it's the little things...

I still tried to read daily but less stress on myself than last year.  I think it's safe to say I'm back in the routine of reading and I love it.  Some of these were family reads--I'm so glad we've moved beyond picture books.  * were my favorites. How To Stop Time* Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse The Last Thing He Told Me Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue* Wonder Seeker Don't Put a Cactus in the Bathroom The Summer Job Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow Game On: Tempting 28 Call Us What We Carry The Four Winds Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian part of the first Bridgerton book The Supernatural Society A Gentleman in Moscow The Nest State of Terror Wish You Were Here We Were Never Here The Mysterious Benedict Society The Seven Day Switch Porch Lies The Personal Librarian* Red, White, and Royal Blue The Art of Gruene Beautiful World, Where Are You Big Panda and Tin

It was a banner year for reading!  One of my goals was to read 21 minutes a day in 2021.  I was successful 97% of days (only missed 10).  And obviously read a lot more than 21 minutes on many days...  Really reading again (after not reading many non-kid books over the last decade) helped me feel like I was claiming something for myself.  What an idea! 1. The Girl With the Louding Voice 2. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry 3. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise 4. Better Than Before 5. To Kill a Mockingbird 6. The Twenty-One Balloons 7. Dark Water Rising 8. The Book of Lost Names 9. Diamond as Big as the Ritz (novella) 10. Fried and Prejudiced 11 & 12. Nancy Drew #1 and #3 13. Locker Hero (audiobook) 14. New Kid (audiobook) 15. Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day (audiobook) 16. Fortune and Glory: Tantalizing 27 17. The Sidewalk Story 18. West With Giraffes 19. Attracting Native Pollinators 20. Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale 21. Percy Jackson: The Ligh

Seems like a lot of good books this year.  And a more reasonable amount that I've read for myself (although, as usual, many kids/YA books). Tricky Twenty-Two Turbo Twenty-Three The Witches Fantastic Mr. Fox Hardcore Twenty-Four Look Alive Twenty-Five The Testaments The Book of Delights The Phantom Tollbooth The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me Lalani of the Distant Sea The Moomintroll Series (#1-3) The Penderwicks (#1-4) The Four Tendencies Twisted Twenty-Six Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy Becoming Outer Order Inner Calm The Obituary Writer Magic Misfits: The 4th Suit The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane Humans The Great Shelby Holmes

Wasn't a terrible year for reading.  And it's nice that the kids can hear more complicated chapter books these days when we read before bed.  And road tripping for Spring Break led to some audiobooks for the first time in a long time.  Hopefully 2020 will see more books, fewer crazy internet stories. The Woods The Time Keeper Hocus Pocus & the Sequel The Legends of Greemulax Still Life With Breadcrumbs Stuart Little Hello, Universe* The Incredible Magic of Being* Finding Gobi (*Audiobook) The One and Only Ivan (again) Matilda How to Not Hate Your Husband After Kids The Prince and The Guard The One The Elite Born a Crime The Selection

Happy birthday, my sweet boy!  We had your birthday party last Saturday and things are just kind of hectic this week, so it wasn't the first thing I thought of when I woke up.  But I at least remembered before you left for camp.  Speaking of your birthday party...for the second year in a row you picked some weird, obscure theme.  This year?  Treasure X.  Lucky for me it's sort of like a pirate theme so that's what we went with.  We had some fun decorations and favors.  You requested doughnuts again instead of cake.  We had a scavenger hunt which went way better than I expected.  And a piñata.  You asked for that specifically.  A good, crazy time was had by all you little boys.  This summer has gone by so fast.  You've had lots of camps since y'all didn't want to go to real day care anymore.  You've done several technology-related ones and have enjoyed them.  You got to learn to fly drones, build robots, design video games, do Legomation.  Lots of cool st

So you're 8.  And a few weeks because I've apparently been too crazy to remember to write this.  But!  I made it through your year of 7 without losing all my marbles.  (Refer to last year's post.) You're in 2nd grade!  You've made so much progress in the last year.  Reading is smooth sailing now.  We still read to y'all before bed but sometimes we reverse the roles.  I'm happy to have made it through the excruciatingly slow reading stage.  You also were finally tested for GT, and you got in!  I wasn't sure what you'd think of it, but so far you're a fan.  I love that your teacher mentioned that she didn't expect y'all to finish some assignment because you've finally found someone who speaks your language.  You have 2 main teachers this year--that's a first.  You enjoy them both.  Your science fair project was about density this year.  We let you incorporate a little craftiness into it with food coloring.  Always artsy, you. Fo