Books

We all enjoy reading in our family, but during pregnancy, I tend to read more than I would normally.  Maybe it's something about needing to rest my body, but not actually sleep ... Anyway, I've read two books this time around that have made a positive impact on our family's life (in my opinion) and I wanted to share a few of the ideas.

The first book, called Going Public, I read early in the summer.  Since I read it, I've recommended it to a handful of people around Madison who we know through church or other activities and most people who've taken me up on the idea of reading it end up recommending the book to someone else as well.  Anyway, the whole idea behind the book is how you as the parents can and will be the main teachers for your kids and you can use the public schools as an extended learning opportunity for your kids.  For example, a public school is a great place for kids to start trying out all of the problem solving skills we've been teaching them, especially in terms of dealing with other people.  Also, how you can keep your family's core faith values even while navigating the public school years.

Anyway, the book gave us much more confidence about choosing to send our kids to the McFarland schools.  And realistically, we're in a wonderful school district.  We certainly didn't know quite how blessed we would be 8 years ago when we bought our house, but God had a long-term plan in mind for our family even at that time :)

Another book I've enjoyed this pregnancy is called Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.  This one is about how beneficial it is for kids to experience nature and natural settings on their own terms and on a frequent basis.  Matt and I have always enjoyed being outdoors and this author simply provides research and studies to support many of the ideas we already have, such as getting outside to play in an unstructured way whenever we can.  I think we knew how important (and fun) it is for Anna and Kate to just goof off and use their imaginations outside, but now I'm a bit more intentional about it, especially if the weather isn't "ideal".  And now that they're both a bit older and more creative on their own, it's easier for me to just send them outside to play for awhile.

Enough of that, now for a few anecdotes and pictures ...

We've had our fair share of cloudy, rainy days lately, so yesterday afternoon I gave Anna and Kate a couple of plastic containers and told them to have fun outside.  They amused themselves for a good hour before coming in to change clothes :)

 

Matt recently discovered an easy and fun way to carry the girls around the yard ... on sticks.

And then he can spin them both at the same time.

 

Matt participated in his first field trip as a chaperone today to the pumpkin patch with Anna's class.  It sounds like fun was had by all :)

Finally, I think most of the kinks of sharing a room have been worked out.  Both daughters really seem to enjoy having a buddy right away in the mornings, and after several days of turning the light on promptly at 6 a.m., they are both sleeping in a bit more now ... hooray!