Book Recommendations From This Past Year

I began the year writing reviews for some of these books but I lost steam so I decided to just categorize and recommend books.  They are listed by genre (yes I know things like "dystopian society" isn't probably technically a genre but it best explained those books) in alphabetical order by title, and some books did fit more than one category so I just put it where it seemed most like the other books.  If the book was part of a series, only the first book was listed.  Happy reading!

Books I Would Highly Recommend:

Dystopian Society:
Delirium (series of 3 books, 3rd comes out next year) by Lauren Oliver
Hunger Games (series of 3 books) by Suzanne Collins

Paranormal:
Harry Potter and The Sourcer's Stone (series of 7 books) by J. K. Rowling
The Host by Stephenie Meyers
Twilight (series of 4 books + incomplete 5th book) by Stephenie Meyer

Suspense:
11/22/68 by Stephen King

Young Adult:
Paper Towns by John Green
What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Books I Would Recommend:

Chick Lit:
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (series of 5 books) by Ann Brashares
Sloppy Firsts (series of 5 books) by Megan McCafferty
Watermelon (series of 4 books, possibly a 5th someday) by Marian Keyes

Dystopian Society:

Crossed (series of 3 books) by Ally Condie

Paranormal: Shiver (series of 3 books) by Maggie Stiefvater

Religious/Self-Help:
Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Dr. Francis Collins
It's Not About Me by Max Lucado
Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Dr. Donald Clifton

Young Adult:
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Summer I Turned Pretty (series of 3 books) by Jenny Han
Keeping The Moon by Sarah Dessen


Books I Felt Neutral About:
Chick Lit:
Bet Me by Jennifer Cruise
Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger
Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

Dystopian Society:
The Knife of Never Letting Go (series of 3 books) by Patrick Ness

Books I Would Not Recommend:

Chick Lit:
Fifty Shades of Grey (series of 3 books, couldn't make it through the first) by E. L. James


Young Adult:
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Christmas

We started Christmas the weekend before with the Elstro Christmas.  Those pictures are on a different computer and I hope to get them transferred soon but here are my two favorites:

The kids woke up at a reasonable time (unexpected!) and were ready to open gifts!



Colton taking his time to open his scooter:

Bennett trying to take the wrapping off the bottom of his horse:



Hailey with goodies from her stocking:

And Hannah showing off some too:

Playing with one of Mommy and Daddy's gifts:

Later that evening, presents at the Guyon/Jordan Christmas:

Matthew and Jessica opening gifts:

Everyone laughing at the kids opening their presents:

Steve and Stephanie:

Aww, newlyweds:

Trying to open a big gift (grandma is back there):

Jessica smiling for the camera:

Grandpa checking out the goodies that the kids and I made:



 A very Merry Christmas for all!!!

Another Nephew!

Anne is due May 9, exactly 4 weeks before me.  Anne and Marie were guessing girl (I never heard anyone else's guess) and the ultrasound was scheduled for this past week.  This weekend, Joe and Anne came in with a little gift for Marie - a boy bib!  That's right, nephew #3 is on his way!!! 

We found out about this little one in about a month!  I am leaning toward boy, so wouldn't it be neat to have boy cousins so close in age?

Week 14

This has been a big week for baby-related things.  I was able to stop the progesterone two weeks ago, so I am finally feeling human again and the morning sickness seems to be gone.  I am also feeling baby!  A few tiny tap-tap-taps here and there.  Hello little one!!!

Friday Funny

Hailey (watching Veggie Tales): Mommy, look, it's God!
Me: Um, Hailey, that's a camel....



Hannah: Hailey, let's put our heads together to solve the problem!
Hailey walks over, puts her forehead against Hannah's, and stands that way for about 10 seconds.
Hannah: Thanks Hailey!  I got it!



Me: Why are you sitting in a box?
Hailey: Cause I'm tending (pretending) to be a baby and babies like boxes.



Hannah (on election day): We got to vote for president at school!
Me: That's great!  Who did you vote for?
Hannah (acting upset): I accidently voted for Mitt Romney.
Me: How did you accidently vote for Romney?
Hannah: I forgot the other guy's name.



