Wow, I really fell off the bandwagon last year with Birthday posts. I did not post a single birthday update for any kid in 2010, so I will now update for 2010 since tomorrow is Coen's first Bday. I will do a separate post for that and Jude's 3rd Bday since I haven't uploaded the pics for Jude's Bday and we are going to celebrate with both boys on Saturday (carousel and museum). We did cake and presents for Jude already and will do Coen's tomorrow. I am in the process of making a cupcake banner for Coen. Who knew it would be so much work!?! Hopefully it turns out ok. Well, here's the 2010 Bdays-
Jude's 2nd Bday We had a little party for him at home. We had a yummy ice cream cake and all the kids also got the clown cones from Baskin Robbins. I think we had pizza for dinner. Jude got a bike from us. A helmet and pads from Grandmom and Grandad. He also got a Cars seat/bed from Nat and Ryleigh. I honestly can't remember what else he got. I had pictures of eveything, but Jarrod took my memory card to Target b/c he wanted a card with more memory and he wanted to know what we already had. Well, long story short- his wallet has a magnet, magnets erase memory cards, he put the card in his pocket with his wallet, we lost all Bday and NYE pics on the card. I did take some pics later of the cars bed and his helmet. So, here they are- I did update Coen's birth story, so we will skip to Kaitlyn's 11th Bday We let her have a sleepover with a friend. We had pizza and Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. On her actual Bday we had Choc. Chip cookie ice cream sandwiches and I sent Choc. Chip cupcakes with vanilla buttercream to school for her class (did you figure out the theme?). She got an Old Navy GC from us. Her siblings got her a cool necklace and she got a bunch of nail polish and some twisty towels for her hair after her shower. Here are some pics- Emma's 7th Bday We had a family birthday. Emma's requests were lasagna for dinner and chocolate cobbler for her cake. Can I just say how much our family LOVES chocolate! This cobbler is super yummy and super easy to make. She got some clothes, a hiking pack, Bob books and sunglasses.Here are some pics from her Bday- Mia's 5th birthday In our family, girls get to do something special for their 5th birthday. They get to get their ears pierced! So, this year Mia's present from us was getting her ears pierced. Her siblings gave her some earrings and she also got some clothes and a hiking pack. Her theme was candy corn, so we had homemade candy corn pizza, candy corn cupcakes and tie-dye ice cream with orange and yellow colors. Well, that gets us up to date on 2010 Bdays. I will post this weekend with Jude and Coen's Bdays.
Trust me, I have read and I am reading WAY more than what is on this list. I am averaging about 3-4 books a week (except when the library doesn't have my books and I am waiting on my holds) and loving it. So, here is my updated old list as of now. I will add the rest when I get around to it. I'm reading a lot of adult/YA fiction now. I will probably be making my way back to non-fiction soon, but it has been nice getting away from it all and living in la-la land.
OLD STUFF-
I have decided instead of making a yearly booklist, I will just have an ongoing booklist that I will add to each time I see a book I want to read. My yearly plan, as far as the list goes, will be to read 1 books off the list each month, so 12 a year. If I read more, great, but I can't read any less. I'll mark them as I read them and put the year that they were read.
