, we'll get back to Christmas soon.  It's time for my annual book recap, if for no other reason than that's it's really easy for me to find when it's the last post each year.  Fifty-one books this year, although I must admit there was a lot of young adult, easy fiction read during this lap around the sun.

• Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit
• Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs
• Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon
• Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews
• In This Mountain by Jan Karon
• The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma
• Key of Valor by Nora Roberts
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts
• Key of Light by Nora Roberts
• Twisted by Sara Shepard
• The Island by Elin Hilderbrand
• Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
• A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
• Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
• A Common Life by Jan Karon
• The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
• Dune Road by Jane Green
• Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
• Princess: A true story about life behind the veil in Saudi Arabia
• A New Song by Jan Karon
• Summer by the sea by Susan Wiggs
• Amazing Gracie by Sherryl Woods
• Rising Tides by Emilie Richards
• Iron Lace by Emilie Richards
• Deja Vu by Fern Michaels
• Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
• Out to Canaan by Jan Karon
• The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil
• The Mitford Series Books 1-3
• The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
• Home Free by Fern Michaels
• Can't Wait to get to Heaven
• The Thirteeth Tale
• Living Dead in Dallas
• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
• Three Fates by Nora Roberts
• Pretty Little Liars 1-8 by Sara Shepard
• Angels Fall by Nora Roberts
• ...plus 3 I can't remember the titles of...

However, besides the countless children's books I read to Amelia each day, Seth and I have knocked out a bunch of chapter books this year, and I since I was the one doing the reading, they count, right?

Charlotte's Web (for the second time)

Stuart Little

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Pinocchio

Winnie the Pooh

The BFG

I think in 2012, I will keep a list of our bedtime books as well.  Might be fun to see what strikes our fancy in the year ahead!

Christmas Eve

Last week, it was confirmed that we would do Blackorby Christmas here, and not in Cary.  So I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning cleaning.  After one last quick trip to the grocery store, I spent the afternoon making sausage balls, homemade Chex mix, chili to put in the crock pot, corn dip, and fudge.  Once all that was done, it was time to go to church.  We took a family picture when we got home:

You can't tell it in the picture, but Amelia is wearing the same skirt (2T) from last year.  We had to safety pin it up last year, and this year it still fit.  I only spent $5 on the skirt to begin with.  Nice!  (Although the shirt and tights I got 50% off at Hartstrings, so I guess that makes is a $25 outfit...)

I had just cleaned up the kitchen post-chili dinner when my parents and Bryan arrived, loaded with gifts.  Perhaps the tree in the dining room wasn't such a great idea after all...

The kids stayed up until about 9, tracking Santa online, and left out reindeer food and cookies for Santa before they went to sleep:

The grown-ups stayed up way past my bedtime.  I was one tired girl the next day!

you know what they say about idle hands...

Which is exactly why, as it got closer to the holidays, we spent our evenings being crafty.  The kids made candy cane mice to give to their classmates and neighborhood friends:

Then they made snowmen out of milk jugs:

They also made reindeer root beer for part of Uncle B's present:

And finally, our tree topper.  We have had a pretty star since we got married.  Last year, our unreliable strings of lights burnt out, and we replaced them with LED lights.  The star and the lights didn't look right together.  The plan was to replace it this year.  I didn't see anything I really liked, and honestly, I didn't have a lot of time to make a grand search for one.  Last week, we decided to make our own!  We used a piece from an empty wrapping paper roll and cut the star out of whatever shipping box had arrived that day.  We bought silver (washable) paint, and the kids put two coats on each piece.  Then we sprinkled on the glitter and let it dry overnight.  The next morning, it was ready to top our tree!  

our Christmas card picture

Merry Christmas, from our house to yours!

school pictures

Amelia:  MWF 3's
Seth:  First Grade

dressed up with Santa

On Monday, Seth's class did a theatrical reading of "Arthur's Christmas".  Seth had the speaking parts of the father and Santa (along with the two boys on either side of him).  

 He didn't get to practice as much as the rest of the class, but he didn't let him nerves get the best of him.

Once he realized I was taking pictures, he covered his face.:

Silly boy!  Afterwards, the class did a craft and then had their holiday party.  Fun times in first grade!

hope he's not claustrophobic...

Cricket is back this year.  He is not a naughty elf, like some people have visiting in their homes, but he has been getting into some predicaments this year!  In fact, before I go to bed, I need to see if the poor guy is still hanging on for dear life to the closet door knob, or if he's already made his nightly trip to the North Pole to report in to Santa....

Christmas comes early

We celebrated Christmas Saturday morning in Kings Mountain. Here is a picture of the tree (complete with Seth photo-bomb...he was in rare form this weekend).  Note the presents sprawled across the floor...there was a whole lot of snooping going on before breakfast.

I took a lot of pictures of us opening gifts.  I need to make an album for Elise, since she couldn't make the trip.

We all have custom stockings made by Grandma Sarah.  The kaleidoscopes and flashlights they found in them were big hits!

