Favorite Books of 2010

For those who know me, I am an avid reader. It has also been said that I'm a book addict. I agree with both assessments. Ever since first grade, reading has been my favorite past time -- at times to the exclusion of everything else. I'm doing better. I still love to read but I'm managing to fit in other things in my life much to the happiness of my family. :)

I also like to read blogs. Many of the blogs I read deal with books (I know -- big surprise). So I thought I would compile my list of favorite books I've read in 2010.

Happy New Year!

Kid Fiction
Robe of Skulls by Vivian French
Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

Young Adult Fiction
Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien
Midnight Charter by David Whitley

Adult Fiction
Rainwater by Sandra Brown
Zoo Station/ Silesian Station/Stettin Station by David Downing
Riverworld: Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
Homeland by Barbara Hambly
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley
Trianon by Elena Maria Vidal

Non Fiction

Left to Tell by Imaculee Ilibagiza
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids by Michael Pollan
Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams

Re-Read (and still like)
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowlings

(I don't know what's going on with the spacing -- I can't seem to fix it. Sorry.)

...And a Happy New Year

This year I didn't send out any Christmas cards, so hopefully friends and family have wandered over to this website as this entry will be my Christmas card to you.

Annalise says she doesn't believe in Santa Claus, which makes us sad, but at least she's willing to play along with Robyn. Robyn believes with all her heart and it is fun to see the excitement in her eyes. Annalise has been practicing drawing this winter break and above is her note to Santa Claus.

I got them to pause before the unwrapping frenzy began.

This is Robyn after unwrapping her gifts. It was cute to see her surrounded in wrapping and tissue paper as she dove through her gifts.

Christmas aftermath.


I would like to say it is all cleaned up but those who know me tidiness is not my forte. It will take me several days before the living room looks clean again.

We hope everyone has had a great holiday and enjoying your time off work. We'll see how Jeff does beeing at home, as he's a certified workaholic. He really shouldn't worry as there's ALWAYS something to do around the house...

We are doing fine and I think after several weeks we've finally kicked the sickness bug. Oops, I think I might have jinxed ourselves. :)

Happy 40th Jeff

We actually went out to dinner (without kids!) on his birthday. These are a couple pictures from our family party a couple days later. The first picture isn't quite in focus but I love how the candles look like a torch...

Robyn helped with the cake. Besides stirring the batter, she put the candles on the cake. We didn't have 40 on top but I think she put on all the candles we had in the house!

This is what's been happening in our neighborhood...

Annalise got her ears pierced! I've been telling her the last couple of years she could get it done -- all she had to do was tell me when. Well, in September she decided to go ahead , BUT she had to wait until the end of soccer season. She really pysched herself out before the piercing, but once it was done she decided it wasn't too bad. It helped that they did both ears at the same time! I don't think she could have stand having it done one at a time.

Annalise's old Belle dress. I was going to give it away but Annalise wouldn't let me. She's going to save it for her children. Hopefully we will be able to find it then as I know it's stuffed somewhere in her closet!

My newest nativity scene. I went to the store to buy the Little People Nativity set. I had been wanting that for years but once I saw this, I fell in love. Isn't it cute!

Teacher presents. In case you aren't sure, they are key chains. The bigger ones have a pocket where I'm going to put in a small gift card. The other is for Annalise's girl scout leader. Only a couple more to do. I hope they like them.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. The girls didn't fight (too much) and we didn't hit any traffic on our way down to Danville for dinner. (Too bad for the people heading to Sacramento -- it was backed up for miles.) The food was good and we enjoyed visiting with the family.

This Thanksgiving was the start of a new tradition -- Robyn as her dad's Thanksgiving Super Helper. She helped him make the annual pecan pie and strawberry jello salad. I think it tasted better this year -- made it was the touch of Robyn that did it.

We hope everyone else had a nice Thanksgiving as well!

Soccer Has Ended

This weekend will be our first weekend without any soccer games and we are just a little sad. When Annalise first started to play I never thought I would feel this way. Though with the weather growing colder I don't think the feeling will stick around for long.

It was a rough year. This year the girls moved up from U10 to U12 and as a result the girls were a lot bigger. Last year they dominated their division but this year, well, they didn't win a game. Even so they managed to have fun and they still tried their best. They were a good group of girls!

Even with the season being 0-7-3, we managed to have a great soccer party. For the past three years we have it at the local indoor soccer place. Everyone, parents & teammates, has fun playing for an hour. Last year even I went out there but not this year as I wasn't feeling well. Robyn took my place instead and had a blast!

Annalise got to spend one more day playing soccer. She and three other teammates were nominated to play in the all-star game. It was a nice ending to the season!

Halloween Weekend

Actually, the Halloween celebration started the week before with the school's Harvest Festival. It was a PTO fundraiser but it was the one time the kids get to wear their costumes at school (no costumes allowed on Halloween -- boo!).

Sssshhh, don't tell Annalise but her and Robyn's costumes kinda go together. Annalise is getting to the age where Robyn is really starting to bug her. Robyn realizes that and I think she often does it on purpose...

At the school's harvest festival Robyn won a cake at the cake walk. This is what she chose:

It's pretty cool looking, but it's a LOT of cupcakes. We've been passing them out to friends and we still have one left in the house.

In addition to the Harvest Festival we had lot of other things going on. Jeff & I went to a Halloween party on Friday -- we even dressed up but we have no pictures so you will just have to take our word for it. :)

Saturday was the ward's trunk or treat. The girls invited a couple of friends and had a good old time being hyped up on sugar. Besides getting candy, they participated in yet another cakewalk and got to go on a hayride. It's going to be hard to go back to school on Monday!