Time To Assemble The Marshallow Launcher

For the past 6 months this cardinal has been taking offense to the bird in my side mirrors. They are now all scratched up and I am constantly cleaning bird poo off my doors. 

When I saw him out the window the other day I couldn't help myself. I yelled out 

"It's November! Migrate already!"

At which point mini-me looked up from her schoolwork and replied

"Umm, cardinals don't migrate. They stay here all year."

Thereby shattering all hopes of me and the bird settling this amiably. 

Game on bird, game on. 

Prepare For College *Giggle*

I saw this at Barnes and Noble a couple weeks ago. Made me laugh out loud! 

My Humble Opinion on The Fault In Our Stars... Audio Book

This may not be the most reliable review on a book that I have ever done, simply because of those words I added on at the end of the title. 

Audio book

I tried to listen to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn in audio book quite some time ago and was not impressed by the book OR the reader. So while I waited and waited (and waited!) for the 2 library copies of The fault In Our Stars by John Green to be returned so that I could check one out, I disregarded the option of the audio version sitting on the shelf, lonely and ignored, until I finally ran out of patience with the disrespectful young adults that were dominating the copies of a young adult book coveted by adults.

I checked out those CDs doubtfully. I loaded them onto my computer, transferred them onto the tablet AND bought a new set of ear buds. I quickly discovered that if I am not busy doing things while listening I will 'zone out'. You know what I mean, the voice or music is going in one ear and out the other while my brain is contemplating something thrilling like the grocery list or lesson plans. 

Also, I found that by listening instead of reading I never formed an emotional attachment to any of the characters. At all! It was disturbing to say the least. I am usually overly attached to fictional characters!

Anyway, John Green (according to his author page on goodreads.com ) has spit out 4 decently popular books in the past 8 years. I consider that impressive, having never written anything decently popular in quadruple that amount of time. 

This is a tear jerker people. Before I even opened the cover... er... CD case... I knew it was a love story about two teens with cancer, at least one of them terminal. Some people would cry over that in itself. 

It is the story of Hazel, who meets Gus at a cancer support group. It is the story of their friends from before they were diagnosed and the story of Isaac, a friend who also has cancer. It is the story of siblings, parents and doctors who love and treat them and others. 

*Side note: I love the names in this book. They are not totally common or uncommon. The purpose of that? Who knows. I, however, prefer to think that it is because they need to be viewed as individuals, not just another John or Jessica, but they also need to be considered as people you could meet at the local high school or supermarket.

These teens are avid readers and deep thinkers. Whether that is because they were born that way or if it is a 'side effect of dying' is not made absolutely clear, but my guess is that we are expected to deduce that they became that way after they were diagnosed. 

This is not just a story of first love. Nor is it simply a story of cancer. It is a tragic and heroic story of living & dying, love & anger, despair & hope. Life. It's a story of the realities of life.

So what is my opinion?

I liked it. I wish I had read it instead of listening to it but, eh, so it goes.

Read it, tell me what you think. Okay? Okay.

Why Do You Read?!?!

Why Read "Bad" Books

It is Banned Book week once again and I find that the rebel in me is ALL ABOUT reading things that other people think shouldn't be easily accessible. For several years now I have been spending this week with an attitude of utter defiance. 

I get immense pleasure out of reading frequently challenged books like The Giving Tree, In The Night Kitchen and Sylvester And The Magic Pebble to the unsuspecting toddlers and preschoolers that I am entrusted with each day. I spend a little extra effort encouraging my mini me to read things like Harry Potter, The Golden Compass and Harriet The Spy (though she needs little prompting). 

I commonly read challenged books anyway, but I make a little extra effort to pick up something controversial during this time of year. Something like Slaughterhouse Five, To Kill a Mockingbird or The Handmaids Tale makes me feel a deep sense of accomplishment. 