Great-Granddaddy

Friday night we went to Forest City for the Mayse Christmas party.  It seems like all the natives under 5 feet tall were a little restless, but it was nice to see everyone again.  As the evening was winding down, I turned around and saw Seth talking with Great-Granddaddy.  I got out my camera and started snapping:

After a few minutes, someone else decided she needed some attention, too:

Then Seth ran off to play with his cousins, second cousins, and first-cousins-once removed, leaving Great-Granddaddy with an empty lap, but not for long!:

Christmas parade

On Sunday we headed to a Lewisville Christmas parade, to support our favorite Daisy troop.  The weather was much warmer than last year, which meant more spectators, but we still wiggled our way into front row seats.  The kids got a bunch on candy, and we saw our first snow of the year:

The reason why the parade was so long this year (over an hour) was that a lot of antique cars participated.  Seth told each one "Merry Christmas!" (probably a ploy to get more candy).  He asked me to take a picture of this one because he thought it looked like Tow Mater:

Post-parade began the latest van drama.  It wouldn't start. AAA came, started it, and said they thought it was the starter.  We dropped it off at Carmax right as they were closing (warranty).  Monday morning, they call me mid-morning to say it was under factory warranty and we have to take it to the dealership.  Ugh.  Luckily, it just needed a new (under warranty=free) battery, and I had my wheels back by the time Amelia was done with lunch bunch.  Never a dull moment around here!

party day

Last Saturday was a BUSY day.  We braved the mall as a family mid-morning, had some down time, and then it was time to PARTY.  The kids were invited to back-to-back parties.  One of Amelia's BFFs, Carley, turned four and had a Little Mermaid themed party, with a surprise visit by Ariel herself.  The girls made clothespin mermaids, got their faces (or hands) painted by Ariel, and trashed Carley's house.  

I left that party a little early (Amelia rode home with a neighbor), picked up Seth, and drove him to his party, Bennett's sixth birthday party at the bowling alley.  Bumper bowling, pizza, and cake.  It was great!  Bennett is a huge Panthers' fan, so Seth wore his jersey that night.  (Bennett had on an Angry Birds shirt, so they were both admiring each other's clothes, it was cute!)  Seth is sooo my kid, he was dancing to the overhead music the entire party:

 Bennett, Blair, Seth, and Case's first game:

breakfast with Santa Cow

A local family magazine hosts a "kids' day out" once a month.  This month was a breakfast at Chikfila.  I thought it would be packed, but the rain scared most people away.  We had breakfast, did crafts, and Amelia had a nice time playing with her buddy, Michelle.  Amelia donated a toy to charity, and we won a free Chikfila 2012 calendar.  She monopolized the Santa Cow's time.  A professional photographer took complimentary pictures with the cow.  If it ends up being good, I'll post it!

lefse

After church, my mom helped me make lefse.  Scratch that.  My mom peeled the potatoes, cooked the potatoes, rigged a way to rice the potatoes, mixed up the secret recipe, and rolled the potatoes.  I became the official cook/kitchen multi-tasker.  I tried to roll out some, but ended up saying bad words.  There were small children around.  I let my mom do the rolling.

I had forgotten how much Seth likes lefse.  He had some that afternoon, that night at dinner, and for breakfast the next morning.  I even let him have the last fresh piece.  Amelia likes it, but she isn't as excited about it as Seth is.  So if I don't get a new ricer for Christmas (hint hint for anybody who is still shopping!), I will go out after the holidays and buy one, and I promise I will try to make it one more time this winter.  Somebody hold me to it!  While we were baking, the guys were entertaining themselves with football and technology.  Here Seth is helping my dad with a project for work.  (I'm not kidding.)  And I'd bet Dad is playing Angry Birds on his phone.  :)

debuts

On the first Sunday of the month, the kids participated in our church's Christmas program.  Amelia made her theatrical debut as a sheep, and she knew the songs by heart and when her little sheep-y self was supposed to move during the play.

This was Seth's second year in the play, but his first year with a speaking part.  He did great!

(His part consisted of him answering the "Are we there yet?" question three times.)

Amelia's penguin hair clip came off and she clipped it to her costume.  Seth could have passed as Anakin Skywalker rather than Joseph.  And he was a squirmy worm.  At one point in time, he was leaning over so far that we thought for sure he'd fall and we'd have another video to send into AFV.  

They had a lot of fun practicing and performing with their friends.  After church, they celebrated with birthday cake for baby Jesus.  I'm so proud that neither one of them got stage fright!

at the red barn

Got ahead of myself again.  We went to the Festival of Lights on one of the throwback nights ($5, yippee!). The entire evening was a surprise to the kids.  We didn't go see the lights last year, so it was like Amelia was seeing them for the first time.  Halfway through the lights, we stopped at the red barn.  Inside there were all sorts of crafty gifts you could buy, and then outside there was a heated tent with Mr. and Mrs. Claus:

This was an extra-special surprise for Seth, because Santa is his teacher, who had just started back to work  part-time that week!

 The lights are going green, phasing out older displays for new LED ones.  We were impressed!

It was such a fun night.  It definitely started our holiday season off right.

Christmas card blooper reel

Last Friday we bought our Christmas tree.  At the lot, and at the house, and at church, I tried and tried and tried to get a decent picture for our Christmas card.  Here are the outtakes:

my latest craft project

I first saw this project a couple years ago online.  "Maybe next year" turned into "maybe this year"...I've really enjoyed making them, and I hope in the next year to make more to share (or sell)!

funny hats

Oh, the things you can find when you dig deep enough in the closets!  The sombrero was a big hit!

 And Eric just might join a jug band!

We had a great time with the cousins!

comfy storage unit

Nathan's parents were also ready to part with some furniture.  The guys loaded a small moving truck while Elise and I expertly (if I do say so myself) loaded our cars.  Seth adopted Nathan's old Pound Puppy, "Brown Frown".

I give up trying to get a decent picture of these three:

We are now baby-sitting the dining room set.  It is officially Elise's, but we are taking care of it until she has enough space. 



packed to the gills

The time has come to start taking all the childhood momentos out of Nathan's parents' house and let them find a home in our respective closets/attics/basements.  When we left on Saturday, this is what the back of the van looked like:

This is what the back of Elise's car looked like:

There was room for the ride home, but just barely!