Wiping the drool.

The book lover in me is going crazy over these. Apparently, Penguin Books understands my love for beautiful versions of the classics. I'm sorry...did I say beautiful? That doesn't even begin to describe these books. They are selling for $20 at Anthropologie, but my dear sweet Amazon has them for $13. Sigh. Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility....and if I was in England, I would have access to Little Women and more! Are they not just fabulous? I am in love. And now I will go do some laundry while I continue to drool.

Side Note: Hannah is calling me Marmee, too! (Although hers is a more blatant kissing up, using it directly after getting in trouble throughout the day. Maybe with age, she will learn how to sneak it in to earn more points.)

Book love

(please accept apologies for out of focus picture, but this does belong in my kitchen, don't you think?)

Have I told you about Paperbook Swap? At first, I was reluctant. It appeared to be mainly stocked by trashy romance novels. (sorry, Grandma.) I have recently found that if you dig deep enough, you can find your share of treasures. (for free, I might add.) Since I am a bit of a book horder, I share books that are considered trashy to me and that are wanted by someone else. In turn, I choose books like this:

We also enjoy Mrs. Krauss' Open House For Butterflies. Some of my favorite lines:

A baby is to have a parade for.

You can always brag about what you don't have. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. You have a red wagon and I don't!

Cute, nonsensical out of the mouth of babes stuff, coupled with the artistry of Maurice Sendak. (You know, Where the Wild Things Are) Good ole' fashion fun and hours of silly giggling with the girls.

storytime

While quickly perusing the local Barnes and Noble for a photography book, I came across our family's new evening read.  Tumtum and Nutmeg is a story about two mice who live in the grand Nutmouse Hall. They are charitable mice, who give to all sorts of charities (including one for hiccuping mice), and are quite concerned about the two motherless children that live in their house.  I've been reading it aloud to the girls at night and from Elise to Rachel, it has captivated us all.  We have even ran into the problem that I tend to have every time I read aloud to the girls....the sneaky "read-aheads".  (This time she completely gave it away by leaving the book in the bathroom.  Only one of the girls has taken after her dad in this lovely little habit!)  We definitely recommend this tale of mice, complete with sweet artistry, to all of you.  Don't tell....but I read ahead while everyone was sleeping, too.  (just not in the bathroom!)

Fooking lor some lood gaughs?

My appreciation for a good spoonerism probably dates back to my dad's renditions of Rindercella, but add in a little bit of humor a la Shel Silverstein and you get a good hour of gilly siggling for the fole whamily.  I think Runny Babbit is going to be the new prescription in the Kang house for grumpy kids. (and parents)  You just can't read this book and stay cranky.  Magic.  We still have two weeks to enjoy our library edition, but I think this is going to have to be purchased to be giggled over for many an hour. 

Side note: I have also found that Chloe doesn't like me "spoonering" in random story books.  It kind of irritates her, yet Hannah begs me to do it.  Elise, on the other hand, is just confused by it. "No bunny foo foo honked on the bed!"  

Side note #2: I am adding a pole as I need input.  The Kang house has been proudly TV free for 5 years, but we have always had our computer to watch movies on.  About 3 months ago, an adventurous 2 year old stuck a mystery object in the DVD ROM and we have since then only been able to watch movies on Chris' laptop. (limiting our movie watching to when he is home and not on his computer)  It has been quite nice as we (including Elise) hardly watch any movies at all, but Costco has a DVD/TV on sell for pretty cheap....and we are debating.  The negative right now is that it is very inconvenient to watch movies and the positive is that...it is very inconvenient to watch movies.  Give me your take on it.

Bibliophiles unite

Yes, I am a bibliophile.  I love my books and I think that I have successfully passed that love of books (or obsession?) onto my daughters.  (Although, when we moved, I realized that it is a lot harder for bibliophiles to pack.)  I know that an appreciation of good books was always encouraged while I was growing up (but don't ask me why they didn't burn my SVH books that I read for all of my middle school years) and my parents are still doing their part to pass that on to their grandchildren.  

Every Christmas, my parents give each of the grand kids a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  I think this tradition stems from my dad's many hours spent exploring the shelves of this store.  This is quite the treat for the girls because, although we own a lot of books, they rarely get to go into a bookstore and choose whatever they dang well please.  In preparation for the much anticipated trip to spend their gift cards (which normally lasts at least two hours), I talked to the girls about choosing books that could be a treasure in their library.  Not just a paperback that they would read once and finish in 30 minutes.  A classic?  I book that was part of a series that they enjoy?  Preferably a hardback? (I am a little bit of a hardback snob.  If they make it in hardback and I know I like the book, hardback it is.)  And NO toys this year.  I figure if Grandma and Grandpa wanted us to get toys, they would get us Target gift cards, right?  

      

After much deliberating in the children's section, the girls made their decisions.  Hannah needed a mini story time to decide which book she would choose.  Chloe, my especially indecisive child, just didn't know where to start.  Elise wanted....a Thomas train. (I actually would have let her get it, but she did get distracted by some lovely books)  I thought I would share their choices, as I was pretty impressed with their choices.  Rachel got the most recent installment of the Leven Thumps books.  (which I don't really get but I think they are the closest thing she can get to Harry Potter, so she goes for it)  It is a hardback and a series she likes, so kudos for Rachie!  Autumn got a book about fairies.  Good: Hardback  Bad: Disney fairies instead of the more whimsical and less commercialized Cecily Mary Barker fairies that are all over her room.   Still, she loves it and spends hours pouring over it, so all is great.  Chloe got Strawberry Girl, which is a classic and a hardback so "Yeah!" for Chloe. Hannah ended up with Fairy Foals, which for a horse lover that has a great imagination, is perfect.  The real fun comes with Elise and Lilly because....I get a little more say.  Elise actually ended up choosing a playful picture book, The Little Blue Truck, instead of a Thomas book that she liked.  I was a little shocked, but the book she chose is a quick read with great pictures and a nice ring to it.  Lilly chose (yes, she did!  I swear I had nothing to do with her decisions. wink, wink) a Richard Scarry book that I grew up reading (and have already read over and over to the girls.) and Skippy Jon Jones. We discovered Skippy Jon Jones during piano lessons, trying not to laugh out loud as we read it for the first time.  It is hilarious and is not for the faint of heart. Warning, though: You have to be ready with your fake Spanish accent to pull this one off.  