Why, though, should those of you who are not consumed by the need to be insubordinate acknowledge Banned books week? Here are a few reasons to consider

1. Reading is a great way to encourage yourself to think about things you take for granted as fact when, in fact, they are opinion. "Just because you're taught something's right and everyone believes it's right, it don't make it right." ~Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
2. One questionable opinion or scene in a book does not negate the good of the entire book. 
3. These books can help us teach ourselves to disagree with each other, authors, societies, etc.. without fear or hate. Agreeing to disagree is an important step towards peaceful relations with each other.
4. If a book is being challenged or banned it is usually because someone is trying to stop others from considering the validity of an unorthodox opinion. You don't even know these people! Why should they be doing your thinking for you?
5. When do you want your kids to think about tough situations? When they or their friends are already in them? Or before that, with you or a teacher after they are handed the book and asked for their thoughts and given the chance to discuss it and hear different opinions/options?

Think about it!

Sharon Creech- Lover Of Children

I'm not sure if I have shared this before, but as a child I was NOT A READER!  

**BUM BUM BUM**

I did not get into reading until I was forced to by that dreaded AR (Accelerated Reader) program when I was 12 or 13. As you would expect from an angry teenager with anxiety and an attitude problem who has never learned to love reading, I hooked onto the R.L.Stine fear street series. 

(In the interest of full disclosure I did like the Thoroughbred and Saddle Club books at some point.)

After that I moved sideways into L.J.Smith, then up into Anne Rice, then sideways to Anne McCaffrey. Occasionally, I caved in and read the books I was supposed to read for school like Othello and To Kill A Mockingbird (more on that later!).

Long story short, I never read the 'normal' books that other kids read when they are young. No Judy Blume or Ronald Dahl or E.B.White for me. This may or may not explain my obsession with children's and teen books even though I am physically an adult now, or so people tell me.

When I was working at Barnes and Noble they would have Christmas parties. When I say party I mean they would school us in all the pertinent holiday policies and events then play games where we win books. Not cheap mass market ones either. Newish, hardcover ones. I once won The Castle Corona and later acquired (I don't remember when or where) Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech.

I found these books to be phenomenal. 

After that I would often look at the C section in the young readers aisle at libraries and bookstores and think about picking up another of hers, but never got around to it until this week.

While we were volunteering at the library this past week I grabbed Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King, Pandora by Anne Rice, Love Life and Elephants by Daphne Sheldrick, the DVD of Hugo, and of course The Boy on the Porch and Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. 

She is a really cool author. She writes books about orphans who find people who love and care for them and about how kids really feel about things. I find her perspective fascinating. I feel like her books help me understand what goes on in those crazy little heads of the children around me which in turn makes me a better caregiver, teacher and parent. So really it's like professional development! (See I can justify anything!)

Next time you come across one of her books pick it up. It will only take you an hour or two to sail through one. I promise you won't be sorry.

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy!

We have reached the Summer half-way point. It's true. This is it. We are halfway between one public school year and another which means it's time to shake things up and really make the best of our time!

So yesterday I threw the kids in the car and drove them to the lake. It was hot and muggy, but overcast so it wasn't suffocating. We played on the playground, went for a walk and explored by the lake edge. They even caught some fish!

Today I used some ratchet straps to make a 'tightrope' for them with a strap up top for balance!

I also Inflated one of the bounce houses I have for the little kids!
(It didn't hold the air like it used to though. I think it may have developed a leak)

Such a Cute Little Library!

A year or two ago I decided that my book obsession was a financial problem...

I know, it's an ugly thought.

So we started frequenting the library not just for kids books, but for me as well. At the time we were members of the library system in the county next to ours since our county has no library system, just small, mostly privately funded and volunteer staffed libraries. 

Our local library has recently made some changes and updates. So I decided that instead of purchasing a membership somewhere else, I would donate that money to our library and see how we make out there.

The truth:

We are a pain in our librarians butt. We may be stressing her out a little.

Honestly, we are fanatics. We go through several books a week each, request particular books that have to be borrowed from other libraries continuously and question her about getting specific things or having certain programs. 

