What we read in 2022

 Since we're almost halfway through May... I'm not behind at all!  :D  I did not read as much last year, as expected.  When I'm not sleeping at night I don't have much brain space to read.  :P  But I still read a fair amount to the girls in the evenings.  I think these are in the order they were read... copied from my Goodreads list; I'm afraid I'm not going to remember all of the things we liked about each book it's been so long.

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins- This book had us all laughing.  It's British, so it's a little weird, but over all is a really fun story of a pig that Nannies for three kids. (Also, she likes chocolate cake.) 

Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates- Certain of my children have shown little inclination to pick up the classics, so I've been trying to read some of the ones everyone should read at least once in their life, if only for the cultural references.  It had been a long time since I have read this book and I don't think I realized how old it really is: 1865.... 😲 I also forgot about how little of the book is actually about Hans Brinker.  Much of it is about a group of his acquaintances who spend a week ice skating around Holland, so the girls got a little bored.  They did enjoy the few funny parts, and Hans and Gretel's story. 

The Boys Start the War (Boy/Girl Battle, #1)- This was a recommendation after I wrote last years list.  :D  They all loved it, and laughed a lot.  A house full of girls (the Malloys) moves in next door to a house full of boys (the Hatfords.... ha!) who want their old neighbors to move back and mayhem ensues. 

A Little Princess- We read an abridged version of this classic.  It's a sweet story and the girls enjoyed it. 

The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom- I read this myself, and loved it.  It's by Andrew Peterson and is almost written memoir style; he tells stories of his life, travels, and trees.  It was really good, and I want to read it again.

The Book of Three (The Chronicles of Prydain, #1)- I read this series by Lloyd Alexander in GS/MS I think.  Maybe more middle school.  I think I found the 3rd book at a book sale once, and got book #1 for Christmas (birthday? It's all running together... I'm still not sleeping all night) so I could start reading the series again.  It's a high fantasy/adventure series and definitely middle grade level, but I wasn't disappointed rereading it as an adult.  :)

Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan- I didn't think book 2 of the Nanny Piggins series was quite as fun as the first book, but it was still enjoyable.  There were plenty of funny high jinks for everyone, and the girls liked it. 

The Girls Get Even (Boy/Girl Battle, #2)
Boys Against Girls (Boy/Girl Battle, #3)    
The Girls' Revenge (Boy/Girl Battle, #4) - We kept reading (and laughing)  at the Hatfords and the Malloys... and I had to explain about the Hatfields and Mccoys in real life. 

The Case of the Car-Barkaholic Dog (Hank the Cowdog, #17)
The Case of the Saddle House Robbery (Hank the Cowdog Book 35)- We can count audio books for summer reading at the library, soooo.... we listened to two different Hank the Cowdog books on our way to vacations.  Hank and Drover are hilarious. 😏

 Read All about It: A Kit Classic Volume 1 (American Girls: Kit #1-3)- Cadence got the Kit doll for her birthday so we started reading her stories.  Kit is growing up during the great depression.
Really Truly Ruthie- Ruthie is Kit's friend.  American Girl does such a great job of telling stories about real events without making them seem scary or traumatic. 

Soup- Another recommendation that was a huge hit.  We took this on vacation and I almost fell of the girls' bed I was laughing so hard when the barrel rolled thru the chicken coop... 😂

Thunder from the Sea- the girls seem to like books with adventure and cliffhangers and we all liked this one.

Meet Molly: An American Girl (American Girls: Molly, #1)
Molly Learns a Lesson: A School Story (American Girls: Molly, #2)
Molly's Surprise: A Christmas Story (American Girls: Molly, #3)
Happy Birthday, Molly: A Springtime Story (American Girls: Molly, #4)
Molly Saves the Day: A Summer Story (American Girls: Molly, #5)
Changes for Molly: A Winter Story (American Girls: Molly, #6)- We read the Molly books and learned all about World War II.  They all really liked when Molly uses worms to win the game at camp... of course...  haha. 

Cheaper by the Dozen
Belles on Their Toes- we borrowed these from my Mom.  They are as funny as I remember them being.  They were also written longer ago than seems possible (I'm getting old!) in 1948 and since they are describing their childhoods in the nineteen teens through thirties there was a lot of explaining of what life was like before cell phones.  Ha!  And looking up of pictures of swimwear through the years.  :)   They really liked both books, and I still really want to paint all sorts of educational things all over the walls....

 To the Far Blue Mountains (The Sacketts, #2)- We started listening to this in the car on one of our trips and I finished reading it later at home.  I'm pretty sure I've read all the Sacketts before, but it's always fun to revisit them.  I probably still prefer some of Louis L'amours westerns, but it is a good book.

 Encyclopedia Brown Gets His Man- I remember Encyclopedia Brown from grade school and I still can't figure out who-dun-it without reading the answer to the mysteries in the back.  Oh well.  :P  I'm not sure I would read another one to the girls because it just wasn't a great read-aloud. They're too episodic and don't really have a long 'story' to keep them interested. Definitely more of a book to read to yourself.

Just So Stories- This is a book that everyone should read once in their lives... 😄  So we can all know how the camel actually got his "humph!"  The library had a really beautifully illustrated edition on display that we checked out.  It referenced some of the original drawings, but was definitely more engaging than the black and white line drawings I remember. We all enjoyed most of the stories, some of them were less interesting/ went over their heads a bit but that's ok.   

The Door in the Wall- Classic Newbery book about Medieval England including wars and plagues.  I think they enjoyed it over all.  It has a slower pace and it was about a boy so... haha.  I read it in middle school and still liked it when I read it to the girls. 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever- It's becoming Tradition! (read that in Tevya's voice) to read this one at Christmas time.  It's fun and funny and the Herdmans are as awful as ever.  The older the girls get, the more they are understanding the deeper points the author is trying to get across, so that's fun.

 The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas- We read this because we finished TBCPE and it wasn't quite Christmas yet. :D  Madeleine L'Engle is one of my favorite authors and this is a short, sweet, little book about the Austin family at Christmas time.      

So there you have it... what we read in 2022.  We've made it through a few books already this year, and the stack on my nightstand is experiencing a little bit more turn over the last few months.  I have a bit of a used book problem (I get it honest *cough* Dad *cough* Mom) so the stack to read to the girls and my want to read pile never really gets smaller.  I had a sweatshirt in middle school that said "So many books, so little time" and I feel it.  😝
Blessings.

Spring break and Easter and April things

I am behind again... for some reason my phone doesn't want to transfer photos to my computer automatically and figuring out a way to upload them all has not been high on the priority list.

 

Spring break was not long enough for the girls.  Jack and Logan came over one day to play.   

Mr. Perrin likes outside.

The kids decided to plant pumpkin seeds they had saved from last fall.  Right by a stump, in the middle of the yard, weeks before last frost date. 😝 (They actually came up and now we have to try and save them every time it freezes... woot.)

They found a bunch of worms whilst planting too.

We spent an afternoon at the Playhouse.  It has been a few years- Cadence and Miri had no memory of it, and Cecily and Emmy are almost too old for some of the fun things.  The maker space was new for everyone.

Perrin liked the trains.

And the balls. :) 

Getting right in there with the big kids.

He was less interested in the little kid toys.

Miriel would have stayed at each of the exhibits the whole time. 

We closed the place down and nobody (except me) was quite ready to leave. 

 

We had a week or so of 70-80 degree weather, and I finally managed to finish the sweater I've been knitting just in time for it to be too hot to wear.  Figures.  😋

They wanted to eat a snack outside.  With lemonade. 

 

 We love sunshine.

 

Perrin loves eating. 

Glow sticks in the bath tub just for fun.

I had to teach chemistry during their break, and they really wanted to come along.  They wanted to come to class and watch my students do their lab.  They got tired of standing about halfway through.  :)

There were a couple of days with bad weather- so we nervous nellies spent some time in the basement.  Bob brought some hail down in a cup to show the girls, and Perrin ate one.  I guess it was probably clean. 

Since we were downstairs waiting for the weather to pass I got started on a new project.  I brought home a bag of my grandpa's ties when Grandma was cleaning closets.  My friend Sarah loaned me a pattern for a tie quilt, and I got them all arranged and pinned and basted. 

Bob celebrated another birthday... the girls were very excited.

Miri can't decide what season she's dressing for, and she's anti-pants right now. 

