Mommy Mondays: teaching them to love books

Both my kids love to read today. And I truly believe this love for books was borne out of our nightly bedtime stories. Since they were babies, until they were about 6, I made it a point to read them a bedtime story (at least 2-3 times a week). We started with board books, then picture books, then those staged-reading books with big letters & some words substituted with pictures for the child to "read".

Today, I am so pleased that 7-year-old Noah borrows 2 books from the library every couple of days. He reads Geronimo Stilton (for girls, you can go for Thea Stilton books), Diary of A Wimpy Kid and 39 Clues books. Naturally, his favorite is the Wimpy Kid series, but I worry he'll bring some of the pranks to life. :( I am thrilled though that he's already reading 39 Clues because 15-year-old Isabella was reading those books just last year!

Isabella, on the other hand, reads and re-reads these books: the Twilight series, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Legend of Aang, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series & the Heroes of Olympus series.

I just love that Isabella is such a wide reader! I have to say I am impressed that she reads novels with substance. I remember reading a lot of (eep!) Sweet Dreams when I was her age!

Some books both Isabella and I enjoyed as children that I am looking forward to Noah reading someday are: books by Roald Dahl, books by Judy Blume, Encyclopedia Brown, Cam Jansen & Nancy Drew (though my mom and I enjoyed them more than Isabella did and I suppose Noah will choose Hardy Boys if he does get into such a series).

I have to admit that both Isabella and Noah watch a lot of TV and play a lot of video games. But I am so thankful that they also have a desire to sit back and read a good, old novel.

I'm not 100% certain their love for books is solely due to our nightly bedtime stories when they were younger. But it doesn't hurt to start them young, right? Plus, books help teach other things too. Like reading a book about going to the dentist (ours was a Dora the Explorer book) helped take away the fear of Noah's first visit to the dentist. I also remember reading a Muppets Bye, Bye Diapers boardbook to Isabella when we were potty-training her. Among the books I read to them, my faves would have to be Guess How Much I Love You, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Veggie Tales' God Made You Special. I adore that last one because it was short (reading aloud is hard on your voice), it rhymes (I looove rhyming books because it's fun to read in a singsong tone! Dr. Seuss books are just so so long.), and I got to use a fake French accent on one page ('Allo boys and girls! We are zee French peas!) which always made both Isabella & Noah laugh out loud. Awww, such fun memories of enjoying a book together! 

Have fun reading with your kids!

Photos from nyctaughtme & pinkwallpaper.

Click here for previous posts from the Mommy Mondays series. Click here for a previous post about the lack of classic children's books these days. Click here for my own version of "I love you to the moon and back".

style inspiration: stripes + florals

Since I went on sabbatical, I've kinda lost my shopping mojo. I was used to a constant stream of trends that were appropriate for my pretty laidback office (It wasn't a business-attire type of office). I'm not sure if I just haven't gotten in the groove of casual clothes trends yet; since my shopping mojo has been wired for office clothes for years. But I haven't come across many new trends in my current daily uniform of shorts & shirts.

So these style pegs of mixing stripes & a floral print has been really inspiring. Will definitely try this out this week. I, and probably every single one of you, have a similar striped tee from H&M (yes, the one that comes in pairs, with a plain white tee). So all I need to do is pair it with floral shorts, scarf or shoes!

Ooohh, excited, style-wise, for the week ahead!

Photos from annnniegirl.

divi finds

My friends M & C went to Divisoria a few months ago to buy stuff for M's son's 7th birthday party. So I tagged along and stumbled upon these pretty & uber-cheap finds in 168 Mall.

These stamp sets were being sold for less than PhP200 (less than US$4.50)!

I got lowercase stamps in typewriter & handwriting fonts. Love the wooden box with a clasp!

Can you believe these nesting dolls were only PhP70 (US$1.70)?

Was of course delighted to see the flower design made out of dots on the smallest doll. I immediately found a spot for the dolls on my shelf between my photo box here and scrapbooks here.

These fabric tapes were a steal at 5 for PhP100 (US$2.45)! Notice the bume-Burberry tape?  :)

I didn't really know what I'd use them for when I grabbed a bunch. But I was killing time one day and dressed up my blue Pilot ballpen with my polka-dotted tapes!