So, a few months ago I decided that we should give as well as receive. We began to volunteer at the desk every second Monday night and it is so much fun! There have been a few boring nights when there were only a handful of people that came in, but I can always read or alphabetize the juvenile books (they always need it!) if I get antsy. 

Mini-me is loving the checking out books part but not so much the 'dead nights' with nothing to do. I have my suspicions that I will want to be more and more involved so that our library can meet our growing needs.. Oh yeah, and those of the rest of the people in town too.

I just hope we are viewed as ambitious and involved, not pushy and obnoxious!

Dear Authors

Dear Authors,

Let me start out by saying that you are amazing. I am in awe of the fact that you can create worlds and people that feel real to us, the readers. I am constantly surprised that there are still fresh ideas and complicated plot twists for you to share with us. What you do is like magic to me.

I admire your bravery at pouring out a piece of yourself and putting it out there, never knowing what kind of reviews or criticism you will have to endure. I hope that the raves make you feel appreciated, but I imagine that a few of the less enthusiastic assessments sting a little. Therefore, I always try to be sensitive in the honesty of my responses to your work.   

That being said, I hold you up to pretty high standards and expect a lot and often. Sometimes I think readers like me forget that you are real people with real lives and (sometimes) jobs other than catering to our literary needs. I have been trying to be more realistic now that some of my friends are published authors and I am (Facebook) 'friends' with a couple more.

It is difficult for me to except that not every single sentence of your writing will be amazingly perfect and exactly what I wanted and expected, but really that is what keeps things exciting. How boring would it be if every book panned out just the way I thought it would?

My main frustration comes when you drop off the face of the earth. Please stop doing that. Your may not know it but your readers miss you. Maybe we are not good at expressing our hurt. Maybe you don't know that we even know you are not writing anymore. We are and we do. 

Worse than disappearing is not finishing a series or trilogy. I recently gave up all hope of the third book in the Exiles trilogy by Melanie Rawn ever being written. I may be the last person to let go, but I finally did. She was ill for awhile and then when she came back she moved on and wrote different books. No 3rd book. Ever. I am frustrated and disappointed and angry and discouraged and many other things. I am boycotting her other books and from the looks of the Amazon reviews I am not the only one. It is sad.

I suppose my point is that you will have to forgive us our unrealistic expectations and impossible standards, with the understanding that we are dependent on you for our literary friends and worlds. We can't do this without you!

Sincerely,
Readers everywhere

My Humble Opinion on Reasons My Kid Is Crying

I was recently sent a copy of Reasons My Kid Is Crying by Greg Penboke for review.

 

GREG PEMBROKE is the father of two sons (and the husband of one wife) from Rochester, NY. He works part time as radio advertising copywriter three days per week and stays home with his young sons two days per week.

It just happened to arrive on a very busy day of work, and vacation bible school. Before I knew it, or had a chance to even open to the first page, my bible study friends were sitting around my livingroom, passing this book around, laughing and reading excerpts out loud to each other. 

"This book is hysterical!" 

 "My daughter has to see this!" 

After they left I sat down alone with it and had to completely agree with them. This book IS hysterical and oddly comforting. It is a collection of pictures of young children completely frustrated with the incompetence of the world around them. 

To see that other parents are helpless to prevent these complete meltdowns over things like "A fly landed near him" and "her popsicle was cold" is nice to know. Especially during the terrible 2s and horrible 3s... or if, like me, you always have a couple of kids in your house who have, as Pembroke describes it, "insanely specific goals" and "great expectations" for their lives and routines each day.  

If you are loving the idea of this as much as I was you can check it out on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter! 

I received this book from Blogging For Books for this review.
 

 

Nurses = Outstanding

**I'm sorry. All my cool hospital pictures are in my computer... which is currently having some sort of mental breakdown. Hopefully I will be able to add them later.**

I have always had a lot of respect for nurses. My parents had many friends that were nurses when I was a child and I have had many great nurses as friends.

In our latest foray into the world of medicine with my daughters' mysterious chest pain I came to love and respect them even more.

