Our Christmas Letter 2012

It has been another busy and wonderful year of change for the Burnhams! 

Joe got into McMaster University (Degroot School of Business in Burlington, Ontario) to further his education and get his Masters in Business.  It has been a bitter-sweet year as we are feeling fortunate to be in this position going back to school, but it has definitely been difficult to leave family and friends (not to mention an income!) for this short time.  We are grateful for the support we have had in our efforts to better our future.  Joe has been called as the Elder’s Quorum teacher as well as the Activity Days for boys (they don’t do Scouting out here for some reason).  He is such a great teacher so I know that those kinds of callings will really suit him.  I have been especially proud of Joe as I have watched him work so hard not only in church and school, but also as a husband and Dad.  Even after long days of studying where I know he must be exhausted, he manages to squeeze in some quality time with us.  Sundays, being the “day of rest”, have never meant more to us than they do now.  It’s a relief to both of us that he can put his studies aside for one day out of the week and have it be all about family and the Lord.

Zoe Amelia came into our lives two weeks after moving across the country (good timing!).   She has been such a blessing in our lives.  She is so happy and talks/coos all the time.  And at three months she is already sleeping a beautiful and blessed 12 hours through the night (which makes Mommy happy too!).   Her latest fascination is discovering her hands.

Ellie (2.5 years old) is thankfully a-okay with being a big sister.  No jealousy or aggression towards Zoe, per se, but she has been known to occasionally throw her baby doll down the stairs and say, “Oh no!  Baby fall down!”  So if she DOES have any jealous feelings at least it’s the doll that’s getting it and not Zoe!   With these major changes Ellie’s personality has become stronger and has multiplied!  I do not blame her with the move, a new baby and the boys now at school during the day.  As I have made an effort to “love” Ellie a little more and give her the attention she needs, she has begun to mellow-out a bit and her sweetness is gradually returning to us.  She still has a talent for pushing my buttons though (I think she just wants to make the boys laugh); At dinner time she will not stay put on her chair.  She will even put herself in time-out if she doesn’t feel like eating dinner with the rest of us (so there goes that plan!).  “Ellie, sit in your chair please.”  “Dis one?” as she points to another chair.  “No Ellie, this chair.”  “Dis one?” as she points to another chair.  “No Ellie, YOUR chair.  Sit here.”  “Dis one?”  And that goes on for a while until I plop her in her seat.  “Sit on your bum Ellie.”  “Like dis?” as she kneels on her chair.  “No.  On your bum Ellie.”  “Like dis?”  as she slides onto her tummy….  Sigh.  That girl.  I will say one of the most precious things about her is her love of singing.  If Zoe cries, she KNOWS that singing a rousing rendition of ABC’s in her loudest and clearest voice is the answer to that problem. 

Noah (4 years old) has had some big changes this year too.  In Ontario they have something called Junior Kindergarten in the Public schools for Noah’s age.  I personally wasn’t really prepared to put him in school this quickly especially not all-day/every-day, and I almost didn’t (He just barely learned to wipe his own bum this Summer… thank goodness).   But the long and the short of it is he LOVES it.  He used to never want to sit down at home to do a craft or draw, but now I am getting piles of papers sent home in his backpack with stick men on them and various letters (that I am sure are meant to spell something), where before school started all Noah could manage to spell was his own first name.  I love seeing him progress.  And he LOVES when I read to him.  He actually wants to sound words out (coming from a kid who is so physically active it’s been hard getting him to sit and focus at all!).  “Noah what sound does a ‘T’ make?”  “Wah”  “Hmmm….  Close.”  He’s getting there!  He is also an amazing big brother.  He and Zoe are the best of friends!  He gets home from school and goes straight to her, “Hi Zoe!”  I often catch him telling her stories or singing to her randomly.  And if she cries even the slightest he is right by her side, “Don’t cry Zoe.  Zoedon’tcrydon’tcrydon’tcrydon’tcryZoedon’tcry…” over and over again just in case she didn’t hear him the first hundred times.  I love their relationship, and I especially love seeing Noah’s soft and tender side. 

