A Year of Reading - In Review

With Goodreads making it so easy to keep track of my reading, I didn't keep a month-by-month word document like I have in the past. For five years, my only New Year's Resolution was to read 50 New-To-Me books over the course of the year.

If you check out my 2009 Goodreads Bookshelf you'll see that I read 98 new books! I'm satisfied that I exceeded my goal, but I think I probably could have done better. I really thought I would at least get to 100. Of course, this doesn't count all of the books I re-read or the hundreds of books I read at preschool over the course of the school year!

Jennifer's 50-in-2009 book montage

Jennifer's favorite books »

But in the spirit of the new decade, I've decided to up my goal to 100 New-To-Me books over the course of 2010. I think I can do it, even though it will be a bit of a challenge. But *this* is the type of challenge that one can look forward to, yes? ;)

Next up: A BEST OF post!

One Little Word: 2010 Edition

Mom has already picked her 2010 word. I think 'OPPORTUNITY' is a great word for her. I've been thinking about my word for quite awhile, and I keep coming back to the same word over and over again. Perhaps it's just a reaction to last year's word, but I am thinking it's more than that. What it is exactly I have yet to find out, but my word for 2010 is

PEACE

What about you? What are you going to choose to focus on this year??

The Lessons We Learn

Mom emailed me a little bit ago and asked if I was going to make a follow-up post to my One Little Word project. For those of you that remember/care, my word was CHALLENGE. I can't tell you how many times this year I've kicked myself for choosing that word. It's kind of like praying for patience, you know? It's never a good idea to pray for patience. ;)

I won't be sad to see 2009 go. This year has been such a roller coaster for me, personally, and for my family. I'm not going to dwell on those things, because there's no point. It would also be short-changing some of the AMAZING experiences that we had this year, and truly I'm not sure we could have appreciated them as much if we hadn't had to go to (what seems like) hell and back in the past twelve months.

Instead, I think I'll share a few lessons I learned while riding the roller coaster that was 2009:

1. It's okay to say no.
2. It's okay to say yes.
3. What worked in the past might not work now.
4. Don't dismiss a solution just because it's never worked before.
5. If you aren't mentally healthy, then you're just shooting yourself in the foot. Do whatever it takes to get it together mentally and emotinally.
6. Sometimes, dreams come true. And they're better than you could have ever imagined.
7. We aren't on a set path. A million little choices get us where we are, and they can also take us in a different direction.
8. J.J. Abrams made the Star Trek reboot awesome, and Chris Pine is a better Captain Kirk than William Shatner.

Okay, so how did things go with YOUR word this year? Post in the comments, or post about it on your own blog.

The post-holiday blues

Oh Christmas. Why must you come and go so fast, yet also linger on F-O-R-E-V-E-R?? I think the Christmas season is perfect example showing the truthiness of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. *sighs*

Since the girls were already in Tifton, James and I decided we might as well spend most of our time over there. So we headed over on the 23rd, and came home Christmas afternoon. That turned out to be a good thing, since both girls started feeling not-so-great that night. (Turns out Madeline had strep and bad cough and Bella had a perforated ear drum and a bad cough.) But up till that point everything was alot of fun!!

On Christmas Eve we got together at Mom and Dad's house to eat and listen to Granddaddy read the Christmas Story from the Bible. Of course, it wouldn't be a Cattell family gathering without wacky hijinks. :P

Jed, modelling the latest hairstyle for teenage boys.


But I suppose it's a better view than this:


Meghan sat happily in the Bumbo, smiling at everyone


Our beautiful girls



Grandmom and her boy


Granddaddy and Brittany


Somehow mom managed to get all of her children together in one spot at the same time for a picture. It truly is a season of miracles.


That's my man...and my brother


Poor Lindsea- she doesn't even know what she's in for! (Just kidding Travis! :P) And for those of you who are curious- that IS Lindsea's natural hair color! Isn't it gorgeous?? And now she will probably never sit by my again.


Papa Rich, Mama V and some other guy.


Gretchen, Samantha and Brittany


Most of the great-grandkids, minus the babies, Nathan (who was hiding under the couch) and Derek, who is forced to live in Utah, poor kid.


Uncle Jimmy, Tabitha and Evan


In the past, the Seaman family has drawn names for a gift exchange. This year we went with something different, but it was a big hit. Each family did a basket with a theme. Now, I freely admit that my family's basket was the lamest, but that was because I didn't have alot of notice that this is what we would be doing! BUT JUST WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!!!!


The food was wonderful, the company was lovely, but I can't say I wasn't glad when we got to bed that night. A storm rolled through about 10pm, complete with thunder and lightening, and it continued on through the night. We knew with six kids in the house, it was going to be an early morning...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I'm so proud of myself. In spite of a hellacious cold that started December 4th (and is still lingering a bit even today) I only missed one day of work and managed to get everything done that *had* to get done. The tree is up and decorated, presents are wrapped, goodies were made for teachers, and I survived my preschool Christmas party. Whew!

Of course, you'll probably be receiving a Christmas card from us somewhere around New Year's, and it's not going to be homemade, but it's the thought that counts, right? ;)

The girlies left yesterday to spend some time with Nana, Papa, various aunties, uncles and cousins. I plan to do some baking for Christmas Eve and clean out a few drawers and baskets while they are gone. I also plan to sleep in until at least 10 AM, so don't call me before then, okay?

I think I'm probably the last person in the family to post about it, but waaaaaay back on December 5th, those of us who were local to the south GA area gathered in Tifton so we could all make Granddaddy happy by having four generations of the family participate in the Tifton Christmas parade.

The parade didn't start until 5:00 PM, but we had to be in line by three. The day was cold, so we didn't get to show off our Christmas edition "Granddaddy" t-shirts like we wanted to. James decided to have his own version of "Cattells Gone Wild".



We had three vehicles in the parade. Dad's truck (with Grandmom and Dallin in the front and Matthew, Tabi, Evan and Brittany in the back) pulling the trailer with Mom, Helen and Ryan, David and Eileen and most of the grandkids on it.

















Our friends the Giggeys were next in line, and James and I rode in the back of their truck. Mom said we looked like the ultimate redneck tailgaters.





The Giggey boys looked too cute, and I had to take a picture of Dallin and Noah in their hats. (Believe it or not, Dallin and Noah were born just a few weeks apart, with Dallin being the younger of the two. I think he outweighs Noah about 2-1!)





Behind us was the golf cart with Andrea, Granddaddy, Jed and Nathan, and behind then was Aunt Susan walking with her History Club from school.







After m-u-u-u-u-u-u-ch waiting, we FINALLY got started. Mom was THE MAN and got us registered as the first group to go after all the city official-types went, and this was our view as we turned onto 2nd Street.





We had a lot of fun throwing out candy to all of the bystanders, although we tried to avoid throwing it to weirdos like these people:



By the time we got to the end of the parade, it was dark. We got permission to drive the rest of the way home (about 3 miles) just as we were- in the back of the trucks, trailers and golf cart. Only in a small town, right? I was pretty frozen by the time we finished that ride, in spite of my many layers of clothes and blankets.

I think we can safely say a good time was had by all, and we *might* just do it again next year!

Maybe.

Fa la la la la la la la la

I love our peditrician. He's awesome in general, and he's more awesome in particular because he kept Isabella out of the hospital earlier in the year. Every year his office hosts a Christmas party for the children in his practice, complete with Santa and his reindeer.

James took the girls last Tuesday. I missed out on the fun because I was hosting a book club meeting, but since he is a good husband he remembered to take pictures.