A Pie, A New Floor, A Retelling, And A Beginning Reader

I decided when farmers' market ended that I was going to spend the fall and winter season trying new recipes, and I have indeed been doing so. This past week I made my first ever coconut cream pie which turned out beautifully and wasn't nearly as difficult to create as I had previously imagined.

As I look ahead to this coming week, I think I shall use the orange marmalade from Florida that my neighbor gifted me to make easy orange chicken. I love Asian dishes, but have yet to try this one. I'm thinking it will pair perfectly with my fried rice and chicken won tons. I'll be sure to let you know next week how it turns out.

Here at the Stewart house we have also been getting ready for the flooring people who are starting work on our epoxy basement floor this week. I'm so excited that our basement remodel is finally coming together and will hopefully be ready for Christmas.

And last but not least, I read two books for review. The first is a retelling of one of my favorite Little Golden Book stories from my childhood, Country Mouse, City Mouse. This version is titled Moustropolis and is both written and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with this very modern retelling. It's just a personal thing, much like I don't care for modern art. The story just seemed a bit too sparse with words for my taste, but that doesn't  mean you shouldn't find a copy and let your kids decide for themselves.

The second book is a chapter book for beginning readers. It is just one of several in what appears to be a series and is titled King and Kayla and the Case of the Mysterious Mouse. The five short chapters are easy to navigate but lead the reader on an interesting mystery which Kayla and her dog King must solve. The mystery__ who is Mouse and what has he done with King's favorite blue ball?

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.

A Concert, A Book Event, Discovering Nancy, and Getting Ready...

This past week was Emily's last choir concert of the year and as the event approached I realized my camera battery was low and needed to be recharged before the event. I diligently took out the battery, inserted it in its charger, and let it charge. The next day when it was fully restored, I unplugged  the charger from the outlet and put it away.
 

Before the performance on Tuesday, I took a couple of pictures of Emily dressed up so she could share them on Instagram. I figured I would take pictures of the concert with my fully recharged Nikon that evening. So you can imagine my great surprise and disappointment when I went to take pictures only to find I had forgotten to reinstall the battery.  Yeah, blonde moment of the year.

On Friday we went to SkyZone for a friends birthday party. SkyZone is classically a bulding with trampolines, trampoline dodge ball, and trampolines used to jump into a big pit of sweaty smelling foam chunks. I don't see the attractions, but Emily seemed to enjoy her hour of trampoline fun. What turned out to be fun for me was flipping quickly between the pictures below on my computer which mad it look like Emily was in motion. It sort of reminded me of those old books with little pictures in the corners that looked like the characters were running when you flipped the pages.

On Saturday I had an event at my local Barnes and Noble store. I had a great time and was super excited that a long time friend came out to support me, another friend brought a whole crew, and I also made a new friend. Books flew off the table and and a good time was had by all.

 
And on the book front, Emily finished her first Nancy Drew book; and she loved it. It was called Secrets Can Kill and involved Nancy going back to school under cover as a high school student. Emily has always loved a good mystery, and this classic was no exception. I'm pretty sure this series will be on this year's Christmas list.

And now all that's left to do is get ready for my local Farmers' Market which opens this coming Saturday. I have already started on my homemade granola and next I think I will tackle those candied pecan I shared about before.

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. 

Love and Chocolate

It's almost Valentine's Day and that means an extra helping of love and chocolate. It also means our local library's annual Chocolate Lovers Bake Off. Emily and I are both super excited to enter this year. For Emily, deciding what she wanted to enter came easily because our recent television viewing choice has been episodes of Cupcake Wars on Netflix. She mentioned chocolate cupcakes with strawberry filling and chocolate frosting. I mentioned chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cheesecake filling, chocolate frosting, and a mini peanut butter cup on top. She wasn't sure which she wanted to make, so we decided she would do a practice run and send them to work with my husband. And here is a great cooking tip: If you have a hand held apple corer, it also works great for coring cupcakes!

