Books in Review 2009

Bear with me people, it's time for me to immortalize what I've read this year.  Forty-eight books in 2009.  Some of them have been easy reads, but there has been some excellent fiction (and non-fiction!) mixed in.  I read through several series this year.  I have read through as much of Fern Michael's Sisterhood series as my mom has loaned me (13 so far).  I read the four books of the Twilight saga (I, too, was doubtful.  Nathan and I both loved the books.  Give them a try!).  If the holidays hadn't gotten in the way, I would be finished with HP7.  Don't tell me how it ends!  Like last year, I have either passed along or consigned every book I've read.  This year 35 were loaners, nine I received as gifts either last Christmas or for my birthday, two Nathan purchased and I read after he finished them, and two I bought (which may happen more frequently now that I have a Costco membership!  It is terribly tempting to walk through the book section!).

2009 Book List

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs
Mistletoe Bay by Marcia Evanick
The Christmas Pearl by Dorothea Benton Frank
Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber
Deception by Denise Mina
Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Under the Radar by Fern Michaels
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Final Justice by Fern Michaels
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
Collateral Damage by Fern Michaels
The Switch by Sandra Brown
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Fast Track by Fern Michaels
Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope
Hokus Pokus by Fern Michaels
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Full of Grace by Dorothea Benton Frank
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Hide and Seek by Fern Michaels
Free Fall by Fern Michaels
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Wedding Game by Jane Feather
Lethal Justice by Fern Michaels
Sweet Revenge by Fern Michaels
Jude's Law by Lori Foster
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Thursdays at Eight by Debbie Macomber
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
Beach Girls by Luanne Rice
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
The Jury by Fern Michaels
Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist
Vendetta by Fern Michaels
Payback by Fern Michaels
Weekend Warriors by Fern Michaels
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
The Accidental Mother by Rowan Coleman
Sundays at Tiffany's by Patterson/Charbonnet
Meant to Be by Edie Claire
Multiple Blessings (Jon&Kate Plus 8...)
Wonderful You by Marian Stewart
The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman
Shem Creek by Dorothea Benton Frank
All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve

I will continue my list in 2010.  In addition, Nathan and I plan to try to read two books that are in day-by-day format, The American Patriot's Almanac and The Runner's Book of Daily Inspiration.  It's not a resolution, per se, to read these, but it would be so nice to be able to read/discuss things at the same time, rather than having to wait for the other one like we usually do.

Amelia @ 22 months

Yes, another month has rolled by and Amelia is now 22 months old.  She was quite chatty on the 28th.  Here is some video:

Yes, she is a big girl.  We converted her crib to a toddler bed on Sunday because she had started boycotting her naps.  So far, so good.  She occasionally rolls out, but most of her screams have been because something else has fallen out of the bed; I don't think she's quite got the whole freedom thing figured out yet (fine by me).  She loves that Seth can sit in her bed now to read books.  Two bookworms, I love it!

Christmas 2009

This year, it worked out best to have the Blackorby get-together in Clemmons.  We took the kids to the children's Christmas Eve service, and when we got home, Bryan was in the basement wrapping presents.  My parents arrived a little bit later, and the Beerys arrived late that night.  This is what we woke up to Christmas morning:

My parents got the kids matching recliners.  Seth loves his because it is like "Grandad's chair".  The grown-ups tend to use them as footrests, though I can fit in them.

There was a definite theme to some of the gifts this year, Nathan received lots of running/triathlon stuff, and Bryan, Michael and I all got running gear:

We were so proud of Seth for wanting Amelia to have a good Christmas that we bought him the "dragon castle" that he had on his list:

It's official.  Amelia can STILL make Bryan and Michael do whatever she wants them to:

My parents think this is the first time we've all been in the same place since last Christmas.  And we haven't taken a sibling picture in a couple years (look how dark Bryan's hair is these days!):

Everyone left Saturday evening...the Beerys have to work on Sundays, you know, and I guess the rest of them were just tired of us.  Just kidding! 

some assembly required

We did not pre-assemble any gifts this year, so the guys had some projects to do on Christmas day.  The Lego table?  Piece of cake.  (The top flips over to be a regular table.  Hours of use already.)

