Saturday Snapshot: Home Made Hats

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Nancy

I knitted hats for the kids!

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Friday’s Fotos: Mom’s Night Out

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Nancy

On Wednesday, my twins club sponsored a Meet the Officer’s Dinner. I had a BLAST! The food was really good, and it was so great to chat with such wonderful people! We had a total of 20 moms…including some fellow mommy blog writers:

(I hope I didn’t miss anyone!!)

Filed under: FFFF, me | Tagged: MNO, Mom's Night Out | 2 Comments »

Not as Much of a Rebel

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Nancy

About 2 years ago, I went through the Top 100 most challenged books from 1990 to 2000 and noticed that I’d read 33 of them. I’m down by 9 this decade; but I’m not too surprised…I haven’t had as much time to read over the past 6 years! 😉

Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Myracle, Lauren
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, by George Beard
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank

I’ve read 24 of these. And 3 or 4 more are ones I was supposed to read in school (shh, don’t tell my teachers!) …and there are 3 or 4 more that I now WANT to read.

How many have YOU read?

Source: American Library Association

Filed under: me | Tagged: banned books, challenged books, rebel reader | 3 Comments »

Way Back When-esday

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Nancy

Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Go on over to see who else is playing – and join in too!

Just realized that this is my 100 WBW post! Wow.

Anyway – these pictures were taken 1 year ago today. More proof that boxes are the best toy out there 🙂

Boxes!

Filed under: kids, WBW | Tagged: boxes | 2 Comments »

When Worlds Collide

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Nancy

There have been a few things that have happened over the past few weeks that make me feel like my world is just a little bit smaller than I think.

The first thing that happened was I sat down at McDonalds in the town where my pediatrician works, looked around to see who was in close proximity of my kids (you do that too, right??), and then realized that the OB who delivered all 3 of my kids was at the next table…with his whole family. Now…this could have been awkward, but he’s such a great guy that it wasn’t. I made my presence known by saying “Hey! We know Dr. OB! Hi!” And smiled. He immediately recognized me (although, I’m not sure that he remembered my name – but that’s all good. I mean, he’s got a bazillion patients!) He introduced me to his wife and 2.5 kids…the two who are out of the oven are actually my kids’ ages, so they had fun sizing each other up. And his wife was SUPER nice. She was asking where my kids go to school and then realized that we are way out of our way (it’s a good 45 minute drive to get to my pedi). So I said, “We love our doctors!” with a big smile. That got a little bit of a laugh and then Dr. OB asked who our pedi is. I told him and he very enthusiastically said that she was one of the best in that practice. (Good to hear that from a professional!!) *I* think so too – she has twins and a 3rd kid (although, her 3rd is older), and she’s a twin herself…so she just “gets it.”

So, I mentioned that it could have been awkward but thankfully wasn’t…until after he left. Ya…I started to overthink it … He’s such an easy-going, super, super nice guy, it’s hard to feel strange around him, but I was mostly thinking “Geez. That’s his wife. And she KNOWS he’s seen my … everything there is to see!! How can she be so nice to me??” LOL!

The other thing that happened recently is a FB story. A twin mommy friend of mine ‘friended’ a friend of mine from church camp. Ya – that’s right…a friend made in the past 5 years is now friends with someone I’ve known for over 20 years (geez, that makes me feel old!). Anyway…of course I immediately wrote on both of their walls asking how the heck they knew each other. Turns out that my twin mommy friend moved to where my church friend lives (my camp friend also happens to be a twin mommy – I knew this – but strange, right??). Even stranger is that my camp friend is also the president of her twins club! (I didn’t know this…) What are the odds that two people who met at church camp now have twins around the same age and are both presidents of their respective twins clubs? Crazy. The cool thing about it though is that my twin mommy friend convinced my camp friend to come to our twins club sale setup – so I got to see her again after 20 years!!

Sat down at McDonalds and then realized that the OB who delivered all 3 of my kids was at the next table…with his whole family.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: awkward situations that aren't, small world, worlds colliding | 1 Comment »

Makes My Monday: Quality Time

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Nancy

The past few weeks have been crazy at our house. With the start of school, a whole bunch of things have also started up and it seems as if everything is happening at the same time. For example, the evening schedule at our house last week and this week looked like this:

Monday 20th: BOTH home!! (Thank goodness – because that was our anniversary)
Tuesday: Mike showing the ropes to his replacement for his old job
Wednesday: Nancy at a MMOTA State meeting
Thursday: Mike teaching
Friday: Nancy at the MMOTA Sale setup
Saturday: BOTH HOME!!
Sunday: Nancy at a Church Women’s Group meeting
Monday 27th: Nancy To Logan’s School PTO meeting*
Tuesday: Mike helping replacement
Wednesday: Nancy at MMOTA Meet the Officer’s Dinner
Thursday: Mike helping replacement
AND Nancy at Open House for Burke and Maggie’s school

Not a lot of Mike and Nancy time there 😦

* So…I decided that I’m blowing off tonight’s PTO meeting. (Mike doesn’t get home in time for me to get there in a timely fashion, and I’ve already asked him to come home early enough times…) Plus, I’ve been helping out the PTO for that school for 2 years now – I don’t need to go to the meeting to have them know who I am and know that I can help out. I only feel slightly guilty that it’s one of Logan’s things that I’m blowing off…but he’s not directly impacted, so I’m forcing myself to get over it 😉

Blowing off a meeting that won’t make me feel too guilty so I can spend more time with Mike totally Makes My Monday.

Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Head on over to see what else makes people’s Mondays (there are always some really good ones!)

Filed under: me, Mike, MMM | Tagged: blowing off meetings, priorities, quality time, too busy! | 2 Comments »

Big Kid Seat

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Nancy

Since Logan takes any opportunity to sit in Burke or Maggie’s seat when he’s alone in the car, we figured we’d make it official and get him his own Big Kid Booster. He’s loving life right now 🙂