Summer Reading, Part II

As promised, I've put together a list of what's in my summer reading pile, again in no particular order, except that (with a couple of exceptions) the fiction ended up in the top half of the pile and the nonfiction in the bottom half. I'm fairly certain I won't make it through them all by the end of the summer, but each one looked so good I couldn't resist adding it to the pile. :)


Summer Reading List

To Be Read:
1. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
2. The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
3. 1984 by George Orwell
4. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
5. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6. The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage
7. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
8. The Worst Day of My Life, So Far by M. A. Harper
9. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
10. The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds
11. Coming Home to Eat by Gary Paul Nabhan
12. The Eternal Frontier by Tim Flannery
13. A Primate's Memoir by Robert M. Sapolsky
14. Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume I 1884-1933 by Blanche Wiesen Cook
15. Journey Into Summer by Edwin Way Teale
16. An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
17. The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy
18. The Earth Care Manual by Patrick Whitefield
19. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Completed:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (re-read)

I also have a number of books I'm currently in the middle of, so decided to list those here as well.

Books In Progress
1. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, M.D.
2. Watchmen by Alan Moore
3. 1491 by Charles C. Mann
4. The Gardener's Bed Book by Richardson Wright
5. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
6. Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
7. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
8. Four-Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman
9. The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule

Inspired by Ada's dedicated fans, I've also included her summer reading list, with picture. :)
1. Mommy Loves by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben
2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
3. Time for Bed by Mem Fox
4. The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
5. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney



If you're looking for still more summer reading inspiration, check out some of the following links:

NPR's Summer Books 2009 page, with several lists of recommendations. You can even print a combined list of all the recommended titles.

Barnes & Noble's Summer Reading page also has summer reading recommendations in several categories.

The New York Times has some great lists; one for Parents, and two on children's books - The Best Kids' Books Ever, and the follow-up In Which I Apologize to Roald Dahl....

There was a show on Midmorning recently about summer reading. You can see a list of recommended titles here.

I also found a great Summertime Favorites list put together by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH); the recommendations are supposedly for school-age kids, but the lists (especially Grades 7-8 and 9-12) are really full of classics that are on most adult reading lists.

My last list recommendation is a Newsweek list, Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Meta-List, that I came across while checking out the list Lisa linked to in her comment on my last summer reading post. If this Top 100 list is anything to go by, I have a LOT of reading to do. I have to admit that in my life so far, I've only made it through 13(!) of these, although the fact that I own at least 75% of the titles on the list does make me feel a little bit better (I plan to read most of them some day).

I'd love to see comments. What's on your summer reading list? Any thoughts on my list - have you read and liked (or disliked) any of the books I chose? Any other recommendations or resources for summer reading?

Weekend Pics

Just wanted to share some pictures from last weekend.

Hanging out at Mitch and Katie's on Friday, eating s'mores, after dinner at Rancho Grande:

And at the cabin celebrating the 4th with my side of the family:


Maddie loved watching Chris set off smoke balls,
and going in the lake with me.

One of the strangest, and coolest, things that happened on the 4th was that several dragonflies decided to land on me at the same time and molt:
The picture above was taken shortly after this dragonfly had molted.

And here's a shot after its wings had expanded and were drying out:

Ada spent most of the day sleeping on whoever would hold her.
And here she is hanging out with Grandpa:

Look for my Summer Reading, Part II post later today.

Summer Reading, Part I

For me summer always inspires a renewed love of reading. I love going to Barnes & Noble to check out their Summer Reading tables. Most of the titles are the same each year (lots of classics), but I just can't resist touching all those stacks of books, leafing through pages, running my hands over the covers, and reading the summaries of stories I haven't yet read. I usually don't end up buying anything because I already own most of what's on display, but there's something irresistible that draws me to these books, gets me thinking about all of the worlds I could get lost in while lounging in our screen porch with something cool to drink, listening to the wind in the leaves. Today is one of those perfect summer days meant to be spent reading and dozing, sunny with a cool breeze, and if I wasn't writing this I'd be sorely tempted to spend the entire day doing just that...if Ada would let me. :) Unfortunately I just finished reading a book this morning (Atonement by Ian McEwan), and after I finish a book I like to take a little time to think and reflect before I pick up something else. I should really say before I get back to something else, since I'm usually in the middle of about 10 books at any given time. So while figuring out what I'm going to finish reading next, I've decided to put together a list of some of my top recommendations for summer reading. These are all books that I've read, loved, and would like to read again, listed in no particular order.

1. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
2. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
3. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
4. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
5. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
I liked later books in the series much better, but I recommend starting here, with the first book.
6. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
One of my all-time favorite authors; this was the first novel of hers that I read.
7. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
8. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Thanks to Nancy and some of the B&N crew for recommending this to me; it was just what I was looking for at the time. I love going to the bookstore, telling people what you're in the mood to read, and leaving with exactly what you wanted.
9. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Picked this up at the airport last year on one of my tradeshow trips and couldn't put it down.
10. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Really anything by him would make wonderful summer reading - I did actually spend a summer reading (and re-reading) almost everything of his I could get my hands on. My absolute hands-down favorite author when I was younger.
11. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
12. This Organic Life by Joan Dye Gussow
This is an annual read for me. Love, love, LOVE this book - always come away feeling inspired.
13. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
This was one of those stay-up-all-night, can't-put-it-down reads for me.
14. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

This is the first book in The Wheel of Time series; worth it even if you don't want to read them all. Some day I WILL finish the whole series; I've attempted it three times, but just haven't set aside enough time yet. Maybe if I didn't keep starting over...

If you have any summer reading recommendations, please leave a comment as I'd love to hear about them.

Look for Summer Reading, Part II early next week, where I'll post what's on my Summer Reading List. Until then, happy reading!