A little bit later, Amelia's bookshelf from Seth.  Didn't come with directions.  The only snafu was that while Nathan, Dad, and Mom were working on it, sneaky Amelia colored all over one side of it with a Sharpie.  Thank you, Magic Eraser for getting that out!

And finally, the little kitchen we got Amelia.  This one said "adult assembly required".  It took Nathan, my dad, and Michael a good part of the afternoon to get this one together.  I should have documented the process.  It was impressive.

Thanks guys, for all your hard work!

dining room upgrade

Nathan took the week before Christmas off of work.  The combination of having too much free time and wanting our place to look nice for company made him decide to upgrade the dining room on the 22nd.  This is our kitchen table with the leaf in it, but the rug and painting are new.  He got so many compliments from my parents that I'm pretty sure I'm not getting my table back in the kitchen any time soon!

baby it's cold outside...

Last Sunday night Nathan and I went to the Panthers-Vikings game in Charlotte.  First, we dropped the kids off in Cary.  Then we drove to Charlotte and went out to dinner with Nathan's parents.  After the game, we spent the night at Nathan's parents' condo and headed home in the morning.  Nathan went to the dentist, and then I drove back to Cary to pick the kids up.  It was an exhausting two days, but totally worth it.  We had a great date night, and the kids had a lot of fun with Gram and Pops!

I love age 4

...especially when it's my Seth. He is turning from a little guy to a boy right before our eyes. He loves building, drawing, other craft projects, working on his letters, computer games, and Wii. Four has been much more pleasant than three was (forget the terrible twos, three was rough around here!). He is very respectful and takes very good care of his sister. In the video his teachers gave us, Seth was the only one who mentioned his sister, and he was so busy telling her what he wanted Amelia to get for Christmas, she could barely get him to tell what he wanted! He is doing a very good job of entertaining himself (and us) during his holiday break.

I wonder what he has in store for the second half of his fourth year?

early Christmas present

I'm fairly certain we've never had a snow this close to Christmas in the sixteen years I have lived in NC.  Nathan has never had a white Christmas.  Considering how the world shuts down around here with snow, it's probably better to enjoy the snow now and to be able to travel later.  The dreaded wintery mix had started by the time I picked Seth up from school on Friday.  His buddy, Nickolas, came over to play for a couple hours, and then I sent Seth up for quiet time.  He came down looking like this, even though the grass was barely covered:

We played out in the snow (3 or 4 inches) Friday night, but it was too dark to take pictures.  At 3am, we had about five inches of snow.  How do we know?  Because one of our heating units outside got clogged up by the snow, our bedroom started to fill up with the smoke and the smoke detector woke us up.  So Nathan had to go outside and clean that off in the middle of the night.  By daylight, we had over six inches, and it was beautiful:

Both our driveway and our backyard make decent sledding hills:

On a whim, I took some stuff to the consignment shop on Thursday.  While I was there, I found boots and snowpants for Amelia, it was meant to be!

The kids may have liked playing on the snowy swingset more than they liked sledding, but that's okay...we have had more outside time in the past two days than we've had in the past few weeks, it's been so rainy lately!

Yes, I know his mittens are supposed to go through the sleeves, but I couldn't get Seth to put them the right way (when we went out yesterday afternoon, he insisted on putting his bibs OVER his coat!):

By the way, those mittens are vintage.  My Great-Grandma Mattson (Grammy Gram's mom) made them for me when I was Seth's age.  And of course, our snow dog had a great day:

Seth and Nathan made Frizzy, the snowman.  After seeing my friends' snowman pictures on Facebook, I'm pretty sure we win the ugliest snowman award...

Dear Santa...

...please don't take it personal.  Amelia never smiles when put in front of a professional camera. 

warm fuzzies from preschool

Thursday was Seth's Christmas party at school.  The moms in charge made it a pajama party, and went above and beyond with the crafts and goodies.  Seth wore his Madagascar Christmas pajamas:

The preschool normally does a Christmas program, but there was not one this year, due to the size of the church at the temporary location.   Seth's teachers made us an awesome gift this year.  (They seem to be a little more computer-savy than your average preschool teacher.)  They made DVDs for each family.  Each child was interviewed individually about what they wanted for Christmas and asked to sing their favorite holiday tune.  Then they filmed some classroom time and two music sessions so we could hear the kids singing their Christmas songs.  The four of us smiled throughout the video; it is a priceless keepsake.  What a nice way to start the holidays!

