Stay-cation, The Hunger Games and My Life as a Reader

 On our list of things to do this week was to go see The Hunger Games. I love that Timmy read the book in two days and that a book can capture his attention. Ryan did not read it, but could tell you all about it because of Timmy and other friends talking about it. Ryan's attitude is still, "Why read the book when I could see the movie?" It's a challenge to get Ryan to read, to find that "just right book." It can't be too long, short chapters always help, larger type is always helpful as well. If the type is too small and too many words on the page, it doesn't matter how good of a story it is, dormant readers won't read it. 

We were a little disappointed that it wasn't in the IMAX theater. I didn't realize it was only there for a week. But waiting a week to see it wasn't so bad because we were the only ones in the theater at first. The picture is dark below, but those are the boys trying to pick out a seat. Two other groups did come in after us, but that was it. 

I do have to say that they did a pretty good job of editing the scary scenes. The camera was jumping around so much that you really didn't see what was happening. Obviously, as a mom, I was concerned about the violence. The whole concept of fighting to the death for these young readers and viewers is a concern. That's why I think it's good to read what your kids are reading because you can then talk about the books together. After reading The Hunger Games, Timmy and I talked about another book we read, Hilter Youth.

This is a non-fiction book about what it was like to grow up in Germany during Hitler's reign. If you were a kid in Germany at the time, when you reached a certain age, you had to join Hilter Youth. "I begin with the young," said Hilter. "We older ones are used up...But my magnificent youngsters! Are there finer ones anywhere in the world? Look at all these men and boys! What material! With them I can make a new world." Timmy and I talked about governments using the youth. We talked about the careers in The Hunger Games that worked all their lives toward being a tribute in the Hunger Games and bringing honor to their district if they won. We talked about how most of the children didn't see it that way. We talked about how some of the Hitler Youth "devoted their energy and passion" to the organization and then there were other children that did not want to join.

I still wonder what it is about The Hunger Games that draws so many people to read it across all ages. Ryan says that he will read it now since he has seen the movie. Will it be the same experience as reading the book first? No, probably not, but if he reads it and then he reads the next one in the trilogy, he is reading, and that is my goal.



Right now I am reading Witch and Wizard by James Patterson. I picked this one up at the school book fair, again with Ryan in mind. It's got that same concept as The Hunger Games, young teenagers against the government. The reviews are mixed on Amazon for the book but again, I'm trying to keep Ryan, a dormant reader in mind. It's got short chapters, only 2 or 3 pages, which always gives the reader a sense of accomplishment. "Hey, mom, I just read five chapters!" 

Even though this week was spring  break and I tried to get some fun things in with the kids since we didn't go away, there were things on my "to-do" list that I wanted to get done. I still had piles of "stuff" sitting in my room left over from Molly's room makeover that needed to be sorted through. I had piles of books from Molly's room that we sorted through. She kept her favorites in her room and the rest were then moved down to the basement. 


After re-doing the boys closet back in January and now Molly's room, the books that have been moved to the basement had become disorganized. We have an air-hockey table in front of it and it sometimes becomes the dumping ground for "stuff." 


So the four kids and I went into the basement to organize the piles of books. I told them to make piles by authors' last names. They were on the floor and they busily started making their piles alphabetically. As we all started sorting through our books I noticed a wonderful thing start to happen. It was the same experience you get when you open a photo album. The kids and I were taking a walk down memory lane. I started to hear, "Mom, I remember this book. This was one of my favorites!"

While we were sorting, I noticed that Ryan was reading this book.

Then Molly noticed all her favorite Tacky books.

And then all her Piggie and Elephant books... Molly loves these books. I didn't at first see the value in these books for my little girl who was on the verge of reading chapter books at the time but then one night we were reading in bed together and I got it! Molly asked me to read all the Elephant parts and she would read all the Piggie parts. She was learning dialogue. She also was reading with great expression. She knew when to read with excitement and when to sound sad. These books were so much fun to read aloud together and I learned that from Molly.


Then Shannon found a Winnie the Pooh book and asked if she was too old to read it. You are never too old for Winnie the Pooh and so a book that was in her room years ago is now back on her book self. 

She also found this old copy of Black Beauty. This book was from when I was a kid and I remember my mother reading it aloud to us one summer. Shannon said that she remembers looking through the book when she was younger and only looking at the pictures. That book is now back in her room.

I also found myself looking at the books and remembering my childhood. Not only did I remember the summer that my mother read Black Beauty to us, but I remember when I was little and my mom reading The Little Engine That Could at bedtime. 

I remember her reading The Little Red Hen over and over.

