Books Are The Best!

Today I am linking up with Kelly to talk about my favorite children's books.  Books are probably one of my favorite things in the world and I have always loved to read!  My parents have lots of pictures of me sitting and reading as a little girl and I still love to do it today.  I wish I had more time for it, but when I am off in the summer, I try to read as much as I can.

I am so glad that all my kids are big readers, too.  They always loved to read and be read to as they were growing up so we had tons of children's books in our house.  Plus, I am an elementary school teacher, so I am always on the lookout for good books for kids.

I teach third grade right now, so I thought I would share some of my favorite books for that age!

One of the books that my class has loved this year is Pippi Longstocking!  I used it as a read-aloud every afternoon and my kids couldn't wait until it was time to read every day!

 

Another one we loved was Henry Huggins.  We did this one as a novel study together.

Beverly Cleary is definitely one of my very favorite children's authors and I read all her books when I was little like Henry and Ribsy, Ramona the Pest, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  She is the best!  When I visited Portland, OR this summer with Steve on a business trip, I really wanted to go see her house on Klickitat Street but we didn't have enough time.  That is on my bucket list, though!  :)

I also have to include all the Little House On The Prairie books. 

I don't read those with my class because I think they mostly appeal to girls, but they are classics to me and I'm pretty sure I read every single one of them when I was growing up.  And then the TV show came out and I was addicted to that!

My very favorite children's book ever in the whole world is Charlotte's Web.  Enough said, right?

For boys, I would recommend the Encyclopedia Brown series or the Matt Christopher sports books.  And for girls, the Clementine books are a big hit in my class.  Lots of my boys and girls also like the Humphrey series.

 
And, I know some parents don't love Harry Potter, but for my kids it was probably the one book that turned them on to reading more than any other.  It was such a big part of their childhood that they even re-read them over and over today! 

Even though third graders are very into chapter books, but they still love a good picture book and being read aloud to!  So every year I read tons of books aloud to my class to teach them reading and writing strategies.  Here are a few of my very favorite read-alouds...

When I Was Young In The Mountains by Cynthia Rylant. 

Honestly, anything by Cynthia Rylant is amazing.  But I think I can relate to this one especially since I spent lots of time when I was young with my grandparents in the mountains of North Carolina.

Patricia Polacco is another wonderful author.  We just did an author study on her, in fact!  My two favorite books by her are Thank You, Mr. Falker and The Art of Miss Chew.  But my kids loved My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother.

And I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff is THE perfect book to teach persuasive writing.

Goodness...I could probably sit here and name book after book that I love!  I just love books!  I can't wait to see everyone else's list because I know I will get some new good ideas!

Florida-Spring Break 2013

So...today is officially the coldest Palm Sunday I think I can ever remember.  It is pouring down rain and freezing here!

This time last Sunday we had just gotten back from a few days in Florida with Laura and Lindy.  It was their Spring Break.  They went to Boston for the first part of the week with some friends...

...so they wanted to go somewhere warm for the second part of the week!   We decided it would be fun to fly to West Palm Beach to visit Steve's brother, Mike.  That was a good choice.  We had such a nice time not having any agenda other than relaxing and being in the sunshine.

The first day we got there was a little chilly and extremely windy.  We got up and went to the local farmer's market because I love all their produce there.  It is so cheap!!  We got tons of good fruit and vegetables for hardly anything.   I got four grapefruit for $1.00!  That is the kind of prices they have there.  Look how pretty all these peppers were.  They looked like a rainbow!

Later that morning, we went to the beach.  We had lunch at Johnny Longboats which we could walk to from the beach.   It was so windy that day that we had to get one of those covered chairs so we wouldn't get pelted with sand.  As long as we were in there, it was perfect!  All of us even fell asleep on the beach that day!

Mike took Steve and me to a little Cuban/Mexican restaurant for dinner that night while Laura and Lindy just stayed home and relaxed.  You know we love our Mexican food!

One of my favorite things to do in WPB is go to the Publix and get their chocolate almond ice cream.  We don't have a Publix near my house and I LOVE that ice cream!  We got some on our way home so we could have dessert every night while we watched TV!  It's the little things, right?

The next day, we knew it was going to be windy and in the 60's, so we spent the day in Palm Beach and Delray.  We window shopped on Worth Avenue for a while.  It is like Rodeo Drive in LA with very upscale stores and shops.  It really is pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we drove to Delray and had lunch at Caffe Luna Rosa.  It was so yummy. 

 

I had a tuna melt that was delish and Laura got a veggie wrap that she said was so good.  It was fun just hanging out and talking.  Lindy is catching us up on all her news....

And I'm sure Steve is giving her some kind of advice!

This is passage way to the beach in Delray!

 

It was still too windy to do much on the beach that day!

 

 

 

We ate dinner that night at one of Mike's favorite places...Duffy's.  It is a sports bar, so we could watch basketball while we were eating dinner!  Steve had basketball on the brain the whole trip because the ACC tournament was going on.  But Duffy's is one of our favorites too!

The next day was much warmer, finally!  We decided to hang out at the pool for the day. 

 

After lunch, Steve stayed home to watch the ACC tournament but Laura and Lindy and I headed back to lay out and read all afternoon.

That night we went to dinner at City Place and ate at Cheesecake Factory.  Steve's sister, Angela, drove down so she went with us. 

We laughed a lot and talked and just enjoyed a fun night together.

