Playing in the leaves

While on the way home from Georgia we decided to stop and stay a night in Little Rock with my parents. It's a long drive and we were all looking forward to a break from the car. Mostly we just stop and sleep then go home the next day, but this time was a little different.
For weeks now Sophy has been asking me when the leaves will fall in our yard. I patiently take the time to explain that leaves won't fall in our yard each time she asks. "Why mommy?" Is always her response, and "Because we don't have any trees." is always my answer. Each time she looks so sad and will tell me again how Fall is about leaves and playing in them with her 'I'm so proud of my preschool knowledge' voice. It killed me that I couldn't give her the simple pleasure of playing in the leaves. I even thought of stealing a full bag of leaves someone had left on the curb, spreading them across my lawn in the night and telling Sophy in the morning, "Look the leaves finally fell!". Jeff was adverse to this plan, so it was never carried out.
On our trip back home however my mom came to me early in the morning before we had loaded up to go home and asked me if the girls could play in the leaves with their cousins before we left. I of course jumped at the chance to fulfill my daughters desire. "Oh and bring out your camera", she threw over her shoulder before taking them out.
I am so grateful for parents with a TON of leaves in their yard, an awesome leaf blower to make piles with, and the amazing pictures that came out of that mornings play.

Trip to Georgia

At the beginning of November Jeff and I took a trip to Georgia. While there Jeff worked and I wrote and played. It was a nice relaxing week without the kids (who were with Nanna).
On the drive down Jeff and I ended up behind this car. We kept thinking "what is that in the car?" . It was obvious that it was lots of the same thing...but what. I told Jeff, "Drive faster, lets check it out". The result? A car full, and I mean so full I'm not sure how the driver could drive since the windows were all blocked, or Toilet paper. Most were in packages, but some were loose rolls crammed here and there among all the packages. So I ask you, why would ANYONE need so much TP?

The Lady and Sons

While we were in Georgia I was about two hours away from Savannah. Knowing how close I was and not knowing when I'd get another chance I decided to take a day to drive over. My object? The Lady and Sons Restaurant. For anyone that doesn't know (and the only people this will apply to would be people who found me online and have never actually met me in person) I LOVE Paula Dean. Although I choose to avoid all her seafood recipes, I still think the food is divine. So you see why it would be worth driving two hours just for lunch.
While there I also checked out the Paula Dean store. I was a good girl and didn't spend big bucks like I wanted to, but man I wanted so much! I loved the apron that said "Country Cookin' Makes You Good Lookin'"!
All in all it was a pleasant drive and I'm glad I did it. I had the chicken salad sandwich and soup. The soup was wonderful! I wish I took a picture of the Chocolate Mousse Pie, but I ate it too fast. Oops.

Post on Posts

When I pulled up my bloglines list today I had a happy surprise. In the midst of the literary agents, editors, and twilight news blogs that I read daily I actually had a few friend blog posts. I was so excited. It's like going to the mail box and sifting through the magazines and junk mail to find an actually written letter with your name on it! How exciting!
I hurried to read all the funny and quippy things that my blog friends were talking about in their lives. Of course I was even more excited that my favorite funny mom was posting today! With facebook it seems like more and more of my friend leave one line updates, that althought funny too, just isn't the same as reading a well composed post on someone's blog. I myself am horrible about remembering to post and even worse at my composition, but today I felt the need. I thought you know there are two whole people who have subscribed to my blog on bloglines (it conveniently tells you how many, but now who. I'm afraid I might be counted as one of those two which actually only leaves me with one subscribed reader...sigh) and it might be nice if i gave them something nice on their list too... So here it is. My insightful post about posts.

Fall Fest

There is a fall festival that The Village puts on every year in the park across from Trish's house. We went last year and the kids loved it. This year was the same! I think they liked it more if possible because Lola and Annabelle were older and able to enjoy more. There was a petting zoo, a train, and bouncey things to play in. We spent all day playing and the kids slept SO well after wards. I'm so glad that we took the time to go again this year.

