more books please

yeah! we have a new, big bookshelf and i love it! i know it seems as though i always have my mister working on some kind of project for me, but it really isn't entirely me. let me explain. the latest project was a bookshelf to house the many, many children's books we own. now, even though i am not a huge ikea furniture fan, i would've been ok with buying one from them, just for that instant gratification that i think, is so satisfying for most of us. we even made a trip there to see what they had, which (insert smiling face) made the mister more adamant about making his own. so, see it's not entirely me. he does it to himself. the thought of press board furniture sends a shiver down his spine. in all honestly, i am glad it does because i think the things that he builds look and are way better than anything we could get from ikea.

and so, now we have a bookshelf that suits our needs and our aesthetic too. i wanted a bookshelf with nice tall and deep shelves. these shelves are 30"w x 16"d x 18"d.

they're perfect.

i was able to get all of our books in it. even though this process gave me a major headache and left me feeling frustrated, after a few days of admiring it and being able to find a book without having to search the whole house, made the experience all worth while.

p.s. it is not my intent to bag on ikea. i actually really like ikea for some things. like the things that my husband can't make, like our couch...

again, it was not my first choice, but it fit our budget and our lifestyle with two little kiddo's and it works for us.

*i saw this on my friends blog and thought i would give it a try. so, for the first time i am linking up to life made lovely and i am keeping my fingers crossed that i do it right*

on the shelf

if you don't know this already we love books over here.

we have a lot of books and i keep buying a lot of books

and we just can't get enough books around here. we

will be starting our first official year of homeschooling

this coming week. our main "curriculum" consists of

reading, reading and more reading. to organize my

thoughts and our bookshelf i thought it would be

helpful to lump some of our books into months.

because we have so many books i put them into

catergories that i would like to go over with the

little miss through out the school year.

so this is what i did... i organized them accordingly,

stacked them neatly, tied them with twine

and attached a cute little tag i made with my new stamps

i just purchased. i'm pretty pleased with the outcome

and i feel a little more prepared for the school year.

my idea is each month we will unwrap a set of books

and place them in a basket for that month of reading.

of course, we have several shelves of untied books that

are classic and timeless and just need to be enjoyed

year round, but for now i am excited about my book

packages and i look forward to their unwrapping

throughout the year.

here's a few books on our reading list for this year...

beatrix potter collection

little house on the prairie

winnie the pooh series

miss rumphius

five little peppers and how they grew

one morning in maine

the jolly postman

families

mr. pine's mixed up signs

the story of babar

the little island

make way for ducklings

frog and toad

little bear

and the list goes on and on and on......

from our home to yours we hope all of you have a wonderful, successful school year.

don't toss it...fix it!

my little fella received a series of books by karen katz

before he was even born. they are the cutest books.

they have great colors, nice large black print,

and an opportunity for the child to interact with the

story by lifting flaps to uncover the cute baby illustration

that is under it. This my friends is why i am doing this post.

my little fella, even though he completely loves these books has

completely destroyed them. he has ripped off all the flaps and isn't able

to enjoy the books as much as he use to.

so here is my quick fix to this little problem...

what you need: clear contact paper, scissors, hot glue gun

and 2-3 glue sticks, velcro and the book of course

then cover the ripped off flap part of the book

with contact paper. i tried to skip this part, but the contact paper

really does help. it makes the page sturdier and harder to rip off again.

cut a strip of velcro the length of where the flap

will be attached. glue one side of the velcro to the book and the

other side to the flap. now your ready to reattach.

viola! your book is repaired and ready for some more fun.

the cool thing is even though my little fella stills rips the flap

off i can reattach it over and over again. now if i can just figure

out how to keep him from closing the doors on the t.v. cabinet....