Ten on Tuesday.

1. I have been reading The Hunger Games for about two weeks. I stayed up Saturday night way past my bedtime only to wake up extra early Sunday morning to finish it. Oh my goodness, it is such a great book!! Pat read The Hunger Games Trilogy this past Spring in about one month and describes this trilogy as the best he has ever read. We have the second book, Catching Fire, somewhere in this house, but we must have misplaced it during our move and we have yet to find it. Its killing me as I want so badly to read about what happens next. It's checked out at the library as well. Gah!


2. Being pregnant has brought my love to bake up a notch. I plan what I will be cooking for dinner and in the back of my mind I am thinking, "but what do I have dessert or what should I bake for dessert?". I made this Creamy Strawberry Jello Pie last week randomly because it looked so good I could not resist making it and then eating a whopping big piece. It was delicious! I really need to kick this before it becomes a habit that is hard to break post pregnancy. But not before I try a few of my Sweets Pins.


3. I decided this is the year to create an Advent calendar. Jack and Owen are at a great age this year to understand what an Advent calendar is as well as take an active and excited role in the countdown to Christmas. There are just a ton of Advent calendar ideas out there, but when I saw this idea for a Christmas Book Advent, I was inspired and therefore I got to work. I searched Barnes and Noble and Target for Christmas themed books (preferably in soft cover) and then wrapped them in white drawing paper (what we had lying around), decorated them with scrapbook paper and attached number stickers.

This is such a HUGE hit with the boys! After bath when the boys are all jammied up they come downstairs and unwrap a book which we read at bedtime. They take turns on who opens the book every other night (without this well established rule, a big ruckus breaks out causing a fight and tears...so not the point!) and so far this has worked out great.

4. In case you were wondering, I bought Jack the Taylor Swift Christmas CD at Target due his love for her voice especially in the song, Last Christmas. We have now listened to it 52,000 times. Double Gah!

5. Our elf, Henry Gordon, is still being quite mischievous although I may be losing some steam on my creativeness. I have been thinking that if we had a whole slew of Barbie accessories laying around our house it might help me in my elf creativeness. Barbie accessories...what are those?

6. Have you ever seen the show Food(ography) on the Cooking Channel? It's a fun and interesting show about cultural food themes such as Winter Holidays (one of my favs), Winter Food, Mexican Food, Breakfast Food (my other fav), etc. If your looking for something to watch, you should check it out, especially the Winter Holidays episode. You can learn all about the history behind the fruit cake!

7. If you would like a good chuckle while gazing at the beautiful creature known as Ryan Gosling, then go HERE stat!

8. One of my favorite Christmas decorations in my house this year is this pot. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

Poinsettias make me smile too!

 9. I'm working on a couple Christmas Wish Lists for this year, one for me and one for Pat. This was last year's list!


10. My sister-in-law Kady's youngest sister Hayley has recently been diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. You can check out her CaringBridge page HERE. This holiday season, please say a little prayer for her, add her to your prayer chain or simply send positive vibes her way. Thank you!