Young Writers

So today I wanted to talk about writing just a little.  My boys are so creative and have wonderful imaginations.  At this stage in their lives their physical writing ability (spelling, grammar, penmanship) does not match what they want to get onto the paper.  So I often act as a scribe.  The boys tell me what to write and then carefully check over my work to make sure they are satisfied.  It is a wonderful experience for us both.

TJ has written two stories recently that he wanted to share with everyone.  He was a little nervous because his younger brother didn't have anything nice to say about the stories. Brothers don't always get along as you might know. I suggested that perhaps a different audience would appreciate his writing.

So here they are.  I'm so proud and can't wait to hear more of what my boys have to write.
PLEASE feel free to make some comments or suggestions below.

Ninjas to the Rescue

One day the Air Pirates and the Nexo Knights were both making plans to attack each other, though neither group knew this. The Nexo Knights finished their plan first because it was so simple. They made it simple so that the Pirates would still be planning while the Knights attacked.

The Knights attacked from all directions and at very high speed. The Air Pirates took a while to figure out what was going on. They were under attack by the Nexo Knights!

The Nexo Knights had a high advantage over the pirates because they started to attack first. But soon the Air Pirates were winning. So far the Nexo Knights weren't being beaten too hard, but the Air Pirates were still winning. The Pirates' plan was to force the Knights off the battlement of their plane onto the wing. It was just like walking the plank, only they called it walking the wing. The Nexo Knights soon figured this out and tried to do the same to the Pirates, but the Pirates already knew their plan and were ready.

The Nexo Knights needed help but no one else knew about their battle. They needed help quickly. Fortunately the Ninjas of Ninjago were flying overhead on their dragons. They swooped down. Some of them swooped down and jumped off their dragons to take care of the injured Knights. They took those Knights back home to take care of them. Others stayed on their dragons to knock the Air Pirates off their fighting planks.

The Ninja were at the rescue site. Most of the Nexo Knights survived. Only one died but most made it. The Ninja went home and the Knights took over their plane and flew home too.

And that is how the Nexo Knights and Ninja Became friends.

The End

The Competition

One day the Nexo Knights and the Ninjas wanted to have a competition. Jay suggested they have a competition to see who was the most powerful. So they decided that at different times they would separately attack an evil fortress. They would determine the winner by who defeated more bad guys in less time.

Since it was Jays idea, the Ninjas attacked first. A few weeks later the Nexo Knights attacked a different evil fortress. During both of their battles the groups needed help from the others to help them win. In the end they all leanred that the secret is team work.

The End

Joy and Delight

Do you ever catch yourself in a moment and quickly think to yourself  "this moment in time is important.  Remember it."?

Maybe it was because I was more aware, or looking for those opportunities.  Perhaps God just knew I really needed to see glimpses of Him today.  I was blessed to share in some delightful moments with my boys today.

Early this morning we heard the recycling truck pulling into our lane way.  Little JJ gave me a look of surprise when he heard the noise.  He pointed to the window and I carried him over to see.  His whole face lit up as he pointed to the front yard, '"Tractor", he squeaks.  "Yes my darling you see the recycling truck," I reply.  JJ cranes his neck to watch the big truck pass up the laneway and back again.  He waves good bye and we go about our morning.  In my heart I swell with joy because I just got to share in my son's first time pointing out and calling to a truck. While many other children his age are being bustled off to daycare, I am so blessed to be allowed the true gift of being home with my children.

At breakfast time there are some left over treats from an event the night before.  JJ grabs a powdered donut off the counter and takes a bit.  His eyes light up, his little tongue sticks out. "Ohh!" he says jus before cramming the rest of it into his mouth. I realize that I have never shared in or savoured the moment when someone tastes a new food for the first time.  Of course I've fed my boys new foods as babies and such over the years, but today my mind took a video of that moment and it brought me joy.

