Would you like something to read?

So after reading this story about a 17 month old baby that can READ (watch the video... amazing), I am inspired and reminded of the importance of spending quality time reading books to your children.

A few of our favorites:

Fancy Nancy, by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser:



The Maggie B, by Irene Haas {this was one of my favorites as a little girl, and in fact helped inspire my daughter's name-- it has been out of print until just recently}:



Brown Bear, Brown Bear, by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle



and The Nutshell Library, by Maurice Sendak {these tiny books are great for sticking in your purse or diaper bag}:



I also need to add to my collection a few classics, like Frog and Toad are Friends, by Arnold Lobel, Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak, and Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell and Lillian Hoban.

These stories are fun to read and the illustrations are oh so charming. (In fact, I think I'd take one of everything off this list of classic children's books.)

So, what are your favorite books to read with your children?

There's no place like home...

Here's a skirt I made for Maggie today... It kind of has a Dorothy feel to it, especially with those shoes. It's one of my "nap projects", so named because I do it while Cash is napping. Anyway, it's a hit! I don't know if I'll be able to get Maggie to wear anything else for the next week. At least it'll save me a little laundry...

Baring my Soul

This morning Ben woke up with a major migraine headache along with other various ailments and so opted to stay home in bed and leave me to fend for myself with two children during church. I packed my diaper bag full of time-absorbing toys and treats and headed warily off to church.

The first half of the meeting went off without a hitch, I kept my toddlers' hands busy and their mouths full, but soon the strain of sitting relatively still and keeping voice levels to a minimum became too much for them to handle. The second half of the meeting became a wrestling match as I grabbed at Cash, who was attempting to army crawl under the rows of pews, and tried to constrain Maggie, who was doing summersaults down the length of our bench (flashing her Tinkerbell underpants along the way).

As the minutes went (slowly) by, my children's attempts to cause a raucous disturbance became collaborative. They began having screaming contests, grabbed at each other's hair and battled over who got to sit on my lap. It was during one of these "lap battles" that Maggie, trying to hoist herself up, pulled on my sweater. My button-up-the-front sweater. And it was with horror that I looked down and realized she had pulled hard enough on said sweater to unbutton most of the buttons, and pull the sweater off my shoulder and down half my arm.

And that is how I unintentionally flashed 1/3 of the congregation today. And bared myself-- body and soul.

Spring will soon be Sprung

Well, the days are at last beginning to hint at the promise of warmer weather ahead. This, my friends, is fabulous. Sorry to all those who hate me for rejoicing that the snow is gone (by all means, it can stay in the mountains as long as it wants), but I for one am ECSTATIC. Because I am typing this I'm sure we'll get a blizzard by Sunday, but I'll take my chances. My children echo me in all my sentiments regarding spring. We all have cabin fever and it's getting critical. But not today:



Other things to look forward to this month: Easter weekend we are headed to California to see family and also to take a trip to DISNEYLAND! And now that I'm writing it in this here blog, it's bound to happen because we will all hold Ben accountable if he backs out... hear that honey? I have people.

In other news, I have been having lots of fun making yo-yo's:



(get instructions here from Heather Bailey). They are so fun to make, and I have lots of plans for these guys, but in the meantime I've found that they make very cute hair accessories for Maggie:




And here's a cute picture (or two) of my kids eating popcorn- the latest snack craze in our house...



Oh, and here. In case you thought I really do HATE all things winter, we took Maggie tubing a couple of weeks ago and she LOVED it, as did I. Really.