Jackson (5.5 years old) started Kindergarten this year (or as they call it here, Senior Kindergarten).  He and Noah actually get to share the same class/teachers which makes me feel a little more at ease knowing that they have each other when I’m not there.  I knew without a doubt that he would LOVE it, and of course, he does.  He comes home with craft after craft (there is not enough room on my fridge to receive the amounts of daily crafts/drawings/paintings that come home with these boys!).  His true passion is writing and spelling.  He constantly has a pen or marker in his hand and any scrap piece of paper he can find.  And where most boys would be playing games on their Dad’s iPad, he is spelling out words in the “Notes” section!  Even after being at school all day he will come home, find a pen and paper and get to work.  He is also really talented with reading and can read at a grade one level so far (Not surprised, but definitely proud).  His latest thing is randomly telling us that he can spell “such-and-such” word and then go on to spell it.  He also loves swimming.  I put the boys into swim-lessons last month and they both love it!  Noah is dunking his head under the water 80% of the time (his poor instructor) and Jackson can float and is getting closer to actually swimming without floaties.  Yeay!  Looking forward to a lot less stressful pool-days this Summer as Ellie will also start lessons in January when she turns three.

I, (Maren), have fallen in love with Burlington.  I didn’t love Burlington when I was nine months pregnant in the dead of August with no furniture in our newly-moved-into spider-infested rental, but I am loving it more and more every day.  Although I do miss my friends and family in Alberta, I am happy to announce that I am making some really great friends here and gradually feeling like I belong more and more.  We even had our first book club, so that is most certainly a start.  Weeks after I had Zoe, they called me to not one, but TWO callings in our Ward here; The Sunday School teacher for the 16-17 year olds (LOVE that calling and my youth) and to be apart of the Ward Music Committee (which is me and the chairperson.  Ha!  So I AM the committee).  They have kept me busy in the ward with Musical firesides, speaking at Stake Conference and figuring out a Ward choir, but it has been really good for me to be busy. 

We hope this Christmas letter find you healthy and well!  Enjoy those Christmas holidays (but not too much without us!).

Love,

The Burnhams

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas has not quite felt like Christmas.  We've only had one snowfall that melted in less than 24 hours.  The grass is still bright green and there is even moss on the trees.  I think having a white Christmas really makes a difference.  All the decorations in the world couldn't force me to believe that it is, indeed, Christmas.  Having a green Christmas is definitely a first for me!  On the other hand, do I really want a minus 30 degree Christmas (which is what it was back home, so I guess I should stop complaining!)?  In order to try to feel more of that Christmas Spirit we decided to do some particularly festive activities to help us along with that Christmas feel.  So on the boys' last day of school we went and visited Santa.  It's a must for each year and this year Joe and I decided it was our best one yet.  No one is crying and almost everyone is looking!  Not bad.  Although, there is something fun about really awful Santa pictures.  I'm sure we'll get a crying Zoe next year.
 
 After Santa pics, we decided to go into Niagra Falls to check out the Christmas lights.  While we're here I want to see all there is to see out East, and this looked pretty cool online, so we had to check it out.  Well, we arrived before dark and needed to waste some time before the lights came on, so as we drove around the city we found some really cool places that we thought would be fun to take the kids.  We went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum and the Wax Museum.

Creepy. I'm surprised Jackson even got that close to him!

Not our most Christmasy venture, but still pretty fun and different from what we would normally do.  Although there were some cool things in the Ripley's Museum the kids zoomed through it way faster than we would have liked. However, that being said a lot of those things creep me way out so I wasn't too upset to be leaving sooner than later. All in all pretty cool, but I think the kids enjoyed the wax museum a little more. Here I am with Edward.  Can you tell who the real Bella is?
Renesme and Jacob.

Noah's expression is priceless.  And accurate for any child hanging out with Michael Jackson.
 
Harry Potter and Batman were the biggest hits among the kids. After touring these museums we drove along the Falls main street and checked out the lights. They had a bunch of Disney figurines lit up along the street that the kids especially liked and they had the Falls lit up as well. It was really pretty and festive. The snow (well, ...slushy-rainy-snow) was even coming down, too!  I didn't realize this until after the fact but they had fireworks later that night that I wish we had stayed for.  Maybe next year!

 Every year we have to decorate a gingerbread house! So I bought one of those pre-made gingerbread houses from Walmart.  Perfect for kids this age.  It makes me feel like I am cheating a little bit because when I was growing up, we made these babies from scratch!  We made them way bigger along with gingerbread men and trees and everything and it would take hours to finish, but it was always such fun.  I think we were done this thing in 15 minutes.   Perhaps one day when my kids have the attention span of longer than a minute I will consider it.  It was especially cute to see Noah pay such close attention to detail.  You can see him working on the "garden."

