kirstencan

Come Follow Me

I just have to show you this cool book I bought last month - this is only going to be of interest if you are LDS, but I have recommended this study guide to at least 15 people so far, and thought I might as well post it here.

It's Shannon Foster's Come Follow Me study guide:

It includes every YW/YM lesson AND youth Sunday School lesson for the year.  All it does is take what's online and arrange it in a visually-pleasing manner. ;)  No other ideas or anything, but for someone who's been teaching a few years now, it helped me get out of a little rut.

I open the lesson on my ipad, then it's REALLY easy to study/prepare since I can just tap to pull up scriptures, talks, and videos.

Another photo to show that it's really just an organizational tool.  Somehow it really works for me. 

I got mine on amazon.

I just bought one for my daughter for Valentine's day - she was flipping through mine and saw what an awesome tool it is for personal study.  It really is an excellent resource.  I am in sunday school, but I have done a couple of the YW lessons just as personal study. 

Just wanted to share in case anyone needs a little lesson prep help!

Little House

As usual, I have a million things I'd like to say here, and not enough time to post them.

So here's one random thing.

My boys have been listening to 'Little House on the Prairie' in the car the past week (side note: Cherry Jones is a great reader and that book makes great audiobook (not a lot of dialogue/voices, more description).  At first they weren't excited that I checked out that book, but I told them we could switch after we finished one disc if they didn't like it.

Yeah, it took about 5 minutes for them to be hooked!  We finished the audiobook today and they are currently watching this version of it (we've had it for years - much more true to the book than the tv show!).  They have enjoyed pointing out the differences between the book and movie, and as soon as he heard 'mosquito' Monkey said 'Oh, it's Fever and Ague!'

The Redhead was excited to learn there are more books in the series, and has been asking a lot of questions about Native Americans and white settlers.

We have also been talking about navigating the wagon, Jack the dog, wolves, healthcare for early settlers and tons of other stuff..

And that, friends, is why historical literature rocks.  Autobiographical is even better.

Coincidentally, the husband recently told me about this annotated Little House, which sounds amazing.  Until it comes in at the library or is back in stock, I'll be checking out their blog.

Halloween Books

Well, with an anxiety-ridden spectrum kiddo, we may not have many Halloween decorations out, but we do have a nice stack of books! Similar to my Christmas book post, I thought I'd share our Halloween books.

First up:  book order cheapos.

Out of this, Wee Witches Halloween is definitely my fave.  The Halloween Play is second, and Runaway Pumpkin is a pretty fun read-aloud.  They probably came in a pack or something years ago.

Other random paperbacks:

Ed Emberley is fun to draw, of course.  Big Pumpkin was the kids VERY fave for so many years - it is a classic.

Angelina's Halloween gets pulled out of our Angelina collection, those illustrations are gorgeous.

 

Scaredy Squirrel is a new find for us - it's a library book, but I'd love to own it.  SUCH a cute book.  Not really a read-aloud, it's more lists and stuff.  "A safety guide for scaredies" is what it says on the bottom. Kinda perfect.

Great Pumpkin - the best I could find as far as the 'real' book of the movie we love so much.  Arthur is a board/lift the flap book, and Tricky Treaters was a free comic book day find.

I almost forgot Leonardo.  We love all things Mo Willems.

A few 'chapter' books in the stack as well.  All were old library sale finds.  The Best Halloween ever is by the same author as The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  While not as good as that one, Best Halloween is still a funny story of the Herdmans.

More scary stories to tell in the dark.  Never was into those, but sometimes the kids pick it up.  The Newbery Halloween one is great though.  Selections from various chapter books, by authors like E.L. Konigsburg and Beverly Cleary.

And here's our newest edition to the Halloween Books:

Last year I made up a photo book of all the Halloween costumes!  I make photo books often (always with Shutterfly - love them!), and I like to keep the backgrounds simple (white).  But with this one I had Monkey help me and we went nuts with the Halloween pages.  Each year is documented, from 2000 when baby Girl was a fairy, to last year's Aquabat/Goddess costumes.

We had to scan a bunch of photos from the film camera!