More Halloween Fun

Lots and lots of Pictures! On thursday we went to Oklahoma Christian to Trick or Treat in the dorms. It was a lot of fun, it is one of our favorite things to do each year!
Today started the Halloween day hoopla! We went to a carnival at church, Jeff was a farmer (hey it's the best I could get out of him) and I was a witch. It's funny, growing up I was never allowed to be anything "scary". And I hold my kids to the same rule. Yet dressing as a witch this year I still felt like I was being naughty and would get in trouble! Sophy was quick to point out to people that I was a "good" witch.
After the church festival which had lots of fun games, we went to Northpark for indoor trick or treating. We do this every year too, but it was the first time Jeff went. It was good and went by quickly. My heels were killing my feet though by the time I was finished though.
After Northpark we went home for dinner before trick or treating in the neighborhood. That was a lot of fun! We get to see our neighbors and even ran into our friend Lisa and Alex! We spent some time hanging out with her and she helped us pass out candy at home.
All in all a very exciting year!

Halloween Pictures

I took the girls to get their pictures taken in their costumes a few weeks ago and we were finally well enough to go pick them up! I was thrilled with how cute they turned out! Happy Halloween everyone!

Book Update

I am currently on book #80 in my quest to read 100 books this year. So I'm getting close tot he end, which is good since it's October! Man where did the year go?
I'd give an update of what I've been reading lately, but I figure I'll just post the full list at the end of the year. Then I'll have lots of recommendations for everyone! I was really hoping that my brother would finish book 3 in his Ghost Targets series before the end of the year so it could be on the list with the other two, well that and i just want to read it, but I haven't seen a copy yet....hint hint.
Reading books makes me think of all the books I've read in the past, good and bad. By far I have more favorites then books I hated. And lots in between. I have many faves on my shelf here at home. I recently read a book that combines young adult and Georgette Heyer style romance! Loved it!
There is one book in my life that I can't seem to forget. It was a classic story about a well-off girl who moves in with a farm family. They tell her she has to carry her weight and keep trying her out on family chores. She is terrible at all but one, spinning silk. Its a sweet story, and honestly I don't remember much more of the story. I found the book in 5th grade at the school library near the Laura Ingalls Wilder books on the shelf. I don't know the name and haven't found it since. I wish I could re-read it, but that would mean finding out what it is first!
Oh well.
Are there any stories in your life that you want to find but don't know the name of?

Boomer Sooner!

Today I had the privilege of taking my nephew Alexander's New Born Portraits! I'm sure you'll see a lot of him around the blog, him being so handsome and all, but I thought I'd give you a little sneak peek of the the cuteness.
Also while I was there I took an OU family Portrait! I have never gotten to do one of those, which is odd around here. I think it turned out really cute!

The Great cookie Debate or Save the Cookies

Today I started the great cookie debate on facebook. Why? Well it all started like this:
Lola was being REALLY good today. So I decided to give her a cookie as a reward. Only, Gasp!, there were no cookies in the house! SO I made a quick call to Trish asking for a bakery in Edmond that might sell cookies cheaper than going to the Mall. She told me of a cute little place off 33rd and Blvd.
Lola was all smiles as she gazed at the brightly iced cookies on the shelf and I was happy with the selection and prices. We bought some and headed out to pick up Sophy (yes she got a cookie too).
After arriving home I posted my fabulous find on facebook. I realized most people around here would know of the place, but it's odd how I am almost always the last to know about these things. The post quickly recieved a reply that Eileen's cookies on Danforth and Sante Fe where by far better cookies. "Oh really?" I thought to myself. So after nap-time we loaded up the car and headed to this Eileen's cookies to check them out. They did cost a little more, but were much bigger cookies. Sophy and Lola thought it was a holiday or something to get two special treats in one day AND one for no reason other than waking up!
I like sugar cookies that are a little softer, and these were, however they used cake icing on them instead of cookie icing. A small difference I know, but for me it was too much. The girls loved that they could choose from Halloween ones, rainbows, flowers, even Elmo cookies! The icing made a huge mess though!
I have yet to try Eileen's other flavors and I was given a tip on buying them cheaper, so that will help. I mean I will just have to force myself to try the others for research purposes.
After all the comments I decided to write it all up in a note on facebook and get the opinion of other Edmond residents. It was amazing how quickly the responses came in! Although I still disagree with most of them, it is fun to know people's preferences.
So I encourage everyone int he area to go try them out and let me know what you think. Don't live in the Edmond/OKC area you say? Find a small bakery near you and try their cookies. I visit most of your cities anyway, so I'd LOVE to know where to find the good cookies. Besides, shouldn't we all be trying to support small local business in this economy? Protect the cookies, go buy one today!

