Easter, Love, And An Out of Control Book!

 Last week we gladly took the week off for spring break, and I caught up on my to-do list while Emily caught up with her friends. In addition, we had a visitor in our front yard. Usually, we find our visitors in the back  yard where the feeders are.

This past weekend my family also celebrated Easter and all the beauty and splendor it holds. The only sad moment occurred when everyone grabbed a plate off of the table, and I realized I had set ten places instead of nine. When my mom was with us the number was ten. It had been ten for the four years since my had dad passed away. I do not love the number nine nearly as much as I loved the number ten, and I might forget the number is still not ten from time to time, but I comfort myself that one day I will see my mom again and numbers won't matter any more!

And finally, I read two fun books from my library pile. The first book I read is cute, fun, and has some audience participation required. It is called This Book IS Out of Control and is the story of Ben and his new fire trick. Or more aptly, the remote control that comes with his fire truck. Ben takes his new toy and remote to his friend Bella's house to show it off. But instead of making his firetruck work, Ben's remote does strange things to the dog. Needless to say, a very unusual time ensues.

The second book I read is I Love You Forever and it is a beautiful quiet picture book about a mom's answer to a child's question of when she was cuter, when she was younger or now. It reminded me of something I have said to my daughter since she was tiny which is, "I will always love you no matter what!"

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.

April Showers

I'm sure you've all heard the old saying April Showers Bring May Flowers. However, in case of those of us living in Ohio, April showers bring April flowers. Crocus and daffodils are the early spring flowers around here, and I look forward to them each year.

And speaking of showers, when it rains it pours. The other night our microwave gave up the ghost and joined our grill in appliance heaven. Now most of you probably don't know just how much my husband, Bobby, despises shopping, especially on a Saturday. Well, let me assure you it is an immense amount. But when the appliance you use the most, after the fridge and the coffee maker, dies, you just have to bite the bullet and go in search of a new one.

So with determined spirit, I encouraged Bobby to drive me to Wal-Mart where we chose a new one. And since we were already out, and already driving past Sam's Club, and I'd been trying to get him to go there for months, I also wrangled him into stopping there and looking at the grill I've had my eye on for quite some time. So now, I can officially heat left overs and grill those burgers, hot dogs, and kabobs!

April also means my busy season of book fairs and traveling. Next weekend I will be participating in Ohioan in Columbus and would love for any fellow Ohio friends to stop over and visit a while. And toward the end of the month, I will be attending the Southern Kentucky Book Festival in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the Local Author Fair at the Birchwood Public Library in Freemont, Ohio.

And Finally, April means Easter. Well , at least this year it does. Do you find it strange like me that sometimes Easter is in March and sometimes in April? Apparently it has something to do with a Fourth Century ruling that placed Easter on the first Sunday after the Full Moon of Spring. This means Easter can be as early as March 22cd or as late as April 25th. Just thought I'd sneak a little history lesson in on you there.
 

Which brings us to this week's book reviews or shall I say Easter Book List. These books have been around for a while, but they still continue to be family Easter favorites. There is of course, The Parabel of the Lily available in both English or Spanish versions.

There is The Story of Easter.

There is The Jelly Beans And The Big Dance which isn't really about Easter, but who can resist jelly beans.
 

And while I've yet to read the book, God Gave Us Easter, I would love to read it soon!

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.

Choosing Joy

This past week was a normal week with highs and lows, moments worth remembering and moments worth forgetting. And having lived almost a half century, I have finally figured out some things. Life consists of a few really spectacular events like the day I graduated from college, the day I got married, and the day my daughter was born. It also consists of a few really horrific events like the day my first husband died, the day my best friend died, the day my father died, and the day I was in an automobile accident. But the really important events, the events that define my life, are the many moments in between. The every day moments, that while possibly not extraordinary, are the ones that give me opportunity to choose joy and see beauty in God's creation.

The good moments that bring a smile to my face along with the bad moments that I can allow to ruin my day or I can decide to face with a positive outlook. Joyful and beautiful moments like birds visiting our feeders, making art on a cookie canvas, weeding the garden and enjoying the flowers, and Easter with my family.

And bad moments like the fact that Easter Sunday was the fourth anniversary of my father's trip to heaven. But as I mentioned before, I had a choice. A choice to either wallow in my sorry and loss or a choice to remember the multitude of wonderful memories I have from the years I was able to spend with my father. I chose to remember.

And it never ceases to amaze me how often I pick a random book out of my stack from the library and it coincides with something that has gone on in my week. This week's random book was called Here in the Garden and it was the story of a boy choosing to remember the beautiful moments he once shared with a pet rabbit. And although the rabbit was missed beyond measure, the boy chose joy. He chose to think of all the wonderful days they had been able to share.