1. The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer
2. Teach them Diligently by Lou Priolo
3. Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp 4. Toilet Training in Less Than a Day by Nathan Azrin (2nd time-refresher for Jude) 5. The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule
6. The Overload Syndrome by Richard A Swenson, MD
7. Practical Theology for Women by Wendy Horger Alsup 8. Practicing Hospitality by Patricia Ennis and Lisa Tatlock 9. Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron (2nd time-refresher for newest addition)
10. The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies
11.Becca Fitzpatrick -Hush, Hush - Crescendo
-Tempest (Fall 2011)
12. Cassandra Clare -Mortal Instruments Book 1- City of Bones -Mortal Instruments Book 2- City of Ashes -Mortal Instruments Book 3- City of Glass
- Mortal Instruments Book 4- City of Fallen Angels (coming March 2011)
-Mortal Instruments Book 5- City of Lost Souls (May 2012)
- Mortal Instruments Book 6- City of Heavenly Fire (Sept. 2013) -Infernal Devices Book 1-The Clockwork Angel
- Infernal Devices book 2-The Clockwork Prince (coming 2011)
- Infernal Devices book 3-The Clockwork Princess(coming 2012)
13. Lauren Kate - Fallen book 1 - Fallen book 2- Torment
- Passion (coming June 2011)
-Fallen Book 4 (coming soon)
14. Alyson Noel - Immortals Book 1- Evermore - Immortals Book 2- Blue Moon - Immortals Book 3- Shadowland
- Immortals Book 4- Dark Flame ( June 22,2010)
- Immortals book 5- Night Star (Nov. 16,2010)
- Immortals book 6 (coming 2011)
Riley's Series
- Radiance (coming August 31,2010)
- Shimmer (2011)
-
-
-
15. Charlaine Harris Harper Connelly Series
- Grave Secret (book 4) -An Ice Cold Grave (book 3) -Grave Surprise (book 2) -Grave Sight (book 1) Lily Bard Series
-Shakespeare's Counselor (book 5)
-Shakespeare's Trollop (book 4)
-Shakespeare's Christmas (book 3)
-Shakespeare's Champion (book 2)
- Shakespeare's Landlord (book 1) Aurora Teagarden Series -Poppy Done to Death (book 8)
-Last Scene Alive (book 7)
-A Fool and His Honey (book 6)
-Dead Over Heels (book 5 ) -The Julius House (book 4)
-Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (book 3 )
-A Bone to Pick (book 2)
-Real Murders (book 1)
Sookie Stackhouse Series -(book 13) -(book 12) -(book 11) -Dead in the Family (book 10) -Dead and Gone (book 9) -From Dead To Worse (book 8) -All Together Dead (book 7) -Definitely Dead (book 6) -Dead as a Doornail (book 5) -Dead to the World (book 4) -Club Dead (book 3) -Living Dead in Dallas (book 2) Dead Until Dark (book 1) -A Secret Rage -Sweet and Deadly
16.Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh Demoss
17. P.C. and Kristin Cast -House of night Series Book 1- Marked - Book 2- Betrayed 2010 - Book 3- Chosen - Book 4- Untamed - Book 5- Hunted - Book 6- Tempted - Book 7- Burned - Book 8- Awakened
- Book 9-
- Book 10-
- Book 11-
- Book 12-
18.Madeleine L'Engle -Camilla -A Live Coal in the Sea -The Small Rain -A Severed Wasp -And Both Were Young
-Love Letters
-Certain Women
19. L. J. Smith
-Vampire Diaries Ed. 1 & 2
- V.D. The Return 1-Nightfall, 2-Shadow Souls, 3-Midnight (2011)
-Stefan's Diaries #1, #2, #3
-V.D.- The Hunters: Phantom, Moonsong, Eternity -Dark Visions Vol. 1, 2, 3
-Night World Ed. 1, Ed. 2, Ed. 3 & Strange Fate (2011/12) -The Forbidden Game
20. Claudia Gray -Evernight -Stargazer -Hourglass
-Afterlife (march 2011)
21. Kelley Armstrong -The Summoning -The Awakening -The Reckoning
22. Melissa Marr -Wicked Lovely -Ink Exchange -Fragile Eternity -Radiant Shadows
-Darkest Mercy (Feb. 2011)
23. Meg Cabot -Insatiable
-Ins. Sequel (summer 2011) -Ransom my Heart -The Boy Next Door -Boy meets girl -every boy's got one -size 12 is not fat -size 14 is not fat either -big boned -queen of babble -queen of babble in the big city -queen of babble gets hitched -she went all the way -shadowland -the ninth key -reunion -darkest hour -haunted -twilight -when lightning strikes -code name cassandra -safehouse
