christmas book advent.

i've been collecting books all year, and finally {just in time} found all 24 books for our advent!

here they are, in no particular order:

1. a christmas goodnight {nola buck}
2. the night before christmas {clement c. moore}
3. stopping by woods on a snowy evening {robert frost, illustrated by susan jeffers}
4. white snow, bright snow {alvin r. tresselt}
5. wake up, santa claus! {marcus pfister}
6. snowmen at christmas {caralyn buehner}
7. snow {uri shulevitz}
8. i'll be home for christmas {holly hobbie}
9. the twelve days of christmas {jan brett}
10. a wish to be a christmas tree {colleen monroe}
11. mr. willowby's christmas tree {robert e. barry}
12. how the grinch stole christmas {dr. seuss}
13. christmas is here {illustrated by lauren castillo}
14. bear stays up for christmas {karma wilson}
15. who is coming to our house? {joseph slate}
16. christmas in the manger {nola buck}
17. snowmen at night {caralyn buehner}
18. the polar express {chris van allsburg}
19. making a friend {alison mcghee}
20. the christmas magic {lauren thompson}
21. christmas oranges {bethers/sowards}
22. how murray saved christmas {mike reiss}
23. santa mouse {michael brown}
24. the wild christmas reindeer {jan brett}

i can't wait until december 1st!!

mary blair.

while i was shopping for serena's birthday, i came across this book. the illustrations were adorable and i thought serena would love it since she's all about babies and baby dolls lately. as it turns out, she's not much interested in the book, but i soooo am! i've been a little obsessed with it so i did a google search on the illustrator, mary blair. and then i took a long trip down memory lane...

my grandma had a collection of disney stories that my sisters and i would read before bed when we slept over at her house. my favorite was always cinderella, and the illustrations were all by mary blair. finding these images brought back so many happy memories. are they not gorgeous!?

peter pan was also in the book.

and alice in wonderland.

i think i need to own a copy of all of these {already on my amazon wishlist...}! and someday let my girls look at them, too :)

picture books to love.

“children are made readers on

the laps of their parents.”
- emilie buchwald

since i started this project, i've been obsessing over children's books. i'm on amazon almost daily {mostly looking, sometimes buying} finding old favorites and new ones to love. these are a few:

a tree is nice, janice way udry

sylvester and the magic pebble, william steig

cinderella, marcia brown

knuffle bunny, mo willems

i had entirely forgotten about a tree is nice and sylvester. marcia brown's cinderella was my all-time favorite book as a kid because i loved the magical illustrations {minus the sissy prince}. knuffle bunny is a new favorite at our house. serena asks for it all the time.

isn't reading to kids the best thing ever? serena would be totally content with nothing but books to entertain her. and so would i.

top of my amazon wish list.

love her!

christmas book advent.

i wanted to do a christmas book advent last year with serena, but we only had a very few christmas picture books. i've decided to start collecting now, so we'll have 24 to read before this christmas {seriously, i'm already planning christmas 2011! what!?}. here's what we have so far:

christmas in the manger
who is coming to our house?
the night before christmas {illustrated by douglas gorsline}
stopping by woods on a snowy evening {illustrated by susan jeffers}
christmas is here
how murray saved christmas
snow
snowmen at night
wake up, santa claus!
how the grinch stole christmas
i'll be home for christmas {toot & puddle}
a wish to be a christmas tree
the twelve days of christmas {jan brett}
the wild christmas reindeer
silent night, holy night

we still need 10 more. {we read how murray saved christmas AND the night before christmas on christmas eve.} any suggestions?

she loves her books.

and she has a cute zebra striped bum today.

penguin's poems for love.

isn't she beautiful? i'm a little bit of a sucker for poetry books, and especially when they are beautiful on the outside too. the cover was designed by coralie bickford-smith who did all of those pretty penguin classics. it was a pain to track down {i could only find it in the uk}, but so worth the cuteness it will add to my shelf :)

{includes poems by w. h. auden, william shakespeare, john donne, emily dickinson, robert browning, roger mcgough, etc.}

lucky duck.

what a great weekend!

on saturday, my mom and i went to see the young victoria.

it was sooo good and i loved it! my mom had already seen it and liked it well enough to see it again with me :) i didn't even mind emily blunt {who for some reason usually bugs me}. and albert was very handsome. nothing like a good, clean, 19th century romance. i highly recommend it. i doubt it will be at the broadway much longer, so rent it! or get it on netflix! or whatever it is you do. seriously.

i finished this dang book:

a review to come on the reading blog soon. but let's just say, i'm glad to be done with it.

stephanie gave us a big bag of hand-me-downs at the most perfect time! serena has grown out of all of her dresses. and now she has a whole new {used} crop. thank you, steph!

and last but certainly not least, i am the luckiest duck! i won a giveaway over on cheat day.

two dozen lemon chiffon cupcakes... all for me! ok probably i will share them :)

♥ beatrix potter.

serena has a little peter rabbit board book that i absolutely love. sean read it to her while we were at church a couple of weeks ago and then whispered, "i don't like this book. it's weird". ha! i guess he doesn't think beatrix potter's work is as charming as i do! sweet little animals in clothes? it's adorable! her illustrations are precious! i think serena needs some beatrix potter prints in her room.

