What a Response :)

I am so excited about the response I have had with the Goodreads website. It is so neat. I have been adding books and working on my lists and I feel that I am finally getting my book-life in order. Many of you know why the library is one of my favorite spots, but in case you don't, I worked at my college Library for the three and a half years that I was there and also two of the summers. I spent a lot of time at that library and learned a lot about how a library works. To this day I enjoy the library and I miss the staff that I worked with while I was there. Goodreads will maybe be able to become my little library. I'm excited. Also, keep an eye on the children's books if you are in the market for them. I will try and review as many of the Usborne Books as I get my eyes on.

SIDE NOTE: I'm still working on the photos from Christmas. Just be patient.

Goodreads

Wow, so I did some searching on the internet and found a few websites that would work to organize my book lists; however, at this time I am choosing to list with Goodreads. This is a web-site that, up to this point, has been easy to use, offers what I want, and allows me to share with friends. Alice had suggested a whole new blog, but I think that is too time consuming for me... having to retrieve images of the books or link to them, writing a review (I'm not that great at doing this without spilling the beans), coming up with a rating system, categories, etc. This website provides all that, so for the New Year, this is my big project. I have linked to my categories on the left column of this page and someday, I will have Items Read, Reading, and To Read. Alice did have a great idea, though, about having a book-club-type-experience and I think that would be totally fun. Go ahead, set up an account and invite me in. I can't wait to share books with everyone.

Ahhh... the holidays

HI all, I know, I know, it has been a while again. I could explain, but I am sure that I don't have to. You all understand how quickly the Holidays pass once they are actually here and I am sure that you have all been busy as well. I don't know how many people are still here reading as it has been harder and harder to write lately. I don't know if it is lack of motivation, lack of topic, lack of time... Whatever it is, I'm sorry. I know how much I look forward to reading all of your blogs and how disappointed I get after a while with no updates.
So, I have been thinking... now that we have the Holidays out of the way and New Year's is almost here, I have been thinking about my New Year's Resolution. I read something last year that said that a person should really stop promising to lose weight or stop drinking or smoking or doing any other dreadful habit and start promising to do something where there is more positive motivation for actually following through with your resolution. The example that was given was making it a point to send Birthday cards to everyone on your lists. Now, this may sound like fun, but at this point in time, I didn't even manage to get the Christmas cards out this year and I usually sent them out the day after Thanksgiving. Ugh. You don't know how much that frustrates me. I am usually on top of things like that, but not this year. I HAVE been busy. I haven't even read my owner's manual for my camera yet. Anyhow, back to the resolution topic. I was thinking that I really have been slacking on my reading lately. I have always enjoyed reading and the past few years have started to keep track of the books that I have read, the number of pages, and the date which I finished each book in my calendar. So... for 2008, I have been thinking that I am going to make my New Year's Resolution that I will read more. I have been trying to figure out an estimated time frame per book or number of pages per month or any other thing like that, but more than that, I have already started. In this past month, I have read two books. Granted, that really isn't a lot, BUT I have been working on catching up on my magazine reading, which is also burdensome to me. I have magazines upon magazines upon magazines that I need to read. I liberated myself a couple months ago by recycling about 5 year's worth of Glamour and Cosmo magazines. I had been holding onto them in hopes that someday I would get to a point where I could read them all, except that when I would pick up a magazine from 2002, the styles (which I would never have bought into anyway) were outdated and I don't really need all the information about "How to get the Guy" or "Quiz: Is He Into You?". Clearly, I already have that taken care of. Right now I need articles about "Spit-up: the Newest Fashion Accessory?" or "How to get your children to share even when 100 balls isn't enough". Anyhow... I feel that as far as New Year's Resolutions go, reading is a good, healthy, inexpensive (due to my refusal to purchase books and my incessant use of the library) and mentally stimulating activity that I am most likely to follow through on.
I finished my second book today Sam's Letters To Jennifer by James Patterson. The writing was cheesy in some parts and choppy in others, but the message and the story was catchy and romantic. I am working on ordering some books right now from InterLibraryLoan (LOVE), but more than that, I am in need of some reading suggestions and also some advice on keeping track of books that I have read. What is the best way to keep track of this information? Does anyone know of an online book diary? This would be sooo helpful in reminding me about what I have read and what I want to read without the gajillion small pieces of paper that I have lying around with titles of books and authors from my trips to Barnes and Noble or reading reviews in magazines.
Good grief... how far off topic can a person get when writing a blog after being gone for so long. Maybe photos are what are necessary to catch everyone up on our lives right now. That is what I'll do.

