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2010’s reading list recap
This is the pile of Kindles we have in Florida. Everyone has one in this apartment, except for John.(now even including Timmy since he inherited Patrick’s 1st generation when Grandma upgraded Patrick to a 2nd generation Kindle. He’s starting to really read on his own, I figure he’ll grow into it.) Jack’s 1st generation Kindle died this year so Amazon sent us a replacement 2nd generation Kindle. I guess Grandma felt bad for Patrick and thought he should have the same as Jack. At any rate, these boys read like CRAZY so they can have whatever Kindle they’d like!!
The boys reading list for 2010:
1. Ark Angel (Alex Rider series) by Anthony Horowitz
2. Snake Head (Alex Rider series)
3. Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider series)
4. Scorpia (Alex Rider series)
5. Skeleton Key (Alex Rider series)
6. Storm Breaker (Alex Rider)
7. Point Blank (Alex Rider)
8. Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
9. Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
10. The Journals of Lewis and Clark 1804-06 by Lewis and Clark
11. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
12. Catching Fire by SC
13. Mockingjay by SC
14. The Life of Honorable William F. Cody (aka Buffalo Bill) by William F. Cody
15-22. A Series of Unfortunate Events- the entire series
23. Al Capone Shines my Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko
24. Al Capole Does my Shirts
25. Lawn Boy by Gary Paulson
26-27. Choose your own Adventure by RA Montgomery
28. Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
29. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
30. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
31. The Watsons go to Birmingham 1963 by Christopher Curtis
32. The Odyssey by Homer
33. The Giver by Lois Lowry
34. The River by Gary Paulson
35. Calvin Coconut Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury
36. Percy Jackson The DemiGod Files by Rick Riordan
37. Mud Shark by Gary Paulson
38. Hatchet by Gary Paulson
39. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
40. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
41. Eagle Strike (Alex Rider) by Anthony Horowtiz
42. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
43. The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
44. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
45. I, Robot by Issac Asimov
46. Master of War- The Life of General George Thomas by Benson Borbrick
47. The Wednesday Wars by Gary something
48. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid- Dog Days by Jeff Kinney
49. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid- The Ugly Truth
50. The Cay (had to read for school and did NOT like it!!)
51. Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica
52. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
53. Foootball Hero by Tim Greene
54. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
Pretty impressive, huh? Especially the books that I couldn’t get thru!! If any of you have suggestions for them for 2011, please leave me a comment and let me know what you recommend. Obviously, they burn thru them super quick and we are always looking for something new for them to start.
So, another good year in books for me but I didn’t quite make the 43 total I read in 2009.
1. Breathless by Dean Koontz
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett*
3. Alex Cross’s Trial by James Patterson
4. Under the Dome by Stephen King*
5. Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin
6. I, Alex Cross by James Patterson
7. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick*
8. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane*
9. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
10. Horns by Joe Hill*
11. The Perfect Husband by Lisa Gardner
12 A Dark Matter by Peter Straub
13. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
14. Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen
15. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
16. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
17. The 9th Judgement by James Patterson
18. Worst Case by James Patterson
19. The Last Child by John Hart*
20. The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner
21. The Passage by Justin Cronin*
22. Deception (An Alex Deleware Novel) by Jonathan Kellerman
23. Blockade Billy by Stephen King
24. Deeper than the Dead by Tami Hoag
25. Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
26. Private by James Patterson
27. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese*
28. Room by Emma Donoghue*
29. The Long Walk by Stephen King
30. The Partner by John Grisham
31. A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter by Peter Straub
32. Who Loves you Best by Tess Stimson
33. Sh*t my Dad Says by Justin Halper*
34. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
35. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
36. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King*
** edited to add the last book i finished at 11:43pm on 12/31/10** 37. CrossFire by James Patterson.
The *’d ones were my favorites this year that I’d highly recommend.
While I had all these great ideas for an end of the year bsquared recap for today’s post, everything I’d need for it is on the external HD that is not here with me. But I am still wishing all of you, my faithful and fantastic blog stalkers, wonderful clients, lovely friends and family (and some of you fall into all the categories!) the best 2011 ever, with lots of love and health and happiness (and good books!!)
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the christmas that was 2010
Finally got around to editing and posting these (sorry for the delay if you were waiting for them but they aren’t all that exciting or anything so hopefully you won’t be terribly disappointed!). Christmas was fantastic this year and Santa was very good to all of us. Maybe that Bob had something to do with it, putting in an extra good word for the Beyrer family when he met up with Santa.
I snuck downstairs after Santa came but before the boys were up to take some pictures of all the loot. And loot there was!
Everyone left Santa notes, cookies, milk, some chocolate kisses for good measure, and carrots for the reindeer. Oh, and Timmy made a candy cane just for Santa. But that was after him saying that we couldn’t leave the Oreos out for Santa cause those are Timmy’s favorite cookie. Guess he isn’t willing to share, not even with Santa.
Of course Bob was on call. He’s decide to stay with us instead of heading back to the North Pole just yet. We’re happy he’s hanging around.
Someone was happy with his Galactic Heroes. All 9,000 of them.
After much debating, we picked up some macbooks for the boys. They use the desktop PC often for homework but it’s old and tired and filled with viruses. I’m hoping that these will last them a while and they are definitely enjoying them so far.
Some catchers gear for Patrick.
The aftermath of weeks of shopping, hours of wrapping, lists for Santa and maybe 15 minutes of opening. Santa brought the big boys the Xbox with extra controllers and a few games including Call of Duty (with instructions that they just cannot play it when Timmy’s around), he brought us all an ipad to share, and he brought Timmy a new DS and a few games for that. Not to mention the tons of jerseys, sporting goods, shirts, slippers, clothes for me and books (for John-we all have Kindles) that were opened. It was a very good Christmas and we were so happy to spend it together. The look of disbelief on the big boys faces when they opened the Xbox was the best!!
After a crazy morning of opening, sorting, eating and packing we got on the plane to Florida. As it turns out, we got out of dodge just in time before the blizzard of 2010 hit, closing the airports, roads and dumping a ton of snow all over NY. So glad we missed that. That was the biggest Christmas miracle of all!!
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bob & the big man {our elf on the shelf}
When it all goes wrong for an elf, what else to do than go straight to the top to get things straightened out.
Santa seemed very happy to see Bob (and vice-versa). He did give Bob a strongly worded lecture on proper elf ettiquette however and warned him that he’d be out of a job if he ever pulled those stunts again. Bob seemed to take it all to heart and was appropriately contrite.
He took a few minutes to whisper in Santa’s ear about what the Beyrer family wants for Christmas this year and put in an extra good word for all of us (even though we did help him down his road of debauchery a little bit!). Thanks, Bob!! And Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to everyone! I really, really loved hearing from all of you about the Bob posts and am so glad you all liked them- I think they were the most commented on posts ever in the history of the bsquared blog(via email, FB comments and FB messages and seeing blog stalkers in real life.) Sad but true. And yes, I do realize that I’m twisted, crazy, and need to get out more. But this is what happens after months of non-stop working and very little sleep. At least I made you all laugh!!You never know when/where Bob might be popping up in the future (Elves do exist outside of Christmas, ya know) so be on the lookout for some intermittent Bob during 2011. And he’ll be back next Christmas for sure (it was so fun doing it- I can’t wait until next year!) You can only imagine the looks I got from all of Santa’s helpers and the other shoppers while finishing up the Bob pictorial.
Whateva. Don’t mock the Bob, people.
I hope everyone has a lovely day whether or not you are celebrating, and are surrounded by family and friends, health and love. And pictures!!
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bob goes clean {our elf on the shelf}
Somehow, during the night Bob escaped the Lego gestapo/Bobivers travels predicament and travelled back to his roots to get himself cleaned up and back on the right path.
Nothing like a jacuzzi of holiday ornaments to make an elf feel like himself again.
And spending time with friends from the North Pole can always lift an elf’s spirits. Thumpety thump thump….
In the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
And hanging at his house (which Timmy says is “Bob’s Dreamhouse”- like in Barbie’s dreamhouse) back up in the North Pole. Hmmmm….I think Bob grew a little since he left home. Must’ve been all those sweets he was eating while he was with us. 
And in a final moment of repentance, a salute to his adopted homeland. 
The last bit of Bob’s clean up on the blog tomorrow. Hope you are all enjoying your Christmas Eve!! -
bob & punishment {our elf on a shelf}
The Lego Secret Police were on the job yesterday and saw Bob drunk driving. The found him this morning layed out next to the toilet with a bottle of asprin, and the judge at Lego court sentenced him to 1 day of community service for his actions. Maybe cause it’s his first offense? He’s so lucky he didn’t have to go to jail. Maybe he used Lindsay Lohan’s lawyer?
His sentence included working for Habitat for Humanity in Legoland and building the poor a new castle.
But then he tried to run away, even under heavy guard from the Lego Secret Police. 
These Lego guys don’t mess around. It’s like Bobivers Travels up there. 
How is Bob ever going to get out of this mess? And with only two days until Christmas!! To be continued…