Full of words

It has been too long since I have written here. I have told myself too many excuses for why I haven't written. 

"My thoughts are  not grand enough." 

"I haven't gotten the time."

Then my wonderful husband gave me an amazing anniversary present, a signed copy of Letters to Lindsey by Terri Brady. 

It has reinspired me to write again. Words are powerful no matter how grandless and there's no excuse for busy.

So I plan on writing when inspired no matter how less grand my ideas may seem. Sometimes all it takes is a small word from someone to change your attitude or your life.

April's books

I just got my new installment of books in the mail. Which probably means that I need to finish last month's books. But I was so excited about them that I had to share them with you. One of my favorite authors was included!

I received    Looks like a good book. I've been enjoying reading a mix of history in with everything else.

I received    Also looks like a good book. A few of the books that I've been reading have been pulling in the power of grace and how to use it.

And the one I was so excited about    I have enjoyed every Og Mandino book I have ever read. And this is one that I haven't read yet. So excited! Now to finish this great book on The Resurrection that I've been reading.

I received all of these books through my LIFE subscription. If they sound good to you or you would like some great books like this to arrive on your doorstep, let me know and I'll tell you how to get your own subscription. Now off to do some reading.

A New Book

I know you love books as much as I do. Well...you might. I'm pretty sure that I am obsessed with books. I have only put one book down because I couldn't get through it. No matter how dumb, I have seen my way through many books.

When I heard about this new book being released in April, I got very excited.

 It's available for pre-order right now. I can't wait to read it.

I have read books by both Orrin Woodward and Oliver DeMille and have enjoyed them all. I have also heard these gentlemen speak live and in person. These two gentlemen are amazing speakers, authors, and teachers. Which probably means this is going to be an awesome book.

But I have to wait until April! How will I make it? Just kidding...I'll make it by reading many more books between now and then.

But I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves the idea of self-education. That is the main thing these two gentlemen are passionate about. Teaching people that they don't need to rely on someone else to teach them, they can start by teaching themselves.

Now to decide how many copies to get. Do I share with the hubby or get us each one?

Information Overload

I feel like my brain may explode.

I LOVE learning.

My problem is that I am obsessive compulsive about it. I can't let the information pass me by. I need to put it in a line in order to devour them one by one. Only that turns into 7 at a time.

Through my ears, I've been learning from the LIFE subscriptions that we've been receiving monthly. Lots of great stuff about how to improve my life and the life of others by improving myself. Which is something that has been trained from the beginning of time. Can't change the world without changing yourself first. So, I've been sucking in information that way...got The 7 Habits waiting to cue up later today.

Then reading...ugh...I have 3 shelves and a box filled with books that I haven't read yet. Can't count the number of books that I have read and are filling the library in my house. Oh, almost forgot, I also have a pile of books on my nightstand and I think I have two big books in my nightstand.

The books that I physically touch to read every day is the LIFE book that I'm reading. I actually am reading two of them but one of them is the re-reading. If you haven't read Resolved by Orrin Woodward, you should pick it up and see how a simple book can change your life.

I am also trying to get through a small book that I picked up from BookSneeze. Been trying to read that one since school let out in June. It's going a little faster now that I am forcing myself to open it every day. It got a little dry at one point, but I'll stop there so I don't ruin my review.

I am also working through The Power of a Praying... . Yes, all three at the same time. And the days that I don't use these prayers, I feel it. I start to feel overwhelmed and drowning. Which could be my problem. I chose to sleep in yesterday which means that I jumped up into the chaos of my life instead of a smooth ooze into the day.

I just rearranged the books on my shelf to put everything I want/need to read in one place. Just looking at all of the titles makes me hungry to open at least 10 more of them but I need to stop myself or I'll be reading so many that I won't get what I need out of these books.

Take a deep breath and just go through them one step at a time. Devour, implement, and move on to the next one. I looked at the list of books that I read or listened to so far this year and it's huge! Some years I've only read 20 books at the most. This year I've probably doubled it and the year isn't even done yet.

Does anyone else have this problem? Or is it just me? It's ok to be the only one with this problem. I love learning!

Dewey Decimal System

I have to create a whole new schedule for my Wednesdays. I used to take Miss Violet to the library for storytime in the morning, we'd come home, eat lunch, take a nap, go to school to work on kindergarten penmanship, bring all the girls home for homework, dinner, and then off again for KICK (their youth group through church). Last week was the last week until fall for both storytime and KICK.

What I thought I might try is taking all of the girls to the library at the time we would normally go for KICK. This is a huge undertaking because when my girls are all together in a place where quiet is the norm...it doesn't last long. But, if I don't try, I will never know how much they have grown. We had a friend over for a playdate as well, so it was a huge experiment that if it worked would be fantastic.

I packed my bag with colored pencils, regular pencils, sheets of paper, a sand timer, and dice. We didn't use the timer this trip but maybe next time.

