WHAT OUR 2014 WILL LOOK LIKE

There are so, so, so many books I want to read with my kids! I’ve decided to make a few lists of some we will definitely be reading this year. George is three and Emma is one. So, yeah, reading these will be a ton of fun. If you think of one we just can't miss, post it in the comments! We'll read it, and I'll let you know how it goes!

For George:

The Giving Tree 
A story about love by Shel Silverstein, one every child a parent should read. I’m a total sucker for the sentimental lesson stories. I’ll be interested to hear what George has to say about this one.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day

This book will help a child get through a tough day and maybe even find the humor in it. George has tough days now and again. Maybe we can learn to laugh about them. 

Press Here 
I haven’t read this book yet, but I have heard great things about it. I think George will love the idea that it all begins with one simple, yellow dot.




Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! 
George is all about humor these days. He will think this is hilarious, and I can’t wait to read it with him.

Good Night Gorilla 
My little guy will love another funny one. Silly gorilla.

Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type 
George is all about Doreen Cronin’s duck series. He’ll love this one too.

Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day 
George is always wondering why Dad has to go to work. Maybe this will help.

Sheep in a Jeep
I used this story to teach force lessons in second grade. I know George will think sheep driving a jeep is hilarious.


What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? 
George, like many kids his age, thinks his body is pretty awesome. This will be fun.

The Story of Ferdinand

This will be a sentimental read. My mom-in-law talks about how much George’s dad loved this story when he was little. It will be fun to see if George likes it too.

For Emma:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
A beautiful and classic read. George loved Eric Carle’s work, and I have a feeling Emma will too. The illustrations seem to really speak to young readers.



Guess How Much I Love You
A sweet story I can’t wait to read to my little Emminator.

Peek-A Who? 
I haven’t read this story yet, but it looks fun and educational. Emma will like finding the animal on the next page.  

Press Here 
This story was also on George’s list. I haven’t read it yet, but it does have rave reviews. I think both kids will like how the dot changes.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 
I did a lesson plan with this story during my student teaching. The kindergarteners seemed to really enjoy it. Emma will like the silly story.

We’re Going On a Bear Hunt
This is such a fun classic. I can’t wait to see Emma’s silly reaction.



Where is Baby’s Belly Button? 
Cute! Cute! Cute! I think I see tickling in Emma’s future!  

Kitten’s First Full Moon
I adore the simple black and white illustrations and Kevin Henkes. 

Time For Bed
This is a very sweet bedtime story with momma animals and their babies. I will have fun with this one too. 

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site 
As much as Emma loves cars, trucks and tractors, I know she’ll love this story as much as her brother.

Good Times and Good Company

December is definitely my favorite month of the year. I love the lights, the hot chocolate, the decorations, the Hallmark movies and, of course-the reason for the season-celebrating Jesus' birth. We started a new and pretty awesome tradition this year. I wanted to get in as many Christmas projects as we could. We did and had a blast! I hope you enjoy the pictures! Also, since this is an author's blog and all, I did include a few children's book recommendations at the bottom for some seriously amazing stories. I still cry every time I read one of the stories with George.

Cotton fun!

Gingerbread house! Yeah, I didn't do the candy kind yet! I'm a monster!!

This is a neat way to talk about Jesus' birth. The door hanger went on the window, away from Emma fingers!!

                  Fun with garland!

I love a Christmas wreath!

 Hot chocolate and a paper bag Santa.

Yes, he said fire!!! Scary!

A winter owl!













This was as much fun for him as it was for me. I'm looking forward to it again next year, and I can't wait for Emma to get more involved.

Now, about those books! We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas." George really liked the rosy Santa, and he requested it several times. That was a lot of fun, but I think my hands-down favorite story was Max Lucado's "Itsy Bitsy Christmas." George requested this story over and over. Lucado tells the story of Jesus' birth through the eyes of two little mice in the stable. The idea is that Jesus came for even the smallest of us. Wow! I always cry. I tell George they're happy tears! So, we had an AWESOME Christmas, one full of good times and good company.

