2011's books

Most people know that I'm in a book club (I have been for over 2 years now), and as a result, I'm constantly getting asked for book recommendations. I decided to compile a list of books I've read (some with my book club, some without) over the past year. Here goes...

Treasuring God in Our Traditions,  Noel Piper

The New Dare to Discipline,  Dr. Dobson

*Gone With the Wind,  Margaret Mitchell

*The Story of the Trapp Family Singers,  Maria von Trapp

Stay Home, Stay Happy,  Rachel Campos-Duffy

Excuse Me, But I Was Next...,  Peggy Post

*Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul,  John Eldredge

*Bringing Up Girls,  Dr. Dobson

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child,  Marc Weissbluth

*Room,  Emma Donoghue

Babywise 2,  Gary Ezzo

Summer and the City,  Candace Bushnell

What Southern Women Know,  Ronda Rich

*Pride and Prejudice,  Jane Austen

*Drowning Ruth,  Christina Schwarz

*Twilight,  Stephanie Meyer

*New Moon,  Stephanie Meyer

A Place of Yes,  Bethenny Frankel

Waiting for Daisy,  Peggy Orenstein

*Eclipse,  Stephanie Meyer

*Breaking Dawn,  Stephanie Meyer

*Freakonomics,  Steven Levitt

Bringing Up Boys,  Dr. Dobson

SuperFreakonomics,  Steven Levitt

*Before I Go to Sleep,  S.J. Watson

*The Hole in Our Gospel,  Richard Stearns

*A Christmas Carol,  Charles Dickens

On Becoming Pre-Toddlerwise,  Gary Ezzo

Habits of a Child's Heart:,  Valerie Hess

Looking back over that list, I'm surprised and delighted! 29 books?! Man, I love to read! It's definitely my #1 hobby (as evidenced by the amount of time AND money I spend on it).

The books that stand out as being my top favorites from the year are "Treasuring God in Our Traditions," "The New Dare to Discipline," "Gone With the Wind," "Pride and Prejudice," "Waiting for Daisy," "Superfreakonomics," and "Before I Go to Sleep." I don't want to go into a review of each book on here because it would make the post much too long, but if you have any questions about any of the specific books listed above, feel free to ask and I'll tell you what I thought!

*=books I've read with my book club

The Spofford Christmas Season, 2011

Here is a selection of photos from our 2011 Christmas Season.

First up: pictures from our annual delivery of cookies to everyone on our street.

All the packages of cookies and stack of cards ready to deliver.

3/4s of the Delivery Team. ;-)

2nd: Our broken tree. And it's only 5 years old!

3rd: We went to see The Trains at Northpark. (We forgot the camera so all the photos are from my phone. Sorry for the poor quality!)

 4th: We got THE strangest card in the mail. From Atlanta to Chattanooga and ended up in Dallas. ???

5th: Christmas Eve. Presents Time as a family. This is after service and dinner with Nonnie and Gramps. His main gift is the wagon you see in some of the shots. It wasn't wrapped, so there aren't any pictures of him opening it.

He wasn't feeling very well, so this smile is a bit deceiving of his mood.

little drummer man

I can't remember, now, where Seth and I read this book for the first time, but we HAD to get it for him when we saw it for sale at Costco.

pop-up Noah's ark book

We read this story together right after opening gifts.

 6th: Christmas morning we go to Nonnie and Gramps'. Even Georgia comes with us!

I'm glad I got a smiling picture of him, but he was pretty much a disaster the rest of the day. Georgia is visible on the left side of this picture.

"Board books! My favorite! Thanks Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Spencer."

I think I was more in awe of that outfit than Seth was. And certainly more than Austin was. And I love that Nonnie and Gramps got him "L is for Lonestar." I'd already bought him "B is for Badger."

Little People, Noah's Ark

You know what they say about kids having more fun with the box the toy comes in? Well, does that count for the father and uncle of the gift receiver? ;-) Poor Austin...

Best picture of the whole day!

A Cherry Christmas

One block north of our house, you can find an amazing Christmas Light Show. It's free, all the lights are choreographed to music, and there are enough songs to last about 20 minutes. Come out, it's worth the drive, wherever you're coming from! And it starts once it's dark, so no need to keep the kids out past bedtime!!

Pet Supplies "Plus" WHAT!?

