A Little of This and That in October

In October, you might have found us . . .

Cranking . . . up the heater. That'd be me. People have been asking me if I've turned on the heat yet. Um, yes. On October 1st. I am not out to win the who-can-hold-out-the-longest-while-freezing-themselves-silly award.

Putting . . . together Halloween costumes. Ever since reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz clear back in April, this has been the plan, even though we didn't actually start working on anything until two weeks ago. We had Mike as the Scarecrow, me as Dorothy, Aaron as The Great Oz, Maxwell as the Tin Woodman, Bradley as the Cowardly Lion, and Clark as Toto.

Enjoying . . . some time with Mike's parents while they were here for General Conference at the beginning of the month.

Watching . . . the annual family film festival. There were some really good entries this year.

Waiting . . . for our huge maple tree to drop all of its leaves. I think we're still going to be waiting for at least another month.

Spending . . . time with ancient dinosaur bones and petroglyphs at Dinosaur National Monument. It was a fun way to spend Fall Break, made even more fun because we were there with some of our dear friends.

Listening . . . to all of the talks from the most recent General Conference. Some of my favorites are "Yielding Our Hearts to God," "What Lack I Yet?," and "Faith is Not By Chance, But By Choice."
Listening to a talk each morning is one of the best things I do to help my day go smoothly. So grateful for these inspiring words that strengthen my testimony.

Basking . . . in the beautiful autumn weather--because if I don't bask in it, then I'll probably cry about it. (Autumn is perhaps the cruelest season--it lures you into thinking it's comfortable and cool, and then you wake up to snow. That's mean.)

Feeling . . . grateful (so grateful) for a week-long visit from my mom when Mike was in California for work. Without her, that would have been a week of survival instead of a week of fun.

Griping . . . about Aaron and Maxwell's different school schedules (even though I was the one who signed up for it).

Visiting . . . the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkin.

Making . . . impulse purchases on Amazon. I'm sorry, but if you find Leo: A Ghost Story for under $9, you have to snatch it up. You just have to.

Mourning . . . the dark mornings and even darker evenings. I've been feeling out of sorts lately, and I'm pretty sure this has something to do with it.

Anticipating . . . serving as a Round 2 judge on the Cybils panel for the Easy Reader/Early Chapter Book category. There have been a lot of great books published this year, so it should be fun.


Attending . . . Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My kids have become die-hard Harry Potter fans since we finished the first book a few weeks ago, so they took the family party very seriously. The kids went to four different classes (Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination) with some truly excellent performances from Mike and his siblings acting as the professors.

Reading . . . The Sound of Paper and The Unrest Cure and Other Stories to complete my "read a book on writing" and "read a short stories collection" goals respectively. The boys and I are reading Dominic by William Steig (highly recommend), and I'm finally listening to Being Mortal (and finding it utterly fascinating).

Loving . . . Clark's little reverent attitude when we're praying. All we have to do is say, "Clark, we're going to pray," and he folds his arms together and bows his head. Sweetest. sight. ever.

Admiring . . . Aaron's costume. His was my favorite. Other people mistook him for a leprechaun, but he didn't care. He has always loved the color green, so the wizard was perfect for him. Plus, how often do you see anyone dress up as the wizard? That's what I thought.

Praising . . .  Bradley's reading. He turned a corner last week, and now he wants to read everything he can get his hands on. He's not anywhere close to fluent yet, but he's making rapid progress. His first official book was Go, Dog! Go! but he has read many more since then.

Planning . . . a fun project for the blog; you'll find out what it is later this month!

Family Reading Status

I know you hear a lot about what I'm reading, but today I thought I'd give you a quick look at the currently reading piles of everyone else in our family too.

Amy:

• Reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I think I have about sixty pages left. For the most part, I've enjoyed it, but it has not been a fast read for me. Whether that's because of the genre or just my busy schedule right now, I don't know. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts after I finish it.
• Listening to The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. I'm a little more than halfway through and enjoying it so much more than The Forgotten Garden. Plus, the reader is quite fabulous.
• Also reading Believing Christ by Stephen Robinson and the scriptures every day.
• Pretending that I'm still reading The Sound of Paper by Julia Cameron, although I don't think I've cracked the cover in at least a month.

