My Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2018

I read so many great books this year, and it took me a while to narrow down the list; but here are my Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2018.

10. The Best Mother


9.  Cat On The Bus



8.  A Different Pond



7.  Ocean Meets Sky



6.  Read the Book Lemmings




5.  My Pillow Keeps Moving



4.  Henry and the Yeti



3.  Nibbles the Book Monster



2.  Night Job



1.  Hello Light House




And since it was so difficult to choose, I have to share an Honorable Mention:

Samson the Piranha Who Went To Dinner



With The New Year just around the corner, I'm looking forward to all the fantastic, funny, creative, beautifully illustrated books 2019 has to offer.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by 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.

The Ohio Renaissance Festival (Part 1)

As promised last week, this week I'm sharing all about our visit to the Ohio Renaissance Festival in Waynesville, Ohio.

If you've never been to the renaissance Festival, all I can say is what are you waiting for? And if you have been, you already know how much fun visiting this recreation of a 1572 English village is.

There are fabulous vendors and you can even watch some of them action. Two of my favorites were the glass figurine maker and the glass blower.

And then there are the wonderful musicians scattered throughout the complex. I especially enjoyed the hammered dulcimer player.

The musical glass player.

The harp player.

 And the guitar player/singer.

Lots of other people seem to enjoy this festival as much as me and my family if this picture is anything to judge by.

 
And although my twelve year old is too old for games and rides, this place is perfect for kids in the younger crowd. We are talking about bubbles and camels after all!

And then of course the Queen might pass with her entourage at any time.

But if you don't run into her on the street, you can see her at the jousting tournament. A word to the wise, however, get to the jousting arena early or you won't get a seat. Fortunately, we had witnessed the jousting three years ago when we attended, so I still have great pics to show you what the jousting experience looks like!

 

 
And then there are the performers. There are jugglers, comedy acts, and variety shows. Our absolute favorite performers are the Kamikaze FireFlies which I will share all about in my next post.

So if all these great pictures and descriptions have made you want to jump in the car and go visit this wonderful destination for yourself, I have a discount offer just for you. Get $4 off Adult and $2 off Child tickets by using Promo Code "queen17" when purchasing on the secure website at www.renfestival.com. Tickets valid any day of the 2017 season (Saturdays, Sundays, and Labor Day Sept 2 - Oct 29). Online discount only. Not good with any other offers.
http://usfamilycoupons.com/coupon.php… .@usfg

And lest I forget, here is a great book you can read before you go! Because, the Renaissance was a time of great art, great music, and so much more. And here's a link to some other great resources http://zing-zoom.com/wpzz/the-renaissance/!

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.

Bringing the Outside In

Bringing the Outside In is the title of the book I read for this post, and it really summed up my week. Bringing the Outside In is the story of children during each season enjoying everything the outdoors has to offer and then accidentally tracking bits of the outside in. Along the way, pictures of all the beautiful moments were taken keeping the outside in, and later, they are brought out again to be enjoyed all over.

This book particularly touched me because one of my many passions is taking photographs of all the beautiful memories my family and I make. And this weekend, we made lots of memories at my brother's country home. There was a little target practice and some crazy cousins posing.

And some chicken watching.

And some humming bird watching.

And some Fishing.

And no day in the country is complete until you sit in front of the bonfire and make smores.

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.

Valentines, Visitors, and Various Other Stuff

This past week could be called the week of V's. Since we are nearing Valentine's Day, Emily and I have been working on some heart art. First, she drew and colored a fantastic adult coloring book style heart. Then, we both made black hearts with designs. Mine is on the top and hers is on the bottom. We also threw in a light experiment for science.

My personalized license plates arrived and I put them on my car!

While we were having lessons on Thursday, we had a visitor. Since the hubby put a large metal piece around the pole to our bird feeder the visitors can't climb and steal seeds, but this one seemed content to scour for seeds the birds had scattered below. Emily also practiced her recipe for the Chocolate Lovers Bake Off coming up at our local library.

And finally, we modeled some LulaRoe fashions for a friend who was having a vendor party at her shop down town. Emily's friend, Katie joined in the modeling fun. The leggings are indeed soft as butter like I've heard, but boy are those patterns on the wild side.

Amidst all the various forms of school and fun, I still managed to read Little Why by Jonny Lambert. Little Why is a curious elephant that wants to be similar to every one he meets or sees, but all his mom ever tells him is get back in line. However, when they arrive at their destination, Little Why discovers why he doesn't need to be like anyone else.

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.