Books in 2018

On a roll! Second post!

I read some great books in 2018. Here is a quick list of what I read (I am sure forgetting a ton). And also, some that I want to read in 2019:

2018:

A Man Called Ove
Redeeming Love
The Greart Alone
By Invitation Only
Before We Were Yours
The Wedding Date
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
The Light we Lost
Now That You Mention It
An American Marriage
Lilac Girls
The Next Best Thing
On Second Thought
If You Only Knew
The Best Man
Without Merit
My Life Next Door
Class Mom
The Identicals
All Summer Long
After I Do
The Little Way of Ruthie Leming
My Oxford Year
Still Me
Little Fires Everywhere
A Nantucket Wedding
The Secret Life of Violet Grant
Winter in Paradise
Castle of Water
Girl Wash Your Face

I did not actually READ all of these- I listened to many of them.... Which I read someone on Instagram that said unless you actually READ the books, listening is like just having story time. Whatever. I disagree. I love listening to books!

If you are looking for my top three recs this year, I would say.....
1. The Great Alone
2. Little Fires Everywhere
3. Before we were yours OR Lilac Girls

So, here are some that I am hoping to cover in 2019:

I am currently listening to Nine Perfect Strangers, and won't finish until 2019.
And I am reading Where the Crawdads Sing.

Want to read:
Swear on this Life
Becoming Mrs. Lewis
The Dinner List
The Last Mrs. Parrish


Need more suggestions!!!!





 

Oh heyyyy, 2019

Well well well....
 2018 is coming to a close and I have not blogged much AT ALL.

And then a friend was having a tough parenting day. So I scrolled through the ol' blog and sent her this post.  And I felt connected to another momma. And I made her laugh. I am sure a lot. Y'all go read that one too, if you need a laugh.

Then my sister in law is working up the nerve to sleep train her sweet baby....and I again, went back to the blog to remind myself what HORRIBLE sleepers my babies were.

And yet another friend asked for book recommendations and I was sad I haven't kept up with posting about books because I have read some good ones! I'd like to post about them if for nothing else, so I can remember what I have read-- the brain is a tad foggy, you know.

Y'all I love this little blog. I wish I could find an easier way to post all the time. I want to post constantly. I am inheriting Ed's iPad in the new year. I am typing this post from it to see how it goes. It will not be easy to get pics on here, I don't think... But I am going to make an effort on here.

I don't do new year resolutions, per se. But I will TRY to be better about certain things....

Bring on the blog posts!



 

First Day of School

They are off to great places....

 Here we go.....! They are ready for second and third grades! Seriously, how can they already be that old?? I met one of my very best friends to this day in third grade. She was my maid of honor in our wedding.... and now Cal is in third grade!

 As you can see in the pics, Bruce was NOT happy watching from the window- he wanted to be with the boys on the porch.

 Both boys had great first days and like their teachers and their class mates. We are looking forward to a fabulous year!



 

Wyndham Golf Tournament

This past weekend in Greensboro, there was a pga golf tournament. Eddie had a few clients playing, so we went over on Saturday to check it out. We had the best time together! We followed Harris English from hole one, through nine, where there was a weather delay.

 It was a lot of walking!

 Waiting at the tee box...

 There he is! He is in the grey shirt and khakis.....

 Andy wasn't sure that was him (???) so he kept looking for him......

 He found us during the weather delay!!! Such a sweet guy!

We were all exhausted when we got home... so much walking, but so much fun!



 

Just say YES to jumping

Last week, I decided to be a YES mom... because I have been really dominating the NO mom this summer.

My sweet friend Rebekah texted asking if we wanted to go to one of those really fun jump places. My first response was an automatic no. But then....I thought WHY NOT??? The boys would be pumped to see Rebekah's boys, and I would love to see her, so it would be win win. So I said YES. And we loaded the car and headed to the jump place.

Like the amazingly smart person I am, I didn't go to the right jump place. Nope. Didn't read her text clearly (because I am an idiot) and while she went to defy gravity, we rolled up to Sky Zone. Sigh.

The boys were suuuuuper disappointed, and, not going to lie, I was too. But we made the best of it.

