Impressing God's Word on Your Kids' Heart - Kid Wrangler, God Lover, Life Sharer

You are here: Home / Announcements / Relaxing & Reading

Relaxing & Reading

This weekend was Camp Primo! For the uninitiated, that’s my parents’ Grandparent/Cousin camp. They take all the grandkids on a 3 day trip complete with creek-stomping, campfires and arts & crafts! But the most important thing for you to notice about this is that I DO NOT HAVE ANY CHILDREN WITH ME. My husband and I celebrated our two days of kid-less-ness by going to the mountains. Our friends have a cabin (which really, would be better described as a log PALACE) in Tennesse that is just gorgeous. Here’s the view:

We slept late, we went out to eat, we lounged in the hot tub and we even did this:

raft1

Yup. That’s me on a zipline. Do I look cool or what?! (Don’t answer that.)

The other thing I did was read. One morning I got up, wrapped a blanked around me and sat on a rocking chair on the porch. Overlooking the mountains, I pulled out my husband’s iPad and read. I have recently discovered e-reader apps. There’s iBooks, Kindle, Nook, Sony e-reader and more! AND there are loads of free books online to download! In the last few weeks I’ve read Sixteen Brides, Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa, She’s in a Better Place, My Heart Remembers, She Always Wore Red, Waterfall, Cascade and Stuck in the Middle . That’s like 8 books. And almost all of them were free. The other ones I bought with swagbucks!

Then I discovered Nook Kids which is like it’s own app for kids–and they have kids’ books that you can read by yourself or it has the audio version on it, too! The kids have a Rudyard Kipling book, an I Can Read book and even Curious George. They love reading on it! (I do, too. It’s super cool.)

Anywhoo. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to keep commandeering the iPad for my own personal reading pleasure or if I’m going to ask for an e-reader for Christmas. (I kinda like that idea because I could slip it in my purse or keep it with me whenever I wanted!) Any insight from someone who has an e-reader? What do you recommend? What pitfalls have you found with them?

Speaking of e-readers how would you like to WIN A NOOK?

*insert squealing*

I knew you would! I’m literally salivating over this giveaway today. Nestle has been doing this fabulous campaign for Happy New {School} Year. They are giving away a $2000 Literacy Grant for your school, $5000 for back-to-school stuff, daily $50 prizes along with some really cool ideas for snacks, lunches and crafts. Honestly, you can always find a fun idea on their website or facebook page.

Also, I have to mention that Nestle (their PR firm) is compensating me for this post. But part of the reason I accepted this is because some of the compensation is $350 worth of books for Lydia’s school! I am SO excited to bring these books to her teacher! I’m gonna feel like Santa! Only skinnier. And less hairy.

win a nook

Now, let’s get on to the prize! If you win you will receive a Nook e-reader, a mix of free coupons from STOUFFER’S, TOLL HOUSE Refrigerated Cookie Dough and Morsels, JUICY JUICE, NESQUIK, TOMBSTONE, OVALTINE, product from WONKA, a $3 off coupon from BOOST Kid Essentials, a CARNATION BREAKFAST ESSENTIALS $1 off coupon, an OVALTINE straw dispenser and coupon book. That is FUN stuff! Just imagine reading curled up with your Nook and all that yumminess!

And just how can you win this? Well, I’m kinda over the whole bajillion comment thingie. So, let’s just do it the old-fashioned way:

Leave me a comment with your favorite book of all time (or kids’ fave book) and you’ll be entered to win!

Of course, if you want to tweet or facebook about this giveaway, I’d be honored! I made it easy for you–there’s some handy dandy little buttons right at the bottom of this post for you to use! I’ll pick a winner this Saturday (10/01)–it’s open to US only. Thanks again to Nestle for the fabulous prizes and for encouraging reading!

 

Comments

  2. I’m not sure this is really possible, at least not for me(!) – just one favorite book??
    The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin) was my first mystery, but not my last. The Cricket in Times Square (George Selden) is another favorite. The Shack, Still Life with Woodpecker, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, The Catcher in the Rye, Bag of Bones – I could go on & on. Hopefully my inability to pick just one doesn’t disqualify me! 🙂

    • Oh. I loved Cricket in Times Square–I never read it as a kid, but just listened to it w/my kids a few weeks ago. SO GOOD. And I am surprised at how much I loved The Shack. It’s one of those that still pops into my head every once in awhile!

      a

  3. I love ‘Mrs. Nelson is Missing’…That book has stuck with me since elementary school. My son LOVES it now.

  7. My fave book of all time (children’s) is absolutely Jamberry!!!! Love love it! My 3 young sons love the rhymes and the pictures- and it makes you hungry! Thanks for letting me enter- sounds like a great prize!

  8. Well, besides the Bible which really is my all time favorite book, I would have to say that Beverly Lewis’ series called the Rose Trilogy is my fav right now. But it changes so often…

  9. I love reading! Some of my favorites are Harry Potter, Inheritance, The Clan of the Cave Bear Series, The Outlander Series, Lord John Grey Series (this one kinda goes with the Outlander Series, but stands alone as well), All of Nickolas Sparks books are good… make sure you have a box of tissues handy from about half way through to the end. 🙂 Those are probably my top favorites… My kiddos love to read all the classics plus anything disney. 🙂

  14. Wowza. Fave of all time, huh? Well… I would say that the most life changing read for me would have to have been Corrie Ten Boom’s “The Hiding Place.” It’s one to read again and again, too. Fave kids book? “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. Yeah.