 

 

 

Saturday morning we woke up and went to the West Palm Beach Green Market.   The Green Market has all kinds of little booths set up where you can buy food or flowers or pottery or jewelry or all kinds of other things! 

 

We had a fun morning just browsing and talking. 

 

Laura and Lindy and I all got smoothies and Steve bought some apple cider donuts that are amazing.  Mike always likes their empanadas and I bought a really pretty pottery coffee mug.  It was a beautiful sunshiny morning and we had a good time.

 

That afternoon, all us girls went to the beach while Steve and Mike watched the NC State game.  (Can you tell it's March???)  It was a GORGEOUS day and I loved every minute of being on the beautiful beach.  I am so ready for warm weather and spring!!

We had to fly out that night.  We just came home from the beach and changed and went to the airport.  We were home in an hour and a half.  Yay!!  That definitely beats a 12 hour car ride!

Sunday we had to get a little David and Caroline fix, so they came over for a few hours to play.

 

 

 

Then it was back to school and back to work.  Last week was very intense and busy.  I felt like we played catch up all week.  But it was worth it for a few fun days with my girls!

Snowy Weekend

I think I am finally getting back to a normal routine this week.  Goodness...the last few weeks have been a little crazy, but in a good way!  I think it all caught up with me last night though.  I could barely keep my eyes open and I went to bed at 9:00.  I know that is so early, but it was amazing.  I felt so much better today!

Last week I spent a couple of days helping Ashley with this little angel.  I know the flower is as big as her head, but I can't help playing dress up with her.  :)

 

You forget how little and precious a newborn is.  I love how she smells and her soft little cheeks.  I could kiss this baby girl all day.

 

 

David came over to play a few afternoons, too.  He likes to get on the couch lately and put all the pillows around him and pretend like he is driving a car.  It is so cute.  He had the best time with Mark playing that game! 

 

 

 

On Friday I had to get up at 5:00 am to drive to Asheville for a statewide Spelling Bee.  Two of my students were in it and I wanted to be there to support them.  I am soooo not a morning person.  Oh my goodness...it takes everything I can do to get up at that hour.  So I treated myself to a big cup of Starbucks and put on a good Pandora station and tried to make it a little more bearable. 

 

 

Once I got going, the drive was really pretty.  I got to see the sunrise and it was snowing when I got up to the mountains!  Plus I was really proud of my two students.  They did a great job!

 

 





Friday night Steve and I went out to dinner and then we rented Here Comes The Boom with Kevin James.  I liked it, but I fell asleep about half way through.  I am so bad at staying up to watch movies on Friday nights.  I can never seem to do it!  Steve always wakes me up to tell me it's over!

On Saturday, it snowed all morning.  I took this picture looking out of my living room window.

It was so pretty but it didn't stick to the roads at all, so Ashley brought David and Caroline over.  Steve took David outside to play in the snow.  I love this picture because it reminds me of an illustration from the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats!  You can tell how much fun he was having!

 

 

Even though there was really hardly any snow on the ground, Steve managed to help David build a snowman.  Here in the south, we make do with whatever we get! (That look on David's face is because some people came over to visit Caroline that he didn't know very well and all of a sudden he got really shy!  Haha!)

 



He loved his little southern snowman, though.  He even gave it a kiss!

Sunday we went to church and then just had a relaxing day at home.  I don't think we will get anymore snow.  I'm pretty sure we are done for 2013.  I am so ready for spring now.  Speaking of spring, I saw this cute top on my friend Christal's blog. 

 

She told me where she got hers and I ordered one too.  She lives in Canada, so I don't think we'll risk running into each other wearing the same thing!  :)

Next week we are going to Florida for a few days, so I can't wait to soak up some warm weather!

Baby, Baby

We had a really good weekend celebrating sweet baby Caroline.  I forgot to tell you that Mark had knee surgery the same day she was born!  It was just a coincidence because he had the surgery scheduled for a while.  So he was at home recovering the night she got here.

Laura and Lindy came home for the weekend to see her.  We had fun hanging out together and catching up with them.  They had to get their baby fix and give some cuddles to Caroline. 

I can't believe they are almost to the end of their senior year of college.  We spent a lot of time talking about getting apartments and applying for jobs, etc.  All my kids are about to be all grown up!

Saturday morning we woke up and went to Cast Iron Waffles (our new favorite.)  Then, since David's birthday was Friday, Steve, Laura, and I picked him up and took him to the mall to play.  He LOVES the mall--especially playing in the cars and the Disney Store.   He was in such fast motion that I could barely get a picture of him.  He was just a blur!

Saturday night we just stayed home and hung out and then Sunday morning we went to church together.  Sunday was a gorgeous day! 

We met for lunch at Brixx pizza and then everyone spent alot of the day outside.  It was even windy enough to fly a kite!  Ashley and John brought David and Caroline over for a little while.  Steve finally got to hold her.  He had a cold this week, so he wanted to wait to he felt better.

Mark had to take a turn, too.

Laura, Lindy, and I watched the Oscars together on Sunday night.  I was glad Argo won.  I loved that movie.  I liked Les Mis too, though, and I definitely thought Anne Hathaway deserved to win for best actress!

John went back to work today so I told Ashley I would help her today and tomorrow.  She took David to Barnes and Noble with Mark and I got to stay home and rock this angel.

 I could just kiss her sweet cheeks all day!  Goodness gracious she is presh!!