Snow Day

We had our first snow day. I tried to fill it up with fun things including drawing snowmen.

Rebekah took matters into her own hands and had princess shoe races.

We played legos and puzzles and dress up. Then we played dress up with my phone.

After dress up with and without phone, Rebekah promptly got back in her pajamas and we played some more. It's way to hard to be stuck inside with my very active girl. About 4:30 I asked Don to send in reinforcements. But work was too busy and he was late. However, when he finally did get home Rebekah, armed with my phone, had some much needed daddy time.

One of my favorite:

The next morning it was a little warmer so Rebekah got dressed and ready for some snow play while daddy shoveled the walk. 

A beautiful morning. Colder than cold, but beautiful.

Rebekah loves the white stuff.

She spent much time on these castles. one for each of us. (She was very put out when they melted.)

December Books

While I enjoyed the first three, this one seemed tedious at times. My first problem: 827 pages. Really? What book - let me rephrase that: what fictional book - needs to be that long?! It's at least 300 pages longer than her others! And it didn't feel necessary! I'll mark her down on that alone. Also, this book felt less original - like it was reaching towards Hunger Games and other such books. Very sad.

Interesting stories of women in the civil war. Again, it's amazing what actually happens in this world. Not the best writing but still interesting.

This was really good middle school literature about a runaway slave family. Highly recommend.

Painful account of what one soldier went through as he was captured and a little of what happened after his release. The training these soldiers go through and the dangers they face are incredible. I am grateful for those that give all so we can live safe and free.

Always looking for a new exciting YA fiction. I thought this had potential but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. Plus it started swearing a bit in the middle and then heavier towards the end. Very sad.

From the look of the cover I thought I was going to not like the book however the cover is a little misleading. I liked the author's writing style. It's historical fiction about the Romanov family during the 1917 Revolution  - hence what peaked my interest. When I read it I thought it was more fiction than historical but the author has a note at the end of the book explaining what is fiction and what is history. That's the only way to do historical fiction in my view. A good read. I may read more from her.

An interesting short story about the painting. I liked it, especially the artistic side of things. 

This was well written but a difficult subject matter. I am grateful for our Savior and the knowledge He will come again for many reasons, one of which is the world has a lot of healing to do. The problem I have with the philosophy brought forth in this book is the everyone looking over their shoulder effect. They need to protect themselves from all us people which makes me feel like I need to watch myself around all these people and everyone is walking on eggshells and stressing and eventually the whole thing is going to explode. 

I've had this book for a long time, so long I don't even remember how I got it. Probably handed down from my mom or something. My mother in law said it was good and I was looking for a few quick reads so I picked it up. It was okay. Nothing big here and frankly the lesson to be learned is a bit overdone for my taste. 

This was interesting. It rates really high on Goodreads and hey, it's Harry Potter-ish. So I thought I'd give it a chance. The best part of it was the introduction and the epilogue. It really is an encyclopedia of all the beast, from A to Z. Although it is interesting to see what a persons imagination can come up with, that's really all it is. I went back and read the reviews on this book and realized most people simply reviewed the movie. Seriously people. Read the BOOK before you review it.

This was pretty amazing. I started this book a while ago - maybe over a year - and didn't get to far in before I put it down and moved on. I recently tried again and I was completely sold pretty early on. It's all about timing I guess. I didn't understand the scope of the book before but it's basically the life of two African American families starting from the 1700's down through the 20th century. Quite impressive and well written. It deals with slavery and such but not overly done. Very recommendable.

Complete fluff and predictable but I enjoyed the two stories.  

This was very interesting, however I think it was because of the subject matter and not the writing. The author made a historical mistake early on and I just couldn't trust him as the book continued. But John Quincy Adams was a very interesting man. I will be reading more on him.

So that makes 103 books for the year. (I think I'm not going to keep track this year - too much stress.)

Goodreads put this together for me:

2017 Books

Looking at the list almost made my eyes water. Each one of these books is like a old friend. Some were so good! A Gentleman in Moscow, Tolstoy, These Is My Words, Destiny of the Republic, Golem and the Jinni! All the Gallant Men, Jayber Crow... So so many. Too many to mention. A few were disappointing - I'll refrain from mentioning those by name. But I remember them all. It's so nice to see all the covers and look at them again. Yes, I'm waxing poetic on my books. Call me a nerd. I'll wear the title with pride.

Rest of the Break

The rest of the break is kind of a blur. Everything went fast and I was in a bit of pain after somehow hurting my neck / shoulder. I went to bed feeling fine and woke up so definitely not. Days went by and it got worse. Rebekah, however, made me a get well card. So sweet. 

Then we spent time at home. Rebekah helped me with laundry -

(this was less helpful but still pretty cute...

Not at all happy when I had her get out. Apparently I woke her up....)

- complete with dressing up in daddy's clean clothes and pretending to be "dad in deep thought."

We also spent some time at the library. Rebekah is into science (heaven help me with my lack of ability in that subject). However, our motto is "together we can do ANYTHING!" and we tackled the electric set.

We played dress up with kitchen items.

I also took Rebekah back to Goldfish to swim at open swim. We met a few friends and it was a great reunion.

We spent much time on the phone with our good friend who moved away. She sent me this picture from about a year ago. Man I miss them!

I wasn't getting much better with my neck / shoulder thing so Rebekah made me another picture. I think she is quite the artist.

Such a fun winter break!

Christmas Day After

The day after Christmas mom and Frank came down to spend some time with us. Rebekah very willingly helped her open her presents. Rebekah got her grandma a paint set complete with horses to paint. Something she and her grammy can share together. Love her thoughtfulness. 

She even volunteered to help Frank open his gift.

I praise the day my friend introduced the calendar for Christmas idea. Best ever.

After the presents we helped ourselves to the rest of the Christmas Eve spread. I also made my traditional apples and sweet potato dish, which both mom and Frank find delicious. After we shared a few sweet rolls. So glad they could come!

Christmas

Christmas morning Rebekah woke up earlier than usual. I have been excited about not having the up at the crack of dawn Christmas morning tradition in our little family. I suppose that makes me a Grinch. So be it. I'm barely sleeping here. Once Rebekah starts sleeping through the nights I may change my view. Here's hoping next year it will be back to normal.

But Santa did bring the telescope. I wish Santa brought more information on how to use it. So far it's been too cold to use it outside and when we look from inside we aren't seeing anything. I have a feeling I'm going to be learning a lot as Rebekah grows and discovers.

Santa also made a mistake with the stockings. He got daddy's right but mixed Rebekah's and mine, unless Rebekah really wanted an orange and I really wanted a bunch of candy, play dough, and a princess doll.... In Santa's defense, every year Rebekah changes who gets what stocking. And again, the lack of sleep thing.

We played it small this year and gave Rebekah art supplies and other smaller gifts.

I got puppy socks, which I love. I mean if you can't have a dog it's the next best thing.

Don got a shirt. Which he has yet to wear or even remove the tags. Not that I'm keeping track or anything. But if it doesn't happen by next Christmas, I know what he's getting!

My friend Courtney got Rebe this really awesome book on the presidents. I can't wait to read it. ...with her. I can't wait to read it with her.

She is very excited about her princess stuff. Even if it has to do with math.

And chocolate of course.

Then there was the making of the sweet rolls.

Turned out pretty good even with a new oven experience.

Yum!

Rebekah got me princess legos. Legos are perfect: I like building, she likes playing.

After the initial festivities were over Rebekah played with her new things and Don and I unpacked copious boxes. So so many boxes....