Bennett is 4!

Saturday we celebrated Bennett's fourth birthday at Funigans.  Here is a picture of the birthday boy and his Thomas cake:

It is much more relaxing to enjoy the party with your kids than to be the one running the show.  We had a great time accumulating tickets from all the games, and look who is big enough to go through the entire soft play area by herself:

Seth led her through it multiple times.  He is such a good brother.  And Amelia is so brave, she never once got scared (I was prepared to have to go up there when she made it to the top....it's probably a good 20-25 feet in the air). 

"last" week

Last week was L week at preschool, as well as learning about other holiday traditions.  Tuesday night we went to the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood.  This was before I let Amelia escape from her carseat:

After the lights, we realized poor Seth had a silent ear infection when his ear drum ruptured.  Wednesday we went to the doctor, he slept the day away, and after a couple doses of antibiotics, he felt like himself again. 

We are tired of Amelia's hair always looking like it does in the first picture, but last week we discovered that it is possible to make true pigtails...the trick is distracting her in the car so she doesn't pull them out!

Being sick hasn't dampened Seth's holiday spirit.  Last week he made red and green rings that we have around the fireplace. Saturday, he helped me make gingerbread from scratch, and Sunday we decorated the gingerbread man.  Seth's Sunday School class also talked about the star Chrismon in church yesterday (well, another mom talked, the kids just held up stars they had made).

Introducing...Cricket!

Cricket is our newest holiday tradition.  Have you heard of Elf of the Shelf?  I never bought into the hype, but bought it from my mom's store after the holidays last year (because I was willing to try it on sale with mom's discount).  You name your elf and the magic begins.  The kids are allowed to talk to their elf, but they can't touch it.  Every night the elf goes to the North Pole to tell Santa about the kids, and finds a new perch when he comes back.  Today he is near the top of our Christmas tree.  Seth has a blast trying to find Cricket every morning.  And you should see how clean his room is!

Mistletoe 5k

It was bound to happen.  Eventually we were going to run into bad weather with all these races we are doing.   Saturday's forecast was a high of 41 degrees and a 90 percent change of rain.  Friday we went to pick up our packets and manuveured our way through Nathan's route the best we could, ate an early dinner at the Olive Garden, and went to Dicks to get some nasty weather running apparel.  We woke up Saturday morning and almost stayed home.  I figured I wouldn't melt in three miles, but Nathan decided to run the 5k with me, instead of the half marathon like he had originally planned.  It was another hilly route, this time through the West End/Buena Vista area of town.  It was cold, the street was wet, and it sprinkled for the entire run. 

I must have wanted to get out of the rain, because I had my best run yet.  I finished in 28:20, a full four minutes and change better than my first 5k.  I wish everyone could have seen the shock on Nathan's face as I approached the finish.  I placed 10th in my age group and 217/901 overall.  Nathan finished in under 22 minutes, and that was after starting in the middle of the pack with me and having to weave his way through all the slower runners.  He placed third in his age group and 42nd overall.

What about the kids?  The YMCA offered free childcare for participants.  Amelia played in the nursery, Seth got to play in the gym where they had two inflatable climbers/slides for the "big" kids.  In the brief time he was there, it sounds like he played, saw Santa, and had a smoothie...talk about an action-packed hour!

Moravian Tea Field Trip

Seth's class attended a Moravian candle tea Friday for their holiday field trip. After waiting thirty minutes to start the program, the poor kids had to sit through six different programs (an introduction in the church's sanctuary, a room about how Moravian cookies were made, a room about candlemaking, a room about the Moravian star, a room about the tinsmith, and a room about the putz...I have linked some of these if you would like to learn something new today!) before we were each treated to two Moravian cookies and a glass of lemonade. Nathan stayed home with Amelia because siblings weren't allowed this time. Good thing! It was hard enough to get the four-year-olds to sit still!

Waiting for our turn to go in:

Enjoy the song!

our tough cookie

Amelia turned 21 months old Saturday.  Bless her heart, she's had a rough month.  A couple weeks ago, she had an non-pink-eye eye infection.  It appeared on a Friday, and of course the doctor wanted me to watch it over the weekend, so she was a boogie-eyed mess by Monday morning.  It was the first time she had to go on antibiotics.  She loved drinking the stuff and did very well with the eye drops. 

