Summer Reading (In which I stretch my blogging legs and assess some reading goals...)

Happy summer, everyone!

I realize that it has been a VERY long time since I've updated my blog, and here's why:

Meet Penelope Kate, who was born April 3rd, and who (along with her two older sisters) has been taking up A LOT of my working, reading, blogging, eating, and sleeping time!

During one of the rare times when Penelope and her sisters were all asleep at the same time, I decided to take a look at my 2012 reading goals.  (I called this my Best of the Best Challenge, and you can read about it here.)  As I looked over what I have already read and then what I still need to read to complete the challenge, I came to some realizations:

1. I've read A LOT of really great books that I normally wouldn't have picked up!  (This was one of the goals of the challenge in the first place, so yay!)
2. I am NOT looking forward to reading some of the books I still need to read to complete this challenge.  They just don't look or sound interesting to me!  (Boo!)
3. I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of really great brand new books because I'm reading so many that were released last year! (Boo!)

So, I've decided to change my goals.  I feel a little bit guilty about changing what I'm doing midstream, but I also feel like if I continue, reading will become a chore and I won't enjoy it the way I usually do.  I also realized that my list is heavy in adult books, which means I haven't been reading nearly as many books that I can share with kids, and I haven't read hardly any picture books!  So, since I basically created a required reading list for myself, and just remembered that I hate required reading lists, I'm going to change my plans!  (I'm allowed to change the rules, because I'm the one who made them up, right?) Thus, I'm returning to my goals from last year, so that I have a little bit more freedom in what I can read.

Here's the re-vamped goal for 2012:

• Read 112 chapter books
• Read 400 picture books

As of today, I've read 39 chapter books and 55 picture books!  Yikes!  Can I make my new goal?  I'm hoping that being able to read books that are more interesting to me will motivate me to read more!  We'll see if I can make it!

So, there's my summer reading goal!  I hope all of my students have been reading at least a little each day this summer and that you're looking forward to coming back to school in a little over a month!  I know I am!