To read or not to read...

I've been in a reading standstill the last couple months.  I've started a couple books but, aside from the books with Bryant  and the books I listen to as I run on the treadmill, I haven't finished one in ages.  I'm not sure what I've been doing with my time... let me try to remember anything valuable that I've been able to complete in my reading abstinence. 

I covered the seats on our barstools chairs! That was exciting.  You know how kids aren't always the cleanest eaters?  Well, my kids are especially messy I think.  These chairs were covered in cute stars and stripes fabric, but trust me, it wasn't cute by the time I recovered them.  Rather than have to go through that all again, we put a plastic covering over each seat as well.  Now I can wipe them clean after the kids make a mess and the fabric stays nice and lovely.  It was a very easy project that only took an hour or two.  I wish I had taken a before picture so you could see what an improvement it is, but the after shot will have to do.

I also made some chore charts for our family.  I am always making lists of what needs to be done each day.  I had the idea remembering the checklist I see on the bathroom wall or door in public bathrooms.  There is a detailed list of what needs to be done at specific times and when its done, the person checks it off or initials it.  So, I made my own checklist.  However, mine had to be cuter than those boring and plain checklists that gave me the idea.  Mine needed to be cute, to make me smile as I look at it and eager to go back to it day after day, hour after hour.   As you all know, I need all the help I can get.  So I did a scrapbook type page chore chart... here's hoping I can find someone to laminate...

I've been making a bunch of hairbows too.  A friend asked about doing them on snap clips, so I tried making a couple... I don't have a very good selection of ribbon yet for these, so they are all the same scheme.  But I like some of the things I tried... I especially like the leaf on the flower, but my favorite is the bow, I think it turned out really cute.  

And finally I have been crocheting.  In fact, for Christmas I was able to make hats for my nieces and nephews that turned out super cute! (If I do say so myself) ;)  I asked my SIL to send me a picture of them all wearing them, so hopefully I'll be able to post that soon!

So, I guess I've been doing lots of other productive things... OK, I've done some not so productive other things too.  What can I say LOST is back!!!!  I seriously love that show! If you have been watching you need to call me so we can talk about it, I think my brain exploded with last week's episode!  And it felt so good! :)

Because you just never know...

I saw this giveaway on a friend's blog and HOLY COW!  it would be so incredible to win! So I thought I'd better blog about it too!

If you want to enter the giveaway too just visit this link and leave a comment after visiting bumbleride's website (you can get there from the link provided, as well all the details of the giveaway) telling what you love about bumberide.  For 10 additional entries in the drawing, blog about it.  

Here's good to luck to us!

For the Love of Reading

My oldest boy was having a hard time adjusting to school, I was getting notes nearly everyday from the teacher at the beginning of Kindergarten.  I was at a loss of what to do, but had some recommendations from friends to try a reward system.  He and I had recently started reading together Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and that was just what I was looking for.  

We decided that if he kept his clothespin at the top of the line during school, then we would get to read together.  If he moved his clothespin, he had to go to bed at the same time as his brothers with no reading.

The system has really worked for us.  We have read a lot of books together too.  I love that it is teaching him to love reading even more than he did before.  He sometimes feels he gets picked on because he's the oldest... this provides a special "treat" for that same title.  I also love the special time it is for the two of us.  I hate it when I miss it and Daddy gets to read with him.

So far, since August, we have read 

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Holes
• The Goose Girl
• The Wizard of Oz
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

We started The Chronicles of Narnia after our Christmas vacation.  We are reading them in chronological order of the story and he is enjoying The Magician's Nephew.  We read one chapter each night and we love it!

One of his Christmas gifts was a set of Ready, Freddy! books by Abby Klein.  They are chapter books with about 90 pages about a first grader named Freddy.  My cutie has started reading these aloud to me and we're on chapter 4.  I can already see a huge improvement on his reading skills.  His dad was reading with us one afternoon and kept looking at me in shock when he would read words like "Frankenstein," "continued," and "instructed."

I can see that this skill is giving him confidence in other areas of his life too.  Reading was never my thing as a kid.  I did read The Babysitter's Club books, but that is really about it.  I love giving my boy the variety of characters to relate to and learn from.  I think he can really relate to Freddy.  Last night as we talked about the creation of Narnia, we compared it to the creation of our world by Christ and when I asked him if it sounded similar he said, "its 1 million percent the same!" with awe and wonder in his voice.  

I'm curious what do you to teach your little ones to love reading?  How has it affected their lives? Your relationships? 

The Hunger Games ****

I just read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  It was a book I saw online that sounded very interesting, but I am always worried about reading something without a recommendation for someone who knows what a prude I am. :)  Well, a friend in my ward was telling me a few days ago about this great book she read and couldn't put down... and lo and behold it was The Hunger Games.  She loaned it to me right then and there.

I read a few pages Saturday night, but was so tired I crashed soon after I started.  Sunday I picked it up again and read about 1/3 of it.  Today, I was a terrible mother and a lousy housekeeper, but I finished it!

I really liked it.  It was different from anything that I have read, though it totally fits in the same genre as The Uglies.  I cared a lot more about the main character in this than I did in Uglies though.  I think its called dystopia, kind of the opposite of utopia.  

It was written in first person and I liked that perspective.  However, it was kind of difficult for me to get around the tense it was written in.  It was all written in present tense, as if it is happening and you're getting a play by play from the narrator.  I don't know why I didn't like it, maybe because I haven't read anything written that way before, but I found it hard to enjoy the first portion of the book as I was getting used to the writing style.

The Hunger Games are a tool used by this society to keep them in check.  24 teens are put into an environment and battle each other for weeks until there is only one left.  That one is named the winner and will have a lifetime of fame and fortune.  The Games are televised 24-7 basically, so the "tributes" as the contestants are called are always monitored by cameras.  It was really easy to imagine something like this being a reality show on some twisted network like FOX or MTV.  Each tribute has a stylist and mentor (a previous Games winner) and there is an opening and closing show with fanfare to compare with the Olympics.

As with most books that I love or hate, it all comes down to characters for me.  The reason I really liked this one is that I really, really enjoyed the characters in this book.  The main character Katniss was enjoyable (though at times I wanted to knock some sense into her).  The supporting characters were my favorite though.  I loved the stylist and mentor, Kat's family and friends.  I look forward to the next books in the series for those relationships to be explored deeper.

The ending left something to be desired, but sometimes you expect that with a first book in a series.  That's not to say that I agree that we should feel that way, but author's are sometimes too unsure of their power to lure us back, I think.  It is a Young Adult book, so it doesn't delve too deeply into human nature or philosophy, I think it could be a good book for those kind of discussions, but there isn't a lot of substance in the book to go on.  A lot of the discussion would have to be what people think the people are thinking.

I give it 4 stars.  Its my kind of book and easy to read.  I am eagerly waiting for Ethan to read it so I can talk to him about it.