Yoga: In Motion

 

Framed

I had a major lull in my moving-in energy. It left right about the time we got out our Christmas decorations. Thankfully, since we put Christmas away right before the new year, my drive to continue the unpacking process has slowly been returning. Technically, nearly everything is unpacked, it's just that some of it is sitting in piles and baskets waiting to find a home.

Several of these piles are composed of pictures I've intended to put on the walls. I'm not sure why putting nails in our own walls is more intimidating than hanging pictures in rentals was, but I've been frozen with indecision. I've spent too much time staring at blanks walls, visualizing. Finally, on Sunday morning I asked Phoebe to trace these many frames on pieces of paper (or to tape paper together, depending on the size needed) so I would have templates to tape to the walls. That way I could see what they would look like without knocking unnecessary holes in the walls.

That method worked well. I'm happy to report that we've made good progress on the piles of pictures. There are still some that need to go up, but way fewer than before.

Pizza Chef

Recently Topher has made a habit of coming into the kitchen while I'm making dinner. He quickly asks how he can help and tries to grab his apron from a hook that's too high for him to reach. I want to encourage his sweet helpfulness, so I usually try to give him a task. Sometimes it's clearing the table. On this particular night he asked if he could help make pizza. I saw the potential for a giant mess, but I took a deep breath and said yes anyway. After spreading the sauce, he added the pepperoni and cheese. I reshuffled a bit of the cheese, but otherwise I let him take ownership of one pizza while I worked on the other.

Winter Wonderland

While we played in the snow on Friday, Cooper borrowed my phone to take pictures. These are my favorites.

Snow Much Fun

This is how Topher felt about the snow we woke up to on Friday morning. He was ready to outside right away. I insisted that we wait until it was just a bit a warmer, then we bundled up and played.

Getting Theatrical

I often find wacky things on my phone after the kids have used my camera. Cooper doesn't have a TikTok account, but I think he's seen enough TikTok variations on YouTube that he was inspired to create his own. He came up with this on Sunday afternoon while the rest of us were doing other things. 

All the Faces

Sad face:

Happy face:

Silly Face:

Angry face:

Surprised face:

Really happy face:

We Do Talk About Phoebe

To ring in the New Year on Friday night, we watched the movie Encanto as a family on Disney+. It was our first time seeing it and we all enjoyed it. The kids have been singing We Don't Talk About Bruno for days.

Phoebe decided to try her hand at drawing one of the characters, Dolores. This is what Dolores looks like in the movie:

Photo credit

This is Phoebe's stylized version.

I think her shading turned out beautifully.

Moving Ahead

A new year means new advancements and classes for some of the kids at church. Topher has moved from Nursery to officially being a Sunbeam, the youngest class in Primary. Now, since we're still doing church at home, this isn't a huge change. We did talk to Topher about what it means to be a Sunbeam and he actually sat still for longer than usual during church on Sunday. Also, this means we have won't have Nursery kids in our family anymore since Topher is the youngest. That's kind of an odd thought.

Phoebe left Primary altogether. She is now part of the Young Women's program. She's completely excited about this. I'm also excited, but also scratching my head about how that happened so quickly. I'm pretty sure she's the only YW without her own phone (the main way the leaders communicate with the girls), and she's going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Cooper moved from being a Deacon to being a Teacher. In fact, on Sunday night Bryan ordained him to this new office of the priesthood. Both sets of grandparents joined us over Zoom, which was wonderful. An extra special part of the ordination? Because Peter is a Priest, he was able to help. This is the first time he's been able to do this. Watching him stand next to Bryan with his hands on Cooper's head made me realize just how close he is to going on a mission. Yes, it's still a few years away, but in that moment it felt close.

Add in Sophie's baptism from last Friday and it's been a big week for our family.

Yesterday morning I realized that I had failed to take a picture of Cooper after the ordination. I grabbed my phone, just to make sure. I discovered that although I hadn't taken any pictures, he had. So, to commemorate such an important step, I'm including one of the many, many selfies Cooper took on Sunday.

You're welcome.

