Randomness Right Now

What we are reading:

MOM (not revealing my age!) -

• My first manuscript from a critique partner. So honored!
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - I just finished this one that I found through a MMGM recommendation by Michelle Isenhoff.
• The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford - Reading this one to my kids... and funny that it has a quote on the cover from Rebecca Stead, author of the other book I was reading at the same time! Another one I remembered seeing on a MMGM post by Barbara Watson and grabbed at the library.

SON #1 (age 10) - This boy reads like there is no tomorrow. I'm really impressed with the diversity in his reading this summer. He has read a few books that one might classify as "girl books" and really enjoyed them.  

• The Genuis Files by Dan Gutman - This book looks like so much fun, but my son isn't loving it - although he says he will finish it. He has stopped and read others in the mean time.
• The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford - I am putting this here too b/c when I didn't have enough time to keep reading out loud, he went ahead and finished it on his own!
• Storm Runners series by Roland Smith - He gobbled up the three books in this series! This is one I grabbed off the shelf at the library and it sat and sat until he finally cracked it open... ahhh, I love it when I pick a winner!
• Circle of Secrets and The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little -  He really enjoyed these and wanted to know if there was a sequel to Circle of Secrets!
• Sleuth or Dare series by Kim Harrington. I won these from Heidi Grange who blogs at Geo Librarian. They arrived yesterday and he is almost done with the first one!

DAUGHTER (age 8) -

• The Magic Half by Annie Barrows - She loved the Ivy and Bean books so I am hoping she enjoys this as well.
• This Means War by Ellen Wittlinger - She LOVED this book and re-read parts of it and had me read parts of it. This was her free book from the summer reading program at our library!
• How to Beat a Bully by Scott Starkey - I think she really liked the concept here but I haven't asked her how it's coming along.

SON #2 - a few favorites (he is age 1) - I have to get this little guy some new books. I know repetition is key at this age but we really need to branch out a bit!

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Elmo's Big Lift and Look Book by Anna Ross - This is a great interaction book. He is a little young to understand everything but I tell him what all the pictures are and he loves lifting all the flaps! As a parent I highly recommend this book.

HUSBAND #1 (LOL!) - He doesn't read.

Blog Awards:  I have been presented with several blog awards lately, so I am going to combine them and bend the rules a bit.

Elise Fallson passed me the Fabulous Blog Ribbon award. Thanks so much Elise!
I did a little searching and other blogs have a different set of rules listed, beyond thanking and passing it on, so I am going with those since it will make things a little more interesting.

1. Thank the blogger who gave you the award and share a link back to the awarding blog.
2. Name 5 fabulous moments in your life.
3. Name 5 things that you love.
4. Name 5 things that you hate.
5. Pass the award to 5 deserving bloggers.

Name 5 fabulous moments in your life.

1. Getting married. After seeing it rain on about seven of the previous 8 Saturdays, our wedding day was blue-sky gorgeous! It was a beautiful day, and a fun, fun reception.
2. The births of my children. Cliché, yes, but so very true. It is hard to put into words the amazing experience of bringing another human being into the world. 
3. Completing the Nike Womens' Marathon. This was a great experience... from the almost 5 months of training to the actual event. I must say,  I am very proud of this accomplishment.
4. The first time I got an e-mail from Creating Keepsakes asking to publish one of my scrapbook layouts. I think I let out a little happy scream. If this is how I feel about a scrapbook layout, I can't imagine how good it feels to have a book published! Hopefully one day I will know the answer to that.
5. When my son sang in the school talent show as a kindergarten student. He did so awesome and I was so proud. 

Name 5 things that you love.

1. Danon coffee yogurt. And no, I don't drink coffee.
2. Taking a shower at night and then reading in bed until I fall asleep.
3. Reading out loud to my kids... unfortunately I have a habit of falling asleep mid-sentence when I do this, often in the middle of the day!
4. Road trips. I love being able to plan the route and really go wherever you want along the way.
5. Digital Scrapbooking. This is a big part of my life and I love seeing my completed pages put together in a book/binder and sitting down with the kids and reading through the journaling. 

Name 5 things that you hate.

1. Mean, spiteful people... luckily I have not crossed paths with many of them.
2. Weeds in the cracks of driveways and sidewalks - get some weed killer people!
3. Clutter, and my lack of ability to deal with it properly.
4. When my kids fight. It makes me sad.
5. Cooking. Well, I don't exactly hate it but I wouldn't turn down a personal chef either. 

Pass the award to 5 deserving bloggers. See below

Thank you L.G. Keltner for passing the Liebster Blog award to me. The German translation of liebster is favorite or dearest, so thanks so much L.G.!

The 'rules' of the award are the following:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Passing on to these 5 wonderful bloggers. I am going to cheat a little and list 5 blogs (which I know of) that provide some sort of a service to writers. Not all these bloggers play the "awards game" so if they happen to see their name here great! :-)

1. Krista Van Dolzer blogs at Mother. Write. Repeat and has a contest series called An Agent's Inbox. Her next contest starts on August 13th so hurry on over!
2. Matthew MacNish blogs at The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment and helps writers polish their queries with his own critiques and anyone who would like to add their two cents in the comments section.
3. Kimberly Gabriel blogs at The Art of Infiltration and does a weekly post (on Monday) about any contests, blog hops, and give aways she knows about.
4. DL Hammons blogs at Crusing Altitude 2.0 runs a fun contest called Write Club, where two writers go head-to-head and get some valuable feedback along the way. You can enter at anytime so hop on over to his blog for details.
5. Kimberly Derting. OK, so she is a successful author (and I heard her speak yesterday) but she has a great blog with "writerly advice and links" so go check it out.