{last week i watched miss potter. it was interesting and sweet, but just too depressing! i shouldn't watch movies when i know they don't have happy endings.}

reading + watching.

reading:
as you like it, shakespeare
daniel deronda, george eliot
gone with the wind, margaret mitchell
{why i chose three heavy reads all at once... i'm not sure.}
i love you because you're you, liza baker
naked mole rat gets dressed, mo willems

watching:
lost
the bachelor {please come back, ali.}
community
impatiently awaiting the return of glee
mickey mouse clubhouse
charlie + lola

i just ordered this.

and i'm pretty excited about it. kind of geeky, huh.

p.s. i don't plan to make that seashell lampshade.

book covers.

gift bags + masking tape = book covers, high school style

♥

i am guilty of judging books by their covers. this is why i couldn't bear to read my new {used} copy of pride & prejudice with a green pen stain on the front of it. thus, the book covers. it took a few tries to remember how we did it back in high school, but now my books are fancy and i can read to my little heart's content!

ode to mo willems.

we love mo willems. his books are hilarious. the illustrations are hilarious. my personal favorite is don't let the pigeon drive the bus. but we love all of these:

i hope serena appreciates mo's sense of humor, because she has quite a collection of his books! see everything by mo here. and his fan mail favorites here {quite entertaining}.

reading a.d.d.

books i have started in the last week:

digging to america.
jacob have i loved.
persuasion.
i capture the castle.
the jane austen book club.

i think i have settled on re-reading beauty by robin mckinley. one of my favorites.

if not, it's back to jacob have i loved. or digging to america. or persuasion. or maybe i'll find a copy of sense & sensibility. or perhaps re-read east. i have a problem.

on another note, i took a big boxful of books to the book garden this week. i know i said i don't like used books, but i love that place. i love how it is packed from floor to ceiling with books. and you can find relatively new books there, too. you just have to look hard :)

found.

photobooth pictures of a stranger's kids inside my library book. that might be the only thing i like about library books. finding things. but mostly i like my books to have that new smell. library books smell weird and have all sorts of unidentifiable stains on the pages.

i like picture number two. the boy's face is classic!

september 15.

we're a little excited. sean pretty much only reads dan brown, and i'm a fan too. so you know what we'll be doing on september 15th!

books.

yesterday i finished this book. loved it. as i put it back on my shelf, i was trying to decide what to read next. i started looking through my books... and i realized that the majority of books on my shelf were purchased and read after i got married. so i started counting them and couldn't help but be impressed with myself! i've read 49 books in 39 months of marriage. sean is offended by this because he thinks it means i'm bored with him and have to resort to reading to entertain myself. but truthfully i just looove reading. i hope i can keep up the pace of 1.2 books per month once baby comes. until then, it's my goal to read a book a week. i'm trying to make a dent in all of the unread books on my shelf.

for anyone who cares, here are all 49 of the books i've read over the past 3 years. my must-reads are linked in red.

♥

the five people you meet in heaven, mitch albom
the wonderful wizard of oz, frank l. baum
the nazi officer’s wife, edith hahn beer
the glass lake, maeve binchy
a great and terrible beauty, libba bray
rebel angels, libba bray
the sweet far thing, libba bray
deception point, dan brown
cold sassy tree, olive ann burns
the wizard heir, cinda williams chima
the wanderer, sharon creech

walk two moons, sharon creech
a christmas carol, charles dickens
a northern light, jennifer donnelly
the peacegiver, james l. ferrell
eat, pray, love, elizabeth gilbert
the goose girl, shannon hale
princess academy, shannon hale
austenland, shannon hale
book of a thousand days, shannon hale
enna burning, shannon hale
the princess and the hound, mette ivie harrison
a company of swans, eva ibbotson
a countess below stairs, eva ibbotson
leadership & self-deception, the arbinger institute
the girlfriends’ guide to pregnancy, vicki iovine
ophelia, lisa klein
a wrinkle in time, madeleine l’engle
fairest, gail carson levine
ella enchanted, gail carson levine
and there was light, jaques lusseyran

beauty, robin mckinley

twilight, stephenie meyer
new moon, stephenie meyer
eclipse, stephenie meyer
breaking dawn, stephenie meyer
the host, stephenie meyer
east, edith pattou
the last lecture, randy pausch
harry potter & the order of the phoenix, jk rowling
harry potter & the half-blood prince, jk rowling
harry potter & the deathly hallows, jk rowling
sybil, flora rheta schreiber
the lovely bones, alice sebold
the thirteenth tale, diane setterfield
i capture the castle, dodie smith
the strange case of dr Jekyll and mr hyde
these is my words, nancy e. turner
the accidental tourist, anne tyler

♥

currently reading: the memory keeper's daughter, kim edwards

♥

{image}

finished... finally.

So I finally finished Breaking Dawn. Most of you probably read it the week it came out and this is old news to you, but I really want to know what everyone thought of it. Come visit the reading blog & post your thoughts!

reading list.

Maybe making a list will motivate me to read some of the books I own and have yet to read. There are many.

the book thief.
the secret garden.
the kite runner.
the chosen.
gone with the wind.
ella enchanted.
the holy secret.
ever.
the remains of the day.
a countess below stairs.
the memory keeper's daughter.
emma.
standing for something.
persuasion.
daniel deronda.

There are more... but I'm getting embarrassed about the length of this list! What should I start with? Any recommendations {besides the kite runner!}?

p.s. I just noticed that I have been spelling "embarrassed" wrong for as long as I can remember. I thought there was only one "r". I always thought I was a relatively good speller... maybe not!

shhhhh.

No one tell me anything about it! I'm re-reading Eclipse before I start Breaking Dawn. Only 300 pages left... {Eclipse is LONG!}

P.S. I'm totally on team Jacob... just in case you wanted to know :)