Celebrating Spring!

All traces of snow are nearly gone and we celebrated the arrival of spring this weekend with a Robin's nest picture. The kids used watercolor paints for the eggs and then glued pieces of twine into a general nest shape that I drew for an outline for them. The preschoolers wrote Happy Spring on the top! I love how one little girl put her eggs on top of the nest like you are looking into it from the top.

In other news.... I made this beach themed cake for the weekend for a Hawaiian themed beach party

Spring Reading Thing 2009- Wrap Up

Today is the official first day of summer. This means 2 things:

The Spring Reading Thing at Callapidder Days has come to an end. AND... Tomorrow is my birthday. Yippiee!!! I love my birthday!

But, I am here now to talk about how I did with my first reading challenge and how things ended. I am using the questions from Callapidder Days. If you are interested in my original post, you can find that here.

Did you finish reading all the books on your spring reading list?

If not, why not?

No, I did not complete my list. I did think that it was a little ambitious, but the main reason is that we have been so busy here. I have also abandoned my blog lately. The big news is that we have moved. We are done with house rental world and purchased our first house. More on this later... too much unpacking that needs to be done so I don't spend the usual ammount of time on blogger.

Yada Yada Prayer Group #3 by Neta Jackson- Finished!

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Did Not Read

The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards Did Not Read
Jemima J by Jane Green Did Not Read
Dewey by Vicki Myron Did Not Read
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain Did Not Read
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd Did Not Read
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs Finished!
The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond Did Not Read
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Did Not Read

Added to list:

The Duggars: 20 and Counting! by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar Finished!

The Shack by William P. Young Finished!

What was your favorite book you read this spring? Why?

Favorite book that I finished: Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. I love to read girly novels. They are so relaxing to me and I can spend so much time each night in bed reading. Although, I did not love the way this one ended.

Least Favorite: The Shack by William P. Young

What was your favorite thing about the challenge?

One of my favorite things about this challenge was that I found a great new blog (new to me!) and I love to participate in things like this. I stayed true to my goal of not purchasing any of these books at full price. I only like to buy them at used or garage sale prices if it is not available at our local library.

Another thing I really liked was that I was a winner of one of the giveaways. I won a copy of How Sweet It Is by Alice J. Wisler. This is on my nightstand and I can't wait to get time to start on it. I haven't been reading for a long time due to the move, but I was planning on reading it next. I might have to read it second however. We have book club in July and I still haven't read the selection for that. This time we are reading The Good Earth by Pearle S. Buck.

Spring Reading Thing 2009- Update

A while back I signed on with the Spring Reading Thing 2009 at Callapidder Days. If you are interested in seeing what I put on my list, you can click here.

I have finished up two books so far. One was on my list and one wasn't. The first one was:

The Yada Yada Prayer Group- Gets Real (#3 in series) by Neta Jackson.
This one was on my list. I continue to enjoy this series. I am ready for number four in the series, but will probably wait a bit before checking it out at the library and try to focus on what I put on my list first.

Last night I finished The Duggars: 20 and Counting! by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. This book was not on my list by I did see it on several other lists from other participants in the SRT2009. My friend Ashley had just mentioned how she enjoyed it and so I thought I would give it a whirl.

Talk about a busy and organized family. But, as I was thinking about it, you would have to be organized to function in that family. I didn't really know much about them and I don't watch their show on tv. As I was reading though, I did vaguely remember watching one episode once. There was also a recent announcement this week on the Today show- they are expecting again, only this time it is their first grandchild.

I need to go to the library tomorrow and get another book on my SRT list. We are reading The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs for my book club that meets in May but I know a friend already has the library copy checked out. I don't know what I will decide on tomorrow.

Another book that was not on my list, but I had seen on several other lists on the SRT2009 was The Shack by William P. Young. I had also heard about this book from a few friends. On Easter I saw it at my aunt and uncle's house and borrowed it. I think I will add this in to my list as well.

Spring Reading Thing 2009

Callapidder Days is having a fun reading challenge for Spring. There is still time to join in! It is no pressure and open to anyone! I love reading so I've selected several books on my list that I want to read. I don't quite think I'll get through all of them, but I'll try my best. Here they are in no particular order (except I will start with Yada Yada first since I already have it checked out from the library):

"Yada Yada Prayer Group #3" by Neta Jackson

"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini"

"The Memory Keepers Daughter" by Kim Edwards

"Jemima J" by Jane Green

"Dewey" by Vicki Myron

"The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes" by Diane Chamberlain

"The Mermaid Chair" by Sue Monk Kidd

"The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs

"The Year of Fog" by Michelle Richmond

"The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini

**********

Several of these books I have seen on blogs, in stores, or others who I know have been reading them. One of the Spring Reading Thing guidelines is that you can set other goals for yourself during this time. Here is mine:

As usual, I do not want to buy any of these books. I am a big supporter of our local library and buy lots and lots of books at garage sales. (okay, that is buying them but I don't pay over a dollar for one!) I lend out and borrow books all the time and want to continue this!

I will be posting again in June to let you know how I did on the challenge. Check out Callapidder Days on Friday to see what the other participants are reading.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have read any of these books and let me know what you thought!