Quality Time

Hey everyone. Sorry there wasn't a post last week, but a cold took hold of me, and I was just too sniffy and drippy to get much of anything done but the laundry. This past week sailed by much more cheerfully. Emily finished up her school work, and we are both looking forward to this week's spring break. Bobby and I went looking for new flooring for our living room and have someone coming to measure very soon. And, I sold Emily's old kitchen set which added to our travel fund.

At the end of May, Emily, my sister, and I are planning to visit Niagara Falls. It's been many years since I've been there and Emily has never been there, so it should prove exciting. We have plans to view the falls, visit the aquarium, and check out what Goat Island has to offer. I should probably go see what reading material my library has on the falls.

We also spent some quality time as a family playing Board games and Emily only had a slight case of electronic device withdrawal.

 And last but not least, I read two fine picture books. The first book, Sing, Don't Cry, was a sweet book about a brother and sister's Abuelo (Grandfather) visiting from Mexico. He shared with them his life long experience on how to deal with disappointments and difficulties which was to___ sing, don't cry. The end papers of the author's real Abuelo, who looked handsome in his Mexican musician ensemble, are definitely worth spending a few minutes on before the actual reading commences.

The second book, Hooked, had me hooked. A book about a boy who loves fishing and wishes his dad loved fishing too has the most beautiful of endings. While definitely about fishing, the underlying theme of spending quality time together shines through superbly. I give this book a five out of five stars!

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 if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Board Games and Books!

I love board games. I have always loved board games. I have many fond memories of days spent playing Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, Chinese Checkers, Sorry, Card Games, and Yahtzee with my mom and brother. Occasionally, even my dad joined in on the fun. So it is no surprise that I have raised Emily on board games and cards. We often play Boggle, Trouble, or Uno, and recently, she received Clue for Christmas.

It took me a while to convince her that trying a new game would be fun, but this past weekend she decided it was time to try. She convinced her father to join our merry band and with instructions in hand we set out on a grand adventure. The rules were a little fuzzy as it has been years since I'd played, but after a while it all sorted itself out and, we had a wonderful time.

And as promised last week, I read the second book in my library pile by Tadgh Bentley titled Samson The Piranha Who Went to Dinner. I figured I would enjoy this story as much as I did Little Penguin Gets the Hiccups, but in actuality, I might have enjoyed it a bit more. Samson is a different Piranha and he wants to dine out. The problem is, all the other guests at the restaurants he tries, flee in terror when his disguises fail. That is until he finds a restaurant with some other fearsome looking fish like himself. In they end, they decide to open a restaurant of their own!

In honor of recently reaching the 5000 follower mark on Twitter, I also read Nerdy Birdy Tweets by Aaron Reynolds. I had no idea what this book would be about, and found it quite interesting. Nerdy Birdy and Vulture are total opposites but still manage to be best friends. That is until Nerdy Birdy becomes obsessed with Tweetster, gaining Tweetster friends, and posting pictures to Tweetster. Unfortunately in doing so, he hurts Vulture's feelings and has to figure out a way to make things better. A beautiful story showing that social media can be fun if it doesn't cause us to ignore the real world and our friends.

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 if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

March, In Like A Lion Out Like A Lamb

As the saying goes, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Or so I hope. I can vouch for the in like a lion part. One day here in Ohio we're enjoying almost sixty degree weather and the next day we're tolerating snow. It's slowly melting away, but not nearly fast enough for my liking. On the bright side, however, it's no longer dark at five o'clock!

So while we wait for March to warm up some here at the Stewart house, we continue home schooling, we recover from colds and coughs, and we try on dresses at Kohl's. Well, Emily tries on dresses, and I take pictures of the amazing event as we Stewart girls aren't known for dress wearing.

And, of course, I read wonderful picture books. This week I read two books. I read Accident by Andrea Tsurumi and Little Penguin Gets The Hiccups by Tadgh Bentley.

Accident is a colorful book about____ you guessed it, accidents. Lola Armadillo spills a drink on the living room chair and in a panic decides she must run away to the library and live there until she is grown up because they have books and bathrooms. Along the way she runs into many others having not so great days of there own. In the end, she realizes that accidents happen to everyone and it is just bet to fess up. The illustrations are quite detailed and you'll want to take extra time looking at each scene a you read this adorable story.

And I don't know about you, but I enjoy every part of a book from the end papers to the author and illustrator's biographies. In the case of both of these books, the author and the illustrator were one in the same, but I was surprised to find out that the author/illustrator of Little Penguin Gets the Hiccups, Tadgh, is actually from my neck of the woods. He currently lives in the Hocking Hills Area of Ohio, a place I have visited and enjoyed many times.

And Little Penguin with his hiccups he can't get rid of made me laugh. Emily often gets hiccups and we use the same cure Little Penguins friend uses. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll let you read and find out just what that cure is yourself.

I enjoyed another surprise when I looked through my stack of library books. I had also picked up a second book by Tadgh Bentley which I will share with you next week.

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 if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.