Jacob's Talk

Jacob was asked to speak in primary today. For the spiritual edification of all who read this blog, I will post the text to his talk, in its entirety, below:

"One of my favorite songs is “Scripture Power.” Part of the power we get from the scriptures is to learn about important things that happened long ago. In the scriptures we can read and learn about when Baby Jesus was born and what will happen at His Second Coming. (Picture 1) Shepherds were watching their sheep when an angel came and said, “Fear not!... For unto you is born this day...a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8-9). (Picture 2) After they heard this, they hurried to go see Jesus. When I am told to do things, I also hurry to obey. The wise men also came to see Jesus after he was born. (Picture 3) They knew about prophecies in the scriptures and had seen a sign of His birth. I think the wise men were so wise because they read the scriptures. The scriptures also teach us about what will happen when Jesus comes again. (Picture 4) We can look for signs of the Second Coming and be ready to see Him, like the shepherds and the wise men. I have a testimony of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the scriptures and what I can learn about Jesus when I read them."

He, of course, carried out his speaking task marvelously.

Indoor playground!

Jeff has been busy these last couple months building some fun things for the kids in the basement. See for yourself, and if you need something fun to do in the winter, feel free to drop on by! :)


squarygoround from Jeff Hoopes on Vimeo.



squarygoroundwithdrill from Jeff Hoopes on Vimeo.



slide from Jeff Hoopes on Vimeo.

A new way to travel to Bethlehem...

Jacob has been playing with his phonics train and our Nativity set this afternoon and I had to take a picture once he combined everything into one big playset. The shepherds never made it to Bethlehem faster than they did today:

Joseph apparently made it on the same train as the shepherds, and you'll see Mary above (on the couch) standing in the fields looking for her husband. We're loving this time of year and hope you are, too!

Tithing and something cute to remember!

On Sunday we had tithing settlement with Bishop Harris and I very briefly taught Jacob about tithing before we went. He had some birthday money from a couple months ago that he paid tithing on and last night I realized that maybe he did catch something in the 5 minute lesson I did with him.

I tucked the kids in bed last night around 7:20 or so and then went to use the bathroom. When I came out Jacob was standing in the hallway holding two books:

I asked him why he was out of bed and he said he needed to show me something. He pointed at both pictures above and said, "Mom, they are both just paying their tithing!" :) Now, we have read several chapter books with our kids over the last couple years, but not Dear Mr. Henshaw yet - he just knows the picture on the cover of that one from his occasional pastime of reorganizing the chapter books shelf on our bookcase. He told me how the little girl was writing on the same paper he did the other day but the boy was paying his tithing on a different paper.  Love it!

A year ago this week...

Something I've always been grateful for (or mostly grateful for) is that I can remember things pretty vividly. I have a lot of thoughts as December begins today about the things I did the first week of December last year. Since I most likely didn't blog about any of them, I figured I could reminisce here and process the memories that way.  Without further ado, a list of the things I was doing last year:

1. My sister Erin came home to MI with us after we Thanksgivinged in Virginia. She was here for a week and it was great!  Jeff ate lots of white cheddar popcorn on the drive home from VA, I attempted to sew her a hat  out of an old sweater and then my sewing machine went crazy on us when the bobbin case kind of exploded or something. In true sister fashion I think we both almost wet our pants laughing at how the inside of that hat looked.

2. I was rehearsing for Messiah performances every other night.  Yep, doing that again this year. And it's wonderful. Tomorrow night is our last dress rehearsal before our two Ann Arbor concerts, and then next week we have three  rehearsals before our two performances in the big D.  I am a little excited to sing in Detroit, having never sung in a big city before. PS I love singing Messiah. Not only is Handel kind to altos (we do have the first line in the first chorus of the whole oratorio), it is remarkable how spiritually riveting it is for me to sing beautiful text and beautiful notes (well, they were written to be beautiful, I am making no statements about how they sound when I sing them!). I am a lucky gal.