She has finally taken an interest in all the development toys the pre-verbal version of Seth had mastered by this age.  But once she sat down to do a puzzle, she figured them out quickly.  A whole new world of play has opened up for her, and at times it can be dangerous.  The booboo on her nose is from faceplanting into a Lego:

Most of the time she talks in fragmented sentences, and she'll address who she wants to talk to.  Monday evening she suddenly spiked  a very high fever and she was able to tell me that she didn't feel good.  Other than the fever, that likes to hang around 101 even with medicine, she is in good spirits, so we've enjoyed some quiet time at the house, and I've been doing the whole Clorox-Lysol-laundry thing when she's asleep.  She'll even tell me when the fever comes back... "mommy, I need med-sin".  She has been singing a lot in the car.  She usually knows the first couple of lines, then sings in "Millinese" (the official undecipherable language of Amelia) in the right tune.  Most days she can sing the alphabet, except she forgets "wxyz".

Once the initial novelty of ornaments wore off, she's been very good with the Christmas tree.  I haven't finished shopping yet, so there are no presents under it to tempt her yet!

Thanksgiving 2009

It was a Kings Mountain year for Thanksgiving.  And oh, what a trip it was!  We left Wednesday, with detours to a Chikfila for lunch and to a Bojangles for race packet pick-up.  Yes, Nathan talked me, Chad, and his dad into running the Charlotte Turkey Trot (8k) with him.  Well, not exactly with him.  Nathan is way faster than the rest of us.  I had an "ideal" run, and I bumped into a high school friend right before the race, so bonus points for that.  Back in Kings Mountain, Nathan's mom and Elise were holding down the fort and preparing our feast.  The Johnstons had arrived before we got back, Grandmommy and Granddaddy got there while I was waiting for a shower, and Margaret and Tony (Nathan's aunt and uncle) arrived once I was clean.  Seth made placecards so everyone would know where to sit:

Here I am with my three blonds:

Baby Brian met his great-grandparents for the first time.  This is the second staged picture of all six of them...I think it was easier in June!

Friday morning Elise and I left the house at 4:30 for some Black Friday shopping.  We got some great deals and didn't break our piggy banks.  I took a nap on the ride home and really didn't feel too bad from my busy two days!

Saturday my parents, Bryan, and his girlfriend came over for a visit.  Seth had wanted to build a birdhouse, thanks to Caillou.  Luckily, we have connections.  I hear Seth was really helpful while the other two bickered over the directions (in case you don't recognize him, that's Bryan on the left, with hair!):

Sunday morning we went to church, but there was no nursery attendant, so during the second half of the service Nathan and I took turns entertaining Amelia outside.  It was the kickoff to the Heifer project, so there were livestock in the fellowship hall, the kids got a kick of seeing real animals at church! 

We got our Christmas tree Sunday afternoon, and we spent most of the evening putting up decorations.  It looks like the leaning tower of Pisa today, so I'll have to post pictures of it later.

leaf pick-up had better be this week

Nathan, Seth, and I spent naptime today raking up the backyard.  We didn't get it all done this time around, but here's an idea of how many leaves we had in the back:

Nathan then carried them up to the top of the yard in a tarp, with Seth taunting him that he looked like a duck, or a turtle, or Santa the whole time.  Leaf collection is supposed to be this week, but we aren't sure because of the holiday.  It's nice to have that out of the way, but I could think of other things I would have rather done this afternoon!

UPDATE:  Leaves picked up today (Tuesday)!  Hurray!

following along with the theme of the week...

...Seth's buddy, Case, had a Mickey Mouse themed birthday party Saturday.  It was a beautiful day, and the kids had a great time playing together.  One of the PICU nurses did a fantastic job making the cake:

Here are the boys together:

Animal Kingdom

We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom Tuesday.  Nathan had heard that we should do the safari ride first to avoid long lines, which we did.  I think you can see one of the other cars in the background of this picture.  It was really neat to see the animals up close.

This is the famed "Tree of Life".  There are beautiful animal carvings in it, and in the base, you can watch a hilarious 3D (4D?) show called "It's Tough to be a Bug".

