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managing a household of 10 by the grace of God

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Favorite Family Read Aloud Books

March 21, 2020 by mamakay Leave a Comment

family read aloud

Family read aloud books are such a wonderful way to spend time together as a family. Our family rules are that you have to be in the same room and you can do something quietly but not use an electronic device. Some of our kids knit, others draw, color or paint, the younger kids like to play with legos or lincoln logs.

I would love to read every night but that just doesn’t work out consistently so I have had to let myself be content with reading as often as we can. As we gather together to read we always ask what happened last time before we read the next chapter. My goal is to read one chapter per day but if it is compelling and everyone is still engage we will read another chapter or two depending on how long the book is.

We have read so many books over the years. These are our top 10 favorites. To qualify it has to be a book that the majority of us have enjoyed from younger kids to adults and that we would enjoy reading again.

  1. The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
  3. Little Pilgrim’s Progress by Helen Taylor
  4. The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
  5. The Hobbit by JR Tolkien
  6. Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
  7. The Trumpet of the Swan by EB White
  8. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
  9. Little Women by Louisa Alcott
  10. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

During this crazy time of COVID-19 isolation having a family read aloud time is a perfect activity for everyone. If you do not already own the book it is easy to find any of these as ebooks through your library or purchase them from Amazon. They are also available through Audible if you would prefer someone else to do the reading.

For more book ideas check here: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/?s=books

Let’s make use of this time we now find ourselves with and put down our phones and devices and spend time together having family read aloud time.

MamaKay

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: family activities, read aloud

Top 19 Books 2019

December 30, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Books

I read 52 books this year! I still can’t believe I read this much! My goal of 36 books was totally surpassed. Most of my book recommendations come from Modern Mrs. Darcy and various podcasts. Here are my favorites for the year.

Non-Fiction Books

So many people I follow wrote books this year! These are just a few of my favorites. I did a deep dive into the Enneagram this year and still have a couple more books in my TBR pile that I want to read but Ian Cron’s book is a great introduction.

If you need a good reboot in 2020, I highly recommend Atomic Habits. His approach is the most doable I have ever found. I am convinced that our lives our made up by our small daily choices.

  1. Atomic Habits by James Clear
  2. The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman
  3. Placemaker by Christie Purifoy
  4. The Road Back to You: An Ennegram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
  5. The Middle Matters: Why that (Extra)Ordinary Life Books Really Good on You by Lisa-Jo Baker

Memoir Books

I haven’t read that many memoirs before but I absolutely loved reading them this year. It was hard to pick my favorites but here are my top 5 picks for this year. These women are all amazing in different ways and I learned so much from their stories. My thoughts keep returning to these books again and again.

I actually went back and read all of Ruth Reichl’s books after reading Save Me the Plums. She is an amazing writer and includes recipes in all of her books.

  1. Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg
  2. Miracles and Other Reasonable Things by Sarah Bessey
  3. Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
  4. Educated by Tara Westover
  5. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Fiction

I have not read very many mystery books in the past but I absolutely loved reading through the entire Inspector Gamache series. It was wonderful getting to know the characters more each book in a familiar setting. I also discovered Charlie Lovett and can’t wait to read his other books.

  1. All of the Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny
  2. The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay
  3. The Bookman’s Tale by Charlie Lovett
  4. Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
  5. The Gown by Jennifer Robson

Cookbooks

Cooking daily for a family of 10 requires renewed inspiration from time to time. These books encouraged me to try some new things and taught me how I could cook better.

  1. Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
  2. The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook by Coco Morante
  3. Holiday and Celebration Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Bonus

My favorite Journal to keep track of all my reading (and other important notes) is my Leuchtturm1917 dot grid journal.

Here is a link to all of the books I read this year: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/2019-book-list/

I hope you have had a great reading year as well! I would love to hear what your favorite books were this year!

MamaKay

Filed Under: Books

Our Favorite Christmas Books

December 1, 2019 by mamakay 1 Comment

books

All through the year our family tries to gather together after dinner to read together. We can’t manage it every night but we come back to it time and time again. There is something special about a shared experience reading a book together and it is so simple to make it happen.

Here is a list of our favorite Christmas books with links to Amazon in case you want to add them to your collection too. (I receive a small commission if you buy through my link. Thanks for your support!)

For our Advent readings our 2 favorite books are: 

Our favorite chapter books for reading aloud as a family are:

Our Favorite Picture Christmas Books:

These are wonderful for young children but you might be surprised how much you and your older children will enjoy these beautiful books.

And here is a link to here James Earl Jones read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Tommey to you. It is the best! 

http://www.candlewick.com/Toomey/

I am not a crafty person but I sure love a good book to read as a family. What are your favorite Christmas books?

MamaKay

* This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links it costs you nothing and it helps to support this site.

