This Year I Will...

Ok time for some literary New Year Resolutions.  A few of these may sound familiar, but hey if at first you don't succeed...pour a glass of wine and read again.

1.  As my nephew Lil G would say, I need to get off the videos.  I find myself lamenting my lack of reading time, yet spend an insane amount of time in front of some sort of screen.  This year I am going to try and set out at least an hour if I can most days to read.  This shouldn't be hard as I love love love reading (obviously), but I just need to keep better rack of my time.

2.  I need to find all of my books.  This year I have bought, been given, or been loaned a ton of books.  The problem is I'm not exactly sure where I stashed most of them (this would not be a problem if I had more book shelves my sweet Hubbin).  So I need to scour the house and find all of these cool books and read them.

3.  I want to find and read some of the older books that I have discovered through various means.  To often my selections are based on what is screaming at me from the book store shelf and I know there are a ton of older books that I am dying to discover out there so I need to make a conserted effort to find them.

This is what I am going to attempt in my reading life this year...we will see how it goes.  Let me know what your literary resolution is.  Happy Reading Everybody!

On Solid Ground Again

I made it home finally!  I have a 102 degree temp, an ear infection, and I miss my boys like crazy, but I am home!  I had a great trip filled with laughing, playing, and reading.  Here are some of the highlights of my Chicago trip.

Lil G is reading now!!!!  I am a super super proud aunt.  I got to snuggle with him while he read to me from his level 5 book.  He could also read some of the basic words from the aquarium signs, which showed him an actual application of his reading skills, which made him very excited and me want to cry with proud happiness.

Blackbeard

L Bub is also very into books, any time a grown up sits down for any reason he runs to his book shelf, grabs a book and sits on your lap all expectant.  He can point out pictures knows characters.  It's really cool to see a kid so young, so into books.

Curious George

The biggest part was our trip to one of my favorite places in the world, the Shedd Aquarium!  I was trying to temper my expectations of a 2 and 6 year old's reactions.  I figured the older one would have fun for a while, and the younger one would not understand what was going on, but I was pleasantly surprised when both boys were over the moon excited the whole time.  Lil G (6) was able to read and learn about the fish and animals and would gently lead his little brother around by the hand.  L Bub is apparently a fan of fish and would sit on the floor and wouldn't leave until he had poinred out EVERY fish in EVERY tank :-)  We hit the gift shop in the end for some toys and books, which made me the favorite, but the whole experience was just awesome.

National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of the Ocean

My last day with the boys was marked by reading, playing, egg dying and the aquisition of even more books from Nana (my Mamma).  It was a lot of fun to spoil the boys, and being a bit spoiled by Mamma myself was very cool.

Shedd Aquarium

I love visiting with my family, I love traveling, I love watching the little boys grow up and explore their world, I love reading with them to expand their horizons and I can't wait to do it all again.  Happy Reading Everybody! (All the books I put in the blog are ones we got on this trip)

Catching Up

Hello All and welcome to my BIRTHDAY MONTH!  The month where the whole world does what I say, sends me books and leaves me alone so I can read my books.  Of course there is more to life then my birthday (or so they tell me) so this post is all about catching up so we can start our month of awesome!  I made it back from my lil sis's wedding in one piece.  I had a great time with my whole entire family and had some great times with my nephews.  Baby L is obsessed with books and melted his aunties book worm heart when he started kissing every page that we read.  Me and Lil G agreed to start reading Peter Pan over Skype, which is fitting because I call him my little Peter Pan.  I also got a great book related gift from my Mamma, which I will show off once I have it installed.  I finished a couple of books on my way back and realized when I got home that my To Be Rambled pile is getting as tall as my To Be Read pile so get ready for some of the following rambles.

Codex Born

Code Name Verity

The Importance of Being Earnest

Tuesdays at the Castle

The Fairy Godmother

Elemental Magic

Along with attempting to get some of these ramblings done, we of course have to move on to our October spooky reading.  This year I think I am mostly gonna focus on spooky stories, mostly in a short story form, so keep an eye out for those interspersed through out the next month.  Also if you have any good suggestions for some good old fashioned ghost stories, send them right over.  Ok I'm gonna go get some of this done before I start my next set of 14 hour shifts, wish me luck!

