Lulu: My May read

Hello, lovely ladies! My May read will be to find a recipe from Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, Deceptively Delicious. She hides vegetables in foods that are supposed to be really delicious to children. So we'll see if it really works. My boys don't really mind vegetables, usually, but I want to try it and see if I can taste the difference--and if it bothers me. And just a sidenote: Phill's 30th birthday is May 3rd, and Savanna's 1st is May 31st! I can't believe I will have a 30-year-old husband and a 1-year-old daughter, not to mention an almost-3-year-old boy and a 5-year-old boy! In all my imaginings, I was never this specific. It's cool! It's exciting.

I also had to blog about something I've been doing with the boys, because I've enjoyed the result so much. I talked to Abby about reading chapter books to the boys, and she gave me some really good advice--she said to try the chosen book for a good week before I decide whether it'll work out or not. She also said that even if they seem like they're not listening, chances are that they really are listening and enjoying it. So I started with one of my favorite authors, and started reading The BFG by Roald Dahl to the boys. And I was so amazed! They are (mostly) quiet when I read, they understand a lot more than I realized they would, and they laugh their little hearts out at several points. (The only "problem", if you can even call it that, is that Jaxon for a while thought that he was supposed to repeat after me like we do during our family scripture reading. It was pretty hilarious to hear him imitating not only my words, but also my voice.) I was so worried that they wouldn't understand the gist of the story because of certain words they don't know, but I think I've severely underestimated their ability to either guess the meaning of those harder words, or they just know so much more than I think. Reed really enjoys the illustrations, and both he and Jaxon laugh robustly at words like "frobscottle" and "snozzcumbers" and "whizzpopping". I've also enjoyed the fact that I really love the book I'm reading to them, so it certainly keeps my attention, which means that the boys get plenty of reading time with me each night. It makes me feel like a good mom, and a good friend, and just overall so happy! One other very nostalgic side to all this is that (brother) Reed read The BFG, The Twits, The Enormous Crocodile, and Matilda (all books by Roald Dahl) to me, Kate, and Maddie when I was around 7 and 8 years old. So I feel like I'm carrying on a very tender family tradition.

I'll report back once I've tried a recipe, and I'll keep y'all posted as to our next book choice for the boys!