Both girls had to come up with an invention for school this past month. Anna wanted a picture of her invention to include in her report. (Sarah's is already at school so I'll have to get a picture of hers later.) Henry loves to drive the girls around on the "train" and the girls love to take turns getting rides. (Henry is the best driver because his legs are the shortest.)
I hosted book club tonight. This is a version of the book club that was started the last time I was here but instead of turning people away we are wondering why no one around here seems to read! We had five in our group last night and it felt like a good number to keep the conversation going and for everyone to have a chance to talk. I loved this book and rank it up there with my favorite books. I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did so the next book I read has a lot to live up to (I tried to pick up The Historian and couldn't read it it was so poorly written compared to The Time Traveler's Wife). Our next book club book is Good Grief by Lolly Winston.
Just found this interesting Flickr Photoset on the differences between the 1963 and 1991 editions of Richard Scarry's The Best Word Book Ever. I remember reading Richard Scarry books at my grandmas house, I wonder what happened to her copies and which editions they were? Anna just loves The Best First Book Ever but hasn't gotten into The Best Word Book Ever yet.
Sharon's not thrilled with David Sedaris, but I really enjoyed Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. So much so that I've asked Craig to read it, too. I remember hearing an excerpt of the book on NPR and then reading about half of it in December 2004 (Craig was skiing for the day and I went to the outlet malls then read my book) before I finallly finished it last night. I was actually laughing out loud at some of the stories.
I'm enjoying this reading binge I'm on I think because I'm actually reading books that have been on my shelves for a while and I chose them myself (unlike the last book-club book that I couldn't even bring myself to finish!). Or maybe I'm just figuring out what kind of books I like?
I decided to finally start reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown last week. I only say "finally" because I bought the book soon after it was released while we were in Korea. I must have been ordering from Amazon, read about the book, and ordered it. I was in the middle of something else when it arrived so I loaned it to someone. By the time they finished I was on to something else so I loaned it out again. Then Craig read it. Then once I was pregnant, the only thing I read was pregnancy books. Then parenting books. And now when I sat down to read the book at last I found myself prepared to not like it because of all of the hype. Nope, I got hooked into it, too. I wouldn't say it was the best book ever, but as countless others before me have stated: it was a page turner.
Mathilda by Roald Dahl was a book that Sharon had sent to Anna for a birth-day gift. I started reading it aloud to Anna while rocking her in her room during part of her "sleep training" last year. We almost finished it but suddenly Anna was able to fall asleep on her own and I didn't have to spend time in her room waiting. Of course this is a children's book, but I had never heard of it before. It was cute although I think Anna will enjoy it more when she is older (8 years old, says the back of the book) than I did at 28/29!
Sharon came out to visit this weekend! I know in my heart of hearts she really only came to meet Anna since I'll see her again at her wedding this fall, but I won't let that get to me too much. Anna thought Sharon was okay and although I wouldn't say that they're best friends, Anna did make up a strange little sign for Sharon that was pretty cute.
Of course, a post about Sharon would not be complete if I didn't mention that I finished three books this month: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith and Dr. Mom's Prescription for Preschoolers by Marianne, M.D. Neifert as well as the Complete Book of Women's Running that I have previously mentioned. Sounds like I'm on a roll and I've made my stack of next books to read.
After MOPS book club fell through in February, my neighbor invited to me to another book club right here in our neighborhood--even better! We are reading The Great Gatsby. Something I know I've read before but really don't remember the details. Thirty pages into it, I already know I like it so much more than the other book I've read this year... Two people that I've mentioned this book to in the past few days have both noted that they didn't like it and wondered what all of the fuss was about.
Now that Anna is one year old, I feel like we finally are getting back to "normal." Of course, it is a new normal, but I'm very happy with that. In Anna's second year we are planning to take a few vacations, I'm going to read some actual books (not just What to Expect the Toddler Years), and I am actually taking steps to lose the weight I gained while pregnant (that I already lost while we lived in Korea--so frustrating to have to do it all again!), and I've got plenty of "projects" around the house to work on (and some actual photography work). Hey, maybe we'll even hire a babysitter and Craig & I will get out of the house once or twice a month!
I have read one non-parenting book this year: Bad Girl Creek by JoAnn Mapson. I read it for the MOPS bookclub. And then the meeting never happened. And I've never heard anything about the book club again. So I'm on my own. Sad as it is, I think I'll start with Angels & Demons by Dan Brown and then finally read The DaVinci Code. I loaned out the The DaVinci Code several times while we were in Korea but never actually read it myself. Everytime I got it back, I was in the middle of something else. Then I got pregnant and I only read pregnancy/childbirth/baby name books. Then Anna was born and it was just parenting and sleep books (and a whole lot of board books!). I will no doubt be turning to my dear friend Sharon for some reading advice soon. Although I do still have a few books on my shelf from our Okpo book club that I haven't read. (By the way, I did not like Bad Girl Creek: it was too contrived and predictable and I was very disappointed with the lives the characters ended up with by the end.)
I have lost 7.5 pounds since January (6 of those since I joined Weight Watchers Online on February 9th). I am attempting to do the Self Challenge again this year, but so far it's just not happening. I'm having a hard time getting to the gym consistently, but I guess that's part of what the challenge is about--finding a way to incorporate exercise into your daily life.
I have found some interesting places online to self-publish books and I want to do a "blook" (a book with content from a blog) for our time in Korea and for Anna's first year. Those are pretty major projects so I don't know how long that will take, but when I finish those I will be sure to post the results here!
