2016 A Year In Review

Well, it's now official, I now have to remember to write 2017 instead of 2016. My family wrapped up the year nicely by spending time with Bobby's mom.

 By playing board games.

 By practicing Padawan skills.

And by celebrating with family and friends at the Berean Baptist New Years Eve Party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now, as is tradition, I will recap my favorite reads of 2016 in no particular order.

1. The Map Trap by Andrew Clement

2. Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry

3. The Night Gardner by the Fan Brothers

4. It Came In The Mail by Ben Clanton

5. Mary Smith by A. Uren

 

6. A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts

7.  Memoirs of A Parrot by Devin Scillian

8. Surf's Up by Kwame Alexander

9. Gator Dad by Brian Lies

and...

10. What To Do With A Box by Jane Yolan

 

And as a bonus, my first read of the New Year__

They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel which is a story about perception. Many animals see Cat. Cat even sees Cat. But how each one perceives Cat is quite different. The text and illustrations work perfectly together to make an interesting read.

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. 

Christmas Recycling

Every Christmas Emily and I practice some Christmas recycling by turning our old Christmas cards into gift tags. It is one of her favorite crafts, it saves money, and it adds a bit of whimsy to each gift we give which is a win, win in my book.
 

All it takes for you to make some beautiful recycled gift tags of your own is:

• thin cardboard (from shirt packages, cereal boxes, etc....)
• paste or sticky glue dots
• old cards
• scissors
• twine
• single hole punch
• snowflake or star craft punch and gems (optional)

We buy our gems on clearance or with store coupons, so they are fairly inexpensive. We also use paint chip samples, paper scraps, and leftover bits of cards to make our snowflakes. We then use our imaginations and cut, paste, and rearrange until our hearts are content.

Another thing we recycle is boxes. We reuse them to mail out my Christmas packages. We cover them in wrapping paper (especially those with removable lids) and use them for Christmas gift boxes. W use them for cat boxes. And, anything else we can think of. As a child, my mother would let my brother and I drag refrigerator boxes home to make forts in the back yard.

So, I thought it was quite appropriate to read and enjoy What To Do With A Box by Jane Yolan. The illustrations by Chris Sheban are adorable and quite boxy. The story is simple but enjoyable. And the combination of text and pictures will carry you back to your childhood or will remind you of your own children having fun. And if truth be told, we can all probably agree that kids don't really need expensive gifts when they have a box and an imagination!

Jane and I at the Hudson children's Book Festival 2015

 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 Musing Monday Link Up 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 chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.