January 6, 2011

A New Year... a new house!

I know I've been MIA, but we just leaped into the process of selling our current house and buying a new one. So I am currently up to my eyes in painting, cleaning, raking, organizing, and trying to find random necessary paperwork. (Where did I put 2009's W2's?) As if that weren't enough, I'm also attempting to potty train A. It's been particularly fun when those two activities meet, like last night when I'm meeting with the realtor and my toddler comes to me drenched in her own urine and feces.

I will survive, but I might not be blogging much in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I thought I would mention my favorite house/moving-related kids books:

by Virginia Lee Burton

The Little House 

I think this is the third time I've mentioned this book on my blog. What can I say? It was my favorite as a child, and I still love it.

by Phyllis Root

The House That Jill Built 

Pages and pages of flap-lifting fun for kiddos. I promise the quirky illustrations more than make up for the rather repetitive "House that Jack Built" rhyming story style.

by Libby Gleeson

Half A World Away 

We're only moving a few miles away, but this is my favorite "goodbye" book. You can read my review here. It's a fabulous one to help kids cope with moving - or having someone - move away.

So what are your favorite "new house" books? Do you have any recommendations to help prepare my girls for the move?

14 comments:

  1. I hope it all comes together for you!

    It's been a while since we moved, but at the time we read the Berensain Bears book about moving (can't remember the title), and Alexander Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move.

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  2. I hope everything (including the potty training) goes well. We read the first book when we moved into our house just over a year ago. We also read, and enjoyed, the two books that Leah recommended.

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  3. I forgot to leave my tips! We took lots of pictures in the old house before we moved. I also let the kids color the boxes as we packed. They enjoyed looking at the artwork when we unpacked the boxes. We stayed in the same town, same school district, so I didn't think it would be difficult, but the kids were very sad to leave behind the only house they ever knew. We moved to a bigger house with a playroom and a playground in walking distance, but that didn't matter!!! We wrote lots of stories about the old house and looked at the pictures A LOT!

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  4. I had a good laugh about the meeting with your realtor. Why do those things happen at the worst times? LOL!

    Good luck with the move and the potty training!

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  5. We love "The Little House" - we have listened to it several times on tape. Also, I like "A Kiss Goodbye" by Audrey Penn. It's about a raccoon family leaving their tree, but one raccoon does not want to move - it's good and has beautiful pictures! She also wrote "The Kissing Hand". "

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  6. Moving is "BLECH" in my book...except that you get a fresh start when it comes to decorating the new pad, which is always fun...

    GOOD LUCK with all the mess...including any "potty training mishaps" that happen along the ride!

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  7. Good luck with your move. We're thinking about a new house soon and Little J gets teary eyed just talking about leaving this one.

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  8. We just read an interesting one called "Windows with Birds" It's about moving to a new home from the cat's perspective.

    We moved when my daughter was only a month old so I'm afraid I don't have much advice regarding transitioning with kids! Hope all goes smoothly for you.

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  9. Oh my! Best of luck in all you're doing!

    As for moving books, I've always love "The Quilt Story" by Tony Johnston and Tomie daPaola

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  10. Good luck getting through this stressful, yet exciting time!!! Children are so resilient so I'm sure they will do great with the transition! ~Val

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  11. Good luck on your move! We moved 3 times the first year that we were married (before kids) until we ended up here in Virginia Beach (my husband is in the Navy). It was stressful enough before kids...I can't imagine it now. I am also potty training my 2 year old and can't imagine trying to sell my house and find a new one at the same time. As always, thanks for sharing your favorite reads...we *love* the library and have picked up many of your suggested books!

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  12. I was just thinking about your blog the other day and wondering how your move was going. (I missed this post since we were out of town and I never really caught up on blogs when we got back.) We were always too busy with the moving prep to be too much into searching out quality kids books to help them with the move...and they adjusted fine. Your girls will do great, especially since they won't be leaving all their familiar faces behind. Good luck with the potty training. We finally took our son out of pull-ups at night...and now in a few months it will be time to start potty training with our littlest...not my favorite time, but SO nice when they're done.

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  13. I wish you the most PEACEFUL and STRESS-FREE move ever!!

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  14. I'm printing out these moving book suggestions now. We are moving at the end of this year.

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