Sam and Claire Emison

Claire's Book Line

Hi again. I’m going to do a How- To thing on how to organize a book line, which is basically a way to organize a bookshelf and go through all your books by putting them in a line and reading through them.

I started using a book line about two years ago, and it really helps. Here’s what you do.

First, find a lot of book you haven’t gone through in a long time.
Sort those books into three categories: Books you want to give away, but think you should read again; books you want to read again; or books you haven’t read. All of your books should fit into one of these categories. (If you have a book you don’t want to read right now, but don’t want to get rid of, read it again, and decide if you want to read it again ever)
Then, mix the books up into one line of books and start to read them in order of the line. It doesn’t matter what order you read them in, but try to mix up book you really want to read and books you don’t.
When you are reading through the book line, sort the books from the book line you’ve read into two different piles: Books you’re keeping and books you want to give away. When you’re reading through, you can also add other books on to the end of the line. If you have a book from the library, or something else where you have to give it back, filter it into the beginning of the book line so it’s like this: library book, book line book, library book, etc.
At the end you’re probably going to have a smallish pile (books you want to give away) and a few big piles (Books you want to keep). Give away the books you want to give away and with the books you want to keep, you should sort into piles based on genre, author, or anything else and put them onto shelves based on those piles.
Repeat every three to twelve months.

This really helps because you might have some books that you should get rid of, but don’t, and a book line helps you to decide if you’re actually going to read something again.

If you try this, comment on how it worked! I hope this helps.

We're Back!

Claire:
Hi. Sam and I are back writing the blog now. It’s been eight whole years! So, here are some of the best and most interesting things I’ve been doing:

Doing gymnastics at Tumble Kids USA for around five years, but I will be switching to the Gymnastics Academy of Boston (in Cambridge) in September
Sewing, knitting, finger knitting, ring knitting, weaving and more!
Reading over my Book Line which is all the books I want to read, that I want to read again, or that I am considering getting rid of.
Winning poetry contests! I won the Cambridge 16th Annual Poetry Contest with my poem Launch!.

Sam:

Here are some of the things I have been doing in the past eight years:

Playing soccer on intown, but I switched to travel team two years ago.
I have also been in the chess club at my school.
I have been building lots of Lego sets. Some of the best ones that I’ve built are:

Hogwarts, Imperial shuttle, Obi Wan's starfighter and this train:

Also, last summer, Claire and I went to a sleepaway camp in New Hampshire, called Wildwood.
I also have been kayaking in Maine.

A family that pees together stays together

Sam and his Potty Elmo say HI! Unlike Claire, Sam is a good eater. He will eat what his mom cooks for him just to show her how much he loves her.

Today Sam and Daddy peed at exactly the same time. We both thought that was pretty cool.

Yesterday Claire wouldn't eat mommy's corned beef hash. After a contest of wills between the two of them, I sat with Claire in the front room reading her a book. At one point, I paused and said that she should consider having a bite of the meal mommy made for her. It would make mommy really happy and she could have fruit with yogurt afterwards. She looked at me earnestly and said, "I said no."

I want to wear Daddy's Coat.

A Sunday Walk with Strollers

Chris, Katherine and Baby Ben ate breakfast at our house this morning. Ben is getting big. He is standing and walking. Sam and Claire played nicely with him, no fighting... no crying.

After breakfast, Sam, Claire, Mom and Dad went on a walk with their dolls and their doll strollers. We walked for two hours down Cambridge street all the way to the Casal Bakery past Prospect St. and back. They took their strollers up and down stairs. We crossed the street with the strollers at crosswalks. Sam especially loved to push his stroller. He walked the entire way.

We played at the playground behind the King Open School and watched a train cross the street.

All in all, it was a nice day out.

Another Long Saturday at Work

Daddy worked on Saturday again. Sam and Mom and Claire walked to Kendall Square and took the T to Harvard. Then they played at the playground in Cambridge Common. When it was time to come home they took the 69 bus back from Holyoke Center.

Daddy came home a little after six. He took Sam and Claire out on a walk. We went to the Video store where daddy paid his late fee for the movie he rented last week. We stopped to see the Firetruck parked for take-out at Dilara. Sam saw the woman get out of the fire truck and say hi to him. We watched the firetruck idle. It was loud.

Then we went to Dilara. The man behind the counter talked to Sam and Claire. He asked them how old they were. He showed Sam and then Claire how to use the cash register. Claire said the alphabet to him. Sam and Claire were a little shy.

On the way home we stopped by the store where the monsters live. Sam liked the trash truck in the window. Claire openned and closed the gate in the front of the store.

Finally we came home, played some more and went to bed. Bed, bed, bed, bed, bed.

Claire's new swimsuit

Here is Claire modelling her new swimsuit from auntie Erin. She is very interested in being able to put it on herself.

A Song Claire Sang

Mom put Claire on the phone a few weeks ago, Claire said, "Moo, Moo... I love you. I know you're a cow, but anything will do..." Where would she have learned that?