Books for Christmas!

We all got books for Christmas:


A certain Mr. Crowder heard my wish and got The Pioneer Woman Cooks for me!!!!!!!

 Gramma got Swindle by Gordon Korman for Eddy

And Heidi got Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett.  I love Jan Brett's illustrations.  There's so much going on that you have to read the story over and over to soak in all the pictures and really see all of what's happening.  I'm not sure who's more excited about this book--Heidi or me!



Baby Einstein

Trying to see. . .

. . .Baby Einstein!

We love Baby Einstein!!!!!  I especially like the DVDs that have the repeat play option.  Heidi has a super hard time getting to sleep and staying asleep sometimes.  I put her in the swing watching Baby Einstein and she will fall asleep and sleep a long time--yea!!!!!  In the pictures above Heidi is all ready for church and watching a video while I get ready--very handy!

Some of our favorites are:

     What are your favorites?

Some movies and books for big people!

**special note** I just turned off comment moderation because for whatever reason I didn't know that people were leaving messages. I just found some messages from 2009! I even won something on someone's blog--rats! It was artwork from Sara Mincy even--double rats!!!!

So, anyway, books and movies for big people. . . Have you heard of The Pioneer Woman yet? If not, you simply MUST check out her blog at www.thepioneerwoman.com. She has written a cookbook!!!!! I borrowed a copy from the library. . .but anyone who's reading and looking for a Christmas present for me, I would love my own personal copy!!!!

The Pioneer Woman is so talented in many ways--cooking, photography, and such a gift for writing! She also has written a book about her romance with The Marlboro Man--the rancher who won her heart. If you haven't heard of The Pioneer Woman, you should check out her website!

We do not have TV so we are always looking for good movies from the library to borrow. I had seen the title of Cranford a few times but the little blurb on the library site never really interested me:

"Cranford, in 1842, is a market town in northwest England. It is a place governed by etiquette, custom and above all, an intricate network of ladies. It seems that life has always been conducted according to their social rules. For spinsters Deborah Jenkyns, the arbiter of correctness, and Matty, her dumurring sister, the town is a hub of intrigue. Handsome new doctor Frank Harrison has arrived from London; a retired Captain and his daughters move in across the street and preparations for Lady Ludlows garden party are underway. The town has some secrets which are about to be revealed. But news comes that shakes the town, a railway line from Manchester is coming to Cranford."

I must have been desperate for a movie because over Thanksgiving I borrowed Cranford. For those of you who like Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility this movie is set in the same time period and truly gives an picture of what life was like in the 1840s in England.

I liked the movie so much that I borrowed the sequel Return to Cranford AND borrowed the book written by Elizabeth Gaskell. I can't wait to read it--and she has written several more too!

Right now I am reading Tea Time For The Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith. With this book I also watched the movie first. There are three DVDs titled The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency. They are about the only lady detective in Botswana, Africa. The lady detective solves "mysteries"--no blood, gore, or scary stuff except once when a boy was missing and they thought that he might have been kidnapped by witchdoctors who cut off fingers of young children for charms and such. That one we didn't let Eddy watch, but he enjoyed the others with us.

There are 10 books in The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. I borrowed the last one first--almost didn't read it because I like to do things in order but my curiosity won out. Mma Makutsi is so outlandish and Mms Ramotswe is so calm and thoughtful, I had to find out if they were as good in print as in the DVDs. They are better!

Last is Wives and Daughters also by Elizabeth Gaskell and, yes, I watched the movie first. There is a book and I would like to read that too. But books take a little while longer for me to get to. We read plenty of board books these days, but not too many BIG people books. I'd seen this movie before but forgot all about it. Again, this is set in England in the mid to late 1800s and is about a young motherless girl whose father remarries. This mother is very much like Mrs. Bennet and determined to see her daughters married well. This movie is funny, sad, romantic, and a wonderful example of how to behave when in a trying circumstance with trying people!

Well, my little one just woke up and loves to "help" me type so I must run. Also need to finish up dinner. We're having Layers of Love Chocolate Brownies--I read the back of the Nestle bag and found this wonderful recipe.

Happy Reading Big People!

