Literature Favorites | For my children

Enchanted Storybook Forest

We visited an amazing place called Storybook Forest

Storybook characters and their palaces, homes, and cottages had been constructed for play under a canopy of tall pines in the middle of a forest.
Isabela and Abigail were pretending to be Cinderella and her Prince

The swing on the side of the castle was a thrill for the girls.

Abigail is behind the bars of the house made of cookies and sugar where Hansel and Gretel were held.

The inside and outside of this home was crooked and covered with chalkboard for creativity.

Isabela is bringing us a treat that she made in the home of The Seven Dwarfs. Inside was a table and seven tree stump stools for Snow White and the Dwarfs. The children could make mud pies with the dwarfs’ bowls, spoons, and dirt.

This place was so fun…
It was a place that both adult and child would enjoy. All of the classic stories we have all enjoyed as children were brought to life. This place gave a whole new meaning for pretend play! We were able to step inside of the story and become the characters we have read about.

Inside of the Dr. Seuss Club there were literary messages from the stories for inspiration.

Isabela was having so much fun bouncing from area to area, she did not want to pause for a quick photo!

At least these two humor me and smile at their mommy.

Rapunzel!

A fitting photo for Abigail and her long hair!

Her Prince to rescue her…Jackson was excited about the play castle. He sweetly calls Abigail Rapunzel when her long hair gets in his way.

One of the fun play areas was a Spanish ship. The life size parts of the ship were a lot of fun. Playing pirates was a great opportunity!
By the way Papaw…They want one of these on their playground someday!

The ship required the most energy from their bodies. It required them to go up and down rope ladders and had cool slides and hiding rooms throughout the ship.

“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” Ronald Dahl

October 13, 2013
Categories: Excursions, Literature Favorites, Moments of Joy, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Christmas Projects

Sharing some things we’ve been doing for the past few days getting ready for the Big Guy in Red to make his visit.

Feet and hands making a reindeer. We couldn’t find our googlie eyes so we made do with stickers.

Three Santa handprints from a five, a four, and a one year old hand!

We’ve added a few new titles to our Christmas book collections. “Charlie and the Christmas Kitty” by Ree Drummond is the book each of them received from Santa at the Bush’s Christmas party. Charlie is a sweet basset hound living on a ranch, feeling like he is “King of the Ranch!” In the story Charlie gets a gift he did not have on his list or expect…a kitty! He quickly learns to accept, appreciate, and even enjoy his new friend! The illustrations are beautiful and bright of this ranch family and there is even a cookie recipe at the end of the story.

We also added these two titles. I loved the title “J is for Jesus,” by Crystal Bowman. This is a great story about the candy cane tradition and it’s meaning and reminds us all that the candy cane represents Jesus’ birth. The kids and I also enjoyed pointing out that each of us have a letter J in our names… Jackson, James Steven, Abigail Julienne, Isabela Jolie, and Julie.
The last title we added was “Who Is Coming To Our House,” by Joseph Slate. This story was my favorite! The children loved the animals on each page getting their house(barn) cleaned and ready for a visitor. I asked them to predict throughout the story who the visitor could be. At the end, they learn this is a nativity story and that the visitors are Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus!

The true meaning of Christmas!

Love and candy canes.

Early stages of our tree. A couple feet shorter than years past, but at least we haven’t had the issue of a falling tree and broken ornaments!

We also cut down several little pines from behind our house for our flower beds and boxes. This little tree we decided to bring indoors to our sunroom for our handmade crafts. Probably our favorite Charlie Brown tree, and it was free! Our tiny silver star, on loan from Abigail, made from one of her fairy wands.

This is an example of our nutter butter snowmen we created. We also made peanut butter blossoms, mint pretzel hugs, cut out sugar cookies, and other bars and brownies. The hit was our reindeer munch with M&M’s!

Yummy, we have not gone hungry!

We have been filled with fun!

Decorating our gingerbread Christmas village.

We have loved all the sweets, present wrapping, and Santa prepping.

Another cozy fire and “the stockings hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nick would soon be there!”

This was the start of what Jackson and Abigail put together for Santa’s snack.

One last photo and off for another bedtime story. Baby sissy is already tucked in bed! They are so excited. It has been my goal to not make it about one day or one event. I have wanted them to happily experience all of the moments for a long Christmas season. For weeks we have tried to be full of joy in all we have done. My wish is a special holiday filled with many fond memories and traditions we can build on each year. Keep the spirit of Christmas little babies!

December 26, 2012
Categories: Literature Favorites, Memories, Moments of Joy, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: 1 Comment

Being Thankful

I am so grateful for this family, their love, their health, and the incredible joy they daily bring!

