A Reading Life (10)

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A Reading Life...hosted by Michelle at The True Book Addict, and also inspired by Lisa at Lit and Life--Life: It Goes On...is a meme where we get to talk about other stuff we're doing in our lives along with reading!

Valentine's Day was last week. It was a lot of fun with Gabe. We successfully threw together a Minecraft party for him for his birthday! So the last couple of weeks have been pretty productive!

Listening To:

Inquiring Minds podcast. This is a new one I just found and it's pretty good. The first episode they talked with one of the few female astronaut's (Marsha Ivins) that have been in space. She's flown 5 space shuttle missions. It was fascinating to hear her stories in space and her views on where the space program should go now.

Books Finished:

• NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman.
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.
• Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan.

Reading:

• Container Gardening For Dummies by Bill Marken.
• Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Rampage by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith.
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Coming Up:

Movie night with my ladies this weekend. We thought we'd go for something fun and light while we wait out the winter blues. Mamma Mia!

Watching:

Not much, actually. I don't have broadcast TV so I haven't caught much of the Olympics except for some news stories online here and there.

We did see the Lego Movie for Gabe's birthday, though!

Making:

My homemade blackberry liqueur came out magnificent! So I made some really pretty and yummy blackberry bramble shots a couple of weeks ago.

I'll be making nothing super special this week. I'm kind of burned out with Gabe's birthday and Valentine's Day!

Grateful For:

Some warmer weather this week. I've been able to get out for some walks and biking with Gabe.

Looking Forward To:

Hiking as the weather warms up!

Pictures:

Valentine's Day art project! I made red pancakes and layered the toppings with whipped cream, chocolate chips and chocolate syrup. Sparkling cider for Gabe and chocolate wine for the devoted husband and me :)

Saturday was the celebration of the birth of Charles Darwin so we headed up to the University of Utah for the afternoon.

The Tracy Aviary stopped by to talk about their awesome birds!

We rode the train up and back home. Gabe and his friends loved it!

Gabe's 5th Birthday! Minecraft Style!

Gabe demanded a Minecraft-themed birthday party for his big 5! I'm not a super crafty person so I had no idea how to go about it but thanks to Pinterest and a super crafty husband, we managed to make it happen!

Like I said, not the greatest in crafting skills, but the creeper cake was done with love ;)

Creeper Juice!

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The crafting table! Complete with sticks, slime balls, gold, fish, tnt, and potion of healing!

Minecraft spider!

He had so much fun with his friends!

Cat Thursday (24)

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! Hosted by Michelle of The True Book Addict.

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These gave me a good chuckle :)

A Reading Life (9)

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A Reading Life...hosted by Michelle at The True Book Addict, and also inspired by Lisa at Lit and Life--Life: It Goes On...is a meme where we get to talk about other stuff we're doing in our lives along with reading!

This week brings Gabe's birthday! We're throwing him a Minecraft party since the boy is obsessed!

We had a pretty good snowstorm this last week as well which helped clear out the inversion here and we are all breathing a little better for at least a week...(then it all comes back).

Listening to:

The Freakonomics podcast. I'm only 2 in but fascinating!

Books Finished:

• Shatter Me by Teherah Mafi
• Find Momo: Hide and Seek With an Adventurous Border Collie by Andrew Knapp
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.
• Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll.

Reading:

• Charlotte's Web by E.L. White (We are reading this to Gabe. He's really
  enjoying it!).
  
• Nurtureshock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Coming Up:

I'm excited for Gabe's birthday this weekend. We still need to plan a game and get the decor details down this week. It should be fun, though!

Watching:

The Mindy Project! I just caught up and am so happy! If you watch it you'll know why if you don't then you need to get on that :)

Making:

I finally have all the necessary ingredients to make Blackberry Bramble jelly shots for my movie night with the girlfriends this weekend!

I'm also making homemade sloppy joes and a yummy crockpot chicken this week.

And a creeper cake for Gabe's birthday! Wish me luck on that one!

Grateful For:

Snow. The inversion has been killing us out here in Utah. But we finally got a snowstorm and we're breathing a bit better for a short time. Plus I got to go outside and play in the snow with Gabe and build some snowmen!

Looking Forward To:

Spring. I've had three flowers start to sprout this month and it's making me antsy for the Spring and seeing green again and warmer times to play outside. And flowers!

Pictures:

We had a lot of fun in the snow before it melted the next day!