3. I accidentally went to touch up/finish off the top of Jeff's haircut after he had done most of it and didn't bother to notice he had handed me the clippers with the guard off, ready for me to shave off his fuzzy curls that grow below where he likes them to be in the back. So he had a nice little patch of baldness somewhere in the middle of his head and then we just went all out and shaved him since we were definitely beyond and possibility of fixing things.  You'd better believe I check really closely now as to whether the guard is on or off.  I must also point out that a year ago Jeff was telling no one except 1 person (our neighbor and his office mate at school) about this. I loved him so much for that, and luckily for all of us, his hair grew back.  

4. I was taking Rebecca to the ER because we thought she swallowed a hearing aid battery.  It turns out she didn't swallow it, but I was so proud of how still she laid during her x-ray. And I learned that the UM ER staff in pediatrics is really nice, though I think I'll be alright if we don't make it there again.  

5. The same day as #4 (but of course) I was comforting my three year old Jacob who had fallen out of the cart at Sam's Club after jumping up and down excitedly after seeing a  Charlie Brown Christmas book.  I almost took him to the ER as well since I was afraid he had a concussion, but he was fine. I never want to hear the sound of a little person's body/head/whatever it was hitting the Sam's Club concrete floor again. Shudder!

6. I was remembering, as I always do this week of the year, my sweet Grandma McKoy who passed away on December 9, 2007, when Jacob was a couple months old.  Boy do I miss her.

7. I was enjoy the company of not only my sister but also David + Megan and their family since they drove up from Beavercreek for my Messiah performance and stayed for a day or so.  It was so great to have them close by for that and other occasions these past few years - and now I am missing them since they moved to California over the summer!  

8. I was having a colonoscopy a year ago this week. Everything went fine with that and the only reason I mention it here is that I was so glad Erin was here that day to help me out at the doctor while Shaunae watched my kids. I even made it to rehearsal that same night. 

9. Doing dishes.  :)  I was just thinking I better finish up this post and go do the dishes that are in my kitchen right now, and I imagine I was doing dishes at some point during this week a year ago.  

Happy Decembering and Happy Remembering!!

Visitors galore!

I can hardly believe it, but it's been six months since we moved to our current apartment. We didn't move very far, of course, but move we did!  Ever since the end of June we've been having lots of visitors, and it worked out quite splendidly to have a wee bit more space in the nick of time. It's been wonderful - wonderful enough that I wish I'd posted about all the visits right after they happened but obviously I didn't ever make time for it. So here is a quick summary of all the visits we've had!

Amy + Rick + Taylor + Dallin + Anna + Ryan + Rachel in late June

We were so lucky to be a stop on the Carter RV Adventure US Grand Tour 2011. It was so fun to have their family here for a few days here and then we tagged along when the headed down to Dayton to see David + Megan's family. Our basement can hold a lot of people, though perhaps not comfortably.

Kevin + Tess + Elisa in August (picture taking fail, at least on my part!  I know they have some on their camera of all of us but Jeff riding in a Model T. :)  But they are coming next week for Thanksgiving so I shall redeem myself then with a bounty of pictures!)

Kristin in September
Aunt Kristin came for Labor Day and we did all sorts of fun things like playing with play dough and building a Jacob Dog.

John + Myrna in October.
Our friends Janel and Derek took family pictures for us while Jeff's parents were visiting, so we got a couple shots with them and our family and one that I think is great of just them!  Excuse me while I resist the fixing mother's urge to yank Jacob's pant legs down to cover his little ankles...

A horse is a horse, of course of course.  Mr. Ed never looked so cute!  PS Go to Three Cedars Farm if you live near us. Or ask to go there if you come visit. Hours of fun for the kids.  

making dinner is a breeze when Grandma whips out a craft (or "prahject" as Jacob says) for the kids right as I start my work in the kitchen. I told her she could show up around 5 every night and that would be awesome :)  Though we'd love to have her any time, of course!

