First and Second Quarter Reading

My reading goal for the year was to read 100 books counting ALL BOOKS - books I read myself, books I listen to myself, chapter books I read to the kids, and chapter books I listen to with the kids. I knew it was a very ambitious goal and when COVID-19 first hit, my reading really took a hit. I wasn't driving hardly anywhere anymore, so that took away a lot of my book listening time and suddenly I had all my kids home all the time. (Plus I read Harry Potter 6 and Harry Potter 7 to Corbyn and Peyton, so that took a lot of time I could have been reading them other shorter books.) It took me some time, but I did get back into reading more and found other times to listen to books. I probably won't get to 100, but I'm just going to see how many I can do.

Books I Read

1. Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. This series was fun. It was better than I was expecting.

2. The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

3. Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

4. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han. I had to reread this series when P.S. I Still Love You came out on Netflix.

5. P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han.

6. Always and Forever Lara Jean by Jenny Han.

7. My Double Life by Janette Rallison. The Kindle version of this book is free on Amazon. It's light and a little silly, but worth reading.

8. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. Reread this one for the Everyday Reading Book Club and then had to reread Landline too.

9. Landline by Rainbow Rowell. 

10. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. This is one of the books Rainbow Rowell is famous for, but it wasn't my favorite. I skipped over reading the fan fiction excerpts because I didn't like that part at all. 

Books I Listened To

11. 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam.

12. A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza.

13. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. The movie is good, but the book is so much more informative.

14. Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott. The movie follows the book so closely.

15. Matchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson. I LOVED this one SO MUCH!

16. Tweet Cute by Emma Lord. LOVED this one too!

17. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I was listening to this one on CDs in the car and it took me months to finish because I was spending so little time in the car.

18. The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum by Candace Fleming. I was a little disappointed to learn that The Greatest Showman wasn't exactly accurate.

Books I Read to Corbyn and Peyton

19. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.

20. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling.

21. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.

22. P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia.

23. Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus.

24. Basil and the Cave of Cats by Eve Titus.

25. Basil in Mexico by Eve Titus.

Books We Listened to

26. Ramona and her Mother by Beverly Cleary.

27. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary.

28. Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary.

29. Ramona's World by Beverly Cleary.

30. Henry Higgins by Beverly Cleary.

31. Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary.

32. From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks. This is basically the kid version of Just Mercy. It was VERY GOOD!

 

9 Months

Easton at 9 months:

*Is a BUSY little guy.

*Crawls everywhere and gets into everything.

*Climbs the stairs.

*Walks along furniture.

*Has settled into a reliable nap routine (now that his life isn't ruled by his older siblings' schedules).

*Loves brushes, cords (has ruined 2 laptop cords by sucking on them), and toothbrushes.

*Likes to smash his food in his fist before putting it in his mouth.

Easton's 9th month in pictures:

Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.

We put up the baby gate at the top of the stairs because he was learning to climb the stairs, but didn't know how to safely go down yet. We ended up taking it down after a day because Logan couldn't open it and we really don't spend that much time upstairs. When we were upstairs I just had to watch him to make sure he didn't fall down.

My SIL, Cailey, got me this cute Mickey outfit (for him to wear) for my birthday. 

Bath time cutie!

I know I'm not supposed to let him sleep with a blanket yet, but he loves this one. 

Bundled up for a family walk.

    Learning to eat is messy business!    

Standing up in his crib for the first time.

Peyton helped him learn to climb the stairs.

When mom's shower puts you to sleep.

😍😍😍

Watching General Conference.

Big brother and little brother. Corbyn originally wore the big brother shirt and Logan wore the little brother shirt.

Peek-a-boo!

Holding him as I was cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast and he reached out to grab the cereal box. 

He'll be riding this on his own before we know it!

This toy is showing its age a little (or maybe it just needs new batteries), but he doesn't seem to mind. His favorite thing to do is switch it to Spanish mode.

Another mom shower nap.

We spent a lot of time riding bikes around the high school parking lot this month.

Such a joy to watch him explore his world.

Family movie night. 

I love this baby!

First Easter egg hunt (in our front yard since all the egg hunts were cancelled due to COVID-19).

Our very own Easton bunny!

One of my favorite things is when Logan tries to carry him.

Hooded bath towel babies are the best.

Sword fighting with Corbyn. When you have two older brothers, you learn this skill early!

A controller of his very own. (Of course he'd still rather play with the real ones.)

Elder Holland was our very special guest speaker for our church at home on Easter.

He loved watching this car go around and around.

Jumping on the tramp with the big kids is one of his favorite things.

More bike rides at the high school.

Standing up in his newly-lowered crib.

Swinging at Uncle Ron's house.

39 weeks - out as long as he was in and too busy to look up for a picture!

Happy 9 months baby boy! I only got a couple (not very good) pictures with him wearing his 9 month tie before he took it off and crushed it.