All American Summer Fun

When I was growing up I often heard the statement "As American As Baseball and Apple Pie." So it was exciting when we found out we had won four tickets to a Mud Hens' game this past week through the Northern Ohio Scholarship Fund. Bobby isn't that fond of sports, so Emily, her bestie Rachel, my sister, and I headed out for some all American summer fun!

The NOSF not only offered us tickets, but we were invited to share in a buffet which featured the most interesting cake for dessert that I have ever eaten. It turned out to be a sheet cake that was a yeast doughnut that had been frosted. The girls posed with the team mascots Muddy and Mudonna. And Rachel even ended up with a pop fly game ball.

The rest of our week included other all American past times like swimming, attending Farmers' Market where our friend Katie was a jr. chef for the day, and baking. I attempted my first ever loaf of Italian bread which I sliced, topped with home made garlic spread, and melted slices of mozzarella. The beautiful thing about America is that even Italian bread can be an American experience since our country is such a melting pot of people and cultures.

And of course, I read. I read Lottie's New Beach Towel which is a fun story of how Lottie the chicken makes great and multiple use of a beach towel her aunt sent her. The illustrations are done in little blocks with most pages having two blocks that help tell the story beautifully. This book was published some time back, but it is definitely worth checking to see if your local library has a copy. Or you can find a used copy online.

I also read Surfer Chick which is a totally awesome and gnarly surfer rhyming book about a chick who learns to surf from her amazing surfer dad. Definitely a fun read. I'm not sure how I ended up with two chicken books where the characters were at the beach, but there you have it.

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.

Summer Stories

Summer is a time of stories, stories of time spent swimming, of cookouts and birthday parties, eating watermelon, of vacations, and all the things that  make summer great.

Managing my town's local farmers' market and selling baked goods while Emily sells magnets is a big part of our summer story. This past weekend we had to move from our normal farmers' market location because of the local cruise-in car show. We didn't have to move far, just to the back end of the park, but we didn't have the normal cover of our pavilion. Thankfully, however, most of my vendors had canopies and there was a lovely breeze.
 

My summer story also consists of reading great kidlit, and my choices this week were smile worthy. The first book aptly titled, The Story I'll Tell, was a beautiful tale of adoption. My oldest niece is adopted, so this story hit particularly close to home. In this story, a mother imagines the stories she will tell her adopted child when he is old enough to ask where he came from. The creative ways she dreams she will tell him are like beautiful poetry; but in the end, she reveals that the truth is equally beautiful.

The second book I read, I'm My Own Dog, was a tale of pet ownership from the point of view of a dog. It was quite amusing and although I don't own dogs, it made me think about my three cats' points of view. I'm pretty sure they, like the dog in the story, believe that we humans are their pets and they work continually to train us.
 

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. 

Welcome Summer!

I know summer doesn't officially begin until June 21st, but at the Stewart home, summer started this past weekend. Our celebrations began on Friday which was our Independent Studies Award and Field Day. Emily won a ribbon for a writing contest she entered, but the best part of her day was playing around with her friends in survivor style games like twister, pizza box stacking, and the chicken maze. And she rounded the day out by attending a birthday party at the local YMCA.

 

Saturday found her attending another birthday party, this one at a skating rink. That was followed by an overnight with another friend. While the child was away, the parents did play. Okay, we didn't really play. Bobby spent the day building me upright raspberry gardens and I spent the day weeding the horribly overgrown flower bed.

Sunday afternoon found us grilling for my side of the family. There were plenty of hamburgers, chicken burgers, and hot dogs to go around as well as corn on the cob, watermelon, other assorted fresh fruits, and my mom's potato salad. After lunch, a little t-ball with my three year old nephew made for some entertaining moments.

And wouldn't you know that the two books I chose this week just happened to include hotdogs and baseball.

Home Run by Robert Burleigh and Mike Wimmer is the story of Babe Ruth. Robert told Babe's amazing story in a non rhyming poetic manner as if he were describing a single baseball game. In addition, every other page included facts on vintage style baseball cards. Mike added dimension to the story with some of the most fantastic illustrations I have seen in a while. Illustrations, which I might add, that looked like they were oil paintings.

While this is a picture book, I think it would be best suited to children in third or fourth grade who would be old enough to enjoy the depth of art, baseball stats, and history in this story. And of course, any adult they might like to share with.

Hot Dog - Elenor Roosevelt Throws a Picnic was an equally wonderful book about real people and a real event. It is the story of a picnic thrown by Mrs. Roosevelt in honor of the visiting King and Queen of England. People from all over sent her letters telling how they thought hot dogs were not fit to serve royalty, but Mrs. Roosevelt loved hot dogs and thought there was no better all American picnic food. And I must confess that I thoroughly agree.

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.

The end of school, The begining of summer!

 

 

 

Last week was Emily's final week of school and we had a super great time. The last full day of school was so perfect. The kids finished up some narrative writing stories. Some of the laptops weren't working, so I got to take three children to the computer lab to finish typing. I had Emily's friend, Ella, sign me into a computer and I told her I would see if I could finish a short story before she was done. She informed me she was a fast typist, so I told her I would see... what I could accomplish. I asked her to pick an animal so I would have some inspiration and she chose a pig.