Books

For those of you wondering I am still reading faithfully. I am currently reading book #72 on my list of 100. I am doing my best to limit it to Young Adult or Middle Grade books. I figure I can count it as research for my next novel this way. Then I don't feel so bad about reading so much and leaving my writing by the wayside. I have decided on my next project. The more I think about it the more I like it even. I still have a few bumps to work out, but by the time I hit my 100 book goal (or fail miserably on new years eve) I will be all ready to sit and write happily along.
In my reading I'm on the 3rd in a series of 4 books. I went to the bookstore today to pick up the 4th one so I'd have it when I finished. I walked along the beautiful rows of books wishing I had an endless supply of gift cards to get books. Oh well, dreams and all, but wouldn't that be grand? It did get me thinking about the books I want and the ones I need to fill holes in my collections.
I borrowed several books (and by several I mean a large box full) from my mom to help me to my 100 goal earlier this year. It gets expensive buying books so borrowing them sure helps. Only several of the series I got from her were missing one or two books. After I got home from the bookstore I finally sat down and made a complete list of the books I still need/want.
It took a while, but I finally figured out an easy way to access google docs from my iPhone. This is handy since I keep most my lists in google docs. I updated my list of books I want to include the ones to fill the holes, then went so far as making a complete list of all the Georgette Heyer and Christopher Stasheff books I own ( the two authors that I am always searching for in used bookstores). They each got their own google doc for the purpose! I even looked up complete lists of works for each author and added that being sure to copy over any I was missing to my "Books I Want" document. I love feeling organized, even if it is a huge ploy to avoid the laundry!
So now I need to make a pilgrimage to a used bookstore. The one I liked here in Edmond closed! Do you know of any good Used Bookstores nearby?

Baby Alexander!

Welcome Alexander Pogue!
Leading up to Trish's shower I kept teasing her to keep that baby in until after the shower was over. She would laugh and say it'd be a while until he came. I knew the due date was October, but I just had a feeling he would make his appearance in September. Of course I was thinking end of September, not the 17th!
I was happily surprised to get a call that he was coming on Thursday! Born three weeks early he's a little small, but perfect! I took the girls up to meet their new cousin right away. Sophy wanted to take him home and both have been talking about Aunt Trish's baby ever since. Boy is he a cutie!

Trish's Shower!

On sunday of our crazy week was Trish's Shower. With a lot of help from friends I was able to get everything ready in time. Jeff got home on Saturday night so he was sent off on Sunday with the girls to keep them out of the way for the day.
I made a small polka dot cake with candy animals and matching cupcakes for the shower. They seemed to be a big hit.
I personally thought the watermelon carriage that Rebecca made was the hit of the food table though!
We had an animal theme and lots of presents! I was impressed with the turn out and glad everything went off so well.

Grandma Ada's Birthday

As many know last week was the craziest I've had in a while. Jeff was out of town for work and I had two big parties on the weekend with a cake for each! The first party was for our friend Daniel's Grandma's 93rd birthday. I made a 4 tier Chocolate cake with White chocolate fudge filling and Milk Chocolate Fudge (yes real fudge) for frosting. I topped it off with white chocolate trim and chocolate dipped strawberries! It was yummy!
The second cake was for Trish's shower...more coming on that.

Sophy's First Day of School

Sophy started big girl school this year. She is in the Public School Preschool Program this year. She goes half day everyday. It was hard on her to go to school everyday at first. It was a big change from once a week to 5 days a week.
She had to be woken up, she likes to sleep in, then there was the first day of school outfit! She really likes her teacher and her new friends. There is one other Sophy in class, but Sophy seems to love the fact that she has a friend with her name.

Christmas Carol Train Tour!

When we heard that The Disney Train Tour for "A Christmas Carol" was coming to OKC, Diana and Trish and I decided to go. We loaded up and headed to the train station downtown.
It was really neat. They park the train and you get to tour through it to see how the movie was made and lots of costumes and props and things from this.
After the train you get to see a movie clip and short show about the movie. It was so neat. I have to admit that it was much more interesting that I thought it would be. The girls really liked it a lot too. I'm really looking forward tot he movie coming out now.

Wichita!

