Picnics and Snowstorms

Last Friday our weather was beautiful. Absolutely perfect. Sunny and 72 degrees. After being cooped up for so long, the kids just wanted to be outside. We made a quick stop at Sonic for an after school snack with the intent of an impromptu picnic on the lawn.I know I should be serving some organic, sugar free cookies and carrots or something natural and healthy, but really, all a kid needs sometimes is a grape slush and some cheese sticks to be happy.By the way, what is it that kids do at school all day to come home looking so...disheveled. Is recess so frenzied that it destroys my 30 minute flat iron sessions every day? And the poor boy is in desperate need of a haircut. Write that down as another thing I'm learning about boys - they need their hair cut frequently.
One day he will look at childhood pictures of himself and ask me why nothing in our home was blue or red or green. Hand me downs. They work even in pink.

Tomorrow we are expecting another snow/ice storm. Not too happy about this development. I am scheduled to get my wood floors installed over the next 2 days and a house full of displaced furniture, no TV, 3 animals inside, 3 kids home from school, sleet and show outside and men hammering away on flooring doesn't mix well. I may need to stock up on some extra-strength headache meds along with my bread and milk before the ice hits. This town goes crazy with everyone buying milk, bread, and eggs for 2 days before a storm. Seriously, the stores will be sold out of bread and milk. It's like everyone thinks we're going to be housebound for a week and we won't be able to satisfy our french toast cravings. I think we're just going to hope that Sonic will still be open.

5 things I learned from RH of BH finale

1. 17,000 square feet for 2 people does not a cozy home make.

Lisa and her husband and hoping to "downsize" this year to a home where they don't need an intercom to find each other.

2. Botox and "fillers" are considered maintenance and not plastic surgery. Hmmm, maybe this is why so many celebrities claim no plastic surgery when they have obviously had some help in the wrinkle department.

3. Money can buy you $60,000 birthday parties for your 4 year old, but can't help you in the class department. As evidenced by Taylor, who, when backed into a corner told Kim to back off or she would go all Oklahoma on her. What does that even mean? I went to college in OK, have lots of friends in OK, yet no one has ever gone all Oklahoma on me. Whatever it is, it doesn't sound nice and made Taylor sound like a hick blond L.A. transplant.

4. Quiet girls look smart, loudmouthed girls look petty and shallow. Catty name calling and backhanded comments are even more unattractive on the 40+ crowd than they are on the playground. Kudos to Adrienne who has obviously learned that sitting quietly with your mouth shut is the quickest way to look like you have the most intelligence of the group.

5. I have much less, but infinitely much more than any of those women. I will never have a personal chef, house manager, a butler or a nanny (unless her name is Sara). My identity is not secured by my clothes, my home or possessions, or my ability to look 15 years younger. What I do have is the knowledge that God loves me and He alone holds the reins to my past, present, and future. And that makes me feel like the richest housewife ever.

Beverly Hills, Roses, Idols and Football

I was proud to start off this year watching very little tv. Many of the shows I used to watch are over or they have just not sustained my interest.

However.

I have been totally sucked into the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills drama. I have been a faithful watcher of almost all of the RH series, but these ladies really take the cake. The houses, the parties, the lifestyles, the lack of manners. I find it all so fascinating in a glad I'm sitting on my couch in my boring life in boring middle America kind of way. All the money in the world wouldn't tempt me to trade places with any of them. The reunion show is tonight, and it's going to get ugly.

I sure hope Lisa's husband is not talking about Cedric, because they were sooo good to him.

Let's talk about the Bachelor. I haven't watched this show in at least 5 years. I have actually been a very proud NON watcher. Never got caught up in who was getting a rose, who was on a date, blah, blah, blah. Not this year. For whatever reason, I watched one silly episode, and now, I'm hooked. I love Emily like the rest of America, but I think she can do much better than Brad. Michelle is definitely looney tunes material, but it makes for some "can't look away" television.

I was dead set against watching American Idol this year. Last season was terrible, I am not a fan of J Lo or Steven Tyler, Simon was gone. I was just over it. When was the last time anyone really good won anyway? Kris Allen from Arkansas? Of course. Then I watched this clip that was on some news sites today.

Pretty sure I teared up watching this. That boy is one of a kind, and now, I just want him to win. And the way Steven Tyler interacted with his fiance just made him my favorite judge. I'm still not sure if I'm going to watch the rest of the season, but that clip just increased those odds considerably.

Last, but not least, is a show that I have heard wonderful things about for a while, but I never really had an opportunity to watch. With the addition of my new iPad (thank you so, sweetie!), I can now stream it from Netflix and watch it almost anytime, anywhere.Once I realized it was a character drama (LOST, I still miss you!) and not primarily about football, I was hooked. And I'm only on the 3rd episode! And maybe now that real football season is almost over, I can talk my hubby into watching it with me. I sense a marathon FNL weekend in the future...