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 and join the Literacy Musings Monday Blog Hop where you will find other great blogs, or my personal website, Fun With Aileen, where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own early grade Fern Valley chapter book series and my Quack and Daisy picture book series. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Grandparents, Easter, and A Recipe...

This past week was a whirl of activity as we prepared for Grandparents Day. One of the things I love about homeschooling through our former private school's Independent Studies group is the special events we still are able to participate in. And this year, I was asked if I would be willing to host a hospitality table with coffee and treats for the grands attending. For those of you who know me well, you know that I adore baking (more then eating), throwing a party of any kind, crafting, and sharing it all with others. So, this was a perfect opportunity to do just that.

Emily helped me make some flower filled vase table center pieces. We used leftover Easter grass to cover the stems of the faux flowers.

I also made some candle centerpieces from thirty cent plates and goblets I purchased at the thrift store and glued together with my handy dandy E6000 craft glue. That, along with a little left over ivy from a previous project, a little curling ribbon, some Dollar Tree candles, and some clearance netting from Wal-mart rounded out the project. Wouldn't these be adorable for a wedding?

 And of course there were the treats. Iced oatmeal cookies, brownies, scotchies, and iced sugar cookies. Not to mention my homemade chalkboard sign. Chalkboard paint works beautifully on the glass in picture frames.

 

 

After all the schooling, crafting, and baking of the week, it was nice to relax over the weekend. Well, after the grocery shopping and laundry. And since this week we are on spring break, I just might get some writing in before starting on my preparations for Easter.

And speaking of Easter, what would a book review at this time of year be without some great Easter book recommendations? One of my all time favorite Easter books is the Parabel of the Lily. Young Maggie loves getting gifts. but when her father gives her a flower bulb, she is very disappointed. That all changes when she goes outside on Easter Day and finds a beautiful Lily. The story of the true meaning of Easter shines through in this beautifully illustrated tale.

Another great Easter book is The Story of Easter by Patricia A. Pingry. This book  is the Biblical story of Easter written for small children to understand and is as wonderful as all her other books such as The Story of Christmas which Emily read aloud every Christmas for several years.

Finally, I am fond of The Jelly Beans and The Big Dance. At first I thought it would be a book about Easter with jelly beans being so prominent in the title, but it was actually a lovely book about friendship. To be more precise, it was a book about totally different individuals who felt that they will be unlikely to be friends until they discovered something they had in common. You guessed it, they all loved jelly beans.

And lest I forget, the recipe here is the recipe for my iced oatmeal cookies which are a delicious addition to any cookie repertoire.

Iced Oatmeal Cookies:

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cook)
2 cups unbleached flour
1 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup salted butter softened
1 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
3 TBS milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Put oats in food processor and pulse until coarse. Mix oats, flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and finally vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Roll dough into two tablespoon size balls and place about two inches apart. This will be about six on a tray. Bake one tray at a time for ten minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing to a cooling rack. When completely cool, mix glaze and place a spoonful on the cookie. Spread with your finger and place back on rack to dry for at least two hours before placing in an airtight container.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Be sure to drop by and join the Literacy Musings Monday Blog Hop that I joined as well where you will find other great blogs, or my personal website, Fun With Aileen, where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own early grade Fern Valley chapter book series and my Quack and Daisy picture book series. I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Taking The Time To Appreciate...

I  hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. My side of the family came over and we had a big feast and great fellowship. All the children received the traditional chocolate crosses from my mom and they searched for plastic eggs full of treats. It wasn't any different then any other day my family gets together, but cherished none-the-less because we appreciate each other and what we have.

 

And speaking of appreciation, one of the books I read this week was all about how we so often forget to appreciate what is going on around us. It was called The Man With The Violin and was a realistic but fictional picture book. It was the story of a small boy going through the day with his mother when he heard a man playing a violin in the subway. He wanted to stop and listen, but his mom was in much too big of a hurry and she pulled him along with her. Later in the day, the boy hears about the music man on the radio and finds out that he was a world famous violinist.

The beautiful thing about realistic fiction like, The Man With The Violin, is that they are usually based on a real figure and a real event. This book was based on world famous violinist Joshua Bell who actually did play in the subway station as an experiment to see if people would stop to listen.

The second book I read was also a realistic fictional picture book. It was titled Elizabeth Queen Of The Seas, and was a picture book about an elephant seal in New Zealand that lived in the Avon River in the middle of Christchurch. The people of the town tried three separate times to take her to a new location, but she always managed to find her way back. In the book a fictional boy looks for her every day, but the basic story of the seal is true-to-life.

 

Although I would say these books were probably written for five to eight year olds, my ten year old daughter enjoyed both books tremendously. As a matter of fact, so did I.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, and the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015)! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.