Books

  • Free Audio Book: “Hannah Coulter” by Wendell Berry

    FREE Audio Book Download

    For the month of August Christian Audio is offering a free download of their audio book .  This month the audio book is “Hannah Coulter“ by Wendell Berry.  If you have been wanting to read the book then this is a great opportunity to listen to the book for free when you download it from Christian Audio in August.   Make sure to submit your order by August 31, 2011  to get your free audio book.  Thanks Christian Audio!

  • CONGRATULATIONS to Our Barnes & Noble Gift Card Winner!!!

    My husband, Jake, drew the name out of a cup for me.

    CONGRATULATIONS to Carrie Loring

    for winning a

    $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card!

    Thanks for making a comment in honor of our Giveaway!

    An email has been sent to you with more information.

    Enjoy Your New Book!

    Don’t forget to enter our next Giveaway!!!

    Giveaway must be claimed within 5 business days of the prize being announced.  Failure to claim the prize within the allotted time frame means you forfeit the prize.

  • Book: “Half Broke Horses – A True-Life Novel” by Jeannette Walls

    We listened to the audio book “Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel” by Jeannette Walls on a recent road trip with the family.  It is a true story about a frontier family in the early 1900’s.  The book follows the life of the matriarch, Lily, from her childhood until her children are grown.  She was a gun toting, teacher of a one room school house, who helped her husband manage an active 180 square mile cattle ranch while raising two children.  The story follows her as she and the country overcome hardship within an unending love of adventure and life.

  • Book: “Pirate Latitudes” by Michael Crichton

    On our recent 40 plus hour road trip with the family listened to the audio book “Pirate Latitudes” by Michael Crichton.  It is not my normal type of book but it did keep Jake and I engaged in the story during the wee hours of the morning on our trip.  There are some parts of the book I would not recommend for the kids but for the most part it was fine.  We listened to it while the girls were sleeping through the night or had their headphones on for their movie. The 17th century pirate story is based in Port Royal, Jamaica.  It is a story of pirates in search for a treasure and the adventures that accompanied their journey.  Like many of Crichton’s stories it is based on historical fiction which I feel adds to the depth of the book.

  • Walgreens: 30 Books for $2

    Walgreens Deals (books on clearance)

    I went to Walgreens to stock up on some of their deals this week.  The best deal I got was in their clearance aisle where they had a bunch of their books, coloring books, and activities books on clearance.   Since I went a little later in the week not all the advertised products were available and I had several Register Rewards that were expiring this week so it worked out well.   I spent $2.27 including tax at Walgreens for this transaction.  I picked up a couple other items (including food which you will see in a later post this week) but this was my best deal at Walgreens this week.  The books will be great for upcoming road trips and other fun activities with the family.

    • 10 – Disney Books (on clearance for $0.49 each)
    • 10 – Disney Activity Books (on clearance for $0.29 each)
    • 10 – Disney Coloring Books (on clearance for $0.29 each)

    The total was over $11 with tax before using discounts & coupons.  Here are the coupons I used on the thirty items.

    • Used $9 Walgreens Register Rewards

    Walgreen’s Register Rewards will expire two weeks from the date they are printed so you will need to make sure to use them before their expiration date.  I always keep the ones that are expiring the soonest on top of the stack to make sure to use them first.

    Another important fact regarding Walgreen’s Register Rewards you will need to know if you haven’t used them before is you can only use 1 coupon per item.  If you use a manufacturer’s coupon for every item you are purchasing you will not be able to use any Register Reward for that transaction.   If you do have a coupon for each item then check Walgreen’s weekly ad because they will have items on sale each week for pennies up to $1 that you can use as “filler” items but they won’t raise your total too much.  Once you get started using coupons and rewards you may discover, like I did, how to purchase many of your health and beauty items for nothing or very little.  Since using coupons and reward programs I rarely pay full price for any of our health and beauty items plus I usually have extra to share with guests visiting us or to give away.

