Tag Archives: books

Book Fair and School visits

Posted on by

We have been finding some new books at the book fair. It has been fun for everyone, even Brandon, to find some new books. Robin has been my sidekick most of the week when school is out. And Maren has found some new books that she has been reading.

IMG_1845

We went over tonight to the middle school for Camille’s portfolio night. We saw her work in science, math, English, and social studies. They have done lots of work this year.

I loved this sign (created by Camille) that I saw in the window of her social studies class. Good words to live by.

IMG_1843

Habit and Home

Posted on by

I seem to read mostly non-fiction these days. I finished two books last night and this morning.

IMG_1407

In The Power of Habit I learned about how much of what we do day to day is a complex set of habits. If we have habits we want to break, we can overwrite the old habit and create new habits. It takes effort and creating different responses to daily cues. One habit we have been trying to break around here is some of the negative ways we interact — nagging, criticizing, belittling, general disrespect. We have been trying to form new habits in how we talk to each other. I have seen a lot of progress in trying to turn around what we say from the more negative approach to the positive. We are much happier as we have consciously interacted more kindly and respectfully.

Happier at Home is a follow-up book to The Happiness Project. The author contemplates how the happiness she experiences centers around her home life. She outlines nine areas such as time, parenthood, neighborhood, now, and marriage as areas to make specific goals so that home is a happier place. I enjoy the practical nature of her discoveries about happiness.

Here are a couple other books I have started and are on my nightstand. Again, they are non-fiction. Maybe someone has a good fiction book to recommend to me.

IMG_1409IMG_1408

Happy reading!

 

Always someone reading a book….

Posted on by

I stayed in bed a good part of the day, but I do feel like maybe I have turned a corner on my sickness.  So rest makes a difference.

IMG_1154I have noticed that we enjoy reading around here. If I don’t know where Camille is, she is usually on her bed with a book. Today, she stayed home sick and was up on her bed quite a bit. This is one of the things she is reading right now.

IMG_1142

I have never read those books, but I want to some day. Maren has been loving The Little House on the Prairie series. She is reading this one right now.

IMG_1138

After she reads every night, she writes in a reading log for school. I found her later reading one of the American Girl books about Felicity, the doll she has. Robin, our book loving first grader, is reading everything she can, but tonight, she was reading a Rainbow Fairy book.

IMG_1147

Earlier she was reading the Book of Mormon reader after we did our family scripture reading.

IMG_1139

She loves to read!

Sure enough, Brandon was in his room reading before bed. Before Christmas all he wanted was a select group of books and clothes. He got a little more than just that, but he has been enjoying all the books he received, including The Mistborn series.

IMG_1149

There are a lot of authors out there with the first name of Brandon these days.

Not only does Nicole study French, but she saw this play in San Francisco a few months ago. And she also loved the movie. She is a definite lover of literature. It has been so fun to talk about the books she is reading, being an old English major and lover of books myself. Some of my favorites that she has read recently — To Kill A Mockingbird, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Help, Jane Eyre, and now Les Misérables. It is the long version; she is enjoying a good, long read.

IMG_1140

Erik gave me a few books for Christmas, one being this memoir called One Hundred Names for Love, about a man who is a writer and suffers a stroke including the center for language formation. Good writing so far.

IMG_1144

Erik is reading a book I gave him for Christmas that I can’t wait to get a chance to read.

IMG_1159

Reading on a slow day helps the time pass more enjoyably.  And I know it helps us think, create, escape, and learn.  There is nothing like a good book.  It is great to have a house full of books and readers.

Peppermint Tea and reading

Posted on by

I woke up this morning with a slight sore throat.  So after I got my day going, kids off to school, breakfast cleaned up, I went right back up to bed with some peppermint tea.

IMG_1040

 

I got a blanket around my shoulders and put another one over my legs and got comfortable with some of the books and magazines that I am studying or have read over the last year.  These are books and scriptures that have been guiding my thoughts and direction the last few months.

IMG_1041

 

I couldn’t start my day off better than reading some scriptures and studying Preach My Gospel and a conference talk from The Ensign.  Starting this blog was inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project and Happier at Home.  I have been trying to discover some of my dreams and then pursue them.  Dare, Dream, Do by Whitney Johnson has been a guide in doing that.  Katrina Kenison’s book The Gift of an Ordinary Day inspires me about home and the beauty of family and every day life.  I am thinking of drinking more smoothies, green and fruit ones, inspired by Real Moms Love to Eat and Prevention magazine.  Just a few books and topics on my mind.  Nice to have a quiet morning to read and ponder and think.