The church I went to through Jr. High and half of High School had a 50th anniversary and reunion. Since we were both planning on going Trish and I decided to go a little early and show the kiddos to the zoo and children's museum there in Wichita before the reunion.
It went really well. I loved seeing the zoo again and being in Wichita after ten years was weird! Aaron and Jeff drove up for the weekend events and I was able to show Jeff our old house and my high school. It was a good weekend.

Sophy's Sleepover

The other thing Sophy wanted for her birthday was a sleepover party. Since she's still young I wasn't sure about inviting over her friends yet, so I called up the aunts and invited the cousins. Heather had other plans, but Graham and Poppie brought the Sutherlin Children to town for the party and of course Annabelle made it. Sophy had two cakes and enjoyed the party!

Sophy's Birthday Party

Wow, I've been terrible about blogging lately. I think it might have something to do with how bad I've been about pictures too. There have definitely been a lot going on, but I have very little evidence of any of it. I just let others take the pictures.
So I'll attempt to catch everyone up slowly, we'll start with Sophy's birthday. If I don't post again soon write me and I'll get to it!
Sophys birthday was back in early Aug. We had lots of family come in town for it. It was a thrown together party. She said she wanted a party at the pool and to go to McDonalds so we did both. It was fun and about half way through she stood on a table and proclaimed: "This is the best party ever!".

Are you my best friend?

Okay, I admit it, I'm a blog lurker.
I love pulling up bloglines and seeing all the new posts sitting there waiting for me to read them. And ok, I admit it, I rarely leave comments. It's stupid of me really because I LOVE it when others comment on my blog and it's not like I'm EVER without an opinion. But for some reason I rarely comment. Lately I've been reading them all on my phone, which does give me something of an excuse since it's so stinking annoying to leave a comment from my phone, but that has only been for the last month or so, so even though it's totally true it doesn't hold up too well. I mean I didn't do so well leaving comments BEFORE I switched to the phone reading.
As much as I get a thrill reading about everyone's lives it does have it's downsides too. I have very few close friends in real life. The list of people I could just pick up the phone and call to say "Hey, I'm bored lets go to the movies or something" is tiny. Of course even if the list was bigger the chances of actually getting to go to a movie when we all have kids that tie us to our houses is next to nothing, but that really isn't the point of this rambling post. Online however, I have SO many friends. Now they may not know they are my friend or anything, but they are.
There's one blog in particular that I love. It's not like she has sage advise or in depth discussions on the meaning of life or anything, she just talks about family and husbands and kids and stuff, but she does it in a way that is so stinking funny! I read her posts and laugh and think "man I wish I could write like that". Which stinks because she's not even trying to be an awesome writer, she just is one. I LOVE reading her blog.
So whats so bad about that right? Well I also know this woman in real life. Like know her name and see her around, but have never been to her home and I don't think she's ever been to mine. One of those kind of friends...an acquaintance. And yet due to reading her blog I've found myself walking up to her on multiple occasions and saying something quippy or interesting. I expect her to react to the awesome-ness that is me and we'll smile like best friends do with an inside joke, but that doesn't happen. Instead I get that look that you sometimes see women give other women. You know the one where they are thinking "How do you keep a crazy person calm, do you look at their eyes or look away?" I can totally tell that is what she's thinking as she laughs nervously shoving her kid behind her as she backs slowly away from me.
Why can't people realize they are simply my blog best friend? Of course if I try to explain to them that they are my best friend but don't know it they look at me like I'm even crazier, kinda like when I tell people I'm actually famous and no one has realized it yet.
Of course I keep reading blogs and holding out hope for all my blog best friends. But what do I know? I still think I'm famous and the world in general just hasn't figured it out yet. But they will, oh one day, they will.

Childhood fears never really go away completely.