Recording Her Story

Over the last 7 weeks (I can't believe it's really been that long!) I haven't had much time to scrapbook, but I have been keeping track of as many details and stories as possible using three different journals. It sounds complicated I know, but they're all unique and using all three is allowing me to more fully capture Ada's story.

The first journal I'm using is one I made based on a journal Ali Edwards created while expecting her daughter. You can see Ali's journal here. This journal is the most private of the three; something just for me, a place to record stories and my thoughts and feelings over her first few months of life.


Ali used digital templates and printed them on cardstock for her journal pages. I made my own using Sakura Souffle and Glaze pens. I followed a design layout similar to Ali's for the patterned paper pages and kept things simple. On my pages I added a single flower, a sticker + stamped word, or a flower + ribbon + metal accent. I repeated that order throughout the book. The stickers are from Crate Paper's Lemon Grass Collection. For metal accents I used both Making Memories Love Notes Collection metal charms and Tim Holtz trinket pins (LOVE these!). I haven't decorated the cover yet, but plan to in the near future. I did use some pink and floral papers in the journal since this book was for me, but kept it to mostly neutral colors so that it would work for a boy or girl since we didn't know what we were having.


The second book I'm recording information in is The Essential Baby Organizer: Birth to One Year. This is my day-to-day book where I can record feeding times, naps, diaper changes, etc. It also has a Journal page for each week where you can record info on what your baby learned that week, who they visited, funny things they did, etc. I've really appreciated these pages as they allow me to quickly jot down important details from the week that I don't want to forget, and I love having a record of how she's changing week to week. There are also pages to record information from well-baby visits, a page to write your baby a letter every three months, some pages to record information on gifts given to your baby, a tooth chart, pages for baby's firsts, and a handy resource section at the back of the journal with information on soothing your baby, developmental milestones, nutritional needs, first aid, and even a sample babysitter interview form. The authors of this organizer also wrote a pregnancy organizer that I used throughout my pregnancy to record information from all of my doctor and midwife visits. My favorite part of that book was the list of items for baby - they gave you lists of essentials vs. extras - this came in very handy when registering for baby items and trying to keep track of everything we needed.


The last book is somewhere between the other two. It's more of a traditional baby book; something more structured than the journal I made, but with room to record a lot more detail than the organizer. It's called Baby of Mine; I used the companion pregnancy journal, Waiting for Baby, as well. Each month's section in the baby journal has space for a picture as well as prompts for journaling about baby's physical development, favorite moments, good / bad days, etc. There's also a page to record what your daily routine is like that month - what / how your baby is eating, how they're sleeping, and what their schedule is like. In addition, there are sections to add pictures and journal about things like outings, holidays, baby's firsts and baby's favorites, as well as some blank journal pages. The book wraps up with several pages on baby's first birthday and has some room for writing your reflections on the past year.


I love that I'm getting so much written down and capturing so many memories on paper. The time is going by so fast and I know I've already forgotten a lot! Some of this journaling will be used in my scrapbook layouts as well...as I find time to actually scrapbook. For now I'm just glad to be writing things down and getting pictures taken. As I have (or MAKE) time I'll put them together into layouts.

Life at Six Weeks

At six weeks Ada is:

Giving us lots of smiles and becoming more vocal. We love hearing her happy noises and squeaks! :)



Still basically sleeping through the night; she does wake up a couple times to eat, but aside from that she's pretty quiet.

Focusing on our faces more, especially our mouths, which we (at least Mommy) make(s) into all kinds of silly shapes to try to get her attention. :)

Turning toward the sound of our voices much more often.

Spending lots of time in her bouncy chair. This may be the best baby item we purchased. She loves sitting in it and being bounced. She's big enough now that she can bounce herself a little.


Napping best while being held.

Having lots of active awake time - lots of rhythmic punching and kicking - it usually looks like she's practicing for marching band. :)

Still seeming to be a calm and happy baby.

We feel so blessed and can't imagine life without her.
Love you little Ada.

Happy Friday!

Celebrating Family

This past week we got to spend some wonderful time with Chris' family. His parents were in town to meet Ada and help out. Chris' sister was also able to stay with us for several days; it was so nice to have the whole family together. Thanks so much for all the cooking and cleaning, etc. It was very much appreciated! The time went by too quickly, as it always seems to when they come to visit. We loved that they were able to come and meet Ada; she's the first grandchild on Chris' side and it's been wonderful seeing them together; we know Ada loved getting so much attention. :)




She is so blessed to have so many people that love her. We have been thankful that so many family members have been able to meet her and spend time with her; lots of good memories and photos. Unfortunately the last few weeks have also been a bittersweet time, as my uncle passed away just a couple days after Ada's birth. Since his death I have been thinking a lot about family; about wanting to spend more quality time together and wanting to capture those times and stories in photos and words in my scrapbooks - I want Ada to know her family and have a wonderful childhood, full of great memories of spending time with family members, playing with her cousins, hearing family stories, etc.

I encourage you all to take some time this week to not only think about and spend time with your family and loved ones, but to also think about capturing the memories of your time together. My family is now talking about making time to go to the lake together this summer and spend some weekends at the cabin seeing extended family and just being together. Chris and Ada and I will be heading to North Carolina in July with Chris' sister to visit my in-laws and other family members and spend time hanging out at the beach.

I would love to see comments about how you celebrate with your family. What traditions or activities do you participate in together? What's your favorite thing to do together? Are there traditions that you would like to start or pass along to your children? Do you capture / record family memories - scrapbooking, photo albums, writing down stories?

Hanging out with Uncle Lawrence at the cabin

"What the next generation will value most is not what we owned, but the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we loved." -Ellen Goodman