What We're Reading

We are big readers in this house.  Well, I used to be anyway, before I became responsible for the well- being of a house and family, but I still manage to ignore duty for a while and read every now and then.  I thought I'd start sharing the books we've been reading around here in case anyone is looking for book ideas for themselves or their kids.  So, hopefully this will be a regular feature of the blog.  We'll see.  I'm clearly not a consistent blogger.

Maren (10) -
Just as a side note, I no longer read everything that my daughter reads because a) she's a faster reader than I am and I can't keep up, b) I trust her to put books down that she feels uncomfortable with because she has done so several times, and c) some of the books she likes to read are just lame.  So not all of these books have been approved by me.  This is just what she's reading right now.

She just finished up the "Keys to the Kingdom" series by Garth Nix and proclaimed it "awesome".  So I guess that means she liked it.

She's read the first three Emily Windsnap books and liked them a lot.

She read "The Secret Zoo" by Bryan Chick and said it was good.

She's rereading "The Candy Shop Wars" by Brandon Mull.

Joshua (8) -
Joshua rarely gives me his opinions of the books he reads.  If he finishes them, I figure he liked them, since there are many books he doesn't finish because they just don't keep his attention.

Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures #9 created by Jeff Brown, written by Josh Greenhut

Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball by David Adler

The Encyclopedia Brown series - These books I know he really liked because he keeps asking to get more at the library, and because we caught him reading them under his blankets with a flashlight a couple of times with these ones (which we pretend to be mad about, but really we're thinking "yay! he's reading!")

And he just finished the 3rd Harry Potter, but we won't let him read the 4th one, because we're just mean like that.  Actually, it's because he gets nightmares easily and we're pretty sure he can't handle it yet.


current favorite picture books of the 5 and 3 year old:

The Seven Silly Eaters

Too Many Frogs

Any of the Pete the Cat books (nathan especially loves these)

Abiyoyo

Me  -

I'm currently reading "Pathfinder" by Orson Scott Card.  One of my friends on Goodreads said she liked it more than Enders' Game, and that seemed so ridiculous to me that I thought I should see if she was right.  I will let you know.

I'm also reading "The God who Weeps" by Terryl and Fiona Givens.  This is my non-ficiont reading for the time being.

Don't forget your brain!

(clearly this is a chicken with gears working hard in the brain, right?
No? Ah well, I tried)

It is easy to see from the flood of exercise pins showing up on my pinterest feed that it is the new year.  It's resolution time and for many that means that we are committing to reclaim our younger, fitter bodies with new exercise and diet plans.  Now, I don't have anything against people putting a reasonable amount of time and effort into being healthy, but let's not forget that women are more than just a body. I need to set a good example for my daughter and make sure she is aware of that, but that's a whole 'nother post.

So where are the pins describing how to keep our brains in shape? That seems important too.  I couldn't find any, so I had to come up with my own routine.  Now clearly I'm not a brain expert, but here are some things I'm going to do this year to help strengthen my thinker:

Brain Workout, to be repeated daily:
First, eat healthy foods and get lots of sleep, because both effect cognitive ability

warm-up:
meditation - it's important to take time away from noise and distractions and just think about things.  For me, this includes scripture study and prayers.
Listen to good music.

cardio:
Do something that makes you use your problem solving skills, such as puzzles - either word or jigsaw variety.  
Also, trying to figure out how to get kids to do their chores, not pee on the floor, and help siblings get along all seem like good brain workouts.
Take time to plan creative homeschool lessons
Practice a musical instrument

strength training:
Do some non-fiction reading.
Learn a new skill from the internet or a book.
Write

cool down:
Read a good fiction book 

Do you have any other ideas of how to keep a happy healthy brain?

Top 10 posts of 2012

2012 was a great year for our family - a busy year of lots of change, but still great.

It was also a good year for the blog, although I feel this blog still hasn't completely decided what it wants to be.  Does it want to be a homeschooling blog?  Does it want to be a journal for our family activities?  I don't know.  It kind of does a bit of everything for now.  I love having a place to share what we're doing in our family, and I love getting comments (hint, hint) and I love when new friends come and join and get some ideas for things they want to do with their families.

So thanks all for reading and for being my friend.  It's great to feel support from people, especially you loved ones who are far away.

And just for fun, here are the 10 posts from 2012 that received the most pageviews:

10. Subtraction - Borrowing
This was a fun way I taught Joshua about breaking up a 10 when subtracting.  It's funny, because it's only been recently that this has received many hits.  Thanks Pinterest people!

9. Family Economy
This was the last time my sister posted.  I sure love her and her ideas.

8.  Math Pop (or making flashcards fun)
We've done this a couple of times this year.  Still fun.

7. Chicken Birthday Party
I can see some of the phrases people search for which land them on my blog, and it always makes me smile when I see "Chicken birthday party" show up. So glad there are other people out there wanting to throw a chicken party, and glad I can help in their party preparations.

6.  "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" Book Activity
Who wouldn't love catching food falling from the sky?

5.  Summer Reading Chart 2012
I love summer reading.  We didn't do as well during and shortly after the move.  It was a crazy summer.

4.  Knight Birthday Party

3.  Halloween Activities
I guess really this post was just a repost of posts from 2011, so it probably shouldn't count, but it sure received a bunch of hits this year. I'm sure the #11 post is crying fowl right now, feeling upset it was left off the list. (Did you like that malaprop, cousin Zina? I left it in just for you, although it also makes me smile since it fits with the chicken theme of the blog.)

2.  Peter Pan Birthday Party

1.  Dolphin Birthday Party

We sure love a good party around here.

Here's hoping 2013 is full of learning and growth, family memories and happy gatherings, and is a great year for all of us.