Pre-blog:

Some you may remember:

Anyway, it's way fun to look through them.  My plan is to put a glassine envelope or something on the inside back cover to hold the next few year's photos.

This really makes me want to put together a Christmas book!

 

Eloise Wilkin

Last week I got this book in the mail - it is one I've 'needed' for my collection of books illustrated by Eloise Wilkin.  Hansel and Gretel!

So I had to get my other books out to document.  The collections:

(That one on the right was a fairly recent Ross or TJ Maxx score - it's a thick book, I was pleased with it, but I think the 'retouching' of the illustrations... isn't as nice).

Oh, Baby Dear.  My fave hands down.  Oh wait, except for My Goodnight Book?

The Little Book is adorable.

I think these 'helping' books were fairly popular. 

And I pulled this photo from my Christmas books post, since they're packed away with the winter stuff.

I love how she drew cheeks and lips.  And the fact that my babies had CHEEKS... just makes these books more enjoyable.

There are certain 'moments' that I remember from each of these books, some from when I was little, some from reading them to my own kids.

The little watering can (and washing the dog!).

'Slapping' the ham, cheese and butter sandwiches together (also hanging doll clothes out to dry).

Baby fingers.

That little dress/tights/braid.

When I was little I wanted to be friends with that girl on the right with the red hair.

Oh, this room is amazing.  I used to want a window seat SO badly!

I think I can still recite 'My Goodnight Book' - it was a favorite of my daughter's.  (Also someone recently pulled out 'Hippos Go Berserk' and Aaron and I can both recite that one, ha!)

So I flipped through the Hansel and Gretel book looking for a 'moment' I remembered.  I think it's the built in beds.  How amazing!

These are the kind of illustrations you can pore over.  And they're so nostalgic for me!  I think the ones I remember most fondly are these, Calvin and Hobbes, and Shel Silverstein books.  How about you?

Read-alouds

Reading outside is the best.

I've tried to keep a running list this year of our read-alouds and audiobooks.  Approaching the end of the year (not ready!), here it is:

Fablehaven

Fablehaven #2

Ramona the Pest

Ramona the Brave

Ramona and her Father

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Bad Beginning (Series of Unfortunate Events #1)

LOTR:  The Two Towers

Ramona and her Mother

Ellen Tebbits

The Reptile Room (SUE #2)

Story of the World (Ancients)

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

Little Pear

Prince Caspian

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Wide Window (SUE #3)

 

Some of these, like the Story of the World, we listen to at home (and not in order, we used it as topics came up in our studies - still can't believe they liked it this time - so much!).  Others we listen to in the car - very useful for  boys who have to shuttle back and forth to drop/pickup siblings.  A couple I read aloud to them, and the Lord of the Rings series is their dad. 

Audiobooks are great for those books that you KNOW they'll like, but they are too stubborn to pick up themselves.  I'm not sure Monkey would have read many Beverly Cleary's if we hadn't listened to a Ramona book first - and now he likes that author (of course he does!).  His sister has been trying and trying to get him to read the Series of Unfortunate Events, but he won't.  So I picked up the audiobook 'for his brother' and he has to listen since we're in the car.  And he loves it.  But three books later he still won't admit it even when I hear him laughing!  And it's good for my redheaded reluctant chapter-book-reader.  Delays + vision learning problems means his confidence falls short sometimes, though he is a good reader!  So a big thick book isn't as overwhelming when you have it on audio.

If not in the car, fiddly toys, coloring, playfoam, or something to keep their hands busy while they listen works wonders.

"I weep for humanity."

The girl has been taking a class this year.  It is seminary, which is a church class for high school aged students, and around here it's right next to school campuses.  So every day she heads over to the neighborhood building for her class.  It's been fun for her to meet more kids.  Her educational journey is a post of it's own that I'll get around to writing one of these days.

Anyway, this morning she got home and was just still so shocked.  Apparently they had been discussing education and the teacher asked each of them how many books they read in a year.  She said most of the kids said about 5.  FIVE. 

Stunned, she looked around, and when asked how many she read she replied "I don't know, somewhere between 40 and 150?"  And the other kids were stunned right back.

She came home and said "I weep for humanity." 