We are praying for a wonderful 2014 too!

Ear Infections and MMA Fighters

The season of sickness is upon us. My son's string of ear infections had us in the hospital while he received ear tubes. Going to the hospital can be pretty terrifying for little ones (not to mention the parents of little ones). As the day grew closer along with a persistent fever and surgery preparations, I felt the very primal mother who hides just beneath the surface, wanting to break free and pounce on anyone and everyone like the most savage MMA fighter. The thought of my sick, little man sedated and away from me was about to be too much. Was I dramatic? You bet! When our babies are sick, everything feels dramatic!



Instead of going momma crazy, we discussed the procedure beforehand, but not a lot, because I didn't want to scare him. We also read Little Critter: My Trip to the Hospital. Maybe this sounds over-the-top, but it did seem to ease a few of his fears, so why not? And the story actually calmed my nerves some, too, so a doubly why not?

In case you were wondering, the procedure went well. I do believe the story helped along with some major praying.

I hope your little guys and gals can stay healthy this winter, but if you do find yourself making doctor appointments or hospital visits, do your best to keep calm, pray, and you might just think about picking up a few stories.

Books to Read:
1. Curious George Goes to the Hospital by Margret & H. A. Rey
2. Good-bye Tonsils! by Craig Hatkoff
3. Little Critter: My Trip to the Hospital by Mercer Mayer
4. Franklin Goes to the Hospital by Paulette Baurgeois

Whatever the Weather, We Go Together

This week's blog is filled with testosterone and tools. Not exactly what you were expecting, huh?



Tonight, my husband whipped out a present my uncle gave George. It was a dragon mailbox building kit. I know, totally awesome, right?

I couldn't help but snap picture after picture (My poor family got text message after text message). Anyways, here are a few snapshots of the awesomeness that was the dragon kit.

 

George, busy reading the instructions. 

 Fun with tools (Yeah, major supervision happening here)!

The "Ta-da!" moment and the dragon mailbox in all its glory.

Can you find George's new prized possession?

This was how we chose to end such a fun-filled evening. What better way to end a daddy and son experience than with Amy Sklanky's My Daddy and Me, especially with text like, "We go together like honey and bees, like peanut butter and jelly, like hide-and-seek. Whatever the weather, we go together." 

Whatever the weather, these guys really do go together. 

Oceans and Deserts and Rainforests...Oh My!

The last few weeks my son and I have been studying ecosystems, particularly oceans, deserts and rainforests (hence the title).  :)

He is only three, so the idea was more for him to become familiar with the vocabulary like ecosystem and the various plants and animals you find in each. I wanted to give him a foundation, hopefully, helping him not be a total fish-out-of-water later. Below are a few of the activities we did with each ecosystem.

The Ocean

Here is a picture of my son with the ocean he made. We discussed things like fish, plants and water, and how they all work together and have their own function in the ecosystem. The "talking" part was pretty brief. He was into the "doing." :)


We also listened to Ernest Borgnine read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister on Storyline Online.

George played with his tugboat in the bathtub and we had a quick discussion about what would be in the water beneath the tugboat if it were in the ocean. This is simple and fun but does reiterate the ocean ecosystem.


The Desert

George is holding his desert ecosystem in this picture.

George loved coloring the scorpion, camel and snake in this ecosystem. The sand, although messy, was still a must. I didn't really get into too many interesting facts (as a teacher, that's super hard to do), because I knew I had a small window for his attention. Did you know that some camels can drink 25 gallons of water at one time? Eeeeek!! I love facts!

We read Davis Brooks' You Can Count in the Desert. This book helps expose kids to desert animals and the math can't hurt! :) We also read Rhonda Lucas Donald's Deep in the Desert. This book is perfect for George's age. He knows many of the traditional nursery rhyme songs, so he loves how the tune is the same but the words are changed to information about the desert. Fun!

