Book List 2013

Wow, 2013 was NOT a good blogging year for me.  I may (or may not) do a better job updating this in 2014.  But, for now, here is my reading list for 2013.  It wasn't a great reading year either! If I had to pick favorites from this list I would select the two books I read in December.  They were both good.  Happy reading!

January2013

For Parents Only: Getting Inside the Head of Your Kid by Shaunti Feldhahn and Lisa Rice
Cleaning House:  A Mom’s 12 month experiment to rid her home of youth entitlement by Kay Wills Wyma
Still Alice by Lisa Genova

March 2013

Gone Girl by Jillian Flynn
Holes by Louis Sachar (with Bryce)
The Wonder of Boys by Michael Gurian (not all of it)
The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

April 2013

Wild Things: the art of nurturing boys by Stephen James and David Thomas

May 2013

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (again)
The Key is Love by Marie Osmond
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (repeat)

June 2013
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Bossypants by Tina Fey
 

July 2013

The Expats by Chris Pavone
Raising a Modern Day Joseph by Larry Fowler
Fly Away by Kristin Hannah 

August 2013

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (re-read) by Jamie Ford
On Being a Therapist by Jeffrey Kottler

September 2013

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (re-read)

October 2013

The Four Ms Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton

November  2013

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

December 2013

The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Top 12 of 2012

I know you've all been waiting for my 2012 Book List.  Unfortunately, my list for the year is not as robust as in years past.  I blame my Iphone, Facebook, Pinterest, and laziness.  So, instead of an exhaustive list, I've decided to make a "Top 12" list.  Basically it ends up being one book per month in no particular order--number 12 is just as good as number 1.  So, here it goes....

1.  The Dave Pelzer Trilogy of books
2. The Namesake
3.  The Fault in Our Stars
4.  Unbroken
5.  Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
6.  The Language of Flowers
7.  Sarah's Key
8.  Caleb's Crossing
9.  Shadow of Your Smile
10.  Kitchen House
11. Bringing Up Bebe
12.  Room

If I was forced to pick a few favorites I'd pick Angry Housewives and Language of Flowers. Here's hoping that 2013 is filled with a lot of good books and other good things.  Happy New Year!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, it's November 30 and I haven't blogged since May! I'll blame it on my new IPhone, excessive facebook use, busy schedule, and handwritten journals that I keep for each kid.  I'm not even going to attempt to catch up on the past 6 months! Fast forward to the present....this year I cut out leaves and had the boys write what they are thankful for on the leaves.  Of course I have a cute picture, but, it's on the iphone and I haven't learned how to get those photos off the phone and onto the computer and onto the blog! Here is the entire list of what the boys are thankful for this year.  You can attempt to figure out who wrote which leaf!
1.  I am thankful for Daddy
2. I am thankful for warmth
3. I am thankful for God and Jesus
4. I am thankfull for Bryce
5.  I am thankfull for Momy
6.  I'm thingfull for all creyashin
7.  I am thankfull for food
8.  I am thingful for food
9. I am thankful for the first day of frost in 2012 on election day
10. I'm thinkful for baseball
11. I'm thankful for my good breakfasts
12. I'm thaingful for my mareo toys
13. I'm thingful for my mom and dad
14. I am thankful for the new Ninjago
15.  I'm thankful for a relashinship with God
16. I'm thankful for school
17. I'm thankful for the ability to help grams with the wheelchairs
18. I'm thankful for Doctors
19.  I'm thankful for my release (from his broken finger..no sports/gym/recess)
20.  I'm thankful for my new ball
21. I'm thankful for the game Soduko
22. I'm thankful for my family
23. I'm thankfull for pumpkins
24. I'm thankful for freedom
25. I am thangfull for freedum
26. I'm thaingful for toys
27. I'm thangful for the Cross (drew a picture of a cross)
28. I'm thankful for stors
29. I'm thankfull for lectrsty (electricity)
30. I'm thankful for my pensls
31. I am thangful for my notebook
32. I'm thankfull for football
33. I'm thankful for my toys
34. I am thankfull for holdays
35. I'm thankfull for my stickr book
36.I'm thankful for my house
37. I'm thankfull for my toys
We have so much to be thankful for every single day, but yet it's so much easier to grumble and complain. Seeing the kids think about their blessings and write them down was such a gift to me.  I am so very thankful for both of them!

Batter Up!

Spring means baseball around here! I have two little sluggers this year which means double the fun! Practices started in April and now games are in full-swing.  Each of my boys plays 2 games per week.  So, we are either at the ball park EVERY night of the week OR they are both playing at the same time and we are trying to watch two games.  The boys are having a ton of fun and both of their teams are doing well.  David is coaching Clark in T-ball.  He is thankful that the games are only an hour b/c the attention span of most of team is about .23 seconds.  We kicked off the season with the annual Opening Day parade.  Since David is the manager for his team, we were in charge of decorating our "float."  Some of the teams go all out, but we stuck with a pick up truck.

Bryce plays for the Nationals. He is having a great season and has had several great hits! Last night he scored 2 of the 3 runs and also caught a hard hit line drive while playing short stop.  He generally plays short stop, first, or serves as the relief pitcher.  Bryce runs sooooo incredibly fast! Initially the coaches would try to get him to stop at first but he likes to push his luck and try to squeeze out as many bases as possible on any given hit. It always works for him, so I guess we won't slow him down.  Last night he slid into second and popped the base out of the ground.  He is having a great time and is enjoying getting to know the boys on his team.




