Reading

Well, today I finished ironing all those bags of fabric. Now my feet hurt. Not to mention my shoulders! Oh, well. So, really, all those millions of bags are only about 6 bags and a big box. And now they all fit into 1 big box. And, they are flat, trimmed of all the hangy stuff, and neatly put away. Not that the rest of my house looks like that now. After 3 days of this stuff, the rest of the house exploded so you know what I'll be doing all weekend! My dad is coming to see us next week and I wouldn't want him to see my home is shambles! How is it that you can be gone for 3 days and come home, and it takes a week to get everything back under control and cleaned up? Is it that you get out of the routine? Or you need a vacation from your vacation? Or is it that the kids just don't know what a toy box or trash can look like? Maybe it's the laundry basket that they can't find. Well, whatever it is, I wish it would get found. Yesterday and today, Calico Kid decided that HE wanted to iron. How funny! He just loves to be "helpful" that way. It makes me nervous, but he wants to try, so why not? Both kids are learning about how to make buns. They love the "stuffing and poking" that it takes to make them round and airless. Of course, they like to play with the bread dough anyway, since it feels so cool. I have never seen bread disappear so fast before in my life. I figure that we are averaging about 1 loaf per day. So, that requires that I make bread twice a week. I can't freeze them right now since my freezer is full, but if I make too many at once, they mold too fast. (that's because there are NO preservatives in it.) I am constantly amazed at the kids. They won't eat anything that isn't homemade! Open a box of mac-n-cheese and I hear, "Oh, that's soooo gross, Yuck, why didn't you make homemade?" Try to feed them hotdogs, "Ewww, I'm gonna be sick. We shouldn't be eating all those yucky pig hot dogs!" I love it that they want to eat healthy, but GRRRR, sometimes I just don't have time to make them a full course lunch and dinner! At least I know that they appreciate what I'm making! Calico Kid is now starting to want to read. He is trying to read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." He's doing pretty well. I think that when they get beyond the boring stuff to read, and find something that they like, they tend to want to read more. Growing up, my favorites were Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Janette Oke. Mystery Girl is heading down the same path and that pleases me. Recently, she decided to read some of my Louis L'Amour. So far, she is loving it! It satisfies the need for adventure and excitement. Some of my other favorites were Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Swiss Family Robinson, and Little House on the Prairie. Calico Kid seems to be leaning that way, so that is cool. Soon he will be reading all of the above. You see, the secret is that when they ask you what the book is about, you don't tell them. You say, "I'm not going to tell you, if you want to know, you need to read it yourself!" Then you entice them with kidnaping, cowboys, mountain men, river pirates, etc. until, they just HAVE to read it! Oh, and leave them lying around all over the place so that they have to look at the covers and wonder! The other thing is to read in front of them. Make them wonder why you like to do that so much. If they know it's super important to you and that it's something you really like to do, they will become curious and try to imitate you. It seems then, that the best way to teach you kids anything, is by example, they will do what you do, because you do it. Anyway, there's my lesson for today.