Romy Waving and Saying Bye Bye

Gwen turning 6

Books My Family Loves

We enjoy reading to our kids.  We're just now getting into chapter books with Gwen.  These books below are for young readers (5 and under) and we have loved them.  I'm picky about children's books.  I like the ones that aren't TOO wordy, and either are amusing or clever or sweet.  However, after 14,000 books on animal babies I can not bare any more of those.  Something I noticed when I compiled a list of favorites here... lots of barnyard books.  Is this because I was raised on a farm myself?  Maybe.  Here's our household list of favorites:

Mr. Brown Can Moo!  Can you? - Dr. Seuss.  I love to hear Ben do all the sounds of this book.  It makes me laugh.

The Jolly Barnyard- by Annie North Bedford, Illustrated by Tibor Gergely
A classic.  I love how the animals team up and think of ways they can give to the farmer= sweet!

Give that back, Jack! A cautionary tale. by Phil Roxbee Cox, illustrated by Jan McCafferty
A recent favorite.  It is like "the boy who cried wolf" because in the end it ends tragically with Jack getting eaten by a snake.  My kids love that.

Mr. Wishy-Washy and Mrs. Wishy-Washy by Joy Cowley
Love both of these.  Short read and they are so cute!

Sadie and the Snowman by Allen Morgan, illustrated by Brenda Clark
This is an adorable book for winter time!!

A Picture Book of Rosa Parks by David A. Adler, illustrated by Robert Casilla
I first thought this book was funny because it has illustrated pictures of the KKK in here and I thought "who in their right minds would read this to their kids right before bed?  It is scary!"  I did eventually read it to my kids and they absolutely loved it.  They found it very interesting that people treated people differently purely because of the color of skin.  In the process I was truly inspired by this American hero. (and they weren't scared of the KKK picture)

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Felicia Bond
This is the same author of "Goodnight Moon".  I love this one more because the pictures are so beautiful and show the sky getting darker and darker like in "Goodnight Moon."  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for barnyard themes.

Birds by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek
I love this book mainly because the illustrations are beautiful and the words are thoughtful.

Snowie Rolie by William Joyce
This one is different from the average book and really captured the imaginations of my kids.  It's just plain fun!

Going to Sleep on the Farm by Wendy Cheyette Lewison, pictures by Juan Wijngaard
Ok, this is in my top two for favorites.  I know, I know... a farm scene again.  These illustrations are GORGEOUS!!

Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini, illustrated by Henry Cole
My kids love this book and I catch them looking at the pictures a lot.  They can't figure how this moose uses his mustache to make a Christmas tree.

When I'm Sleepy by Jane R. Howard, illustrated by Lynne Cherry
This is the other one that is in my top two.  I love love love the illustrations.  I picked this one up in a thrift store and I'll never let it go!

Wee Little Lamb by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by John Butler
These illustrations are beautiful and this story is so sweet you just about burst.

Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt
I love this funny book!  I think it is brilliant.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Ok, this is a classic and I love it so much!!

The Big Snowball by Wendy Cheyette Lewison (same as Going To Sleep on the Farm), illustrated by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
I love this book because it has pictures for some of the words and Gwen can "help" me read.  It's a cute and amusing story.

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood
This has got to be one of the kid's favorites.  We've about worn this book out!  They think it's just hilarious and love the suspense of not knowing if the bear is coming.

In a People House by Theo. LeSieg, illustrated by Roy McKie
It's a fun book and kids learn lots of vocabulary in it.  It's fun to read.

I hope this gives you some new suggestions of books to look out for in the library.  I know my kids are enjoying reading this summer so far.  I hope yours are too!! :)  Please comment and let me know one of your family favorites.

Summertime

We are so fortunate to have an active neighborhood full of friends and fun for our kids.  

She loves drinking from adult cups.

Hum... is she thinking or just being adorable?

Gwen turns 6

Today we celebrated Gwen turning 6.  Her real birthday is Tuesday.  We did a jungle themed party and I loved it!  Lots of fun things to decorate with.  

I'll have to show you what's in my garden this year soon.  Here's the slip n slide and baby pool the kids played on.

New sand

Gwen's neighborhood friends

We hid the pinata and made them "hunt" the snake.  It was a fun pinata... but way easy to break open.

She's taught me so much about myself and I'm grateful for her.  Lord, help me guide her toward Your heart.

Summer Fun

We've been enjoying the summer with Vacation Bible School and planning for Gwen's birthday party coming up.  We decided on a jungle theme this year.  We will have the typical slip n slide and baby pool in our backyard as well as a sand box and swings available for everyone to play on.  I'm looking forward to having everyone over and having a fun time.  This time around I don't have a lot of time to make the pinata, so viola, the snake pinata was born!  Old empty wrapping paper tube, half of a soda bottle and a little hot glue later... here he is.  I thought it would be neat to have the kids hunt for the snake and then string it up.  It has gummy rope individually wrapped things in there.

Here is my Romy.  She is 9 months now and eating like crazy.  She especially likes meatloaf and green beans.  She has recently learned to crawl and so keeping things off the floor is an all day task.  She's so sweet and such a joy to everyone around her.

Riding bikes in the summer rain... they love it!

Our new "man" to keep everyone safe.

Debatable

I signed up to teach a three day debate class.  I thought it would be an interesting challenge.  Little did I know that there are many types of debate.  I did Lincoln Douglas debate in college.  This class's text is "An Introduction to Policy Debate."  A different animal indeed.  I'm scared.  I'm a novice and I'm supposed to teach them.  It's a homeschooling group called "Classical Conversations".  I've made a plan, I've read the text, made notes, asked local debate teachers for help, read their stuff and made more notes.  I figure we'll learn something in the process of all of this... and maybe it will be somewhat interesting.  If I am not cooking, cleaning, in the car or sleeping or doing laundry, I'm doing debate.

Most of all, I hope I convey that it is good to think and reason together and ultimately lead others to know Christ.