Summer Reading Reviews

Continuing on our summer reading program with the kids. . .

A few more books we've read for you to take a peek at (from the last two weeks):

Wiggle, Giggle Tickle Train by Nora Hilb and Sharon Jennings

My hubby asked a few weeks ago which is more important in children's picture books/story books: the writer or the illustrator? I said both, and this book definitely demonstrates that. The words are a little rhyming jingle accompanied by a drawn (okay pencil crayons and watercolour as the media) picture of kids being imaginative and creative. On the opposite page, is a photograph taken that is of the "same thing" in real life. Example, on the one page where it talks about a train and the train noises and actions, the "drawn" picture is about kids making trains out of household objects and their imagination. The photo is obviously a real train. There are a few creative ones that my E had to think about the connection between the two. Cool book! On a mommy level it is neat to see pictures of imaginative play and know your kids do the same thing. . .or a variation of such imaginative play!

Once I Ate A Pie by P. McLauchlan and E. McLauchlan Chrest; illustrated by Katy Schneider

This book is about a bunch of dogs. We chose this one from the Library because my son had developed a HUGE fear of dogs (we may have a few in our neighborhood who like to yap a LOT and nibble at ankles! An aside, for all you dog owners out there. . .please keep your dogs on leashes when they are on the streets!!!) So, one idea to help calm his fears was to get a few "dog" books. This one is a cute one, as the photos of the dogs are very well done (E could pick out each dog and compare it to one of the dogs he knows of) and the "story" are all thoughts of dogs--nice ones and naughty ones! Each page is the thoughts of the one dog pictured. It starts with a puppy, and ends with the same one as a dog. . .making the story have a bit of a circular or cyclic feel.

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

This author/illustrator also does the book The House that Jack Built. As you can see, it earned itself an honour. . .and I agree. The moral of the story is that "you can always make something out of nothing" and describes this in a very creative and cute way. The part that E and Princess A liked best, was that there are "holes" in the book. . .yes, the one object keeps being re-purposed until it becomes so small and lost. They loved finding the hole on each page and seeing what the new thing was. It is easy reading, a little repetitive, and was a great book for my little reader. Taback includes an explanation about how he re-did this book into this very one and it also includes a folk song in the back for which the story is based on. Me, being the musician and singer that I am, will save that for another fine reader of the book. . .words are easy. . .notes on a staff=not so much!

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella by Paul Fleischman; illustrated by Julie Paschkis

For my Princess A, we need to find "princess books" when we go to the library. She enjoyed this book, but it was way beyond her understanding. This is definitely a picture book for an older crowd! The author tells the story of Cinderella, but tells each part of it in the way different countries around the world have passed on the story. Confusing for preschoolers, but an amazing teaching tool for fantasy literature and fairy tales for older grade levels.

The illustrator does something similar. Each part of the story is illustrated based on what the words say (ie: if the glass slipper as we know it is a golden sandal, then it is illustrated as just that), but she incorporates the name of the country in her illustration, and has used folk art traditions of each of these countries as well. I don't claim to be an artist by any means, but I was impressed with the way this books was done--how much research and authenticity must have gone into both the writing and the artwork. This book is definitely a teaching tool and a work to enjoy.

Pinkalicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann

Super great story for Princess A! It included all the girl-y, frilly, princess-y features needed to please an aspiring little girl of imaginative royalty! I swear this book could have been about my own daughter. . .a very creative story, a very real problem to solve, very creative solution, very colourful and exciting pictures, and just plain cute! I can't wait to read the "purple" version story by the same authors. . .and any others that are out.

Babies: All You Need To Know by Deborah Helligman; illustrated by Lauren Freeman

With a baby is the house, I thought this would be a great little book to read with the kids. . .and it was. This books is a National Geographic book (much to the humor of my husband!) and pretty much summarizes everything tasteful about a baby that a sibling should know. I was quite impressed with it and with the pictures. In the back, there are also a few pages about how those reading or listening to the story can be a baby-scientist. E LOVED that part. . .getting paper and pencil and making some observations. . .very good connection to real part of learning. I'm assuming there are other topics of this kind of book, and I would recommend them as a choice of literature when beginning science experiments in school. Lots of information, lots of things to observe.

1 2 3 I Can Make Prints by Ireme Luxbacher

This is a great books for any age level. . .it tells you about doing art projects using prints. It begins with easy projects and moved on to harder ones, and then ends with an art project that incorporates each kind of print-making taught in the book. What I liked about this book, too, is that it had a bunch of "art words" (vocabulary) used in art projects and clearly explained what they meant. Not knowing the words or terms didn't stop you from making a project, but allowed you to use the words in making it. The illustrations were bright, exciting and made E and A want to start an art project immediately.

Again, I didn't check at the time, but if there are more to this "set", these would be great books to accompany any art curriculum--lots of new info for younger students; lots of good review and easy reading for older students. In the case of older students, this book could easily accompany a station or centre activity (which there are not a lot of resources on) or an enrichment/work finished type of activity. Good for checking for following directions, understanding what was read and making a final project!

Well, that is all for now. . .happy reading. . .

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday-Potato Soup

I figured it was about time I did one of these posts again. . .



Here is a Baked Potato Soup. If you know me at all, I'm not a big soup fan. It just reminds me too much of. . .well, I won't get into it. But one day at Red Robins (of all places) I decided to order the Baked Potato Soup. I loved it. At a local bar and grill I ordered the same thing. . .loved it. So, then I decided I needed to find a recipe that I loved. . .and that was close to these ones that I loved so much!



