TAKE A PEEK...THANKFUL FOR MY NEW HOME LIBRARY!

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours! 

At the moment, I am sitting and typing this blog post from my cozy new library/office, definitely thankful to be done with our home renovations and getting ready to be off-line for the holiday while I do my Thanksgiving baking and turkey trimming!

This time last year we were cooking in the laundry room (which is now a butler's pantry) while our kitchen was being remodeled, sleeping in our guest room while our small master bathroom was being enlarged and renovated, and basically living out of our burgundy dining room...

...which we turned into the gray-blue library/office pictured in remodel stages below!

My boxes of books (read my Bookworm post) filled up the shelves quickly!  Here's a peek...

With the help of my niece, who is an incredibly talented interior designer, we're almost done with all the finishing touches.  We still need to get a rug on the floor and some art on the walls, but we're almost there.  It's my new happy place!

If you can't find me, I'm probably there!

Which brings me to today's book, The Library by Sarah Stewart and David Small.  If you love books, you'll love this story!

Elizabeth Brown doesn't like to play with dolls and she doesn't like to skate. What she does like to do is read books. Lots of books. The only problem is that her library has gotten so big she can't even use her front door anymore. What should Elizabeth Brown do? Start her own public library, of course! With charming verse and watercolors Sarah Stewart and David Small celebrate one of America's oldest and finest institutions.

 

(The Library is a 1995 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and Outstanding Book of the Year.)

FIXER UPPER - FOR KIDS!!

With paint colors on the brain during our recent house remodel, I gleefully discovered a fun (new to me), vintage book: The House of Four Seasons, by the very talented mid-century modern author/artist Roger Duvoisin.

This colorfully illustrated book fits in perfectly with the current HGTV craze, and especially the hit show FIXER UPPER.  It's almost as if The House of Four Seasons gives us a quick glimpse into the elements that make Chip and Joanna Gaines' show such a success: family, creativity, anticipation, hard work, and oftentimes, compromise.

By the way, if you haven't read The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines, I highly recommend it.  I think it's the rare couple that complement each other's gifts and strengths so completely as this duo does.  But they don't rely on their talent alone.  They've trusted God, and put family first the whole way through their journey.  They've renovated broken houses into beautiful, functional family homes very intentionally - both for their own family and others - and it's lovely that they are so willing to let us in on how they do it!

Back to today's picture book...
Father, Mother, Billy, and Suzy - a very 1950's era family - take a drive in the country and see a house in shambles with a "For Sale" sign out front (and an owl in the attic window).

They buy the house, but each has a different idea of what colors they should paint the exterior.  The four family members each base their choice of colors on one of the four seasons.  This is where illustrator Duvoisin's gift for color palettes (like designer Joanna Gaines') shines, as he splashes the pages with everyone's visions of their dream home paint job.

The family goes off to their little neighborhood hardware store (remember those, before all the Big Box Do-It-Yourself Stores came into vogue?)  

But, oh dear, the store's owner only sells the primary colors!  

What's a fixer upper family to do??  

Not to worry: with a few tricks, Father comes to the rescue, explaining to his family how color works.  And your little readers, along with the family, get in on the secret.

You'll have to get the book and see how Father helps them come to a decision about what color to paint their house (you may or may not agree with Father's logic, but who cares?)  I'm sure to most kids it makes perfect sense!

In the end, even the old owl finds a happy home!

I've decided to post some before-and-after photos of the exterior of our happy little house...now we just have to do our landscaping and put up some shutters!  In my next post I'll reveal our new library!!!!

Don't miss out on another fun picture book that features a house and the four seasons - The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.  It's probably in the Top 10 of my own favorite childhood picture books!

CREATING ADVENT TRADITIONS FOR KIDS

If my daughter had time to blog, I'm pretty sure she'd pass along today's latest conversation with her five-year-old son.  Since I'm a doting Grandma, I'll let you in on their day...

My grandson woke up this morning and was so excited to see that Advent had arrived.  My daughter had made and set up a Christmas tree of cardboard that he and his little brother can take turns hanging little cut-out ornaments on after they unwrap a Christmas book each night during Advent. (For my daughter's guest post on How to Make a Library Book  Advent Calendar, go here).

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He then told his little brother, "We are not having Dutch Babies for breakfast (that's what our family calls a German pancake made with eggs, flour, milk, and butter, that puffs up when it cooked and is then doused in maple syrup or fruit, and whipped cream) because that's a fancy food and during Advent we eat simple food...like pancakes!" So they had regular pancakes for breakfast.

The rest of the day he kept asking my daughter when it would be nighttime so he could open and read their first book.

Traditions are so important to kids. I've blogged a LOT about Advent and how to create fun book calendars as a countdown to Nativity.  Go here for my list of favorite Christmas books.  So many to choose from, but these are my special favorites - tried and true by our family!

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Whether you, like we, begin Advent on November 15th according to the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition of 40 days, or you begin to observe Advent on December 1st, I pray that you and your family have a blessed and prayerful season as we await Christ's Nativity!

To visit all my posts about Advent, go to my "Advent and Christmas Resource page", here.