Fall into Reading 2010

My children inform me that today is the official first day of autumn, and I have been looking forward to fall for more reasons than one. One big reason is that I have been wanting to participate in Katrina's Fall Into Reading Challenge. This is my first time to join in and I am really excited.

I've made my list "doable" for me, ie, small. Only 8 books. If I get through these books, then I plan to come back and add more to my list. But this will be good for starters.

So here's the list:

Fiction

Even Now - by Karen Kingsbury I'm a big fan of Karen's books. And I've just discovered a whole shelf of them at our church library. Yeah! This one was just chosen at random.

Return to Me - by Robin Lee Hatcher Borrowed from my sis, who is also joining in the reading challenge.

The Call of the Wild - by Jack London I have to be honest, I don't remember ever having read this book. I guess it never really "jumped out" at me. But since my 8th grade daughter will be reading it for school, I am going to read it, too.

Handle with Care - by Jodi Picoult I started this on vacation, but never got a chance to finish it. When I read her books, I can't put them down. I may have a few late nights with this one!

Non-Fiction

Girl's Passage - Father's Duty - by Brian and Kathleen Molitor Carl won this at a Father/Daughter dance when he took Brianna a few years ago. It's been sitting on the shelf ever since. It looks good. So I know I'm not a father, but maybe I can still learn a few things.

Writing Personal Essays: How to Shape Your Life Experiences for the Page - by Sheila Bender Another one from off the bookshelf.  A little motivation for my creative side.

An Army of One - by Zev Chafets A biography about Rush Limbaugh, but also an insight into the conservative movement. Very intriguing book that I started this summer, but never finished.

Don't Waste Your Life - by John Piper Given to me. John Piper is deep, but has some tremendous thoughts to share in this book.

Okay, that's my list for now. I'm so excited to be a part of this reading community. I have already checked out a few of the links to other's reading lists. This is going to be fun.

Now to go figure out the "Mr. Linky" thing. Wish me luck!

Summer Summary - Part II

Around here the end of August usually finishes off with some drastic changes in the weather. Although we have had that, just as quickly it has gone back to being hot again, followed by some milder temps, but still summer-like. This is not a meteorologist report, just to let you know that it has been an unusual, but good transition away from summer vacation and into school. And yet it doesn't feel like summer vacation should be over at all.
I miss them already, but I do look forward to this "fall" season. It is fun to do some more looking back over the summer. We made some good memories. We had lots of late nights, tons of swimming (even though we battled the algae bug for a month!), time with friends and family, a vacation, summer camp for the first time, trips to the library, and best of all, time to play, be carefree, and enjoy being with one another. I will once again let the pictures tell the story.

Chilling out with my honeys.

Had a blast at Di & Mike's!

What a "great" Aunt we have. We are so blessed!

 The birthday girl! Mom, you are so beautiful, inside and out!

The boys went to Bible camp for the first time ever. They're already begging to go again next year.

It was a hot, humid week. But a week of sun, swimming, fun, friends and God's blessings.

The first day of vacation I managed to back into a tree. (There were plenty of them.) The rest of the week Kaylee reminded me "don't hit a tree Mommy"!

Nevertheless, we still had an awesome time of hiking, relaxing, enjoying God's creation and each other.

Aunt Di and munchkins at the cabin.

What would summer be without a car show? Jeremy took a hundred pictures,

ate his heart out at all the hot rods,

and drooled over all the Mustangs.

To my sister: I am thankful to you for being so involved in the lives of my kids and going along with us on vacation and some other outings. You are the best encourager, friend and sister a girl could ever have.              

To my kids: I enjoyed my summer immensely with you. Daddy and I are so thankful for you and the joy you bring to our lives. Despite the fact that Daddy was very busy this summer, he encouraged and allowed us to do many things. For a person who craves routine, summer is usually a great challenge for me. I am thankful that the Lord gave me ideas and the resources to carry them out. I have enjoyed watching you grow and mature this summer. You are the best kids a Mom could have.  

Summer Summary - Part I

As summer winds down, I thought I would get back on the blog-wagon with a snapshot of our summer - in pictures. Saves me from having to think too much, except that I have to remember how to upload the pictures!

I am not always johnny-on-the-spot with the camera, so this only consists of activities for which I remembered to grab the camera. Actually, with all that goes on, sometimes I just would prefer to be "in the moment" instead of running for the camera.

We started off the summer with a birthday. Travis turned 9!

My little tradition - to take a group photo on birthdays. It's fun comparing from year to year!

Little pals chilling out during monsoon season in early June!

Brianna & Jeremy picked fresh strawberries for me at one of the local farms.! (Eating while picking was fun, too! Oops!)

Turning strawberries into jam late at night with my neighbor and friend!

The kids posted their own lists of rules. I think they stuck to them pretty well.

We asked the Lord to help us be more intentional about this.

Swimming with Dad....tons of fun!

Dressed up and ready to go to church on the 4th of July. (They LIKE matching! I don't make them do this.)

We enjoyed a pleasant 4th with my parents....

...and Carl's parents.

The closing program for our church camp, "Summer Surge". I love seeing their enthusiasm for the Lord.

I promised my big kids that I would take them to a major league baseball game. We were lucky to get some tickets given to us. Great seats, too!

 I pulled Travis down the steps in a hurry to get his picture taken when I saw the Pirate parrot coming towards us.

Well, I've realized that this is turning into a very long post. And since I'm having issues aligning my text, for now I'm going to sign off, til I get the rest of my pictures uploaded. Stay tuned for Part II.

Things That Make Me Go "Eeew"!

This is my very first meme. I found it over at Katrina's blog, Callapidder Days. I could think of quite a few, and the list seems to grow as I get older. Go figure. Anyways, here are 5.

Things that creep me out:

1. Thousand-leggers. This is definitely #1 on my list. Anywhere. But especially in my house. Luckily Corey(4) is our resident bug-killer. He is my hero. Because the only thing that creeps me out more than thousand-leggers is having to kill one.

2. Throw up. In the forefront of my mind today because Corey decided to throw up around 5:30 this morning. Lucky for me, Carl got up and dealt with it. I pretended to sleep. I am not good with puke. But I did learn on CSI Las Vegas that smiling represses the gag reflex. I'm still working on that one.

3. Being home late at night without Carl. He had to go out on an emergency plumbing call around 10:30 last night. Rats. When he is gone I am aware of many strange noises I never noticed before.

4. Heights. This isn't exactly gross, but the way it makes me feel is gross. I never was good at this. And I'm still not. The whole amusement park thing is just not all that amusing anymore.

5. Feet. Just other adult feet. Yuck. Usually crusty and hard. Been in work boots all day. However, I do have a fetish for my kids' feet. Even stinky ones. Even ones with little sock-fuzzies in between the toes. So cute I have been known to kiss them. Especially the baby's.

Okay, that's my creeper list. Hopefully it's not too whiny! Most of the time I just try to be a big girl and deal with the creepy things life sends my way.

What gives you the heebie-jeebies? Let me know if you post a list.