We’re already entering the crazy season of busy, busy, busy! It seems to come earlier and earlier, every year. The combination of trick-or-treating candy clean-up on top of yet another big birthday has left me very short on reading/blogging time, this week. My son turned 11, so his celebrations included a trip to WaTiki Waterpark followed by watching Harry Potter (I mean, it WAS his 11th birthday, so it was time for his Hogwart’s Letter – plus, my husband has been re-reading the series with him this fall), and he asked me to make his favorite iced carrot cake from scratch (which included a very minor injury to my finger during grating the carrots – OUCH). It was a grand week of celebrating!
Last Wednesday, I ordered our Christmas photo cards through a combination of discount codes and free shipping, and they’re scheduled to arrive tomorrow. This will be the fastest they’ve EVER arrived, so I guess I hit that sweet spot in ordering timing this year. Signing, stuffing, hand-addressing, stamping, and mailing duties should be upon me very soon. Maybe all my family in Texas and Seattle will even get them before Christmas!
Considering the insanity of the week, I’m doing a book covers-only post this week to simply share what I’m still working on. I now probably have more picture books checked out from three different libraries than I’ve EVER had at one time, before. So that’s a huge focus through Thanksgiving (since I don’t want to keep them all out over Christmas Break). And I’m down to about 11 books on my #MustReadin2021 list. With 8 weeks left in 2021 (only 7 more #imwayr blogging days), that seems like a cinch if I just squeeze in two novels a week. However, life is different around November and December with a big family and some guests flying in to stay with us for the holidays. We’ll see…
If this is your first visit to my blog, welcome! Today is Monday, and I regularly participate in a weekly #IMWAYR meme. Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers and Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give Kathryn’s (at Book Date) “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” meme a kidlit focus, reviewing books in children’s literature (picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in the world of kidlit). If you enjoy this type of reading, join us every Monday to share what you’ve been reading!
Hopefully you’ll find something of interest to add to your reading list. I look forward to visiting your blogs to see what you’ve been up to!
Currently Finishing:
I’m currently working through Thick as Thieves (book #5 of The Queen’s Thief series) by Megan Whalen Turner, The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen, and Class Act (book #2 of the New Kid series) by Jerry Craft.
To Be Read:
Hoping to start Return of the Thief (book #6 of The Queen’s Thief series) and get back to How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure by John Rocco.
And I also have my enormous pile of children’s picture books, so I’ll get back to reading those throughout this week.
My 7-year-old has taken a break from the Wings of Fire series and is now on book #5 of The Kingdom of Wrenly series by Jordan Quinn.
My 11-year-old is on book #4 of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.
My 13-year-old is reading book #3 of the Front Desk series by Kelly Yang.
My 16-year-old is reading book #2 of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series by Scott Cawthon.
And my 18-year-old says she’s really just working on her college textbooks, right now.
Reading Challenge Updates:
Goodreads Challenge: 230/365
#MustReadIn2021: 36/49
The Miller Memo 
Are there really only 6 weeks left in 2021? Hard to believe! I feel like it was just yesterday when we were all celebrating the end of 2020! I’m sure your 13-year-old is enjoying Room to Dream! Great book!
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I must have miscounted. We actually have 7 1/2 weeks left in 2021. So 7 more Mondays to blog. I’ll have to use those weeks wisely if I want to finish my “must read” list. Oh yes, he’s enjoyed that whole series, so he was super excited when it arrived in the mail. He’s getting to read it before me!! Thanks for visiting, Lisa!
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Thanks for sharing something, Shaye. I loved Class Act & will bookmark some of the others. Even though crazy busy, it looks like a fun week for you & that eleven-year-old (plus siblings)! And carrot cake – yum. You are a nice mom! Have a super week ahead doing all you need to do & more!
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Some weeks are just pure craziness, but I figured book covers is better than not participating at all. LOL Plus, I HAD to come see what everyone else was up to. I tell you what, that carrot cake recipe is super yummy. I’ve been eating gluten-free for months, but decided to break that diet for his birthday weekend. So now I have one kiddo asking me to make it for a November birthday and another for a March birthday. That seems pretty well balanced. 😁 Thanks for visiting, Linda!
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Like you said above, it’s definitely nice to have you on the round-up even if it’s just book covers—it sounds like you’ve been plenty busy, so getting this up at all must have been a feat! The birthday waterpark trip sounds like a lot of fun, and that iced carrot cake both sounds and looks delicious—and that’s so nice of you to make it (especially considering the finger injury)! And that’s wonderful that the Christmas cards are arriving on time—as I recall, that tends to be a struggle for us every year, where you order in early December and they show up in the next eon. Also, good luck finishing out #MustReadin2021! As for the books, most of these are new to me—I did read Class Act and liked it, though not as much as New Kid. Thanks so much for the wonderful post, Shaye!
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Yep, the yearly cards routine is a struggle on timing. For years I waited until Black Friday weekend to order because Shutterfly always had great deals around then and I could save a bundle. But then they’d get so many orders at the last minute and printing/shipping would be backed up. Some years, my long distance family wouldn’t get them by Christmas. So I’m trying to start earlier and earlier. I can’t believe I got them ordered by November 3rd, this year. That’s a RECORD!! We’ll just have to see on my “must read” list. We have company flying in here in for a little over a week during the Thanksgiving holiday and I imagine I won’t be reading much at all that week. Still, I’ll try to keep my finger on the pulse of this amazing community. As always, thanks for dropping by!
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We were visiting our Grandkids over the weekend and returned home Monday, so no post for me this week. I didn’t get much of my own reading accomplished but I had fun reading with my Grandkids. We took family photos while we were away so I have to get Christmas cards printed from them.
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This year we, yet again, just used a photo we took in the part for our Christmas cards. Just the kiddos. Since Covid started, I can’t seem to get us in to take a professional photo with the whole family. I’ll have to share the photos on here soon! 🙂
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