Kayla has been asking me to teach her to knit for a while now.  So the other night we worked on it.  She’s doing pretty well, and she can’t wait until she can make a dress for Madeline!  Here’s a picture of the little knitter:

Don’t you love the outfit?  When Aaron came home from work, she decided she wanted to dress like him!  :)

When I was ten, my grandparents gave me the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House series as a Christmas gift.  I remember reading the books in the back of their suburban as we traveled to Yellowstone and back the following summer.  I read all the books except Farmer Boy (for some reason I didn’t think I would like it because it was about a boy).  The books then sat on my bookshelf in excellent condition … waiting.

They sat there all through my teenage years, through high school and college.  When Aaron and I got married, the books followed me to our apartment and then to our house in Mt. Pleasant.  During one of our times eliminating clutter, Aaron suggested I redistribute the Little House series.  My response was something like, “are you kidding me?  I’m planning to read these to our daughter someday.”

And then one day, we had a daughter.  A few days later I started reading her books.  Day after day, we read  books together until one day she was ready for her first chapter book.

Early one morning in June 2008, Kayla and I sat together on our front porch bench as the sunshine warmed our legs.  We started Little House in the Big Woods, and before I knew it, Kayla was hooked.  Sequentially we worked through the Little House books, saving Farmer Boy for last, since I didn’t think we would like it.

Well tonight we finished Farmer Boy, which means we have now finished all nine books of the Little House series.  One thing I learned:  I was wrong!  I loved Farmer Boy!  What a treasure I missed as a child because of my erroneous thinking and unwillingness to give it a chance.  The last chapter was absolutely outstanding!

To show how much Kayla has loved these books, I thought I would include this:

She informed me the other day that she would like a new set of Little House books since hers have fallen apart.  That way, someday, she can read them to her little boy or little girl.

Note:  One thing I forgot to mention is that we intentionally planned to finish Farmer Boy today.  Were he still alive, today would be Almanzo’s 153rd birthday!  Aaron and the girls even had a breakfast birthday party for him this morning while I was getting my hair cut.  :)