Happy Veteran's Day!

The 2nd & 3rd grade classes at Waterville put on a Veteran's Day program tonight. It was excellent! Below are two of the songs that they performed. I thought the way they used the plates in the 2nd video was really neat. Samuel is in the middle in a white shirt, but I'm sure you can't see him from this far away. If you can't tell, they are arranged to make up an American flag.

Oh, I Love America

America the Beautiful

100+ Reading Challenge - 2009

I will be participating in the 100+ Reading Challenge for 2009. I've never done anything like this, but I read a ridiculous amount of books, so I bet I could give it a genuine shot. For details, please visit http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/2008/11/2009-100-reading-challenge.html.

The books I read from 1/1/2009 to 12/31/2009 will be listed in this post:

1. The Duchess and the Dragon - Jamie Carey
2. Blood Memory - Greg Iles
3. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
4. The Sugar Camp Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
5. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
6. The Longing - Beverly Lewis
7. The Time Travelers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
8. Twilight - Kristen Heitzmann
9. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
10. The Pattern - Jane Peart
11. Black Notice - Patricia Cornwell
12. I, Richard - Elizabeth George
13. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
14. Marley & Me - John Grogan
15. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
16. The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart
(I hate that this seems to be going so slowly, but you just wait....I'll be flying through books in no time when life is not so busy!)
17. The House of Thunder - Dean Koontz
18. Bachelor's Puzzle - Judith Pella
19. Sister's Choice - Judith Pella
20. Treasure Under Finny's Nose - Dana Mentink
21. The Deed of Paksenarrion (Sheepfarmer's Daughter) - Elizabeth Moon
22. A Rush of Wings - Kristen Heitzmann
23. The Still of Night - Kristen Heitzmann
24. 1st to Die - James Patterson
25. Light a Penny Candle - Maeve Binchy
26. The Winding Ways Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
27. My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
28. Black - Ted Dekker

I read many more books than this in 2009, but I quit posting one day (not even sure why!) I'm positive I didn't make 100, and I'm wondering if I even came close to 50. I'm not joining a challenge in 2010, but I will be tracking the books I read down the side of my blog so I can see how I do.

Stone Mountain, GA Trip

We had a wonderful time in Stone Mountain this weekend. When we first decided to go I was a little skeptical...after all, it's just a big rock. I kept wondering why it was considered so much fun. Well, it actually WAS fun. There is a park with all kinds of neat things to see and do. It was the first weekend of their Christmas festivities, so we got to see Polar Express in 4D (it snowed in the theatre!), go to some Christmas shows, see lots of cool lights, and watch a Christmas parade (which was short, which we very thankful for since we were freezing!) It was also the weekend of their Indian Pow Wow, so we saw some neat dancing and demonstrations of different skills. Below are just a few pictures of the gazillion I took.

I would be remiss not to mention Miss Katie's Sideboard Restaurant where we ate a couple of fabulous meals. That was some awesome pot roast! They bring a plate of fried onions, sweet potato fries, and fried pickles to every table, which were all wonderful. They also throw the rolls at you, but quite honestly I was too taken with all the fried food on the table to care much about that! The funniest part of our experience at Miss Katie's was the table we sat at for our second meal. It was rigged to turn slowly while you were eating. It turned so slowly that we had no clue it was happening. My in-laws were in on the joke, so they kept suspiciously snickering. I kept looking around to see what was going on (or about to go on) that had them so broken up. Meanwhile, I kept thinking, "Is John drinking my water? How did it get over there?" and I kept pulling my plate closer to me because it seemed to keep getting away. Did I mention how good that pot roast was? I was totally oblivious. There was even a snowman centerpiece on the table that I should have noticed was turning, but I had no clue. In my defense, John and Samuel didn't notice either!

Overall, we had a great time. If you've never been, you should consider it for a weekend of good family fun.

Me & My Boy

So, I need makeup on and Samuel desperately needs a haircut, but he wanted a new picture of us together.