The Lisle Family in November

Mark had a residency interview here so I told Brittany they should all come visit, and they did! We had so much fun and the kids were a little bored with me today after Juliette and Vienna had headed home.  I am oh so thankful for great friends and great memories - and how wonderful that our kids can be friends, too. Here are a few pictures I snapped their last night here when the kids were all ready for bed. I think we'd all be pleased if they came here for residency :)

sorry so shadowy!

NOTE: If you don't see your picture in this blog post, never fear!  We are still accepting visitors' applications, should you wish to come visit us before we leave Michigan in 2013.  (I mis-typed that at first and it said 2019, ha ha ha!)

Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year. Rebecca wore a costume my mom made back in the day, a vintage 1980s Strawberry Shortcake get-up. My sister wore it, I wore it and two of my sister's three girls have worn it. Rebecca got second place in our ward's Halloween costume contest at the church last week, too! Jacob wore a dinosaur costume that his aunt made for him to match his cousin Peter. It got some rave reviews whenever people noticed the tail as he walked by. I had thought we had a pretty successful Halloween until last night when Jacob reminded me that we never made Halloween cookies (I had talked about it earlier in the day how we hadn't used the new Halloween sprinkles we bought a couple weeks ago) and we needed to make them right now. This was at almost 9:30 when he still wasn't asleep yet.  I'm hoping I'll remember to make them next year, we'll see!   

The kids would describe our pumpkins as follows:

• Pig-a-let
• Kermitty Frog (Jacob knows him from Sesame Street where Kermit is doing news reports and says "Hi Ho there, Kermit the(e) Frog here..." and he is sure that it is said Kermitty. I love it!) 
• the one Daddy drilled holes in for Mommy

How times have changed

How times have changed. Here is me with my older brother, sometime a long time ago...

Here we are this summer...

If you didnt notice the biggest difference, it is that my brother does not fish much anymore...

J&R comedy hour

Just a few funnies so I don't forget them!

1. All during dinner Jacob kept saying he wanted to give the Family Home Evening lesson. Here's how it went when the time came:

Jesus was just a baby, but then he growed up to be a man. Then he wanted to get baptized. (Do you know who baptized him? I asked.) Yes, it was just John the Baptism. (What did Jesus say to John?)  He said he needed to be baptized. (Jesus is a good example, isn't He?) I think we should just obey Him.

2. During dinner we were talking about the songs Jacob has been learning in Primary. I asked him if he remembered this one from February and then I began to sing:

Mom: "My life is a...(while I begin, I look over to Jacob, expecting him to continue the phrase)
Rebecca: GIFT!
Mom: Hey! You've been keeping secrets - you know the song too? That's great! 
Rebecca: "Um, yeth"
Mom: (back to the song, with Jacob helping here and there now) My life has a plan, my life has a purpose in heav'n in began, my
Rebecca: CHOICE

I am excited to see what other songs she's been keeping tucked away in her subconscious...

3. Last night I sang "Tender Shepherd" for the kids (from the stage version of Peter Pan, if you haven't seen it you are seriously missing out. Check out the Cathy Rigby version from the library, or Mary Martin if they have it, she is great also). I think if we give it a couple more nights Jacob and I will be able to sing it in a round, which will be very fun. After he began to try singing the song with me last night he said at some point: "Mom, are the shepherds just really quiet when the sheep are asleep?"  Yes, yes they are!

4. A couple weeks ago a tree fell down (thanks to whoever posted pics, it has provided hours of entertainment for my son) onto the LDS institute building on the UMich campus. Jacob saw the boarded up windows on the building last week and has been very, VERY concerned about when it will get fixed. Asking about it multiple times per day and in some cases, per hour, sort of concerned. Jeff told him he should call the Institute director (since we know him). I should have him do that shortly since the questions and concern keep increasing, it seems.