  15. I love the Chronicles of Narnia, but I don’t know that I could single out a specific book from the series. Ender’s Game is probably the standalone book I’ve reread most often.

  16. I don’t even know how to choose a favorite book – it just really depends on my mood.

    I recently reread a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s short stories called Welcome to the Monkey House. Man, was that guy strange but the stories really made me think!

  18. Ummmmm….that’s a hard question–so I’ll just throw out one I like. A lot. Wuthering Heights. mmmm… 🙂 Love that picture of you on the zipline!

  19. Wow this is really hard to pick just one book. I have to admit I read The Help 3 times over the last year. My favorite children’s book is Charolette’s Web! Awesome Giveaway1

  20. I have so many “favorite” books. I would have lived in the library if they would have let me as a child and I’m not much better as an adult about losing myself in charecters and places I’ve never been. This is like asking me to choose a “favorite” friend. So purely for the sake of this giveaway in the hopes I win the nifty e reader I’m gonna say The Phantom Tollbooth. It’s a child’s book that my 12 year old just finished reading and that I enjoyed as a young girl.

    *fingers crossed*

    Christine
    dazed1821 at aol dot com

  21. My favorite book – The Shining by Stephen King.
    So suspenseful!
    Thank you.
    barbara dot montyj at gmail dot com

  24. My favorite book of all time is “To kill a mockingbird” I know but it’s a classic and I re-read it every year or so 🙂

  25. My all-time favorite book, from third grade one, has been “Prince Caspian.” I love all the Narnia books, but there’s something I love about that one. My favorite grown-up book is “Persuasion;” there’s something lovely about growing older, realizing your mistakes, and being able to reconcile them.

  26. Love the zip lining picture! Josh and the kids got me a Nook color for my birthday/Mother’s Day present, and I really like it. If I’m not in the mood to read, I play sudoku or do crossword puzzles. I love the read along feature for Max so he has a few books on there, too. It’s great to travel with!

    Oh, my favorite kids book – Where the Wild Things Are. The boy’s name in that book is… Max!

  27. The one book I could read a million times and never get sick of is “Bear snores on”… that and “One saturday morning” “One saturday afternoon” and “One saturday Evening”… a great series!

  28. choosing my favorite book, impossible, I have a favorite book in almost every genre. I love to read, I can’t even think of my favorite children’s book, one of my favorites is Bats at the Beach, the illustrations though dark are beautiful and I love the rhyming of each stanza and the whole flow of the book and I love the beach!

  30. My favorite book of all time (well, right now it is, anyway,) is “A Discovery of Witches” by Deborah Harkness. My daughter’s favorite book, right now, is “Suppertime for Frieda fuzzypaws”! That happens to be one of mine too! Thanks for sharing!

  33. It is nearly impossible for me to pick an all-time favorite, but there will always be a special place in my heart for To Kill A Mockingbird. Also, I have to say that I about died when I saw Love Finds You In Homestead, Iowa on your list of books that you just read. My mom gave it to me for my birthday because we just moved away from IA this summer, where we lived very close to the Amana Colonies and loved to visit there! I think the history of the colonies is really interesting, and it was extra fun to read the book since so many of the places were familiar. But, it’s not a book that’s on everyone’s “must read” list, so I’m excited to know that someone else has read it! 🙂

  34. My favorite book (so far) has been The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s such an engaging story, beautifully written and the ending still haunts me a little bit!

  36. As an avid reader, it’s difficult to pick just one, but it has to be… “To Kill A Mockingbird”. I’ve read it several times and it never gets old. My son’s favorite book is “The Hobbit” (and he’s just 8). He read it last year while in the 2nd grade.

  37. I haved loved to read since I was very young, so I have many favorites.. As a kid My first love was the book Peter Pan, then came all Judy Blume books, the love just grew..Most recent favorite Eragon, it is writtten by a 15 yr old boy with a great imagination.. I believe he has also written sequals now, if you love imagination and historical meets sifi this is a great book. I dont have a e-reader yet but it is on my mother day-christmas-birthday honey please save up list! My kids and I read daily, so we have lots of kids fav’s just starting some shel silversteins poem books they are 5 now and seem to like as much as I did as a kid..

  38. My favorite book of all time is ‘Confessions of Max Tivoli’ by Andrew Sean Greer. I have read it more times than I can count and it gets better every time!

  44. I really think my favorite books of all time were the books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I remember the one about Little House in the Big Woods being my favorite as a child. This was long before the show came out, so I used my imagination to pretend I was Laura in the series of books.

  46. My kids favorite book was Green Eggs & Ham, but I had to read it really fast. They loved anything that rhymed, so Dr. Seuss was popular at our house. The ABC Dog Show was also at the top of their list.
    susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com

  49. What a great contest!

    My *new* all-time favorite book is a recent reading – “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
    My all-time favorite children’s book (I still remember my fourth-grade teacher reading it to our class) – “James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl

Hi there!


I like to think of fun ways to lead my kids to Jesus and I like to share them with you. If you're new here, start here for some fun family-time ideas!

Keep In Touch