December Bookclub

Our book for December is Christmas Jars by: Jason Wright. We will be meeting on Dec 15th @ Kris Tolman's home at 7pm. Bring a Christmas treat to share.

We need volunteers to host and choose books for next year. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sign up... Unless you all want to read textbooks like I am right now.

Any book, any genre, any length... We could all pick a favorite Dr. Seuss book to share; or favorite picture book... I am serious now.

Choose a book or we will all be learning about Human Anatomy. :)

Tiger Mother

Amy Chua

So are you a tiger mother? Reading Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother made each of us look at how we mother and how culture affects our parenting. Certainly being a full blown "tiger" isn't the goal of most of us but certain attributes are worthy of praise.

Pushing your kids to acheive their goals---good thing.

Turning down birthday card because it's not "perfect"--not so good.

Having high expectations-- good thing.

Torturing yourself and your kids for the sake of results--not good.

Although we may feel that some of the attributes of the Tiger/Chinese Mother border on abuse I am pretty certain that they may perceive things that we do as bordering on neglect.

If nothing else Amy Chua's observations opened our eyes to the differences that make the Tiger parents successful.

Thanks so much to Martha Taylor for choosing this book and to her daughter Meghan also. Thanks also to Heather Staples for being such a gracious hostess.

ROOTS & Pavlova

So this is the yummy dessert that Tami/Tammy Lyman made for us tonight. Sad you missed it? You should be. Thank you so much for hosting.

With fall break we only had 4 tonight but I am so glad that those of us who were able to attend were able to discuss this amazing book. ROOTS by: Alex Haley is an amazing tribute to ancestry. To be able to have this view of the human family from the African-American perspective is such an amazing thing to be able to enjoy. To see how important family is, was and always will be and to know that years of research went into this volume is awe inspiring.

I am so glad that this book exsists to teach us about what life for African-Americans has been like for generations. Being an outsider I will never truly know but to gain an understanding is my responsibilty so that I can be more understanding to those around me.

ROOTS is a phenomenon that spurred the genealogical juices throughout the world. It certainly is intriguing to think about why and how our ancestors arrived here. Understanding this allows each of us to better appreciate what we enjoy today.

I hope that if you did not get a chance to read this book and cross it off your literary bucket list that you will at some point. It is one that I will certainly encourage even my children to read as they get older.

A Joyful Mother of Children

What a great conversation we had the other night. How wonderful you ladies are is inspiring! (I know that we are all better because we know each other and learn from one another.) Missed you that couldn't make it. Julie thanks for a great book and Jill thanks for being a great hostess!

Richard and Linda Eyre

Recap: As we discussed this book we came to appreciate Linda Eyre and her wisdom that holds true to this day. What a breath of fresh air it is that we can try and fail and it is OK. The advice that is contained within A Joyful Mother of Children obviously gave hope to those of us struggling and made us pause and recognize that over all we are doing a great job.

Her idea of "Sunday Sessions" (discussed here) was helpful to some and intimidating to others. We also liked the idea of "Five Facet Reviews" where parents discuss how children are doing in five areas: physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually. This is done with both parents on a monthly basis.

Other topics that we discussed included the idea of "selective neglect" and age appropriate expectations. It is obvious that all of us, no matter how many children we have, 0-9, or even more, that we want to be the best mothers possible for the children that we have within our homes. We want to love them when they drive us nuts. We want to be in love with the fathers of our children and we want to be full of joy. Not every moment or even every day will be full of joy but when looking back hopefully we can each look back and have allowed time to soften the hard days, and the painful days.

We also discussed other ideas, blogs and books along these same lines. Some of these, plus more, can be found below:

Richard & Linda Eyre's website

Article on Allowance by the Eyre's

71 toes (Shawni Eyre Pothier's blog)

The Power of Less

How To Talk To Your Kids About Sex

I am certain that I am forgetting something but if I do please leave a comment so that we can all have the information.

Next Month: ROOTS by: Alex Haley. We will be at Tami Lyman's home.

Pioneer Woman Cooks

So the consensus is that we need to do a cookbook every year.

Oh my stars in heaven was this amazing! Ree Drummond is a genius! Tara & Randy are the perfect hosts with the ideal location for a book of this genre! And the company was stellar!

(Kris if ever we have had a good idea this ranks at the top!)

For those of you who couldn't make it we missed you so much and can't wait to see you next month- or sooner.

We were glad that Stacey Selle could join us too. She has read Ree's book about her love story and I think that maybe she should pick that for us to read- wink, wink.

(Ree also has a book for kids and is working on her next cookbook as well as a new Food Network Television show. What a busy gal- oh and she home schools. )

For those who couldn't make it we had great conversations about the recipes, TREK, picking up roadkill(you will have to ask Tara & Randy about their awesome stories),

ranch life, kids, and FOOD! We discussed PWs (Pioneer Woman's) Photography skills and her obvious joy for her life.

(Just to top the night off I hit two raccoons on the way to see The Help. It was hilarious considering the prior conversation. (Poor coons)

To conclude here is a bit of what we did/ate

Julie made the stuffed mushrooms. (No one can eat just one.)

She also made the raspberry pie. De-lish!

Stacey made the peach crisp w/ maple cream sauce

Jill made the BBQ meatballs. I gotta make me some of these.

Carol made the Pistachio Cake. She even improved on it with icing and sprinkles!

Kris made the French breakfast puffs & the Tomato-Basil pizza

Tara (& Randy) provided non alcoholic sangria, Potato Skins & Rolls w/ homemade

raspberry jam. Drool!

I (Katie) made the Beans & Cornbread.

Now if I only could get to her ranch next weekend, she is doing a pie making day at the ranch.

A Joyful Mother of Children

Julie Allen will be leading the discussion for September on the 15th. We will meet at Jill Moyer's home. Below is how Julie came to choose this book.

Hey there, Ladies! For the past few months I have had a topic on my mind which has influenced my book choice for September. I have really been reevaluating our families goals & priorities and pondering how much each daily decision & action affects my children. A phrase I like to use is "Deliberate Mothering." Sooo I have looked at a lot of books on parenting that I thought would bring up some good discussion - "A Tiger Mother," "Teaching Your Children Values," "The Parenting Trap," "I Didn't Plan on Being a Witch," etc. But the book I keep coming back to is one I read years ago and loved: "A Joyful Mother of Children" by Linda Eyre. You may be familiar with Richard and Linda Eyre. They raised 9 children, have written a number of books on parenting, been on committees to strengthen the family, won numerous awards, appeared on Oprah, the Today Show, etc. This is one of her books that seems to strengthen mothers at ALL stages (even empty-nesters!) and anyone who nurtures children (aunts, friends, etc). It is funny and uplifting. I've found it easiest to read a chapter here and there when I have a minute, because I like to ponder her experiences and down to earth advice. One of her daughters, Shawni, has a blog that has been inspirational also. Feel free to check it out. http://www.71toes.com/ Shawni's fifth child has a genetic disorder that gave her 11 toes (and causes blindness :( ), hence the name 71 Toes. She recently won National Young Mother of the Year and is an inspiration to many. Friday Q&A is my favorite. Anyway...I thought we could each bring the piece of advice/the experience that affected us the most and share why and how. You can find it cheap on Amazon (I paid $4) - it's definitely one to add to the collection. You are also welcome to borrow mine - I just need it back a few days before book club. Julie

Movies of books we've read

So we have read quite a few books that are now being made into movies.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

(a unique interpretation of the book)

Sarah's Key

(I mentioned this before but it is now being released in the US)

The Help

(Can't Wait)