Took the kids to Huntington Beach yesterday with a friend of mine and her kiddos. We had a great time! Grant LOVED the water and cried the entire way back to the car. Katie made sand angels! It was a good 80 degrees out and the beach was pretty much deserted on a Tuesday winter’s afternoon. Great for us!
Here is my 2008 book list. I favored Nicholas Sparks, Anne Tyler and the Left Behind series. I’ve already started the 2009 list. We’ll see how I do this year with three kids. 😉
Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible – 1/08
Giordano – I Love You Like a Tomato – 1/08 (Apparently first in a series of three.)
Binchy – London Transports – 1/08
Tyler – Patchwork Planet – 2/08
Tyler – Back When We Were Grownups – 2/08
Pezzelli – Every Sunday – 2/08
Kay – Half Price Living – 2/08
Fowler – The Jane Austen Book Club – 3/08
Tyler – Breathing Lessons – 3/08
Rice – The Edge of Winter – 3/08
Hegi – Floating in My Mother’s Palm – 3/08
Hoffman – The Ice Queen – 3/08
Lockwood – Dixieland Sushi – 3/08 (SO funny!)
Oates – We Were the Mulvanneys – 4/08
Mason – In Country – 4/08
Kingsbury – A Time to Dance – 5/08 ( I loved this… Christian Lit is growing on me!)
Harris – Five Quarters of the Orange – 5/08
The Color Purple – 5/08
Dessen – This Lullaby – 5/08
Rubio – Icy Sparks – 6/08
Keyes – Sushi for Beginners – 6/08
Green – Babyville – 6/08
Binchy – This Year It Will Be Different – 6/08
Morrison – The Bluest Eye – 07/08
Frank – Sullivan’s Island -07/08
Patchett – Bel Canto – 08/08
Empire Falls – 08/08
Allison – Bastard Out of Carolina – 8/08
Wiggs – Snowfall at Willow Lake – 8/08
Karon – Mitford Series #5
Arnold – Pieces of my Sister’s Life – 9/08
Tyler – Ladder of Years – 9/08
Sparks – The Rescue – 9/08
Sleeping Arrangements – Started reading, but quit halfway through. Didn’t like it at all.
Sparks – The Guardian – 9/08
Sparks – Nights in Rodanthe – 09/08
Sparks – The Wedding – 09/08
Sparks – True Believer-09/08
LaHaye/Jenkins – Left Behind Series (1-9) – 10/08
Rice – What Matters Most – 10/08
Binchy – Firefly Summer – 11/08
HA… not many books in Nov/Dec… we got digital TV!
We updated our phone/internet service to include digital TV. In the last two weeks, I’ve been catching up on some shows that I could previously only watch while on vacation in a hotel room. (Andrew and I were like crack whores when we would have a night of cable tv… oh Discovery Channel, how we love you!)
Anyway, now I get to see some ‘new to me’ shows and I have to admit my new crush.
Mike Rowe is my boyfriend
Scary, isn't it?
Last week (Wednesday), we bought a pumpkin from Fresh and Easy. It is a new store out where I live and since they are building one right around the corner from my house, I thought I’d try one of the other locations and see how I liked it. It was REALLY nice inside and the prices seemed pretty good. The pumpkins were only $3 for any size, so we got a medium/large one and set off to Grandpa’s house to carve it. This is what we came up with…
BEFORE
On Monday we went back to Grandpa’s house and this is what we found…
I have no idea what happened. As a child, we carved pumpkins and they lasted for weeks. If they did start to deteriorate, it was just a softening, but NEVER have I seen the pumpkin turn black and deflate!
The whole family went up to Oak Glen to the apple orchards yesterday for a bit of fun. We had apple donuts and a picnic next to the raspberry fields. Then we mosy-d on down to the pumpkin farm and took advantage of the photo opportunities. Good times, let me tell ya.
And, yes it’s been 16 days since my last blog. I’ve found the wonders of Facebook and have been hopelessy addicted. 🙂
Fall is here and we have a lot planned for this month… each weekend holds something new!
We don’t usually have so much activity in one month. I’ll be taking advantage of naptime whenever I can!
Here is a collage from our trip to Oak Glen two years ago.
My husband just published his first book through Blurb about his adventures working at Disneyland. You can preview the book and if you’re so inclined, it is available for purchase. Through 9/30/08, shipping is free (up to $10) with this code: shipforfree
Last night, we dropped the kids off at grandpa’s house and went to Lucille’s Smokehouse for dinner. All I have to say is YUM! Andrew had his favorite… ribs! I had my tri-tip and was in heaven. Then we walked over to the theater and saw Tropic Thunder. A little over the top, but very funny.
And I have one question… what idiot parents thought it was a great idea to bring their 4 & 5 year old to see this movie? Oh, that’s right, the people sitting next to us. It’s totally rated R, with so much foul language and blood & guts. I just don’t get some people.
Our past week was filled with some new experiences.
Yes, that is my big butt, and yes, I got an ice cream too.
On an unhappy note, we helped my mom get my grandpa’s house ready for an estate sale. The good news: we were able to clear out and sell many items. The bad news: there’s still a lot more to do. Wish us luck.
Now that we are more settled in our new place and baby is on a schedule, I’m ready to get Katie into some summer activities. She loves being around other kids, and certainly loves to perform. Just last night at Target, she held court in the accessory department with a crowd of about 5 watching her sing into a little microphone and dance around. As she ended each song, she would shout ‘HEY HEY!’ and then bow. People walking by would clap and say she should be on American Idol. My little performer. Andrew suggested we put out a little hat for tips.
I signed her up for a ‘Storytelling, Singing & Dancing’ class that starts in 2 weeks – a few days after we get back from our vacation. It is for one hour each week for 5 weeks. This girl LOVES to sing and dance, so I think it will be perfect for her. Also, I lucked out and the classes are held about one block from my house, so we can walk to and from (thus saving gas and parking fees.) If you are from California, you know we drive EVERYWHERE, so walking the block will be a new experience for us (and GREAT excersise!)
Once those classes are over, I enrolled her (just this morning!) in swimming lessons. It would have been nice to get them before the vacation, but that is okay. She’ll still have one on one time with both me and Andrew in the pool/lake this coming week. She is like a little fish already and LOVES to be in the water, and can get around pretty good with just her floatie jacket on.
What are your kids doing this summer?
I keep seeing Patrick Dempsey all over the place. I’ve never seen Grey’s Anatomy or Enchanted. I know him as the guy from Can’t Buy Me Love. And that made me think of all the posts Allison keeps writing about 80’s & 90’s stuff. So, I am dedicating this post to her as I reminisce about the 80’s/90’s TV shows and movies that most people won’t remember or care about.
Movies: Stand by Me, Teen Wolf, Teen Wolf Too, Grease 2, Just One of the Guys, Better Off Dead, Teen Witch, The Boy Who Could Fly, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
TV Shows: Romper Room. Land of the Lost. Sigmund and the Sea Monster. The Great Space Coaster. Remember ‘Small Wonder’? Wasn’t Vicki creepy? How about Evie from ‘Out of this World’? Charles in Charge – Buddy Lembec was way cuter than Charles. Mr. Belvedere.
TV Movie: Dance Til Dawn – with all of your favorite teen stars… including Matthew Perry!
What were your favorite movies as a teenager? Is anyone else out there as nerdy as me?
My Life in a Nutshell 