Books and Apple Pie

I think I`ve mentioned a few times that our family loves to read. All of us.
A day doesn`t go by when at least one or 2 of us has to be brought back to reality from another world.


I have read to the kids for as long as I can remember...I think even when they were newborns!
 (Probably more for my sanity than their enjoyment:)


Over the years I`ve collected a few favorites. They`re books that we have read over and over...the kind that got requested every night for weeks in a row and no one ever seemed to mind that it had been the same one night after night.
These are the books that I`ll keep....and hopefully one day read to my grand kids:)


One of my...(I mean our)...favorites:

A little girl goes out to shop for the things she needs to bake a pie, but upon arriving at the Market finds that the store owner has:

She then decides to travel around the world....collecting all the necessary ingredients to make and bake her Apple Pie.
Cinnamon from Sri Lanka,
apples from Vermont,
even a cow from England to make the butter!


At the end is the Apple Pie Recipe- which we seem to use every time we have apples sitting around, 

or Grandma`s apple tree needs to be picked....

I never tire of this book.....and the illustrations are perfect!

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Other books we love and I highly recommend .....

(these would be for younger ages)

Emily`s House by Niko Scharer & Joanne Fitzgerald

Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey

The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

(and a couple that are for those a bit older):

Uncommon Traveler (Mary Kingsley in Africa) by Don Brown

&

Paddle to the Sea by Holling Clancy Holling

There are so many more on my `Love These Books` list,

but for another rainy day.....(yes...it rained again today:)

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Happy reading ....whatever literary treasure you happen to find and love!

Books+Rain+Me

There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away,

Nor any coursers like a page of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of toll;

How frugal is the chariot

That bares a human soul.

~ Emily Dickinson

When I was little and in elementary school, we had IRT, or: Independent Reading Time.

THAT was my favorite "subject"...and even when it was Math, or Spelling, or Science Time...I always seemed to have a book hidden somewhere on my lap hiding under my desk to steal a few lines here and there when the teacher wasn't looking.

I remember reading so much when I got home from school my mom had to ban me from reading- at least until I actually did my chores. I used to used to visit the library more than the playground at recess time. And of course there were the times of hiding under covers with the flashlight and my new book, or even sitting in the closet til all hours of the night, having dragged my lamp into the cramped space with me.

As time carried on, marriage happened, kids came, along with every day routine, and I find my reading time has diminshed somewhat.

But today! Today it is raining and windy and gray. And I have a couple of books waiting here on the coffee table begging to be picked up and devoured. Today would be a good day to read....my chores may have to wait for a bit:)

I have been told that what you do in moderation- your kids will do in extreme. These are actual pictures of my kids as I have found them throughout the past few months. They have a reading bug that I find a BIT annoying at times- especially when there are chores to do! But I can say I understand.....:)

Here we are walking to our vehicle through  the parking lot after a swim one day....I turned to find Ben like this:

Corben....who could not stand to read just a few months ago:

Trying to get them to come in and eat:

Happy Day to you, friends!

(and maybe some happy reading in there too)