I THINK I finally got this video so that y'all can enjoy it. 

Go HERE.

The Elf, The Pickle, a Guess, and a ...

The first time I saw The Elf on the Shelf, I wanted it. Immediately. I mean, I REALLY wanted it. He's so cute. He's got such a great smile. I just want to cuddle him. And stare at him. I thought he'd make a great addition to our decor. And then I read the back of the box. The part where it tells you the whole point behind the elf sitting on a shelf. And I died a small death. Right there in the store. I obviously couldn't get it, now that I knew what he was all about. And yet my heart kept screaming "But he's so cute! I want him!" (I must have regressed to at least 2nd grade.)

Do you know about The Elf on the Shelf? The whole premise behind him is that he sits somewhere in your home during the day and then goes back to the North Pole to report back to Santa how you (or your children, really) behaved that day. The elf shows up somewhere else the next day (because you moved him after the kids went to bed) and this is 'proof' he left and came back. For some reason, he doesn't come back and sit in the same place again. He doesn't like sitting in the same place twice, I guess. And the kids get to go around looking for him each day. Doesn't that sound like fun? It does. But we don't celebrate Santa in the Spofford household. We celebrate Christ's Mass (aka Christmas). So, no Elves on Shelves in this house. (But he is super cute! For a fun read as well as some fun pictures of The Elf, see my friend Rosa's blog.)

Do you play The Elf on the Shelf in your home? Can you come up with a way we could play it without tying it to Santa?

And then there's Hide the Pickle. I love this idea. Seth and I have been doing it for years. There are many variations on the game (if you Google it, you will see what I mean), but this is what we have been doing: we hang the pickle on the tree at the beginning of the month and then take turns hiding and finding it up until Christmas. In doing some 'research' for this post, I found many, many different ways of changing up the game. When we have kids old enough to find it, we will probably incorporate it into our Christmas festivities differently than we do now. Maybe on Christmas morning.

Our Christmas morning is currently pretty light on activity because we've already opened presents the night before (we don't do Santa, remember). We get up, eat breakfast, and head to Seth's parents' house. This could be something we add to the list, giving a bit of cash to the person who finds it. Or that person gets to eat first. Or doesn't have to clean up dishes. Or something. (Having typed that, it seems fairly likely we'd have to give everyone something or the losing kids would have a bad start to Christmas day. Hmm... Plenty of time to figure that out.) Anyways, that could be something we do. Or, we could continue to hide/find each day like we do now. Or, we could do it during the Christmas Eve dinner, and have it be the winner that gets to start opening gifts first. 

Do you play Hide the Pickle? If so, how do you play your version of the game?

As I previously posted, we have an Advent Calendar that we began using this year. I LOVE it. It's another fun "game" you can play during this time of year and it actually centers on what this holiday is all about: God and His story. During dinner, we read the appointed scripture portion for the day, and then guess what the ornament might look like. The ornaments are all different representations of what was just read aloud and sometimes it's easy to guess what it'll be, but not always. It's a fun, quick way to make decorating that tree an activity (rather than simply pulling out the new one each day and hanging it) and helps to spur conversation about the scripture passage. Adding the guessing component has made it exciting too. There's something about the element of surprise, it makes it almost game-like. But a game that has real meaning. I imagine changing this too as our family changes over the years, perhaps giving each person one guess/night or maybe making it a competition somehow.

Do you use an Advent Calendar (one involving scripture/God/Jesus)? How does it work in your family?

I'm interested in what other families do around this time of year. My friend Beth recently posted this idea on her blog. I LOVE it. I think that when we have kids that can understand the concept of searching the house for hidden, wrapped books, I'll probably start doing this too! It seems like a fun, healthy, inexpensive activity. All it will cost is some time and some wrapping paper! She also posted this idea, and I loved it as well. We do currently do a Christmas Countdown Calendar, but the representation of it is much more boring/ugly than a fun paper chain like she did. It would also serve as some fun decoration for the mantle (until the chain is all used up, anyways). I think I'll do both of her ideas next year.

Do you have holiday season traditions/games that you're comfortable sharing with me? I'd love to add more to our list!