Hailey: I want awfuls!!!
Me: What?
Hailey: Like sister!  I want awfuls!!!!
Me: You mean waffles?
Hailey: NO!  AWFULS!



We are at the grocery store on the Monday before Thanksgiving.  Hannah spots an Amish family and walks over to them while I am helping Hailey.
Hannah: I really like your Halloween costumes.
Me (pulling her away quickly):  Sweetie, that those aren't costumes.
Hannah: Oh, I thought they were dressed like Pilgrims for Thanksgiving...



Hailey (explaining to Hannah why she likes cats): I only like nice puppies and nice kitties and there are no nice puppies.  (In fairness to her, she got nipped and scratched by some puppies about 6 months ago and has been terrified of dogs ever since)

Thanksgiving Day And A Big Announcement

There are always so many things to be thankful for on Thanksgiving: wonderful family, great friends, a church home, the food on our table, our house, our cars - the list could just go on and on.  Today though, I am thankful for one new thing.  Or I should say person.  We plan to be meeting him or her around June 6, 2013.  We are so thankful!!!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Hannah and Hailey had their parent/teacher conferences this week:

Hailey: Hailey's teacher said she is a sweet girl and right where she should be academically.  She said her coloring and fine/gross motor skills are exceptional.  She said that Hailey does have a little trouble expressing herself when she is upset (she tends to scream when someone does something instead of using her words) but she understands that Hailey is and has been speech-delayed and there are other kids who do the same thing who haven't even had speech issues.  Hailey also could use a little extra help in willingly sharing and willingly picking up and occasionally gets distracted or stubborn, which is strange because these are not things that she generally has issues with at home.  We will keep an eye on it though.  The teacher called her a "leader" and said that she is extremely creative, much more than most kids her age.  Apparently Hailey likes to use the pretend phone along with 2 other little girls (Emily and Audrey - her 2 "favorite" friends from preschool) and they have some pretty hilarious conversations.  Overally, she said Hailey is a smart and easy-going kid.  Oh and as a side note: her teacher thinks it is hilarious that Hailey corrects you with saying "preschool" whenever you call it "school" (which she does to me too because according to her, Hannah goes to school and since Hailey goes to a different building, it can't be the same thing).

Hannah: Hannah's conference was a little different this year because the 1st/2nd grade combo class chooses to have "student-led" conferences.  Hannah showed me some of the things they had been learning and then gave me a sheet where she marked how she thought she was doing with all the expectations by marking them with a "yes" "no" or "sometimes."  Expectations were things like: kind to friends, finishes work, follows directions, etc.  Hannah marked "yes" for everything except "finishes work on time" and "works neatly."  The teacher actually thought she was being too hard on herself and that she does everything on the list perfectly.  We then went over her report card (all As and S+s) and her NWEA test scores (73rd percentile for math and 96th percentile for reading).  Her Lexile numbers are 185-365.  We were supposed to come up with goals so we chose "finishing work on time" (sometimes she doesn't finish her morning work until the afternoon and although the teacher thinks this is no big deal, Hannah thinks it is) and "reading more non-fiction books" (as a way to branch out on her reading).  Hannah told me that her favorite friends are Avah and Aubrey along with a 2nd grader named Asia.

We are proud with how the kids are doing!

Riding Along

We haven't really had a chance to practice riding bikes much this summer because it has been insanely hot.  Seriously, the only thing to do outside was swim because anything else and you might melt.  Well fall has finally hit and along with all of Hailey's allergies dying off (woohoo!), we are blessed with nice cool weather.  Since it has been so nice recently, we started taking the kids on bike rides again.  You know how kids just suddenly "get" something?  I wondered when that might stop but apparently it continues through at least age 6 because this past spring we tried teaching Hannah to ride her bike and she could do it a bit but just wasn't quite catching it.  Fall has been like night and day.  Not only can she now ride without falling at all, she can even start herself and stop herself.  Talk about it just "clicking" one day!  Hailey has also been using the bike instead of her beloved trike recently so I took a video of them on our walk last night:

I also couldn't resist some cute picutes as they played on the playground:

Friday Funnies

Hannah: I bet you were bored before I was born.