We read many books about blessings, pilgrims, and the feast. This book has been a favorite here for a long time, but they especially have enjoyed the connection between the turkeys in the book and crafts we have done recently. The book is titled “Gobble, Gobble Crash, a Barnyard Counting Bash” by Julie Stiegemeyer. The words are an easy to read rhyme with colorful sweet pictures of all of the farm animals, and it has a repetitive flow that each of them enjoyed chanting throughout the story.
It begins as, “Fireflies danced in the dark summer sky, and crickets in the garden played their music in reply. The farm was very quiet as the night replaced the day, while ONE lonely mare nibbled softly on some hay.” It continues counting to ten with cows, cats, lambs, geese, chickens, mice, goats, pigs, and robins. Each of the mother animals are annoyed at the Gobble, Gobble, Crash noise the turkeys make as “Mama Hen grew angry, and she scolded loud and quick, Turkeys, can’t you calm yourselves, think of my SIX chicks!” It isn’t until the animals hear the farmer scream out the window about the gobbling turkey mess proclaiming, “I’m gonna have a turkey feast,” that all the animals together decided to save the turkeys hiding each of them among the barnyard families. The story finishes by counting backwards from ten as the farmer thinks he’s dreaming and the barnyard bash is enjoyed by all of the critters for the rest of the night!

We made these sweet turkey treats to go along with the flapping wild turkeys in the story and had chocolate icing everywhere!

Isabela was happy to hold her treat that Jackson and Abigail made her.

This was Jayden’s project from school. She had to disguise a turkey so that it wouldn’t be eaten for Thanksgiving! She started with the outline of the turkey and had to come up with the rest.

Way to go! She won first place!

ONE of Nana’s yummy turkeys for the feast!

Another chance to light candles for the Thanksgiving/Birthday Girl!

And, another chance to blow out trick candles!

Relaxing on this holiday.

Playing on the slide.

Eating lettuce from the garden.

I can’t decide who is the silliest.

Thankful to be together!

Silly Isabela….

November 25, 2012
Categories: Literature Favorites, Moments of Joy . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Apple Barn Visit 10/6/12

In honor of Johnny Appleseed and the first chance the weather turned cooler, we decided to visit an apple barn.

It was exciting for each of them to see the actual fruit still hanging on the tree.

Before going in the barn we took a look at the grapevines as well as the harvesting bins.

We watched the workers clean and sort the apples as well as pack them in baskets. Abigail couldn’t believe how big and shiny the apples were. Our favorite was the honeycrisp apple.

This was a great quick place for us to visit, especially if you love to eat apples as much as we do! We’ve sampled different flavors and colors of apples, colored pictures, done a craft or two, and cut the apple in half to find a star. Also, we read a few stories with apples and Johnny Appleseed throughout the month. One of our recent purchases and now a favorite was “The Apple Pie Tree” by Zoe Hall. This was a simple story about an apple tree in a yard growing throughout each season. The concept of the tree changing in the spring, summer, fall, and winter is something Jackson and Abigail could relate to with our grapevines. The blossoms developing into fruit that will eventually be harvested is very exciting for them both. This story had easy text and colorful collage illustrations that inspire art in us all. It also had a recipe at the end for making an apple pie. The process of growing fruit and bringing it to the table to create something with was fun. The characters are two young sisters. The only negative Jackson found in this story was the missing brother.

We have not actually made the pie from this recipe…YET, but we do look forward to it.

But, we have several times enjoyed the apple fritters from Starbucks!

October 4, 2012
Categories: Excursions, Literature Favorites . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

“Fun At The County Fair”

“Fun At The County Fair” by Dena Neusner, is one of the literature pieces we have enjoyed in our home for a few years. It was given to Jackson from his Great Aunt Fran on his second birthday, but all three little birds have loved the colorful illustrations.

“Fun At The County Fair” is targeted for the three to six year olds, but I feel any young age would enjoy the pictures. The county fair takes place on Merriweather Farm where a John Deere Tractor named Johnny and his friends live, work, and play. This fun book takes the reader on the journey of preparing for the fair as they create a corn maze, set up the food stands and rides, and get the other animals ready for the fair.

This book is an oversized hard back book with over fifty lift the flap interactions throughout the story. Jackson of course loves ALL of the John Deere Machines. Abigail enjoys the story of the children riding the rides and playing in the corn maze. Isabela just loves constantly lifting the flaps throughout the story.

I chose this story with this review because it went with one of our end of the summer experiences. We ventured out early one Saturday morning for something new. The savings part of me said why pay parking, entrance, and riding fees when we could go to Dollywood for free with season passes, but my fun husband said “it will be fun!” Love his enthusiasm!

A couple of the not so traditional rides at the fair and it was free! Enjoying the tractors, gators, and other farm utility vehicles set up under a pavilion.

It doesn’t really show in the photos but it is pouring down rain outside!

