Books, 2013

Last year, I set a goal to read 30 books.  I ended up reading 36!  This year, my goal is set at 36...hoping I blow it out of the water!  Here are a few books I'm wanting to read this year:

Mornings on Horseback by David McCulloch
Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as "a masterpiece" (John A. Gable, Newsday), it is the winner of the Los Angeles Times 1981 Book Prize for Biography and the National Book Award for Biography. Written by David McCullough, the author of Truman, this is the story of a remarkable little boy, seriously handicapped by recurrent and almost fatal asthma attacks, and his struggle to manhood: an amazing metamorphosis seen in the context of the very uncommon household in which he was raised.

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
 When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family.

Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel
Now Dr. Tim Kimmel, founder of Family Matters ministries, offers a refreshing new look at parenting. Rejecting rigid rules and checklists that don't work, Dr. Kimmel recommends a parenting style that mirrors God's love, reflects His forgiveness, and displaces fear as a motivator for behavior. As we embrace the grace God offers, we begin to give it-creating a solid foundation for growing morally strong and spiritually motivated children.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamante
Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that tell of her father, Jacob, and his twelve sons.
 Told in Dinah's voice, Anita Diamant imagines the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of the mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past.

There are quite a few more that I want to read.  I just need to find time to read between cleaning, cooking, parenting, homeschooling, etc!

Hopeless--Book Review

Ms. Hoover, I don't know how you do it.  I fall completely (ridiculously) head over heels in love with your books.  With your characters.  With you!  Slammed was great.  Point of Retreat was great.  Hopeless was amazing!

This book was a little different from the first two in that it dealt with a much more mature subject matter.  It dealt with ugly, painful stuff.  With heartbreaking, heart shredding, hopeless junk.  But it was real.  It was heartbreaking, heart shredding, hopeless reality.  Somehow in that mess, Colleen Hoover sucked me in and showed that their is still Hope.  No matter what.

This story is about a girl meeting a guy who actually makes her feel something.  Those emotions are thrilling, yet scary.  She discovers there are secrets that he's been keeping.  She discovers that there are secrets that she's been keeping from herself.  It's about how they deal...with the secrets and with each other.

I won't tell much about the book...but I will say that if you read this, be prepared to invest every ounce of your emotions into these characters.  Like Sky, I don't cry.  I hate to cry--it makes me feel weak and stupid.  But I will admit that at certain parts of the book, I felt like crying with them and for them.  (I didn't cry, though.  If my husband hadn't been in the room with me while I was reading, I might have let go and let a couple tears fall! lol)  Everything about these characters is so intense, so passionate, so emotionally charged, so REAL!

Another fantastic book by Colleen Hoover! 

*just a note--There is some "risque" content in this book.  A little more than I usually read.  There were just a couple of parts that I felt a little uncomfortable reading but it didn't take away from the book at all.  I'm just a little bit conservative!

Truth in the Tinsel (days1-2)

We're using Truth in the Tinsel this year for our Christmas advent.  The kids are enjoying it and so am I.  Here are a few pictures from days one and two.  (And, of course, no pictures of Cade because he flips out if he even thinks I'm pointing the camera in his direction!)

 Day 1:  Light

 Day 2:  Kingdom  (Painting crowns is serious business and requires mucho concentration!)

Notice that she was in her jammies both days?  We've been doing our crafts early, before we do anything else!  And that's strawberry donut smeared all over her face.  Just pretend like it was something healthy, okay?  :-) 

12/3/12

I'm feeling a little guilty.  Cade was my first child and I have about eleventy-billion pictures of him.  About 20 scrapbooks, too.  Poor Cammers.  I have exactly 0 scrapbooks of her.  And maybe 100 pictures over the past three years.  Es no bueno!

Soooo...I have decided to start taking pictures like a mad dog again.  Not only that, but I want to learn how to take good pictures.  I want to learn to use my manual settings and rattle off words like aperture and f-stop and depth of field.  Then I can hang with the big girls! ;-)  I'll be practicing and putting a bunch of pictures here on the blog.  Which the grandmas will love since they think I have the cutest kids ever.  (And it's true, I do!!) 

Cade isn't a fan of having his picture taken so he won't be on here too much.  Unless it's the back of his head as he runs away from the camera!

11/30/12

I am loving this age.  Camden is 3 and my goodness gracious, she is sweet and sassy and spunky and so darn smart!  I said something today and she said, "that's correct!"  It's kind of adorable when adult words come out in her squeaky voice.  She says "sore" instead of sure and she calls a carousel a "carrot cell!"  What's not so adorable are the *immediately drop to the floor and start screaming* fits she pitches when she's the teensiest bit frustrated.  What is up with that?  Those pretty much liquify my brain! 

Good golly, she's gorgeous!