Winter Vacation in the Dells

Hi everyone, I didn't let you all know (for security reasons), but we were in Wisconsin Dells for a week staying at our timeshare. We had a really good time. We ate too much, swam a lot, and relaxed. I read a whole book! (James Patterson At First Sight) I didn't get around to reading my new camera's owner's manual, but I hope to do that soon. I did, however, use the camera while we were gone.

In further developments: Captain is such a sweet big brother... most times. He is so good with Burbles and it was a joy just to watch the two of them play together without having to think about the laundry that should be done or the dishes or the cleaning or whatever else I should be doing other than enjoying my children. Except: now, Captain is into throwing things. Whatever he can. The other big problem with this is that he really doesn't throw things anywhere in particular--he just throws them. If they happen to land on his sister's head or foot or fingers and she starts wailing, well then that is just the way it is. She screamed yesterday when she got hit in the head with a toy. She sure is a girl. The blood curdling, ear piercing scream. Now, don't get me wrong, she does her fair share of naughty things too. She pulls his hair or tries to put her fingers in his eyes. But, she is learning. He knows better and he throws anyway. Any hints on what to do about this?

Burbles got another tooth while we were gone. That makes five. The kids are now 19 months and 8 months and they are a lot more reasonable to travel with. Although, their gear consumed the whole rear of our van. As I was checking out, I learned that the resort does provide pack and plays (Burbles would have been better in a Pack and Play than her carseat--where she slept the whole week after she protested on the first night about sleeping on the closet floor in our room--door open, of course) and high chairs at request (AHHHH) but they do not have baby gates or humidifiers (the two things I asked about). Also, when a place proclaims that they are child-friendly, they aren't talking about chemicals not under the sink, rounded edges on furniture, child locks on drawers and doors, crumbs on the floor under the furniture that we inevitably have to move to make room for a play area, or the massive amounts of salt that they spread on our doorstep every day to prevent ice buildup while endangering my child's life. (I guess they really didn't get it when I swept the porch every day to eliminate the chunks of salt and then left the broom outside to let them know that I was the one who did it... some random person didn't just remove the salt or the wind didn't blow it all away. But, once we were childproofed, Captain made sure to find every thing he possibly could to make our stay an interesting one. For example: Colander as Hat, Glass pyrex bowls thrown on tile (they really are unbreakable), measuring cups in the bathtub (which was HUGE, by the way), brass fireplace guard as sword. The list goes on. But really, we had a great time. Both kids really enjoyed the water and they both got more used to it and more brave each time we went swimming. Captain even went down the frog waterslide by himself at least 25 times in one night.

Then, of course there was the hibachi Japanese restaurant called Ginza of Tokyo. We love it there. The food is great and it is entertainment to boot.

Which brings me to yesterday--my birthday. Yesterday was a pretty down day for me. Fundi had to go back to work, so we came home. I had hoped that after a week of being gone that someone would want to hang out. The kids and I ended up hanging out after Fundi went to work. I made supper and then put the kids to bed. I ended up watching a movie and a half last night and eating Pop-Rocks instead of birthday cake. I ended up watching Waitress and half of Hairspray. Both movies were pretty good. I'll hopefully finish up Hairspray this afternoon during Captain's nap.

Oh, and the other big change in our house: Captain is sleeping downstairs so Burbles can sleep upstairs in her crib and I can sleep in my bed. Night last night actually went pretty well: Captain slept in his Pack-and-Play downstairs and Burbles slept upstairs in Captain's crib until we get her crib's mattress lowered as she is pulling up now and that is the last thing I need at two in the morning.
He was none too happy to be in here once he got there. Hope he doesn't do this again.
Burbles in Captains crib with Glowy. (We now have two Glowies because Glowy (1) had dead batteries when we got to the Dells and we figured that we should have Glowy 2 just in case. Captain was super excited to see that he now has two "Glowah" He sleeps with that and "Tiger" and "Blanket" All three are necessary for a successful sleep.

Dec. 13th at Ginza of Tokyo. This is tempura fried ice cream.
Yummm... He loved the ginger sauce and shrimp just like his Mommy.
Daddy and Burbles
A peaceful little sleeping boy. He is all puckered up waiting for a kiss.

Tubby pictures for your pleasure.

Captain attacking cousin Z with his chopsticks.
Burbles being sweet.
Sister-in-law J and Fiona. I don't know what that look was about?
FIRE. Captain didn't like the fire the second night he was there. It was big and hot.
Captain in one of those rides in the outlet mall. We bought him a pair of real boots while at the outlet mall and put them on his feet. He walked like he had planks on his feet. Pretty funny, although, they didn't stay on for longer than a few minutes for the whole weekend. Maybe he'll be like me and not love the shoes so much :).
Burbles looking pretty at the outlet mall.

