Do you remember books from your childhood?  Was it the nursery rhymes your mother read to you or the little tattered book about a girl taking her animals on a picnic?  Books bring out emotions.  The smell or feel of a book can bring out emotions you felt while reading that book.  Book’s are truly amazing!!

Where did your love of reading begin?  Where was it for you…. in your home, in your school or at your Grandparent’s house?  As a family we have our favorite books we read.  There are certain books my kids know by heart and there are some that we read occasionally.  There truly is nothing more wonderful then a good book.

My tween is currently reading the book Flat Stanley in his reading group at school.  I am so impressed how his teacher is making this book so much fun for him.  They made their own version of Flat Stanley (the character in the book).  They were asked to take their Flat Stanley on an adventure and take a picture of  it/him.  My tween was so excited about this.  We had to print the picture and attach it to his Flat Stanley journal.  Next, they had to choose a person to send their Flat Stanley to.  The person who receives Stanley must take a picture with him and send him back!

This is brilliant to me.  It makes reading fun, it brings life and adventure to reading.  Thank you to wonderful teachers who go the extra mile to give children a love of books and reading and GO Flat Stanley.

Where did your love of reading begin?

About three years ago when gas prices were shooting through the room I got a new car. We had a Town and Country Mini Van and the cost to fill it up was getting too high. The truth was, we did not need all of that room for our day to day needs so we downsized and I could not have been happier.

We got a Mazda 5 and the cost to fill the tank went from nearly $60 to $35. I was able to fit into smaller parking spaces and I upgraded to leather seats and built in blue tooth. Things were good.

Like all good things, however, the happy times had to come to an end. While we still had our third row seat and the boys had their captains chairs….they also grew some VERY long legs and soon long trips were really uncomfortable. Even seeing Jake climb in for our daily trip to school made it clear that something had to change. Our recent trip to DC sealed the deal….we need to get more room and fast!

Of course more room comes with a higher price tag. I am excited at the prospect of a new car, but I know I’ll have to give up some things I have now as a trade off for size. My leather seats will be gone and no more dealer installed DVD player. Leg room is the priority now and I am afraid it always will be with our boys The truth is that Kerry and I are no slouches either at 5’11 and 6’1. The extra room will be good for all of us and we are being grown ups and being real about what we can afford and what we can’t. I can only hope the boys pay attention and learn a little lesson about that

What about your growing Tweens?  New cars, clothes, shoes…how do you keep up with the cost of an ever growing child?

We recently were helping out a friend whose other daughter had surgery.  My tween’s girlfriend came home with her after school to go to a dance and sleep over while her sister recovered.  I knew that since our policy is no sleepovers except when helping that my daughter would be excited, not sleep much and probably be up all night giddy and chatting.  I was ready!

The girls entertained themselves beautifully, but only got about 3 hours of sleep.  So, on Saturday when they both had Nutcracker practice for 4 hours I thought for sure they would be tired and sick of each other.  Not really.  Her friend came home with us to attend a movie and have dinner with our family.  The girls remained friends despite how long they were together. It made me realize the positive effects a good friend can be as I watched these two imaginative girls play, talk about school projects and share commonalities as dance.

Here are some tips for parents of tweens that speak to what we can do to help when there is trouble and how we can help fostering healthy friend-shipping skills.

Jennifer O’Donnell wrote the following tips on About.com Guide about troubleshooting with friendships and making the most of them as well:

“1. Help Your Tween Make and Keep Friends

If your child is having trouble making friends, you can help. While you can’t make your child’s friends for him, you can teach him how to approach other children, and put his best foot forward.

What are your thoughts?

Where has the time gone?  Don’t you feel like that is a question you are always asking yourself?  Is it really almost November?

The answer is ‘yes’!  Time is flying by while we watch these children grow up.  It seems like my tween just started the soccer season and the LAST game is this Saturday!  Soccer season is going to be over.  It will soon be Thanksgiving…Christmas and then…2011!

As the time goes by and seasons change, life also continues to change.  We have spent the last few months living at the soccer fields in the evenings and on Saturday’s.  Now what?  Will we choose to start up other activities or take some time off to be home and together as a family.  Like most things, this has snuck up on me!!

I feel like I am always evaluating the quality of my family’s life.  Does my daughter need to start gymnastics or does she need more time at home with family?  Should I give my son a chance at playing Lacrosse (like fellow blogger Kelly Gump does with her tweens) or should I stick to basketball for him?

Raising children often requires LOTS of decision making.  I am at that point right now where I need to make those decisions for my kids.  I will keep you posted on what we do…until then, we will see you on the soccer field!!

How do you make decisions on how your tween spends his time?

I am not sure where September went but looking at my calendar, I see that October is almost gone now too! I remember being excited for school and work to start back up. I was ready for flag football and no one was more excited than me when Sam decided to take hip hop dance class, but now I find myself swamped and over booked. How and when did this happen!?

I pride myself on being fairly organized. I have my iphone and daily planner. I keep notes so I remember what is due when and where to be for every appointment. Even with all of those tools and methods I find myself feeling overwhelmed as we wind up this last week of October. Between work and the boys we seem to have something everyday between now and October 31st.  As I look forward to the first week of November it does not seem to slow down much. Oh how I wish my husband was not in Virginia at school!

As a military spouse I know I can do all of this without help, but the days I feel like I am drowning, it would be nice to have someone there to throw in a life preserver. All I know is that I need to push through the next few weeks and keep looking forward to Thanksgiving break. We all need time to recharge and take a deep breath before the next round…..Christmas here we come!!

Are you feeling overwhelmed? When you do, what do you like to do to help de-stress?