more from home

Here is Stockton being a teacher:

He was so cute.  Brynn and I had to sit on the "rug" while he read us a zoo book that he had made.  We had to be quiet and raise our hands and if we were good we were given the "star reader" award.

This is what lunch-time looks like at our house:

We lay out books and I read to the kids while they eat.  I've been doing this for years and it works well for us.  They actually eat and we get some valuable reading time in.  Sometimes it's a pain because I'm trying to get stuff done and they literally will not eat unless I'm reading to them.  But it's mostly a good thing, and I really enjoy doing this.  We've read a lot of books over the years, thanks to my mom, who gifts the kids books each month, and the library.  I hope that my kids grow up to be book-lovers.

Stockton and Brynn each have a set of these read-to-me books.  They like to read them together and it's fun for them because they can read them all on their own.  At the top of each page is a symbol and they push the same symbol on the little tablet thing and it reads the page to them, then chimes when it's time to turn the page.

Brynn and I had some free time together one afternoon so we did a Valentine's project.  I cut out strips of purple, pink, and red paper then let her have the scissors to cut them down even smaller.  

We cut out a big white heart and she used the glue to glue her little papers to the heart.  

All finished!

Brynn likes to wear my church shoes around.  She calls them my "meeting shoes" and says, "I'm going to a meeting, I'll be right back."

Scooter races in the house.  

Yes, sometimes we resort to bringing outside toys in, just to escape the winter doldrums.

This is Justin getting the kids all riled up before bed.  

They love it.

And I do too, really.

And I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that it's good for kids to rough-house with their dads.

Maybe someday Stockton will love wood-working as much as Justin.  If he takes the time, he can learn a lot from his dad, who always has a project going and many more on his to-do list.

a funny little tidbit: Stockton calls the headphones/ear protectors "ear muskes."  We're not sure where he got that, but he's said it so long that is has stuck and now the rest of us call them that as well!