In the thirty minutes or so we were there, I wrote a story that I think would be a great picture book. It is called "The Pig Who Heard Music". I even got to read it to the class before we started our read-out.  

 For lunch, their teacher, the ever so fabulous Ms. Carr, who we were blessed to have her for second and third, ordered pizza for the children. I added a huge bowl of seedless red grapes to the mix and the kids brought drinks and snacks.

After lunch we had our read out and then Miss Carr had the kids play water balloon ball. Two teams, two sheets, and lots of balloons later, they finally got the hang of tossing it from one sheet to the next We are certainly going to miss Ms. Carr, but we will carry the memory of you with us for years to come.

 

Friday found us attending the school award ceremony. Emily received the "Sensitivity" character award, a "Music" award for recognition of outstanding participation in music class, "The Outstanding Academic Award" for making the honor roll all four quarters, and a honorable mention ribbon for Math Olympics. This was the first year for MCS third grade to participate against other schools in the Math Olympics and MCS as a whole received 39 percent of the ribbons.

In addition, she received a "Outstanding Comprehension" AR Reading medal. To receive this medal she had to have above a 93 percent comprehension in reading as well as meeting her goal each quarter. And to top it all off, she won the "Overall AR Star" trophy for AR Reading in third grade. She accumulated over 83 AR points in four quarters; the goal for the year was 34 points. Her father and I feel so blessed to be her parents and to see her excel in all that she does. 

 
Now, we have officially begun summer. We kicked summer off with pizza and bowling. And let me just say what we lack in bowling skills we make up for with enthusiasm. Our next plan of attack is to head down to the library and sign up for summer reading. Hope you are getting ready to do the same! And to start you off right, I recommend Ladybug Girl At The Beach. Going to the beach just embodies the whole idea of summer to me and this book takes us along on LuLu's first trip to the ocean. To begin with, she is afraid of the ocean. But by the end of the story, she has conquered her fears and has had a stupendous time.

Another great book, one for beginning readers, is Frog And Fly Six Slurpy Stories. They short and funny blurbs of a frog teasing his food before he eats it. Deliciously amusing, the last of the six stories might even surprise you.

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, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

The Dog Days of Summer

The Dog Days of Summer will soon be upon us. Don't you just love it when you can use an old timey phrase in a blog post; I know I do (I'm smiling at this point). The Dog Days of Summer most commonly refer to the sultry summer days that take place in July and August; but since I am reviewing dog books this week, I thought it would still be an appropriate title.

So for all you dog lovers out there, and even you cat lovers like myself who think cat's rule and dogs drool, here are four great dog books to start your summer off right.

The Pocket Dogs by Margaret Wild. The pocket dogs, Biff and Buff, are small and ride in Mr. Pockets coat pockets. One day Biff falls out of a hole in Mr. Pockets Pocket and he finds out that he does not like to be a basket dog, a baby carriage dog, or a shopping cart dog. And just when things seem at there worst and Biff feels most fearful, Mr Pockets and Buff find and rescue him.

 

Shaggy Dog And The Terrible Itch written by David Bedford and illustrated by Gwyneth Williamson. Shaggy Dog has an itch and finds many people along his way to help him scratch his itch but it never quite goes away until he gets a shampoo and haircut. To find out what causes Shaggy Dog's itch and how he gets rid of it, you must be sure to look at all the illustrations before and after the story!

McDuff Comes Home by Rosemary Wells. McDuff chases a rabbit in the garden next door and before he knows it he is lost. A kind lady finds him and helps him find his way home where his favorite treat, vanilla rice pudding and yummy sausages, awaits.

And Last but not least, Some Dogs Do by Jez Alborough. Sid the dog sets off for school and along the way is so happy he begins to fly. None of the other dogs believe his story of flying in to school making  him very sad. But when he gets home, he finds his happiness once again when his father shares a secret with him! 

Don't forget these other great dog books as well: Harry The Dirty Dog, The Pokey Little Puppy, Hugs And Kisses, and the Biscuit Series.

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!

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Those Great How To Books!

There are so many great books to read for the sheer pleasure of reading, but often we forget about what I like to call the "How To Books". These are books that instruct us how to do some particular thing like crafts, building with Legos, gardening, and much more. Cook books are a big hit at our house because I love to cook and my daughter loves to help me. She loves to help so much that she told me when she was four, "I am a good cook mommy. I know how to make coffee (this from watching my husband), sandwiches, cereal, and salads." Now that she is seven, her expertise includes toasting bagels and English muffins. She has also helped me with many a batch of cookies, brownies, and cakes.   

As an avid collector of old cookbooks found at auctions, garage sales, thrift stores, and bargain basement rummage sales at local churches, I wondered if my Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls was still available. Much to my surprise, this 1957 classic can still be found at Amazon. I thought with summer quickly approaching I would try to involve Emily in more cooking projects. Two particular recipes that I think will be fun to try are the Ice Cream Cone Cakes (who wouldn't love one of those?) and the Good Kid Cookies which look like faces of boys and girls.

At the end of summer perhaps I'll post a pictures of our creations. Meanwhile, I would love to hear what kind of "How To Books" you and your sprouts like? 

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!