So much for not watching any T.V.! Which shows are on your radar? New shows, old shows, reality shows? Just please tell me I'm not the only one waiting for Monday night to see who gets another stupid rose.

Snow days = cute knit hats and flip flops

We have been a little busy lately taking a few interesting day trips (to be blogged about later), and we have been hit with some fun wintertime weather. Thankfully, no ice, only just a bit of snow. The first round was early last week and looked a little like this: Ok, so you can't see much snow, but how cute is that freckled beauty?

One of my favorite things about dressing boys is picking out knit hats for the winter. Thankfully, Nathan loves to wear hats and will try to wear them inside, sometimes even wanting to wear them to bed at night. This has been one of our favorites. I purchased it before Christmas from here and this is what it looks like in action: Not to be left out, here is Lexi and Avery enjoying a game of "chase"

Today, we got a few more inches of snow and Nathan was determined to make his first snowball. After finally agreeing to keeping his mittens on, he put together enough snow in his hands to qualify! We have had fun on these snow days playing outside, watching movies, and drinking hot chocolate, but I am hoping for an early spring. However, I'm not quite as ready for warm weather as Avery, who, upon seeing the snow this morning, got dressed in shorts, a tank top and flip flops and counted the days until spring on her Taylor Swift calendar. Slow down, sweet girl....it will be 100+ degrees before you know it!

Our ever expanding family

Today is one of my favorite days - the first snow day of the year! We got to cancel school, the mopping date with my floors, a spelling bee, PTA meeting and dentist appointments. Instead, we are still in our PJ's at 10:00, eating breakfast and watching iCarly. What's not to love? I woke up in a baking mood and have already churned out homemade blueberry muffins and a chocolate sheet cake because apparently I need more carbs and sugar in my life. Pretty soon, I am going to bundle up the kids, grab a camera and play outside. Hopefully they will be so exhausted so that after lunch, it will be nap/movie time and I can tackle some laundry and a book. Perfect day.

Except. Our family has recently and somewhat spontaneously grown from 6 (5 humans, 1 dog) to 8 (5 humans, 1 old dog, 1 puppy, and 1 kitten). The puppy was a much discussed, but quick decision made back in October. Lexi is a border collie/australian shepherd mix and is apparently a rare shorthair version of those two. She looked like this in Octoberand like this at 3 monthsand looks like this now at 5 months old.She is a sweet dog, but she is high energy, and even though we have 3 active kids, we are still pretty much a low energy family. She is so smart, and on the days she gets the right amount of attention and affection, she is the best dog ever.Want to know what's got her attention? It's the other newest family member: Kit-Kat.Right before Christmas, he showed up at my in-laws house. My husband, being the huge cat lover he is (??? nothing is further from the truth!), decided to bring home the kitten to join the zoo that is known as our home. He loves that little kitten so much, I wouldn't dream of protesting the adoption, but it's really been such a joy to see Nathan bonding with him. Kit-kat puts up with being carried upside down, stuffed into a Toy Story tent, contained in Lego baskets, and forced to ride in electric 4 wheelers. Not to mention Kit-kat also gets the leftover "affection" from Lexi and the occasional snap from the old dog, Sydney. He is going to be one tough cat and judging by the size of the coyote we saw roaming our street the other day, he may need those skills. When you throw a snow day into the mix with 3 animals, it gets pretty rambunctious around here very quickly. Just trying to feed them all separately and stop the fighting over food can get pretty vicious. Last night our cocker spaniel bit me 3 times on the leg. First time in 13 years she has bitten me, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a little betrayed. But she is senile, deaf, and has had to put up with a lot of commotion lately, so I guess I don't blame her for being a little, um, bitchy. Just like we always knew that 3 kids was our stopping point, I'm pretty sure that 3 animals is more than enough.

On a completely related note, in less than a month, I will have new hardwood floors in my house! Yea!

The post that is NOT about 2010.

Just because I am not ready (and may never be) to blog about how our Christmas holidays were, I will attempt something different for a welcome to 2011. And how welcome it is. Remember the lovely movie that launched Hugh Grant to US fame, Four Weddings and a Funeral? Well, our 2010 was almost the opposite with 3 funerals and a wedding. And no Hugh Grant. So, with all things cute and British and male in mind, I would like to share my 2010 reading list and the start of my 2011 list of hopefuls. Thanks to the awesome gift of a Kindle last year, I think I read more last year than I have since college. There truly is nothing better than a great book, so pick something off the list and get to reading!

