September Reading

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I love children's books. I want to own all of them, I want to read all of them (over and over and over), I want to jump into the pictures and live in them. I know, it's a little over-the-top. I love the illustrations, the colors, the simplicity and the innocence I find in children's books. I thought blogging about what we read each month would be a great way for me to keep a list of the books I really liked. So, here is what I read with my littles in September. This is not a list of everything we read, but it's a list of the ones I would love to check out again. Or buy. 

I'm not even a cat person, and I fell in love with this book. It is precious. PRESH-US. 

Sweet little book about a boy and his dad and their Friday tradition.

This is one I will probably buy. It's about a little girl who spends the day helping her grandmother do the laundry, with lye soap and all. Something about a granddaughter/grandmother story just sucks me right in. 

I'll admit. This was not one of my favorites (it was kinda sad) but my 6-year-old and 9-year-old really liked it. I was surprised, really. 

Loved it. It's on my Amazon wish list. 

Little House on the Prairie is ALWAYS a winner. 

The illustrations were beautiful and the little girl reminded me so much of Rachel. Very sweet story.

Oldie but a goodie.

I remember my mom reading this one to me and my brother. I think I've read this one 7,864 times to my own kids. It's a classic. And so much better than the movie. 

And lastly, Ferdinand. This is another one that I have read more times than I can count. I love it every time. If I could, I would adopt Ferdinand and spend the days smelling the flowers right alongside him. 

So, those are a few of the books we read this month. I try to read each one at least 3 times before we take them back to the library. I love reading with my babes. Love it. 

What are some of your favorite children's books? I would love to know!

We moved, started another school year, and various ramblings.

Our summer break is over and school is back in session! But before I get into all that, WE MOVED!!! 3 years ago we packed up our little house, 4 kids, and Henry Bob and we moved to a much larger home, because that is what I thought we needed.  We kept our little house and God sent to us, the best tenants we could ever have asked for. They were an answer to prayer.  18 months after we moved in, we welcomed baby #5 and I thought this was the house that we would live in forever. But the newness wore off, and I missed the closeness that comes with a small home. I felt like my kids were strung all over the house (mostly upstairs), and I missed those earlier days in our little matchbox home. I also felt like I had become a slave to the house. It was impossible for me to keep it picked up and organized the way I liked it, and it seemed that when I finally got things in order downstairs, the upstairs was a disaster. You know the rest....I would spend a few days getting the upstairs back in shape and the downstairs was chaos. I do not do well with chaos. I need things to be where they are supposed to be and it was a losing battle in that huge house. So we began to pray about what to do, and just a few short weeks later our renters notified us that they were moving out. Fast forward to Labor Day weekend and we were moving out of the "big boy" and back to our sweet little house. We had to do A LOT of paring down. We had a garage sale and made many trips to Goodwill, but we did it! We moved back in with 5 kids and yes, Henry Bob. And 3 days later we started our new school year. Because we like to do things THE HARD WAY. 

This year, I have a 9th grader, 7th grader, 3rd grader, Kindergartener, and a 20-month-old curly-headed little tyrant I mean helper. But not. 

Here are a few thoughts I've had over the past 2 weeks. 

~ Why am I doing this?
~ I don't want to do this.
~ Am I cheating them out of the public school experience?
~ God, why did you ask me to do this?
~ Could he possibly scream any louder?
~ I cannot believe it is only 10:30 a.m.
~ I could still totally enroll these kids in school.
~Why am I doing this?
~ I do NOT want to read all 900 pages of that Dr. Seuss book,     please, please, please do not pick that one.

It was a tough few days getting started, but then I was reminded of this verse:

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." 
Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

And I love what Elisabeth Elliot said, "Don't dig up in doubt what you planted in faith." 

I'm excited about this school year, it's always hard jumping back in to a routine, but I'm looking forward to seeing how God moves in our family.