Good Reads

One thing I've really missed out here in Maryland are some friends to discuss books with. I had a friend at work who got me started on a number of great authors. I also had a couple of grad student/ grad student wives that I liked to talk about books with. I really wanted to start a book club blog, but it turns out that the website Good Reads already exists for just such a thing. Their privacy policy is excellent, they are easy to use, and it is so interesting to see what people think about books you have read.

I'm hoping some of you will join so that we can chat about books together. I even sent some of you an e-mail! As you can see from my little widget at the right, I tend to read quick little mysteries or chick lit (especially when I am super busy), but some of my favorite books have been from more established authors like Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult. I tend to read books that I can easily check out from the library, so I rarely read new hardcover editions! Please sign up if this sounds fun.

Captivating

The whole family is captivated by this video I stumbled upon. I've listened to some of Yael Naim's other music, and it is great. Too bad the American dollar is so weak right now, making an import CD $40.

Christmas Tree

We had a great time cutting down our Christmas tree this year. We went just three days after it had snowed, so it was a muddy, slushy time. It was chilly, but not too cold, and we found an amazing tree!

Music Fun

Danny is doing a much better job of singing Jingle Bells this year (compared to this chant last year). He has learned some other fun songs, too.



This was an attempt to get Annelise to sing the ABC song (she gets about 10 of the letters), but she was much more interested in fussing with the camera.

First Snow

Our first snow came early this year. It lightly snowed the whole day of December 5th. By the end of the day we had a few inches covering the ground and trees. So beautiful and so much fun. While Annelise napped, Danny and I went outside and played. Danny got to wear his new snow boots and other fun wintry gear.

Homestead Gardens--- The Christmas Edition

The last weekend in November we went to Homestead to see their Christmas set up. They had a beautiful train system running through their gardens (just like Roger's!), and so many pretty trees all decorated! I have wanted to buy a crab ornament to symbolize our move to Maryland last year, and we finally found a pretty blue one here. Santa was also visiting Homestead, so Annelise and Danny had a nice chat with him! The holidays are SO MUCH fun with kids!

Homestead Gardens

I found these pictures from two separate October visits to Homestead Gardens. This is the closest nursery I have seen out here like Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach. Of course Roger's is minutes away from the amazing Pacific, and minutes away from the glorious Fashion Island. And Newport Beach does have the MOST AMAZING weather. BUT... all that aside, Homestead is a really cool nursery that had all kinds of fun things set up for Halloween. There were hay mazes, a hay climber, pumpkin patch, and farm animals to pet and feed. The indoor part is what reminds me of Roger's in that they have elaborate displays of ridiculously expensive seasonal decorations.

The kids of course wanted to be climbing and running outside!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The weather was amazing (in the 60's) almost the whole time Patti was here visiting. Much warmer than her November '06 and March '07 visits.

We did lots of fun things like go to the children's museum, the park, Annapolis (our new favorite place to take visitors), and just hang out. I cooked a simple Thanksgiving meal with some of our family favorites, and we had a nice visit with neighbors, too.

Randy did participate in black Friday by braving the line at Best Buy. He has done this before (with friends in CA), but here he was alone on a very windy night. He got into the line at about 7pm (the doors opened at 5am), and he was maybe the 30th person. Fortunately he took his tent, sleeping bag, book, ipod and flashlight. He actually got to sleep for a few hours. Randy's goal was to get a new desktop computer (emachines with flat screen monitor), since the disk drive of ours hasn't worked for about a year and it would be costly to fix. The advertised price was $200 with a new printer thrown in, too. At 3am when the Best Buy managers got there and started handing out the "vouchers" for items, Randy was THE LAST one to get the computer! He was so relieved that his night hadn't been totally wasted. So, with an early gift of cash from Patti and Randy's patience we got a wonderful Christmas present.

Some pictures from the week:

Annelise figured out she could hide in the cupboard.


Danny had to try it too.

The state house (Maryland capitol building in Annapolis)
Love, love, love those fall colors!




Park play

I love Annelise's little strut here!

Yes, Crazy Times!

It has been busy here, but it is vacation! I have some adorable pictures/videos to post over the next couple of days, but I want to let you all know that we are doing very well.

If anybody needs a baking gift idea, I made these last night as a trial run for a few neighbor/friend gifts. They are sooooo yummy! Martha's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares are definitely gift worthy (not too pumpkiny either).