Filed Under: Advent, Blog, Christmas, Holidays Tagged With: advent, Books, Christmas

Day 3 of Books: Bible Time

October 3, 2018 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Of all the reading I do it is most important for me to read my Bible so I try to start my day there. Some days I get to read more, some days less but God meets me whatever season I am in. There are a few different ways I use to keep me in the word on a daily basis.

My favorite way lately is using my Write the Word Journal from Cultivate What Matters. It has nice thick pages with gold foil lettering. It provides space for the date, something you are grateful for, a scripture reference to copy each day, an On My Heart section and finally a spot to pick a word for the day. Throughout the years I have found that writing scripture really helps me to focus on what I am ready and respond to it. I have often just used a notebook. Sometimes it is easy to get trapped in having to have everything perfect to begin but God again and again will meet you where ever you are.

I also LOVE She Reads Truth. I started using their app a couple of years ago. (You can buy the separate studies for $1.99 each or subscribe to the app for $1.99/month and have access to all of their studies.) After a while I subscribed to get their beautiful books. I prefer the feel of a real book sometimes plus it helps me to stay off of my phone.

I have also used the YouVersion app for many years. They have tons of Bible studies and different versions of the Bible you can study from.

I want God’s words to be firmly planted in my heart as I walk into my days so that I can reflect Him and have something firm to hold on to when there are words coming from so many directions. I need help to discern what is true, beautiful and good.

How do you make sure you get time in the Word every day?

MamaKay

Filed Under: Books, Faith Tagged With: Bible, Books, she reads truth, write31days

Spiritual/Personal Growth Books

October 2, 2018 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Why do you read? There are so many different reasons: to learn, to be entertained, to stretch your mind, to be inspired, to share in an experience with others or to experience life from a different perspective just to name a few. It depends on the day and the season of life what kind of book I pick up. More often than not I choose a book that will inspire me as I live my life. I want to live intentionally and as a good steward of this life God has given me. I have found so many mentors through books. They have shaped me and challenged me and helped me become the person I am today. There is a never ending supply of books coming out everyday. It is so hard to know what will be good.

I have found that a book will show up on my radar and I will start hearing about it from many different places and when the time is just right I will feel compelled to read it. When I pay attention and take the time I am always blessed by these books. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the books being promoted on social media but it is such an amazing time that authors can share their hard work with us so easily.

Over the next few days I will be sharing my favorite books in the spiritual/personal growth category and telling you the impact they have had on my life. I hope you will share your favorite books with me. It is such a wonderful way to get to know someone by sharing what inspires each of us. There will be links to the books on Amazon but so many of these books can be found at the library, at used bookstores and lots of other places. (Do you know about the Library Extension you can use on Chrome? It will check your favorite library to see if it is available as an ebook or paper copy right on your favorite online bookseller websites. I love it. Click here to check it out: Library Extension)

I think I will go read a book! See you tomorrow!

MamaKay

 

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Books, library, personal growth, write31days

31 Days of ….. Books!

October 1, 2018 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I’m so excited to take on the 31 days of blogging challenge for the month of October! A couple of months ago on Facebook there was a challenge to share 1 book everyday for 7 days and it was so hard for me to pick just 7! When I was encouraged to pick a topic that I could write about for 31 days I knew it just had to be about books!

I have loved reading from a very early age. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe to us all curled up on her bed under the blankets one cold winter.  My best friend’s mom gave me Little House in the Big Woods and I have spent my whole life adoring Laura and her adventures and wondering how Ma did it all with such a calm and cheerful spirit! One year we went on a road trip and my parent’s took me to the bookstore to pick a book to bring and I chose Anne of Green Gables. I remember the Book Mobile coming to our neighborhood and I would check out books like Dr. Dollittle and Where the Red Fern Grows. I would use the little light bulb from my nightlight to read well after bedtime.

When I was in college I had a little trouble picking a major at first. I started with Business, changed to Social Work and eventually graduated with an English Lit major which has served me well.

Over the years my reading has ebbed and flowed as seasons have changed. My goal every day is to read my Bible, something inspiring, something practical and a story as well as read to my children every day. Somedays it happens, somedays it doesn’t but I keep plodding along. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t read something.

Over the course of this month I hope to share with you some of the books that have impacted my life the most. I will be covering 5 categories:

  1. Spiritual/Personal Growth
  2. Our Favorite Read Alouds
  3. Our Favorite Picture Books
  4. Classic Fiction
  5. Cookbooks

I hope you will join me and keep me accountable for writing every day!

MamaKay


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Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Books, write31days

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So glad you stopped by. I am a Christian wife and mother of 8 in the middle years. My kids are aged 4 to 20 and just about every 2 years in between. I write about our life as a big family, what God is personally doing in my life, food and books.

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