I love to read. Right now I have four books sitting in a pile by my bed calling for me to spend hours investing my time in their stories. My first priority is to finish "The Help". (I can't renew that one). Oh, did I mention that I have another book waiting for me at the library? Yeah, getting my house in order has to be done so I can devote more time in this wonderful hobby. Or, I could ignore the house and just read. Hmm, that sounds way more likely and a much better choice. One of my favorite times of year is when we go home to the BV book sale. I love buying books!! I now have a problem at my house though as I no longer have room for books...guess we know what I will be buying. My mom and grandma are to blame for this habit of mine. Both of them have libraries at their house. It is great!
Anna is also an avid reader. Ever since she was a wee little one she has loved to read. I remember her being 5/6 months and her sitting in my lap as I read a few board books to her. The older she grew the more books she would want you to read. She had an uncanny attention span for reading. I would read a whole row of books to her and be done but she would want to keep going. This last year we got into reading short chapter books and I have treasured that time with her. In fact, I get a little jealous whenever someone else reads a "Young Cam Jensen" mystery to her. I anxiously await for her to be old enough to read series like "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Best Friends", "Boxcar Children", "Little House on the Praire", and so many more. When I was growing up my parents both read to me. I have wonderful memories of reading with my mom. When I was a teenager, my dad and I used to read the same book then have a discussion of what we thought of the book. I'm thankful that my parents did this with me (especially since my mom doesn't even like to read....that was love :P) I can't wait to keep up this tradition.
Matthew on the other hand does not have this uncanny attention span for reading. It has just been in recent weeks that he will sit through a short picture board book (his favorites are ones of animals). I will keep pestering him with books and hope that as he ages he will develop a love for reading. He will have to to live in our family :P
To end I wanted to put some of my favorite books in general. I know after I end I will think of many others, but oh well :P
Gerald and Piggy books by Mo Williams (they are hilarious...skip the pigeon and cat books by him though..waste of time)
Karma Wilson books....she wrote my all time favorite baby book called "Baby Cakes"
Eric Carle...Brown Bear, Brown Bear was read quite a few hundred times :P
Nate the Great
Young Cam Jensen
Chester the Cat Writes Again
Clack, Clack, Moo (I can't remember the author's name but the books she writes are hilarious!)
Berstain Bears
Franklin
Arthur
Mercer Mayer
Frank Peretti books
Tedd Dekker...his early writings
John Grisham
Laura Levine
The Princess
And the book that changed my thinking.....Ragamuffin Gospel
There are so many more that I can't even think of.....
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
8 months!
Yesterday, Oct. 16th, Matthew turned 8 months. I can't believe how quickly the time goes. At times it seems like he has been a baby for a long time. I don't say this in a negative light as I enjoy him being a baby and this time around I am treasuring the time of him being little. I thought in this blog I would write down what things Matthew has been up to in the last month.
~He has discovered how to open and close the cabinet doors. So far there have been no pinches nor has he pulled out objects in the cabinets.
~He discovered that toilet paper unrolls
~Matthew is now able to walk around while holding onto furniture
~When we are eating, Matthew thinks he should be eating too. Many Graduates have been consumed. Mone't tried Cheerios again and discovered the enjoys those as well.
~Went to his first state fair
~Went to the circus for the first time....story with that is when he saw the tigers he signed (at least we think he did) dog. we may need to work on our animals :P he enjoyed watching the animals.
~Consumed many tiny objects off the floor
~Threw a few fits over not getting his way or things being taken from him
~Trained mom that sleeping on or with her is much better than sleeping in the crib in the wee hours of the morning or during part of our afternoon nap. Give me a break, I like sleep and I want him to sleep so it works. Not that I condone this behavior, but it happens.
~Cracks himself up. He will do something then just giggle and giggle which of course means that we all giggle too :)
~Went and stays at the church nusery and loves Miss Tami!
~Got 4 new teeth
~This month was full of rashes, worries, and creams. I declare that Wednesday's child of woe is gone and blessings will take over in the area of health.
~Matthew is a little ham. He likes to "play tricks" especially while eating
~Knows how to get down the correct way with feet first and will 50% of the time. Mostly we thing going head first is way more fun!
~He loves music and started to sing along. (although we don't care for mom's singing. mom was singing to him while he was eating and he started to cry. mom stopped singing and we were fine)
I know that there are so many other things he does that I'm missing. Matthew is a wonderful little boy and I can't wait to see what the next month entails!
~He has discovered how to open and close the cabinet doors. So far there have been no pinches nor has he pulled out objects in the cabinets.
~He discovered that toilet paper unrolls
~Matthew is now able to walk around while holding onto furniture
~When we are eating, Matthew thinks he should be eating too. Many Graduates have been consumed. Mone't tried Cheerios again and discovered the enjoys those as well.
~Went to his first state fair
~Went to the circus for the first time....story with that is when he saw the tigers he signed (at least we think he did) dog. we may need to work on our animals :P he enjoyed watching the animals.
~Consumed many tiny objects off the floor
~Threw a few fits over not getting his way or things being taken from him
~Trained mom that sleeping on or with her is much better than sleeping in the crib in the wee hours of the morning or during part of our afternoon nap. Give me a break, I like sleep and I want him to sleep so it works. Not that I condone this behavior, but it happens.
~Cracks himself up. He will do something then just giggle and giggle which of course means that we all giggle too :)
~Went and stays at the church nusery and loves Miss Tami!
~Got 4 new teeth
~This month was full of rashes, worries, and creams. I declare that Wednesday's child of woe is gone and blessings will take over in the area of health.
~Matthew is a little ham. He likes to "play tricks" especially while eating
~Knows how to get down the correct way with feet first and will 50% of the time. Mostly we thing going head first is way more fun!
~He loves music and started to sing along. (although we don't care for mom's singing. mom was singing to him while he was eating and he started to cry. mom stopped singing and we were fine)
I know that there are so many other things he does that I'm missing. Matthew is a wonderful little boy and I can't wait to see what the next month entails!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
God winks
So I wasted about an hour writing and re-writing trying to come up with something to blog about. When I decided to start blogging I promised myself to make it a priority to blog once a week. It is now Thursday and I haven't come up with one interesting thing. Oh, there are several things that I eventually want to blog about but don't have enough of a passion about it right now. Back to today...after wasting that hour I decided that I needed to accomplish something since my house is a disaster zone that is filthy and I also can't park my car in the garage yet because it still has stuff that needs to be put away from when we got new carpet. So I get off the computer and go at least out to the garage to stare at what needs to be done. As I finally pick a project to work on getting back in place I get this nagging feeling that I need to search some more for my phone charger that I lost a week ago. (side note....I lose things constantly and tend to leave things wherever I last was) I scour the garage to no avail. I look at the shelf above the sink where I stick most everything else and no luck there either. I look some more in the garage. May I tell you that I have been doing this for the last few days (and needed to find it since my phone died and I have been borrowing Brads). A little voice in my head keeps telling me "look on the table". Anyone who knows me knows that my table is the biggest shelf that we own and right now the shelf is piled extraordinarly high. I sigh and lift up a paper. I had been looking for a book on the table just this morning and didn't see a phone charger. I lift one piece of paper and what do you know, there lays my phone charger. I classify this as a God wink. (I may have forgot to mention that I prayed last night for some help in finding my charger)
My grandma is the one that led me to God winks. They are those times when you can see or feel in those little ways that God loves you and wants to show you He cares for you. A few of recent God winks....I couldn't find my zoo cards and we were going to the zoo the next day. As I am trying to go to bed a thought enters my brain that they are in the stroller compartment. I would have never thought to look there. When we were searching for churches we went to LCC for the first time. I was struggling with something and the topic of the sermon that day was exactly what I needed to hear to help me. God winks can be when a person says or does something for you. It can be a beautiful sunset or a rainy day. It can be finding your favorite book on sale in a book sale. It can be so many things. The most important thing is that you stop and say "Thanks God". here's to looking foward to the next time I see a God wink.
My grandma is the one that led me to God winks. They are those times when you can see or feel in those little ways that God loves you and wants to show you He cares for you. A few of recent God winks....I couldn't find my zoo cards and we were going to the zoo the next day. As I am trying to go to bed a thought enters my brain that they are in the stroller compartment. I would have never thought to look there. When we were searching for churches we went to LCC for the first time. I was struggling with something and the topic of the sermon that day was exactly what I needed to hear to help me. God winks can be when a person says or does something for you. It can be a beautiful sunset or a rainy day. It can be finding your favorite book on sale in a book sale. It can be so many things. The most important thing is that you stop and say "Thanks God". here's to looking foward to the next time I see a God wink.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
I know everything...well almost everything
I tell Anna that I know everything. She used to believe me.
Brad and I had made a pact saying that we would try our best not to lie to our children. The majority of the time we follow through on this pact. However, I may push the limit sometimes like when I tell Anna I know everything. It all started right after she turned four. She would go get a snack of say chocolate covered almonds. When she came to where I was I would ask how the chocolate covered almonds were. She was amazed that I knew what she had eaten (I'm psychic! JK...just watch too much Psych. She would have chocolate smears on her face). Or she would read a book in her room and not notice that I peeked in and saw what book she was reading. I might come by later and ask how the book was. She had no clue how I knew. We decided that I was supermom that knew everything. As the year went on she unfortunately got smarter. She caught on to the fact that I was BSing some answers. To try and trap me she would ask questions like "What is Daddy doing right now?" I would make up an answer and she would leave me alone. Now when she asks me a question and I don't know the answer she replies with "I thought you knew everything mom." Little sass she is. I finally had to admit that I know most everything with a few exceptions.
Yesterday Anna and I were sitting in my closet as I was organizing a drawer. I asked what she wanted to talk about and she replied with "everything that I don't know". I had a sinking feeling that I would know none of the answers. For those of you that don't know questions my daughter asks here are some examples of previous questions : "do octopus have tongues?" "do snakes drink water?" "how is glass made?". She asked a few questions then Matthew woke up and she went to play with him so I was off the hook without really answering a single question.
She is a smart little cookie and if I do admit that I don't know the answer to something she makes us go look it up on the internet.
I think there is still a glimmer of believing that Mama knows most everything and I will cling to the glimmer for a while. I don't know when she will turn and believe that I know nothing, but hopefully she waits at least til the day after tomorrow.
Brad and I had made a pact saying that we would try our best not to lie to our children. The majority of the time we follow through on this pact. However, I may push the limit sometimes like when I tell Anna I know everything. It all started right after she turned four. She would go get a snack of say chocolate covered almonds. When she came to where I was I would ask how the chocolate covered almonds were. She was amazed that I knew what she had eaten (I'm psychic! JK...just watch too much Psych. She would have chocolate smears on her face). Or she would read a book in her room and not notice that I peeked in and saw what book she was reading. I might come by later and ask how the book was. She had no clue how I knew. We decided that I was supermom that knew everything. As the year went on she unfortunately got smarter. She caught on to the fact that I was BSing some answers. To try and trap me she would ask questions like "What is Daddy doing right now?" I would make up an answer and she would leave me alone. Now when she asks me a question and I don't know the answer she replies with "I thought you knew everything mom." Little sass she is. I finally had to admit that I know most everything with a few exceptions.
Yesterday Anna and I were sitting in my closet as I was organizing a drawer. I asked what she wanted to talk about and she replied with "everything that I don't know". I had a sinking feeling that I would know none of the answers. For those of you that don't know questions my daughter asks here are some examples of previous questions : "do octopus have tongues?" "do snakes drink water?" "how is glass made?". She asked a few questions then Matthew woke up and she went to play with him so I was off the hook without really answering a single question.
She is a smart little cookie and if I do admit that I don't know the answer to something she makes us go look it up on the internet.
I think there is still a glimmer of believing that Mama knows most everything and I will cling to the glimmer for a while. I don't know when she will turn and believe that I know nothing, but hopefully she waits at least til the day after tomorrow.
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