Reading is Fundamental

My boys never loved to read. Or rather, they never really loved to read the way I wanted them to read. You know, sit on the couch, get out a story, snuggle with mom and READ. Nope. Library Time? Nope. Time for Twos, Time for Threes, Book Fair? Nope. They would pick out books like, "101 Knock Knock Jokes." Or "How to Draw Superman." My oldest son really had a great love for the Children's Encyclopedia, and marked each page that he read with a post it note. I think he filled the entire book with post-its - but to me it was just not the same.

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Imagine my surprise when I finally got one who likes to READ. I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I would have no readers - being all beaten down by the years of chasing people down and forcing them to sit and read with me - I never even tried with this girl of mine. And then one day, I found her curled up on the couch, "reading" to some dolls. What? What?? Could it be???

My girl LOVES to read. Snuggles on the couch, looks at all the pictures, "reads" the whole story - and lets me read it to her!

Sometimes she is a little over ambitious with the titles she selects. She gets that from her mom.

Eventually though, she hunkers down with something age appropriate and starts telling a story.

And guess what? I think her love of books is starting to be contagious. I couldn't be more thrilled. You go girl!

Spring .. Sprang .. Sprung

It isn't officially Spring just yet, but it sure feels like it. Makes a person want to go outside and jump up and down.

Siblings who have bickered and snickered at each other all winter are

starting to make friends again.

Things are just all around better.

We are pulling out the shorts, taking off our shoes and jumping for joy.

Spring - we are ready for you!
We'll be right here waiting for you to arrive - tomorrow!

Mmmm ... FREE Coffee !!

I love freebies. I love coffee. Stands to reason that free coffee makes me happy like crazy!



Enjoy!

Snapshots of a Crazy Life

Another thing that has been keeping me too busy to blog? Photography class! I was so excited to learn there was a class I could take online. It was highly recommended by a good friend, and let me tell you, I have enjoyed it even more than I expected. Karen Russell is FABOO. I finally learned how to use all the functions on my camera. Not saying I am ready for the big time or anything, but now I have a jumping off place and I could not be happier.

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And while *I* have been very happy, there have been a few people around the house who have not been QUITE as happy. You see, the assignments posted each week generally started with the phrase, "Find a cooperative subject ... " Um, can we define "cooperative" ?

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Working on lighting one week, I got this face:

Working on camera settings another week, I got this face:

And I don't even know WHAT I was working on here, but I think you get the idea:

Every now and then, I'd be surprised by someone who WANTED to cooperate.


I'm almost at the end of the 9 week session and I am no longer begging for cooperative subjects for my class. I'm just shooting for the pleasure of it. I am pretty confident that most days I will still have to beg, cajole and barter for eye contact. But guess what? When I get it, I'll be ready!