Tomorrow is family day!

Jackson has asked a few days this week if it was "family day"... a day with no work, no daycare; just family time. He was thrilled this morning when I told him tomorrow was that day. I won't deny it-- I'm pretty excited too. And I love that he values our time together too!

I left internship at lunchtime today in time to pick up the kiddos from daycare early. It was my first full week away and I just couldn't wait much longer. First was naps-- but then we played with hot wheels and read lots of books. Being that I was home all afternoon, I should've been a better housewife and cooked a great dinner, but that didn't happen. We went to Jose Peppers and along with an amazing taco salad, I enjoyed a nice pampering session via Belle using a toothbrush to style my hair. 

These are the books we read! Sure it's January, but I have just recently bought many of them and so we're enjoying them for a little while longer. Now let me preface this with the fact that I can count on one hand the number of books that I've actually purchased for my kiddos. We utilize the library like crazy and I haven't really cared to need our own books. 

Well, we were in Barnes and Noble last week and they had a major clearance on their books and I got a great idea to do an advent activity with the kids next year to open a new book every night in December. I read it somewhere, no idea where, and the idea just popped back in my head. So I picked up some books, ordered a few more and this is my collection! I'm pleased with the "real Christmas" selection and am specifically looking for a few classics like the Twelve Days of Christmas and The Grinch. I hope to pick a couple up at some garage sales this year and then I will probably pick up a few from the library to throw in the mix until I build the collection a little more. I love that the Charlie Brown Christmas book is teeny tiny and I found a rendition of Night Before Christmas for Military families that's cute. The Peter's Christmas book is from Denmark and Santa Cat is an autographed copy of mine from 1985. If you can't tell, I'm just super excited about this for next Christmas! My kids love books, I love encouraging reading (and creating anticipation to read), and I think it will be good family time!