Swirling Thoughts

I have so many thoughts swirling around my head right now.  I've been reading like crazy, something I always seem to do the first of the year, and reading books for me is like drinking water:  the more I do, the more I want!  Today after lessons we piled into the van and headed to the library, where we spent over 2 hours exclaiming over finds like true bibliophiles.  The children's librarian just grinned at us; we probably are a children's librarian's dream!  Caiden and I love books better than any other thing, and Grayson and Addie are fast becoming the same way.

So I've been thinking about books so much; how I need to read all of Caiden's books for 5th grade, and I better start now because there are nearly 60 (!), not to mention all the books I want to read.  Like "Anne of Green Gables," which somehow came home with me although I really don't have time to read it.  But I miss Anne Shirley, you know?  If you love books, you'll know.

Sometimes I wish I were 5 again, a brand new student, except this time my mother would've homeschooled me (She told me she wishes she had.), and I'd have all the time Caiden does to read.  I think possibly I'd be at a point now where I wouldn't feel like there are more books I want to read than I'll live long enough to read.  Except probably I still would, if my water analogy holds true.

I paid Grayson $100 to read 100 books this school year.  He was a little reluctant at the start.  Thirty pages of a novel or a regular picture book counted towards one book, and he finished this weekend.  Somewhere around #50, he fell entirely in love with reading, and now he has his nose in one nearly as often as his brother.  He is now reading 200 page books in a couple days, absolutely devouring them.  That $100 was a very good investment.

Then Caiden pointed out that he didn't get that same incentive when he started reading (The true downside of being the first-born is mother's lack of wisdom the first time around!), so I told him he could do the same for a one-time payment.   (If I paid him $1 for every book he reads, I'd be flat broke in a month's time.)  He wrote down 100 books he's read this school year--books like "The Yearling," and historical novels from G.A. Henty, not light or easy reads, for sure--and in five minutes' time he'd earned his $100.  It has been an expensive few days, but there's nothing I'd rather spend money on than books or helping people discover a love of reading.  Now that we've started the tradition, Addie will be up for her 100 books challenge next school year.  Right now she's still at "Go Dog Go," so I'm pretty safe with the wallet for a while.

The problem with books, if there is one, is that I want to be just like the hero or heroine of every one I read.  (Except David Copperfield.  I definitely didn't want to be him.  Or Jonathan Strange.  And certainly not Mr. Norrell.)  Luckily, I'm reading Sally Clarkson's "Ministry of Motherhood" again right now, and wanting to be more like Sally is a decidedly good thing.  She inspires me on so many levels.  I'm praying one day she and I become real-life friends.  (Don't laugh.  I fervently prayed that about Lisa Whelchel, and God answered, and we are!  Crazy, huh?  So I'm holding out hope.)

So now this has muddied down into rambling, but that's very much how my brain is lately.  So many good ideas, so many fun things I want to do (Like the Fred books for math--there are three new ones for younger kids, and they are adorable!  Why on earth didn't I get to do those instead of Saxon Math? I'd probably understand math now, if I had.)  And I'm making a quilt I saw on a blog and just jumped into starting, without fully realizing that there are 252 hand-appliqued squares that comprise the blocks.  Right now my goal is to get it done before Jesus comes back.  And I guess if I don't, it doesn't matter, since I can't take it with me.  But in the meantime, it's coming out really sweet, and I already love it.  But really, who on earth has time to hand-applique a quilt?  And don't get me started on Giada Di Laurentiis' cookbook I bought and am cooking through.  It's all amazingly delicious, and I can't fathom how she is so skinny, when she cooks like that!

Rambling again.  But my mom will understand, because I get these genes from her.  Love of books, love of ideas, too many things I want to do and be.  But oh, it makes me so happy!  And now I need to close and go make dinner, because tacos make everybody else around here happy, too.

Thanks for reading, friends.