{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

         Every Thursday, at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

                                                                         

                                

{pretty}

Craig has been growing hydroponic veggies since January.  Its his latest hobby. I love sending the kids out to pick me fresh tomatoes or peppers.  Earlier in the year we had spinach, broccoli, lettuce and squash.

Nothing is more pretty than seeing Grandbaby #8 with Grandma, who visits almost daily to see her brood.

                                                {happy}

Emma is ALWAYS happy (except when she's hungry, of course).  She's already 10 weeks old.

Catherine loves holding her baby sister!

Happiness is playing with the water hose at Grandma's.  No need for swim suits here.  They just use Grandpa's old tee shirts. 

{funny}

I was teasing Craig when I took this picture.  I told him that he's officially an old man.  Not because he turned 40 this past December, but because he was wearing a white undershirt all day.  Only old men wear white undershirts around the house.  Meanwhile, I've been running around in my Birkenstocks.  Does that make me his old lady??

Anna with her best friend on her birthday.  I know there's nothing funny about casts.  Thankfully its off.  The funny part is that it took us 3 days before taking her to the ER.  She didn't complain and said she was only sore.  Turns out her "sprain" was a small break.  

{real}

Summer time is when I move furniture around.  This summer I'm relocating our books and turning the school room into the boys' bedroom.  The six girls will be divided among the 3 bedrooms upstairs.  I'm starting to feel like the old woman in the shoe!

Kolbe reading to his brother Vincent.  Its ironic that Curious George is being read to Vincent as he's probably related to that troublesome monkey!!  I love that Kolbe doesn't realize he's practicing his reading when he reads to Vincent.  Life is busy and some days the only way I know Kolbe has practiced his reading and Vincent has been read to is by pairing them up.

To see some more {pretty, happy, funny, real} posts, visit Rosie at Like Mother, Like Daughter!!

Wordless Wednesday

*How my house looks like on a good day of homeschooling (good day defined as everyone getting ALL their school work done). Just trying to "keep it real!" ;-)

Today was a good day!!

Summer Reading with Half Price Books

Do you know about the summer reading program at Half Price Books? For every reading log turned it, a child receives a $3 gift certificate with no minimum purchase necessary. Up to one log per week can be turned in. Logs are available at the front counter or at the website (look under Downloads). They ask that the child either read or be read to 15 minutes a day.

We've been enjoying our weekly outings to Half Price Books. Isabelle has even gotten books on her 6th grade reading list like The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Caddie Woodlawn, and Understood Betsy. Best of all, all those books were less than $3!!!

Its no secret I love books and Half Price books is my favorite hangout. I'm so happy I'm walking out of there without spending a dime.

Okay, maybe a few dimes or so have been spent.

Happy reading!

Monday Update

Well, I kept some of my resolutions. I read to Catherine.

Kolbe and Sophia listened to Ferdinand before the telephone interrupted our reading. I forgot to go back and finish our pile of books. *sigh*

I'll share a funny Catherine story. After the rest of the kids had gone to bed, I sat to read to Catherine. She had spent the afternoon at my mom-in-law's and had taken a long, late nap so she was WIDE awake at bedtime.

I read her books that were probably above her level but she likes the pictures and sits still. I read Millions of Cats, Pretzel, The Gingerbread Boy and The Little Red Hen. I enjoy reading these over little board books.

Anyways, the last book was The Little Red Hen. When we got to the end she asked me why the dog was so sad .......

Catherine: Why is the dog so sad?
Me: Why is he?

Catherine: Why is he sad?
Me: Because the Little Red Hen wouldn't let him eat the cake.

Catherine (pausing): I'll give him cake. I'll give cake for the dog. Why does he want to be so mean? I'll give cake for the dog. Can I give him cake?

Obviously, Catherine didn't get the lesson the Little Red Hen was trying to teach!! I wonder if the dog, cat, and mouse got the lesson. I feel like the Little Red Hen might be my kindred spirit. ;-)

*****************************************
Today was the first day of swim team for our neighborhood. Kolbe will be on the team for the 1st time this year. And Anna has said she wants to try some swim meets!! We'll see if she follows through on her own! I promise to resist the urge to push her off the block. LOL!!

My scale wasn't nice to me this morning. I'll blame it on traveling and not drinking enough water. I wonder if I can join swim team?

Books on the Brain

Since we're talking about books, just thought I'd share my recent EBAY win. I'm feeling a little bit giddy. These books arrived this morning. And I just won another bid today for another 24 Landmark children's history books.

I'm spending a good part of my day reorganizing my bookshelves. I might even take a peek or two at some of these books.

Next week I'm heading down to the main library for their annual mega book sale. Is there a novena or patron saint of books I should look into? LOL!

I guess gone are the days of searching for books at Half Price and other used book shops. I've entered a new era.

To make it even more fun, I've got Craig addicted on my EBAY bids. Is it because he likes history books so much? Nope. LOL!!!!

Its because he likes to use this feature on EBAY. Anytime I REALLY want to win a bid he sets up this sniper for me. So far, no losses!! He gets a thrill out of stealing a bid from under someone's nose in the last 4 milliseconds. I don't care how it happens, so long as it does!! LOL!

Okay, gotta go organize my books. ;-)

Chinese Culture Reading Booklist

Children’s Chinese Stories and Tales

*The Five Chinese Brothers (Claire Bishop)
*The Story About Ping (Marjorie Flack)
*Empty Pot (Demi)
*Tikki Tikki Tembo (Arlene Mosel)
*Beyond the Great Mountains: A Visual Poem About China (Ed Young)
*Dim Sum for Everyone (Grace Lin)
*Daisy Comes Home (Jan Brett)
*Fortune Cookie Fortunes (Grace Lin)
*The City of Dragons (Laurence Yep)
*Carlos Digs to China (Jan Stevens)
*Marco Polo: Overland to Medieval China (Clint Twist)
*Imperial China-From the Creators of the Magic School Bus (Cole)
*The Yangtze (Julia Waterlow)
*The Panda Book (Levine)
A Little Tiger in the Chinese Night (Song Nan Zhang)
The Children of China: an Artist's Journey (Song Nan Zhang)
Yikang's Day: From Dawn to Dusk in a Chinese Village (Sungwan So)
Awakening the Dragon: The dragon Boat Festival (Arlene Chan)
Celebrating Chinese Year (Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith)
Chin Chiang and the Dragon's Dance (Ian Wallace)
Dragonwings (Laurence Yep)
The Legend of the Panda (Linda Granfield)
Marco Polo: A Journey through China (Fiona MacDonald)
The Silk Route - 7,000 miles of history (retold by John S. Major)
Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts Festivals of China (Stepanchuk & Wong)
Moon Festival (Ching Yeung Russell)
Red Eggs & Dragon Boats (Carol Stepanchuk)
Three Monks, No Water (Ting-Xing Ye)
The Warlord's Puzzle (Virginia Pilegard) -Famous story of Tanagrams

Some Books by Demi:
*Kites : Magic Wishes That Fly Up to The Sky
*The Emperor’s New Clothes: A Tale Set in China
*Dragons and Fantastic Creatures
*The Greatest Treasure

* These are the books we’ve actually read and enjoyed. The others sound wonderful but were not available at our library. I hope to find The Warlord’s Puzzle since it’s a story about tanagrams. I also didn't include the books that looked more like reference books. I tried to stay with living books, stories and tales. But the resource books were very helpful. We just enjoyed the story/picture books more.

In January we will be traveling to ...... Turkey!!