-sanctuary -missing you 24. Paolo Coehlo -The Alchemist -the witch of portobello -By the River Piedra I sat down and wept -The devil and Miss Prym : a novel of temptation -Brida : a novel -
Books from 2009- (need to finish some and find others) 1. The Home Experience by Devi Titus
2. After the Boxes are Unpacked by Susan Miller (started and need to finish) 3. Twilight (book one) by Stephanie Meyer
4. Organizing the Disorganized Child by Martin Kutscher
5. Stay Home-Stay Happy by Rachel Campos-Duffy 6. Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman
7.New Moon
8. Running Scared: Fear, Worry and the God of Rest by Edward Welch 9. Eclipse
10.Breaking Dawn
NEW STUFF (read most in 2010) 1. Maria Snyder -Poison Study -Magic Study -Fire Study
2. Julie Kenner
Demon Hunting Soccer Mom -Carpe Demon -California Demon -Demons are forever -Deja Demon
-Demon ex-machina Blood Lily Chronicles -Tainted -Torn -Turned 3. Sara Shepard -Pretty Little Liars -Flawless -Perfect -Unbelievable -Wicked -Killer -Heartless -Wanted
4.Stephanie Bond
-Body Movers
-2 bodies for the price of 1 -3 men and a body -4 bodies and a funeral -5 bodies to die for -6 killer bodies
-7? 5. Karen Marie Moning Highlander series -beyond the highland mist -to tame a highland warrior -the highlander's touch -kiss of the highlander -the dark highlander -the immortal highlander -spell of the highlander -into the dreaming Fever Series -Darkfever -bloodfever -faefever -dreamfever -shadowfever
6. Jennifer Apodaca
-Dating can be murder
-dying to meet you -Ninja soccer mom -batteries required
-thrilled to death
7. Jim Butcher
Dresden Files -Storm front -fool moon -grave peril -summer knight -death masks -blood rites -dead beat -proven guilty -white night -small favor -turn coat -changes
-ghost story
8. Rachel Caine Weather Wardens- -ill wind -heat stroke -chill factor -windfall -firestorm -thin air -gale force -cape storm -total eclipse
Outcast Season- -undone -unknown -unseen (2/11)
-unbroken (2/12)
Morganville Vampires- -glass houses -dead girls dance -midnight alley -feast of fools -lord of misrule -carpe corpus -fade out -kiss of death -ghost town
-bite club (4/11)
-book 11 (10/11)
-book 12 (4/12)
9.Kelley Armstrong
Otherworld Series -bitten -stolen -dime store magic -industrial magic -haunted -broken -no humans involved -personal demon -living with the dead -frostbitten -waking the witch
-spellbound (7/11) -Men of the otherworld -tales of the otherworld
10. Rachel Hawkins -Hex Hall -Demon glass
-
11. Kiersten White -Paranormalcy
-Supernaturally (fall 2011)
-book3 (fall 2012)
12.Andrea Cremer -nightshade
-wolfsbane (7/11)
-bloodrose (spring 2012)
-book 4 (companion novel-fall2012)
13.Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl -Beautiful Creatures -Beautiful Darkness
- #3 (fall 11)
- #4 (fall 12)
14.Sophie Jordan -Firelight
-2
-3 15.Yvonne Woon Dead Beautiful
16.Kelly Creagh -Nevermore
-2
-3
17.Gena Showalter -Intertwined -unraveled
-twisted (9/11)
18. Ally Condie -matched
-crossed (11/11)
-3 (2012)
19. Brenna Yovanoff - the Replacement
20. Tessa Gratton
- blood magic
-crow magic
21. Maggie Stiefvater -Lament -Ballad -Shiver -Linger
-Forever
We had a good Xmas. The kids have been pretty good for the most part. I haven't been asking myself when school is going to start back yet, so that's good. I am actually kind of sad that school starts back Monday. The big kids week off has gone by pretty quickly. Maybe I'm still used to the 2 weeks we used to get off. On Xmas Eve we ate out at Famous Dave's with Poppie and then came home and the kids opened their sibling gifts. Starting last year we instituted sibling gifts- the kids each draw a name and get that person a gift for $5 or less. They love it and are usually really excited about their gifts.