*

Mommy: How many kids do you think you'll have some day?
Hannah:  Maybe 2.  Or 20.

*

Hailey: People and T. Rexes have bones.

*

Hannah: Why don't I have a chest like you?
Mommy: Because you aren't old enough to have a baby.  Those are for feeding babies milk.
Hannah: You grow cows in your chest?!?

*

Mommy: Aw, you love your baby doll.  Do you love babies?
Hailey: I love baby kitties.
Mommy: That's sweet but do you love babies?
Hailey: No.  Them too weird.

Dance!

Since Hailey has been doing gymnastics, Hannah decided she might like to start dance class.  We found a ballet class that is close to home and signed up for the first session.  She did miss the first two classes but the teacher (Miss Linda) assured us that she would not be behind. 

She loved her leotard, tights, and ballet slippers:

Stretching for class to start:

 

Showing us the dance moves they learned at the end:

It was adorable and she loves it!

Another Lost Tooth

Another visit from the tooth fairy (after Mommy finally yanked out the tooth that had been very loose for well over a month) and another new smile!

Hailey's First Day of Preschool

Hailey had her "practice" preschool day today. She was very excited, as has been talking about preschool nonstop for a while now. I am pleased to report that preschool was just as great as she had hoped! She went into the class without hesitation (or so much as a "goodbye" for her mama, who was feeling a bit choked up at taking her baby to preschool) and immediately hugged her teacher. When I came to pick her up, she was all smiles. Her teacher said she did great. She ate all her lunch, except the grapes that she kept insisting were olives (although I have no idea why that would be a deterant - she eats olives often). Her teacher also said that Hailey has extremely impressive coloring skills and that she holds her crayon better than half the kindergartners. Hailey said that she played tag at recess (and the monkey bars, slides, and tire swing), she made new friends, and her favorite thing was painting and playing with playdough. Such a big girl!

Here are the preparations for her first day.  Lunch (sliced ham, cubed cheese, celery sticks w/ranch dressing, strawberries, grapes, and water):

Her Dora backpack and Hello Kitty folder that she picked out, along with her Tinkerbell lunch bag from Grammie and Grampie that she loves:

Excited for the first day!

So cute!

Here we are at school:

Backpack hung up and ready to go:

Hannah's First Day of First Grade

It is hard to believe that the summer is actually over.  Probably because this year it is over so much sooner than normal.  Hannah's school, besides being insanely early (a 7:45am start time means a 6:45am wake-up call, which is really early in this house), they have also switched to a "balanced" calendar.  This means they have a shortened summer but get 2 weeks vacation in Oct, Dec, and March.  They get out at the end of May.  Since this is the first year, I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but the balanced calendar thing sounds like a good idea.  I'm still not on board with the early start time that they implemented two years ago, but I guess I didn't get a vote.

Hannah was very excited for 1st grade this morning.  She has a brand-new horse backpack, brand new shoes (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!), and a little money pouch that came with her backpack for her lunch money.  For the first time, she gets to ride a bus to and from school AND she gets to eat lunch at school.  Eating lunch at school seems to be a big selling point.  She is in the 1st/2nd grade combo class this year, and we got to meet her teacher last night.  Ironically, it ended being Mrs. Donaugh, the substitute teacher she had at the end of last year when Mrs. Hardin went on maternity leave.  The class is very large - it is actually two classrooms opened up - and Mrs. Boondt is the other teacher in there (and will be her 2nd grade teacher next year).  She recognized a few kids from her class last year and really enjoyed the first day.  She came home all smiles and said her new best friends were Avah and Aubrey.  First grade is off to a great start!

Our camera is on the fritz so I took pictures with Paul & Marie's camera but need to download them onto their computer before sending them to myself.  So, pictures to come!

A Summer of Accomplishments

This is been an insanely busy summer but the kids have still managed to accomplish several new things.  We're so proud of them!

