Jonathan's Turkey

No, Jonathan is not a turkey (well, maybe sometimes) ... he had to make a turkey.  His assignment was to have his family help him decorate a turkey for homework last week … we were quite proud of how it turned out!!

Review: A Prairie Christmas Collection

A Prairie Christmas Collection: 9 Historical Christmas Romances from America's Great Plains by Tracie Peterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really nice collection of Christmas stories. A couple of the stories felt a bit rushed in the "climax", but I think sometimes that's just the way short stories are, they have to pull things together a lot faster due to their shortened nature. Each story was about 50 pages long, which was nice -- I could read one or two in a sitting, and not have to remember what was going on in the book when I was able to pick it up again, which this week was nice, since I haven't had any large chunks of time to read. I think my favorite story in this collection was "Circle of Blessings" (Raney).

View all my reviews

2010 Christmas Christian Fiction Reading Challenge

This is another challenge from Margaret over at http://chf.creativemadnessmama.comChallenge Requirements:1- Challenge will start Monday, November 15 and will end Friday, December 31.2- You can read anywhere from 1 to 5 books for the challenge and, of course, if you’re like me, you are more than welcome to surpass that number.3- And now, here’s the clincher… they must be Christmas Christian Fiction related books.4- The size of the book does not matter, nor does the genre. It is also okay for the book to overlap with other challenges. YA is okay. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, and other formats are all allowed. As long as the book can by purchased it counts.I'd best get to work if I'm going to be able to start this one on the 15th.  I have a stack of Christmas books just waiting to be read ... they include:

1. The Sound of Sleigh Bells (Woodsmall) (oops ... just realized I read this one last year.  I'll have to find something else.)
2. Christmas at Harringtons (Carlson) -- I can't get my hands on a copy of this one, I'll  put it on next years list!
3. A Prairie Christmas Collection (Peters, Bateman, Raney ...) -- 11/22/10
4. A Simple Amish Christmas (Chapman) -- 11/25/10
5. Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball (Paul) -- I can't get my hands on a copy of this one, I'll  put it on next years list!
6. Grace (Gray) -- 12/4/10
7. Finding Father Christmas (Gunn) -- 12/5/10
8. Engaging Father Christmas (Gunn) -- 12/8/10
9. A Door County Christmas (Melby, et al.) -- 12/16/10

Here are some other Christmas books I also plan to read, but I don't think they will fit this challenge as they (probably) aren't considered Christian fiction.

1. Home for the Holidays (Macomber) -- 11/15/10
2. The Perfect Christmas (Macomber) -- 11/29/10
3. A Cars Christmas (Lagonegro - a Step Into Reading Ready to Read book) -- 12/8/10
4. Christmas in Camelot (Osborne) -- 11/24/10
5. The Christmas Clock (Martin) -- 12/7/10
6. Auntie Claus (Primavera) -- 12/13/10
7. Ernest's Special Christmas (Barnes ) -- 12/13/10
8. Christmas at the Candle Factory (Johns)-- 12/13/10

1st Day of School

Hard to believe, but summer has come and gone ...
We all had a great 1st day, which hopefully is an indication of a great year to come.

We hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend.
Hold on to your hats (it's been extremely windy here the past couple of days).
We'll write more soon!!

Take me out to the ballgame ...

We went to our first ever West Michigan Whitecaps game this afternoon. I had won tickets to the game back in April, and we were excited to go. We had great seats (right behind the opposing team's dugout) and it was a good game ... the Whitecaps won 10-7! Check out the "Whitecaps Game" photo album listed to the right to see some pictures from our afternoon at the ballpark.
Enjoy
~Kati

Practicing the Saxophone

Here's a little video of David playing a song he's taught himself out of his book. Honestly, this isn't the best he's played it, but I thought this was still pretty good, and lunch was almost ready, so I didn't have him play it again.
~Enjoy, Kati

Mommy's New Ride

Isn't it pretty :-)