Changes

I've decided to change to focus of my blog.  I've decided to make it more of a family journal.  Less about me and more about us.  Hopefully, I'll be able to upload to posts at the end of 6 months or a year and have a book printed. 

With this decision, I decided to create a new blog and start fresh.  I know it's a pain to add a new blog address to your reader, but please add the new one and keep up with us!

http://batnt.blogspot.com

Catch you on the flip-side!

Happy Little Things

The kid’s school did parent teacher conferences in October.  Yes, school started in almost the middle of September.  Seems VERY silly to me to have the one and only parent teacher conference six weeks after school starts.  I was concerned, but we got “report cards” this week and all three children seem to be doing swimmingly.  Very proud of them.

My kindergartener is an excellent reader.  Almost as good a reader as my second grader.  I did not teach him to read.  {I read to him a lot however.}  One day last spring (2010) he brought me a new book from the library, sat down next to me and read the whole thing out loud.  I was stunned.  He loves to read and spends a lot of time reading.  Last week, he saw me typing and decided that he might like to type too.  I opened up Word and let him at it.  He typed all about his stay at the hospital.  He typed how he got to control the remote and how fun it it. 

That is a Word document that I will never put in the trash.  Seriously so happy.

Hearing my daughter share her testimony of Joseph Smith in front of the congregation on Sunday.  So impressed with her faith.  Also, the same day, my youngest gave a talk on God’s plan for us in primary (children’s class).  He got up and read his talk clearly and did a wonderful job.

Watching the Super Bowl with some friends and our oldest son.  He loves sports, that one.  He was certain the Packers were going to win – and they did!

For the Super Bowl, I made an apple dip that was very good (happy!) ~ 16 oz cream cheese, softened, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 8 oz toffee bits.  Mix it all together and serve it with some sliced apples.  It was good with a Ritz cracker too.

Any happy little things at your place?

You Capture | Cold

I’ve been wanting to participate in You Capture at I Should Be Folding Laundry for awhile. I’ve needed something to get me taking pictures, because I haven’t been picking up my camera the last several.  I was disappointed last week when I saw that the topic was “cold”.

Here in the northwest, we’ve been having an unseasonably warm January.  Seriously – it’s been heavenly.  No wind, no rain and temps in the mid-upper 50’s (tomorrow the wind will blow and the rain will start just because of that sentence) so I wasn’t sure I would get anything cold to take a picture of.

Then this morning, when the kids headed out the door to school it was below freezing.  And there was signs of winter – fog hanging over the neighborhood, frost on the grass, bushes and roof tops.  Gray skies above the fog.  It just looked like winter, and cold. 

So I put on my husband’s flip flops, grabbed the camera and headed out. Here are a couple shots I got:

I’m particularly excited about the bottom one because I used the manual mode.

Stay warm this week!

Books

In January, I read two books.  TWO. 

The problem was that I had started too many books.  When I read more than one (or two) at a time, I don’t ever finish any. 

So I settled down and so far in February (we’re, what?, nine days in?) I’ve read five books.   FIVE.  Granted, some have been YA which tend to read faster but still.  I’m on a roll!

Here’s what I’ve read and what I thought of them:

The Kalahari Typing School For Men by Alexander McCall Smith – This book is the fourth (fifth?) in the No. 1 Ladie’s Detective Agency series.  I have enjoyed most of the books.  Mma Ramotswe is such an enjoyable character.  I’ll admit though that I am tiring of the series.  And if Mma Ramotswe and her love don’t get married soon, I’m going to quit reading them. 

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin – This book is about Gretchen Rubin’s journey to be more happy.  She isn’t sad – but feels like her life could be happier.  I loved this book.  In the beginning.  And then (the chapters are done by month) June came around and I got tired of it.  Honestly, I think Rubin tired of it around here as well.  Perhaps, I got overwhelmed by all the information she was giving.  Really, it was inspiring.  I feel like she had a lot of really good ideas and I took notes so I can refer back to it.  If you’re interested in the book, I might wait until it’s in paperback and mark it up.  Take your time with it.  My favorite line from the book was this: The opposite of happiness is unhappiness not depression. (I don’t really know why I liked that line so much, but I did.)

Wolves, Boys & Other Things That Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler – This book is a Whitney Award nominee.  I had it on hold before I knew that though.  A friend I went to HS with put it on Goodreads.  One of her dad’s students wrote it.  Her dad was my teacher in HS too so I was interested.  It’s a YA book about a girl that lives in a small town outside of Yellowstone National Park.  The girl becomes interested in the wolf reintroduction program and the book explores both sides of the issue.  Very interesting read. 

So Not Happening by Jennie B. Jones – This is a Christian YA novel about a girl that has everything in New York and gets moved to the sticks when her mom remarries.  It kind of reminded me of the Princess Diaries – similar type book – and I enjoyed it.  It was just a light, happy book.  It was a fun read and I look forward to reading others in the series. 

Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams – Williams wrote one of my favorite books from last year (The Chosen One) so when I saw that she had a new book out, I added it to my list.  It was a very interesting format.  Not like a typical novel. Verse format – poetry, I guess.  On the first page of the book, Hope walks in on her sister, Lizzie, holding a gun.  It’s a sad, heartbreaking, hopeful book.  It was also a very quick read.  It’s a YA read, but I’d be careful with younger girls reading it.  I’d say 15-16+. 

Up next: I’m trying to get through Eve and the Choice Made in Eden by Beverly Campbell.  It’s very good so far, but pretty heavy.  These days, I’m reading one book upstairs and one downstairs so I’m also reading Water For Elephants. I’ve just started it so I don’t have an opinion yet.

What’s on your night stand to read right now?

Happy Little Things

The post that made me laugh out loud: Back to School Means Back to Homework at Rarely Home Mom.  I just adore Julie.  I wish that I knew her better when I lived near her. 

A couple of days ago I had some ground beef on the counter as I was getting ready to make sloppy joes for dinner and my youngest came up poked it and said, “Cool! We’re having brain for dinner.”

I hit my 10% goal at WW this week. Twenty pounds gone.  Yes!

The 5-year-old is pretty much all better and recovered from his surgery.  He’s a little cranky still and I think his voice sounds a little different, but he doesn’t give us a thumbs down when we ask him how he’s feeling anymore.  Also, he was so super excited to go back to school on Wednesday. 

Having all my babies in school {at least for a few hours} and having a husband that works from home means that we get to go on day-time dates.  And today is the day!  Love alone time with my cute husband.  He’s so much fun to be with.

What Happy things happened to you this week?

Goal | The Camera

One of my goals for this year is to take most of my pictures with out using the automatic settings on the camera.  I want to get to where I use mostly the manual setting.  (I say mostly because I’ve decided that with kids and their quick movements, sometimes the automatic focus and adjustments the camera can do on it’s own will be faster and better than what I can do on my own.)

I had hoped to take a class in February at the local community college, but have since changed my mind.  So, I’ve been studying, highlighting, reading, and marking up my copy of Understand Exposure by Bryan Peterson.

I’ve added Digital Photography School to my reader, and I’ve been reading tutorials and the training course that is Allison Walken is doing on her photo blog. 

A couple weekends ago, while my youngest was at a birthday party, the older two kids and I went to the park and I played with manual mode.  This is what I got:

Overexposed. Underexposed.  Blurry.  Disappointing.

Part of me worries that in the process of learning, I’ll miss out of some great moments.  So. Here’s hoping I learn soon, so I can get some good pictures…soon!

I think I improved a little bit last week:

 

Any advice for me?  Any websites or books that you highly recommend?  Do you use the Manual setting?