Hailey: 
She learned how to do some gymnastics.  Grammy and Grampy paid for summer lessons for her birthday and this kid is a natural!  Never afraid to try anything and sometimes freaking out the instructors (who like to be standing closer when kids jump on the rope to swing), she absolutely loved it and spent all summer asking if it was Thursday.
She learned to paddle around in her swim ring by herself.  Since she was still clinging to me desperately at the end of last summer, this seemed like a nice accomplishment.  I didn't let her far out of my reach, but she did like to try to swim around with Hannah.  She was not okay putting her face under the water but she did put her face in the water a few times to blow bubbles and she would jump if you were holding her hands.
She night time potty-trained.  I was hesitant to try, only because she wasn't really showing any signs of readiness, but she's been daytime trained for a year now so I figured the worst thing that could happen is that we could end up back in overnight diapers.  However, she did great!  An accident the first few nights and then once a week for a few weeks and now we're done.  And our house is done with diapers.  Yay!

Hannah: 
She learned to swim.  She was paddling around a bit at the end of last summer but this summer she really took off.  She can do the front crawl, the doggy paddle, and swim underwater.  She jumps in the deep end and swims from one side to the other without help.  We still stayed close by but she is doing great.  Hopefully we'll get her in some lessons this winter to really learn the strokes.
She learned volleyball.  She begged to be allowed to do one sport camp from her school and this is the one she chose.  She was the youngest kid in the class but she did really well.  She showed us several of the moves and hits and really enjoyed herself.  Intramural volleyball doesn't start until 3rd grade around here but I imagine when she is old enough, she will want to play.  This could end up being a very good choice if she does end up being as tall as they predict.  Ha!
She read 100 books.  I don't even know where to begin with this one.  The library had a summer book program.  If you read 10 books, you got a few prizes and got to go to the party at the end of the summer.  I mentioned it to Hannah and she asked me what the top number of books you could read was.  I shrugged and said something like "well you put your name in a fishbowl to possibly be drawn for a prize at 25, 50, 75, and 100 so I guess the top is 100 books" not thinking for a minute that she'd have time to read anywhere near the "top."  She immediately insisted that she was going to read 100 books this summer.  Then she did.  Not only did she earn the prize for reading the most books at her grade-level but her name was also one of the three that got drawn out of the 100 books fishbowl (her odds were pretty good - there were probably only 6-8 names in there).  Wow, way to go!

Gymastics!

Since Grammy and Grampy paid for Hannah to be in a few camps this summer as part of her birthday gift (and Hailey is too young for them), Grammy and Grampy paid for weekly gymnastics for Hailey.  Hannah did a few months of gymnastics a couple of years ago but they were expensive and although she liked them, it didn't seem like she loved them.  Hailey really loved gymnastics.  She was so excited to put on her leotard and did an excellent job listening to her teacher and trying all the different stations they have set up.  Here are some pictures:



She loved it all and did a great job!  If we continue to have Hailey in gymnastics in the fall, we may have to try something new for Hannah, like swimming or ballet.

6 Year Appointment

Hannah's 6 year well-child visit was last week.  Here we go:

Height/Weight: 49 inches and 49.5lbs.

Physical Features: Her hair is blonde, although it looks a bit darker this year than in years past. It is an inch or two past her shoulders and her bangs are grown out.  Her eyes are blue. She has freckles on her nose and cheeks.  She has pierced ears.

Milestones: She can write all the letters in uppercase and lowercase, recognize over 150 sight words, read at a 1st grade level, sound out words, swim the front crawl, draw detailed pictures, tell stories, tell jokes, explain books she has read, count to 110, write 0-20, ride in a booster, make her own snacks, use the microwave, tie her shoes, recite her full address and phone number, and ride her bike for a short distance without training wheels. She loves to read and is starting to read some chapter books.

Favorites: Her favorite movie is Tangled.  Her favorite color is pink.  Her favorite friend is Lilly.  Her favorite song is "Tonight, Tonight (There's a Party on the Rooftop)."  Her favorite food is watermelon.  Her favorite book series is "Magic Tree House."

Pictures:
Birth:

Age 1:

Age 2:

Age 3:

Age 4:

Age 5:

 Age 6: