What We Are Reading

We have read several really good books lately. We finished The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright and we all loved it. It was the second book about the Melendy family. They moved from the city to a big old house in the country and love their new and unusual home. They very soon become involved in country life and learn a secret about the old house they are living in. It is a heartwarming story and we all liked it better than the first book of the series. 

We are now finishing the next book about the Melendy family - Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright. This book is wonderful. It takes place in the summer and the kids have many adventures and try new things like canning and making jelly. My girls really enjoyed reading about the canning and jelly making and decided they want to make jelly this summer and maybe even try to can. We absolutely loved this book. I think it is the best so far in this series. The Melendy kids spend a beautiful summer just being kids and having fun, but also discovering that not everyone has as happy a life as they do. Everyone voted this book as wonderful. We only have one chapter left which we will  finish tomorrow and we all hate for this book to end.  This would make a wonderful book to read this summer. 

We are also reading The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson. It is a fairly interesting book and we like it, but it is not one of those books we love. We are mainly reading this as it goes along with the time period we are studying in history. 

The girls continue to make troll clothes. Since our new felt arrived they have made all kinds of stuff. Tess was working on pants and a shirt for one of the trolls today. She said she was thinking of making an entire box of clothes for them. They are having a lot of fun doing this. Bethany also made a dress for Piper's doll that she got for Christmas. It turned out very nice. This is a great winter project. 

So, today after school they made troll clothes and baked cookies. They were going to make a cherry pie, but realized they did not have time as it was getting late and it takes them quite awhile to make a pie. So, that is what they plan to do tomorrow. 

What We Are Reading

We are reading two books right now - sometimes we do that. We read one during the day with our history since it goes along with it and the other one we read in the afternoon or evening. We are almost finished with Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink. We really like this book and I'm sure most people have read it and know what it is about. This is the second time we have read it, but we do that all the time. Our second book is The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright. We are also enjoying this book. At first I think the kids were uncertain if they were going to like it, but by the second chapter they said it was a definite winner. I think we are going to read the next book in the series after this one is finished. This book is about the Melendy family. The children decide to pool their allowances and then each one takes a turn doing something special on a different Saturday. Then there is a chapter about how each child spends their Saturday. It doesn't really sound that interesting, but the kids do like it. 

Also, again, we got a special delivery from my older daughter. I say it all the time - big sisters are great. Megan, surprised us this week with a delivery of all kinds of ice cream, chocolate syrup, cherries, whipping cream, cookies, snack bars, burritos, lasagna, and so many other things. The kids are always so excited as they have no idea what kind of things she will pick to send. It is kind of fun to get surprise groceries for no special reason. 

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 20

Today our special thing was that the kids took Happy Meals to their nieces and nephews. They thought it would be fun to take them something special and then after we were done I got the kids ice cream sundaes to take home. It was easy but fun and hopefully made some little kids happy. 

We finished our chapter book yesterday - The Special Guest: A Christmas Story. Everyone absolutely loved the book. I had already read it and loved it, but wasn't sure if the kids would. Several of them took the book after I finished reading it to them to read again. I think that certainly means they liked it. We actually did not start a new chapter book today, but will tomorrow. The book from our bag to read today was Miracle in a Shoebox by Franklin Graham. The kids enjoyed it and led them to talk about the shoeboxes we did this year and wondering who had gotten them. It was a nice book. 

The kids sent their Christmas cards to church today and their teachers sent home all kinds of stuff for them. They were absolutely thrilled. They do miss their teachers so much. It was an early Christmas for the kids today.  

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 13

Today our special thing was to order pizza, breadsticks, brownies, cinnamon rolls and make fudge and Rice Krispies Treats and the kids ate while I read and read. We decided we would just make a night of reading and have lots of food and treats. They did enjoy this - especially since we had lots of food. Bethany especially loves to snack or even eat her meal as I read and Sarah will not eat her breakfast in the mornings until I start reading. So, this was small and simple, but a hit with the kids. It was a last minute thing as I had gotten kind of busy and was running late. 

We finished the book The Lion in the Box and we will choose a new chapter book tomorrow. Our book from our bag for the day was The First Gift of Christmas by William Guiffre. It was actually a new book I had bought this year and we enjoyed it. 