On Sunday he asked me to drive behind our church building before we left the parking lot. I obliged, having nothing better to do before going home, and he showed me a tree he saw when his Sunbeam class went outside. It is a tiny thing but leaning a little. He said "I think that it will just fall and break some church windows. I told my teachers about it during class today. Why did that other tree fall on the Institute building, Mom? See this one is just leaning too?"  Last night and today we went on a couple short walks around the neighborhood and he has been pointing out the trees that are "just leaning a little funny. See, Mom?"  All the trees by the city pool parking lot were "leaning a little funny" today as well. So now the questions are all about why the tree fell over and making sure other ones don't fall over and was it sick and how come no one took care of it and why didn't someone catch it and will they plant another one there that isn't sick. I might need to brush up on my dendrology (yep, had to look it up), or call the girl I visit teach (since she studied agribusiness at BYU) and then hand the phone to Jacob...

Anniversary Video

Our Anniversary Video
Here it is, the video documenting the goings on of July 8, 2010 to July 8, 2011. It was a great year.

Six Years

Today is our sixth anniversary. A lot can happen in six years and the usual ups and downs of life are always there, but it has been great to be on this journey together. I am so lucky I get to spend eternity with Jeff!

  

 Backing up a bit, this was 6 years and three months ago. It was cold, thus I am wearing Jeff's coat, it was Downtown Salt Lake City, and yes he is holding a ring on his finger that was about to be on my finger. Right after our carriage driver took the picture I asked Jeff "What was your hand doing up by my face? That will look so weird." Ha! 

 There are almost no cars in this parking lot. There are pretty much always cars in that parking lot, but when the temple is unexpectedly closed due to a power outage (and there are floods on the roads you use to get there), they have to turn people away, even a bus of people who came from Puerto Rico. They'll turn you away unless you were one of 4 couples scheduled to be sealed that day; they'll let you stay. You are trying to figure out what to do because maybe only your parents can attend your sealing and no one else.  A sealing by lantern light?  What about all those people who flew from so far? Mom says "we're still having a party tonight no matter what!" And Grandpa jokingly chimes in, "You could always go on the honeymoon first!" And then, a miracle: the lights come back on, right as you and your soon-to-be spouse are heading outside alone to discuss things. You hear the groaning sound behind you as the automatic doors switch back on. You have the chance to have all of those people there for your temple marriage. Your future mother in-law is crying tears of joy because all of her children will be in the temple together, just as she'd hoped. And the cloudy morning turns into a most glorious day with blue skies and plenty of sunshine!

I remember distinctly feeling that despite all of the craziness of that morning, when the lights came back on I was thinking: Light prevails. Regardless of what the world says about marriage or raising children or any of the myriad ways that Satan can attack families and couples and individuals: Light will prevail. It has prevailed, and it will continue to prevail. 

I still love my dress, the blue hydrangeas, and the yellow and blue together. I still love the temple. I especially love going with Jeff. I love that we made up acronyms for things when we were dating but we can't remember what they stand for. I love seeing Jeff so happy as he prepares for his future duties as a professor and researcher. I love our children and I love that I can just be myself around Jeff and that we can both laugh when I say really ridiculous things when I fail at trying to say something witty (he is great at it). I love the life we are building together and I'm so grateful for the amazing support he has given me, particularly in this last year.  

Happy sixth anniversary to the greatest guy I know! 

Need good ideas for read-aloud books?

I guess if I had a twitter account I would post/retweet this on there, but I just saw on PW's homeschooling site this great Community Question from one of her readers, Leah and thought I would do a blog post about it here in case any of our 2 readers was in the same predicament:

“I have a question about the read aloud time. I have two sons, ages 2 and 4, and I’d love to start a read aloud book at night, beyond our normal readings of Go Dog Go and the likes.

I’m ready to incorporate longer stories that spark their little imaginations as part of our nightly routine. Any suggestions for read aloud books for younger children? I think that my 4 year old, especially, is ready for more interesting stories, but I don’t know where to start.”

Check out the post's comments for fabulous ideas about books to read to your kids if you are in need of some new titles for summertime for your young kids!  I saw some great chapter books recommended that we've either read to our kids or loved on our own (Shel Silverstein, Roald Dahl books, Winnie the Pooh, E.B. White) as well as picture books that are great for reading aloud (The Napping House and many more!).

