Wow

So I fully wanted to keep up with this better this year but morning sickness (which lasted all day and all nine months) was brutal.  So let's see if I can play catch up.

January ~ Kyrie turned 10, I know it's hard to think she is that big.  I still think of her as my little girl in rain boots and shorts on a day with no clouds in sight.  But then I will probably always think of her that way no matter how old she gets. 

 February ~ Seth and I found out that horrible "flu" I thought I had was from being pregnant.  As well as celebrating our 12 year anniversary.  So we prepared ourselves and the girls for welcoming another bundle of joy.  As you can see the girls were beyond excited when we told them the news.

March ~ Little Miss Zee turned 7 and decided on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Ginger Turtles as she calls them.  So Mommy had a lot of party prep to squeeze in along with trying not be sick so much.  And get things ready for my friend's baby shower that I was making owl decorations for.  And we got a ultrasound date scheduled for McKenzie's birthday along with her message of "It will be a brother I already have a sister" we were a little terrified to find out on her birthday but it worked out  in her favor and she got what she wanted.  And we could have a little boy. Don't worry about Zee's expression she wasn't thrilled with Kyrie getting to hold the sign too, she wanted a brother.

April ~ April brought us Easter, Zee's actual party with her friends a broken washing machine and a basement disaster.  Thankfully Easter and Zee's party went without any problems we even managed to squeeze in dance pictures in April for recital.  And Zee graduated speech now we have two girls out of speech. 

May ~  May is always crazy it is recital month.  Dance consumes us in May but the girls love it so we go with it.  Plus this was Zee's first year to be able to dance with Daddy and Kyrie.  We got the washer replaced (we just had to suffer till it could be delivered) so it was a lot of cleaning up water pouring out of the washer while I did wash. 

June ~ June brought me leaving Seth alone with the girls for a week and a half while I flew out to Texas to watch my little brother graduate high school.  Of course Murphy's Law and it was his first time without me and we had three deployments worth of disasters to make up for apparently.  So the lawn mower, and stove both caught fire while I was gone. 

July ~  July went a little slower for us.  We had the baby shower and little odds and ins visits places but not much because the doctor didn't want me far away because Zee was only 2 hours of labor.  We did manage to get up to Bangor and get school clothes shopping accomplished.  We had to shop at teenage stores (really when did Kyrie get so grown  up).  I also managed to get all of the baby shower stuff made before the big day.

August ~ And finally the month we had been looking forward too.  Calvin decided to be like Zee and came rapid 3 hours total and we were holding our big boy.  He passed both girls in size and weight coming out at 9 pounds even and 21 and a half inches long.  And he came to quickly for any type of medication so I did it all natural and we actually liked our third option of nitrous instead of an epidural or a local.  But the babies are done for this family we are happy with our three.  We brought him home and Lucky seems to have quickly taken to him.  And loves night time feeding because it means extra love for him from Daddy.

Let's hope I can keep up better the rest of the year!!!

Birthday Time

Birthday Time is upon us once again.  Kyrie picked her theme and now I am scrambling trying to make it happen because she can never find a theme they sell anywhere.  So I busted out the Cricut and made up some invitations that look like her Hip Hop shoes for dance only in Pink and Black Zebra print because what else would she have.  Then I have been waiting on the punch I ordered from Amazon to show up so I could make some bottle cap necklaces for favors, to go along with the fishnet fingerless gloves and the sunglasses we picked up.  And that will complete favors.  I still have to order the cake, make the banner and print up a few decorations but we are going fairly low key this year since she is having her party at the Dance Studio.
Ten has brought along a whole new world of changes she now wants to FaceTime her BFF after school and on the weekends.  We are also going through the how far can I push phase and she is not coming up with answers she likes.  But nothing has changed so she will quickly realize she is still expected to clean her room, do her homework before anything else and so on.
Seth's gift showed up and he already opened it and loves it.  It is so very fitting of him.  It's a hoodie from Dysfunctional Vet that says "Leave Me Along".  I couldn't have found him a better gift.