Mr. Perrin is busy and curious.

 

And he likes outside.

Miri and I tried to make homemade matzah this year.  It did not turn out well.  ha.  It was more like a flat bread than a cracker, but we didn't care.

Last supper/passover. 

They're mostly in it for the deviled eggs.

Perrin enjoys pudding.

Bob and Eric took their Sunday School class to sort clothes and the little two did pretty well playing.

The older three 'helped' but needed to be told where to put every single piece of clothing.

We dyed Easter eggs! 

Such fun. 

Easter weekend was busy.  Saturday morning I took the kids to Kray and Heather's family shower, then we met up with Bob at Matt's new house that afternoon. 

The men had already moved the furniture so we "helped" by unpacking and putting away the kitchen, exploring the back yard, and getting in the way. 

Also, checking out the farm toy collection. 😁

I'm just so proud.  "On the 18th of April in seventy-five, hardly a man is now alive that remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, if the British march from the town tonight, hang a lantern aloft from the belfry arch, of the North Church tower as a signal light. One if by land, two if by sea, and I on the opposite shore shall be..." I could go on, but I won't.  😂

Easter morning Easter baskets.

I have no idea what's going on, but I think I like it. 

It's too bright, I can't smile! *sigh*

They hid empty eggs for themselves after church. 

Perrin found the mulch. 

We went to the condos for supper and they got to look for more eggs.

Some of the eggs had candy in them this time. :)

Double trouble.

And as we were reading the Beatrix Potter book she got in her Easter basket that night before bed, I suddenly remembered they were all supposed to have new aprons in their baskets. Ooops.  Oh well.  Miri girl got a Beatrix Potter apron with some of her favorites on it- namely 'my puddle duck' and 'my Tiggy winkle.'

Hopefully more than one kid sized apron will mean less fights over who gets to wear it. Hopefully.

They've been begging to go swimming at the indoor pool all winter long, and every time we've had a day that it might have worked somebody was sick, or something else came up.  But finally when it was warm enough to swim outside, everyone was healthy and we went swimming!  Perrin wasn't sure about the pool at first, but by the end he was having a great time.

He was far to confident for his own good... it's so nice to have older sisters to keep you in line.  :D

Miri was making "stew," Perrin was eating dirt.

Work from home perks: listening to a meeting while supervising the littles outside on a beautiful spring day.

Fixing their toys.  Also, Perrin in overalls is adorable. 

Picnic lunch on the porch. :)

"Can I wear it like a hat?"  Um, sure! 

We cleaned out the garage one lovely Saturday.  We have far too much stuff.  The girls insisted on checking out the garage attic.

Perrin was stuck in his stroller, but he was okay as long as he could bang on the wheel barrow with a stick. 

It got cold again, and I wasn't too sad because it was an excuse to wear my new sweater!  I don't know the first thing about knitting- this was supposed to be 3/4 sleeve and have negative ease.... somehow its long sleeved and nice and loose.  😂 Oh well, I like it this way too.  😁

Emmy wanted to candy violets once they started blooming.  :)

I wanted to make a very small batch of violet jelly while they lasted.  I didn't have any pectin, but I found a recipe that used unflavored gelatin..... Jello.  I made violet Jello.  😆  I can't spread it on my toast, but it tastes good! 

I've been very slowly working on my spring cleaning list.  And slowly switching the girls clothes from winter to summer.  I had an inch or so of water in a bucket to wipe out dresser drawers on the bathroom counter so Perrin couldn't get to it.  Except Perrin is tall.  There was water all over the bathroom floor, and he was having a great time in the hallway with the rag.  *sigh* I did get to mark 'mop hallway floor' off of the list.  

 Cecily suddenly started seeing spots on Thursday, and took to her bed with what we thought was just a migraine.  But she still didn't feel well Friday, and had a low fever and a slight sore throat. Bob stayed with her, I dropped the rest of the kids off with Bob's parents, and went to potluck.  By Saturday, her throat looked angry so we went to prompt care to get swabbed... it was strep.  Woot.    So she missed church Sunday, but was well enough for school on Monday.

We got the garden tilled while flurries where flying.  So it is not yet planted, and keeping the kids out of the soft dirt has been difficult. :)

Blessings.