Rebecca's words

why all the boxes in the background, you ask? we moved in May.

About a month ago Rebecca started putting more and more words together and it has been very fun to hear what she has to say.  I thought I'd write just a few of her words down, some with translation. Jeff & I have spent many a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help her and help us help her learn how to talk better - isn't it wonderful that prayers can be answered?

• libaryaryary - library (She even said this as we drove by the building the other day on our way to storytime.)
• diosaurs - dinosaurs
• milko - milk
• noonies - noodles
• broccoli
• "Milko, heady!" - said as she handed me an almost-full gallon that she got out of the fridge
• Daddy...work! - if Jeff leaves before she gets up this is what she says to me in the morning. She is usually shaking her head. I don't know if that is her way of asking if he is not at work yet or of wishing that he was still home. A hopeful head shaking. :)  
• airplayed - airplane
• dollies
• bear
• bed
• couch
• book 
• Becca
• Brother
• she can say many of our friends' names and likes pointing out their toys/houses/cars and parents
• floor
• bus
• bike - the other day she wanted to ride Jacob's bike and so I helped her sit on it while I pushed her. She kept saying "Becca ride brother's bicycles!"
• toast pop!
• play dough
• read
• seat
• shower
• bath
• she loves singing "Happy Birthday"
• butters - peanut butter
• Holdgie Becca - "pick me up"
• herey-go Mommy
• she talks about how we went to "Brampa's House" or "Gooey's House" sometimes (as in Grandma Gooey in the CandyLand game, but it really means Grandma McKoy)
• Saturday night last week I asked her if she was excited to go to her nursery class. She said, "Becca, class. Brother - BEAMS."  That would be Sunbeams. :)  
• She ends prayers very enthusiastically: AAA-MEN!
• She will say prayers with help and she usually repeats as follows (her words in parentheses): "Dear (Dear) Heavenly (Heavdya) Father (Daddy)..."   

We love the way she says hi to us in a low tone of voice: "Hey, Daddy."

We sure love Rebecca and we're so proud of all the things she is learning and doing every day, such as canoeing on the Little Miami in Ohio:

current favorite picture of her

Recitations By Jacob

Today Jacob reads Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle while he keeps a nice beat. Rebecca looks on (and looks cute!).  And now, our feature presentation (wherein we also learn how dusty our blue recliner is).  

10 great books to read aloud!

I was a guest poster on Honeybear Lane yesterday! (Do you see what happens when you get behind in your Google Reader? You find out that something you wrote appeared on another blog a whole day after the fact...ha!)  Stop on by and read my list of ten books, some of which I already posted about here in March, along with some other great ones!  And if anyone ever wants to sit next to me and show me how to make those adorable puff quilts that Heidi of Honeybear Lane makes, I would be very much obliged.

Life is So Good and Books as Lenses

Our town and a neighboring town have a committee of librarians other individuals who choose a theme and a book to fit that theme each year. It's kind of like having a town-wide book club with events throughout the year.  I was excited to be more on the ball with this for 2010-2011 and really feel like a participant. 

image source

This year's theme was What makes life worth living? and the committee decided on the book Life is So Good: One Man's Extraordinary Journey Through the 20th Century and How He Learned to Read at Age 98 by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman to represent the theme.  I signed up to lead a book group discussion for my women's book group in May and the genre was for a biography. I knew our library would have tons of copies of this book so I chose this one after I started reading the first few chapters last November.  

Richard Glaubman
image source

Mr. Dawson died in 2001 at the tender age of 103, but I got to hear Richard Glaubman speak in January when he came to a function sponsored by the committee here.  After I read his life story, I felt that Mr. Dawson was a cherished friend of mine. I found this book to be very riveting and inspiring. It made me want to have better relationships, to simply love people, to stop judging people, to forget myself, and it made me want to learn more and to work much, much harder. 

While I could write a gushing review about this book and encourage everyone to read it (please read it!), I wanted to bring this Look at Books with Team Hoopes series to a close by simply saying that it is often the seemingly simple books we read that have the greatest effect on us and how we view the everyday. 

