I have never done a Valentine’s party.

Last week during our snow days, Leah decided to plan one. The kids will sometimes set up a club, store, game room, dance party, etc., in their bedrooms and the rest of the family attends. I figured that’s what she was doing. Actually, she invited several friends from school. Unfortunately, the inviting was one of those things where first graders make all the plans but the parents aren’t really in sync…nobody knows a time or place…

When I broke the news to her that her friends were not likely to come, she was heartbroken. I promised that the entire family would participate and that helped a little. One of her friends actually did come over for awhile in the evening (only because her mom was here to pick up Girl Scout cookies, but she didn’t care why) and that helped a lot.

After her friend left, she asked if we could have the party. Our 11 year old son had a friend over and the boys were playing. I asked (ok, insisted on) their involvement for a mere 5 minutes. They all went along with it enthusiastically, staying for another activity even after I told them they could leave.

I have to say, she did an amazing job planning and executing this party!

She planned games, activities and snacks:

Pin the Heart on the Donkey–She drew and cut out a donkey and several hearts. She taped them all to the wall in her bedroom.

Heart Potato–She used a heart shaped pillow and sang a song for the music while we sat in a circle and passed the heart.

Valentine Storytime–She spread out her heart blanket on the floor and read Clifford’s First Valentine’s Day to us.

Snacks–She baked cookies yesterday (Pillsbury Simply Cookies ready made chocolate chip cookie dough dressed up with pink sprinkles prior to baking).

She even had heart stickers and drawings she had made as prizes for the games.

A perfect little party completely planned by a six year old!

She did her mama proud!

I’m kicking off my Books We Love series with Fancy Nancy. Before I begin telling you why we think these books are so wonderful, let me tell you how we were introduced to her.

When he was in first grade, Noah came home with a paper he had done in school. It was a picture he had drawn with the sentence, “It reminded me of my mom.” So the ensuing conversation went like this:

Me: “What reminded you of me?”

Noah: “Mrs. Farnan read us a book today.”

Me: “What was the book?”

Noah: “Fancy Nancy.”

Me (beaming with pride): “Do I remind you of Fancy Nancy?”

Noah: “No, you remind me of her mother.”

Me (still hopeful): “Is her mother fancy, too?”

Noah: “No, she’s very, very plain.”

Me (crushed): “Oh.”

I may have been crushed, but I was also intrigued (that’s a fancy word for curious). We read the first book and we all enjoyed it, but my daughter (who was 4 at the time) and I were hooked!

Here’s how I would describe Nancy. She’s not a princess or a fairy or a ballerina. She’s a bright girl who loves all things, well, fancy. She loves french words–because, “everything in french sounds fancy.” She has an extensive vocabulary–after all, big words make what we say fancier. And when it comes to accessories and decorating, her mantra is “more is more!”

Here’s how Leah, now 6, describes Nancy. She’s fancy. Her whole name rhymes–fancy Nancy Clancy. I like her because she really likes fancy stuff and she wears her hair all up on her head. She also likes how it’s written in “cursive.”  (She asked the other day if I thought “they” got cursive writing from Fancy Nancy.)

The author, Jane O’Connor is one sly lady! Through her use of “fancy words” she’s building the vocabularies of young girls everywhere! She also sneaks in fun facts and little life lessons along the way so the readers are learning without even knowing it.

Among the many lessons, young readers learn:

• not to leave their homework until the last minute
• how to work together with someone who is very different from themselves
• the importance of sharing…even sharing your best friend
• about constellations like the Big Dipper
• map and exploring skills
• about nature
• how to make a pine cone bird feeder
• etiquette
• how to improvise and overcome disappointment

• and, maybe the most important lesson–ice cream is perfect whether you’re celebrating or soothing disappointments!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the captivating illustrations by Robin Preiss Glasser. She has captured the essence of Fancy Nancy beautifully!

Leah and I highly recommend any and all of the Fancy Nancy books as a magnificent supplement (that’s fancy for great addition) to your library!

We began reading to our children when they were just weeks old.

Once our oldest son was crawling, he would crawl to the bookshelf before he would crawl to the toys.

I remember our oldest daughter sitting on the floor with a book when she was 3. She started crying. When I asked her why, she said, “I don’t know what the words say.” Another time, I remember her looking at the title of the book and declaring the letters were all mixed up. (She had realized for the first time that they weren’t in ABC order like the song.)

Our youngest son, was a little harder to motivate. Once he got in school, he was expected to read books that challenged him. The trouble was, in order to challenge his reading ability, the content was too mature. He was in first grade. He still wanted pictures and large-print. Eventually, he found some books he loved and it was like flipping a switch.

Our youngest, now 2, amazed us months ago with her first sentence, “I’ll read!”

Our nightly routine includes family story time before bedtime.

If you can’t read, someone will read to you.

If you’re learning to read, you’ll read to someone.

If you are an established reader, you’ll read to yourself.

Occasionally, we’ll read a book together.

While many parents struggle to get their kids to read, we often have to tell them, “Put the book down and go outside.” or “No, you can’t read just one more page–it’s time for bed.” A fact we’re really not complaining about.

One of our fondest Christmas traditions is sitting in front of the tree on Christmas Eve reading The Night Before Christmas. I used to read it. Now, I mostly listen.

We have more than 1,000 books in our collection of children’s books–including little board books to classic novels and everything in between. So it seems fitting that we share our love of books with others. Thus, a new category begins on My Chaotic Bliss: “Books We Love.” Future posts will highlight some of our favorite authors and titles.

We hope you’ll find something here to share with your children and that you’ll suggest your favorites to us.