I said YES to jumping with the boys and we had SO much fun! I even said YES to flipping, which was really fun too....! Shocked I can still do it..... Although the amount of sore I was after an hour of jumping is rather embarrassing. But whatever.

 We took one in mid-jump.... check out the sweat! Cal was still moving, so of course it was blurry.... but I still love it.

 There's a pizza place next to sky zone so I said YES to grabbing lunch there after- Andy is in a new phase where he likes to see if I can catch him not smiling.

I did so we re-took and he was laughing hysterically in the next pic.

That night at bed time, the boys both told Eddie that "mommy really messed up the plans with Jackson and Nash, but at least she jumped with us and that was really fun of her." So there's that.




 

Book Report: Summer

Happy Hump Day, y'all! Look who is on a roll this week posting!

I haven't done a book report since MARCH! Whoops! I have read some good ones since then, so I need to share:

The Wedding Date

This was light and easy, predictable, but a good beach read. Several bloggers I follow read this and raved about it. I didn't find it rave-worthy, but fine for some fluff....I read it after reading this next one and I needed some fluff.



The Great Alone

 Stop what you are doing and read this book. Omg, read it now. I can not stop with this one. A friend told me I had to read it, and to be honest, I had a bit of a hard time getting in to it, but she encouraged me to keep plowing through....and holy heavens, I am so glad I did! It is SUCH a great book! I loved Nightingale by Hannah, but this one might even be better. Loved loved loved.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

I also loved this book- this was one from my book club... at times it was hard to read- I don't mean hard to comprehend, but hard to read what she was going through. This book had a mega twist at the end that made me gasp (so dramatic, I know!). I mentioned in my last book report post about Reese Witherspoon's "book club" and this was another one from it. I enjoyed the other one too, so Reese is hitting it out of the park so far for me!



A Man Called Ove

 This was another one my book club read together. I ended up loving this book- and bawling at the end.... however, I didn't love the whole way through. It took me a while to power through it, and that's what it felt like I was doing: powering through. However. I am really thankful that I did stick with it because it is a beautiful story about love and loss and how we handle it. I kept thinking of Ove as my grandfather and I wanted to just hug him!

My Oxford Year

 This book is one I have seen a lot of bloggers talking about so I gave it a go. I liked it a lot! I thought it would be an easy fluff read, and it was, somewhat, but there was also a LOT more to it than just some fluff! I found myself liking the characters a lot and smiling while reading it.

Still Me

 Have you read Me Before You? Or After You? Okay, if not, read them. You must. Then read this. You have to go in order and read them all... oh, how I loved this one! There are three now that follow the story of Louisa Clark. She is such a likable character and I love reading about her! This book had humor and sadness- as all her stories in this series do, I guess.... I didn't want to put this one down. LOVED it. If you want to lose yourself in a series, read these. I think the second one was my favorite.... but this was good too.

Little Fires Everywhere

 Ohhhhhhh this book was GOOD. This is another one you have to add to your must read list. I couldn't stop reading this one either. There are multiple characters, but they are all so different, it isn't hard to follow. The story leaves you asking "what would you do???" and I didn't have an answer at all, which is crazy. Definitely read this one!

A Nantucket Wedding

Ahhhhhh, a little more Nantucket fluff! I am enjoying more and more Thayer books- I've read just about all of Hilderbrand's so I was sticking with her genre and trying another. This book was good- loved all the family dynamics happening as two parents merged their families, who are all grown. Another great beach read- it was quick and a great story!


Have y'all read anything good lately??



 

Nevis

We got home Friday night/Saturday morning from a fantastic trip to Nevis! The boys got to come along and they were so, so good the whole time- thankfully! Here's way too many pictures from our trip....

We left Saturday morning early and flew through Miami.

 Where we met up with some friends of ours from Texas! Cam and Eddie went to Baylor together and we have done several trips with them in the past- but never with all four of their boys! They have a 10 year old and then 7 year old triplets! Our crew hit it off immediately:

 Next thing we knew, they were building pyramids in the duty free shop!

We flew in to St. Kitts and then took a water taxi over to the Four Seasons.  This was waiting for us when we checked in:

And so were the monkeys.... such a nice touch!