When we read we get a chance to see the world through a different lens, and if we allow it to persist long after we've finished another book, that lens can remain important to us and perhaps even necessary - it might color the world through our eyes a little more brightly, and it might bring different things into focus that we hadn't thought to pay as close attention to before. Each book that we read gives us another lens. We might add it to our frames today, hold it in a safe pocket until we need it most, or just keep it close to our heart. And none of us will ever have the same lens prescription needs, but these are lenses that can be swapped and shared and passed around.   

Thanks for sharing, learning, and Look-at-Books-ing with me this month!  It has been a wonderful chance to exercise my brain, to learn so many new things and to renew my dedication to instilling in my children a love for learning and reading. Happy Reading! 

Giveaway winner will be announced tomorrow on April Fools Day (no joke!). So enter, quick! 

The Reading Mother, by Strickland Gillilan

Sometimes when I am reading a book to my kids (and there are other good things that probably need doing at the same moment) I think of this poem and it reminds me that it is okay to keep reading. Adults and kids, grandparents and grandchildren, older sibling and younger sibling, dads and daughters, moms and sons, uncles and nieces...when big people and little people share books with each other, great things happen!

The poet uses mother and boy throughout this poem, but put yourself in the verse somehow to make it more meaningful.

I had a mother who read to me

Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea.

Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth;

"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays

Of ancient and gallant and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,

Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales

Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,

True to his trust till his tragic death,

Faithfulness lent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things

That wholesome life to the boy heart brings-

Stories that stir with an upward touch.

Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be --

I had a Mother who read to me.

(Strickland Gillilan)

Jim Trelease: Advocate of Reading Aloud

I first came across the name of Jim Trelease when I emailed a religion professor at BYU, Dennis Wright, to ask about his book Scripture Power. I am grateful to Dr. Wright for sharing with me that he based his developmentally appropriate practices in Scripture Power on what Trelease outlines in The Read-Aloud Handbook (TRAH). 

image source

TRAH was first published in 1982 and Trelease has since spoken all over the country & in other countries as well talking about the unmatched benefits of reading aloud to children.  TRAH has a nice, long list of books that are great read-aloud selections for kids of various ages. Jim Trelease was simply a dad who read to his two daughters, and a newspaperman who visited school classrooms on a regular basis. From his website: 

Thinking there might be a connection between being read to and how much the child wanted to read, Jim investigated to see if any research was available on the subject. Sure enough, there was lots of it— but nearly always published in education journals or written in academic language that would be foreign to the average parent or teacher.

The dearth of accessible material inspired him to write and self-publish the first edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook in 1979. "I self-published because I never thought any of the major publishers would be interested in it. At that point, 'reading aloud' was too simple and not painful enough to do the child any good. At least, that's what many educators thought," he says in hindsight. But that mindset would soon change.

Discovered accidentally by a then-fledgling literary agent named Raphael Sagalyn, the book came to the attention of Penguin USA after six other publishers turned it down. In 1982, they published an expanded edition. Touted by "Dear Abby" in February of 1983, it spent 17 weeks onThe New York Times bestseller list. (Covers and details of all U.S. and international editions can be found at Read-Aloud covers.)

By 1985, the U.S. Department of Education's Commission on Reading was calling "reading aloud to children" the single most important activity one could do to raise a reader.

Here are a few basic ideas from TRAH:

• Read to your child from day one.
• Keep reading to your child until he’s a teenager.
• Make yours a print-rich home, with books, magazines, and newspapers in every room.
• Buy your older child a book-light to stay up late reading, and say yes to one more book request from  your younger child. (But, to keep eyes healthy, kids shouldn't fall asleep with lights on in their rooms!)
• Set a good example by being an active reader yourself.

