100 Books, Round 2 (books 11-18)

We’ve been working through more of our 100 books this week.  Last Monday, the girls were off school for President’s Day, so we ventured to the public library and came home with 35 books (not all of them on the list!).

Now we’ve read

1. Are You My Mother? (not pictured)

2.  Diary of a Worm (Molly’s favorite out of this group)

3.  An Egg is Quiet (JA’s favorite)

4. Gossie

5.  Black and White

6.  We the Kids

7.  What do We do with Boo Hoo Baby?

8. The Very Hungary Caterpillar (my favorite for 2 reasons — it’s inscribed to me by Eric Carle, a treasured possession, and Molly read it, saying “callipetter” the whole time)

And just in case you think reading is a calm, sweet time at our house (it is sometimes), sometimes it looks more like this:

And sometimes, it’s way too crazy to catch a picture of it.

100 Best Books

Scholastic recently released a list of the 100 best books for children, so I thought it would be fun if our family made it a goal of reading them all.  They’re for ages 0-3, 4-7. 8-10, and 11+, so some may have to wait a little while until the girls are older.

We started on Saturday, which was cold and rainy, so sitting down by the fire to read seemed like a perfect way to while away the afternoon.  We happen to own some of the books, so we grabbed 10 off the bookshelf and got started.

Some of our favorite board books made the list, which was fun because we hadn’t read them in a while and it gave Molly a chance to take a turn with reading and feel confident.  She loved reading Moo, Baa, La La La, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and Goodnight Gorilla.

We also got to pull out our Mo Willems signed copy of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, and the French copy of Madeline we picked up as a souvenir in Paris this time last year.  (I love the way books function as records of memory in our house!) And we started, but didn’t finish The House at Pooh Corner, so we’ll spend the next few nights working on finishing it.

Jane Anne excitedly worked on a list to look for at the library next week, so we’ll have some new ones (and old friends we don’t own).  We also have a few more waiting on our own shelves.

I’m looking forward to a new reading adventure!

Daddy Daughter Dinner and Dance

Bill took the girls to our church’s annual Daddy Daughter Dinner and Dance — they had a great time getting dressed up, dancing (as well Church of Christers do), and being with good friends, both little and big.

Molly, choosing to march to the beat of her own drummer*, wore her house shoes to the dance.

*Random fact — did you know that phrase is a reference to a quote from Thoreau’s Walden?

“If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away.”

Seeing Red

Bill and I have never been big on going out on Valentine’s day — too many crowds, etc — so we usually end up having a quiet dinner at home with the girls.

This year, I decided to start a new tradition: a red meal.

Spagetti, strawberries, jello, and Izze.

Lots of fun with all three of my Valentines!