Both turned out exceptionally well and everyone at my husband's work place agreed. Emily decided she wanted to enter her original choice with strawberry filling, so I am going to enter the peanut butter cheesecake filled ones as well as double chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Even if we don't win, it will have been a totally delicious experience!

Since it is almost Valentine's Day, it is definitely time for some wonderful love related books. One of my favorite is Hugs and Kisses by Christophe Loupy. In this story, Hugs the puppy sets out early one morning while his family is still sleeping because he has something he needs to find out. The kind farm animals along the way help him with his requests and when he returns to the barn and his family he finds the answer for which he was looking! I don't want to give away what he was looking for because it is an integral part of the story, and you may have to buy a copy through a third party Amazon vendor since it is an older book, but it is well worth it.

For those of  you who have small children, some great board book choices are Guess How Much I Love You and I Love You With All My Heart. Both of these books are a bit older as well, but Guess How Much I Love You has become a classic and is still going strong with it's wonderful illustrations and it's compelling story of  the love between a father and his child. 

 

And last but not least, in honor of our filled cupcakes, a book about filled donuts and a favorite from our younger years, Minnie and Moo - The Case of The Missing Jelly Donut. When Emily was in First Grade, the Minnie and Moo series was one of her all time favorites. Sometimes quite smart and sometimes not, Minnie and Moo always kept up laughing with their antics as they tried to solve each new dilemma. In this story, Minnie's jelly donut is missing and Moo is sure it has been stolen. They set out to catch the culprit but in the end find out it has been nearby all along.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Drop by the Literacy Musings Monday blog hop where you will find other great literary blogs. 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 sequels, Return To Fern Valley,  and Cooking In Fern Valley, along with my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Busy, Busy, But Finally Done!

Some weeks are busier then others and this week was one of those weeks. Since we home school through our former private school, Emily was able to join choir this year and that means that every Monday and Wednesday I have drive her to the school which is thirty minutes away, wait an hour for her, and then drive her home. Normally this isn't so bad, but this week we also had our monthly Cookbook Club meeting on Tuesday. It is a delicious pastime, but it usually has us baking all morning and rushing to get there on time.

Cookbook Club is themed and this month our theme was ethnic foods. Emily opted to make chicken curry which is one of her favorite dinner dishes, while I decided to make homemade rolls to go with her choice. You just have to love a club where everyone brings a dish, a recipe, and an appetite.

Then, I had to get my tires rotated and get the slow leak in my right rear tire fixed. And you can beleive me when I tell you that Cookbook Club is a much more enjoyable way to spend the morning then waiting in the automotive department of Sam's Club. Especially since I discovered the next day that the repair hadn't taken and my tire was almost flat to the rim. Can you guess where I will be again on Monday Morning (sigh).

The week got even busier as the weekend approached since Emily had not one, but two overnight invites. The first was for Friday night and included a cook out and a bonfire at the home of some family friends. The second was for Saturday night and was at her besties house. Since that left Bobby and I with a free evening, we decided to celebrate our wedding anniversary a day early and went out to dinner at a local steakhouse. One of those fun places where you get to throw all your peanut shells on the floor!
 

But the best part of my week, besides my anniversary, was when Emily finished reading Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library to me. This book by Chris Grabenstein is nothing less then sheer brilliance. Every day as Emily read to  me, I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. As the children in the book learned to work together to solve clues in the library and to find the secret way out, both Emily and I marveled at the mixture of futuristic high tech, the mention of classic books of every kind, and the general mystery. We were equally surprised at the end of the book to find that Chris had a clue for us to figure out. Emily and I got out the dry erase board and went to town deciphering. Once we had figured out the clue, Emily emailed Chris with our findings and was thrilled beyond belief when he emailed her back.

Yep, it was a busy week, but it was a great week!

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 sequels, Return To Fern Valley,  and Cooking In Fern Valley, along with my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.