I also own one of Trelease's other books, Hey! Listen to This: Stories to Read Aloud. This one has excerpts from many classic children's tales - short teasers that get kids (or adults) listening to a great story and maybe interested in reading the book the excerpt came from.  Read All About It is Trelease's similar collection, but aimed at 5th graders to pre-teens. Take a look at Trelease's website to find author bios, book reviews, essays about reading to children, and many other great ideas that he shares. My favorite idea on there (which is also in TRAH, and is something I plan to implement when I am not a renter in a home with few walls) is the rain gutter bookshelves. 

If your library has The Read-Aloud Handbook, in any of its editions (Korean, Mandarin...), but particularly the one pictured above, I recommend picking it up. It is an easily-read, research-based book that will make you want to keep reading to your kids. And if I haven't communicated the importance of that well enough this month, Jim Trelease can pick up my slack!!

Reading website/blog recommendations

I haven't had time to peruse all of these in depth, but I wanted to share a few websites tonight that have information about reading that could be of worth to some of you.

Preschool Book Club

Jim Trelease (the renowned Champion of reading aloud to kids! Look for a post about him & his books tomorrow!)

Reading Rockets (author interviews, loads of great articles)

Reading Recovery, mentioned in a post earlier this month by Michelle

Learning to read resources from Se7en

We Give Books - For each book read online through their site, a book is donated to a charity.  Read about How it Works.


Thanks to Sara for sharing some of her finds that I added to this list! Please add any suggestions to the comments section!  

Rebecca's birthday!

Last week Rebecca turned two. It was a very fun day to celebrate with her, and my parents and sister made the trip from Virginia to join us. We had a great time together and did all sorts of fun things.  As you can tell, Jeff was the CPT of the weekend (chief picture taker).

One sea turtle cake. It looked better in person, I promise.

Two one way rides on the bus.

Three levels of seating in the Hill Auditorium during my rehearsal.  Erin is trying to point me out to Jacob in the sea of singers on stage. 

Four hundred million LEGO in one room at the 2011 Brick Bash.

Five hundred million?

Okay I can't keep up the numbers anymore...
Making pretzel snakes with grandma!

Something was funny, but I have to focus on my pretzel building, so I shall stifle my laughter!

Something was VERY funny. No stifling necessary.

Ha! Birthdays crack me up.

Pippi Longstocking hair!

I love being two!

And this is just a nice picture. 

We are so lucky that Rebecca is in our family. Her whole life people have commented on how happy she is - and it really is true. Her smile lights up my life and she just makes the world a better place. I'm excited for all that she'll do in the coming years!  Happy 2nd Birthday, Rebecca Lea!

Spiritual Literacy Sunday: Reading scriptures with children

So this post will be a simple one, just to share what we do as far as reading scriptures with our children (and what we do may or may not "work" for us, I guess it depends on the day!). Please leave your suggestions in the comments. Have you found anything that works well for your family, or was there something your parents did when you were growing up that you could share?

• We currently read one column from the Book of Mormon to our children each night before bed. It is part of our bedtime routine. There have been times when Jacob's reminded us to read when we've done things out of order, and Rebecca will bring the scriptures to me or Jeff when we are ready to read. I love that they know it is something to look forward to. 
• It is important for children to hear the language of the scriptures in their own voice, even if they can't read yet. I don't do it as often as I'd like to (let's face it, sometimes we are in a hurry), but it is great for Jacob to be able to help me read. Jeff or I will read a phrase; Jacob repeats it back. 
• Paraphrasing verses after you read them is a great way to get in the habit of really helping kids understand what you are reading.
• If you have a child named Jacob, he will request almost nightly that you read his name while you are reading scriptures. Sometimes I throw it in randomly just to see that he is listening, but it is nice how often it just shows up. :)  

Other things we've done:

• We have read a book mentioned in Gordon B. Hinckley's biography (because his mother read it with him when he was a boy) called Mother Stories from the Book of Mormon. The language is a little funny in some parts, just because it is older, but it makes the scriptures into more of a bedtime story. And we all know that kids like stories!
• We've gone through many (I'd say nearly all) of the pictures in the Gospel Art Picture Kit and the new Gospel Art Book during a post-lunch/pre-naptime routine that we called Picture Time. During dinner Jacob would talk about what he learned for Picture Time with Jeff. It worked really well last summer and fall when Jacob was more consistently napping; this is something I would like to be more diligent about now - maybe during breakfast? Picture Time was a huge success, and gave me practice in summarizing scripture stories for a toddler and a preschool-aged child.
• Reading the scripture stories books is also something my children have enjoyed. Have you listened to the Scripture Stories radio channel before?  Children can read along in your book with the children on the program.