I read this book in one day. And I read it two days ago, so it is fresh on my mind. I LOVE this book and I wish I were still in the middle of reading it. It's a Young Adult novel (how I hate that label), about a girl and a British boy who fall in love in Paris. It makes me want to go to Paris in exactly the same way that Gilmore Girls made me want to go to New England. It's lovely, lovely, and I will probably read it again this month.

I stopped drinking the Nicholas Sparks koolaid a few years ago, but I picked this up this year, thankfully before I knew it was going to be another sappy movie. I had low expectations for the book, so I was pleasantly surprised, even though it's exactly what you expect from Nicholas Sparks.

I can't really pronounce the title of this book, but oh, how I loved it. The characters are so real, and the author can convey such feeling and emotion by using very few words. I wished this book was twice as long because I didn't want it to end.

I read these books back to back in two days. It's typical chick-lit (I equally hate that label), but they were fun and a little sad, and I will read more of Emily Giffin, when I'm in the mood for an easy, lighthearted, read.

I read these books a few months ago, before they were EVERYWHERE. I enjoyed them, and they are quite suspenseful. However, because they were written by a Swedish author, the names (there are tons) and locations are difficult to maintain. It takes a while to get established before you get to the action. I rented the 1st movie (Swedish version), and was surpirsed to find that it was a great flick. Being a fan of Daniel Craig, I am most definitely looking forward to the American version.

This book was just ok. It put me back on my Nicholas Sparks hiatus. He is the male version of Danielle Steele and I think it is written in his contract that he must churn out a book every 6 months.

This book was the last in a trilogy of books: Wake, Fade, and Gone. Wake was amazing and fresh. Fade was pretty good. Gone was terrible. Just awful. Now I can't even recommend Wake and Fade knowing how terrible it all ends. Blah.

Being a Twilight fan, I had to read this book, um, novella. It was fun to step back into the Twilight world briefly, but I hope Stephanie Meyer is ready to move on to something new. I know I am.

This book scared me like no other. I honestly did not know it was about vampires until I started reading it and these are most definitely not your Twilight vampires. It is filled with dread, despair, isolation, desolation, devastation and a ton of suspense. I couldn't put this book down, and when I was finished it stayed with me for weeks. There will be two more books to complete this story, but I will definitely have to mentally prepare if I tackle another one.

I have loved every minute of the Hunger Games series and this book was no exception. It wasn't perfect, but I love Katniss, Peeta, and Gale, and how they were so flawed, yet you admired them anyway. I can't wait to see how they try and make a movie with this story about teenagers who are required to kill each other in order to stay alive. Yeah, that's not going to be PG at all.

This book captured my attention from page 1. I wanted to keep reading and reading, but I forced myself to read and savor it slowly. It is honest and challenging and I highly recommend it.

To be honest, I am still halfway through this book. It is well, sad, and I have had all the sad I can take in real life right now, so this one is on the back burner. I may go back and finish it, but there are many others in line to read first.

Easily one of my favorite books of the year. It's easy to see why it sat on the bestseller list for 91 weeks. It's heartwarming, historical, funny, and dramatic. I was fascinated to read firsthand of how different our society was just a short time ago. This truly is a great book, and you should definitely read it before the movie version hits theaters.

I started reading this book almost 2 weeks ago when it became clear that I would need to be very secure in my knowledge of how to help someone grieve. I'm still reading it, and it has been helpful already by increasing my understanding of spiritual based grieving. I wish I didn't need to read it, but thankful for a friend for passing on the recommendation.

I have heard great things about the Stephanie Plum series, so I decided to try out the first book in the series. It's been ok, and I'm about halfway through. It's definitely not a "must consume this in one day" kind of book, but I'll probably finish it anyway.

How much do I love this book. It was just so beautiful the way it kept jumping around in time heading towards a destination that you knew you did not want to arrive. I honestly do not know how the author kept up with all of the time lines, but it was just brilliant. The movie did not come close to doing justice to this book. Easily one of my best 3 of the year and the one that produced the most tears.

Of course I had to read this book again. It had been 3 years, and I needed a refresher before the movie came out. Reminded me all over again how much I love Harry, JK Rowling, and yes, even Snape.

I was first intrigued about this book when I recently saw the movie preview. It had great reviews, so I decided to jump in. I literally sat at home almost all day just to keep reading it. A historical novel written about life on a circus tour during the Depression, the insight into America during that time was just as interesting as the interaction between the characters. With rich details and stilted dialogue, I'm pretty sure the movie version won't come close to this book either. I'm so glad I got my hands on the book first.

Ok, that's about all for 2010. A quick list started for 2011 will hopefully get me off to a running start.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

One Day by David Nicholls

Matched by Ally Condie

The Radleys by Matt Haig

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Decision Points by George W. Bush

So, what are you reading in 2011?