Weird Science

Sophie, Topher, Bryan, and I attended the elementary school's steam activity tonight. The kids had lots of fun seeing if ketchup, hot sauce, or soy sauce did a better job cleaning pennies (spoiler: the hot sauce), making bouncy balls out of borax and corn starch, and building structures out of all kinds of materials. The evening did end with a meltdown, but it was bedtime and we probably should have seen it coming.

Steps of a Snow Angel

It Looks Like Winter

We got a huge snow storm this weekend. After watching it fall, the kids were desperate to get outside. We only had a short window to play, so we bundled up quickly and they enjoyed the snow.

The Din

One evening last week I realized my head was pounding. Then I registered what activities were happening all at the same time. It was not a quiet environment. At that point I probably should have taken some ibuprofen and gone to a quiet room. Instead, I took this video.

Bedazzled Sophie

Sophie has been looking forward to being old enough to get her ears pierced for years. Hold on, that didn't have enough emphasis. FOR YEARS. That's better. Since turning 10 in December she's been not-so-patiently waiting. Her day finally came on Friday. She picked out a pair of December birthstone earrings. So far she's been very diligent about taking care of them. Plus, she looks adorable.

Before:

After:

Misheard

Bryan often listens to podcasts while he's in the car. A few days ago he heard something in a podcast that prompted him to ask Google to set a reminder. He did all of this hands free and didn't check what the dictation recorded. Last night the reminder showed up on his phone. It said, "Ken job fast relief northern China."

That's right. "Ken job fast relief northern China."

We have no clue what it means or what he was trying to remember. 

I'm With the Band

I think Peter has entered his "I wanna be in a band" era.

Digital Building

The kids all go back to school today. The only person that was ready was Topher. The rest of us could have used a few more days off. We were all so tired over the break that we had way more screen time than usual. That included this brother round of Minecraft. Topher was completely delighted to be included; his laughter could be heard all over the house.

Sparkly Tree

I spent most of yesterday taking down Christmas decorations. This year Bryan bought new lights that can be programmed. They're magical, so I decided to keep the tree and lights up for another day or two.

The Biblio Files: 2023

My total book count for 2023 is 194. That's...a lot. You'll notice that my count increased dramatically during the last few months of the year, when all my kids were in school. So I guess the answer to "What are you going to do when all of your kids are in school?" is: read. Or rather, I guess the answer is listen since almost all of these were audiobooks. My November count would have been higher except that I listened to one book that was 48 hours long and that took some time.

As usual, my list is broken up by month. The titles in italics were for book club (I'm down to one book club, but it's the best), the underlined titles were especially profound, and the starred title (I think there's only one) was a regular book, not an audiobook. I'm adding a new category this year. The titles in bold stuck with me long after I finished reading them. These may have once gone into the profound category, but they're a little different. These tend to deal with harder subjects and may not leave me uplifted, but I still see great value in having read them.

My goal this year is to read fewer books. Seriously. That was my goal the last two years and I failed, but it'll be hard to beat this many books. Maybe I need an intervention?

 January:

1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
2. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
3. The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright
4. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
5. Cursed by Marissa Meyer
6. A Question of Honor by Charles Todd
7. Finding Promised Blessings on the Covenant Path by Kerry Muhlestein
8. The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon
9. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
10. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
11. October 2022 General Conference
12. An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd
13. Madly, Deeply by Alan Rickman

February:

1. The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
2. The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
3. A Little Bit Wicked by Kristin Chenoweth
4. No Pain, No Gaines by Chip Gaines
5. The Assertiveness Guide for Women by Julie de Azevedo Hanks, PhD, LCSW
6. Have I Told You This Already by Lauren Graham
7. Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
8. The Stories We Tell by Joanna Gaines
9. Troublemaker by John Cho
10. A Pattern of Lies by Charles Todd
11. The Home Edit by Clea Shearer
12. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
13. How Y'all Doing? by Leslie Jordan
14. I'm No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts by Kristin Chenoweth
15. Capital Gaines by Chip Gaines
16. The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
17. Expanding the Borders of Zion by Charlie Bird

March:

1. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow*
2. The Boys by Ron Howard and Clint Howard
3. How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis
4. The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd
5. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
6. A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
7. A Casualty of War by Charles Todd
8. Raising Emotionally Strong Boys by David Thomas, L. M. S. W.
9. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
10. A Forgotten Place by Charles Todd
11. October 2022 General Conference
12. Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli
13. My Lord, He Calls Me by Alice Faulkner Burch
14. When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
15. A Cruel Deception by Charles Todd
16. October 2022 General Conference

April:

1. The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
2. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
3. An Irish Hostage by Charles Todd
4. From Grace to Charity by Emily Belle Freeman
5. Amazed by Grace by Sheri Dew
6. Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon
7. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
8. The Emotional Lives of Teenagers by Lisa Damour, PhD
9. Find Your People by Jennie Allen
10. Covenant Keepers by Wendy Watson Nelson
11. Finding Promised Blessings on the Covenant Path by Kerry Muhlestein
12. The Holy Covenants by Anthony Sweat
13. Making and Keeping Covenants by Victor L. Ludlow
14. Joy in the Covenant by Julie B. Beck
15. Grace to Become by Emily Belle Freeman