When I was a kid I used to have a recurring dream everynight. A terrible scary dream that my husband never fails to tease me about. In it I climb out of bed in a nightgown. I am about four and I hate slipping my feet on the cold hard wood floor. Across from me the white curtains are billowing in the breeze at the window while flashes of lightning streak the sky behind them. The soft rumble of thunder seem louder in the quiet house as I tip toe toward the window. I mean simply to close the window and return to bed. A fear grips me as I get closer, hearing a slight rasping sound and feeling the soft wind on my cheek. I reach out to pull back the curtain and hesitate. My heart is beating in my chest. I need to close the window but I seem to be paralized with fear. Finally I call upon all the courage in my young body and thrust the curtain to the side.
Sitting on the window sill with his head cocked slightly to the side and that evil grin of his sits The Count, you know the one from Sesame Street. I know most people don't think The Count is scary. In fact many even find the guy cute! I however do not, have not, and probably never will. As far as Sesame Street goes he's the closest thing to a bad guy they've got and I've always been tuned to the good vs. bad idea of entertainment. I know you're thinking "what about the grouch?" but honestly I always thought he was harmless and kinda cute (that I'm sure would explain quite a few of my former relationships and their appeal to me should it be psychoanalyzed or something). However, back to the story, I would see The Count sitting there and he'd grin manically and say "One little girl, Ah ah ah." And I would wake screaming my head off every time. Often ending up in bed with my parents if I was brave enough to leave my bed to get to them through the dark hallways that is.
I mean seriously, he's a puppet made to resemble the Count of Dracula, and talks all spooky. Why wouldn't an impressionable child be scared of him? I started watching Sesame Street when I was like three or something and I've been scared of that dude for as long as I can remember. I know I should have stopped being scared of the dreams as I grew up, and even though it's true that they did lessen in frequency, they did not lessen in how terrifying they where. As a teen I did not run to my mommy in the night, but I did wake up in a sweat and have to calm down before going back to sleep.
Now I tell you all this to talk about last night.
Last night I was up late reading, really not a shocker since this is one of my new favorite things to do. I was glad I was reading too because a huge storm had rolled in and kept waking up Lola. I would by far rather get up to calm her when I'm already awake then be woken. I like me my sleep when I get around to it. Anyway I was laying there and had finished my fun light-hearted book that in no way resembles my actual life and took me away from adult cares for a few hours. I turned off my light and curled up under the covers. It was at this time that there was a flash of lightening and a surge of power that sent all our electric things wonky. They were all fine, but it startled me and forced me to look around a little. I am the curious type after all.
I glanced up at our window and noticed the curtains were moving. Not a lot but softly from the breeze the fan was making. Not a big deal right? Yet I felt a familur fear pull at my guts. Then a flash of lightning behind the curtains confirmed it. In that flash I saw all my old dreams cross my vision as I sat in my large bed with a sleeping husband and two kids sleeping in the other room. The eerie feeling of the loud quiet (I know that's weird to say, but you know when the quiet seems to be pressing on your ears until it's almost as loud to you as a scream? That's a loud quiet.) obvious as I stared transfixed at the softly floating curtains and the flashes of lightning behind. "Why, oh why, did I choose to put up white curtains?" I thought to myself as I shrunk farther away from them and closer to Jeff. I could feel my heart pounding and at any moment I knew that The Count would jump out and say "One freaked out woman. Ah ah ah." Or something.
Only of course he didn't. Because I am a grown woman and was sitting on my bed in my home with the alarm on and no reason for a quiet room to be freaking me out. Boy am I glad Jeff slept through that and I resisted the urge to wake him up. I so never would have heard the end of it.

Lake Huron beach

While on our trip we took a day to drive out to the beach. Lake Huron's beach in Alpena to be exact. We managed to convince the boys to skip fishing for an afternoon to go with us. I think the only Walmart in a 60 mile radius being in town might have had something to dow ith it.
The girls were upset we couldn't play in the sand or water (too cold!) but we had fun walking on the beach and checking out the pier.

Had to share....

Fishing trip

We are back in civilization. We just spent a week in Michigan with Jeff's family on a fishing trip. If you know me even a little you know I'm not too into fishing. However, both the girls and Jeff had a great time. Jeff caught a lot of fish,not as many as he'd like. The Iverson's stayed in their camper and we had a cabin (yep I wussed out and slept under a roof with a real bathroom). I'm glad we went, but boy am I tired!

Houston Zoo Party!

On saturday of our trip we went to the Zoo. My aunt's friend Diane threw a surprise party for my Aunt Wilene. We met early and checked out the Zoo and then headed to the childrens area for the party. My Aunt was suprised to see us there (YEA for not posting about being in Houston! Sorry again to all my facebook friends). Lola fell asleep right before the party. I got the cutest picture of her hugging her party hat in her sleep!
It was a lot of fun. We got to hang out with Grandma Darlene and Trish and Annabelle made the drive down with the Dallas crew.
After the party Heather, the kids and I got to have dinner with the birthday girl. What a fun time!

