Christmas 2012

I thought I would start off with our Christmas card for this year.

As soon as it was 7:30, Hannah brought her ratties downstairs so they could open up their stockings.

Our tradition is to open our stockings first. Here's James.

Hannah & her stocking.

Then we move on to the gifts. Hannah was thrilled to get a "Soft Kitty" t-shirt and socks. She is crazy for Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory and his Soft Kitty song.

Hannah's big present was a new Nintendo 3DS. Her old DS had seen better days, that's for sure!

Hannah has been wanting this Barbie for months. She calls it her "Aunt Bethany Barbie" because it looks a lot like my sister.

 Kittens & moustaches - a purrfect pair!                     The American Girl Theater was a big hit!

James got a cute little cartoon book about Band Nerds.

His big present was a laptop.

Some new t-shirts for the boy.

And a Mine Craft sword from his sister.

After opening gifts,  James made some monkey bread for breakfast. 

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve 2012

Our Christmas Eve was pretty low key. It started with Chris & I making a trip to Harry's Farmer's Market in Marietta to pick up a few last minute grocery items.

Chris picked up some chestnuts at the store, so he roasted them.

The kids made some gingerbread houses. This year I purchased the Snoopy doghouse 4 pack so they didn't have to work on the same gingerbread house.

 

Hannah & Chris baked some gingerbread men. The kids & I made buckeyes.

We declared it "No Electronics Day" after Chris & I returned from the grocery. We watched some Christmas movies and of course, opened new Christmas pjs. A few years ago, Chris started letting them open one other gift, too.

So Hannah received some much wanted bath products.

And James received some new Legos.

The kids were in bed by 10pm. We told them that they couldn't wake up before 7:30 am on Christmas morning.

School Concerts

James & Hannah both had school concerts recently.

 Hannah had her debut as a cellist. They don't have assigned chairs yet -it was first come, first served. Hannah made sure she arrived early so she could sit in the front of her section.

And James had his first high school band concert. He recently earned the first chair position in his band. There are 4 different bands at his school and they are based on ability, not grade level. James is in the Symphonic 2 band.

The tubas were all seated in the center back of the stage, so I couldn't see him at all. So I didn't even bother to try to take a picture. I did get this one before hand.

We are so proud of our musical children!

What am I Reading?

I have not posted a "What am I Reading" entry since September! I'm still not reading as much as usual, but I have read a few things in the past couple of months.


Talk Me Down was a cute story by Victoria Dahl. It's about a woman who moves back to town after being gone for a while, but she brings back a secret past. She has been writing erotic novels, but doesn't want her family or anyone else to know what she's been doing. Romance with the local chief of police, lots of local gossip about what she might be doing, and a crazed stalker can be found.

 

 

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading is another of the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl books. It's a clever story written in Charlie Joe Jackson's point of view. He hates reading and the whole book is about the trouble he got into because he wasn't reading. 

 

 

Rescued by a Ranger is Tanya Michael's latest. Tanya is in my local book club, so I always try to read her latest books. It is the 3rd in Tanya's "Hill Country Heroes" books. It's about a single mother who moves next to the local sheriff. She's living under a false identity to keep away from her dead estranged husband's family who have threatened to take her child. It was a fun, easy read.

 



 

 

I was so excited to read Mary Kay Andrew's newest book, Spring Fever.  The book starts at a wedding. It's the wedding of the lead character's ex-husband to the new woman in his life. However, the wedding is interrupted and feelings have changed. It was well paced and very entertaining. 

 

 

The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker is another book for the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. It's about a young girl in 1929 named Tug Buttons. It was well written and did a very good job of bringing 1929 Iowa to life. 

 

 

I love the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. This was a short story that was written to appease me and their other readers until their next title comes out in a few days. These are so not my usual chick lit/romance type books. The Pendergast books are an FBI/Police/Serial Murder themed stories which I just can't put down. 

 

 

Man's Best Friend was recommended to me on Amazon. I was hoping it would be as good as Kristin Higgin's books (dog on the cover connection), but it fell short. I enjoyed it, but felt that it was lacking a bit. 

 

 

And finally, I read the most recent Janet Evanovich book. The first ones in the series were the best, and by the time we got up there in the numbers, the stories were weak and even a bit silly. The last one was much better and this one was up there, too. I am still not satisfied with the relationships with the men in Stephanie Plum's life!  

 

 

Happy Reading!!

Pigeon Forge 2012 {Day 4}

We checked out of the cabin and ate breakfast at one of the many Pancake Restaurants in Pigeon Forge. Then, we introduced Rachel & Nate to the world of "Geocaching".

If you are not familiar with Geocaching, it's basically a treasure hunt that uses GPS technology.


At our first Geocache of the day.

The kids wrote their names on the log book.

Then they put the cache back in its place.

The happy kids at the site of their first Pigeon Forge Geocache.

Our next cache was at a cemetery.

Signing the log book.

Back in its hiding spot.

Another geocache, this time in a park area.

The kids with the found geocache.

Our final geocache was behind a restaurant.

It was the largest of the geocaches that we found. In this one, you could take a little memento and leave one behind.

After our treasure hunting, the kids wanted some real treasure! We went to a gem mining location where the kids sifted through buckets of sand to find some rocks, minerals, fossils, and more.

Then before we left for home, we stopped at a candy shop.

Thank you, Pigeon Forge, for some great memories!