Secure and Comfortable

 She now has her own room, she has a new bed.  A snowstorm is raging outside, and she is contentedly reading until bedtime.

I wish I could always make her feel as secure and comfortable as she feels right now.

1000 Words

 1000 Words

Dr. Suess Week

 The kiddos just finished up a special Read Across America Dr. Suess week at school and every day was inspired by a different Dr. Suess book.

Monday, they wore Red and/or Blue for 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Tuesday they work stripes and/or hats for The Cat in the Hat

Wednesday was Miss-Match Day... which I don't know what book that was based on... they all seem a little miss-matched to me.  Even Mama participated in this day!

Thursday was Mustache day for The Lorax

What a fun way to kick off the month of March... and just two more weeks until Spring Break!

Little Readers

 My oldest and youngest readers...

Corsets

I started reading the Little House on the Prairie books to my children last summer.  We don't read it every night because some nights Hubby reads Magic Tree House books... but we are currently on "Little Town on the Prairie"

It is fun to re-read these as a grown woman, and as a mother.

Here was a excerpt from last night's reading that I enjoyed:

"I'm glad I don't have to wear corsets yet," said Carrie.

"Be glad while you can be," said Laura.  "You'll have to wear them pretty soon."  Her corsets were a sad affliction to her, from the time she put them on in the morning until she took them off at night.  But when girls pinned up their hair and wore skirts down to their shoetops, they must wear corsets.

"You should wear hem all night," Ma said.  Mary did, but Laura could not bear at night the torment of the steels that would not let her draw a deep breath.  Always before she could get to sleep, she had to take off her corsets.

"What your figure will be, goodness knows," Ma warned her.  "When I was married, your Pa could span my waist with his two hands."

"He can't now," Laura answered, a little saucily, "And he seems to like you."

"You must not be saucy, Laura," Ma reproved her, but Ma's cheeks flushed pink and she could not help smiling.

------------------

I'm very grateful to have a wonderful husband who "likes me" these 9 years later when my waist is not the same width as it was when we were married.  Through all the (literal) ins and outs of five children and four pregnancies and the fitness efforts in between, I am incredibly grateful for my Hubby who loves me through it all.

And I am grateful that I do not feel pressure to wear corsets to bed.

Story Time

Hunter gets read a lot of stories...

 

Minds Blown!

This summer, as the kids lay in bed and are settling down and falling asleep, I've been reading "Little House in the Big Woods" to them.  It has been so much to read the book as an adult, which I enjoyed as a child.

The kids love to be read to at night (and of course, all research shows how important this is).  Well, I decided the kids are old enough to listen to a book that I want to read as opposed to three to five small picture books night after night.

They don't understand everything that I read -- let's be honest, as Laura describes how Pa makes bullets or how Ma makes cheese and butter, I don't understand everything that I read.

Well, we finished "Little House in the Big Woods," and went to the library to check out, "Little House on the Prairie," which we started last night.

The kids were listening relatively well as Laura, Mary, Pa, Ma, and Baby Carrie packed up and said good-bye to their relatives, and crossed the Mississippi River on the frozen ice as they set off to Indian Country.  They listened really well until the Ingalls crossed into Minnesota.

Minnesota took the cake...

Tracey: We've been to Minnesota.

Mama:  Yes we have.

Howard:  That's a different Minnesota.

Mama:  No, Buddy, that's the same Minnesota that we went through.

Caroline:  We went to Minnesota -- but they went to a different Minnesota.

...

and that is is the conversation we circled around for over ten minutes.

The twins especially could not comprehend how the Ingalls went to the same Minnesota that we visited.

Tracey could grasp the concept that it was the same Minnesota, but that they traveled a long time ago in a covered wagon, on a dirt road, and we traveled in a suburban on highways, but those sweet twins could not handle this information.

Caroline kept asking if the dirt road had lots of construction on it.  Howard kept insisting it was a different Minnesota.

Minds officially blown!

 

Just Yesterday

Lee Lee is loving the extra attention of having Grammie and Papa here for a few days.  One of her favorite activities is walking over to the bookshelf, choosing a book, taking it to Papa, sitting in his lap and contentedly turning the pages of the book while he reads to her.  At the end of the book, she will climb down, and walk to the bookshelf for another book, and repeat the routine.

Papa loves the time with her, and commented how it feels like just yesterday when Caroline used to consistently do the same thing.

Mom Fail

A few mornings ago, I made the kids scrambled eggs and we had little cubes of ham that were supposed to be used in salads, but they needed to be used, so I cut them up a little more and added them to the scrambled eggs.  My kids LOVED this breakfast, and I was tickled by the fact that they were eating eggs and ham.

So a few mornings later, I made eggs and ham again, but added a little green food coloring to it.  I was so excited to serve them green eggs and ham for breakfast... but there was one oversight on my part.

Apparently we've never read the book Green Eggs and Ham to our kids.  We don't even own it.

So, these pictures were taken of Tracey as she was running away from the table, crying, and (literally) saying, "I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM!"

 

Overnight

I really do feel like my children keep growing up overnight...

Special Times

This week, Memaw and Peepaw (Hubby's parents) are here and it is so much fun to watch their relationship with our children continue to grow.

1000 Words

1000 Words

The Humor

Its hard for me to admit, just because of the title (and language) but I am currently reading the following book:

 ... and you know what?  I am really enjoying this book.

I don't think I would have liked this book when Tracey was a toddler, not that she didn't have her hard moments... but I just didn't need this kind of humor.  Now, with two two-year-olds, one of whom is a little man, I am really enjoying the humor of this book.

If you're the mother of a toddler and wanting to laugh at the situations you find yourself in... but you can't because then your child will do it all the time, then I'd recommend this book... I think.  I've only read about twenty pages, but I've really liked the ten pages.

Here's an excerpt from page 15:

"How Do I Become a Better Parent?
Who cares? Right now your job as a parent is to survive.  You are in the trenches with a psychopath.  Remember that.  This isn't the time to play Holier Than Thou Parent.  it's time to make it to the next day." 

Oh, the humor.  I appreciate the humor.

 

3 Toucans

Tracey Ann has a book called something like The Watering Hole (that may or may not be the exact title.  Its a story about different quantities of animals meeting at the watering hole and the book counts from 1-10.  

The pictures of the animals are gorgeous even though not all the animals 1-10 live in the same climates to meet at the same watering hole.  Anyway, the incompatibility of fauna is not my main issue with the book... but instead, that the book lists 3 Toucans.

My 3 year old really likes this book, and she's heard it enough times that, coupled with the pictures and her, albeit, unsteady counting abilities, she likes to read the book independently.  She does very well except for those confounded 3 Toucans.

Why couldn't they have listed 2 Toucans?  The words sound alike and sort of go together.  But no... the books reads, "2 Tigers (turn the page) 3 Toucans."  My precious little girl consistently reads, "2 Tigers (turn the page) 2 Threecans," and, frankly, I can't blame her.

The book also prints the numbers and the animals exactly like that, 3 Toucans... so, she isn't even given the chance to observe that Three Toucans actually has different letters in place than Two Toucans would.

As I type all of this, as an educator, I really don't like the way the book is written... it doesn't set a child up for success with numbers or animals.  But, as a mother, it hits me that soon my little girl will read the book correctly, and while I will be so proud of her, it will tug at my heart strings to hear her successfully read, "3 Toucans" instead of the adorable and honest, "2 Threecans."

 

With Daddy

Daddy has his own way of doing everything with the kids and that's what makes time with him so special for our little ones.  Even story time has its own special changes when its story time with Daddy.

 

We Just Like To Read

Well, Mama... we just like to read, and we didn't want to bother you, so we helped ourselves to some books...

... and we make a really good team and are just trying to be more independent... aren't you proud of us?