They are

getting bigger and smarter.

Today I taught Caiden and Ady how to play Mancala. They loved it. It seemed so simple to teach them, why have I waited so long? What a purely enjoyable way to spend some time with one another. A blessed afternoon.

We are transitioning our reading diet around here as well. Caiden got to see the Musical Flat Stanley with his school this week. I got to browsing around and realized that this is a series with several books. Very short, early chapter books. I picked the first one up at the library today. We read maybe half of it at bedtime. What a lovely thing, to share a new story, that doesn't end in one reading. I am hoping that this will set a new trend for our reading habits as a family. I am already a sporadic bookworm and would love to pass this on to my children. As much as I adore picture books and have not regretted them one bit, I am totally excited about this new phase of reading.

(on a side note, I just finished Lost and Found by Andrew Clements..I have yet to be disappointed by his books. I listened to No Talking this last spring while on a drive, and was THOROUGHLY entertained. His book, Frindle in one of my all time favorites and my dear friends Andrea and Andrea really should add it to their favorites, since they both are such word lovers.)

Another positive literacy note this week. Ady was writing a note to her friends, Maddison and Eric and wrote her own version of from : fm I LOVE that she did that by herself, that she got the first and last sounds..yippee for Adyson! Doing kindergarten homework with her brother is paying off!

Caiden's homework upgraded this week. Now we read a beginner reader each evening as well as work on 10 site words. Today I had him practice writing his site words on the dry erase, I wanted to work with him on his letter formation while he is still interested in hearing how mommy thinks it should be done! Who knows how long he will let me teach him my way!

I also made homemade french bread and it was lovely.