 We grabbed dinner that night and went to bed early-ish.



The next morning, we were up and out early!

We walked down to Sunshines for a little Killer Bee

 It was gooooood, y'all.  The killer bee stings hard, though. Like, really really hard. I had two and felt okay.... then I had another on the walk home. And I shouldn't have. Wowzas. Lesson learned. But not really.....

Any way, the resort had kids' robes too, which Andy thought was the coolest thing ever. 

Heading out to dinner!

 Our crew walking to dinner:

We ate with our sweet friends again, and after dinner formed a pyramid again. 

Starting the day off right!

 Andy rarely wore shirts.

Loved this next picture of Andy's silhouette with the palm trees:

The next night was our theme dinner on the beach. We had SO SO much fun this night! There was a band and we danced and danced and danced- such a fun night!

Some dance tribe came in and wore these crazy masks- they selected me and Cal to join them dancing and then they gave Cal their mask!

 SO much dancing in the sand- the band was really, really fun and played great music.

We had to get a pic with all the boys with the band!

I got a little dance time with Christian too! My brother and his wife brought the baby on this trip. We didn't plan to be on the same trip, but it was fun getting to see them there. 

 The next morning, we were PUMPED because we were getting ready....

 ...to head out on a catamaran....

to go snorkeling! 

This was probably my favorite part of the trip. We sailed for an hour out to a spot, snorkeled for an hour, and then sailed home. It was lovely!

 And the rum punches were good too....

Another day in paradise!

On this afternoon, we met at the pro shop for the monkey tour! SO glad we did this too! We rode around the golf course on golf carts and spotted monkeys. I thought at first we would have to look hard to spot them- but we didn't at all. They came right out and ran across the fairways or through the sand traps. 

 We loved this activity! Boys were super pumped every time they saw one (more often than not, a family, pack? tribe? bunch? would all run out together).

 We had dinner that night just the four of us and it was really special. I loved the time just chatting with the boys and hearing what they thought of it all.

 They are actually really fun to travel with....

 Our last day there, the frisbee was a big hit!

There was a man walking up and down the beach selling jewelry....and he had a pet monkey on a leash with him. If you bought jewelry, you could take your picture with "Key." Guess who got a new bracelet???? hahahaha #sucker

 The boys begged alllll week, and I actually liked the bracelet, so whatever.... they were pumped to get some time with him!

 I took a lot of videos too, which I won't post here. Key liked to "kiss" or gnaw on faces. It was all harmless, for the most part... only afterward did we consider diseases.... a quick dip in the ocean would rinse all that off, right?

My brother is an avid sailor and he has been dying to take Nug out for a sail. They finally got to go on their last day there. Not sure who had more fun...

Cal and Harper spent a good portion of the week hand fishing (??? I think you wrap the line around your hand and then.....? I don't know.....but they did it a ton), and on the last day, they finally caught one! Well, pretty sure Harper did the catching....Cal did the screaming and applauding. 

 We walked back down to Sunshines for another round of Killer Bees.

Christian was there so he got passed around the table. 

Chris discovered how funny his nephew is.

 The boys met Mr. Sunshine himeself

And Christian couldn't take the fun.... so he took a nap. 

 Eddie got stung on this day....he needed a rest, (these things are legit dangerous. while we were there, we watched a girl have to leave in an ambulance...she had had SIX. I don't know how she is alive! And she is.... my friend is like Nancy Drew and found her on instagram....!).

Heading to the final dinner with my handsome dates.....while Eddie slept it off a bit....

We left the hotel around 12:30 on Friday. We rode a ferry over to St. Kitts, then went to the airport and then flew to Miami....

Our flight was delayed and then delayed and then delayed some more. We landed in Raleigh at 2:15, and of course the baggage thing wasn't working properly so it took forever to get our bags....and then we had to wait for an uber......


We pulled in the drive way at 2:54, and had kids in beds with teeth brushed by 2:58. It was a long day and we were all exhausted..... BUT it was all worth it!

I said it before, but the kids were really really good on this trip. They didn't complain the whole way home, and really, on the trip at all either. They got along and kept each other entertained. I actually really enjoyed my time with them this week! They are fun little dudes!