Fancy is Fun

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just around the corner. This means the decorating has commenced.

The family tree is up and decorated.

 

Emily's tree is up and decorated.

The dining room is fancy and festive.

And I'm in the midst of putting up my Christmas village.

Besides decorating, I'm preparing my plan of attack for cookie baking this year. Normally, I just wait until Christmas has almost arrived, and I start baking random cookies. But this year, I'm starting early. I've decided to bake several cookies that freeze well and when it's time, I will simply take them out and decorate them. This will allow me ample time to bake the cookies that don't freeze well.

I always bake some staple cookies that are family favorites like date nut pinwheels and Swedish butter cookies, but I also try new recipes each year (thank goodness for Pinterest). This year I'm going to try Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Puerto Rican Coconut Cookies to name a few. And because I am passionate about photography as well as baking, cookie variety is key. Colors and textures must be plenteous and a few cookies with fancy sprinkles or decorations don't hurt. Below are some of examples of bakes from Christmases past, and I can't wait to see what the photos for this year's cookies turn out like.

And in case you missed the word fancy being bandied about, that is the connection to the book I read this past week. It is a I Can Read Beginning Reader title Fancy Nancy Best Reading Buddies. If I didn't already love and recommend Fancy Nancy books, this one would definitely win me over. In this story Fancy Nancy has a reading buddy with definite flair and personality just like her. And when they aren't able to read together for a while due to unforeseen circumstances, Nancy grows sad. But don't fear, Nancy receives a surprise visit from her best-est reading buddy, and all is right in her world once more!

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 is for Aligator

As my basement reno draws closer to being finished, I grow excited. I can't wait to start decorating with all my bookish things like event swag, autographed books, and my letter project. Recently I purchased four letters from my local Jo Ann Fabric store along with some fifty cent books from the thrift store. My objective was to take the letters and cover them in bits of book pages and seal them with modge podge thus creating the word read. I have three of the letters finished, and they are even cuter than I imagined they would be.

Emily had a project going on this week as well. She had a teen church party to attend, so she made soft batch chocolate chip cookies from a recipe we found on Pinterest. The youth minister particularly enjoyed them!

And since I had two books in my reading pile about alligators, I decided that "A" would be the letter of the week. The first book, Dance is for Everyone, tells the story of an alligator who decided to join ballet class. The students become used to having an alligator perform with them and soon name her Tonya. Of course, there are problems that come with having an alligator in class, but creative ideas soon take care of those problems. The ending is particularly unexpected and the end papers are worth admiring.

The second book, Alan's Big, Scary Teeth, takes the reader on an amusing journey. Alan the alligator spends his days scaring the other animals in the forest with his big scary teeth. But Alan has a secret. His teeth aren't real. When Alan's teeth come up missing, he goes from be the scariest to being the most laughed at. To find out who took Alan's teeth, how he gets them back, and what he does afterwards instead of scaring everyone you are going to have to find a copy to read for yourself!

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.