The Biblio Files: 2021

2021 was an interesting year for reading. I read a total of 125 books, an increase of 25 from last year. Two of the months I only read 5 books each, though one of those was a 57 hour audiobook. During August I knocked out 20 books, 3 of those I listened to during our last night in our old townhouse when I stayed up packing until the sun came up. Of the 125, I read 8 from my Kindle, I listened to the other 117. Technically I read two more to Sophie during bedtime, but she read a few chapters on her own, so I'm going to go back and read what I missed and add it to my 2022 list, which I've already started working on.

The best books I read this year are underlined (I've recommended many of these to friends and family), book club picks are italicized. One of my book clubs fizzled out at about the same time a new Facebook book club was starting. And my favorite two-person book club is still going strong.

Do you have any book recommendations for me? I'm always looking for new titles to add to my holds list at the library.

January:

1. Across That Bridge by John Lewis
2. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman*
3. The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede
4. Channel of Peace by Kevin Tuerff
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen
6. The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman*
7. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
8. The Unexpected Deliverer by David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman

February:

1. A Walk in My Shoes by Ben Schilaty
2. The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman*
3. The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman*
4. The Priesthood Power of Women by Barbara Morgan Gardner
5. Women and the Priesthood by Sheri Dew
6. The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
7. Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
8. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
9. Sarah by Orson Scott Card
10. Rebekah by Orson Scott Card
11. Rachel and Leah by Orson Scott Card

March:

1. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
2. Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
3. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
4. She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel
5. The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
6. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
7. A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
8. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
9. Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
10. Reaching for the Savior by Reyna I. Aburto
11. ADHD and Me by Blake E. S. Taylor

April:

1. October 2020 General Conference
2. The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen
3. You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
4. The Mortal World by Genevieve Cogman*
5. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
6. Your Defiant Child by Christine M. Benton and Russell Barkley
7. The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
8. Be Not Troubled by Ronald A. Rasband
9. The Story Girl by L. M. Montgomery

May:

1. The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters
2. I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
3. The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen
4. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo*
5. 1776 by David McCullough
6. The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
7. Royal Target by Traci Hunter Abramson
8. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
9. The War That Saved My Life by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
10. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

June:

1. Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (This one is 57 hours long, it took half the month to get through it, but it was excellent.)
2. What Happened to You? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey
3. The War I Finally Won by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
4. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (This was a reread, it's still wonderful!)
5. Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

July:

1. A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich
2. The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman*
3. Take Back the House by Karen Latimer
4. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
5. The Giver by Lois Lowry
6. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
7. The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd
8. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
9. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
10. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
11. The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
12. In the Heights: Finding Home by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alergria Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter
13. Embark! by John Bytheway
14. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

August:

1. As You Wish by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden
2. The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
3. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
4. Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley
5. The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
6. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley
7. The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
8. The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
9. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley
10. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley
11. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley
12. The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
13. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
15. Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce
16. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
17. The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
18. Your Patriarchal Blessing Booklet by Brad Wilcox
19. Focused by Noelle Pikus Pace
20. Give Them Pie by Ed J. Pinegar

September:

1. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
2. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
3. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
4. Atomic Habits by James Clear
5. Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki
6. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
7. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
8. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
9. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
10. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
11. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
12. The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall
13. The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall
14. April 2021 General Conference

October:

1. The Crooked Sixpence by Jennifer Bell
2. The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby
3. All's Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
4. Raising Good Humans by Hunter Clarke Fields
5. Putting It Together by James Lapine
6. Restoration: God's Call to the 21st-Century by Patrick Q. Mason
7. The Matriarch by Susan Page
8. The Woman Who Smashed the Codes by Jason Fagone

November:

1. Legion by Brandon Sanderson
2. Don't Miss This in the Doctrine and Covenants by David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman
3. The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman*
4. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
5. Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas by Emily Belle Freeman

December:

1. The Magician by Michael Scott
2. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
3. The Doctrine and Covenants
4. The Sorceress by Michael Scott
5. The Necromancer by Michael Scott
6. When It Doesn't Make Sense by John Bytheway
7. The Warlock by Michael Scott
8. The Enchantress by Michael Scott
9. The Book of Mormon
10. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff