muted monday: coffee break on the patio

drinking: Jittery Joe's Tanzanian Peaberry, reading: Philippa Gregory's The Other Queen.

reading together

Reading is a very big part of our life here. We have always read to the kids a lot, and Jason and I set the example of reading a variety of materials ourselves every day.


Walking into a room and finding this scene is what makes me realize that of all the things we could still improve on as parents and as a family, THIS is something we have definitely done right. The older kids read to the little ones and the little ones actually sit and listen. They look at books themselves even without being able to read yet. The older kids almost always have a book nearby, and can easily spend several hours plowing through a good read. They all love books! And the love of books and reading will allow them to learn and do anything they want to in their lives.


Hazel and Lyle here in particular have a special connection going these days. She is very willing to read to him, and I have found that her taking over his bedtime stories can give me an extra few minutes to straighten up the bedrooms before we lay down, which really helps out. It is also great when he will let someone else take care of some of his needs, because there are so many things that he just requires Mommy for. It's just a great sibling bonding time too, which I love to observe.

book 7

The book arrived in the mail on Saturday (Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa!), and this is pretty much the view we have seen of Daisy since then.



I expect her to finish tonight- it is 11 pm and her light is still on, and you can see how close she was getting when I took these pictures after dinner this evening.



I on the other hand, have just finished book 5 (Hi! I'm way behind!)- just in time for the film to begin playing at our theater this weekend. I'll probably take Daisy & Hazel to see it Sunday evening. Can't WAIT!