Seth was tall enough to go on the river rapids ride (you know, the kind where you sit on a round raft)...they looked like drowned rats afterwards!  No one else in the thirty minutes I waited for them was that wet, they must have just gotten lucky, ha!

I did have a change of clothes for Seth, and luckily it was 80 degrees so Nathan dried out fairly quickly.  Nathan and I had never been to Animal Kingdom, and we really enjoyed it.  We would definitely go back again!  We missed a Finding Nemo musical, but otherwise had done everything we wanted to do by 3:30.  Amelia was asleep before we made it out of the Disney vicinity; Seth was engrossed in a monkey sticker book for almost two hours. 

Storytime with Snow White

Another perk of the AAA package was that we could sign up for storytime with a character.  Snow White read a story about how she spends her days:

Snow White didn't want to cause a stampede when it was time for pictures, so first she had the kids parade around the room with her in a line.  She picked Amelia to be her line leader.  Amelia held Snow White's hand and then snuggled her during autograph time.  I think Snow White wanted to keep her!  Seth was either shy or jealous, because he didn't want to get near Snow White, but he told her all sorts of things from across the room.  When our turn was over, Snow White gave Amelia a big kiss on the cheek, so she had lipstick on her cheek for the rest of the night.  So cute!

What a bunch of characters!

When I was a kid, you could just walk up to the Disney characters.  Not today.  You wait in long lines to meet the main ones, and even the less famous ones have their own lines and bodyguards!  But Seth had his little autograph book, and he was determined to get autographs.  We waited at least 30 minutes Monday to meet Mickey and Minnie, but we weren't rushed when it was our turn, and the kids really did enjoy it.

We found Chip and Dale hiding in a corner when we were leaving for nap:

Sunday, Pluto went on break while Seth was waiting in line.  So we HAD to try again the next day.

It is WAY easier to meet the characters at Animal Kingdom.  The main characters have their own greeting area, and you run into the others as you mosey around the park.  Donald, he was pretty tricky...he wouldn't let Seth have his autograph book back!

I interrupt this Disney recap...

...to officially welcome Madeleine Rose to the world!  My oldest, dearest friend, Stephanie, gave birth to her first child yesterday.   I have named myself an honorary aunt, as Stephanie is an only child.  Mom and baby are doing fantastic!  I can't wait to meet her (after flu season is over.  The nurse in me will follow hospital policy:  no visitors under the age of 18, and you know I rarely travel solo!)

Magic Kingdom

We spent last Sunday AND Monday at the Magic Kingdom.  Another thing I didn't remember from my youth...if you get to the park about 15 minutes before it opens, you are treated to a little show where the characters ride in on a train.  We saw it both days! 

The kids seemed to like the outdoor rides (the tea cups, racecars, etc) better than say, Snow White or Winnie the Pooh.  And yes, we even took them on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.  Amelia loved Dumbo (aka "elephants").

The kids both loved "It's a Small World".   Seth liked Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse and Tom Sawyer's Island (he said he was "hunting", not hiking).  And it gave us a chance to act like kids again:

The lines weren't terrible, Peter Pan was the only bad one.  Seth was tall enough for Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain, but no point in encouraging a love of rollercoasters, right? 

Disney after dark

Saturday we got settled in the cabin and took a bus to Downtown Disney.  I wish we would have had more time to explore; we only made it about halfway across it before it was time to call it a night.  We went shopping at the world's largest Disney store while we waited for a table for dinner, but we really just got what we knew we wanted and didn't explore too much.  We ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, which has animated animals throughout the restaurant, as well as a "thunderstorm" every 30 minutes.  After dinner, we found the LEGO store.  Nathan let Seth do a pick-your-own option:

I may be wrong, but I don't think I've ever stayed at Disney World after dark.  But since we were able to go back to the cabin for naps, we stayed until the park closed each night.  Sunday night there was a nighttime parade.  The kids loved to see all the characters up close:

Each night the park closed after a fireworks display.  Cinderella's castle was also illuminated with different-colored lights.  It was very pretty!

Animal Kingdom actually closes at dark, due to the nature of the exhibits.  We hit the road and made it just into Georgia Tuesday night.  It was so nice to be able to split up the drive both ways!