Captain and mommy at home in early December.
Burbles and Fundi. Look, she can pull up.
Grumpa and Captain working on the teeter-totter in the pool.
Burbles and I in the pool getting used to the water.
Fundi and Captain. Lately he has had this strange fascination with putting his hands down the back of his pants and saying "Poop" or "Toot"... Captain--not Fundi.

My Birthday Dinner Guests

Golden Compass

Please be aware that this movie is not what it seems. Golden Compass is not a Narnia type movie. Fundi and I both watched the previews and thought that we would like to see this movie. We added it to our NetFlix list. Then, as I have been reading more and more with Usborne, and at church on Sunday, I realized that this is for real. This is a movie about kids who are trying to kill God. Now, I am not going to make up your mind for you, but anyone who plans to watch this movie should be aware of the strong atheist tones and the fact that the author who wrote the books this movie is based on was upset about how "watered-down" the film is compared to the books. I find this all so highly disturbing for any number of reasons. This is the time of year when Christianity is celebrated highly. This is also the time of year when (more than usual) parents drop their kids off at movies and do the Christmas shopping while the kids catch a show. Also, the advertising for this film is terribly misleading. We watched a polar bear running around with a woman who looked like a queen riding it. I feel that the advertising is misleading because a person sees one thing and gets another. They see a sci-fi, kid-friendly, animated movie that is set in a snowy climate (not unlike our own at this time of year) and think that it will me something like Narnia--only to get to the show and find that the movie is not anything of the sort. (Disclaimer: I will not be seeing this movie, so these are all observations based on advertising and here-say.) Now, there is something to be said about controversy and movies. People like to hear about controversy and the publicity that comes out of it is really just free advertising for the movie. I am hoping that we can send these people a message. It is not acceptable, this time of year or any other, for our children to be mislead into thinking that a movie is about one thing and it turns out to be about something entirely different. It is also not popular to go to movies such as this. More disturbing than any of this is the lack of knowledge by parents of what their kids are actually watching and reading. Let's stick it to them and let them know that we DO care about what our kids watch and read and that this particular material is NOT acceptable. Thank you.

'tis the season

So, things here have been... I guess, that is it, they have just been. I would like to say that life here is boring, but that isn't it. But then again, it isn't really exciting either. Fundi has been working (what a good man!) and I have been working and watching all the kids. At night (or in the morning, depending on the shift) when Fundi gets home, we talk about all the things he missed while he was away. That is when I know that I couldn't be the one to go to work. I sometimes even feel jealous if he gets up with Burbles during the night (this doesn't happen often) but I am more thankful for the sleep than jealous. She still isn't doing well with this part of her life. The sleeping part, that is. She likes me to keep her company a couple times a night (always at 10:30 and 3:30 and then from 5:30 on to whenever Captain wakes up or WDW gets here to be watched, whichever comes first). And don't get me wrong, a lot of times I am so short of sleep that I just pick her up, stick a bottle in her mouth, hold her on the chair while I sleep until I wake up and remember that she is in my arms. Then I put her away and go back to bed. If you ask me on a normal day how many times she woke up, though, I don't think that I could tell you. And, I know that Captain is growing (contrary to his need to wear size 12 month clothes, yet) because he is reaching new hights for baby-proofing. He drove me nuts a couple weeks ago running around with all of the utensils from the kitchen drawer. Today he is making me crazy digging in a drawer that I just moved a chair away from. I moved the chair in hopes that he would just forget about the drawer entirely. Instead, he has now learned that he can reach up in there and grab out Burbles' "pretties" and the colors and the coloring books. Geez. Burbles is crawling--the real thing now. She is getting bigger, too. Soon the kids will be the same size.

Haven't had the greatest luck with parties thus far. I think it has a lot to do with the time of year and the weather. For example: I was supposed to have a party this past Saturday. I even scheduled it during the annual Cookie Day just for the convenience of the Hostess. The Hostess and I showed up, but no one else. There was a big snowstorm and then an even bigger ice storm that day and everyone was stayin' home. We will reschedule, but still... Although, I did have a pretty good first month, all in all. I'm not discouraged, just a little frustrated that these great books are available and I feel like I just can't work fast enough. I want to be able to help children learn to read and be able to help parents (and other loving relatives and friends) know that literacy is so important and that children can really benefit from books.

OK, so now I will continue...

The kids have been pretty hilarious lately. All of the funny things that I wish I could record, but I think I will just tell a couple stories here today.

