Father's Day Books to Read Out Loud

This week just couldn't be complete without reading some books about daddies.  Then we'll all be in the right mood to celebrate on Sunday.  So here are the Father's Day children's books we're thinking about trying:

	"A Perfect Father's Day" by Eve Bunting looks like a fun (and funny) book.  Dad's having a nice relaxing day when his daughter decides to make Father's Day perfect by taking him to do all of his "favorite" things.
	"I Love My Daddy" by Sebastien Braun looks really sweet and simple, talking all about what Daddy's do for their kids to show they love them.
	"Froggy's Day with Dad" by Jonathan London is definitely on our list because we really like all the Froggy books.
	"Because Your Daddy Loves You" by Andrew Clements is a book I want to read over and over.  Not necessarily for the kids, but to remind myself as a parent how to react when shoes get lost and messes are made.  Plus the pictures are super cute.
	"Hooray for Dads!" with Spongebob MUST be read and reread, because we love all things Spongebob.
	"How to Talk to Dads" by Alec Greven looks interesting.  I don't know if it's one my younger kids will like, but judging from the description I think the rest of us are thoroughly going to enjoy it.
	"Arthur and the 1001 Dads" by Marc Brown includes another one of our favorite characters, and Arthur books are always perfect to have my eight year old read to his younger siblings.

I think these books will really put us in daddy-appreciation mode, or at the very least keep us happily entertained for awhile. 

Printable Sight Words Flashcards

Now that the school year is almost over I want to make sure my kindergartener has all of his sight words memorized.  I think in his class they call them "popcorn words" or something like that, but I call them sight words because you know them by sight not by sounding them out. 

All the words included can be seen in the preview image - I think it's a good amount (although, I think the english language is easier if you just memorize all words since most of them don't follow the phonics rules).

Free Printable Magnetic Bookmarks

Motivating my kids to keep up their reading in the summer usually has to include bribes, because days are sunny and pools are calling.  So while I was perusing for bribes I came across these super adorable magnetic bookmarks on Disney's Family Fun site.

Aren't they the cutest?!  You can download them for free at family.go.com, and then when you're done with that, you can get our magnetic owl bookmarks for free too!  

Because if you have multiple kids, you're going to need multiple options, and everyone is going to need at least two.

Happy summer reading!  (I'm thinking about laminating these so that we can read in the pool......oh, but then I'd have to laminate our book pages too....my plan may possibly be flawed.)

Thoughts on Reading….

I finally read The Hunger Games. I was very “meh” about the whole thing, and didn’t really care about anyone. I thought I would be outraged or at least care about the ending, based solely on things I read about the series when the last book came out, but I just couldn’t bring myself to love them.  INDIFFERENCE… IT’S WHAT I DO BEST.

I also just finished reading Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer. I’m undecided about him as an author, so I have to read something else he wrote before I come to any conclusion. The only reason I haven’t written him off completely at this point is because he was actually in jail. I don’t know what for, and I don’t want to know, because if it’s for something relatively boring, like tax evasion, or money laundering, it’s not going to help his case.  I’ve made up a very exciting scenario about him IN MY HEAD, and really, that’s what matters.

I read blogs in much the same way that I read books. I don’t have a favorite blogger, and I don’t know that I would recommend anyone as a must read. Sure, there are great blogs about all sorts of great things, but I find that you have to read a lot of them, all the time, and that your interests change, because, well, sometimes I don’t care about things, and sometimes I do.

Take for example right now. Right now I am on a tiny bedroom inspiration kick, because we plan on splitting one of the master bedrooms into two. Which means that I am very specifically looking for information that is relevant to my home, space, and budget.  My house is not big enough for pottery barn anything. Oh, a girl can fantasize and dream, but I think that if you asked Pottery Barn to pretty please do a narrow bedroom that sleeps two and here are your dimensions, they would laugh you back into the cereal box you live in.

I also have been reading all sorts of health books. This is not to say that I am healthy person, because I’m pretty sure that we have disputed that fact soundly, but it is to say that I like to know HOW THINGS WORK. And I like to be able to explain things to my children.

(We had a very interesting week once where we discussed VOLUME and had to do scientific experiments to show how it works, all because someone wanted to know WHY their sauce went UP when their chicken nugget went DOWN. Of course, being my children, we also had to discuss that VOLUME can also refer to the amount of space and height you have in your hair on a good day.)

I started a book by Janet Evanovich, and haven’t been able to get past page 62. I just think, that if you haven’t been able to get my attention by page 62, will you ever succeed?

That, oddly enough, is exactly how I also decided which blogs to unsubscribe from in my reader. I don’t have time to keep giving you chances to wow me. And yes, I want to be wowed. Not all the time, not even most of the time. But I’d say that 25% of the time, I want to be moved to something, be it inspiring, thought provoking, gut wrenching, or what have you.

Of course, I realize that my blog, in and of itself, is not completely amazing all of the time, but I have to tell you a secret called, “sometimes I read my archives and laugh.” This is partly because I amuse myself and partly because I think I’m awesome. Again, not ALL of the time, but enough that I would admit to having a blog of my own accord.

(What, you think that I just volunteer that information to everyone? Heck no!)

HERE’S A LESSON FOR YOU: Not everyone reads blogs, not everyone reads YOUR blog, and a lot of the people you meet JUST DON’T CARE.  If you do happen to meet someone, AND you get around to talking about blogging, THEN you can give yourself a little shout out.  But unless you’re at at blogging conference, or social media event, it’s really, REALLY annoying for you to say, “Hi. My name is  _______. Do you read my blog?” And yes, I am totally giving you this observation from personal experience.

I think it would also be important to note, that just because *I* have a blog, and just because *you* have a blog, doesn’t make us friends. Again, this is another important distinction that I have observed in my own life. Sometimes I feel like saying, I JUST DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR DUMB LIFE, but I don’t, because that would be rude. But I do think it in my head…. often.

Of course, I assume that most everyone feels the same way I do about things, and am usually in some kind of state of disbelief when people deny the words that I speak. You don’t had to admit it out loud, but *I* know, and *you* know that I’m right…. It’s one of my worst qualities, being right all the time.

I am going to start reading a new book tomorrow. It’s called The Hellfire Club, and I picked it because a review on the back flap said, “This is the scariest, goriest, creepiest, sickest, most twisted novel I’ve read in over ten years. It made me afraid to go to sleep at night and I loved every word.”  I’m really excited to see where it goes, because it sounds amazing. You know, if you’re into that kind of thing. (Which I totally am.)

Hopefully, I won’t be disappointed.

How do you decide who to read next?