Blog Funk

I just can't seem to get excited enough about anything to write about it for my blog. But we have been doing stuff. Stay tuned for the awesome unveiling of the gifts that the girls made for their sisters. They have now all completed them and now have only to wrap them. I also made a blanket for my sister that I forgot to take a picture of. It was pretty time intensive, but turned out well. And John and I had a great little getaway to Salt Lake thanks to Tom babysitting. And Kate had a great little choir concert. Emma also had a great little play of The Gingerbread Man. She was a dog and a great dog at that. Unfortunately I've also fell into the bad habit of never taking my camera anywhere so there are no pictures. Oh well. We can always hope for Christmas. Don't worry, I'm gearing up for some really great blog posts in the future.

Reading--It's What We Do

I had a friend tell me the other day, "Every family does something. The Paynes do reading." (Not an exact quote) Her daughter babysits for us all the time and she had commented to her mom on how well Emma reads for just being in first grade. The mom's response was something like "That's all the Paynes do is read. Of course she's a good reader." I guess there are worst things we could be known for. And I have to say, I think we do other things (I can't remember for sure because I'm in the middle of this great book. . .), but it is true, I do love to read. And we do own a lot of books.

In that spirit, I decided if that's all we do as a family, we might as well embrace it. So last Sunday we had a full-fledged read-a-thon. My favorite days in elementary school were always the read-a-thon days. A couple of weeks ago I was talking with Kate about how I needed to read a lot of books by the end of the year to get to my goal of 100 books and just laughingly said that maybe we should have a read-a-thon. Now you have to be careful what you say to Kate because she takes stuff and just runs with it. Pretty soon I heard her telling her friends that she was so excited that we were having a read-a-thon and that maybe she could invite some friends. She geared her sisters up and it wasn't long before Mary was asking me when the read-a-thon would be so she could get ready. So on Sunday I caved. I really wanted them all to go and take a nap because I was tired, but when Mary asked me if they could have the read-a-thon I thought, "Why not?" I told them they had to read quietly in the back room. I popped some popcorn, filled a few paper cups with pretzels and m&ms for snack food, and sat back to read. And I have to say, "Our read-a-thon was AWESOME!!" It was so cool I had to use capitals. It was one of those happy accidents in parenting. The girls all, even Ruth and Lily, sat for like an hour and quietly read or looked at books. There was no fighting or whining or anything. For part of the time Ruth and Lily colored with markers at the table and loved it. It was so peaceful that I was able to read quite a bit of my book. The hilarious part was that Kate, Mary, and Emma all brought out about 10 big books to read (like they were ready for the long haul). Unfortunately, our read-a-thon was interrupted by dinner, but I have to say it was the quietest, most relaxing Sunday afternoon we have had in a long while. I knew I loved read-a-thons. And we're going to have more. Because "Reading is what we do."

Christmas Around the World

John's parents took everyone in his family that live in Utah to Christmas Around the World on Friday (Super nice--Thanks, Pam). I don't think I've been to see it since I was a little kid and I loved it then. And I have to say that it was just as good as I remember it. The dancing, costuming, and music were all phenomenal.

But the best part by far was sitting next to my four year old Ruth. She was so appreciative. Everything was ooohs and aaaahs and "That is so beautiful!!" as only Ruth can say it, in hushed tones. She loved it all, especially all the "beautiful" dresses.

With each number they would put up a design symbolizing the country the dance was from. Several of them were quilts and when Ruth asked about the pictures I explained what they meant. She said, "I hope they put my quilt up there soon." So cute.

It was totally enthralling. I wasn't sure if the kids could handle it (we took them all and it was about an hour and a half long) but they all loved it. Even Adam couldn't take his eyes off the dancing. And as a bonus we were pleasantly removed from anyone else, so the seats couldn't have been more perfect for us. I loved it and so did the kids. I was super glad that Pam thought of it.