Family Festivities

I'm off to see the family!!!! Lil sis is getting married to the wonderful man who is also an awesome daddy to their kiddo's Lil G and Baby L.  The whole family is gonna be there which means madness, mayhem and all kinds of great memories.  This also means a ROAD TRIP, which means READING TIME!  WHOOOHOOOO! Not going to do my normal list 'cause I have absolutley no idea what I'm bringing with me this time.

 I do know however that I am bringing some Curious George for Baby L and a whole bunch of super hero books for Lil G.  I am excited to get to read with my little guys, be part of my Lil sis's big day, and talk books with my Mamma, Lil sis and Baby sis!  Posting will be a bit spotty as I will be gone and then when I get back, I head rigth back into a zillion hour work week, but I will do my best to keep on top of things.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Let's Go Buy Something

The title of this post refers to one of those priceless moments when my nephew lil G crawled in bed with his visiting Nana (my Mamma) at 3am and whispered oh so sweetly in her ear "Nana lets go buy something".  What can I say he's just living in a material world and he is a material dude.  In this vein I have found a random assortment of things I would love to "go buy".  Alas my bank account tells a different story, oh well looking never hurt anybody right...

I Found My Love In A Book Pendant
Sweet, simple and goes with all of my fall sweaters!

Shakespearean Insult Mug

Coffee, Shakespeare, Insulting my coworkers before 10am! Whats not to like about this mug?!?

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night Board Game

Oooh I want this soooo bad, and then I want to invite my Mamma and Sisters over to share a bottle of wine or three and play with me!

Bookworm Socks

Finally the missing piece to my Super Bookworm Girl disguise

In the Library Perfume

In the Library is a warm blend of English Novel*, Russian & Moroccan Leather Bindings, Worn Cloth and a hint of Wood Polish (this is the actual description of the perfume...how cool is that!)

What random bookieness would you like to buy? Would it be wiser to just save all my money for actual books?  How does one obtain a literary sugar daddy/mamma? Who wants to come to my house, drink wine, and play Dark and Stormy Night?

Boy or Girl or Pickle?

So excited, my Lil Sis is (hopefully) finding out if the newest addition to the family is going to be a boy, a girl, or some kind of green pickle/alien hybrid (this is kind of what I'm hoping for). Her son lil-G has decided that no matter the results the baby will be named George :-) Regardless of what we say we are all hoping and praying for a healthy baby 'cause either way I predict this kid is still gonna be a fire cracker.

This is for Girl George

This is for Boy George

This is for Pickle/Alien Hybrid George

I am just so excited to have a new member of the family to teach wild crazy non-normal things too!

Techno Babies!

I love technology!!!!  As much as I sometimes wish I were a pretty pretty princess in a castle sharpening my sword to go slay dragons, I would still need my ipod, a computer with internet capabilities and Skype! (Also really good indoor plumbing and running hot water for a good shower).  One of the reasons technology is so important to me (besides the fact I love toys) is that my three nephews all live way too far away from me, but with email, texting, facebook, and skype I keep in almost daily touch with them, which makes it much easier.  For instance over Thanksgiving I actually got to play tag with my almost 3 year old nephew lil G using an ipad and computer, he would start at one end of the room run up to the ipad and touch the camera yelling TAG, I would then take of and run back and forth and touch the camera and "tag" him, we had a great time.  I also got some quality face time with my other two cuties the almost 2 Baby R and the recently turned 4 K-man.  Baby R entertained us with songs and some great drawings of "O's".  K-man used his time with us to draw us a picture of The Lorax by Dr. Suess.  This was pretty cool on many levels, the first being I am so stoked at how much all my nephews LOVE books, I love reading to them, they love being read to, they love to look at books by them selves, it's pretty awesome. 

Real picture of my nephews house!

The Lorax is even more special because it is one of my Hubbins favorite books, so to see his little nephew enjoying it is very cool. 

Anyways this is one more reason we should embrace some of this technology, as much as I love a good old fashioned book, I'm glad that there are ways available for me to share these stories with my nephews across the country.

How do you use technology to encourage the next generation to read?  What modern conveniences are a must have if you ever get taken away to a magical kingdom? Do you adore my nephews as much as I do?