Our Family Motto

I always tell the girls (mostly just Kaelyn at this point) that they do not have to like everyone they meet in life, but they do have to be kind to everyone. In fact, I tell them that I know they are not going to like everyone they meet in life. There is never an excuse to be unkind. To this end, Brian and I try to model this motto on a daily basis.

So, when I found this magnet at Kroger this afternoon, I just had to buy it and put it up on the refrigerator. Now we have a daily reminder that kindness is our daily goal.

Book Count 2011

My final book count for 2011 is 52. Not only did I meet my goal, but I averaged one book per week this year. I still have a lot of books on my "To Read" list, so I am setting a goal of 50 books for next year with the hopes of reading 60.

Here are my final accomplishment for 2011:


Here is a complete list of all of the books that I have read this year:

1. Cross Fire by James Patterson
2. Being Polite to Hitler by Robb Foreman Dew
3. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
5. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
6. A Thousand Spendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
7. Tick Tock by James Patterson
8. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
9. Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland
10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
11. Room by Emma Donoghue
12. Toys by James Patterson
13. The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
14. High Society the Life of Grace Kelly by Donald Spoto
15. The King's Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi
16. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
17. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
18. And Furthermore . . . by Judi Dench
19. Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
20. 10th Anniversary by James Patterson
21. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
22. Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon
23. Ape House by Sara Gruen
24. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
25. Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant by Jennifer Grant
26. Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon
27. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
28. Now You See Her by James Patterson
29. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
30. The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
31. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
32. Go the F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansbauch
33. Eyes Wide Open by Andrew Gross
34. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
35. Kill Me If You Can by James Patterson
36. Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham
37. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
38. The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
39. The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
40. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
41. The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen
42. Body Double by Tess Gerritsen
43. The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson
44. Vanish by Tess Gerritsen
45. Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
46. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy by Jacqueline Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy
47. The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen
48. The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen
49. Kill Alex Cross by James Patterson
50. Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen
51. The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen
52. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Sophie's Bad Day

Poor Sophie! Today was just not her day. She was tired, cranky, and extremely undecided. She wanted to be held and she didn't want to be held. She wanted a snack, but she didn't really want to eat it. She wanted to cry and she wanted to laugh. She wanted to play with her sisters, but she didn't want to share her toys. She threw several fits throughout the day. When it was finally time for bed, she was more than happy to go. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day for the Sophster!

Matching Pajamas

For Christmas, Gretchen and Sophie received three pairs of matching pajamas. We all know how much I love to dress the girls alike, so matching pjs are right up my alley.

Don't they look adorable dressed alike?

Snow Day

This afternoon, Kaelyn wanted to take advantage of the new snow on the ground. So, she bundled up and headed out to play. There really wasn't enough snow on the ground to really play, but she headed out anyway and was soon across the street building a snowman with the neighbor girls.

Kaelyn came home a wet, muddy mess, but she had the best time playing out in the snow. She warmed up with a mug of hot chocolate.

Now, if it would only snow instead of rain all the time, Kaelyn would have a fun, snow-filled winter!

Christmas Day

Last night we celebrated Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa, Great-Grandma Burhop, Aunt Laura, Uncle Chris, Joseph, Ryan, and Carly.

We had sloppy joes and macaroni and cheese. It was so yummy! After dinner, it was, once again, time for presents. Kaelyn and Gretchen were so excited . . . Sophie, not so much.

Gretchen was thrilled with her new Dora doll house. She could not wait to get it open and play with it. However, we were mean and made her play with some of her other toys. We finally opened up her doll house this afternoon while she was napping.

Sophie was pretty much over opening presents by this time. She did not really want to do anything. So, I just held her and opened her presents for her. When we were done, she wanted her bottle and a little snuggle time.

The girls had a fantastic Christmas. I do believe they each got everything they asked for from Santa and their grandparents. Now the trick is to find room for all of their new toys. I feel a clean-out and a trip to the Women's Shelter for toy donation in our future!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We hope that Santa was as generous to you as he was to our girls!

These are some pictures of our Christmas Tree before the chaos of opening presents and putting new toys together.

As you can see, Santa brought Gretchen a baby bed and high chair. He brought Kaelyn Lite Sprites -- the only thing she really, really wanted -- and he brought Sophie the Topzy Tumbler Carnival and a new ride-on toy.

The chaos of Christmas morning. Our living room was awash with wrapping paper, boxes, new toys, and happy squeals.

Sophie refused to open any of her presents until she was done playing with all of the ripped paper. If we hadn't cleaned up the paper, Sophie would probably still be playing with it!

Kaelyn had the best time playing with her Lite Sprites . . .

. . . and Gretchen and Sophie had fun checking out the new baby furniture (don't you love the matching pjs?!).