Mike:

• Just finished listening to The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel. He really liked it, and he said I should listen to it too. 
• Listening to The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai by John Tayman. He started it on a recent trip, and I'm not sure if he's picked it up since he got home. Apparently, he was falling asleep while listening to it (while flying, not driving!), and he said he'd have to backtrack quite a bit to remember where he was.

Aaron:

• Reading Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre. I admit to doing no screening before Aaron started this book, but he seems to be enjoying it.
• Also reading some nonfiction by Seymour Simon. I believe this week he read Lightning and also Lungs.

Maxwell:

• Just finished Pirates Past Noon by Mary Pope Osborne this morning. He was pretty thrilled since it was the first chapter book he's read all on his own.
• Listening to The Boxcar Children, Surprise Island, and The Yellow House Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner. There was a day earlier this week when he was sick, so he spent a lot of time in bed listening to these three.

Bradley:

• Current favorites: 1 Hunter by Pat Hutchins, Sylvie by Jennifer Sattler, Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere, No, No, Kitten! by Shelley Moore Thomas, and many more.
• Reading Not Yet Tip on his own, along with other books from the yellow group of the Reading For All Learners collection.

Clark:

• Some recent favorites: City Animals by Simms Taback (mostly because of the page with the dog), What Does Baby Say? by Karen Katz (because he can repeat almost all the sounds), and Walter's Wheels by Noelle Dingeldein (because the race car page makes him laugh and laugh). 

Amy and the boys:

• The Story of the World: Early Modern Times by Susan Wise Bauer. This has taken us all summer to read, but we're nearing the end. It will feel like a major accomplishment when we finish.
• Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. This is a short enough book we should have been able to blaze through it in one or two sittings, but with the start of school and trying to finish The Story of the World, we haven't been able to devote more than ten minutes at a time. Too bad though because my kids love it.

Mike and the boys:

• Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis. I think they have one chapter left.

Mike and Amy:

• How to Talk to Your Child About Sex by Richard and Linda Eyre. I wouldn't call this fun reading, but with Aaron starting second grade, I feel like it is necessary. 

And once we're done with all of these, we have so many more great books waiting in the wings: Harry Potter, Mister Pip, and On Being Mortal, to name a few.

What are you currently reading? 

A Little of This and That in July

I think a little monthly update might be in order. I have a lot of odds and ends things to say--none of them quite long or important enough for their own post but taking up valuable brain space until I get them out. So consider this a bit of a dump.

Right now, I'm . . .

Reading . . . the third book in the Emily trilogy to myself (it will complete one of my reading goals) and Just So Stories and Story of the World to the boys (plus lots of picture books--I try to highlight our favorites on Instagram).

Listening . . . to The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. I'm on disc three and already loving it so much more than The Forgotten Garden.

Loving . . . my new header. Do you like it? My friend, Molly, painted it for me, and I think she perfectly captured what reading looks like in our family right now (at least, the way I want it to look . . . )

Neglecting . . . the backyard, which is slowly being overtaken by weeds. Actually, not so slowly. You leave it for a day, and when you come back, the weeds have taken up residence again.

Hosting . . . lots of house guests. We've had some friends from our BYU days, my little niece and nephew, Mike's cousin and her family, and Mike's brother and his family.

Planning . . . for a new school year (and bitterly wishing summer wasn't coming to a close). Aaron and Maxwell will be going to two different schools this year, the explanation of which probably does deserve its own blog post. Stay tuned.

Bragging . . . about my friend Sarah's new podcast, Bringing Up Betty. It's pretty fantastic. You should give it a listen.

Learning . . . how to knit. I've wanted to learn for so many years, and an older woman in my neighborhood recently offered to teach me. I just finished my first project, and I might have a slight obsession.

Appreciating . . . these long summer nights. We try to get our kids to bed at a decent hour, but if the weather is perfect and the neighborhood is out in droves, we make an exception (which means that going to bed at a decent hour has become the exception).

Rescuing . . . items from the trash or the toilet or the pool. On Sunday alone, he threw away the older boys' markers, my shoe into the toilet, and Mike's watch into the trashcan at church. That boy has to be watched like a hawk.