NASA

On our second day in Houston we went to the NASA Space center. It was really neat. The kids liked playing with all the fun hands on stuff they had and I enjoyed all the information.
Sophy had a rough day and spent most of it throwing fits. Not our best day, but we survived it. Someday I'll be able to go to NASA and actually hear what they say, but until then I'll just remember the screaming....
The next thing we did was drive down to the shore and look for dinner.
We found a great little pizza place that threw the pizzas and it was YUMMY! I think I liked that part of the day the most!

Trip to Houston

So as many of you now know we just got back from a trip to Houston. Customarily I like to post each night that I am gone with an update from the day so I don't forget and everyone can share in our vacation. This time I was prevented from doing that. We had traveled down for my aunts surprise party. Since she didn't know I was in town we weren't able to post on here or facebook or anything! I felt so cut off from the world! I did take lots of pictures and saved my posts though so you could see it now!
Our trip started on Monday when my sister and her three kids arrived at my house in OKC. I took them out to POPS for dinner. It wasn't much, but we didn't have too much time. The rest of the night was spent finishing the packing for the next day. On Tuesday we loaded up my kids, her kids and ourselves in her minivan and took off. Our first official stop was going to be Dallas to visit a little with my grandmother. We did mosey on down taking time out for the gainsville outlet mall and IKEA before actually meeting up with grandma.
We spent the night in Dallas and headed out after breakfast for Longveiw Tx to see my grandad. Once again we were moseying along and stopped at the Outlet mall in Tyler along the way.
We spent the night Wednesday in Longveiw and headed out the next day after breakfast for Houston. As soon as we got to Houston we headed to the Children's Muesuem. Since we have a Science Center membership here in OKC we were able to get all of us intot he children's museum for free! We like free!
The mesuem was awesome! The kids favorite part was a town built for kids. They were all given an atm card and had to work jobs in the town to get their paychecks. They deposited their paychecks in the atm machines and could get out money to pay for things in town. Sophy liked being a chef inthe restaurant the most and Lola liked being a cop.
There was much more on our trip, but you'll have to check back to see it all!

A book update:

As most of you know I had two big resolutions this year. I'm not big on making resolutions as much as I like to have goals. There is a huge difference in my opinion between the two. For example, if I have a resolution to not eat sweets this year I will feel like I have failed it in January when I break and eat a tiny cookie (followed by a bigger cookie, who are we kidding here, I LOVE sweets!). However if I have a goal not to eat sweets I don't feel I've failed after eating a cookie, I just shake it off and try harder. A goal is a challenge, if at first you don't succeed try try again....and all that. With a resolution I feel I have to stay true or fail.
So this year I made resolutions. I wanted to read 100 books this year, hopefully they would be 75% or more new books (as in never read by me, not brand new). I also wanted to make sure my makeup and hair were done every time I left the house.
Funny how my resolutions quickly turned into goals in my head. I think I made it until March before necessity had me running out the door sans makeup. And I found 100 books a daunting endeavor. I like my book goal though because if I fail I can still try again next year. Someday I WILL read 100 books in one year. It just may not be this year.
Part of my book goal required me to write down what I read so I wouldn't forget. I'm glad I did too, because I'm pretty sure I left something off the list already even though I can't remember what it is ( I'm pretty sure I borrowed a few books from you mom, so can you remember what it was I read that's not on the list?). This is a habit I hope to continue forever. I like having a list of my year's reading. It's a nice reference.
I did a little math yesterday (shocking I know!) and found that I was far from my planned path to 100 books. I knew that was coming though. I haven't found near enough time to read this year as I had hoped. Pesky life keeps getting in the way. I have now set a much more achievable goal of 50 books this year hoping to work my way to 100 in the future, however I will not truly give up on the 100 book goal. So 50 I am resolved to hit and 100 is my goal.
With that said here is the list of books I have read thus far:
Books I've read in 2009:
1. The Warrior Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
2. The Wizard Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
3. The Dragon Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
4. Pride and Prejudice by: Jane Austin
5. Mansfield Park by: Jane Austin
6. The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins
7. Confessions of a Shopaholic by: Sophie Kinsella
8. Shopaholic takes Manhattan by: Sophie Kinsella
9. Shopaholic Ties the Knot by: Sophie Kinsella
10. Shopaholic and Sister by: Sophie Kinsella
11. Shopaholic and Baby by: Sophie Kinsella
12. Persuasion by: Jane Austin
13. The Princess Academy by: Shannon Hale
14. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by: E. L. Konigsburg
15. Shadow Spinner by: Susan Fletcher
16. The House of the Scorpion by: Nancy Farmer
17. (Placeholder for book I borrowed from mom (about a girl who's parents turn into pigs...)
18. Leven Thumps: The gateway to Foo by: Obert Skye
19. Leven Thumps: The whispered secret by: Obert Skye
20. Leven Thumps: The eyes of the want by: Obert Skye
21. Leven Thumps: The wrath of Ezra by: Obert Skye
22. God's Tomorrow by: Aaron Pogue
23. Ghost Targets- Expectations by: Aaron Pogue
24. The Mysterious Benedict Society by: Trenton Lee Stewart
25. Strange Happenings by: Avi
26. The Shakespeare Stealer by: Gary Blackwood

