Sunday, December 31, 2017

2017 Books Read

Here is my books read list for 2017--13 books! It looks like I managed 16 books in 2016, so I am down a few this year, but still averaging a book a month...with 3 small children. I'll take it. There are also several in progress books on my self and library checkout list!
  • Catching Fire, Becoming Flame by Fr. Albert Hasse
  • The Happiest Toddler on the Block by Harvey Karp
  • Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
  • The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
  • The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
  • Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford
  • The Girl From the Savoy by Hazel Gaynor
  • Overseas by Beatriz Williams
  • Beautiful Ruins by Jess Waters
  • Girl at War by Sara Novic
  • The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton Disclafani
  • Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini
  • Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Thanksgiving Road Trip: South Carolina

Back to our Thanksgiving road trip chronicles. Picking up from the first part of our chronicles. We left Alabama Tuesday morning and headed to South Carolina. The drive took about 6 hours after some less than ideal traffic through Atlanta. We stopped at the Georgia welcome center, and I enjoyed welcoming my boys to my birthplace. We made it to Clemson University just in time for Jeremy to walk us around campus for about 45 minutes before he was off to teach class. After grabbing some food and making a very necessary bathroom stop, we finally made it to Jeremy and Audrey's home!
Wednesday we did some last minute grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Then we headed to Greenville, SC. We explored Falls Park on the Reedy River. After Audrey got off work we met for dinner before heading back to their house.
Woodchuck!
Thursday was Thanksgiving. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and worked on food. Jeremy took the lead on making the turkey...a first for all of us!
Our Thanksgiving meal was delicious!
After lunch, there were some naps, (but not for the boys) and little outside running around and some Thanksgiving crafting.
Lil' Bro traced Uncle Jeremy's hand to make a turkey. It took up the whole page!
Friday we visited a really cool park near an airport. Then we visited Swap Rabbit Cafe and Grocery and did a little walking on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. 
We left Saturday morning to head back Texas. We ended up driving straight back home and arrived around 3:30am! Big Bro and Lil' Bro had already gotten 8 hours of sleep and thought it was morning so they didn't go back to sleep! Despite the long drive, they were amazing!

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Thanksgiving Road Trip--Texas to Alabama

Thanksgiving was our last family road trip for the year! We drove to South Carolina to visit Jeremy and Audrey and see their new digs. We stopped in Alabama on the way. We left Saturday morning around 3:30am. The boys did great, per usual, on the drive. We arrived in Alabama at Aunt Sharon and Aunt Judy's house around 6pm. Sunday morning, Aunt Sharon entertained the kids for a bit so Nicholas and I could sleep in a little. Hooray. Then we had a blast enjoying the land. We did some hiking and explored the trail we helped blaze back in March. We rode around on the golf carts and visited with the current crop of husky puppies.
Monday we visited the Birmingham Zoo. Then we came home and roasted hot dogs over the firepit. The boys enjoyed playing with Salsa, Aunt Sharon and Aunt Judy's new dog.
Tuesday morning we packed up and said our long goodbyes. Then we headed to South Carolina.