This afternoon we were all in the yard playing.  MJ stands on the edge of a big puddle on the driveway.  He dips his toe in and I watch as the drops make beautiful circle patterns in the sunlight.  He dips his toe in again, and suddenly dashes off across the puddle, leaping in pure joy.  He is a child, playing out side just as he should be.  Thank you God for allowing me to be here in this moment.

No need to pull out the iphone for photos.  These delightful joy-filled moments are now forever in my heart in my memories.

No matter what your circumstances are, or what is going on in your life.  Please try to be present and aware, allowing these small little moments to surprise you.  Finding joy in the every day may just fill you and refresh you enough to keep going.

Our favourite Authors for young children

Not sure if anyone noticed or not but I haven't posted a new blog for a bit.  Our family was sick last weekend.  After that life got busy and I had little motivation to blog.  One thing about me is that I post blogs when I feel compelled to share something.  This blog is very personal. I don't make any money from it and I share what is relevant to our family. I won't make any excused for missing a week or anything like that.  I'm just a real mom doing my best!

I did however want to check in with everyone about the READ WHAT YOU"VE GOT CHALLENGE!!!

How are you doing? Any progress is to be commended.  My boys are loving this and we are reading about 18 books a week!!

There are so many amazing books on our shelves.  Sometimes it feels like getting together with an old friend when you pull out a familiar story.  There are a few authors that we seem to have quite a number of their books.  So my children must love them

Anything by Robert Munsch is a hit with my boys

Stan and Jan Bernstain have so many great topic they cover

We don't have all the books but we do have a whole lot and lots of audio one too!!

This week we read about 15 books.

This week's absolute Favourite was "The Book With No Pictures".  TJ excitedly read to his brother and MJ started to copy words from it in the night.

Please do share with us your favourite authors and be sure to join us on FB for more lively discussions.

Our Favourite Baby Books

As part of our "Read What You've Got" challenge, we are also reading through all the board books in the house. Our little toddler just loves to be read to, especially on the potty. We have a lot of board books so I didn't bother keeping track of them all.

Some of our favourite authors are:
Al Perkins
Dr. Seuss
Sandra Boynton
Karen Katz

All of these books our family favourites.  We have read them so often over the last few years that everyone in the family has them memorized.

Can I say that board books make excellent readers for children who are learning to read.  The words and sentences are simple enough for young readers.  Chances are that they have memorized the books too and that does help them know what is coming next.  My boys love reading to their little brother!!

MJ falls asleep reading often. Love it!

This week we also read more than 20 books
Among our favourites are:

The Penguins of Madagascar
The Bearnestain Bears
Ninjago comic
Little House in the Big Woods

Be sure to comment on how you are doing with the challenge and share with us your favourite baby books!!

Click Here for more on our "Read What You've Got" challenge

Let the Challenge Begin!!!

I'm so excited!!! Let's Read What We've Got

I am so happy you have decided to make an attempt to read through all the books in your own home library.  I have nothing against the library.  In fact we purged a great deal of our own books so that we didn't have to store them all and could make use of the library system.  It's just very difficult to take our busy toddler there right now and I wanted to actually be accountable to someone and read what we had at home for a while.

So will you join us?

Don't worry about the details. (If you want to check out our first post here).  Just read, share, and enjoy.  My family is going to do our very best to read all our book. We are going to record what we've read and share some of our favourites with you.

I am still looking for guest posts if you are interested in sharing anything literature based with my readers. If you are interested in offering a giveaway please contact me too!

Oh I also have some great tips from some of my FB friends to share with you...

• One family has done this type of challenge personally before by taking all the books and putting them in a pile and then after reading each one either putting it on the keep shelf or the donate box.

• Another family passes on some of their books after they have read them.

• Oh another great idea I saw was that one of my friends (with a huge and amazing library) labels the shelves so books are easier to locate.

Do you have any awesome suggestions to share with us??

Be sure to join us on FB and share your ideas in the comments below.