Found out yesterday that I passed the Praxis ESOL test. In true over-achiever style, I scored well above average. I guess you can't take that out of me... my high school friends that read this probably get a good laugh (or eye-roll) out of that!

Our home has been gift central. After Christmas (once family and friends have opened gifts), I will post pictures and links to some of the creating I did around here. I still want to knit Danny a scarf, but haven't quite started that, yet. Oops! Thick yarn, big needles and a skinny neck might help me accomplish this before Christmas... we'll see! It may be an "after-Christmas" gift.

Future updates will include our first snow, cutting down the Christmas tree, advent and Christmas decorations, job info, Thanksgiving happenings (including how much my husband loves me... and what I'm typing this post on RIGHT NOW), and some musical fun!

Yipee!!!!

PRAXIS test is over! I haven't taken a standardized test for 10 years (OK, maybe 9 years and 8 months), and I survived!

It wasn't easy, but I probably did fine. If not, I'll come crying to all of you when I have to take it again in March! Now Randy's mom is coming to town for Thanksgiving week, so I've got to clean!!!! (If anyone is wondering, she isn't a "white-glove mother-in-law"... she doesn't care, but I would like her to have at least one clean toilet to use!)

I'll post some fun pictures soon!

P.S. on the TV comment

Just so you all know... I really do love trash TV. The fact that a principal would watch The Real Housewives of Orange County is really cool to me. I know some of you are really careful and disciplined with what you watch, but if I had cable, I would watch The Real Housewives of Orange County and many, many, more junky shows. Good thing I don't have cable! I still am refusing to watch entertainment "news" programs, but reality TV of no-name people... oh so fun! I am really careful and disciplined with what MY CHILDREN watch, and someday, they may choose to watch really dumb stuff on TV, too.

Decline One, Accept Another

Just a quick job update:

I had two interviews this week, and both schools offered me the position on the spot. It's only 30%... low risk. I'm not REALLY as great as that sounds! Or maybe I am? ;) Anyway, I had to call a principal at a school that I really liked (the staff was great, the ESOL program was great, the principal was great... I mean he watches The Real Housewives of Orange County. Isn't that noteworthy?) and decline the position. I accepted a position at a school where the interview was equally good (nice staff, solid ESOL program, the assistant principal watches The Real Housewives of Orange County!) because they have a smaller ESOL program with more flexibility in their schedule. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I start because there are some details to iron out (like childcare???).

It is good to be wanted, but no fun to turn someone down. Since I would like to be employed by this county in the future, it is important not to burn any bridges! How I wish my friend Nancy lived nearby so she could snatch up one of these jobs. It is a mommy's dream!

PRAXIS test tomorrow! In ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages). In my husband's building at UMD. Oh goody!

Crazy Life

Since some of you might be wondering:

Throwing Up
Diarrhea
Ear infection
Strep Throat
Fever
Colds
Two Job Interviews
PRAXIS test (in ESOL)
Basement Done!!!!!
Visiting Parents (Here and Gone)

Will write more later (after the 17th... Test Day)

Fun at a Farm (Another One?)

On a Tuesday afternoon (the 16th to be precise), Randy took time off of work to go to the country. We don't live too far from beautiful Maryland farms (about 15 minutes to get to the really good ones).

My favorite fall farm I have visited is Queen Anne Farm. All they grow are pumpkins and sunflowers, but they do sell some local squash and apples. Interestingly enough, Mr. Brady has his own patch of tobacco growing on the farm... I had never seen an actual tobacco plant. The hillside full of sunflowers was amazing. Danny loved the scavenger hunt with clues leading us all over the farm.

D and A ran in and out of this pumpkin... fortunately we didn't get any pictures of Randy or me trying to get in and out!

D spotting a clue.

A only wants to be held (and look at D hamming it up!).

Running

Amazing flowers

Apple Picking

We all spent a Saturday morning in the middle of October picking apples at a farm in Maryland. We picked Braeburn and Fuji (two of our faves). As you can see from the pictures, the kids had a blast!

Halloweens Past

Couldn't help but posting these pictures of Danny in both the bumblebee and baseball costumes. The bumblebee was Halloween of 2004 (almost 14 months old and before his blue eyes had totally turned hazel), and the baseball costume is from 2005 (just turned two).

Happy Halloween

Just a few pictures of tonight's festivities! Annelise was wearing the bumblebee vest (Danny wore it when he was 14 months), and Danny wore his baseball costume (which he wore when he was two). I love the simplicity of these two costumes and the fact that my mom made the baseball costume. Next year they may have new costumes (or they may not!).



