A Science Project and A Red Balloon

This past week, actually for the past two weeks, Emily has been working on a project she was assigned by her after school science teacher. He had asked each of the students to make a diorama of a tsunami. Normally Emily is not a self motivated student, but this time she made me proud. She envisioned her tsunami as a mini 3d wave headed for the beach. It took me a few days to think what she  might use to make 3d waves and how the viewers of her project would see the fault in the sea floor that causes the waves that form the tsunami, but I prevailed. Carvable floral foam covered with paper mache on a cardboard base did the trick.

She was also fortunate that I keep boxes of every kind. I had just emptied a plastic cutlery box that had little windows in the lid. So, she used the bottom of the box to build her sea floor in and used one of the windows from the lid to make a view port. Of course it didn't occur to us immediately that  when the solid wave top was resting in place it would be too dark to see inside. But never fear, my creative daughter ran to her room and returned with some light up shoe lace lights from her last birthday that she never used. When glued to the bottom of the wave base they can be turned on revealing the inside of her magnificent ocean floor!

In between advising her on her diorama assembly and other home school assignments, I began the bake and freeze cookie regime I mentioned last week. So far I have the chocolate sugar cookies, the Swedish butter cookies, and the snicker doodles done. And I must admit that the chocolate sugar cookies were tasty even without icing.

And last but not least, I read an incredibly fun picture book titled, CONFISCATED, by Suzanne Kaufman. This book resonated with me because it reminded me of my nieces when they were little. They were two years apart in age and constantly fought over everything just like the brothers in this book. I remember one particular shopping day with my sister in which one of the girls found a small blank piece of paper on the floor, and the two squabbled and squabbled over that tiny piece of nothing.

The brothers in CONFISCATED squabble too. So much so, that their mom takes away everything they fight over until they have nothing left. The boredom is more then the two can take and they begin to talk to each other and share good memories. One memory is of a red balloon. In an effort to sneak the red balloon from the confiscation locker, they end up making a bit of a mess. You probably want to know how their mom reacted to that, but there will be no spoilers here, lol. So go grab a copy from  your library or get a copy of  your own.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Fancy is Fun

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just around the corner. This means the decorating has commenced.

The family tree is up and decorated.

 

Emily's tree is up and decorated.

The dining room is fancy and festive.

And I'm in the midst of putting up my Christmas village.

Besides decorating, I'm preparing my plan of attack for cookie baking this year. Normally, I just wait until Christmas has almost arrived, and I start baking random cookies. But this year, I'm starting early. I've decided to bake several cookies that freeze well and when it's time, I will simply take them out and decorate them. This will allow me ample time to bake the cookies that don't freeze well.

I always bake some staple cookies that are family favorites like date nut pinwheels and Swedish butter cookies, but I also try new recipes each year (thank goodness for Pinterest). This year I'm going to try Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Puerto Rican Coconut Cookies to name a few. And because I am passionate about photography as well as baking, cookie variety is key. Colors and textures must be plenteous and a few cookies with fancy sprinkles or decorations don't hurt. Below are some of examples of bakes from Christmases past, and I can't wait to see what the photos for this year's cookies turn out like.

And in case you missed the word fancy being bandied about, that is the connection to the book I read this past week. It is a I Can Read Beginning Reader title Fancy Nancy Best Reading Buddies. If I didn't already love and recommend Fancy Nancy books, this one would definitely win me over. In this story Fancy Nancy has a reading buddy with definite flair and personality just like her. And when they aren't able to read together for a while due to unforeseen circumstances, Nancy grows sad. But don't fear, Nancy receives a surprise visit from her best-est reading buddy, and all is right in her world once more!

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.