Book Clubs Shout-outs

After a crazy, crazy summer of packing, moving, unpacking and settling into our new space ~ not to mention the normal energy and antics of three little kids I am so ready to carve out a corner of quiet and peace.

And so I was so excited to learn of these two upcoming book clubs and want to spread the word in case either or both of these would be what any of you are looking for.

Michaela of California to Korea and back is a hosting a book club Stella Maris whose first book selection is My Sister the Saints, which I have not read and am excited to start.

Lisa Jo Baker and her besties are hosting the Back to School Book Club - for Moms starting with her book Surprised by Motherhood which I have read and blogged about here.

And as long as I'm doing book shout-outs my sister earlier this week released
being Neighborly a novella spin-off from her book Sawyer Says!

WWRW: August 27th

The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball is a very interesting book about a young couples first year starting farm largely from scratch.  Kimball was a journalist living in New York City when she went on assignment to meet a young farmer in Pennsylvania; the book follows the story of their courtship and how he convinced her to leave her city life and farm with him in Upstate NY.

The book is a fascinating look at a model of farming that favors horses over tractors and aims to take CSA to the next level by providing a complete diet from dairy and vegetables to meat and grain.  I would definitely miss coffee and chocolate and I don't think my kids are interested in giving up bananas or orange juice but this book offers even more evidence towards how eating locally and with an understanding of what is in season offers many benefits both financially and environmentally.   As an aside she shares an interesting debate she and her husband would have about buying local versus organic.

Overall a fun, interesting read.

B is for Bear is back in regular reading in our house as both a letter recognition book for Liam and first word book for Caitlin.  Six years later I still so enjoy the great mix of different textures for little fingers to explore and the gentle humor shown throughout.

Please head over to Housewifespice for more WWRW.

Why I Love My Husband Vol 9

Started by Kaitlin of More like Mary; More like Me ~ another edition of seeing the blessings amidst the crazy.

1. Every time he makes bacon on the weekend for breakfast he cooks a little extra so I can have BLTs during the week; my favorite summertime sandwich.
2. While away on vacation Shutterfly was having one of their great sales on prints. I mentioned that I was bummed to be away from our home computer and iPhoto library. He worked his mad computer skills and got me remote access so that I could take advantage of the sale.
3. Also while on vacation when the seafood place we went to for lunch turned-out to not have good lobster rolls; he upped the ante by treating me to a lobster tail.

Always with the helping hand

Quick Takes #160 The Maine Event

1. So we are back having enjoyed another wonderful week in Maine with Grandma and some of our cousins.  Dr Daddy was able to get away a couple of days early but did have to work part of Thursday so we left mid-afternoon and had a good ride up arriving a little after midnight.  Love this picture of Lisbeth from the next day; windows open, ocean breeze blowing, getting into vacation mode.

2. This year we had the great idea of getting the 'travel down to the outlets and shop' day out of the way before any fun cousins arrived.  For the grown-ups this means bargain shopping, for the kids riding as many as they can talk the grown-ups into.

3. This plan let the rest of the week be focused on beach time;

4. Eating wonderful local food, highlights this year being Caitlin getting her own cones, the girls picking blueberries and blackberries which showed up in many pancake breakfasts thanks to G-ma's new griddle and Amazing Clams!

5. Making many star and moon cookies on the one day which was a rain-out. The cookies were for the Star Party later that week.

6. Taking the girls for their first mani/pedi at a local spa G-ma had been to. The girls were so excited and had a wonderful time; and we had a wonderful time watching it all unfold from our comfy chairs where my SIL and I were getting our own pedicures.

6.5 There was also lots of pool time (of which so far I've found no pictures). Both kids did well with Lisbeth swimming without her arm floats by the end the week.  Caitlin had fun being held and kicking on command.

trying to recreate last year's picture with a reluctant model

who ran away as soon as able.

7. Finished the week out with star-gazing and s'mores ~ Excellent!!

The trip home gathering furniture as we went merits a post of its own. In the meantime please head over to Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!

Theme Thursday: Google Image

Joining in with Cari of Clan Donaldson for another installment of Theme Thursday.

This week the challenge was to Google Image yourself and post the first picture...well when I google myself not a single image of myself comes up (at least on the first page) and the first several are people I don't recognize so didn't want to post on here.

But thought this image about four rows down was sweet and oddly very reminiscent of an image I used on an English project when I was a junior in high school.

In the second row was also this image which I have pinned onto a Pinterest board of mine so that's something I suppose.

Now please head over to Clan Donaldson for more Theme Thursday.

5 faves: kids special

1. Fubbles bubble wand: amazingly big bubbles and a wand both big kids can manage. I love watching Lisbeth  run, giant bubbles streaming behind. The 1$ price doesn't hurt either.
2. We had read a couple of the series before but this summer Fancy Nancy and her many adventures became a regular at bedtime story time. Sweet stories well told and a wonderful way to introduce new vocabulary in a fun and accessable way.
3. Caitlin ever trying to be like her big sister and brother has started to bring me the iPad and open the youtube app and say 'abc' meaning:
4. or 'four'

5. Favorite new snack; Go go Squeez ~ something I had seen before and I believe even offered Lisbeth but...this summer was the right moment, right time etc and has been such a hit that she and her far less picky brother will now eat applesauce even when it does not come out of a tiny pouch.

Please head over to Mama Knows, Honeychild for more 5 faves

So much to write ~ no time to write

Please pardon the brain dump which I'm sure will read like a rambling mess but a large pocket of kid- free ~ put thoughts in order and then edit time will not likely show up anytime soon so....

• Project ignore the remaining boxes and focus on daily life went well and after the break I'm now again motivated to get thru the boxes and get them out of the living spaces.
• Playground camp has ended but overall went very well with the kids enjoying the trips and time playing with friends ~ and me enjoying the time to run errands or unpack with only one little in tow.
• Caitlin continues to change daily more and more into a toddler with improving language, insistence on performing tasks herself and more of a temper to prove it.  This is all very bittersweet for me; so cute and so much fun to watch and yet losing any aspect of babyhood a bit quicker than I expected.
• Managed to get the two older kids enrolled in swimming lessons and after some initial complaints and tears they are both doing really well and making wonderful improvement.
• So I am very curious to see how they do swimming spontaneous in G-ma's pool on vacation
• Vacation ~ so excited ~ so much to do before we leave plus we are bringing furniture back so I'm trying best I can to have the spaces reasonably clear.
• Vacation!!!  Time to read, relax, and play ~ yes!

 (some pictures from last year's trip)

Answer me this: August 2nd

1. When driving, are you more likely to listen to the radio, to CDs or an iPod, or nothing at all?
      When driving with kids ~ their CDS, when traveling by myself ~ radio or silence!!

2. Do you prefer window or aisle?
        Window

3. Do you fall asleep on your side, back, or stomach? What position are you in when you wake up?

         I fall asleep on my left side and almost always wake-up on my left side too, as in I assume I move in my sleep but am not really sure.

4. When is the last time you attended a zoo, circus, carnival, county fair, or parade?

Parade on the 4 th of July, carnival was last fall ~ zoo was a couple years ago.  Can't honestly remember the last time I went to the circus or a country fair.

5. Do you have a favorite quote or inspirational saying?
The Serenity Prayer for the longest time; and of late this attributed to St Teresa of Avila:

6. What's the best thing about summer?
      Sunshine, homemade ice cream, family time at the beach

Thanks to Kendra for hosting such a fun link-up!