We had so much fun trick-or-treating. After a couple of houses Annelise understood that she was being given candy, although she wasn't too happy that she couldn't just eat it all right away! Danny loved it, of course. We were able to limit him to four small pieces tonight. We'll see how the next few days go with that!


Of course I have a lot more pictures to show and events to share from the last three weeks, but I'll get there! Just be prepared for a review of October in the month of November.

Waylaid

Things have been ridiculously crazy around here, so I'll give you the brief synopsis until I can write more and post more pictures.

Visitors from CA (Randy's dad and step-mom)

New tile floor in kid's bathroom

Burst pipe in kitchen/flooded basement (and a whole bunch of other stuff that goes with that!)

Normal kid life

Looking for part-time teaching work (and potentially a whole bunch of other stuff with that!)

Brief enough for you? We're all doing well. So glad we have a good home insurance policy so that things in the basement are being taken care of. The kids have been a lot of fun. Annelise is having a language explosion at the moment, even putting two words together and saying "Halloween" (very funny to hear). Danny enjoys creating his box city and dreaming of getting a Jeep for Christmas (fat chance on that one!). If the perfect 20%-30% teaching job came up, I would grab it in a minute (8-12 hours per week). Randy is becoming an expert at many more "home things."

There you have it!

(Has anyone noticed how disgusting the weather has been out here? I thought summer should have been over 6 weeks ago! We finally have cool weather today, and I hope fall is officially here!)

Annelise at 18 Months

Last week Annelise had her 18 month check-up. She had 3 shots, including the measles/mumps/rubella and the chickenpox vaccines. Boy, do I wish they had the chickenpox vaccine when I was little, or even a teenager, considering I got chickenpox the summer after my senior year of high school!

She did fine of course. No changes or recommendations for her kidney, so we keep giving her the antibiotic each night. As soon as her molars come in, she can start taking the chewable antibiotics. Yea!!!! On September 24th she measured at 33 1/4 inches, and she weighed 24 pounds and 9 oz. She is now wearing 24 month pants, but 2T tops (for the length). She is typically wearing 24month dresses, too.

Annelise likes to run at the camera, so I don't really have any good pictures. Hopefully soon, you all will see something good!

Mail

Guess what came from the big brown truck today (that is what Danny calls UPS)? These...


I've visited Ryka's website before, but didn't consider buying shoes until this last weekend. When I got home from one of my lake walks, my whole left foot was sore because of rubbing. I knew my Addidas were getting old, but I think I had walked them past their prime. So I found which shoe I wanted (Ryka's Country Walker) and I did some price comparisons. Most websites had them listed around $70, but I found them on this site for $39.99 (no tax and no shipping). Google Product Search (formerly Froogle) is just the best!

Ryka is in the middle of a big giveaway. So go by their site and enroll to win shoes or workout clothes (they are giving away a ridiculous amount of stuff!).

Our Last Summer Pictures!

Finally, I am to my last pictures of the summer! On one of our last evenings in Hood River, we all had a picnic dinner at Wahkeena Falls (along the historic Columbia Gorge Highway) and explored some of the other falls, too. The funniest thing was that when Annelise first saw the waterfall, she kept pointing to it, saying "uh-oh, uh-oh." I guess to a one-year-old, spilled water is spilled water!

The "I'm thinking" face.

"I see Papa down there!"


The only way we could talk Danny into stepping into this trunk was by telling him that next time we visited, he may not fit in it anymore.


Pardon my expression... it is one of my famous ones. One of the few shots of all four of us, I think Randy is the only one who looks great!

Fall Weather

We've had some amazing weather the last 5 days. It has been mostly in the 70's with a chill in the air in the mornings and evenings. It will get back up into the high 80's /low 90's later this week, but I'm hoping there will be low humidity (that makes all the difference!). Yesterday afternoon we took a walk (Danny rode his bike) to the park by the lake. It was beautiful! Since Danny is now requesting me to make movies, here goes another!

Felt Friends

Today Danny and I had a little sewing time. We had so much fun, and he really only needed help threading the needle and explaining the stuffing process. This kit from Alex is lots of fun and was a great gift from M and H (thanks guys!). Read more about kids and sewing at my other blog, these pretty things.

sewing around the edges

still sewing (look at that concentration!)

designing the face

All done!