Bryce showing off his pitching form

 

Clark will play wherever his dad tells him to play.  He is one of the older (and better) players on the team. He does really well at 1st base b/c he is able to catch the ball and occasionally get the runner out.  He also plays pitcher--a position that doesn't really exist in T-ball, but is the hot spot that gets most of the balls.  Of course, all of the boys want to put on the "armor" to play catcher!

Our little catcher!

I'm guessing that by the end of June I'll be a bit burned out on baseball and I'll have bleacher butt. So far it is still fun and we are into the routine of eating dinner at 4 PM and rushing out to the ball field.  This week I get to work my shift in the concession stand! Yippee---always the highlight of the season (note the sarcasm and eye rolling in that phrase).  I've gotta go brush up on my walking taco making skills!

Where Have I Been??

It has been a LONG time since I've posted anything! In a nutshell, this is what's been going on....
We had a great Christmas and I enjoyed helping in Clark's classroom for his party.  January was cold, but not awful.  The boys had awesome cars in the Awana Grand Prix and came home with a 1st place trophy for design (Clark and his green crayon) and 3rd place trophy for speed (Bryce).

As you can see from the picture, Bryce also kept busy with Jr Wildcats basketball this winter.  He's so fast that I was unable to capture any non-blurry photos! He scored a lot and is quick on his feet.  If he was a bit taller he would be annihilating the other teams!  Our family did our first ever "Noble Family March Madness Brackets" and of course, Bryce won.  I came in 2nd though!! 
In April we celebrated dad's 70th birthday!!! We also celebrated Kim and Matt's baby shower and were excited to introduce the boys to their new baby cousin, Gideon.  Of course, he was a HUGE hit!!  It was a wonderful weekend of celebrating and being together as a family.

The boys continue to work hard and do well in school.  I enjoyed going on a field trip with Clark's class to see a play, and also working in Bryce's class during the Valentine's Day party.  Clark created his first Leprechaun Trap thanks to a lot of help from Daddy! The boys also participated in 80's Day at school.  They weren't sure about the tight-rolled jeans and having their collars up.  I thought they looked awesome!

Well, that is a BRIEF description of what we've been up to over the past few months.  I'll post again very soon! Thank you, faithful readers, for hanging in there while I was not blogging! If no one posts comments I'll assume I no longer have readers and will wait another six months to post again!!!

All I Want For Christmas.....

 is my TWO FRONT TEETH!!! Here is our toothless little boy!

 Yesterday we had Breakfast with Santa at the boys' school.  Usually we go to Tyler's Tender for breakfast with Santa, but this year we tried something different.  It was a fun morning and the boys enjoyed seeing some of their friends and having their principal serve them sausage and bacon!  Clark brought a very long, detailed letter to Santa and Bryce quickly informed Santa that he wants a fly crane this year.

 We will get a picture from the school, but this was the shot I took on my own.  As soon as we got home, Santa was making his annual parade through our neighborhood on the firetruck! I love this shot of Bryce standing on the corner waving.  The firefighter is his old baseball coach, who also lives in our subdivision. As you can see, there was a light covering of snow which made the trees look so pretty and very festive!

 Here is Santa right in front of our house.  What a fun tradition.  I think we are almost ready for Christmas! The gifts are bought (but not wrapped), the tree is up (but half the lights are out), and the cookies are baked (and half eaten!).  The boys decorated these cookies for their Awana leaders.  They have two more days of school and I get to help out at Clark's Christmas party (excuse me..."Winter Party") tomorrow.  I made Reindeer cookies and Christmas shaped jello jigglers and have Christmas Bingo ready.  We will also let the kids make little packets of Reindeer food which consists of oatmeal and glitter...the glitter lights the way when you sprinkle it on your driveway so that Santa can find your house.  It should be a fun, but chaotic, party.

 Clark wrapped up his session of Young Rembrandts.  Here is another one of his drawings.  He really enjoyed the class and is planning to go the rest of the year (if his mommy can get him registered!). Bryce is playing basketball this winter and if I remember to take the camera to the game this afternoon I'll post pictures next time.  He enjoys it, which is not surprising since he loves to stay active and play just about any sport.  We wish you a Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Book List 2011

I kow it's a bit early, but here is my reading list for the year.  This year I started a book club with some girlfriends.  It has been a lot of fun! I was in a club in Indy, and it's nice to be back into it! As you'll see from the list, 2011 was the "Year of the Series" for me.  I covered all the Emily Giffin books, the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and The Hunger Games Trilogy.  I also read some real duds (The Imperfectionists, The Senator's Wife and a few others).  I found a few decent Christian fiction selections this year as well (generally Christian fiction is not my favorite genre). If you have book suggestions for my 2012 reading adventure, please share!!!

January 2011
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

February 2011
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman

March 2011
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
Something Blue by Emily Giffin

April 2011
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
South of Broad by Pat Conroy

May 2011
Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
One thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

June 2011
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Love the One You’re With by Emily Giffin
Dancing with Max by Emily Colson

July 2011
Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
The List by Robert Whitlow
Riven by Jerry Jenkins
Feathers from my Nest by Beth Moore

August 2011
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Peacemaker by Ken Sande

September 2011
The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Life-Ready Woman: Thriving in a Do It All World by Shaunti Feldhahn and Robert Lewis

October 2011
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

November 2011
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

December 2011
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins