My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

I feel like last week flew by! Just a week ago I had my mom over for dinner, a cold weather favorite of mine Chickpea Dumpling Soup, then we drove around looking at Christmas lights. And now it is Sunday all over again. We had a pretty good week in our homeschool; we are focusing on Jan Brett books this month and we started with The Gingerbread Baby and finished the week with baking gingerbread! I have had numerous friends and family in the hospital with various ailments so that was stressful, and I always throw myself into projects when I am stressed. They are all doing much better now though, so I am relieved and thankful. This weekend I just totally let go and had fun with my family. We went for a sunny December walk around the Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn, then donated some things to the animal shelter as part of our Wolfenoot celebrations from November. And let myself relax.

That photo of us with Henry Ford’s statue cracks me up. And I also joked with Billy that my reflection in the glass makes me look sort of like Santa Claus! The actual estate is closed for renovation right now but once it is open again I can’t wait to tour it. It is one of my favorite local sites to visit.

Anywhoo..

Read Last Week:

I love reading middle grade around the holidays for some reason, and this one was so good. A cozy British mystery set in the 1930s on the Cambridge campus at Christmas time…a more perfect setting for me couldn’t be found, I am sure. I really enjoyed this book, and I will probably read more in the series at some point.

Reading This Week:

I read book one in this series, The Tourist Attraction, last year and figured I would save this one for this Christmas. I really enjoyed The Tourist Attraction so I am hoping that this one is just as good. We are also reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe together as a family this month, before bedtime.

Posted Last Week:

Wolfenoote, Baking, and Christmas Homeschool

Hello December!

Nonfiction November Week 5: New to the TBR

Watching and Listening:

Billy and I are watching Wheel of Time, which I am really enjoying. We are also watching the Brokenwood Mysteries on Acorn, which is pretty good! We have started adding in Christmas movies too, with our first family Christmas movie Friday night, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas.

As for listening, Spotify had their yearly wrap up the other day – and I was shocked to see that I had listened to so.much.Taylor.Swift. That being said, her Folklore and Evermore albums are really good. (Interesting fact: She grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania)

Here are some highlights from my Spotify Wrapped…

I am skeptical about the Joni Mitchell, considering I don’t really like her. I skip her when she comes on. So often in fact, that Wyatt can instantly recognize her voice and tells me to skip her too. So, either Spotify or Joni Mitchell is trolling me. And no offense to Joni Mitchell or her fans, her music just makes me sad.

Aaaaaannnddd that is it from our little burrow! I hope all is well with you!

Well, here we are! December! And Michigan is behaving appropriately right now, with cold and snow right on cue for the holiday season. I love snow – until the end of February, when I am ready for it to be gone and for spring to arrive. But this month is the month of the Full Quiet Moon – when we have our longest, darkest nights, when we need to snuggle in our homes, eating all the good comfort foods, warming up with delicious hot chocolate and tea, reading and crafting and for the days when we are feeling squirrely, invigorating wintry hikes that refuel our spirits.

Before we move on, let’s take a look back at some of my favorite November moments.. and I just realized I never blogged about Wolfenoot! I will do that soon.

I’m pretty excited about Christmas this year. I started shopping months ago, I am all in on books and movies and music, and really, just everything. We are hoping to have a jam making day with my brother and his family soon, along with a Winter Solstice celebration with just the three of us. And frankly, I want to spend this month enjoying my family, the small moments, the quiet moments. The nights watching the snow fall gently outside, going for rides to look at Christmas lights, those hushed hikes through the woods in winter. Watching the birds at my bird feeders, and hoping for a glimpse of the little baby possum who likes to hang out here as well. I used to jam our schedule all of up – now I am going for quality over quantity. Although, I wouldn’t mind one activity..maybe the lights at the zoo? Or the Holiday Nights event at Greenfield Village, but just me and Billy, like a (gasp) date night? What is that even, I don’t remember. Hmm…maybe both?

As you all go about your months, savor these moments. Do the things that fill you up and make you smile. That restore your soul.

I can’t believe we are at the end of November already! This month flew by. But then, they all seem to these days. This week for Nonfiction November it is a wrap up week, where we share the books we have added to our TBR lists over the month. I always add way too many but I figure I will eventually get to them all, right? I fell a bit behind this month, so I think I missed some posts when trying to catch up, and I am sure I have forgotten a few I meant to add to this list – but I guess that just means Nonfiction November is not quite over for me, and I still have some reading opportunities out there.

This week is hosted by www.theocbookgirl.com.

So without further ado..my newest additions!

Swiss Watching: Inside Europe’s Landlocked Island – Entering the Enchanted Castle

Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year – Silver Button Books

The Power of Ritual – Silver Button Books

A Place in the Woods – The Intrepid Arkansawyer

On Island Time – Lesley’s Book Nook

Wilding – Liz @ Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working From Home

English Pastoral – Books Please

When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors – The OC Book Girl

The Tiger – Rennie @ What’s Nonfiction

Rush Oh! – Books are my Favorite and Best

Lost at Sea – Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out

The Haunting of Alma Fielding – Christopher @ Plucked from the Stacks

Finding the Mother Tree – Unsolicited Feedback

Seven Fallen Feathers – The Book Stop

This is always such a great event to participate in! Now, let’s see how many I read before next November!

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hey all! I hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving had a wonderful holiday. Now that Thanksgiving is over, I feel like I can go all out on Christmas everything! We decorated and put up our tree this weekend, as the snow fell outside. However, that meant I had to move a ton of plants and now my office and kitchen look like mini-jungles. Which I am not upset about. We had originally planned to drive to Dayton, OH and hike a trail there that has a troll event happening. It looks so awesome! However, the weather forecast was not great and I didn’t want to spend three hours for just one way in a car if we were getting a blizzard. So, another time, hopefully.

Read Last Week:

I love this fun series! It was good to revisit the characters and their lives. And that awesome lighthouse library!

Reading This Week:

I am kicking off the winter reading season with this middle grade Christmas murder mystery. A tween British cozy! And I love this cover!

Posted Last Week:

Not much! Just two posts then I took the rest of the week off for the holiday.

Nonfiction November – Stranger than Fiction

Book Review: Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

Watching:

We finished up the Great British Baking Show – I loved this season!! And the winner was my favorite all the way through, and I love when that happens! All the contestants in the final were phenomenal though. We are also watching Wheel of Time, which is excellent but I have never read the books so I can’t compare. My husband seems to be pretty happy with it though, and he read them all. We also finished up Schitt’s Creek. I have watched it at least twice before, but this was Billy’s first time watching and he is now a convert.

And that is it from our little corner of the Mitten! Hope you are all doing well.

Wow week 4 already!! The description for this week as copied from The Thousand Book Project is:

Week 4: (November 22-26) – Stranger Than Fiction with Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks: This week we’re focusing on all the great nonfiction books that *almost* don’t seem real. A sports biography involving overcoming massive obstacles, a profile on a bizarre scam, a look into the natural wonders in our world—basically, if it makes your jaw drop, you can highlight it for this week’s topic.

The book I chose for this week, and I only chose one, is one that I read quite a few years ago but it has stuck with me all this time.. and I just realized I made sort of a dad joke there. That was unintentional, honestly.

This whole event is so crazy to even consider. And terrifying! A giant tank of molasses burst open in Boston’s North End, flooding the streets with two million gallons of molasses, even causing a 15 foot wave. The horror of being caught in that flood is unimaginable. People and animals died, building were crushed in that dark tide of molasses, which reached speeds of 35 miles per hour. There is even a legend that on warm days, you can still catch a faint scent of the molasses rising from the streets.

This book was bizarre and tragic, and like I said, a book that has stayed with me for years.

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Last week was pretty good. Not very eventful, but good still the same. My birthday was Tuesday and it was a nice, quiet day and evening. We got my favorite street tacos and had a “car picnic” surrounded by total darkness and it was really cool honestly. Billy, my mom, and I got our booster shots so that is done as well. Wyatt and I have been having a fantastic month of homeschool – I really am hoping to share about it soon, but I keep running out of time and the post keeps getting longer!

Read Last Week:

I kept it light and read Wendell Berry’s book of poetry, The Peace of the Wild Things. It was beautiful, as I expected.

The title poem was my favorite.

What I am Hoping to Read This Week:

So I have been a little weird about reading lately, books just aren’t fitting right. This is the one I have lined up – I am going back to an old friend, The Lighthouse Library Mysteries.

Posted Last Week:

Nonfiction November – Week 3: Become the Expert

Mini Post: Little Moments in Mostly Photos

My Little Bit Outdoors, Little Bit Bookish Holiday Gift Guide

Watching and Listening:

We have been all over the place with television lately. We are watching The Brokenwood Mysteries, The Great British Bake Off, and we just started Wheel of Time, which is Billy’s favorite book series of all time. I have never read it so it is all new to me. I did really enjoy it though – and Rosamund Pike is in it, and I really like her as an actress.

I mentioned Wyatt has been requesting songs on our Alexa in the morning and we have been waking up to whatever random choices he makes, or Alexa makes. This week we heard some good stuff honestly – The Lumineers, Of Mice and Men, Simon and Garfunkel, Lord Huron, John Denver, and The Sound of Silence by Disturbed, which is amazing. It is one of Billy’s favorites and I must say, there is something about laying in bed in total darkness with the lead singer’s voice rolling out over you. It’s so deep and powerful. It was sort of otherworldly.

And that is about it from around here! I hope all is well in your world!

Life lately has been about appreciating all the moment in our lives. The things we may normally gloss over, seeking out that next big thing. Long rides in the dark, sharing a blanket on the couch while watching cartoons with your six year old, warm tea in a solid mug, snowy mornings.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Erin B (@foxandfirthco)

This majestic buck stepped out into the clearing for a quiet moment. We stood for a few moments, jut watching each other in silence. I hadn’t been expecting him, nor him, me. I heard him before I saw him – I am sure the reverse was true as well.

• 

• 

• 

Snow!!! Our first snowfall of the season happened Sunday. Our family loves snow, in a big way. We decided to just go for a ride in it, but couldn’t resist popping out here for a photo.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

My birthday came and went – it was a nice quiet low key day. I got my free birthday Starbucks (chai latte), snuggles from cats, street tacos from my fave place, which we ate in the car in the full dark watching the trees and the water, our tacos sharing the space on the armrest between us while Wyatt ate his cheese quesadilla in the back. As an adult, I can honestly say my birthdays are always so different! I’ve celebrated at Epcot on my honeymoon, in the hospital with a sick Wyatt (and stayed up for 36 straight hours as well); I won tickets to the opera once, where we got to sit in the best box seats and visit the fancy VIP intermission room with drinks; dinners at nice restaurants, and at small diners. I have loved them all.

We’ve cracked open geodes this week, spent time poring over the rocks and minerals I’ve been collecting for months now for Wyatt’s science unit, and just basically hung out this past week.

I like having an idea of what we are going to be up to, but for the most part, I am enjoying letting things and moments just happen lately.

• 

• 

• 

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

It’s snowing!! Not hard, and not fast, but definitely snowing. In our house, this means Chinese takeout for dinner. It’s just a little tradition that we have, the first sign of flakes means that we order Chinese food.

I feel a Gilmore Girls rewatch coming on.

We had a different sort of week. Wyatt got a vaccine on Wednesday and I never know how to plan around those, in case of any reactions. I guess it is leftover from when he was a baby. So I planned a lighter week and then when he was completely fine, used that time to catch up on housework. It was getting a bit cluttered up in here. I also met up with my friends for a wine night at my friend Kelly’s house – it was a much needed time with them, it’s been a few weeks and it was really good to catch up. Then Saturday I dragged my mom to Target for her first trip to a store in two years. Once we got there, bright and early before most of the world was awake, we had a great time shopping together. We picked up a few presents, some necessary items, and just some weird fun things too. Saturday night my brother and SIL, Billy and I, dropped our kids off at our mom’s house and then the four of us headed back to my brother’s for pierogi takeout and some time to chat without the kids. It was short but fun – it has been way too long since just the four of us have hung out like that.

Read Last Week:

Nothing. Nada. I started The Wild Silence but I am not in the right place to read it right now. It is way too emotional and sad for me – we have recently had some events around here that have been tough, and I need to read to escape. I will come back to this book at a later date.

Reading This Week:

Since I am having such issues lately settling on a book, I decided to pick up a book of poetry, and Wendell Berry is such a wonderful writer. I am looking forward to enjoying his words this week.

Posted Last Week:

A Cozy Little Slightly Eclectic Holiday Gift Guide

Sunday Afternoons, Alone Time, and a Nature Book Giveaway! (Just a few more days left to enter my birthday giveaway!)

Halloween, Hikes, and Holiday Lattes

Nonfiction November – Week Two, Book Pairing

Watching and Listening:

Billy and I have been watching The Great British Bake Off. It is so good this season! I mean I always love it but I love all the contestants this time around. We also started Broken Wood and that is really excellent too.

Wyatt has been waking up the house this week by asking our Echo Dot to play music. We have a few set up around the house that we love to set to play everywhere, so that when we listen to music we can hear it all around us. Anyway, Wyatt has been asking Echo to play a song and “she” randomly chooses one that she thinks we will like. And normally, yes. But at 6:45 am, not always. We have gotten used to it though and have begun to really enjoy it. We have heard Sunny by Bobby Hebb, Happy by Pharrel Williams, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot (which had the anniversary of its wreck the other day), Lord Huron, Jolene by Dolly Parton, and Fire and Rain by James Taylor. Honestly the only one I did not enjoy that early in the morning was Happy. It was a bit too energetic before coffee!

And that is about it for us! What is happening in your world?