This was one of my favorites..."Not I, said the Duck, Not I, said the Goose, Not I, said the Cat, Not I, said the Pig. Then I will just do it myself said the Hen. And she did!"

I also remembered reading The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. I always was drawn to books and TV shows with big families. I thought that there was always so much excitement in their families. There never seemed to be a dull moment in their house and there always was someone getting into trouble or some kind of mischief. But the sisters and brothers always seemed to be there for one another in times when they were needed.

One by one my helpers seemed to disappear. I finally turned around from the book shelf and this is what I found. Four kids with books in their hands. I had lost my helpers to books, but I didn't seem to mind. When I look at them reading, I wonder what their memories of reading will be? We all have a "Life as a Reader," a timeline if you will of our reading life...favorite books that our parents read aloud, favorite books that teachers read aloud, the first time you read a favorite book, maybe the second and third time you read it, books fairs at school, library visits, monthly scholastic book orders, friends that recommend books, your first chapter book. These are all part of our "Life as a Reader." In ten or twenty years from now, what will their memories of reading books be as a child? I wonder.

 Our reorganized book shelf.

Stay-cation Part Two

Tuesday of the Nealon Stay-cation was Timmy's 12th birthday. I had not been feeling well for the past couple days, not really knowing whether it was allergies, a cold, or both. Tuesday morning I didn't wake up until 10:00. I can't remember the last time that happened. But it was Timmy's birthday and I knew that the Red Sox were playing the Nats in an exhibition game.  I didn't buy tickets as I was going to play it by ear since you never know what the weather may be like in April, but Tuesday was an absolutely perfect day to go to the ballpark. But that morning I was sitting on the computer, still in my pj's, my head still feeling like it was in a fog, and trying to figure out how to get to the stadium. I really don't know D.C. that well. New York, I can handle, you either are traveling north and south on the Avenues or east and west on the streets. It's a simple grid. D.C. on the other hand has a number of roundabouts, and streets on the diagonal.  I just don't find it as simple if you don't know where you are going. Chris would have loved to have met us there for this 3:00 game, but unfortunately couldn't get out of work.  I bought a parking pass online for Parking Lot N, told the kids that we are going into the city to go see a baseball game, and that I didn't know how to get there. We were going on an adventure. Between my google map, the GPS, Shannon's GPS on her phone, and a call to Chris, we actually arrived at Lot N.  Sure we circled the stadium a few times before finding it, and of course when we did find it the first time, we were on the wrong side of the lot to enter.  So we circled around again to get to the entrance. We got the second to last spot in the lot, but we made it.

Now, most people who know us, know we are New York Yankee fans. Chris even has tags on his car that show his loyalty to his baseball team. Why would I adventure into a city that I admittedly don't know my way around to watch an exhibition game of the arch rivals of the Yankees?  Well, this picture should explain it.

This is the back of my car. I had people stickers on the back that were starting to come off and when we went to the mall with my mom for Timmy and Shannon's birthdays, we went to the sports memorabilia store where I found these new people stickers. Perfect, except for the fact that a number of years ago Timmy decided that he wasn't going to be a Yankee fan like the rest of us, but he was going to be a Red Sox fan. Really? Of all the teams that he could have liked, he chose the biggest rival of the Yankees. But that's what makes life more interesting. And so just like the back of my car, Timmy is smack in the middle of a family of Yankee fans. He definitely thinks for himself, which is a good quality.

When we finally made it to our seats, after a stop at the bathroom and concession stand, it was the second inning. My three Yankee fans and my one Red Sox fan were happy to be watching a game on a beautiful spring day. But Timmy was not alone at this game. We were definitely in the Red Sox section of the stadium because there were lots of Red Sox fans at the park.  

I thought the stadium was pretty full for a exhibition game.

The sky couldn't have been any more blue, and not a cloud in the sky.

The Nats trying to figure out what to do about the Red Sox since they were up 6-0.

Hmmm, by the 7th inning it was no longer a 6-0 game.

 The Nats had tied it up by the 7th inning.  But the Red Sox were up again by one heading into the bottom of the 9th.   With 2 outs and a runner on second, the Nats hit a single.   The runner on second tried to tie the game by heading home, but a throw to the plate was in time to end the game with the Red Sox on top. Timmy was happy because his team won.  The rest of the Nealons were happy because it's the one time that they were able to cheer on Timmy's team since it was just an exhibition game and it didn't count in the standings.

We have talked about going to different ballparks around the country. We have been to Yankee Stadium, old and new, Camden Yards, and now Nationals Park. Three down and I'm not sure how many more to go.

A Stay-cation...Part One

Kiawah, Hilton Head, Mexico, Jamaica, The Outer Banks...warm sunny places that the only accessories you need are sunglasses, sun lotion, a bathing suit, a chair, and a good book in hand. These are all the places that some of my facebook friends went to this spring break, but this year we did a "stay-cation." 


I really wanted to go away this year. This spring seems to be even busier than usual with the spring sports. I'm no different than any of my neighborhood moms with kids the same age. Their sports no longer are just at the neighborhood park or school field. Now we need to allow enough time for the car ride to get to the fields, and coaches seem to want them earlier and earlier before the start of a game. So even though I really could have used a week "not" in my own house, looking at all my unfinished projects, and have some more family time that seems to get even more precious with each passing year, I've been trying to be extra good about our family household budget and actually stay within the budget. Not an easy task for any family these days but I still wanted to have a little fun with the kids. 


Our "stay-cation" started with Grandma in the Red House and her friend Jim coming for a visit over the weekend. My mom always comes to visit the kids for their birthdays, and since Shannon's and Timmy's birthdays are only 10 days apart, she came the weekend in between. Grandma and Jim took them both to the mall. Shannon picked out some things in Bath and Body Works and Timmy picked out some new clothes from Dick's. 

Timmy trying on new shirts...showing me his game face.

After shopping and lunch, Shannon wanted to stop at Fins and Feathers to get a couple of fish for our fish tank. Over the last couple of months we have had a few fish funerals and Shannon wanted to add some more to the tank. We went in to buy fish, and yes we did add three fish to our tank, Simba and Mr. and Mrs. Speckles (every fish we've ever had has been given a name), but that is not all we came home with. I came home with a 14 year old daughter who had a "bunny" room up until last year wanting one of the bunnies in the window. I do have to say it was really cute. It's called a Dwarf Hotot Rabbit, but really...another animal in the Nealon House?!?! We already have two dogs, a cat we rescued back in September and a fish tank. We went home with the three fish and after negotiations between Shannon and myself and then between Shannon and Molly to get her to chip-in with their Christmas money from Grandma in the Yellow House, they decided that they would buy the bunny and the cage and the food and the bedding and anything else that this bunny was going to need.


So on the Monday of our "stay-cation" we went back to the pet shop and got the bunny that Shannon always wanted. When it was all said and done the girls had a whole dollar left of their money. I handed Shannon the dollar and told her she owed her sister 50 cents.

Molly meeting her new bunny for the first time.

This bunny has changed names a few times already. At first, the girls were going to call him Yankee, then they changed it to Jack. Then, when Timmy met him for the first time he said, "Hello, Mr. Bunny" and now that seems to be what everyone is calling him.

So for the first part of our stay-cation we had a great visit with Grandma and Jim and a new addition to the Nealon Zoo...


...more stay-cation adventures to come.

Pinterest Inspiration

Back in January, I was on a quest to do something, anything, with our sitting room. I had no inspiration for this space. I've had a desk in this small sitting room off of the master bedroom for years and most of my scrapbooking stuff was in this space, but there was still stuff on the floor, there were still piles of stuff that I couldn't find a home for, there was still stuff that just needed to be sorted through, but again, I didn't have a plan, I didn't know what to do and then I found Pinterest. I found this hutch that is very similar to the one I have but didn't look quite as organized.

Then I found this book shelf, so much stuff but so neatly organized with baskets on the bottom.

And then I found this one, this is what I wanted, this is what I needed to do to organize this space and make it a workable space. Notice the work table/desk is in the middle of the room.

Another version of this bookshelf only smaller. You can find all of these pictures on my Pinterest Craft Room board. I just figured out how to put a Pinterest button on the blog.

From one of the links I found out that the bookshelf was from IKEA. I now had a plan and an idea as to how I was going to utilize this small space.

The first thing I did was move my desk from up against the wall to the center of the room. I was always hesitant to do this because I thought the room was too small but it really seemed to work.

Then the bookshelves were built and added. I already had the brown baskets sitting empty in the basement from when they were filled with toys when the kids were much younger. Then I found the green bins at Target.

Remember that big black hutch on Pinterest that looked similar to mine? Well, here is mine all reorganized. The four big file boxes are each for the kids to put memorabilia in until I eventually get it into scrapbooks. The white boxes are my photos.

Before

Here's that same sitting room back in December. Now yes, it was a disaster because of all the Christmas stuff but I just gained so much space by pulling the desk to the center of the room and adding the IKEA bookcase to the left.

After

 I am presently working on Molly's room. My little girl that absolutely loves the color pink, pink, pink decided that it is now a little girl's color and that she wanted her room painted turquoise. There was lots of Pinterest and blog inspiration for her room as well. I'll try to post pictures soon.