Notes

I look around my home and everywhere I turn there is another sweet note, another sweet reminder that there is a little girl who loves that lives here. I LOVE MOM or I LOVE DAD is constantly written on notes and cards that are made from her enduring little hands. Beautiful fields of flowers drawn and landscaped on a paper. When I was sick a lot from this pregnancy with number three, I would awake to find a picture laid next to me of a butterfly or her and I walking together. She's only five, and her drawings are from a hand of a five year old, but to me they are but beautiful art from the hand of my child. I never worry about the use of computer paper, for to her she is coloring a masterpiece for me or her Daddy. Every picture maybe the same concept and the same color scheme, but to me they are priceless words and pictures written precisely for me. Such a beautiful display of love for another to write out your heart on a piece of white paper. But that is my girl, she loves by writing and drawing and giving. I am so thankful that I many times a day am the receiver of these sweet notes. I pray they will always continue.

Here's a teacher talking...

Being the teacher that I once was, but now continue to be in our home, summer reading is high on the agenda for summer at our house. Since our little one will be graduating K-4 tomorrow night, I am on high alert and looking for book lists of ideas to read before Kindergarten. Again, why not start at Pinterest? I found this great booklist, 100 books to read before Kindergarten from the Woodbridge Public Library in New Jersey. (http://www.woodbridge.lib.nj.us/100books.htm) The list features several sublists, for example: classic stories like The Snowy Day, one of my all time favorite story books or Corduroy, another book I remember reading with my Mom. Reading is just so important, the vocabulary boost that every child can receive just from reading simple picture books is remarkable. In one instance, my girl asked, what's dashing mean? I was able to help her figure it out by using surrounding details of the story, we talked about what handsome means and how well the man was dressed in the photo and helped her get an understanding of the word dashing.
My girl and I are making a list of all the books we are reading this summer, with the name of the book, author and date. I love lists, as you can tell and she loves getting her reading list filled in. I think we are going to do a little prize for reading 25 or 50 or 100 books, etc.
My favorite discovery so far is that there are Little House books for kids! I couldn't wait until our girl was older and start reading books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and low and behold, they have those but in a picture book form. This week we read one about the County Fair, which our daughter is going to be doing some County Fair events this summer and she got all excited about thinking about the Logan County Fair in July. I get just as excited as she does when I bring a bag home full of books we haven't read yet, even my two year old son gets excited to look at the pictures. Some will not hold his attention as long, but even just listening for awhile is so great for him.
For parents of younger children, I know I get so tired of reading the same story over and over, and it wasn't until our girl was older that I discovered at our library they even have a board book section. I would just invite you to go check out your neighborhood library. Dust off your library card or get a new one and check out books. On the agenda for summer at our house, spending as much time outside playing and reading!! I hope you and your children do the same thing!
Blessings!