One of their favorites at the fair, the animals! We also enjoyed watching the young children show their calves.

Before the rain we did get one ride in. Yes, brave Abigail (with her crown) did ride one of the rides…all by herself because her brother wasn’t as flexible to something new. She liked the fact unlike at Dollywood she had to give the man five tickets to ride.
Despite the rain our morning at the county fair was a great experience.

September 9, 2012
Categories: Excursions, Literature Favorites . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

“Big Red Barn”, 8/31/12

Linking to my feelings the importance of putting books in our children’s hands comes this post. I plan to place our thoughts of a few of our favorite books from time to time. My hope is to track pieces of literature that have been an important part of learning in the lives of my children.

The first book I chose was “The Big Red Barn” by Margaret Wise Brown. I selected this book because it is hands down a favorite for all three, the title I have placed in each of their baby books, and the single title we have put in the hands of our expectant mother friends for their new babies. Intended as a board book for baby to toddler, as both Abigail the toddler, and Isabela the baby, truly adore the pictures, holding the book, and imitating the sounds as they play farm. I can say it is timeless, as my five year old emergent reader continues to enjoy.
Animals seem to captivate the attention of every eye, at least the eyes of my three! It is one of their first connections to the world around them. The animals here are so calm and friendly. “In this story the children are away. Only the animals are here today.” This story celebrates life on the farm from the perspective of the animals where “they play all day in the grass and in the hay”. The wonderful illustrations include the “big red barn in the great green field” as well as every animal a child associates living on a farm. There is even “an old scarecrow leaning on his hoe in a field of corn”. All of this living takes place from the early part of the day and concludes when “the moon sailed high in the dark night sky”.
“The Big Red Barn” has simple rhyming vocabulary with wonderful pictures. This story celebrates all things farm life and animals. The rhythm of the book has a tranquil flow almost like a song. The simple text is easily memorized therefore making it an easy pick.
I remember when Jackson was around two he sat with this book and recited word for word the story. His confidence booming, his heart beaming with excitement, as he felt he knew how to read. Over and over he “read.” In the car or on the floor he continued to take the first steps of reading, linking his brain to the words he had heard many times before. Words that were concrete in his memory. Going through the phases of mocking me with his finger moving across the words quickly, to even being proud that he could shut the book and read the words without looking!
As an emergent reader, I watched him one Saturday several weeks ago realize he knew the words on every page. He not only knew them from memory, he could actually READ those words. That is the beat to a teacher’s heart when she realizes her student can read, when a student discovers the joy of really knowing the text word for word.
He had been reading since about March some of the things I had placed in front of him during school, but this was the first connection to something familiar. He was proud! Right there he felt like a reader. He realized the fun of words and most importantly the fun of learning something new!
An amazing book for our family. A classic treasure.

Cultivate their love of literature, share a good book!

Isabela LOVES the horses, we LOVE her imitation!

August 31, 2012
Categories: Literature Favorites . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Nothing Can Replace a Good Book! 8/31/2012

I can’t find anything in this world for our children more enriching than a good book. A book with fantastic pictures as well as text can soon become a child’s best friend in this fast paced world! From their earliest development we as parents have followed the studies and read to our babies. As a teacher I can’t express enough how this early intervention helps later in the classroom. Books are such an exciting way to stimulate our children’s brain. The development of letter recognition and expanding vocabulary, later fosters listening, comprehension, and writing skills.
Directly we allow our children to imagine, learn, become curious, and be enthusiastic about the world around them. Through characters of people or animals our children can discover what to love, find courage in, resolve problems of, and have empathy for most of life’s situations.
Books boost confidence in our children and create uncounted hours of bonding between parent and child. The more we read to children, the more they enjoy literature. The more they enjoy reading, the better readers they will become. A good reader is usually always a good student. Inspire reading in your life. At a minimum children should be read to for at least twenty minutes scattered throughout the day. As they grow they will still have the need to be read to, but they also should have the skill reading orally to anyone else for correct pronunciation, enhancing their language skills making it easier to express themselves in their lives. Put a book in the hands of a child and they quickly can discover anything is possible.

In our home we have been very fortunate to be a part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Each of our children have been registered since they were born. Associated with “Books From Birth Foundation” by Gov. Bredesen in 2004, all of Tennessee’s ninety-five counties put books in the hands of children. From birth to age five, each child monthly receives a book in the mail from Dolly’s Imagination Library. Helping to foster a love of reading in children, Dolly Parton says, “The seeds of dreams are often found in books.” As mommies, excited about our children’s future, let’s plant these seeds early so too our children can continue pursuing dreams, reading and changing their world!

The pictures below are early days of falling in love with books. I LOVE the one of Jackson reading to Abigail in March of 2009.