May:

1. Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Nancy Campbell Allen
2. Darling Girl by Liz Michalski
3. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
4. It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
5. We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
6. Kiss of the Spindle by Nancy Campbell Allen
7. The Lady in the Coppergate Tower by Nancy Campbell Allen
8. Brass Carriages and Glass Hearts by Nancy Campbell Allen
9. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley
10. A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
11. A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer
12. A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer
13. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson
14. Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, Ph.D. and Amelia Nagoski, D.M.A.
15. 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey
16. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Blackmon Lowery

June:

1. Overground Railroad by Candacy Taylor
2. Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer
3. Star Fish by Lisa Fipps
4. Defend the Dawn by Brigid Kemmerer
5. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Joni Meadows

July:

1. A Fever In the Heartland by Timothy Egan
2. Strom by Brigid Kemmerer
3. Spark by Brigid Kemmerer
4. Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer
5. Secret by Brigid Kemmerer
6. Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer
7. My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Joni Meadows
8. I Take My Coffee Black by Tyler Merritt
9. My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Joni Meadows
10. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
11. A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman

August:

1. The Cliff's Edge by Charles Todd
2. Murder at the Mayfair Hotel by C.J. Archer
3. The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick
4. Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith
5. My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Joni Meadows
6. Murder at the Piccadilly Playhouse by C.J. Archer
7. The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
8. The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
9. Becoming Free Indeed by Jinger Vuolo
10. This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
11. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
12. Have a New Teenager by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman
13. Murder in the Drawing Room by C.J. Archer
14. A Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

September:

1. Both Things Are True by Kate Holbrook
2. Next! by Joanne Lipman
3. Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton
4. A Lady's Guide to Gossip and Murder by Dianne Freeman
5. Murder at the Dressmaker's Salon C.J. Archer
6. A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder by Dianne Freeman
7. How to Raise an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
8. The Particular Charms of Miss Jane Austen by Ada Bright
9. Violet and Daisy by Sarah Miller
10. Brat by Andrew McCarthy
11. How to Survive History by Cody Cassidy
12. The Jewels of Halstead Manor by Kasey Stockton
13. The Librarian of Crooked Lane by C.J. Archer
14. April 2023 General Conference
15. A Fiancee's Guide to First Wives and Murder by Dianne Freeman
16. Murder at the Debutante Ball C. J. Archer
17. Prophets See Around Corners by Sheri Dew
18. The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
19. A Bride's Guide to Marriage and Murder by Dianne Freeman
20. Murder at the Crown and Anchor by C. J. Archer
21. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
22. Sacred Struggle by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

October:

1. The Unexpected Past of Miss Jane Austen by Ada Bright
2. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
3. Thirteen Witches: The Memory Thief by Jodi Lynn Anderson
4. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan
5. Clockwork Angels by Cassandra Clare
6. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
7. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
8. The Medici Manuscript by C. J. Archer
9. The Untitled Books by C. J. Archer
10. The Watchmaker's Daughter by C. J. Archer
11. A Darkening of Dragons by S. A. Patrick
12. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
13. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
14. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
15. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare
16. The Mapmaker's Apprentice by C. J. Archer
17. The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis
18. The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis
19. October 2023 General Conference
20. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
21. The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
22. The Myth We Call Perfection by John L. Lund
23. Perfectionism... and the Courage to Be More Authentic by Jane Clayson Johnson
24. Making Sense of Your Patriarchal Blessing by Keith A. Erekson

November:

1. A Vanishing of Griffins by S. A. Patrick
2. The Apothecary's Poison by C. J. Archer
3. The Magician's Diary by C. J. Archer
4. The Convent's Secret by C. J. Archer
5. Think Again by Adam Grant
6. The Ink Master's Silence by C. J. Archer
7. The Cheater's Game by C. J. Archer
8. Raising Worry-Free Girls by Sissy Goff
9. The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
10. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
11. Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer
12. My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand (This one is 48 hours long! I read that the print is 992 pages long. It took several days to finish.)
13. The Originals by Adam Grant
14. The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen

December:

1. October 2023 General Conference
2. Making Space, Clutter Free by Tracy McCubbin
3. The Prisoner's Key by C. J. Archer
4. The Princess Companion by Melanie Cellier
5. Sensibly Wed by Kasey Stockton
6. Make Space for Happiness by Tracy McCubbin
7. A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber
8. Heart of the Matter by Russell M. Nelson
9. Original Grace by Adam S. Miller
10. The Princess Fugitive by Melanie Cellier
11. So Many Steves by Steve Martin and Adam Gopnik
12. Caraval by Stephanie Garber
13. Among the Beasts & Briars by Ashley Poston
14. Pleasantly Pursued by Kasey Stockton
15. Untangled by Lisa Damour, Ph.D.
16. Happily Ever Afters by Melanie Cellier
17. Being Henry by Henry Winkler
18. Seven Gospels by Adam S. Miller and Rosalynde Fransden Welch
19. Legendary by Stephanie Garber
20. Come Follow Me: Sunday School
21. Come Follow Me: Individuals and Families
22. Come Follow Me: Primary
23. Finale by Stephanie Garber
24. New Testament
25. Book of Mormon
26. October 2023 General Conference