Library Trip, December 30

It’s been weeks, too many weeks, since the girls and I went to the library to browse and collect a tote bag stuffed to bursting with books.  I’d been picking up plenty of holds or running in to grab something off the shelves, but we were all happy to explore the shelves together again yesterday.  [...]

Read Full Post »

Cybils Short Lists Revealed Tomorrow

The short lists for all Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) categories will be revealed tomorrow on the Cybils blog.  I am so honored to have been part of the first round judging for the Easy Reader and Short Chapter books category. I think we have a wonderful list of books, ones you [...]

Read Full Post »

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and gets to make some wonderful memories with their family!  My girls are reveling in their gifts from Santa and after breakfast we’ll exchange our family gifts.  Of course, they’ve already eaten a considerable amount of candy from their stockings   I’ll be back here next week with [...]

Read Full Post »

Picture Books About Baking at Playing By the Book

Zoe of Playing By the Book, a wonderful blog filled with book and activity suggestions, invited me to participate in her weekly series, Fantastic Fiction for Kids.  My post is up now and I’ve suggested five picture books with a baking theme and activities to go along with them.  Zoe has added more great activity [...]

Read Full Post »

Two Great Holiday Themed Reads

If you’d like a holiday themed book to read over the next week, then on your final pre-Christmas library run or you last-minute-shopping trip to a bookstore, pick up Let it Snow!: Three Holiday Romances or A Gift for All Seasons. Let it Snow! Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle [...]

Read Full Post »

Non-Fiction Monday: Paleo Sharks

We picked up Paleo Sharks: Survivial of the Strangest by Timothy J. Bradley at the library after flipping through it and seeing all the wonderfully strange creatures inside.  I was amazed by the sheer variety of prehistoric sharks shown.  Each two page spread shows a drawing of one or two sharks, a few paragraphs of [...]

Read Full Post »

Snow!

We had more snow this weekend than we’ve had in many many years.  In fact, no one in our family besides me has ever played in snow this deep. The official record for our area of town is 17 in.  The girls have been out sledding and throwing snow balls and playing with sand toys [...]

Read Full Post »

Even More Advent Reading and Crafting

Last weekend, we had friends over to make graham cracker “gingerbread” houses, but instead of houses, M and her friend ended up making a gingerbread land with candy animals, a free-form creative endeavor that they enjoyed immensely. The little ones made more traditional houses, but our graham cracker engineering skills and the quality of our [...]

Read Full Post »

What We’re Reading This Week, December 17

M and her dad are re-reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.  We’ve listened to it twice since they first read it.  I love watching her excitement each time the story unfolds. I’ve been reading American Girl, Kirsten’s stories to her.  We’re almost done with the last book. M read a holiday favorite to me, [...]

Read Full Post »

Making Caramel

Last week we made Pecan Caramel Clusters combining two of M’s favorite things, science experiments and cooking with me.  Before we started the caramel, we watched this excellent video describing the process of caramelization in simple terms. First we heated milk, sugar, and salt until the sugar melted.  We sat that mixture aside and combined [...]

Read Full Post »