As Random as a MacGyver Style Stethoscope

So how's twenty-ten starting for you? Good?Great?Happy?Blah?Busy?Boring? Boring.....I wonder if I remember that feeling.

So far so good here. I generally don't do resolutions but this year I'd like to exercise more, (original, yeah, I know!) read more for myself and not nag so much. I'll take it one day at a time, grateful that each day is a chance to start anew, being the mom/wife/teacher/homemaker/daughter/sister/woman that I want to be.

This morning I took my first step-aerobics class in ages and you and your next belly laugh wish there was a video camera in there. I was SO off, turning the wrong way, even tripping over my step a couple times. It was fun but more so funny, made me grateful that I have a sense of humor about myself. Checking off an extra hour of exercise after which my Pilates class (who made fun of my beet red face) felt very good.

We eased into school this afternoon. I figured writing 'thank you' and 'love, Nathan' a bunch of times was a good way for my son to learn the importance of thanking loved ones for gifts as well as a lesson in handwriting. It was just the right amount of time for both of our attention spans, while my baby colored on the stool next to him. (Take that to mean both she sat on the stool coloring and she colored on the stool.)

Our next craft I had seen in a magazine and wanted to see if it would really work. We took a paper towel tube, wrapped it in aluminum foil, added some stickers for fun and held it to each other's chests. Sure enough it worked; it was much fainter that the real thing but you could most definitely hear the beat. Then we were to run in place for one minute and observe the difference. Really fun! If we ever need a stethoscope in a pinch, MacGyver style (I know I'm totally dating myself here) now we've got that in reserve!

Another random note: We've found the Three Cousins Detective Club series by Elsbeth Campbell Murphy and they are a hit! I've been reading them every day, my son really loves to be read to, and they are fun. Neither one of us wants to stop reading until they've solved their case! Along with another series we found at the library, Nate the Great, we may never make it off the couch this winter!
It is true READING IS FUN!

More about our current schooling choices to follow shortly.

I Finally Finished a Book!!!

The pile of books to be read (or reread) on my night stand keeps growing and finally in the last month or so I have been able to slice some reading (for me) time back into my crazy life. My friend Mary Ostyn's book (it's the cute pink one on top) A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family was one of the first on my rather long list. She's the author of the blog Owlhaven but you probably know that already!

It is a fabulous parenting book full of really sound advice. I say this not because she goes into many researched and clinical details as other parenting books I've read, but really because she doesn't. Her advice is real, mom to mom, down to earth and enjoyable to read. The theme that spoke most to me was to focus on the stuff that matters most (to me.)

Mary's words flow nicely and the information she shares is obviously very personal and gained from her own parenting experiences. Even the times when someone (who shall not be named) kept stealing my bookmarks and I would read the same sentence or paragraph over and over, it was fine. I'm learning how God works and there was a reason I needed to read these particular passages over and over and really, I was delighted to do it! I mean how could I not be...

"Kids grow fine sharing rooms, and God does fine at stretching budgets. In fact, I suspect He takes delight in surprising us with just how well He can provide." pg 35

Each section of the book has a sense of warmth and care for the children of the family, while keeping things practical for mom and fun for all. Obviously my two kids puts me nowhere near having a large family and I don't have some of the unique challenges that comes with it. Even still, I have taken much from the book and never felt excluded because of my small family size. It was nice to gain an insight into what happens in large families. In fact I think no matter the number in your family, creating a unique bond with each child and having more time to do it is something we all are looking for.

I'm very eager to read and start tasting recipes from her new book Family Feasts for $75 a Week which is now available! My plan is to start in September when Mary is doing her grocery challenge and I'll tell you about all the yumminess! After all if a Mom of ten recommends it, I'm at least going to try it out for size!

The Gift of Life

This morning I finished reading the last two chapters of Charlotte's Web to the kids. Even though my son had seen the movie awhile back, I was kind of dreading the ending, as you know, she dies.

As I read the paragraph, I could see the words, "Charlotte died" several lines below and my eyes got tears in them. Now I may need to preface this a bit because my son usually sits in a comfortable slouch while we read, asking what words mean or to see if there is a picture on that page. When I read those words I saw him straighten upright. "Mommy," he inquired softly, "why did Charlotte have to die?" Knowing this answer won't last forever I told him that is how God made living things.

He seemed alright with that answer as we kept reading, and he seemed especially pleased that three of Charlotte's babies stayed to befriend Wilbur. At the end when we talked about the book, I was all choked up - hello - I new what was going to happen!! And he was fine... alas, I've got to grow up!

In the words of a pretty smart spider, "We're born, we live a little while, we die." What a big gift this small life is in the greater scheme of things. Giving or doing for others is perhaps the biggest thing we can do with the small time we have. The gift of friendship, what a beautiful thing!

Reading

Sending a big thank you to all who left awesome comments about what story and chapter books you enjoy reading with/to your kids.

I wish we had more time in the day for reading because so many of the suggestions took me back to my childhood. I started looking them all up on amazon to order a bunch. Then I got smart and looked up which ones my library had and put a hold on some of them.

We picked a few up today and began reading A Bear Called Paddington. On deck are Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Children's Classics to Read Aloud.

He LOVED reading the chapters of Paddington (one yesterday and one today) and is looking forward to another installment tomorrow. So, I thank you for your suggestions and am SO excited to begin the next step in our reading adventure!

Slurp, slurp...

My son loves his Tag reading system that we got him for Christmas. He plays with is multiple times a day.

The other day, I saw the cord that downloads the books onto the pen and remembered that I could sync it up to see his progress. I did and according to them his reading comprehension is on a 1st grade level. My 4 year old.

By no means am I trying to brag or boast in my son, or what I've done with him at all but this did surprise me at first. Now that I've thought about it though it really doesn't. (Also, I don't really know what they are basing it off of either, it will ask him questions, but who knows really.)

In the reading department, my kids are polar opposites. From a young age (6 months) my son would sit on my lap for as many books as I could read, my daughter, on the other hand, has just now upped her window from about 5 seconds to maybe 3 minutes.

Usually on days we come back from the library with new books my son and I will sit and read for my daughter's entire nap 1-1.5 hours.

This week he found the Little Bill book series (he knows the tv show very well) and even though the content is a bit old for him they separate each couple pages into chapters and have more words than pictures.

I've been reading many places lately about people who read chapter books to their young children and I really want to fit this in. If anyone has any suggestions about good ones I'd love to hear them. I was think about CS Lewis but would love some other suggestions.

He just eats up reading and stories so I might as well give the sponge something to soak up!