Yesterday morning I was really tired when we all got up. Sister B wasn't coming over with WDW, so we didn't have early duty. Burbles got up and I brought her out to the living room. Captain got up and I brought him out to the living room. They were playing together (as much as this is possible) on the floor and I was laying on the couch waking up. Captain came over, touched my nose, said "Beep, Beep, Poop". ... sure enough.

Yesterday, Fiona was here. I purchased a Dirt Devil Hand Vacuum that I have proudly perched on my counter within reach (I wish I would have had one of these since my baby shower... note to new moms: register for one.). I have put Fiona in charge of vacuuming after every meal under each of the high chairs and her chair. It is her "job". I was reminding her that she had a job to do after breakfast. She said: "My job is to vacuum. Captain's job is to do the dishes. And, Burbles' job is to be a baby and smile." Priceless... (Captain helps me unload the dishes from the dishwasher.) Is this child labor?

I have been busy with the kids and processing orders of books, (If I knew the UPS man's name, we would be on a first-name-basis.) and reading a library book that is due on Friday. I have been so busy, in fact, that I haven't had a chance to read the manual (yes, I am one of those kinds) for my new camera. I LOVE it. It is a Panasonic DMC-TZ3. It has a 10x optical zoom and it is 7.2 megapixels. More than that, it has a three inch monitor. I have taken photos with it and they are gorgeous (see the photos of the kids in sweaters). I'm excited to have a little time to read the manual, get caught up on all of those entries on the computer that I haven't had a chance to do for such a long time, and just hang out. I am excited to get people their orders of books. I have a party tonight, too. I hope that goes well.

Oh, and, in case you don't live near me, you should know that we got LOTS of snow yesterday. It is really pretty out today and nice and sunny. I'll try and get some photos. More than that, I started my day today by shoveling snow for about 20 minutes off our deck and to the garage door. It was nice, light, fluffy, powder that shoveled easily. Lucky me. I thought it would be nice for my sister-in-law J to not have to walk through a bunch of snow to drop off Fiona.

Captain just called me "Anya" He does that sometimes when he wants to get my attention, but isn't he a little young for this? Sometimes he calls Fundi by his real name as well.

Cookie Day 2007: my dad's girlfriend working on her cookies. Captain sure got his fill of sugar that day. He was calling M&Ms "cereal" and he learned to say "cookie". He has that down. He sees them on the counter, first thing in the morning and he wants one. Monday, when we woke up, Captain was checking out what was in the garbage (he does this regularly) and he found a plate that had once contained fudge (from church bakesale) that Fundi had thrown away. I came out of the bathroom and Captain was licking the plate in the living room and then he ran from me when I tried to snatch it from him. Tricky guy.

Photos from a while back: Burbles and WDW are almost the same size and they are 3 1/2 months apart in age.
Burbles has four teeth now and is working on a couple more. She has quite a bite.
WDW at his finest :) Poor thing. This picture has made me laugh every time I look at it.

My sister B and her husband and WDW. What a beautiful family.
My least favorite part of my day: Bottles. Only about 5 more months of that for a while (aside from WDW's bottles).
My mom's picture that my dad gave me.
Sweater photos with the kids:

Don't feel bad for Fiona, she loves it.

Christmas Decoration Photos for You

But first, a photo of the sunset from our house on Nov 27.And here are the kids by the tree. If you will notice: No bottom branches and the second layer has been left undecorated except for the lights... If you have to ask, you just don't have any idea.


One of my "Deals" on Black Friday. I had wanted some flowers for my Kick-Off show, but the poinsettia will last longer. Although, I do have to keep the kids far away.

Our stockings. We have no mantle so they hang on the wall.
The DemDaco set that Sister-in-Law J is building for me. This is what I got last year for Christmas/Birthday.
My snowmen. They are scattered throughout the house in an effort to prolong seasonal decoration from just Christmas to Winter. On top of that, I'm just not a big fan of Santas. I enjoy the lighter side of Christmas with blues and silvers. I like red and gold trees, they just aren't for me.
More snowmen. These guys are skiing and I thought Pink for Burbles and Blue for Captain.
Here is a built-in that I have. It is usually filled with knick-knacks, but I think I am going to turn it into seasonal decoration. The middle row is a family of penguins that I have been collecting to represent our family. The bottom row contains our first Christmas with Captain. This year, I purchased another photo frame from Kohl's (another "Deal") with four snowmen. I thought that it was great. Now I plan to buy a frame every year and put a new family picture in it to watch how we all grow and change as a family. I look forward to the years in the future when we can pull out all the old frames and put them around the house with memories past.
Also, I need to get you a picture of the picture that my Dad blessed me with. It is a piece of art that my mom selected and enjoyed. I am so excited to have it.