    For those of you who shop regularly at Walgreens I encourage you to share how you were able to save this week!  Although the weekly ad sales are similar every family and situation is different so you may have found items better suited to your household.  In your comment please feel free to share a link to your blog article showing us how you were able to save at Walgreens.

  • Book: “A Dog’s Life: Autobiography of a Stray” by Ann Martin

    Since we have been traveling a good bit this summer we have been able to check out a few audiobooks for the family to listen to on the road trips.  One of the recent audio books we listened to was “A Dog’s Life: Autobiography of a Stray” by Ann Martin.  The book follows a young dog named, by her mother in the traditional way of naming a pup, after the most important things in her life.  Her name is “Squirrel” and her brother’s name is “Bone”.  It is full of touching stories as well as the adventures and perils of being a stray.  The book is simple enough for children to follow yet engaging for the adults to enjoy as well.

  • Teaching Our Children: Encouraging the Kids to Read During Summer Vacation

    Our reading tree!

    I was trying to come up with a visual prompt in our home that encourages our children to read this summer.  The girls LOVE it when they are read to and could do it for hours but since they are starting to read on their own I wanted to find something that would help motivate them to read a little more.  I came up with the idea “Spring into Reading” since we technically started it in the Spring and I wanted to boost the girls reading skills.

    My Mom graciously made the tree for me and my Sister in Law Becky helped cut out a bunch of the leaves.  The purpose of the tree is simple find a visual way for the girls to see their reading progress.  Each member of our family gets a different color of leaf.  When that member reads a book to the girls or they read a book on their own they get to put up their leaf.

    We have started to fill out our tree with leaves and hope to get an after summer break picture up for you to see what we accomplished.  If all goes well I hope to see more and more of the girls leaves going up throughout the summer as their reading skills increase.

  • Spending Time with Grandma!

    We were so thankful that my Mom was able to come visit us for several days.  She went with us to Savannah for my cousins graduation and time at the beach.  The girls love spending time with Grandma and were thrilled to hang out together.

     

    Grandma Penny helping the girls do their workbooks!

    I think Grandma Penny was much more patient then Mommy doing the workbooks!

     

    Grandma Penny reading books to the girls!

    The girls love it when Grandma reads them books.  Today they relaxed for a few minutes on the front porch with a stack of books to read together.  Thank you Mom for reading to our girls, they LOVE their time with you!  I am thankful for a Mom who takes the time to be with our family.  The girls have many wonderful family memories because of moments like these!

     

  • Book: “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” by Siegfried Engelmann

    School is out for the summer but that does not mean the learning time is over for the kids.  Actually in many ways the pressure is on for Moms and Dads to continue teaching our children so they don’t forget everything they learned over the school year.  Our girls are starting to read and since I want to help them over the summer I asked around about great books to help them learn how to read even better.  This book “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” by Siegfried Engelmann was recommended to me by several of my homeschool Mom friends.   We just started this book in June and have already seen some of the benefits.  It is not the most exciting book for parents to teach from because it has a lot of repetition, however, that’s a big advantage when your child is first learning to read.  It has been hard for me to stay consistent with all the traveling we are doing this summer but when we do the book the girls seem to enjoy it and it helps build their reading confidence.  The first few lessons were pretty “easy” for the girls since they just finished kindergarten but I anticipate it getting a little harder and challenging as we go.

    Have you used this book with your child?

    Do you recommend it or have any other teaching materials for recommend to young readers?

  • Free Audio Book: “The Millennials” by Thom S. Rainer & Jess Rainer

    FREE Audio Book Download

    For the month of July Christian Audio is offering a free download of their audio book “The Millennial” by Thom S. Rainer and Jess Rainer.  This audio book “presents the first major investigative work on Millennials from a Christian worldview perspective”.   If you want to read the book then this is a great opportunity to listen to the book for free when you download it from Christian Audio in July.   Make sure to submit your order by July 31, 2011  to get your free audio book.  Thanks Christian Audio!