The girls looked around for a bit and found some story books and movies. Then they were ready to play my game. They each took a piece of paper and a pencil and some dice (I had many different dice with many different sidedness.) I told them that they needed to roll the dice and get three numbers. Then they needed to take those numbers over to the bookshelves, read the labels at the ends of the aisles, and then read the book labels to find the number they rolled.

For instance: Miss Hazel rolled a 5 and a 2 and a 2. We went searching. We found She was very excited about that and kept racing to find more. Her friend on the other hand rolled a 5 and a 6 and a 7. She found She wasn't as excited about the game as Miss Hazel was.

The girls found some interesting books. We should have an interesting week of reading. They did get a little bummed out when they didn't find their number in the stacks. I had to explain to them that they just needed to keep rolling because sometimes the library didn't carry the book on that subject. I had to pull them away they were having so much fun. Here's a few of the books they found...

 #650  #242  #565
  #933  #232  #811
  #944  #296

Looking at these titles, I'm not sure that we'll be doing this every week. Unless we return the ones we found the week previous and got a whole new batch. I'm afraid the girls will find some really great every time we go and we'll end up with a miniature version of the public library stored at my house (not that they don't have their own library in their playroom).

I just thought it was so great getting them comfortable at the library. Showing them the abundance of information that is accessible to them. My girls LOVE learning. Especially if I can put playing in the mix as well.

I used to play this game with my hubby for our date nights. Now we're part of The Mental Fitness Challenge and a Sunday school class based on  and he's also trying to finish reading . His brain can only take so much information at a time.

Feel free to take this idea and run with it. It helps to have a 12 sided dice so that you can get into the higher numbers.Let me know how it works for you and what fun things you and your family get to learn about.

Three Cups - A book review

We've been discussing finances with the girls lately because they are having a hard time being hoarders and being greedy. I think that covers most kids in a America now a days. My kids are the Veruca Salt type of children with the temper-tantrums. They do have wish lists a mile long and have a problem letting go of anything in order to make room for the new wants.

I thought this would be the perfect book for my kids to get the basic understanding of how to best use their finances. Here's what the publishers share about the book:

Teaching children how to save, spend, and be charitable can be as simple as 1, 2, 3.

All parents want to teach their children good money habits from an early age. Many start by giving them an allowance. But it’s equally important to teach children a positive, generous attitude as they learn to use money responsibly.

Filled with warm, memorable illustrations by award-winning painter, April Willy, Three Cups is the story of one family’s unique and effective method of teaching personal financial management—and how one boy reaped first the small, then the immeasurably great rewards of the lessons he learned.

Families will be delighted with the heart-warming tale and want to integrate the three-cup system in their own children’s lives.

I read through it and enjoyed the simple story and how they shared the philosophy. I asked my 7-year-old to read it and her super-reader friend. My reader wasn't so thrilled with the story. She understood it but it didn't inspire her. She is my biggest hoarder. Her friend, on the other hand, devoured the book and loved the idea of the cups and how the boy ended up passing them on to his son.

I'm not sure that simple cups would work in my house because the girls love exploring their money and then they forget about it and the next sister claims it for her own. They all have saving accounts and a place to put their spending money. We also give them some tithes each week for church.

I was hoping that the book would be a little more inspirational and maybe place a challenge to the families reading the book. Maybe they are leaving that for the parents to fill in.

The girls enjoyed the artwork in the book helping them picture what the story was telling them. It was perfect for this age group of 6-8 year olds depending on how voracious of a reader you have.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Just In Case You Ever Wonder - a book review

Another eBook for my kids. This one was a big hit with my reader.

From the publisher: A timeless children's classic by best-selling author, Max Lucado, that reinforces the love of a parent.

There are certain words that every child longs to hear . . . affirmation of unconditional love, promises of support, and words of encouragement. Just in Case You Ever Wonder wraps your children in its tender message of love, comfort, and protection, showing them that as they grow and change, you'll always be there for them—whether it's "monsters in the closet" or hard times when other kids are mean. Beloved author, Max Lucado, helps express unconditional love for a child—simply, powerfully, and forever.

My reader has been asking to read this book every time we're in the car (which isn't often). I love that she loves this book. This girl of mine has regular nightmares about her loved ones dying and being left behind. This book speaks to her heart about losing loved ones and about loving those around you. Every time she reads it she picks a new favorite page. She even figured out the Kindle by reading this book. This is definitely a book that I am going to be keeping on hand for those moments when she feels overwhelmed by her feelings. Max Lucado really wrapped it all up in this simple book. I enjoyed reading it as much as my second grader did. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who may be having separation anxiety or be hurting the loss of a loved one. I would recommend it for all ages because it's so simple and concise. It gets right to the point and does it in a way only Max Lucado can do.

 Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

This week's library visit.

Any guess as to what the topic of the week was?

It Could Still Be a Leaf (Rookie Read-About Science)
So...there were two topics actually. Our next study with Tiny is going to be Leaves. She wants to build Emerson a leaf costume for Halloween.