2015 Word of the YEAR

Since 2009 I have been participating in One Little Word by Ali Edwards.  I've gone through a wide variety of words starting out with Strong, Remember, Organize, Brave, Faith, and Happy last year.  This year I am taking my word to an entirely different place.  For the last year I have toyed with the word "me" and I've realized I need more Me in my life.  So when I sat down and started thinking of my word the first thing to hit me was

 I feel it fits so well into the Me path I so desperately need to take.

Merriam-Webster defines

¹spar·kle

 verb \ˈspär-kəl\

: to produce small flashes of light

: to perform very well

: to be or become bright and lively

  I know in the years we have lived in Maine I have let everyone and everything Dull my Sparkle.  I can see it in everything and I don't want that for myself anymore.  I don't want my girls growing up and thinking it's okay to let people dull your sparkle.  So I am going to spend 2015 embracing my SPARKLE and letting it shine bright.  

Banned Books Challenge

So as I was searching for Challenges I came across the Banned Books Challenge and who am I to turn down Banned books.  So I knew this Banned Books Challenge over at Buckling Bookshelves was perfect for me.  

RULES: Any book that has been banned or challenged counts. Books can be any format, any length, and can overlap with other challenges. Graphic novels, children's books, picture books are all fine -- any book that has been banned or challenged works for this challenge.

WHERE CAN I FIND BOOK SUGGESTIONS? There isn't one specific list to work from, but there are many different resources you can check out for ideas:

• The ALA's lists of frequently challenged books. There are multiple lists split up by author, year, decade, and a separate list for classics, so there are a lot of options from all different genres.

• GoodReads has several listopia lists on the subject -- this is particularly helpful for identifying books you already have on your shelves if you are a user of the site.

• The Banned Books Week Facebook Page is great about reporting current information on bans and challenges.

• I wrote posts last year about three Banned Book Victories as well as Additional Banned Books Resources including some information on challenged graphic novels.

• If you learn about a book getting challenged in the news, on a book blog, around the web, or wherever else you get your bookish news, it's fair game. One book that made headlines last year was The Miseducation of Cameron Post -- it doesn't need to make any of the big lists to count. And if you learn about a new incident, I'd love to hear about it!

LEVELS: Below are the levels you can choose from. Changing your mind is OK -- you can go up or down in level at any time. I said low-pressure, remember? I'm not the book police, I promise.

     Making Waves: 1-2 Challenged Books
     Trouble-Maker: 3-5 Challenged Books
     Rabble-Rouser: 6-9 Challenged Books
     Rebel: 10-14 Challenged Books
     Leader of a Revolution: 15+ Challenged Books

So I am going to go with Trouble-Maker and let Miss Zee help since she loves her banned books too.

1. the handmaid"s tale
2. Fahrenheit 451
3. coraline
4. the absolutely true diary of apart time indian 

Finishing the Series Reading Challenge 2015

I signed up this year for a Series challenge but like how this one sounds more.  It gives me some flexibility with books that are not completely finished that I am reading so I signed up for this one over at Socrates' Book Reviews.

Choose a level....

Level 1 (Novice series reader) - Complete 1 series.
Level 2 (Testing the waters) - Complete 2 series.
Level 3 (Experienced) - Complete 3 series.
Level 4 (Expert series reader) - Complete 4 or more series.

I am going to start with Level 2 completing 2 Series.  

Georgina Kincaid
Lonely Lace
Courtney Crumrin
Tantalize

2015 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

I participated in the Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge this year and have already outdone myself so of course when I saw it was going on again I signed on up.  So if you want to sign up to go here. 

Levels:

• Getting My Heart Rate Up: read 1–5 more books (or 250–1,499 more pages)
• Out of Breath: read 6–10 more books (or 1,500–2,749 more pages)
• Breaking a Sweat: read 11–15 more books (or 2,750–3,999 more pages)
• I’m on Fire!: read 16+ more books (or 4,000+ more pages)

I am going to start with Getting My Heart Rate Up since I read almost 100 books this year.

Im at 92 so far 

You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2015

Even though I am setting my Goodreads and Shelfari goal for 80.  I am going to push past that with this challenge, hopefully I can make 100 and blow the 80 out of the water.   It's going on at Book Dragon's Lair.

1. There are several levels to choose from
   Level 1: 100 minimum
   Level 2: 150
   Level 3: 200
   Level 4: 250 or more

I am going with Level 1 with 100 books

I am at 92 so far