I sat in my room this morning, playing with Sarah. I looked at my bookcase and I remembered that when Grace was a baby, I sat her on a shelf in the midst of my books and took some pictures of her. I wanted to do something like that with Sarah, but she has gotten too big to put in a bookshelf.
So I stood her on a basket in front of the books and gave her some Beatrix Potters to hold in her arm.
I dressed her this way before I thought to take portraits. Life is too short to save the white dresses for a special occasion, especially if you are a baby who grows so very fast. This was Sarah’s Easter dress.
Seth observed all this and as soon as I took Sarah down, he hopped up and said, “My turn!” I couldn’t deny him. He’s a beautiful boy and was so happy to have a chance. As you can see, he wasn’t dressed for the day quite yet. Gotta love the belly and Thomas pj’s.
Books! I love reading………
I took David and Caleb to the library yesterday and we found some new delights:
Big Fat Hen, by Keith Baker; a counting book of the familiar rhyme, with gorgeous fancy hens illustrated throughout.
The Grannyman, by Judith Byron Schachner (of SkippyJonJones fame). She wrote a sweet story about an elderly cat, ready to die, until his family gives him a tiny kitten to care for. It’s just what he needed to be interested in life again. A tearjerker for old softies like me.
Seasons, by Blexbolex; a thick artsy book of simple words matched with a gorgeous illustration. For all ages.
Grace (11 years old) is busy reading every Newbery Award winner. Cool idea, huh?
As for myself, I am scared to continue The Book Thief. A few years back, I told myself I would never read another holocaust book because they gave me depression and gloomy feelings after I read them (the exception being The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom). Now, I didn’t know and still don’t know what exactly The Book Thief is all about. I chose it randomly at Barnes and Noble a week or so ago. I bought it, started it, and as soon as I realized it was set in that time period I put it down. Now I glare at it every time I walk by my nightstand. I want to read it, learn from it, love it, but my suspicion is holding me back. Have any of you read it? Is it disturbing? Or redemptive?
As always, I (and any comment readers) would love to hear about your family’s favorite books~
Good to be Home 
She is so precious Shanda! I love how you enjoy all each an every stage of your children’s lives. Seth seems pretty attached to his little sis 🙂
Wonderful pictures of the children! I Goggled the book and you will like it!
I love the pic of Seth and Sarah looking into each others eyes! What an amazing moment to capture. My parents have one of me and my brother doing that and I cherish that childhood photo to this day.
such a cutie! If I didn’t know better I’d think this was a really old picture, especially with the way she’s dressed 🙂 Can’t help with recom. for books. I haven’t read books for quite awhile. Maybe b/c I don’t have any good ones around to read…maybe I need to just up and go to the library.
They are both gorgeous children. You have the happiest looking little ones! So glad you are using the pretty dress while it fits. Mary and I were talking about how it seems like yesterday that Caleb was a baby, and now he is a 6 year old boy! Seth’s face is already getting longer…oh my! I have been rereading the whole Anne of Green Gables series this summer, thanks to your inspiration . I don’ think I have read them since my boys were small. I am on Rilla of Ingleside now, so almost done. We so enjoy the Lamplighter books, especially reading them out loud together.
There are too many to share…hmmm.. Dinosaurs for Kids- by Ken Ham is one that we have been enjoying over here lately. Very good! My four year old boy loves it most but we have all been reading it together in the evenings. And we came across a book at our library this week if you haven’t read it/listened to it you should! It’s called Gobble It Up- By Jim Arnosky. Here’s a link at the bottom! I know that your whole family would be laughing, esp. the littles. It’s really cute, with a very catchy song. In fact we can’t just listen to it once. :)http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0439903629/ref=s9_wishf_gw_t?ie=UTF8&coliid=I59S7HHEFMZZE&colid=3H2SMP9NU5C2C&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_r=17FT2R137PSE43AEQNC9&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=481918071&pf_rd_i=507846
Love the photo-op! I really like the old-timey feel of the pics. Your children are happy and beautiful!
