Quick Takes #212

1. 1. Does it ever feel like life knows when you have plans and throws a curve ball. This week the kids had gymnastics camp and we had a playdate scheduled and of course a virus hit. Luckily everyone seems fine now but hoping for smoother days ahead.
   2. Given the above I was so grateful that Haley reposted this wonderful checklist!
   3. We are enjoying the first of this summer's harvest! Basil and mint from our garden and lettuce and cucumbers from the school's for which it was our week to tend.
   4. Elisabeth has been resisting making the jump to chapter books but early this summer she rediscovered the Magic Treehouse books and is loving them!! As a big reader myself it means so much to me to watch her fall in love with books and reading.
   5. One more week of camp and overall I think they have enjoyed it. Swimming lessons have also gone really well and I'm hoping will pay dividends on our trips coming up.
   6. Prayers for the people of Nice!
   7. As of last night we are hunting Pokemon! Updates as warranted #what I do for my kids!
   
   Please head over to Kelly's for more 7QTs
   

Halfway Point Challenge Check-in

Having enjoyed the Reading Challenge sponsored by Modern Mrs Darcy last year I decided to join again this year and a little more than halfway through the year this is where things stand.

Of the twelve categories I've fulfilled 6 having read

Brideshead Revisited for the 'a book I've been meaning to read' category

These Old Shades for the 'a book published before you were born' category

The Screwtape Letters for the 'a book that intimidates you' category

Why Now? for the 'a book published this year' category

O'Pioneers for the 'a book you should have read in school' category

And as far as the 'a book I've read before' category ~ at least three that I can recall so I'm considering that category done!

I'm currently reading You Learn by Living by Eleanor Roosevelt which was recommended by Anne the Modern Mrs Darcy herself and while she is not a bookseller; she is my favorite resource for book tips so once I finish the book I'm considering that category done.

I know I have a couple tough categories still to go but am feeling good about my progress and having some fun picking books.

Anyone else doing the challenge?
How is your year going?

Open Book: July 2016

    June's general life craziness did not allow for much reading. I was able to finish the Princess Bride memoir As You Wish; as well as an advance copy of my sister's newest which will be published later this summer.

Current reads include You Learn by Living by Eleanor Roosevelt. This interesting combination of advice book and memoir is proving to be a wonderful read with lots of interesting tidbits about her life and insights she gained along the way.  The format is her responses to the questions she was most often asked in letters and despite being written over 50 years ago her reflections very much resonant with me.

Emma: a Modern Retelling by Alex McCall Smith, is just that and so far so good. McCall spends the first several chapters providing Emma's back story which I enjoyed as Jane Austen never explains the reasons for her father Mr Woodhouse's hypochondria and it is nice to have some context for that but am now excited to be reading the actual retelling of the Emma story of well meaning matchmaker gone awry.  While McCall doesn't quite have the knack of the Austen voice nor is it grating and so far the modernizations have been reasonable and on several occasions very funny.

Please head over to Carolyn's for more Open Book.

Quick Takes #211

1. 1. Camp life is going well for everyone. The keyword in that last sentence is EVERYONE. Meaning after dragging her proverbial feet all of May and baffling me why she wasn't connecting the last dots Caitlin with a week to spare before camp started began consistently and with solid success wearing underwear. (Insert happy dance!)
   2. It happened so fast after no progress for awhile that I found myself taken aback and not quite trusting ~ but then deciding to go for it and registered her along with the other two. So far so good!
   3. Another milestone this week, Liam lost his first tooth. It had been wiggling more and more over the past couple of weeks and proved not up to the challenge of eating an apple earlier this week.
   4. Strawberries were largely a bust for us as I think we harvested 3 that the rabbits didn't get first. Tomatoes are looking good, along with basil and of course MINT.
   5. Earlier this week I had been looking for kid song videos for Caitie on YouTube and what should pop-up but episodes of My Three Sons. Later that evening once I had the kids tucked and Charlie on a work trip I put in a couple happy hours rewatching a half dozen episodes. Is there such a thing as comfort tv?
   6. I got nothin :)
   7. Happy July! Happy 4th of July Weekend!!
   
   Please head over to Kelly's for more  7QTS