 

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 12

Today our special thing today was to bring Christmas books downstairs. We brought two boxes of books down. The kids always like to go through the books they have not seen in a year - they are like old friends. We have started bringing down the books on two separate days as we have so many it makes it easier to go through them and enjoy the time without so many books you get overwhelmed. After I brought them down the kids spent a quiet, happy hour just looking at them and doing a little reading. It was a pleasant time together. 

Our book from our bag today was Once Upon a Christmas Eve by Kathy-Jo Wargin and the new chapter book we are reading is The Lion in the Box by Marguerite DeAngeli.  We enjoyed both books. It will only take a few days to finish our chapter book and then choose another one. It seems we will not get through as many as I wanted to before Christmas. 

I also thought I would throw in a few pictures of the kids on the swing today as they were out there almost all day long. They were asking to go out as soon as they got up. Who knew a swing could be so exciting. 

Our Twenty-Four Days

Today we read our book The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L'Engle in preparation for our Christmas season and starting our Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas. No matter how old our kids are they all want to do our 24 days. In case you haven't followed us long and don't know what I'm talking about it's this: we got the idea from this book to do something special every single day in December till Christmas. So, for twenty-four days we will do some special thing each day - though it may be really small like putting candles in the windows or decorating the tree or just having hot chocolate.  The kids have all loved doing this for years and they all want to keep this tradition. So, tomorrow will start our twenty-four days. Hope you join us. 

This Past Week

It's been a slow week and not much happening here. We finished our current book The Pink Maple House by Christine Govan and we are ready for a new book. I'm actually considering a Christmas book now - though we usually wait till the first of December. But, a month is not a long time to read as many Christmas books as we have and we have started a little early this year anyway. So, tomorrow I guess we will pick our new read aloud and it will probably be a Christmas one. 

We have started doing a little decorating here even though Thanksgiving is not even here. But, we just felt like since we stay home so much it would actually add a little joy and the kids were definitely enthusiastic. So, we have put up a small kitchen tree and a little garland and just a few other things. We have a bunch of buckets out in the family room full of stuff that we are going through and deciding if we will use this year. The kids love to go through them and pull out stuff to play with - especially cottages and people and little trees. My kids have played with this stuff for years and years and it is fun to see Piper and Bella playing with the same little cottages that their older sisters and brothers played with so long ago.  

We are having a small Thanksgiving this year due to COVID. We will only have our family that lives in our home for dinner. With such a large family there is much greater risk and three of my daughters work in a hospital. After much thought and discussion we decided we just should not risk so many people here at one time especially since we have several children that are high risk. It is sad and I will miss all our family. This is a first for us. But, next year we will all be together again on Thanksgiving day. 

What We Are Reading

We have been reading a lot this fall especially since it seems to rain continuously here. We had planned a pumpkin painting with pony rides and animals last Sunday and it rained and rained and we had to cancel. Now we are supposed to have it tomorrow and again - rain is in the forecast. The kids are so hoping the forecast is wrong and so am I. 

I will just mention a few books we have read lately. We read Rainbow Garden by Patricia St. John and that is a favorite here. We do tend to read books more than one time. It is the story of a little girl, Elaine, that is sent to the country to live with a family while her mom is traveling.  Elaine is not pleased with the arrangement and does not like the children or the country at first, but she does make some discoveries that help her change her mind. She ends up loving the country and the Owens family and wants to stay there forever. It is a sweet story and every one of us loved it. 

We also read Squanto - Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Bulla. I don't think I need to really give a description of this book but the kids did enjoy reading it. 

We are now reading Haunted House by Peggy Parish. We have just about finished it. We chose this book because it was close to Halloween and the kids thought it sounded like a good Halloween book and because one of my readers suggested this author. I don't think we have actually read any of Peggy Parish's books so I was glad for the suggestion. The kids are really enjoying this book and we will finish it tomorrow. This book is about a supposedly haunted house that the Roberts family just bought and are getting ready to move into. After they move in the kids realize that something weird is going on at the house and they try to figure out what it is and if the house is haunted. 

This next week we will start a new book and I already think I know what we will read - an old friend that we all love. But, I will wait to share as I could change my mind. 

