What's On Your Nightstand?

5 Minutes for Books sponsors a monthly event called What's on Your Nightstand? I haven't participated in a few months but I'm finally back this month. I have quite an assortment on my nightstand (really, the corner of my bureau) at the moment and I have promised I would read through them before taking any more out of the library! (I broke that promise this week, after 3 weeks. oh well... :) )

So here they are:

-Hannah's Helping Hands by Jean Van Leeuwen. This is actually a chapter book that I picked up at the town tag sale that looked interesting. It takes place back in the Revolutionary War-time period.
-Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I never finsihed reading it from when it was one of the Classics Bookclub books awhile back.
-A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Another tag sale book. One of those "I know I should read this someday" books.
-Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. A Christmas present from my husband.
-Elizabeth and Mary by Jane Dunn. For the Tudor Reading Challenge.
-Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. To feed into my fascination with the Civil War era.

Now that I've actually listed these somewhere, maybe it will hold me accountable! (Don't count on it!!!)

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I've been away from this for awhile but I'm back this week! Here's mine:

"To be perfectly honest, it wasn't the first time I asked. I've been in pursuit for many months. But I'm telling tou now because this time, ah, yes, this time, she said, 'Let me speak with Brigham.'"
~from The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

My Daybook

For today...Monday, April 26, 2010

On My Mind...today is the tenth anniversary of the death of my Gramma Palmer (my dad's mom). When I think of her, I think of pansies, birds, and lots of yummy baked goods! She always cooked and baked such delicious things and never ate any of it herself. When she retired from nursing at the age of 74, she baked 8 hours a day and when she gave up her license, my dad used to drive her around to deliver the goodies! She was a kind, gentle woman and I miss her so much. I wish she had been able to meet Tucker. It's also the tenth anniversary of the day we made the offer on our house.

Outside My Window...it is dark and raining. It's supposed to stop raining tomorrow.

What We're Reading...I finished The White Queen by Philippa Gregory and started The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff and am LOVING it!! Tucker continues to read the third book of the Diary of A Wimpy Kid series and he also read Swing, Batta, Batta about the history of baseball; he was really excited about it!

What We're Listening to...I finished Big Stone Gap and want to read more of the series (I think there's three in all). I'm now listening to The Shack by William P. Young which came highly recommended by my friend Joan and I am halfway through and LOVING it!

What We're Watching...DWTS is on now, still like Chad, Nicole, and Erin...what a week on Survivor!!! I was shocked by Pavarti's (sp?) move! Still not sure who I'm rooting for though...Amazing Race is almost done and Tucker and I are still cheering for the Cowboys! They are unbelievable! Michael likes the dectectives...so glad that Glee is back and LOVED the Madonna episode last week!...we also went to see How To Train Your Dragon yesterday and it was really good! I wasn't sure what it was going to be about but we ended up really liking it!

I am Hoping...that my leg stops itching. I got bit by a spider yesterday and it's all swollen and gross (normal reaction for me) and ITCHY!!!!

Quotable Quote... In honor of my grandmother...What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies. ~ Rudolph Giuliani

In the Kitchen...Meatloaf and Mashed potatoes last night (yum)...tacos, manicotti, pork chops.

Around the House...dishwasher running...clothes need to be folded and more needs to be washed...definitely could use some attention but I did vacuum at least!

Coming Up This Week...a home visit tomorrow night...baseball team pictures Thurs...baseball game Fri...helping Tucker finish up the Thank You cards from his birthday.

Some Picture Thoughts...flowers, climbing, and being silly

First Baseball Game of the Season

Today was the first baseball game of the season! It was a beautiful day (and I have the sunburn to show for it!) Tucker is on the Oakdale Fire team, which coincidentally one of the coaches works for.

Today was all about trying a little bit of everything and letting the boys get a feel for the game. The first two innings we just go through the roster once with no outs. The next four innings is played like a "real" game. tucker played third base a few times as well as first, where he did really good. He made a lot of really great plays and got a few runners out!



The coaches take turns pitching to the kids and they all did a great job of hitting the ball-some pretty far! I'm loving the sound the bat makes when it connects with the ball!



After the game, the boys line up and give high-fives to the other team


The boys got a final peptalk and enjoyed snack and juice!


GO OAKDALE FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Daybook

For today...Monday, April 19, 2010 (yes I know it's been awhile!!! I promise I'll try to be better!)

On My Mind...Tucker has decided to quit Cub Scouts and this has been difficult for me to accept. I know it doesn't seem like a huge deal but I just remember all the fun I had in Girl Scouts and how much a part of my life it was...anyway he never really wanted to go to the meetings and finally said he doesn't want to do it anymore. He's very into sports right now so it's not like he doesn't have something.

Outside My Window...it's dark, of course! It was actually nice today! It was cold and rainy all weekend and looks like next weekend will be more of the same!