Basking . . . at the pool. Becoming members of our neighborhood swim club was probably the best decision we made this summer. We've gone almost every day (although in the last couple of weeks, it's tapered off just a bit), and the three older boys love it so much. (Clark loves running around the deck and chucking anything he can find into the water, which means this is not really my summer to relax at the pool.)

Dreaming . . . of a new roof. Ever since we moved into our house almost a year and a half ago, we've been planning to get a new roof. Every time someone asks us what projects we're working on, we don't have much to report because all we're doing is saving for that darn roof.

Going . . . to a million family events. I'm really grateful for all the things we get to do with our families, but sometimes I need a day or two to catch my breath, and sometimes the activities are packed so closely together, I don't get a chance.

Chasing . . . Clark. He runs, he climbs, and he gets into everything. The only way I survive is by keeping the doors to every single room closed so that I know exactly where he is and what he's doing.

Missing . . . Mike's parents. They moved to Germany yesterday. The last time they lived out of the country was eight years ago in Chile. That was before any of our kids were born. This absence will hurt a lot more because it won't just be Mike and me missing them but our kids, too. On the bright side, we're already planning a vacation to Europe.

Hoping . . . my parents will move to Utah. With Mike's parents so far away now, I want at least one set of grandparents close. They're dragging their feet though.

Working . . . on our summer goals. With it being the end of July already, I'm realizing that I may have set the bar too high. In the meantime, we keep chipping away at them.

Crying . . . about having a seven-year-old. Seriously, how do you pause this growing up thing?

What have you been up to lately?

Currently . . . Overwhelmed

And no, I'm not talking about the house.

Or the impending baby.

I'm talking about the stack of books I'm currently reading. 

I generally try to have about three books going at the same time: a book I'm reading, a book I'm listening to, a book I'm reading to the boys.

But this? This is ridiculous.

I'm trying to remember how I even got to such a place.

A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion - I started this book in . . . August. As in, seven months ago August. I read half of it for my education group. Then it had to go back to the library. I ended up just buying my own copy because I wanted to be able to mark it up and reference it. But honestly, I haven't touched it since it came in the mail. So maybe I shouldn't count it as a book I'm "currently reading." Except that I have every intention of finishing it. So it's hanging over my head.

The Forgotten Garden - I wish I had read this book over Christmas. Instead, I started it just as we got back from all the holiday traveling, and between moving and book clubs and children, my reading of it has been laboriously painful. Really, for a book with such a great plot and so much mystery and intrigue, I should be flying through it. But I'm not. I finally checked out the audio copy because my time to listen is more plentiful than my time to sit down and read. I'm finally making some headway.

Siblings Without Rivalry - I put this book on hold in a moment of desperation. My children are fighting so much, and it's driving me crazy. There's especially a toxic connection between Maxwell (4) and Bradley (2.5). If they go ten peaceful minutes in the same room together, I consider it a small miracle. Anyway, I read the bulk of this book very quickly but couldn't finish it before it had to go back to the library. I immediately put it on hold, and it just came in again this week. So I just need to finish up the last chapter or two (and maybe review some parts since my kids are still fighting).

In Defense of Food - I checked out the audio of this one when we were moving. I thought I would listen to the entire thing while I was cleaning our old place. And then I ended up not listening to anything, which is really unusual for me. It's interesting for sure--I love Michael Pollan's style--but I switched over to The Forgotten Garden for awhile.

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth - Remember that one? Usually I can't get enough of birth stories, but hers are a little intense for me. That, and it also had to go back to the library (you can tell I'm really on top of reading the books I check out since they all have to go back before I can finish them). Now I have it again. And the clock is ticking (. . . 9 weeks to go), so I need to make this a priority.

Jane Eyre - My book club is reading this book for April. I've read it before, so this should have been an easy out for me, but I couldn't resist. I'm 100 pages in and loving it all over again.

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher - The boys and I are reading this together. I can tell it's geared for kids who are a little older, but they're totally entranced with it nonetheless.

There were two other books I wanted to read for other events (The Grace of Silence and The Rent Collector), but I just looked at the pile I already had going and thought, I'm not that crazy.