Thursday, October 10, 2013

For The Love of Books and Oven Space

My 6 year old guy has finally turned an important corner in his reading.  He likes to read!  And actually chooses to read now some in his free time, as opposed to being forced/prodded to read like it's been for the past year.  What brought the turning point?

His reading got good enough for these books: 
 

The Magic Tree House Books are great books about the adventures of a sister and brother, Annie and Jack, as they travel through time in their tree house to different places in history.  In the series there is a book about dinosaurs, one about pirates, one about travels to the moon, one about ninjas, and on and on for 50 books!

We invested in the set when my oldest was starting out on chapter books and I'm glad we did.  The books are great for boys and girls alike!  As much as I love the library, there is something to having an entire series right there on the bookshelf in your bedroom, too.

My 6 year old first grader is so excited about these books that he's read about 12 of them in just 2 weeks!  Before that he never really wanted to read in his free time and I worried he was not going to love reading like my older 2 children, my husband and I do.  I actually told his first grade teacher at the beginning of the year that really my only goal for him this school year was for him to grow to like reading.  Goal accomplished in October -- not bad!
But honestly who could blame him for not liking books when the books went like this:
"Mat sat."
"Sam sat."
"Mat sat on Sam."
"Sam sat on Mat."
"The end"

That is a paraphrase, but really we were so OVER the easy readers!

The little guy reading in bed with his book light:

I love that sight!

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We got a new oven this week.  The old one was an oven with a microwave attached to it on top, a model from the 1980s.  The microwave stopped working a few years ago, but the repairman said it was too old to repair.  Since it was attached to the oven, which was working fine, we just never prioritized replacing it.  And life without a microwave was really easy.  Seriously, I can count on one hand the times I missed it.  We learned to pop popcorn on the stove and heat left-overs in the oven or in a pot on the stove.

But, then recently the oven stopped heating properly, only the top heating element would work.  The bottom heater coil would not heat at all.  So, it was time to replace the whole thing.  We debated over an oven/microwave combo again, but ultimately decided we'd more use a double oven in the space.  Of course, the new double oven was bigger than the old unit, so we had to get our handyman to cut into the cabinets below to make more room.

Hence my kitchen looked like this from Monday when the new oven was delivered until today when it could be installed:


Feel free to soak in the mess in the background.  That's real life, folks!

Fun does happen amidst the chaos, though, and that is the important thing!



Happy Friday!  I have no idea how I'll handle my new-found capabilities to cook 2 ovens-worth of food!  Oh the power and possibilities!!

6 comments:

  1. Those books sound great! I may even order one from the library myself to read. Congrats on getting all your kids to actually like reading!! Enjoy your new oven.

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  2. Mrs4444 donated a few of those chapter books by Osborne to our kids in Honduras. I agree that they are great books. I put a picture of my kitchen on my blog yesterday as a blogger friend issued a challenge for kitchen pics. Your kitchen looks like a fun place to be.

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  3. I shelve those books at our library ALL THE TIME. We have three whole sections of books similar to that which I bet would offer LOTS of choices for a budding reader!

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  4. I have 2 kids who love to read and one who does not. It's challenging trying to help him find books to read for school! My oldest used to love the Magic Treehouse books. We have a whole book shelf of them. They are great stories!

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  5. My middle son LOVED the Magic Treehouse Books! One day, I sat down and read one and didn't get back up until I finished it! It was a really good book!

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  6. Life without an oven is much harder than life without a microwave.

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I'd love to hear what you think!