One afternoon, we spent a few minutes, pretending to be snakes slithering in the desert. We also pretended to sweat and be hot during the day and shiver at night. Fun!






The Rainforest

George (and I) had a lot of fun making this rainforest ecosystem.

We used tissue paper to cover the rainforest floor with thick grass and I enjoyed the blue construction paper waterfall. Nice touch if I don't say so myself! Haha! George really liked coloring the monkey, frog, butterfly, tiger and bird. We discussed why it's called the rainforest. George thought that was funny.

We also listened to rainforest sounds. Emma liked the sounds too!

George had fun finding the rainforest animals in this hidden picture. George's nina actually sent the link to both the sounds and picture. I love how we announce our projects and help and ideas are sent our way!


All in all, these were simple, fun activities to merely introduce some ecosystem vocabulary and a few concepts. Next week, I think we'll bring it home and look at urban ecosystems. That will be fun!

If you guys have done or know of activities that would go well with ours, please share in the comments. We'd love to try them!

TheTransportation Station

My son, George, and I studied transportation last week. We read several books including Things That Go and How Our Car Works. We also did numerous activities such as rolling toy cars in paint and painting tracks on paper, rolling cars down slides and homemade ramps and picking up passengers to take across the bathtub in George's tugboat. I thought I'd share one of our activities below.



BUS BOX
George helped me tape together an old dryer sheet box. He decorated it with construction paper strips and colored it using markers. We then taped four muffin tins as the wheels and taped two circles as headlights. You could add more like taillights and windows, but our project maxed out the attention span of three-year-old George. He loved his little bus and is still playing with it this week.

BUS BOX MATERIALS

Small box
Muffin tins (4)
Markers
Construction paper
Tape
Scissors

Hey, I Just Met You, Daniel, and This is Crazy, but Here's My Number....

 









Okay. If I were going to slap the Fallen series by Lauren Kate with a theme song, it would have to be Carly Ray Jaspen's Call Me Maybe. And, yes, I'm serious.

Read the lyrics. I don't know if you'll ever look at them the same way.



I threw a wish in the well, Don't ask me, I'll never tell I looked to you as it fell, And now you're in my way
I'd trade my soul for a wish, Pennies and dimes for a kiss I wasn't looking for this, But now you're in my way
Your stare was holdin', Ripped jeans, skin was showin' Hot night, wind was blowin' Where you think you're going, baby?
Hey, I just met you, And this is crazy, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
It's hard to look right, At you baby, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
Hey, I just met you, And this is crazy, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
And all the other boys, Try to chase me, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
You took your time with the call, I took no time with the fall You gave me nothing at all, But still, you're in my way
I beg, and borrow and steal Have foresight and it's real I didn't know I would feel it, But it's in my way
Your stare was holdin', Ripped jeans, skin was showin' Hot night, wind was blowin' Where you think you're going, baby?
Hey, I just met you, And this is crazy, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
It's hard to look right, At you baby, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
Hey, I just met you, And this is crazy, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
And all the other boys, Try to chase me, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
Before you came into my life I missed you so bad I missed you so bad I missed you so, so bad
Before you came into my life I missed you so bad And you should know that I missed you so, so bad
It's hard to look right, At you baby, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
Hey, I just met you, And this is crazy, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
And all the other boys, Try to chase me, But here's my number, So call me, maybe?
Before you came into my life I missed you so bad I missed you so bad I missed you so, so bad
Before you came into my life I missed you so bad And you should know that
So call me, maybe?

 

 

Yeah, I know it's not a word-for-word match, but wasn't the attraction Luce had to Daniel crazy to her? Didn't she have other boys (Cam) chasing her? Didn't she feel complete with Daniel (she maybe missed him so bad before he came into her life)? As far as theme songs go, this would be at the top of my list. 

Thoughts anyone? I'm sure some diehard Fallen fans have a few.