Xmas morning, everybody was up at 6:30. The kids set their alarm the night before and sure enough they were up and ready to go as soon as it went off. They originally had it set for 4am, but I made them change it. Santa came and nobody got coal. As a family we got some light sabers for the Wii and a Lego Star Wars game. We also got some movies- Sky High, Pinocchio and the set of all 4 Shrek movies. Plus Pictionary Jr. We LOVE board games and family game night is something we do a lot of, so Pictionary Jr. has been a hit! Santa also did stockings and everybody was happy with what they got. Since a friend suggested it when times where a little rough, we have been doing 3 gifts under the tree each year. A god way to explain it is that Jesus got 3 gifts, so that's what we do. 1 gift is the sibling gift, gift 2 is always PJs and gift 3 this year was a toy for the boys and jewelry stuff for the girls. Kaitlyn and Emma got hanging earring/necklace holders and Mia got supplies to paint and decorate a wooden jewelry box and they each got 3 earrings. Jude got Jingle the Pup with his interactive book (from Hallmark) and Coen got the interactive My Pal Scout. We have been playing games and watching movies like crazy and we have had a very white xmas, so we have been having tons of fun.
These are the gifts I made. I think they turned out really cute. Jarrod's bosses family will be getting one of the Jack Frosts Not Lost games and Emma's teacher and Kaitlyn's HR teacher will be getting sets of coasters. Kaitlyn's other teachers are getting small boxes of chocolate.
The past two weekends we have gone sledding. One time in the ditch in our neighborhood (with an awesome snowball fight), another at Blue Mountain and another in a neighborhood (I didn't get pics at this one). Sadly we won't be going this weekend since the snow is slushy and melting now, but it was fun while it lasted. Here are pics from the hood. I'll do the mountain in another post.
So, it is that time of year again. Time to come up with something cute to give my kids' teachers. I want to do something cute and simple (and cheap!!). So, this year I am leaning toward this-
I found it on Tip Junkie's new Homemade site. She has put a lot of stuff on the site that has been very helpful for gift ideas. I also get alot of my ideas for Make and Takes. I got a really cute gift idea for a family too. I am going to make one of these for our family and Jarrod's bosses family.It was linked from one of the many e-mails I get that's craft related. I can't remember which one though. It looks really fun.
Well, if anyone who still reads this has any gift ideas let me know. I'm also having a hard time coming up with gifts for Coen. We have Xmas coming up and about 2 weeks later it's his first birthday. It's hard coming up with stuff for the 5th kid since we still have some stuff from the others he can use. Any ideas?
From TodaysMama- TodaysMama and GameStop are giving Santa a run for his money this year with a pile of presents that any family could love.
Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.
1. What is your holiday wish for your family? For good health, happiness and lots of love to go around.
2. What is your Christmas morning tradition? Waking up opening gifts and stockings. Eat breakfast and hang out and play all day.
3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? A spa day or a babysitter for our 5 little ones so Jarrod and I could go on a date
4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? We play lots of family games and go check out the Christmas lights.
5. What games did you play with your family growing up? Monopoly and trivial pursuit
6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? We open one gift on Xmas eve.
7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip? A week in a cabin somewhere
8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year? A new DS for our oldest, Family Game Night 3 and MySims Secret Agent
One of my favorite things right now is how Jude will say he "got for" something. Here it is in context- Mommy- "Jude, did you turn out the light?" Jude- "I got for to turn out the light. I go turn it off."
As a bonus, here's another funny story. Yesterday the kids watched an episode of The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That. In this episode the Cat's friends helped a beaver fix her dam. So later on, Mia and Jude are playing. I hear Mia say "Jude, hurry and fix the dam!". Then, she runs off to go get something. Jude says, "I can't!". When asked why he can't he tells us that "There is no dayum here.". Then, after a little while Mia runs upstairs to go get something and I here Jude say, "Fiiiine, I'll fix the dayum." and he grabs his Handy Manny hammer and heads of to the corner to fix the dam.
Oh and here's one more. Last night Jude hit his head and came over to tell me and Jarrod. Jarrod asked if he wanted him to check it out. Jude said, "No, my brain is broken". So, Jarrod did a little touching and massaging of his head and told Jude he fixed it. Jude walked off holding his head and said, "No, it still broken".
Emma's 7th Bday
Mia's 5th birthday