For those wanting reading suggestions I HIGHLY recommend a few on this list: #1-3, #6, #13, #16, and #22&23. #26 is a cute story, but the writing is poor. I liked many of the others, but am hard put to recommend anyone pay money to read them. If you would like you are welcome to borrow my copies.
I have several books on deck:
The lightning Thief by: Riordan (and it's fellows)
Fairest by: Levine
The Dark is Rising by: Cooper
The Tapestry By: Neff
The Catalogue of the Universe by:Mahy
The Puppeteer's Apprentice By: Love
The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio By: Alexander
The Return of Calico Bright by: Winkler

There are of course many books I plan to re-read this year, but for now that's the list. Have any of you read any of these? Any suggestions of which I should read next? I'm waiting on The Lightening Thief until after I can get the sequels from my mom so I don't have to buy them. Also if you know of a great book or series that I haven't listed please speak up. I LOVE hearing about new books!

My new skills...

Look what I learned to do!

An updated picture!

Backyard makeover part 1

Our backyard makeover has taken a HUGE step towards being finished! We now have a patio that is twice the size of the old one! I am very excited about my new beautiful patio! The rain even held off long enough for the patio to be poured and setup! Thank you for answered prayers. While they were out with the tiller I asked the contractor to break up the land for the playground. They did it cheap too! Jeff and I made a quick trip to Lowe's and got the stuff for our part of the project. In the end we decided to go with astroturf for the play area. I had to get creative looking for stakes to hold it down, but I finally remembered that tent stakes should work nicely. A quick trip to Academy Sports and we were all set. It took us most the day, but we got it finished. We still have a little work to do with the edgeing, but we need the patio to fully set up before we can finish. I was very impressed with how great ADC Concrete was! They even worked over the weekend to be sure that it was done in time for our memorial day picnic. We are now officially open for playdates!

Winner!

Sunday was the big day for our Beautiful Baby Contest winner! Here are a few of the MANY great shots we got from our time at the rose garden.

Backyard Fun!

More adventures with Craigs list and Garage Sales has lead to some fun times in the backyard. Here are some pictures of our recent purchases and some of the girls playing with their cousin Annabelle!
Pictures:
Castle (Craigs list, needs some work still, the previous owner painted it. I think I could get most the paint off it if I had a air compressor that hooked up to the water hose. Just my spray nossle on the regular hose took a lot of it off.)

Picnic Table $15 (craigs list)

Car $5 (garage Sale)

Rocking Chair $2 (Garage Sale)

Bounce House $5 (Garage Sale)

(I also got a slide for $10 at a garage sale and talked the lady into throwing some toys in for free (whoo-hoo!) but then when I got the castle it had a slide on it so I sold it to my sister in law for $10. So now they have a slide too and Annabelle will have lots of fun with it! We are still looking for a few fun things, but mostly we've got a fun backyard now!)

Easter morning

I never posted pictures of the girls from Easter. I'm still sad that we never took any pictures of the whole family. We were all cute and matching in White! Well, Jeff didn't have white pants, but that's to be expected. Enjoy the photos!

Lola turns two!

We had Lola's second birthday party today! It went really well. There were seven little girls and two boys and a selection of Adults to supervise. We took lots of pictures and enjoyed watching the kids play. My grandmother and aunt with her family drove up for the special day. We were planning on having a bounce house and ball pit in the yard, but the rain had other ideas. I think they still had a blast with the playroom and all the new toys. Lola had a great time opening presents and eating all the goodies, but she wasn't so sure about all the people being here. After all the baking and preparing I'm glad to rest and relax for what's left of my weekend.