Fall

 We have been back to school now for three weeks and it's really going well so far. It was kind of nice to get back on a schedule. We have been reading a lot as usual, and I have been looking for some new books to read - not necessarily new, but new to us. Right now we are reading Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt and the kids seem to like it ok, but probably not their favorite. We have also been reading a lot of books on autumn and nature since this is about my favorite time of year. 

We made our pumpkin muffins for the first day of autumn as usual.

Reagan, Asher, Finn and Georgia also came to visit and Reagan and Tess did a lot of baking - something they both love to do. 

I have blogged so little in the past couple of months it is kind of hard to get back into doing it. I want to keep the blog up though as the kids love to look at it and use it as a kind of journal. So, I am going to try to do a better job of getting on here. We are planning to try to get out a little this fall because we have not gone anywhere all spring or summer. We won't be going to places with a lot of people, but probably do more nature walks, and we plan on apple picking and pumpkin carving. Once we apple pick I'm sure we will be baking and baking and I am hoping Reagan, my granddaughter, will be able to come over and help make apple pies and apple crumble and apple turnovers. We are ready for fall. 

What We Are Reading

We pretty much stopped school the beginning of June, though we will be doing a little school in July this year. We will probably just do a few short unit studies and we will, of course, always read and read. 

We have read quite a few books lately, but I will only mention two as I have gotten behind and don't want to go on and on. We read The Curious Clubhouse by Christine Govan and the kids really liked this one. A group of neighborhood kids decide to try to find a clubhouse for the summer and to take their treasures there and store them away from home since they are constantly being told by their parents to clean their stuff up or get rid of some of their junk - treasures to them. They search the neighborhood and find an old abandoned house that would be perfect and the mystery starts. I think I just like books with clubhouses and abandoned homes and cottages that kids find in the woods, etc. I guess most of my kids are like me cause we have seemed to read a lot of books lately about old houses. We definitely enjoyed this book. It is a nice summer read. 

We are now reading The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes. We just started this book and it looks like the kids will enjoy it as they keep asking for me to read. It is the story of the Moffat family and in particular Janey - who wants to be called the Middle Moffat to distinguish herself from the rest of the family. She likes to think of herself as mysterious and does have a knack for getting herself into funny situations. This is a pretty easy, simple read but the kids do seem to enjoy it. We may try to read a few more from this series this summer. 

We have bought the ingredients to make homemade ice cream this weekend and and the kids are excited about that as we haven't made any this year. We will do the vanilla first, but we just bought 25 pounds of peaches so I think we will also try to make some peach ice cream. We have peaches in all the kitchen windows getting just a little riper so we can use them - for ice cream and pie. I guess we will have homemade ice cream this weekend as we finish The Middle Moffat. 

What We Are Reading

We have read quite a few books lately so I will only name a few. We read The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden by Karina Yan Glaser and it was another book about gardens. We really liked this book a lot. The Vanderbeeker kids decided to plant a garden in an old run down area next to a church when their neighbor has a stroke and they want to do something that will cheer him up and help heal him. The area is in horrible condition and they meet lots of obstacles, but they are determined. It is a sweet story and I think I liked it because of the garden and I love garden stories this time of year. They kids also enjoy a good garden story and especially since we are in the process of planting our next garden. And we loved the way the kids cared so much about their older neighbor. It is definitely a book worth reading. 

We also read Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher and enjoyed it. This book was about Elizabeth Ann that lives with her aunt and has been over protected all of her life and can hardly do a thing for herself. She is sent to another relative when her aunt gets sick and there things are totally different for Elizabeth Ann. She is expected to do for herself and to actually become useful and help do things on the farm. Elizabeth Ann slowly becomes a different child and has to face up to a lot of fears that she has. It was a nice read. The kids enjoyed, but I don't think as much as some we have read lately. The closer to the end we got the more they enjoyed, though. 

We are also now reading Among The Pond People by Clara Dillingham Pierson. The kids love this as it is about nature and animals. We have not finished this book but will be done in a few days. 

Also, on Thursday I got to see my new granddaughter. My daughter brought her over and we sat on the front porch and visited for an hour or so. I had only seen baby Kennedy one time since she was born over 5 weeks ago since we are all pretty much staying home as our governor has told us to do. It was such a nice visit and I am so glad I got to see Kennedy. It's hard practicing social distancing when you have a brand new granddaughter. I will say it was definitely a cold, rainy day for a visit, though.