What We're Reading...I'm almost done with The White Queen. Tucker is only halfway through the second Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules; he was on vacation last week and we weren't real good about making sure he read everyday, I have to admit, but he is reading it on his own and still loving it!

What We're Listening to...I finished Jane Eyre and also An Inconvenient Wife by Megan Chance, which I loved and I am now halfway through Big Stone Gap. I can't remember who wrote it right now though!

What We're Watching...Still not sure who I like on Survivor but they're merging this week with even numbers so it should be interesting!...Still like Chad and Nicole and maybe even Erin on DWTS...watching our usual iCarly, Dirty Jobs, and Mythbusters as well...Amazing Race took the week off for the ACM awards but am glad that the Cowboys have made it to the Top 4!!!

I Am Hoping...to get caught up on the photo blog (I've taken the pictures but have to post them) and stay caught up!

Quotable Quote...I thought this was fitting consider how our days have been lately!!!
The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March
~ Robert Frost

In The Kitchen...manicotti, tacos, chicken brushetta, BLTs

Around the House...of course there is laundry to be folded...it's actually looking pretty good right now; we all worked yesterday to clean really well upstairs and Michael and Tucker washed the kitchen and dining rooms floors)

Coming Up This Week...baseball practice tomorrow and Friday nights...soccer practice Thursday night...first baseball game and last soccer game on Saturday! (thankfully is the last week of soccer!!!)

Some picture Thoughts...since I never got around to posting pictures from Easter or the Tucker's field trip to a nature center, here are a few...

My Daybook

For Today...Tuesday, April 6, 2010

On My Mind...hoping my camera gets here soon! If you don't read my other blog, I fell up the stairs on Saturday and landed with the camera face-down so the focus thingee got pushed in! It was actually cheaper to order it online and it wasn't a really expensive camera anyway! I just wanted to get the same one because it's nice and simple and I'm used to it!

Outside My Window...the sun has just set. It was a gorgeous day today and tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer!

What We're Reading...I haven't had much time to read lately but I am still reading The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. We finished Diary of a Wimpy Kid and got the other 3 books at the Book Fair today (for $4/each with the discount, I couldn't not get them!) We'll be starting the second Diary of A Wimpy Kid book this week and will also be reading about Davy Crockett and The Alamo.

What We're Listening To...I am on the last disc of Jane Eyre and have really enjoyed it!! Not sure what I'll listen to next. With Tucker, we listened to Ghost Town at Sundown (A Magic Treehouse book) Arthur and The Mystery Envelope in the car.

What We're Watching...of course, the UConn women! Tonight's the championship!!...Still need to watch Amazing Race from Sunday...Now that Boston Rob's gone, really not sure who to root for on Survivor...I'm not even going to brave a guess at who's leaving on DWTS tonight because I was so far off last week!

I am Hoping...that UConn wins tonight!

In the Kitchen...hamsteaks tonight, something quick tomorrow (not sure what yet!), chicken in the crockpot, beef stroganoff.

Around the House...I do have to say that it's pretty easy to clean up after Easter when you don't put the decorations out in the first place! LOL...the dishwasher's running...clothes need to be folded.

Coming Up This week...field trip with Tucker's class tomorrow to Denison Peqoutsepos Nature Center in Mystic...first baseball practice tomorrow night...soccer practice Thursday night...maybe Fort Trumbull Sat...scrapbooking at my mom's Sun...soccer game Sun.

No Picture Thoughts but I will be doing an Easter post.

Happy Easter!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Happy Birthday, Tucker!

As hard as it is for me to believe, Tucker is 8 years old today! He doesn't like cake and didn't want to make cupcakes for daycare this year, so we gave him breakfast in bed and put the number 8 candle on the french toast! Here he is blowing out the candle!

Opening a new Star Wars Lego set-why is that they look so much bigger on the box?!

Opening the next gift...

A new truck...it's actually a bank too (which is right up his alley!)

Happy birthday, Monkey Boy! We are so proud of you and love you so much!

Better Late Than Never...

Since Tucker's actual birthday is tomorrow, I thought I should finally post the pictures from Tucker's birthday party last weekend!

For the second year in a row, we had his party at the local indoor miniature golf place!


This is actually a cupcake-cake! It was so easy to pull apart rather than having to deal with cutting the cake and serving it to the kids!

A group shot! Same kids as last year!!


Tucker is silly posing with William


His friend Maddie (once again the only girl) gave him a new water gun!!


My mom gave him a wooden money box (it has his name on it) and put $40 in $5 bills for our upcoming Disney trip. He did get more money as we went alone so he added it to the box!


After cake and ice cream, they split into two groups and headed out on the course. Here the DJ is throwing tickets out to them!

A dragon that I like

Andrew Freddie, Maddie, and Tucker played a good game together


At the very end, you have to try to shoot your ball in the clown's mouth for a free game!