These are all books that will be much loved as they grace our bookshelves. (and our floor.  and our couch.)  Every year I struggle with just letting them redeem their gift cards online to save money, but there is something rather priceless in perusing a bookstore.  You normally come out with something completely different that you came in for and it is kind of like trying on a dress before you buy it.  I've never been able to get into buying my clothes online for this very reason and I guess I haven't totally accepted always shopping online for my books yet. Amazon does  have its place, but I hope bookstores are always around.

The Keeper of Bees

"There always had been lips that should have spoken up and told the Creator how wonderful was the mystery of the earth and the majesty of the sea and the beneficence of the sunshine and the healing hours of moonlit darkness. "

"...when he thought Life, he thought merely of that one thing he might possibly do and what it might possibly be that would give him some justification, when he faced his Maker, for the spending of his latter days."

Too busy reading to blog.  Here is a sampling of Miss Gene Stratton Porter, wonderful authoress of my all time favorite book, Laddie and of my current read, The Keeper of Bees.  

Low energy day

Whenever Chris is having a rough day, he calls it a "low energy day".  This pretty much means that  it is going to be a tough day in some aspect.  Sometimes it means more of an emotional type of energy and sometimes it is just  plain old energy that he is lacking.  The other day he was stumbling through out the morning as part of this "low energy day".  Well, today was my low energy day.  It was more of an emotional day.  Day is a little inaccurate, as it was really more of an evening thing.   But it was definitely low energy.  I am very glad to have kids in bed and have some winding down time. (Is blogging while nursing Lilly considered winding down?  Sure!)  A "Blah" day would be the best way to describe it.  Or maybe a 3 Diet Vanilla Pepsi day.  (Although one of those was spilled all over Elise when she tried to sneak it, which lead to lots of tears because she spilled on her favorite Rocket push toy.  "Rockie wet!" )  Enough about me.  Chris has learned to tie his own tie.  I think this is out of pure desperation.  Rachel and I both didn't prove to have much in the way of mad tie tying skillz and as they say, necessity is the mother of invention.  That is your homework, blog readers out there. Try to tie your tie one handed.  (With your wrong hand, none the less!)  Report back, okay?

We ran across this great book this week (Thank you, Soulemama),  The Apple Pie that Papa Baked.  The illustrations pull you in, the well written style  has all of the kiddies hanging onto every word, memorizing the book in a few readings.  All of that AND the fact that it is fall and this book embodies one of our family's favorite parts of fall, apple picking.  Run and get it from the library. (Or your bookstore, since I do have the library's copy)  Did I say that I love this book?  It is up there with Apples to Oregon, my other apple book of choice.

Elise's new game with the girls should be titled "I am the boss of you big sisters!"  She likes to tuck in Rachel,  pretend like she is the mommy (sitting in her rocking chair, singing, with her feet in the massage chair, which I never actually have time to use) and say "Go to bed now!"  when Rachel dares to get up.  It is pretty stinking cute.  It is even more fun when Rachel sneaks out of "bed".  I quietly say "Elise, where is Rachel?" and she quickly gets up from her comfy chair, looks for Rachel and herds her back to bed with a "Come on.  Go to bed now!"  It is hilarious.  I think I need to set up a nanny cam of sorts to catch mommy Elise in action.  Can you imagine how boring life would be without kids?  Thanks for the entertainment, Lisey. 

Apples to Oregon

Yes, two book reviews in a row.  I am working on quilts for the little girls' room, but I haven't gotten a picture of them yet.   Think bright feedsack patterns from the 30's.   Yum.  Pictures will come soon.

On to another favorite at the Kang house.  I don't know if this book is meant to be read with a twang, but I can't seem to read it without one.  This is a tall tale about a dad who brings his family and a wagon full of fruit trees across the plains to Oregon.  We Kangs giggle everytime we read it.  He is constantly putting the trees above his family, in a pretty silly way.  And there is actually a dad that brought his fruit trees across the plains way back when.  And we sure do love all of that yummy fruit that makes Oregon great.  

Moving week is next week so us Kangs are going to be pretty busy.  Off to beautiful Forest Grove.  Everytime I drive out there, I feel relaxed by the beautiful surroundings.

The Beeman

On my most recent trip to Washington, I picked up this book from my dad and sister's bee store.  I love it!   You see, my dad is the beeman.  He is a lot of things, actually.  He spins, he cans, he gardens, he makes yummy pies.  He is your all around  do it yourselfer.    But over the past few years, he has purchased a Bee Supply store with my younger sister, Rachel.  He has a whole ton of bees in his backyard and he even has a little kid bee suit that my girls have worn when helping him with his bees.  He has taught my kids to feel comfortable around bees (now I need to work  on me!) and they know all about bees. (Enough for Rachel and Autumn to put on a skit at Cousin Camp about bees that completely went over my head!)  

To be quite honest, I would probably love this book even if it was badly written and illustrated just because it hits close to home.   But it is wonderfully written, teaches about all of the different types of bees and has beautiful pictures.  I give it an A+.  And I recommend everyone get a copy.  It is a wonderful book for every family's bookshelf, showing a sweet grandpa sharing his love for bees.  Gosh, I love you, dad!