winter still

It has been cold, so cold, and I'm having trouble coming up with creative ways to keep the kids occupied indoors. They ride bikes and scooters in the basement and play with fun dough in the kitchen. We build forts with blankets and space ships with legos, watch movies, draw pictures, make stuffed animals talk to each other and scatter pieces of board games everywhere in between. And still, we find ourselves with entirely too many hours to fill.

One thing I do love about these slow winter days, is the extra time to spend with books. Everyone grabs a favorite and we cuddle up under blankets to read. All the books we read over the holidays have been tucked neatly back into bookshelves and new piles are growing around the house. Kate loves just-her-size Beatrix Potter tales but her absolute favorite is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (she brings it to us exclaiming, "Reaky Book!? Reaky Book!? Chicka! Chicka!"). Kenna chooses animal stories with plenty of pictures or the oddly shaped Disney Princess board book that I can't stand (but I would never turn down a little girl and her fairy tales). Tristan has been reading Farmer Boy with his dad but whenever he can, he gets me to read The Story of the World. Even though he has listened to the audio versions of these history books dozens of times over and often blurts out names or phrases before I get to them, they remain his top choice. He's becoming a really good reader himself but doesn't know it yet or simply doesn't care and would listen to the dictionary if I chose to read that out loud to him.

When the kids are happily occupied with their movies and messes, I fill the time with my own ever-growing pile of books. I have a bad habit lately of starting one after another until it seems I'll never be able to finish any of them (with the exception of the Hunger Games trilogy that I shamelessly devoured in three days). Today I've been engrossed in Decision Points by George Bush (so interesting and laugh-out-loud funny). Our weekly Bible study group is starting a Tim Keller series so I decided to pick up his books that have been on my list for a while, starting with Prodigal God. And since I keep hearing so many great things about it, Paul Miller's, A Praying Life, is in the stack as well. Oh and I was so excited to finally order Ann Voskamp's new book. Read her words here and you'll see why.
What are you reading? And when you're not, how do you fill cold winter days with wiggly kids? We'd love some ideas!