Scholastic.

Today I am grateful for Scholastic books.

Come on, you guys. I know you remember scholastic book orders.

those little paper flyers you used to get at school with all kinds of books and weird science-y things in them?

oh yes. I can tell it's all coming back to you now.

and weren't they freaking awesome? I feel like every single month I used to get those things and just want everything in them, and when my mom actually did order something from them? AMAZING.

well, now that Mr. Breyman is in school, he actually gets book orders. I almost fell out of my chair the first time I took them out of his backpack. I had completely forgotten about them!

nostalgia, people. gotta love it.

The Marsh and I were pretty excited about ordering some books for the babes, but with the trip to Disney and getting into the swing of things with Brey and school, we just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Finally The Marsh created an online account (that's right, you can order scholastic books that can be sent to your child's classroom online. note to self: grateful for technology) and ordered a couple books last month. The babes really seem to like them and they really weren't that expensive. and really, you can never have too many books.

Last week we got his december book order and I was pleased to find that most of the books were about Christmas. You see I have this plan to accumulate a ton of christmas books. at least 24 of them, but it could be more than that. what do you do with 24 christmas books? you turn them into an awesome advent calender.

Step 1: Get a basket. or a large bucket. or some sort of storage device that will hold 24 books.

Step 2: Wrap up all of the books in wrapping paper and place them in the basket.

Step 3: Let the babes pick one book each night leading up to Christmas to unwrap and read as a bedtime story.

awesome, right?

and the best part is that you don't have to get all new christmas books each year, just put them away during the rest of the year so that they don't lose their holiday fun. obviously as the babes get bigger we'll have to start exchanging out some of the books geared toward younger kids. I'm sure 10 year old Brey won't care too much for Llama Llama Holiday Drama. but classics like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Night Before Christmas will always be able to be re-used.

but there is one little problem with collecting alot of holiday books. they are expensive. YIKES! well, not super expensive individually. but you know, 24 of them add up. that's why I was so excited to see this month's book order flyers. because they had some cute books. and some of them were only $1.00. heck yes. and while we didn't go crazy and get all of them tonight when we placed our order, we did manage to get quite a few without breaking the bank. they even had a 6 pack for $9.99. and they were actually decent books too! double score.

So tonight after placing Brey's book order I am so grateful for scholastic books. I'm grateful that school's are awesome enough to send these flyers home (even after all these years geez) and i'm grateful that we have access to children's books without feeling like we have to pay a pretty penny for them. not that my kids ever have to worry about not having books around. reading to me is like a part of my soul. i'll always have books around me and will always surround my children with books. but hey, if you don't have to go broke to do it, even better right? right.

Thanks for reading!
Lana