Our emergency room nurses were wonderful. They were incredibly busy the night we came in, but the triage nurse had Gwen hooked up to an EKG within ten minutes of us walking in the door and showed it to the doctor right away. She had us in a room ten minutes after that. She was calm, efficient and compassionate. My hospital feedback for her- Excellent!

When we were in the ER room we had another nurse. He was in to hook her up to the machines in a very short amount of time and checked in on us often. He stoically endured her complete melt down when it was time for the IV and blood work and gave us updates about when the doctor managed to get in touch with the pediatric doctor and what was happening with transport. With as busy as they were and especially since their ENTIRE computer system crashed about 3 hours into our visit it would have been easy to close our curtain and forget about us, but he was very proficient and attentive. My hospital feedback for him- Phenomenal!

We were then transferred to a pediatric wing of another hospital where we had our first nurse for an hour until shift change and our second nurse for the rest of our visit. They were great with Gwen and extremely caring. If they came in while she was eating or sleeping they would come back later to do what they needed to do. They wanted her to be as comfortable as possible and took any concerns I had to the doctor immediately.

The second nurse also endured my anger/insanity at the incompetence of the pediatric doctor who discharged us, professionally and almost completely straight-faced. I wish I could tell their boss how outstanding they were. I think I should be getting a survey in the mail... maybe?

Bodies in Motion

As much as I LOVE to read and to see 'my' kids enjoying books I also recognize a child's nee to MOVE. Different ways of moving are important for physical, emotional and neurological development in young children and it is our jobs, as the adults in their lives, to make sure they have opportunities to experience a variety of movement. This is enormously easier during the spring/summer/fall, but just as important in winter.

One way I do this is with a ring/trapeze bar hanging from a tree

Other ways are with games like musical exercise and follow the leader. I have a gymnastics bar (Gwen's Christmas present a few years ago) in the mulched area next to my swing set which has swings, ladders, a slide and monkey bars. We have jump ropes, skip its, basketballs, soccer balls and a hula hoop.

From the scholastic website:

There is a growing body of research that shows a link between play and the development of cognitive and social skills that are prerequisites for learning more complex concepts as children get older. 

So make sure to keep those little bodies in motion!

Something To Look Forward To- July 2014

Tomorrow it will be July and I, for one, am looking forward to some new releases!

California by Eden Lepucki

Release date July 8th

Here's what I know: 

It's a dystopian novel about a couple that leaves L.A. to live in the wilderness, then find out they have a baby on the way. Worried about their ability to provide on their own they seek out the nearest community, but soon discover that it's not as great as it seems... Yada yada yada... something about danger and trust. Sounds interesting if, like me, you enjoy dystopian works.

Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

Release date July 8th

Here's what I know:

This is NOT A NEW STORY. This is all four of Tobias's back-stories in one neat package. The Transfer, The Initiate, The Son and The Traitor are included plus three other scenes that may be new, or may just be a ploy to sell this book as new material. I'm not sure, but I am looking forward to finding out!

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian

Release date July 8th 

Here is what I know:

This is the tale of a recently orphaned and homeless teen girl who is driven by the guilt (of what her father MIGHT have done) to run away, hide and recreate herself. The best part? She is greatly inspired by her favorite poet who also happens to be a poet I love, Emily Dickinson. I know you are going to roll your eyes at me, but I am a sucker for a literary character who is into literature! Tessa in the Infernal Devices series and Rosemary from The Secret of Lost Things to name a couple. I am excited about this book!

The Mockingbird Next Door by Marja Mills

Release Date July 15th

Here is what I know:

One book. This chick wrote one book. Total. In her life. She wrote one book that has sold more than 30 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages. She wrote one book that is read by 9th-12th graders all over the country. She wrote one book that the American Library Association claims "ranks at number 21 of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 2000–2009". This is a book about what it is like to live next door to a vibrant old southern lady that has slammed the door on interviewers for decades. This will be a good book.

Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on one or two of these in the near future and tell you what I think. I'd be interested to hear what you think as well!

It Must Be Free!

I have lately been browsing through pins and blogs of cheap summer fun for school age children and have noticed something distressing.

No matter how cheap the activity is, when you are accumulating supplies for an entire summer worth of games it gets expensive. I have spent roughly $60 on 2-3 weeks’ worth of activities. They were all very reasonably priced at $2-$4 per child, but depending on how many children will be participating even that can be a lot.

So I am on the hunt for FREE, completely $0.00 games. We have had 2 successes so far.

1. Sponge toss- 

You will need:

- any kind of household sponges

-a bucket or dishpan of water

- sidewalk chalk.

Draw a target on the driveway or sidewalk and throw the wet sponges at it. Add up you points… or don’t! Winner gets to pick the next activity out of a hat.

I couldn't get a good picture of ours so here is one from a BuzzFeed article

2. Musical exercise-

You will NEED:

- paper

- cones, chalk or rope

- music

Optional are:

 - ball

- jump rope

- skip it

- hula hoop

- any other kind of activity equipment

Use the cones, chalk or rope to make a large circle and place any equipment inside. Write various exercises on pieces of paper (ex: jumping jacks, sit ups, bunny hop, jump rope etc...) and place them around the circle. 

Tell the children to go around the outside of the circle as the music plays at a walk, run, skip, crawl, crab walk or whatever you can think of. When it stops they should pick up the nearest paper and do what is on the card while you count 30 seconds then the music starts and they start walking around again. For little kids you could put pictures of what they should do on the paper. 

My kids lasted for 10 repeats of this with 6 activities in the circle, but needed several drink breaks!

Past and Present

As Gwen and the kids I watch in the summer get older (happens every year, believe it or not!) I have had to go more and more out of my ‘little kid’ comfort zone for activity ideas.

Two years ago the summer Olympics was taking place in London, so we did an Olympics theme. We had an opening ceremony where we ran the torch around the yard. There was swimming, track, gymnastics, hula hooping, and jump roping competitions, along with many more. We each picked a country to represent and researched those countries and their competitors.

Last summer we did art and artists. We explored Van Gogh, Monet, Da Vinci and more. They made their own versions of famous paintings and tried different styles and mediums. I could only find a few pictures of them.

This summer I thought we would try building and architecture. It’s not really something I am good at(not that I am great at sports or art!), but as there are so many ways to build and things to build with we are going to run with it!

Our first building experiment was a success! I gave each child 40 foam cups, 25 band aids and a whole book of stickers.  

Cost was $3 per child.

Activity lasted 45 minutes.

Prep time was 1 minute and cleanup was about 5 minutes.

Just a dream

Summer around here has a slightly different flavor then any of the other seasons. Many of our 'regulars' (Kids that come 10 months out of the year) are missing and our 'occasionals' are frequent and sometimes there are kids here for only a few weeks out of the whole year or one day a week for a couple of months. Really, it's just a little dizzying to tell you the truth. So, of course, our schedule suffers a bit. It gets tweaked and adjusted until it barely resembles our normal routine. 

It all turns out alright. I plan a loose theme that is very shallow but entertaining and flexible. I'll tell you what I would love, though. I would love to take a classic book like Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island or The Secret Garden and base our whole summer program around it. 

I would read them a few chapters a week. Plan appropriate games, crafts and field trips. Really delve into the time period and the culture and have fun with it. 

Weird, I know. It's just a dream. It's just the crazy homeschooler that I have become, mixing with the nerd I have always been and creating wackiness. 

It is also impossible. There is no way with kids here random days and hours to really get into any kind of thematic unit with any depth, but it's fun to think about. 

Maybe some day I will run a literary summer camp!! 

Oldies but Goodies

There are days when I look around and realize that I am not in the mood for ANY of the books in my TBR (To Be Read) pile

Or the TBR 'bookshelf' on my kindle...

Or the one on my NOOK...