Christmas Letter 2011

Merry Christmas!                                                                                        December 2011

As you might remember from last year’s Christmas Letter, we were wondering if it were possible for us to have an entire year go by without some major life change. Well, God seems to have allowed 2011 to be it! After several years of changes—graduation, promotions, buying houses, unemployment, relocating to Texas, new jobs, buying a dog, having a baby--we are happy to say that 2011 was fairly boring and for that we are extremely grateful!

The only negative about the past year is all the illness and injury this house has seen! Sena has had two root canals, a crown, 5 fillings fixed, a sprained ankle, an unexplained rash, and three bouts of a nasty stomach bug. And those are just the most note-worthy things! Seth shared one of the stomach bugs, but was otherwise perfectly healthy and uninjured. Austin, however, has had nearly every single virus possible—Croup, Hand, Foot, & Mouth, Herpangina, possible Chicken Pox, as well as other, more minor colds and such. Sena is extremely glad, though, that he never caught any of the stomach bugs! ;-)

In the spring of 2011, the immediate Spofford Family went on another vacation together. This time we went to Austin, TX. It was great to take Austin to Austin for his first vacation! We had a blast together as a family--we rented a house together, so all 10 of us could hang out at our leisure in addition to sightseeing around Austin. Seth, Sena, and Austin then took our second vacation of the year by going to WI for a week. Sena hadn’t been home in nearly three years, so it was wonderful, albeit emotionally exhausting, to see her family and friends. We loved introducing Austin to so many people! He must have travel in his blood because he was perfect for both trips! Seth and Sena then took their first Sans-Austin Vacation by going to Fredericksburg, TX with friends and renting a house there. Seth’s mom stayed with Georgia and Austin, and we had a blast relaxing, shopping, and getting to spend time with our friends!

Seth is on his third year at Michaels and still really enjoys it. He’s only been doing a handful of travel this past year, which has been great for Sena. Because, though Sena loves her position as SAHM, it has taken some adjustment (as does any new position). And, with all the illness and injury around here, they’ve been really flexible when Seth’s needed to take sick time because Sena needed to call in sick.

Austin, who turned 1 October 20^th, 2011, participated in his first extracurricular activity over the summer—swim lessons! He loved being in the water, making splashes, ‘jumping’ in off the side, and ended the session by being able to hold his breath underwater for 10 seconds! Starting in the fall, Austin began attending ‘school’ one day a week at a local church. It’s technically a Mother’s Day Out program, but he has been learning things and is already bringing home different art projects they helped him create. He also attends Bible Study Fellowship with Sena each Wednesday and really enjoys his teachers.

Seth is now on our community’s Pool Board helping to restructure/save it as well as being on the Teaching Team and Welcome Team for our Sunday School class, and is the Block Captain for our street in our Crime Watch organization. Seth got a bike for his birthday this past summer and has really enjoyed taking long, lone rides on Saturday mornings. Sena continues to maintain the community website (ParkForestDallas.org) as well as coordinate community emails/events. The biggest hit this year was a Community-Wide Thrift Sale Weekend that occurred in both the spring and in the fall. Sena also creates the newsletter for Crossroads, our Sunday School class. She still spends her ‘free’ time doing crafts like scrapbooking and painting, but has added blogging to her list of hobbies and thoroughly enjoys showcasing family pictures/experiences through that venue (anorthernbellesblog.blogspot.com)!

We feel extremely blessed and are grateful for your love and support during the past year!

Our Advent Calendar

This is our Advent Calendar. It's new this year. I bought it from the Navy Mango Etsy shop run by my friend Lisa. She created one for herself last year and I begged her to make me one. Well, come July, she put them on sale on her site, and I snatched one up! Good thing I acted quickly, too, because she got so overloaded with orders she had to start refusing business. I LOVE it and am SO excited to start using it!

Each pocket contains a different ornament that you hang on the buttons on the tree. Each ornament has a different scripture lesson to go along with it that serves as a way to remember the real reason for the season, and the ornament is designed to reflect the lesson. I have hung the calendar on the wall in our kitchen. We have been taking out and hanging the ornaments at dinnertime so that we can talk about the lessons/scripture/meaning together as a family. One of us reads the scripture and the other gets to guess what the ornament will look like once pulled from it's pouch. I'm thrilled to have added this to our holiday traditions!

Here are a few pictures of our current progress. Thanks, Christina, for the suggestion of showing some of the ornaments! (I want to add a note about how wonderful the handmade quality is of this calendar. Everything is tremendously detailed, too!)