Kids need to read more.

The end.

ps. I know this girl and her reading habits.  150 books/year is a conservative estimate.

24 between us

26 if you count the double digest comics that arrived in the stockings...

Christmas Books

Under our stockings is our book basket.  Usually filled with seasonal/random books for the kids to read in the living room, right now it's filled to overflowing with our Christmas books.  I LOVE my books.  Thought I'd share them, in case you're looking for a new one for the kiddos (or next year).

I'm not going to bother linking to where you can buy these, some are vintage anyway, but you can click the photo to read the titles/authors better if you want to.

Beginning the tour with a selection of Nutcracker books:

Swedish books:

Eloise Wilkin books (I collect her books, her illustrations are SO sweet):

Character books:  (some of these are out of focus, sorry!  Too lazy to reshoot.)

The redhead loves to read this page of the Olivia book (which are so well designed), and Angelina Ballerina books are always simply gorgeous (original Angelina books, not the TV version books).  I bought the Angelina book years ago on eBay, and ended up getting a British (original) version!

Let's call this group... classics?  Santa Mouse was last year's new book, and I have to admit I like the Polar Express less because of that stupid movie.  Why The Polar Express Movie is the Worst Children's Movie Ever might be an upcoming post...

This group... book order specials:

I used clear contact paper when I bought these to help them survive in all their cheap-paperback glory, and I'm glad I did!  Exception is the Elf book, which was a gift (and hardcover).  I hope I don't offend anyone, but I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't LOVE Elf.  Yes, Will Ferrell is a genius, and there are some awesome one-liners, but I just didn't like that movie much at all.  PLUS I don't want to explain paternity testing to my small children.  Why is that necessary in a family movie?  However, this book sticks to just one sweet part of the story, and it's fun.

Um... miscellaneous books:

A Child's Christmas in Wales, Jingle Bells (not the copy I cut up here), one by Richard Scarry, and Santa Calls by William Joyce (my kids love Dinosaur Bob, too).  Santa Calls is a cute Christmas adventure story, with awesome illustrations.

Books the kiddos have outgrown:  (but the Little People one still got looked at this year!)

Chapter books:

We have another one that should be here that someone must be hiding called 'Ten Tales of Christmas'.  Along the same lines as the Treasury one - Christmas stories and chapters from various books.  I was going to read the pageant book to the boys this year, but it hasn't happened yet, and I LOVE the Dickens book.  My parents sent this to us when we were first married, and it is just lovely.  The girl reads it every year.

And finally, this year's acquistion:

Gyo Fukikawa is another illustrator I love.  We have a Children's Garden of Verses by her also, and I'd been drooling over this book for a couple of years.  Glad to finally have it, it is GORGEOUS. 

So there's our stack.  Oh, how I love these books!

When we get out the Christmas Stuff, the books are the first thing the kids want to paw through.  We pack them away again after Christmas to keep them together and keep them special.  Ahh, book memories!

It's kinda weird with the kiddos getting older, I haven't heard these books much this year at all!  Because they can all read well, these are getting much less out loud time.  Which is kinda weird and sad.  But they are getting read, and that's awesome.  I guess I just need to sit down and read them all myself!

I've already picked out next year's book:  Letter's from Father Christmas.  We need it, the kiddos are already Tolkien fans anyway.

Any more that I need to get?

Nook Case {Fail?}

A couple of weeks ago I bought a new toy...

Hello, Nook!  (Nook needs a better name, because NOOKY is dumb).  Aaron bought one a month before me and I got all wanty.  I put some stickers on mine to tell them apart.  Well, let's be real, I would have done that anyway...

I wanted a little sleeve to keep it in when I throw it in my bag.  This is attempt #1.  There WILL be others, because I'm not sure this works.

At first I thought it was a total FAIL, but now it's a ...maybe fail?  Mediocre first draft?

I spent about a half hour (possibly less - late Sunday morning pre-church crafting here - oh wait, maybe that's my problem! ;) and used fabrics I had on hand (houndstooth outer, velvet inner, scraps from my applique scrap box) and this as inspiration for the pattern.  But don't click that because in comparison mine will look really dumb. ;)

The velvet is a little bunchy at the bottom, and at first it was a bit too snug of a fit, but it's getting better now.  It works.  And I totally use it because I take this thing everywhere.  LOVE.  I had no idea I'd like an eReader.  But this is pretty sweet.  And the best part is that I can check library books out on it.

