Simply Jaimie

When I was a brand new military wife, I met - more like   the Lord placed in my life - the sweetest woman. She had been a military wife a lot longer than I had, and was telling me all about life in the military. I listened as she told me about all the places her husband had deployed too and how long he was gone for. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, and unsure of what I had got myself into, I asked her, "How do you cope with your husband being gone so much!?" Being a newlywed, I simply couldn't imagine a day without seeing my husband ( Oh to be young and newly married again.)  I also knew that her story would quickly become my reality.  Her response to me was, "I write down all the blessings that come because my husband is away." Things like, being able to visit with family for longer periods of time, meeting new friends, realizing that you can do hard things, relying more fully on the Lord, and strengthening your testimony that truly families are forever. I adm...

Yesterday, I wrote about how we display our book (click here to read that post.) Today I want to share with you our ten favorite books  #1. Thelma the Unicorn by Aaron Blabey. This is my favorite book to read to the kids. It is a story about a horse that dreams of becoming a unicorn. She thought her life would be great and glamorous; however, the rich and famous life isn't as great as she thought it would be. She realizes what is really important in life.   This book is funny and sweet with a great message for kids about being happy being themselves. #2. Pig the Winner by Aaron Blabey Yes, another Aaron Blabey book! His books are so funny and the illustrations are so perfect. The facial expressions that he gives his characters in the book are hilarious. My kids always try to recreate them. This book is about a pug named pig, and he will do anything to win - even cheat! He finds out that winning isn't everything (sorta.) ...

I LOVE children's books! I love reading the stories to the kids and looking at the beautiful illustrations. I always knew I wanted to display them with their covers showing; instead of the traditional way with the spines showing on a bookcase. After looking at a hundred different pins, I decided to go for the Ikea picture shelf which you can buy for about $10.  I didn't do anything fancy to determine the spacing between the shelves. I simply put the tallest book we own on the shelf (the same book for all the shelves,) and went up a couple inches and voila!  At the top, we have all our Fancy Nancy books because the kids don't reach for those very often. The next three shelves have hard covers, and the bottom shelf is full paperbacks (we pick those up from Hannah's school book fairs.)  I love the display, and appreciate that my kids don't pull them down just cause (I wish they felt the same way about their toy boxes!) I hope that gave ...