Thursday, April 30, 2015

What We Are Reading

I have meant to post so many times, but something always happened -- usually sick children. I have had more sick kids this winter and spring than I think I have had in the previous 10 years. We have had someone sick almost constantly since January -- strep, ear infections, colds, bronchitis, viruses, and pneumonia with a hospitalization. So, I have been slow to post. Things seem to be looking up and everyone is well so maybe I will get that update on Sophia done in the next week or so. 

We did try to keep reading through all of the sickness, though there were some days with so many doctor visits and then being in the hospital that I didn't get around to it. We read Fair Bay by Eleanor Frances Lattimore. It was written in 1958. I think everyone really liked this one, including me. I got it years ago at a library sale when they were getting rid of some old books. It is out of print, as are many of the books I read to the kids, but worth looking for. The book is about Trudy and her summer visit to her aunt's home on the coast of South Carolina. One morning she rides her horse to the lost island of Fair Bay -- destroyed years ago by a terrible storm. Her ordinary summer visit turns into an adventure when she finds an old fashioned music box and is subsequently taken back in time 60 years  -- to the last afternoon of the island before it was destroyed. It is light and easy reading and a short book, but enjoyable. Bethany and Andrew liked it best. 

We then read E Is For Elisa by Johanna Hurwitz and Summer With Elisa by the same author. I had read that these books were very similar to the Betsy books that Bethany loves so much so I ordered them. Bethany and Andrew liked them and I thought they were ok. I didn't find them that similar to the Betsy books by Haywood, though. 

We also read Forest Secrets by Tracy Kane -- a book about fairy houses. Bethany absolutely loved this book. Before we finished it, she was out making a fairy house in our front yard. We found book 2 in this series and I have ordered it as she liked the first one so much. 

We are now reading Secret in the Maple Tree by Matilda Nordtvedt. We are enjoying this book and it is actually part of the A Beka reading program. 

I have a few random pictures to post from the past month or so. I haven't even taken many pictures lately with all the sick kids. 

Kids playing in the rain last week -- it was warm. 





























Bella played in the rain and got kind of cold so got herself a blanket to warm up with.


























Niece and aunt together on the sidewalk.


























Reagan -- my granddaughter. 






























Sophia likes to sit and watch, but doesn't really like the grass.































Bethany and her fairy house. 





























I kept Madelyn (my granddaughter) the other day and got a few pictures of her.




























She may not look that happy about visiting, but she actually likes it here -- really.































6 comments:

  1. Have you discovered the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace yet? I HIGHLY recommend the first four books in the series. The other books are Betsy's high school stories, and are more mature storylines, even though they do take place in the early 1900's. The first four books though...wonderful. They're my favorite series from childhood, and I re-read them every couple of years because I still love them so much. Even though Betsy and Tacy would be 100 years old now, I still feel like they're two of my best friends. Betsy-Tacy, Betsy, Tacy & Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. I also love Winona's Pony Cart, by the same author.

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    1. We love the Betsy-Tacy books. I also read them as a child and then read them to my children. But, I think Bethany still loves the Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood best. I'm not sure why she loves them so much, but she reads them over and over to herself. When we pick what to read aloud it never fails that she asks for a Betsy book -- even though we have read them all. I am always looking for new ideas -- especially older books.

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    2. Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
      The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz
      A Sundae with Judy by Frieda Friedman
      Laddie by Gene Stratton Porter (LONG, but one of my favorites ever that my mom ever read aloud)
      Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
      Theater Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Skating Shoes, Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfield (there are other books in her Shoes series, but these are my favorites)
      What Katy Did and What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
      Thimble Summer, The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, Spiderweb for Two, Gone-Away Lake, Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright
      Cotton in My Sack and Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
      My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
      The Fairy Rebel by Lynne Reid Banks
      Samantha on Stage by Susan C. Farrar

      Those are some of my very favorites, and all but the last two are older books.

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    3. Thanks so much for the list. Some of them I haven't heard of and will have to get and some of them I have and had forgotten about. I will be looking for some of them so we can read them this summer as I needed new ideas. Gone-Away Lake is one of my favorites. I love that book and the funny thing is one of my older daughters found it in our library -- we had never read it. She read it for the first time at the age of 14 and loved it and then talked me into reading it. Thanks again for the list.

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  2. Welcome back to blogging! I've missed you! I just turned the picture of Sophia towards Larry and said "Look who it is". He didn't even recognize her! I love the niece and aunt picture!

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  3. Love these pictures! Magical. Beautiful.

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