After playing with all of her new toys, Kaelyn could not wait to "plug-in" and listen to her brand new CD player that she got from Uncle Tico and Aunt Mimi last night.

We had a great Christmas morning. Later this evening, we are going to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa. The girls are very excited to spend some time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Stay tuned for scenes from tonight's celebration.

Christmas Eve

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Nana and Grandpa, Uncle Tico, Aunt Mimi, and Geoffrey, and Uncle Andrew and Raven.

Brian and I took the girls to church then headed to Nana and Grandpa's for dinner and presents. The girls did not sit so well at church -- I think they were just a little bit excited for Christmas to finally be here.

Nana fixed stuffed sea shells, spinach salad, cranberry jello, and garlic/parmesan bread. It was so good! Finally, after dinner, it was time for presents. The girls were so excited! They all got a lot of fun new toys. I didn't get to take many photos because I was busy helping Sophie open all of her gifts.

Grandpa got Kaelyn and Geoffrey rockets. So, this spring or summer, when the weather is a little nicer, they are all going to go out and shoot off their rockets. To say that Kaelyn was excited is an understatement. She is thrilled with anything related to space and is so excited to shoot of her rockets!

Overall, I think the girls had a fantastic Christmas Eve. They are all tucked in bed and sleeping -- probably dreaming of all of the fun things that Santa will bring.

Kaelyn's Christmas Program

Last night was Kaelyn's Christmas Program at school. It was great! She had a solo and sang just like an angel. Who knew she had it in her? I went to see her twice, once in the afternoon with Nana and Grandpa, and then in the evening with Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa.

This picture is not very good, but it shows Kaelyn getting ready to sing her solo. There must have been about 500 people packed in the gym. She sang so beautifully that I cried both times!

Great job, Kaelyn! Daddy and I are so proud of you!

Christmas at the Bass Mansion

This afternoon, my sister and I took Geoffrey and Kaelyn to the Bass Mansion. It is all decorated for Christmas, so we decided to take a tour. It was amazing!

There were several fireplaces throughout the home. They were all magnificent. They put the fireplace in my house to shame!

These are a couple of the ceilings in the mansion. Just exquisite!

These two little dancers were waiting on the bench in the ballroom for someone to come and fill their dance cards.

I loved all of the stained glass windows and light fixtures. I only wish I had a place to put a stained glass window in our house!

I love these old-school radiators. They look more like a piece of art rather than a way to heat the room.

On our way back to the car, we had the kids pose on the footbridge. Kaelyn was a little scared, but she walked out and let us take a photo. Once we were done, she hurried off the bridge and did not look back!

I had the best time touring the Bass Mansion. I love that my sister thought of me to take the tour with her.

When I was a little girl, we didn't live too far from the Bass Mansion. At that time, it was the library for the University of Saint Francis. In the summer, before we had central air conditioning, my mom would take us to the library and let us look around and read books. We mostly did this so that we could take advantage of the air conditioning, but it was fun to walk with mom and then be able to read books and stay cool for a couple of hours.

Gingerbread Festival

This afternoon we took the girls to the Gingerbread Festival. It was fantastic! There are some really talented and imaginative people in our city. You can tell that a lot of time, effort, and imagination went in to each and every one of the gingerbread houses.

The girls had a great time walking around and looking at all of the gingerbread creations. Gretchen really wanted to eat the candy that she saw and was a little disappointed that she couldn't!

Each of the girls got a gingerbread cookie to eat on the way to church for Kaelyn's Sunday School Christmas program. Kaelyn did a great job at her program! I did not get any pictures because we were on the wrong side of the church, but, trust me, she was gorgeous and sang her heart out.

I think that we are going to make the Gingerbread Festival a family holiday tradition. It was so fun to get out and admire the creativity of others!

Nana's Helpers

Over the weekend, Nana had a few little helpers to decorate her Christmas Tree. The girls had the best time decorating our tree, so they were more than happy to help out Nana. They did a great job! Nana's tree looked fantastic when her sweet little helpers were done decorating.

Sophie's Bad Hair Day

Check out Sophie's hair . . . she is having the ultimate bad hair day. Her hair was just a little out of control this morning, but, after her nap, there was no saving it.

Sophie is still adorable bad hair and all!

Gretchen North, Graffiti Artist

Gretchen got her sweet little hands on some contraband markers that Kaelyn left on the floor of her room. She proceeded to use them to color on the walls in the hallway and in Mama and Daddy's room.

She looks pretty proud of herself, doesn't she? I will say that I was impressed that she used several colors (she usually just colors with one crayon). She also did not limit herself to a small section of the wall -- she colored on as much of the surface as she could reach.

I have a feeling that Gretchen had a cute little partner in crime when creating her graffiti art!