Isn't it much prettier now than a regular ballpen? 

Then my friend C brought us to a giftwrapper store. Minimum wholesale purchase is 25 pieces per design to get these glossy wrappers at PhP2.25 (US$0.06) per sheet.

And thanks to this (non-Divi-find) tape dispenser that automatically cuts tape into small even strips (which I discovered via Jen of Next9Baby. See reviews of the tape dispenser by 101gramsofeyecandy & ocmominmanila.), I'm almost done wrapping Christmas gifts with my Divisoria-bought striped & dotted wrappers!

Oooh, I just looove my purrretty Divi finds!

Photos are all my own.

Click here for a previous post on Matroyshka dolls.

a cuff contrast

Don't quite remember how & why, but my cuff somehow ended up on Noah's arm one day. Holding out his arm, he proclaimed he was a genie!

Eeep, my top-of-mind is still Wonder Woman when I see thick cuffs! 

Haha, generation gap!

Photo from pinkwallpaper.

Click here for a previous post about cuffs.

kitchen counters that count

I don't cook so I've never needed a huge kitchen counter (is island more apt?). But after seeing how this family gathers around their kitchen counter - laughing, talking, sharing everyday precious moments, I am now re-thinking the need for such a counter. Maybe kitchen counters are not meant just for moms who cook, but also for families that share moments that count.

Photo from pinkwallpaper.

Click here for a previous post on my undomesticatedness.

Noah says...

I asked Noah to lead our bedtime prayer one night. But he refused because he didn't know what to say. 

'Just say what's in your heart', I prodded. 

He replied, "All that's in my heart is veins & blood!" 

Photo from heritage.

Click here for previous posts from the Noah Says... series.

Lego Tales: Homemade Minifigs Part 1

When Noah turned 7 (click here for his Lego creations at 6), a love for Lego minifigures surfaced.

He started out by insisting I print him the Young Justice minifig bodies (I printed several sizes in the hopes that one of them fits his Lego minifig bodies). Then he cut out the bodies (just noticed now that he didn't just cut out Superman's shirt, but also his briefs! What attention to detail!).

He made a cape out of paper...

... and colored it in with a red marker.

And voila! Young Justice minifigs!

Noah already has a Lego Batman minifig but his shirt is gray so he opted for the black shirt cut-out. If am not mistaken, he used his old Harry Potter shirts for Martian Manhunter & Alfred. And the Martian's heads, I believe, are Toy Story army men's heads.

Notice how the faces of Red Tornado (the tornado legs made me chuckle!), Superman, Robin & Green Lantern are also taped on? Am amazed at how small the pieces are! Especially since he uses double-sided tape to stick the tiny pieces of paper on his Legos.

It took me a while to print out Nightwing's minifig so Noah drew a minifig while waiting (& constantly nagging me to finally print it).

It's quite obvious that Nightwing's face is taped on. But if you look closely, you will see that Noah even covered a yellow head with white paper (see the sliver of yellow at the neck?)!

When the Avengers movie was released, (after creating Avengers paper magic here), I guess he was itching to make Avengers minifigs and could no longer wait for me to print them out for him. So he drew the parts he needed himself! Shirt, shield, goggles...

Love the abs he drew for Thor & Hulk, how he used his old penguins' beaks for Ironman's hands, the boosters on Ironman's feet, and how Noah moved Captain America's goggles from his helmet to his eyes for the photo op!

This is version 1 of Noah's homemade Avengers minifigs...

But just a week later, he made new versions and adorably lined them up so they copy his Avengers movie poster. 

I much prefer his first version of Ironman vs. the Megablocks one here. Oh, and he had to add a Nick Fury minifig for consistency with the poster.

Noah even made Thor's blond hair...

... and Loki's helmet & scepter out of paper!

But out of all of his homemade minifigures in this post, his Captain America mask, molded out of paper...

... is my absolute favorite!

Photos are all my own.

Click here for previous posts from the Lego Tales series. Watch for more of Noah's homemade minifigs in Part 2!