2011 Gratitude Challenge Day 4 and Read Aloud Challenge for 11/3

I decided to combine two challenges into one post.  Partly because I am lazy and I do not want to do two blog posts today and partly because I want to challenge myself to see if I can connect the two memes.

Today is November 4th.  That means it would be my paternal Grandparents wedding anniversary today.  I think they were married in 1933.   (I think they celebrated 50 years in 1983).   My grandparents were childhood sweet hearts.  My grandmother didn’t remember a day in her life when she did NOT know my grandfather.  They didn’t have an easy life together,  but they were together until death parted them on October 29, 1984.   I am thankful for my grandmother’s steadfast faith in God that carried her through until her death on May 16th 2008.   I’m thankful for my Grandfather who understood how much I loved to travel.  He called me his Travelling Tessie.  And he knew how much I loved steak.   The very last time I saw my Grandfather he handed my father some money and told him to “take his Tessie out for a nice steak dinner”.

My grandmother was a writer.  She cultivated in me a love of poetry.  She encouraged me to read it.  She encouraged me to write it.  She encouraged my love of books in general.  She was a born story teller and though she did not read aloud to me, she spent hours telling me stories.

I am grateful for poetry books and audio books.  Today we listened to Story of the World Volume 1 on CD.  Jim Weiss is quite the story teller.  Almost as good as my grandma <grin>.  Tailorbear’s been listening to SOTW but today we all listened with her.

We also listened to Focus on the Famlly’s Radio Theater version of The Horse and His Boy.  We finally started disk 2.  We haven’t been making it to piano lessons so we haven’t been listening to these CD’s.

Daddy’s been reading to Supergirl.  They finished Home Price and have started Mr. Popper’s Penguins.  I’ve also started reading poetry aloud to her.  I haven’t been reading poetry aloud for a long time.  We also started a new bible story book.  I’ll post more about that later.  I’m reviewing it for Booksneeze.

We haven’t finished the audio version of The Magician’s Nephew yet but we haven’t been listening to it either.   Illness has made lunch hour more of a working lunch with students grabbing a bit to eat while they work to get caught up on school work.

So today I’m grateful for my grandparents and for storytellers.  I’m grateful for great literature that I can use to build memories with my daughters.

What are you reading aloud to your kiddos?  Check out Debra’s Reading Aloud Challenge over at Footprints in the Butter.  

What are you grateful for?  Check out Brenda’s 2011 Gratitude Challenge over at Garden of Learning.

Comments

  1. So you found the Booksneeze book, huh? :)

    Sounds like some great books you have going...

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  2. Your grandparents sound like wonderful people!

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  3. What wonderful memories! You reminded me of my own grandmother. I love reading the Gratitude Challenge posts.

    Amy B

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  4. I really enjoyed reading about your grandparents. Your grandmother reminded me of mine. She was an amazing story teller and she also loved to write. I wish I had half of her ability.
    As I read this I was also surprised to hear you mention Story of the World. I didn't realize you used it. I would love to hear more of what you think of it. I LOVE SL but am desperate for help getting all my school done. I seem to always end up neglecting a subject or a child

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