bedtime stories ...

I started this post in early June before the school year ended ... but somehow it got buried in the chaos of summertime before I could finish. On Monday, I was reminded about it after reading about Kerri's back-to-school bedtime story for her son - then yesterday, Mary Katherine posted the most beautiful photos of their bookshelves and I got inspired to do exactly the same (thanks, MK!) - thanks, ladies, for reminding me to dig this one out and finish it up ...

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Since my earliest days of motherhood, I've been an avid reader with my girls. It started in the final weeks of my first pregnancy - I'd read classic bedtime stories like Goodnight Moon to my big belly each night. And a couple of years later, my toddler-sized ladybug and I would read stories to the little ladybug in the weeks before her birth, too. We chose books like Eric Carle's Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, hoping that those fun rhymes would elicit a response from the baby inside.

Happily, the girls wound up loving books as much as I do and reading together became a huge part of their early days, especially at bedtime ... it's so heartwarming to me that all these years later, they still enjoy a good bedtime story and often choose from those earliest books in our now-enormous library. From classic stories like Guess How Much I Love You and Are You My Mother? to rhyming books like Go Dogs Go, Jamberry, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, the girls continue to love these titles just as much as when they were little. And even though my big ladybug has studied complex books like Tuck Everlasting and Bridge to Terabithia at school, she still loves to curl up with me from time to time to read good old Curious George or Olivia. What could be better? For me, this is pure bliss.

Tonight (okay, so this night was actually back in June ...) was one of those blissful nights where the 3 of us ladybugs read one of our all time favorites and it's left me with a case of the warm-n-fuzzies. It's the 1942 book The Little House, written and illustrated by the incredible Virginia Lee Burton (who also authored Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel among others). If you haven't read this gem of a story, you really must take the time for this classic - still as magical today as it was when it was written 68 years ago.

It's the story of a sweet little cottage built in the countryside long ago - she is filled with love by the generations of family who grow up there over the years ... but alas, the noisy and intrusive city boundaries start to creep out into the country, consuming space all around her, and she goes abandoned and into disrepair. But happy is the day when the little house is recognized by a young woman as the house her great great grandfather had built. From there, the house gets carefully transported back out to the country where she is once again filled with the laughter and love of a family. The illustrations are incredibly charming as the house goes from loved to neglected and back to loved again ...

... combined with such a heartwarming ending, what could be better?! It's one that we've been reading for years and years ... along with a whole library of other classics you can see here (again, full creative credit on these pics goes to MK!) ...

These three photos are just a small taste of what we've got around the house for my ladybugs ... when I saw Mary Katherine's photos, I immediately recognized the great majority of their books and felt right at home ... does anyone reading now feel the same way? Do you still enjoy the blessing of a bedtime story with your kids? What are some of your favorite titles? Can't wait to hear ...