Look what you can find for $30 on Craigs list!!!!

We are in the process of re-Doing our backyard. Part of that process is finding outdoor play stuff for the girls. I have been trolling Craigs list and others for fun stuff. This beauty was listed under a garage sale listing and was in bad shape when I got it. It was VERY dirty and all the joints were loose. With a little elbow grease, two bottle of Clorox cleanup, and a box of Magic Erasers I was able to get it clean. With Jeff's help I was able to get it together and tight! Thank You Grammy for this fun toy for Lola's Birthday! We look forward to sharing the fun with all the girls friends in the near future!
(and a huge shout out to Kimberly who saved the day when I had to go pick it up!!!)

Wow, it's a party! (or) It's a WoW Party!

Jeff turns 30! I'm officially married to an old man! Ha! Just teasing. In celebration of reaching such a milestone we decided to throw him a party centered on his favorite past time. World of Warcraft or WoW for short. We all dressed in costume centered around our characters and mom and dad planned an elaborate menu. I spent lots of time of WoW Wiki planning out the drinks and give-aways.
Guests were greeted at the door with "welcome to our inn, would you like to make this inn your home?" If they said yes they were given a Hearth stone (an item you get int he game that takes you back home) made out of candy. Then we played a few games that my mom had thought up and we ate the yummy food. The dinner cost everyone as did their drinks. How did they get theseThey got to run errunds for the inn keepers, take pictures of magical beasts, and of course turn Lola into a sheep and back again. Most agreed that hunting for flowers was the worse quest of the evening.
Each guest got to take home a prize after they did the things then? They had to complete quests to get money to pay for their food. ir quests and we all had fun watching Jeff open presents and blow out his birthday candles!
In the end the party was a huge sucess! Thank you to everyone who helped me plan and prepare for this fun night! I'm sure we'll all remember it for a long time!

And the winner is....

And the winner is... Ava Moyer! Congrats Moyer family! I'll be contacting you shortly to arrange your photo shoot!

Shannon Iverson Photography Beautiful Baby Contest

Let the Beautiful Baby Contest begin!

Online Surveys & Market Research

Mud Pies

Tonight as a fun project we made mud pie. The girls had a great time smashing up the cookies and making the pudding. The worms were a great surprise to them! Sophy sucked her gummy worms up like spaghetti! I chanced making Lola's with Soy milk because I didn't want her to miss the fun of eating her project. The soy milk didn't quite set up properly, but it still worked.
When we gave it to them Lola LOVED it! She made a huge mess and smiled the whole time. I'm so glad I took the time to make a messy project for them tonight!
Sorry I didn't get any pictures of Sophy, she was quick to run away before the camera came out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A few weeks ago I planned out cute outfits for the girls in green with matching bows. I so looked forward to sending them off to school in said outfits! What a joy that St. Patrick's day landed on a Tuesday this year! Oh wait, that was before I found out that this week was spring break. No school, so no good parent award for thinking ahead and planning out cute green outfits for both girls. Oh well, maybe next time.
Since we had no school today I was tested for fun St. Patrick's activities for kiddos. You can't really drink green beer with the kids! Ha! So we had green milk at lunch. They both loved it. And for dinner I made green eggs and ham. At first Sophy wasn't so sure of what to do with green eggs. Lola ate hers all up in seconds! Sophy did come around, but it took a while to convince her to have that first bite. A quick re-telling of how St. Patrick rid Ireland of the snakes (done each year) and our St. Patrick's day drew to a close. Not too exciting I know, but the girls seemed to like it.

BEautiful Baby Contest Update

I need the following information with your entries please.

Your Name
Your child's name
Child's Birthday
Your Phone Number

Thank you!

Announcing....

The Shannon Iverson Photography 1st Annual Beautiful Baby contest!
The winner will receive a free photo shoot and a photo package that includes: 1- 8x10, 2- 5x7, and 4- 4x5 in any pose of their choice.
To enter just email me (shannonliverson@gmail.com) or hand me a 4x6 non professional picture of your child. Children must be under 2 to qualify. I will put them all in an online poll here on my blog on Monday March 23rd! So you have until midnight on the 21st to get your pictures in! After this point you can have all your friends and family vote (one vote per computer) for the winner! The winner will be announced on Monday March 30th!
Good Luck!