Heidi

Heidi
by Johanna Spyri
Great Illustrated Classics series

{Eddy's baby sister is named Heidi so he couldn't wait to read this book.}

Once there was a girl named Heidi. She had an uncle. Heidi's mom took her to Uncle Alp. Heidi had a great time there. One day Heidi had to leave. When Heidi got to her new home she made a friend. Her name was Clara. Heidi had a good time. One time everyone thought the house was haunted because Sebastian found a door open and saw a white figure on the stairs. The next day they found out Heidi was sleepwalking! Heidi had to go back after that but Clara came to Heidi's house! Clara learned to walk at their house. Everyone was so happy!

The End?

Essay by Eddy

7 yrs old

During Thanksgiving break we borrowed two versions of Heidi from the library. Sounds crazy but I love the Shirley Temple version and wanted to see the version with Jane Seymour as the housekeeper for Clara's family. It was fun to watch the movies and look for differences between them and the book.

Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh
by A.A. Milne
Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard
Colored by Hilda Scott
161 pages

1. One time Pooh went to visit rabbit. Pooh ate one jar of honey and then decided to leave. When Pooh tried to leave he could not go through the hole because he was too wide. Pooh had to stay there for a week and then finally got out.

2. One time Pooh was going around a circle. Pooh was trying to catch a woozle. Finally Pooh realized he was following his own tracks.


3. One time Eeyore lost his tail and Pool knew that. Pooh went to Owl's house and saw a tail. Pooh took the tail back to Eeyore and put it back on.

4. One time Piglet wanted to catch a heffulump. Piglet made a big hole to capture one. Piglet caught Pooh instead.

5. One time Eeyore had a birthday. Pooh and Piglet brought him each a present. That was Eeyore's best time in his life.

6. One time Rabbit stole Roo. Kanga pretended that Piglet was Roo. Kanga tricked Pooh, Rabbit, and Piglet.

7. One time Pooh was going on an expedition to find the North Pole. Pooh went a very long way and finally got to a pond. Pooh thought the pole was the North Pole so Pooh went home.

8. One time Piglet got trapped in a big rainstorm. Pooh rescued Piglet.

9. One time The Hundred Acre Wood had a big party because Pooh saved Piglet.

Essay by Eddy
7 yrs old

Mrs. Piggle -Wiggle

I was introduced to Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle on a friend's blog. She and her children enjoyed the books so I thought Eddy would enjoy them as well. He has! We read them together and laugh and laugh--even got Daddy to listen in one night! In fact I'm not sure we ever finished that story. . .it was a very long one. . .way too long for a bedtime story. . .so we stopped and for whatever reason didn't get back to it the next night. . .oh, I know. . .daddy wasn't there and we were waiting for him to hear the end with us. . .

Anyway, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is an adorable older lady who loves kids. She has an upside down house, loves for the girls to play dress-up in her clothes & heels, has tons of holes in her yard from children digging for buried treasure, has long hair so the girls can style it, bakes with and for the children, lets them paint and build things--basically, the kids have a grand old time at her house.

The mothers in town love Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle too. When their children get naughty habits, they call Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and she sends a bottle of this or that with special instructions and pretty soon the naughtiness ends. It is very fun to read about the naughtiness (;-)~) and cures! Eddy wants to try some here at home but he knows that won't happen! Fun to read about, not so fun to live through;-)

Some of our favorite stories have been The Never Go To Bedders Cure, The Fraidy-Cat Cure, The Interrupters, The Never-Want-to-Go-to-Schooler, The Tattletale Cure and many, many others!

We like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!

Reading with Gramma

One cold day Eddy & Gramma needed something to do besides battle each other and play Pokemon. I suggested they read Bamboozled by David Legge. Eddy didn't think this was such a great idea--so I told him to read this book with Gramma! They loved it and had so much fun reading it together. . .it's a reading together type of book. . .it was hard to put it down and find something else new to do. This little girl goes to visit her Grandpa and notices something is different. Through the whole story she is trying to find out what it is--it is not the little floor rug that is actually water with goldfish in it, it is not the coffee table with a skateboard for feet, it is not the flowerbed planted with lightbulbs, what is it? You'll have to read and look over these pictures yourself to find out! Have fun! Read it with a friend!