Ok, we have settled into a "vacation" routine despite my griping from our first week.  This week has been very long as BW is taking two summer school classes right now and is IN class from 7:30am through 5:00pm (then he has to do the assignments!) so I have realized how spoiled I usually am.  Even before seminary he has generally been home by around 4:00.  This week it is pushing (gasp!) 5:30!!!  It has been a struggle to keep from grumbling at times, but it is helping me to know that I am capable of doing weeks like this with His strenght if God wills it (though I am hoping that just b/c we both know now that I can do it doesn't mean it happens more often!).  BW & I have both been completely crashing at bedtime but it's the good kind of tired - the tired that shows you have been working hard. 

One of our highlights since vacation started is a chance to just read some great books that don't really have to do with anything in particular.  Of course, most of the books that my kids read they don't really think of as assignments because I don't tell them that they are!!!  But I decided that this would be a good time for me to just read to my kids and not have to think about how it fits into the lesson plan or what questions to ask about it or what vocabulary words they can learn from it. 

So I pulled out my copy of Honey for a Child's Heart, picked a page and started requesting books from our library's online site.   My only problem now is that they don't want to return any of them to the library!

We have had so much fun!  Girl7 is completely hooked on Beverly Clearly's Ramona books.  It has been such fun to read to her the same books that I enjoyed growing up.  I read them aloud to her even though she can read them herself (love that she still wants me to do that! and trying to enjoy it as I know it probably won't last) and then she stays up at night and reads them to herself with her booklight.  She also will just sit on the couch in the afternoon pouring over them and has many of her favorite parts memorized.  It is such a blessing to my heart to see her acting out her stories though unfortunately, she seems to enjoy mimicking Ramona's bad behavior more than her good!

As you might remember Boy6 just loves mice so I requested every book I can find that had a mouse in it.  We have found a great series that includes Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse, The Cricket in Times Square, and Tucker's Countryside.  I think he likes that the characters are predominantly male and he is now trying to find where I am reading on the page, a milestone for him.  This morning he came into bed with me with a book and wanted me to pick up where I left off when I put him to bed last night!

Girlalmost4 has been enjoying all sorts of picture books, but here are a couple of her favorites:  Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs(another book I remember from my youth), Little Critter's Read It Yourself Storybook(which she has memorized and is proud to say she can "read" herself, Milo's Hat Trick, and Bonjour, Babar: The Six Unabridged Classics by the Creator of Babar.  

BW gave me the book Becoming a Woman who Pleases God for Mother's Day and I have been using the homework/study questions for my personal study this summer while Bible Study Fellowship is on break.  It has given me a great chance to research topics in the bible, memorize scripture and studying some of the great women in the Bible.

Lastly, if anyone with the preschool through 3rd grade age is looking for a devotional for your family, I highly recommend Leading Little ones to God.  We have been using this for a few months now as our morning devotion and I have been very pleased with it.  They are short enough for even my 1yo to be able to sit with the other kids and listen. They are well written and engaging for children.  They are DOCTRINALLY sound and teach doctrine (like sin, God's law, the three persons of God and what they do, how we become children of God, how children of God should live, how to pray, even end times!) rather than just a bunch of bible stories.  It also includes a short bible passage that we have utilized to have Girl7 look up and read to us and a hymn (which we sing if it's one I know though our family is definitely NOT going to be starting a singing group anytime soon). 

We are off to the library again... Hope you are enjoying some summer reading too!

-J