Or the one... Well, you get it. None of them look right.

Sometimes, like last week, the book I want to read is one I haven't bought yet. I am anxious to get City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Claire, but I am trying to have a little self control since it just came out and is still in hardcover. In cases like this I often have to fall back on an oldie, but goodie. This months comfort read is the Narnia series. 

People often ask me how I can read books over and over. I respond with a question,

How can you watch movies or shows over and over?

How can you hang out with the same friends over and over?

How can you go on the same amusement park rides over and over?

If you do any of these things then you really could understand me if you wanted to.

Ironically C.S. Lewis agrees with me!

In Summer!

"Bees that buzz. Kids that blow dandelion fuzz, and I'll be doing whatever snow does in summer!" (Frozen music is permanently ingrained in my head! Help!)

Ah, Summer! 
Pools
Beaches
Zoos
Flowers
Sleeping in
and summer reading


In the past we have been members of a large, heavily funded library in the county next to ours which has a phenomenal summer reading program with bags, stickers, bookmarks and tons of coupons for free food at local stores as the prizes. Since we did not pay what I consider to be an overly large amount of money for that membership this year and since our small, privately funded library cannot afford anything so extreme, I have decided to come up with my own program. 

Gwen has a LARGE summer long goal of 4,000 pages and will receive a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card for reaching that goal. 

She also gets smaller prizes every 400 pages (Maximum of one per week!) which include things like a free water ice at the local ice cream place, a new game on our tablet, and a trip to YoGo.

What do your kids do for summer reading?

Brutal and Bloody

Facebook pages are amazing. The spread of humor, encouragement and information on those things delights me! I am currently addicted to several. 
Book Haven,
Books Rock My World,
Coffee and a Good Book &
I Have More Books Than Friends
to name a few. I am always amazed that there are people that feel the same way I do about books. Things I go through that I thought made me incredibly strange, are commonplace to these people... You know... Like how I hyperventilate at the end of a book.

About a month ago one of those pages posted an invite for everyone to recommend their favorite books to each other. To quote from a movie that got me interested in Thomas More, "I could no sooner pick a favorite star in the heavens" then come up with ONE favorite, and there were already HUNDREDS of comments, so I said nothing. 

I did, however, read through quite a large chunk of the suggestions and found one for a Japanese book published in the 90's titled Battle Royale. I did some research and people are claiming that it is the 'original' Hunger Games, but more brutal and bloody. I ordered it immediately. 

After 50 pages I had to admit that while I don't like to suspect people of ripping off the ideas of others, Suzanne Collins should probably publicly explain why her idea so closely resembles a book published 10 years earlier. You know, just to squish the rumors and so I don't continue to feel disappointed in myself for not suspecting she got the idea from somewhere else in the first place.

After 120 pages the cat got mad at me. Apparently I kick her a lot when I am having terrifying dreams about children killing each other and blood splattering on my face.

I am currently taking a break from reading to write this... Simply because I think I can't handle reading too much of this book at once. 

FYI:
This book is intense. The goodreads reviewer who recommends this book for "people who don't throw up a lot" and the one who recommends it for "the non-squeamish" were not exaggerating. 

One Of THOSE Books

Some books are edge-of-your-seat, can't-put-it-down, up-all-night-reading kind of books. They mean something to us. We feel connected to the characters, the places and/or the conflict. They might give us insights into someone else's life... or our own lives. They might transport us to distant places. 

Some books are not like that. They might be interesting looking. They might be books we WANT to want to read, but they don't scoop us up and focus all of our attention. These books are no less important then the other type of book. I would never have read Pride and Prejudice or The Red Tent if I thought a book that didn't immediately captivate me wasn't worth reading. 

  

I am wrestling with just such a book right now. Alice in Wonderland is adorable and goofy and imagination sparking, but honestly, I am done after a few pages. I have been reading an average of 5 pages a day. Yawn. It will take all my will power to stick with it till the end. 

It is a book a want to want to read and it's worth it. What books have you struggled through?