There are so many ways to introduce young children to the scriptures, and I think as we find ways to keep it interesting and important, our children will have a greater desire to read the Bible or Book of Mormon or modern-day revelation on their own when they are able. Nothing can replace the actual scriptures, of course, and I believe this is key. To borrow a paragraph from the introductory pages of the Scripture Stories books:

This book will help you teach the scriptures. Share your testimony of the Book of Mormon [or Bible], and encourage those you teach to seek their own testimonies. Their understanding will grow as you read them the full text of their favorite stories from the Book of Mormon [or Bible] itself.

I don't want to sound like I'm ending a Church talk or something, but I sincerely hope that we can expose our children to the scriptures themselves in such a way that works for them, is developmentally appropriate, and that allows them to enlarge their understanding of the Lord's word and how it can apply to their lives today.

Please take a moment to share your suggestions!


PS Did you enter the giveaway?  I'll choose a winner on April 1st.  Odds are looking pretty good so far! :)  

Sharing What We Read

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Has anyone else read Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell? Blink was a book I'd heard of in my qualitative evaluation class in grad school and that I put on my birthday suggestions list later on that year. I got it from Jeff as a gift and read it in a couple of days while using blessed public transportation to get to work outside Washington, D.C. 

I bring up this book to illustrate this point: we weren't reading Blink as part of our coursework, but our professor shared some of the book with us because it fit in well with our discussion about evaluation. The key word here is that he shared. Since reading Blink I've also read The Tipping Point and Outliers, all by Gladwell. I do not think I would have been as compelled to read any of these three books without my professor's recommendation of Blink based on how it related to my evaluation course. They have been terribly popular books, to be sure, but I do not only read books because they are popular (off-topic: I've still never read anything from the vampire romance genre). A good discussion sharing what we've recently read goes a long way, even if the discussion doesn't involve a recommendation. This is not to say that I love everything about Gladwell's books. Even with all his examples I wasn't sure I totally agreed with his theses in each book. And that's fine. I can't recall how glowing of a recommendation my professor gave for Blink, but I appreciated that he took the time to have a discussion with our class about something he found interesting and which was not required reading. It piqued my interest, and I sought to read the same book. This is only one example of when I have followed through on reading a book after someone talked with me about it.

In response to a shameless mass e-mail I sent out begging asking for guest posts for this little blog series, I received this note from my graduate committee chair, Dr. David Williams. I had wanted to write something about this very subject but wasn't sure how I would approach it. I got his e-mail last week and he hit the nail on the head. (I should point out that he is the aforementioned professor.)

In my own experience, I have parents who love to read and who have inspired me at different phases of my life to read things I didn't have to read for school or work. Then my wife and I got into a reading group that has done the same thing for over 20 years. We've enjoyed the social dimension of reading a book so we could talk about it with thoughtful people. I find that our grandchildren like to talk about what they are reading too. I guess your blog is another indication of this human tendency- it is great to snuggle down and read but its also very rewarding to discuss what we've read with others. 

So there you have it - we love discussing what we read, and we love reading what we discuss.  And what an awesome idea to have a reading group not just of women (the only kind I've ever been a part of), but of friends and couples and neighbors!

Share what you read - tell your mom about it when you call home on Sunday, post it on your Facebook wall, keep track of what you read on your blog, tell your spouse or best friend or significant other what you read when you see them next, talk to your kids or your nieces and nephews about what you're reading, and so on and so forth. And be sure you're listening when others share with you!