“Book Cute” is the perfect title for this post! Those little dolls of yours….how can you EVer put the camera down???? ( 8
they are both soooooo adorable…as are all the other children…and growing up so fast…i love to see the pictures and read your stories about them…they are treasures in life…>^,,^<
what a little doll she is.. and growing so fast! i agree about not saving the pretty dresses for just special occasions. i like little girls to look like little girls. i’ve never read the book you mentioned, but totally get what you’re saying, i’m the same – that period in history inspires me, and yet makes me angry all at the same time. it’s certainly not light reading so i don’t tend to read alot from that time. hiding place, yes! being the exception. love love that book. never wrote you back the other day but took the kids to see winnie the pooh and we all really enjoyed it~ can’t beat pooh!! silly old bear. :)have a great night, friend.
These are precious photos of Sarah and Seth —
i cannot get over how much Seth is starting to resemble the ‘big boys’ awww…his little boy face is gone…so sad to see them get big and lose that baby-ness but i’m sure fun to see them begin to ‘fit into themselves’ in a way. so excited to see each of your kids personalities develop and i’m sure its the same for you. love the pictures of sarah with the books 😉 and the dress is gorgeous! i love that your kids are voracious readers and love to read. i think that story about the older cat with a new kitten to look after would make me cry as well. I have been interested in the book theif but haven’t looked into it yet. let me know what you hear about it. I highly recommend the The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Pie Society or something like that…its wonderful! set during the war but a very good tale about a little community in the british channel (i believe) that gets cut off from the rest of the world when Germany takes over their island and the little society some of the people on the island created to ‘survive’ the occupation. i found it incredibly well done.
We read through the entire series of the “Little House” books a number of times over the years that our children were growing up. Also loved “Caddie Woodlawn” by Carol Ryrie Brink(a very old book that I had loved as a girl) and “The Little Princess” and “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I read a number of “Mennonite” books, too, that were rather lengthy — “Lucy Winchester” and “Light from Heaven” by Christmas Carol Kauffman. And always, always, Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories and Uncle Arthur’s Bible stories.Ah, the memories of our kids lined up on the couch, the older ones sprawled out over the floor, always listening in. Some of the best of times in the whole world!
well you got me curious so i looked it up on amazon. here is the def they gaveDeath himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA as always the children look gorgeous and your pics are terrific!
I love her smile! I can’t see it without smiling myself! The pictures had such a nice vintage feel! I am glad little Seth had his turn! 🙂
They are so cute!I agree with you. Why save the fancy dresses? I had (and still have Sophia!) in fancy dresses all the time. It is such a short time period that they can dress with puffy skirts and dresses! I don’t want to waste it.Books….we love The Happy Hollister series, and that is what we have been reading this summer.There is also a book called The Babe and I by David Adler. It is a chilren’s book that takes place during the depression era. (The 1930’s, not this one! lol)It’s a sweet story about a boy who helps his family earn money….and Babe Ruth is involved. It is such a good book….You have to read it! Happy Thursday to you. =)
What precious pictures.
So cute! Sorry I don’t know anything about the book…
awww!! I love her little teeth coming in, and sweet big brother Seth.When I was Grace’s age I read the horse books by Marguerite Henry over and over and over. I also LOVED the Dear America books; I adored that they were hardback, had a little silk ribbon for a bookmark, and were written just like a diary! They even encouraged me to keep a diary of my own through my early teen years.
Very sweet! We have been enjoying your pictures!
Such sweet pictures of your darling children. Our family has always loved books too. We used to check out 50 children’s books each time we went to the library! (Back then it was a chore to have to sign the card, etc.) I would have to say that the Bill Peet books were our children’s favorite down through the years.
Look at little Sarahs teethers!!!!! She is getting so big! What a doll!
I feel the same way about Holocaust books but I enjoyed The Book Thief. Very interesting with death as the narrator. Good characters and storyline. Go ahead and read it. Let us know what you think. Danielle, Mom of 6.
I just love the little dresses your previous Sarah is always in! My sisters and I enjoyed many books while we were growing up. I remember one summer my mother came up with an idea, for every book we read and finished we made a different colored circle with the book title and author written inside of it, in which we hung up around the basement. It eventually became a very long caterpillar! We wrapped it around the entire basement (our play/toy room). We were so proud of it we kept it up for months!
@Kris1727 – Love that idea!