Not only is it our first green-Christmas, but it is also our first Christmas away from home as a family. I wouldn't say it is better or worse, but just different. We had to figure out our own traditions. So on Christmas Eve Joe did a ton of baking and made some home-made hot chocolate (while I did a ton of cleaning so I wouldn't have to think about it the next day).  
 
We then went caroling as we dropped off our gifts to friends and neighbours.  I especially loved this part.  It may not be four-part harmony like with the Ords, but it was precious to watch those kids sing and ring those jingle bells and watch the faces of our friends light up.  I knew our neighbours to the left of us would especially love it.  They are a Ukrainian family (I think) and the Grandma lives with her daughter's family.  She doesn't speak a lick of English, but she always tries to talk to us.  She especially loves Ellie.  When we first really visited (well, tried to visit) she pointed to herself and said with a rolling r, "Grrrrrandma."  I think it's sweet.  We got invited in for some drinks after our rousing rendition of Silent Night.  We were that good.  But of course, we had more houses to catch while the night was still young.  Oh, and we don't drink.
 
When we got back from caroling, we dressed up and acted out the Nativity.  I LOVE this part of Christmas.  It has been a Christmas tradition in my family for YEARS as well as in Joe's family.  I wasn't sure how it was going to work out with our small numbers because we usually have cousins and aunts and uncles to fill all of the roles, but it was the most sweet and tender part of the night.  The kids listened carefully to the narration, ready for their part and there was a sweet Spirit there as we sang hymns about Jesus' birth.

After the nativity we opened one present each from the elves (Granny and Grandpa B).  Matching pj's!  In honour of the boys pj's we watched a Muppets' skit called, "The Carol of the Bells" featuring Animal.

Instead of doing a huge turkey dinner, we decided to go the easy-route and lay out a blanket while eating h'ourderve type snacks and watching the movie, "Elf."  I wasn't sure if the kids would really get into it but it's one of our favourite Christmas movies and the kids actually DID seem to enjoy the majority of it.

 And of course ya gotta leave Santa some cookies and milk. Noah wanted to add a special touch by also writing him a special note juuuuuust in case he missed it.

We put a vote to the kids if they would rather have pancakes and bacon and sausages, etc, on Christmas morning or their own box of sugar cereal. You can guess what they chose.

Christmas morning. For being the wife of a student, we didn't do too bad. I thought it would be a pretty meager Christmas, but because of some very generous family members, we were able to splurge a little bit and enjoy a heartier slew of gifts. I will blame this blessing on paying tithing as I mentioned in an earlier message.
 

I had to add this picture of Zoe snuggling with me because she RARELY cuddles like this. I thought it was sweet. Her Christmas present to me I guess.

 The thing that I was most excited about under the Christmas tree this year was my very first blog book! I tranferred my blog online into a blurb book and it was tons of work, but entirely worth it! It turned out so beautiful and it makes me excited to continue transferring the rest of my blog as I continue to write my journal entries in it. Probably the fanciest journal I've ever owned!

Joe also continued to spoil me with some new camera nick-nacks (a reflector and a flash diffuser).  I wasn't expecting anything else other than my book, so it was a lovely surprise!  I got Joe a new coat and clothes, but most successful of the gifts was a brand new popcorn popper.  He HATES the one he has and is a popcorn snob, so I did my homework and bought him the best one out there.  I also wrote him a song that I posted on youtube called, "Happy Happy Glad."  I wrote it the day ofter the CT shootings.  When I heard about all of those children that were murdered I was so upset and I cried a lot.  I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of that funk, but later that night Joe was wrestling around with the kids and they were laughing and having so much fun.  It was such a pleasant sound and sight.  I kind of took a step back and thought, "this is my family.  This is my life.  Although there is hurt in the world, I need to choose to be happy now and enjoy the present."  So, ...I told my sad and paranoid thoughts to go away so that I could more fully enjoy what I have.  It is interesting how something so awful like that can make one realize what they have and how blessed they are.  I will say that this Christmas I have especially felt that way.  I came up with the hook/title from some of our crazy dinner time routines.  It is ridiculous what we have to do sometimes to get our kids to eat.  Joe will pretend to be sad unless they take a bite, and when they do he is HAPPYYYYYYYY!  I thought it was a fun inside-thing to have in our personal little song to show Joe how much I love him and how grateful I am that he plays such a major part in making us "happy-happy-glad."  The kids even did a cameo at the end of the video.  It was sweet.  I cried watching Joe watch it, ...and he cried too.  I think he liked it.

Now that Christmas is behind us there usually comes that sense of sadness that there's not much to look forward to anymore, but I've actually really enjoyed these last few days.  We finally got a healthy snowfall the day after Christmas and actually got a chance to PLAY outside in all of its glory.  I'm not sure how much longer we'll have it, but I'm glad it's still here.  I have actually really enjoyed this time with Joe, just relaxing and playing with the kids adn watching them enjoy their spoils.  Jenny and Brett came to visit the day after Christmas (and are still here, so that will be another post to come!).  I feel really lucky and I feel really blessed that this is my life.  I hope those who are reading this have been able to feel those blessings from our Heavenly Father as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour.  A new year approaches!

Merry Christmas to all!

My Baby Boy is SIX!

A couple weeks ago we celebrated Jackson's sixth birthday, STARWARS-themed!  Jackson was so excited about it he even helped me make the R2-D2 cake.  I cut out all the pieces and he colored them with edible ink and helped me place them on.  I think we did a pretty good job (although you can see in some places where the pen started running out of edible ink!).  All that matters is that Jax was proud of himself and loved it!  We invited a few friends over for a "Jedi-Course" where they had to complete four different tasks;  The first being making and wielding their own light saber!  I will admit that my craft-idea to have them make their own swords was not the smartest idea because it ended up being the adults making the light sabers for the kids (bright colored duct tape over dollar-store swords) while the kids watched.  Lesson learned.  But then we quickly moved on to training which was conducted by the Jedi MASTER himself, Joe.  It was so cute to watch the kids so into it.  Intense!  He showed them a few sword moves and then  pretty much played Simon-says, but "Jedi says."  L-R: Adam, Noah, Jackson, Charlotte (the only girl, bless her heart, but Jackson insisted... it's his Kinder-girlfriend), Jake Bootland.

Their next task was to pin the ears on Yoda.  For future reference, this was a hit.  Don't look too closely though.  I think the last time I drew a picture was for Jackson's birthday last year!  My Grade 12 Art teacher would be proud that I am still using my mad skillz... except for the fact that it's only once a year.

We then played a game called "Find the Asteroids" which I hid all over the living room. They were candy wrapped in tinfoil, so we had fun with those.  Here's the spread below.  I can't take any credit for originality since I swiped all of my ideas off of Pinterest, ...in fact, I even slimmed it WAY down.  Sheesh.  These are six year olds for crying out loud!  Not the King of Spain!  And it was more than plenty enough.  In fact, they barely touched any of it (but that could be because they were all offended that I didn't put in more effort.  Haha!).


Even Princess Leia came!


Then we had cake and ice cream and presents. Zoe was a peach and napped the whole time so that I could be hands-on and actually enjoy the party as stress-free as possible.  Well, as stress-free as a six-year old birthday bash can be!  I forget that sometimes not every kid is as angelic or as easy as Jackson so these sorts of things can be a bit more hectic than planned.  Let's just say, I'm glad I had Joe!

The birthday fun doesn't end there!  We always have to celebrate Jackson's birthday way earlier than his actual birthday since it's so close to Christmas that when his actual birthday comes I feel like I need to do something more.  So he pretty much ends up getting spoiled twice in one month, ...and that's not even including Christmas!  What was fun about today (but totally not planned) was there was no school today because of a teacher strike, SO, we had a totally fun day as a family and it all started with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast as per Jackson's birthday request!

Before we played all day I made the kids clean up their rooms. I'm so mean.  But it needed to be done.  So there.  And we had a whole day off to do it. But afterwards we rewarded ourselves by going Bowling! Bowling! Bu-bu-bowling!  All in the name of Jackson's birthday.  He was so pumped.  I love this kid.  These are our excited faces.
Yes. I won. It felt glorious, ...even if it was only by one point.  And maybe I had the help of the side-rails.  Maybe I didn't.  Afterwards we let Jackson choose where to go out to eat.  I don't remember the last time we've done something like this as a family and it was SO nice to not think about making dinner.  These things need to happen every once in a while.  So with a little urging from Joe, we ended up at Boston Pizza.  I wasn't complaining.  Neither was Jackson.  He ordered two mini-hamburgers and then finished off one of Noah's.  A growing boy, that one.

I love Zoe's face in this one below.  Haha!  This was right before she explosion-pooped out of her pants.  I had to remove her tights and onsie-shirt completely because it was ALL OVER!  Thankfully she had her sweater, but I'm sure I looked like an awful Mom walking out the door with no socks on my baby.  I covered her with a blanket though!!
After dinner we went home and had a family movie night watching 101 Dalmations (not the cartoon, although the kids love that version and were watching it in the car as we ran errands for the rest of the afternoon). All in all it turned out to be a fun-filled day AND we got to come home to a clean house (no dishes either!).
Jackson, (oh no, here come the water works...), I love you so much.  This picture above describes you in so many ways!  Just a good, happy, silly kid.  Although you are a year older, your sensitivity and mature/responsible-nature hasn't changed much.  You always want to please and make the right choices (sometimes that comes in the form of tattling, but hey, at least you are trying to "help" in one form or another).  Your Primary teacher tells me that you are attentive and actually answer questions which makes me feel like I am doing something right.  Yesterday I had the privilege of volunteering in your class at school by helping all of you kids decorate gingerbread houses.  To say that you are an independent child would be an understatement.  You didn't need help once.  You didn't need to be scolded either.  You just did your thing and stayed out of trouble.  And watching you among your peers was such a fun thing to observe.  You are definitely a leader and the kids are drawn to you.  You like to make people laugh and feel good about themselves.  You most certainly have the charm as most of your friends in class are girls!  Definitely your Dad's son there.  And you and Charlotte are like glue!  In fact, I often find you writing love-notes for her at home or drawing pictures to give her at school the next day.  It's pretty darn cute.  The whole girlfriend thing is starting WAY sooner than I anticipated, ...but I guess that's what I get when I have an uber-sensitive little munchkin for a son.  When I ask Noah who he's going to marry, he says me, ...but you?  You've definitely outgrown me.

Jax, you are a smart kid.  You are already reading at a Grade one level (F).  I am not entirely surprised by that though since you love spelling out words on your own and always have.  You are constantly writing notes or making books with pictures and descriptions and it's so cute to see how you've managed to spell out some words ("Informashun").  Lately though you are getting better and better and I have less and less need to correct you.  In fact, every other phrase out of your mouth is, "Mom, I know how to spell this, or that, etc."  or "I know that PH makes a 'FFFFFF' sound." or "I know that 'GH' is either silent or makes a 'FFFFF' sound." ...or whatever other little rule you can recall.  You are a definite sponge to say the least. 

When you are not drawing or writing notes or reading, you are totally into making Lego sets.  You love to sit down with the instruction book on your own and create whatever the manual tells you to create.  You could build these things for hours!  I know, because I've seen you do it!  Maybe not all on the same set, but you do love to take things apart and re-build them into whatever creative thing you feel like.

You have an obsession with cats.  I don't know where this came from but I am going to blame it on the pink little kitty that your cousin Taylor gave you years ago.  You still have it and sleep with it from time to time.  Whenever we go to the library you HAVE to come home with a book on cats.  The funniest thing is, it's always an informative book, instead of a "fun" book (either that or some sort of scientific book.  I guess you're more into learning than being entertained.  Not MY kid).

You love music and singing and dancing still.  You never pass up a dance party.  And you and Noah come home singing these brand new school songs I've never heard of and it's so cute.  This Summer you were given a recorder and you LOVE that darn thing.  Like, maybe too much.  So much so that I try to banish it as a bedroom toy.  For the Primary presentation this year, your teacher let you play one of the hand bells (you were the youngest one too!) and you took your job very seriously.  You concentrated SO hard on hitting that one note when the times came throughout the song.  It was so adorable to watch.

I'm not gonna lie, ever since I sent you off to school this year I feel like there's a part of you I just don't know because you're at school all day.  Your teachers see you more than I do throughout the week.  You are growing up without me!  I know it's something that I'll just have to get over the older you get, but it's been a challenge for me.  I suppose that's why I like to volunteer in your class, so I can know what you are like in that kind of setting, but it breaks my heart a little bit knowing that you are growing up way faster than I want you to.  At least I can take comfort in knowing that you still have a sweet Spirit and are still pretty innocent.  I feel pretty blessed that you are the oldest in our family because you set such a good example for the others.  You have such great potential and I just know you'll go on to do great things.

But for now?  Please stop growing up so fast.  I love you.

Mom

Twins?

I came across some pictures of Ellie when she was 4 months old, and low and behold, Zoe is four months old as of yesterday!  So I thought it would be fun to try to recreate some of the outfits and see just how alike they really are.  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of the EXACT same items, but you get the gist.

Ellie (below)


Zoe (below)
 

 Ellie (below)


Zoe (below)


Ellie (below)
 

Zoe (below)
 

Ellie (below)
 

Zoe (below.  I just had to do a naked-chubby pic!  Look at those beautiful legs!)
 

 Ellie (below)
 

Zoe (below)
 
Honestly, I thought that by comparing them side by side this way would solidify how much they look alike, which they do.  BUT, I think what it has done for me is made me realize how individual they truly are.  They DO have many expressions that are the same and they are most definitely sisters.  But Twins?  Maybe not quite.

Zoe, right now you are all about TALKING!  Which really means a happy-baby-voice that can cut through construction if need be.  "Eeeeeeeeeehhhh....  Aaaaauuuuuuuuaaaaaah..."  It is so loud, it puts Noah's baby-raptor voice to shame!  And SO cute.  One of my most common phrases these days is, "you're so cute it hurts."  And it's true.  My favorite times are sitting in the rocking chair with you and chatting back and forth.  You laugh on command and love to grab your hands together  and put them into your mouth (my hair is another popular item that likes to be grabbed and sucked on as well).  I don't recall my other babies constantly having wet lint in between their fingers, but you do.  All.  The.  Time.  Like, I could give you a bath and five minutes later each crease between your fingers will be lint-infested.  Gross.  But kind of fun to pick out if I'm being honest with myself.  You learned how to roll from your back to your tummy last week!  Which is exciting, but also terribly frightening.  I know what I'm in for.  That means I can't leave you in one spot anymore and expect you to still be there when I check on you a minute later.  It begins!  We have also occasionally found you wedged in the corner of your crib as well.  You are definitely a mover and a shaker and getting stronger by the minute.  I don't know how much longer you will last being swaddled to sleep.  Speaking of which, something that separates you from your siblings at this age is how much you love to suck on your lower lip.  Who needs a soother when you have a lucious lower lip, right?

Zoe, I am so glad you are number four.  You are so easy that sometimes I forget that you are in the same room as everyone else (unless you're "talking" of course).  Please take this as a compliment.  I would never intentionally neglect you, but some mornings (especially mornings) as I am getting the boys ready for school and out the door, you allow me to do this in peace.  No crying or whining.  You just hang out in your own crib while clasping your hands together and studying them or looking at the world around you.  Probably communicating with angels. Not sure how much longer this content/peaceful phase will last, but you have plenty of siblings to entertain you!  Each one of them loves you to bits.  They hover around you and try to get you to laugh or respond in some way.  It is so fun as a Mom to watch them gush over you.  We all do.  Me.  Your Dad.  The ladies at church.  Heck, even the men.

You are past-adorable.

And I love you.

Mom

Entwined in a Good Book

As promised, here is the report of my first book club here with my new slew of ladies. It was a few weeks ago, but alas, better late than never! We read the book "Entwined" by Heather Dixon and I personally rather loved it. I could have enjoyed a little more romance, but alas, not EVERY novel must be spewed with citations of poetry and declarations of love (though there were some in here. Ha!  ...just not enough for me).  The book was about magic, an evil villain, forbidden dancing, princesses, mourning (which is why we are all wearing black in the picture below!), and most importantly, romance.  It also took place around Christmas, so I got to set up my tree a little early and get my house nice 'n' festive for the occasion.  And in the Spirit of Christmas I sent my ladies home with a little gift wrapped in a silver cloth (which was also a huge part of the story).  I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous because I picked this book and you just never know what the feedback is going to be!  Just because I like it doesn't mean that everyone will.  But thankfully we were all pretty much on the same page and had some really great discussion.  We spent the evening eating, discussing the book, eating some more, ...and talking like only women with a night away from their children and responsibilities can.  It was so fun and I am so happy to be getting to know such a great group of gals.  We even have our next book club lined up for January so I'm glad this is panning out and only hope it continues to press forward.

I seriously love a good book.  I love a good girls-night-out.  And I love food.  So I'd say book clubs are kinda my thang.  We took a group shot right before everyone headed home curtseying like dancing princesses (we're missing Shara because she left a little early, so Bracken is holding up her phone with an intended picture of her on there, but it went black before the picture was snapped.  Woops!  We tried).  I'm kind of mad because I bought a hideous skirt from Value Village to wear for the night and couldn't find it, darn it all.  What is a good curtsey without a skirt!  "I say!  I say!" 

 From L-R:  Moi, Darla Major, Brittany Fuller, Bracken Wilson.

Thanks for a lovely evening ladies! Here's to many more book clubs to be had!