No, wait, the best part is that I put some of my own photos on as a screensaver instead of goofy caricatures of authors.  Heckyeah.

Happy.

BTW, you can always see what I'm reading on my Goodreads page.

BTW2, I ultimately chose the Nook over the Nook color because of the e-ink.  It rocks.

And now the girl wants one for Christmas.  Sheesh.  Don't know about that...

The End!

Gifted Books

Hi!  We are still in a video game and cookie-induced stupor. Throw about a trillion hours (estimated, but probably accurate) of Lego building in there and you've got our weekend.  The neighborhood kids are starting to venture out from under the Christmas tree, but when they knocked on our door today, we said we weren't ready to play yet.  A family day.  For the record, the kids were ready, the parents weren't.  Also, we were still hanging out in our pj's at 2:00 in the afternoon, and our house still very much looks like we just opened our presents.  So while I find places for our new 'stuff' (and good stuff it is), let me share with you a little bit.

Here's our new book stack!

We try and get the kids a new book each Christmas.  This year they ended up with two each (the handmade thing did NOT happen for me and I had to be okay with that).

For some reason, it was hard to find cool books for them this year.  And then we had family asking for book recommendations and we didn't know what to tell them. 

This is most explainable for the girl.  She has two large bookcases crammed full of books, most of which she's read multiple times.  She checks out 15-20-ish books every week from the library and has them read in just a couple of days.  No lie.  It's HARD to find things she hasn't read.

So, after a lot of amazon searching (by me, Aaron, and my mom), we came up with these (click on the book cover to see the book on amazon):

For the girl (10):

I knew she'd been waiting to read the new Rick Riordan book, but the library never had it.  Sadly, she finished it Christmas day.  Book of a Thousand days she's read more than once, but she had just re-read it from the library and was saying how she needed her own copy (and it was cheap on amazon).

And from Grandma (Grandpa is implied):

Also from Grandma:  the gift tag said it was for our family, but I suspect it's really aimed at the girl, without looking like they gave her an extra gift:

For Thomas (8):

Ugh.  The Pokemon is a bit embarassing, but it's a pretty cool, big hardcover look-and-find book that all the kids loved when they checked it out from the library.  He is such a reader now, but he has like 30 Magic Tree House books already.  And he DEVOURS Calvin & Hobbes.  I often find him curled up with my COMPLETE set on my bed and don't have the heart to take it away (but they're my nice books!)  We have lots of paperback Calvins, though, and he loves all of them.  And many are in various stages of decay after so much reading.

Grandma was smarter, though, and I think she found just the right thing:

For the Monkey (5):

The kid LOVES Mouseguard and already has the first two books (and a plush Lieam toy).  Owly is a new-to-us series.  Owly is a graphic novel as well (all my kids love graphic novels) with virtually no words.  Monkey is a reader now, but we thought he'd get a kick out of the cute owl.  He LOVES anything cute.

From Grandma:

She is the one who made him his sock monkey a few years ago.  Appropriate!

My little brother gave us this adorable book.  I hadn't heard of it but am excited to read it.  And I think EVERYONE will love it.

He also recommended this book to my mom, who got it for us (and the movie).  It's our new bedtime chapter book read-aloud.

 

As for me, I got a couple of new Penguin Classics hardcovers.  SO PRETTY!  I got these for my mom as well.  That might be how Aaron knew to get me some.  I may have hinted/drooled.

(Click to look at all of them - they're GORGEOUS)

And a gift from Aaron and I to our whole family:

We're hoping to raise the bar on our family scripture study (also by using this program).

On Christmas Eve afternoon, Aaron spend another hour or two on amazon searching for books for the girl.  He'd call out titles and she'd yell back 'Read it!' or 'Nope!'.  He ended up with... 63? titles for her to check out.

So that's good... for this month.  ;)

What about you?  Did you get any awesome books this Christmas?