Bedtime Stories

Ever since my kids were born, we have read stories before bed. I almost always enjoy this time...I say ALMOST always because sometimes you just need everyone to go to bed NOW!!! However, I usually enjoy it more times than not. We have our favorites...and we have our not very favorites....for example, Though I may get tagged as an un-fit mother,I do not enjoy Dr. Seuss books....But don't call social services yet....Seriously,....what exactly is this guy a "doctor" of? A Dr. of color blindness perhaps? 'Cuz, dang! The illustrations are like when you take your kids to a restaurant and they hand them a paper to color on and two crayons....red. and blue.What kind of color palate is THAT? How are you supposed to draw anything worthy of the fridge with that?..."look mom! I drew a red fish with blue eyes!...now I drew a blue fish with red eyes!"...thus the book," Red fish, Blue fish"...Then we have "The Cat in the Hat". This book gives me total anxiety. These kids are left home alone. Let a COMPLETE STRANGER --a talking cat stranger at that--into their house , who then introduces two MORE strangers into the abode and proceed to completely destroy the house! (This is where the anxiety really starts to set in!...) NO ONE will listen to the talking fish who is the only voice of reason...he's cast aside in a tea pot or the toilet or something...THEN they have to try to hurry and clean up the mess, not to mentioned their mother's favorite dress, before she walks in the door!
This totally stresses me out.
What message are we sending here?--Disobey your mother, let strangers into the house to do whatsoever they please, and as long as it all gets cleaned up before she gets home, it's OK!
I've tried those things...they don't work...mom ALWAYS finds out!

And what's with"Green Eggs and Ham"? I wouldn't eat those either...Especially not with farm animals. What if you were chowing down on one of their relations? That would make for some very awkward dinner conversation...

I will say that I like the story of "The Star-Bellied Sneetches". This has a very good moral...despite it's gross lack of a color palate...like, be happy with who you are, don't give in to peer pressure, and don't get tattoos.


"the Grinch who stole Christmas" also has a very good message, so I will give the "doc" that! :)

OK, enough Dr. Seuss bashing...he's not that bad--really--I just tend to go off on tangents.Back to the subject at hand...

Bedtime stories. Our favorites.

"Once Upon a Time, The End (asleep in 60 seconds)" Has got to be my very favorite! My kids just crack up every time! It's hilarious!




Here are a couple of our favorite excerpts:

"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt"
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
His name is my name too!
Whenever we go out,
The people always shout:
"John! John!, get in bed and be quiet!"

"Hickory, Dickory, Dock"
Hickory, dickory, dock.
A mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck eight. Oh my! It's late!
So the mouse went straight to bed.

"Jack and Jill"
Jack and Jill
went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water...
Jack! What are you doing out of bed in the middle of the night!?!

Another favorite of ours is,
"Skippy Jon Jones"
I particularly love this one because, not only is it cute, but I get to use my Spanish accent! OLE!


This little cat is a stinker. He gets sent to his room for being naughty, and ends up in his own make-believe world where he is a Chihuahua and he sings:
" My name is Skippito Friskito. (clap-clap.)
I fear not a single bandito. (clap-clap.)
My manners are mellow.
I'm sweet like the Jell-o,
I get the job done, yes indeed-o (clap-clap.)"


And we can't forget the David Shannon books!
Besides the "No,David!" series, we love the pirate series!





Of course we all love Junie B. Jones! Although I will say that her horrible grammar grates. I am probably the only mother in America that stops to correct her grammar when I read this to my kids....(It's a weird thing with me...see my earlier post...101,or more things about me...)



This is Chase's absolute favorite book! I'll hear him in his room giggling, and I know that he's reading this....he's read it at least 6 times, and the good news is, the second book just came out. Chase and I have a date to go to Barnes and Noble tomorrow to pick it up!

Chase also loves the Judy Moody books plus the one about her brother "Stink" as she calls him...




Sadly, the girls have long outgrown their bedtime stories from Lance and I, but they still read them to themselves. Here are just a few of their favorites:

They LOVE "The Lightning Thief" Series"



the "Twilight" Series...I'm right there with them on that one! (sigh!)Lance makes fun of us, but guess what? HE"S read them too!!! (His curiosity got the better of him...he wanted to know what the heck it was we were talking about all the time...who's Edward? Who's Jacob?)



Madi loves the "Inkheart" series too..I'll have to read this before the movie comes out!



The girls love ANYTHING by Gail Carson Levine



The Eragon series is great too...they skip so many details in the movie...we still enjoyed it though



I almost feel stupid for putting this up here...but it's a favorite...I think Madi's read the entire series three times or more...

I just love books. I love to look at them hold them and read them.I have a quote on the wall of our study that says,

"Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill"
Henry David Thoreau

I won't bore you with my list of favorite books...yet...but I'd love to know yours!