This is what I came up with. . .it's based on a Best of Bridge recipe, I think. . .but that was so long ago, that it has been changed somewhat by my own tastes!



Here is my recipe:
4-8 large potatoes--depending on how many extras you have. . .what do you do with one potato in the pantry?
1/2 c. celery, diced. Only, we don't like celery, so I add it if I have it. I do always add 1/2 cup of carrots and corn.
1/2 c. onion, diced
1-1/2 or 2 c. water
4 chicken boullion cubes (or left over packets from those noodle soups)
1/2 t. salt
2 c. milk (or more, depending on how thin or thick you like your soup)
1 T. flour
2 c. sour cream
parsley or green onions
other baked potato toppings

*Peel potatoes, dice potatoes and put them in a large pot. Add other vegetables, onion, water, boullion cubes and salt. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender (about 20 minutes).


*Remove from stove and mix with an electric mixer until the mixture is a smooth paste. Or--the way I prefer it--use a potato masher in the pan until it is a bit chunky. Add 1 cup of milk and heat again. In a medium bowl, blend he sour cream with the flour. Stir in 1 cup of milk. Slowly add this too the soup mixture a bit at a time. Heat and stir until thickened. If it is too thick for your liking, add a bit more milk. Also, if you are a spices-kind-of-person, you can add more salt, pepper, parsley--whatever you want or whatever might make you happy at this point.

Serve. . .Top with your typical baked potato toppings. For us, we like cheese, sour cream, green onions, bacon, peppers. . .) Serve with garlic bread or a salad. This serves about 6.

I often double the recipe so I have a meal or two for the freezer. I thaw it in the fridge and then heat it up for a quick supper. Because of the sour cream and milk in it, when you are warming it up, be sure to stir it well and often and have milk handy to thin it and make the texture all good again!

Visit Blessed With Grace for more Tempting Tuesday Treats!

Menu Plan . . . Monday?

Late as always!



From last week. . .


Monday (CP)- Easy BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, buns, corn on the cob

This recipe is super easy and super good. I used a maple syrup BBQ sauce this time, added a few onions and peppers, and voila--a great meal!


Tuesday-hamburgers


Wednesday-corn fritters, sausage, grilled veggies


Thursday-Hamburger Helper (sorry--I have three kids--two kids and one BIG kid-who love it, so we gotta have it every now and then!), beans (from the garden!)


Friday-out!


Saturday-hamburgers again! corn and french fries


Sunday (BFS)-Pancakes, eggs and ham





And this week. . .


Monday(CP)-Teriyaki chicken wings, mashed potatoes and corn

The wings were pretty amazing! I just wanted an easy to make, non-scouring-the pan-after-kind-of recipe, and found the perfect one! Just be careful not to "over-crock" them. . .otherwise the meat falls of the bone and defeats the purpose of eating wings.


Tuesday-Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake, Harvest Potatoes, veggies and dip

This recipe was a try on the whim as I has left-over ham from Sunday and wanted to make a chicken thing. I think the real cordon bleu deals are too much works, so I decided to check if this would be a good replacement. . .and it was. I changed the recipe slightly--I may have added a tablespoon or so of onions and I didn't do the whole croutons on top, but a breadcrumb and butter mixture (1 Cup of crumbs to 2 T butter) instead. Then sprinkled with a bit of Parmesan. We loved it. . . you might too.

I don't recommend having it along with the Harvest Potatoes--two "cheese casseroles" is a little heavy and overkill. For us it was more the convenience of it as I had an hour to make and prepare supper as I had company over before supper and just wanted something that would be ready. (Would have been a good CP night, but . . .then I would have had to have a clear menu plan. . .and with the late post, obviously I don't!)

Wednesday- left-overs or sub sandwiches

Thursday-Spaghetti, garlic toast, salad (from the garden!)


Friday-Pizza


Saturday-???


Sunday (BFS)-french toast casserole, breakfast sausage


Not a lot of excitement here. . just eating out lives away. . .



For more MPM, visit http://www.orgjunkie.com/!

Pillow Covers

I'm finally finding time to sew again!
I'm finally getting around to making these things! I bought the material a bit after little A was born. . .and it took me about about 3 1/2 months to finally have time and energy to make these simple pillow covers.

We have these big, big, big pillows in out playroom, but they are quite multi-coloured with a very loud print. I'm not a big fan, so I found some soft flannel that would match the walls. Because of the lack of floor space, I had to do some measuring for it all on beds!
See the ugly pillows? See the new material, cut out now, but not sewed. . .

The "pattern" I used was REALLY easy--all just measuring! Imagine a duvet cover. . .pretty much the same thing. After measuring the fabric to fit the pillows, I just sewed a simple square (sewed three sides) with one side open. On that open side, I sewed in about 3 inches on both sides, then attached Velcro to the opening part. Of course, it has been so long since I have sewed, and lack of sleep does wonders for your brain, that I first attached the Velcro to the wrong side (ie: the Velcro was on the outside of the pillow, not the inside so that it would close nicely and stay hidden!). After taking that all apart and attaching it correctly. . .

They are finally done! What a simple, simple project that took, like, a whole week to do from start to finish! (With only short blocks of sewing time in the evenings IF the baby is happy. . .not so much for sewing time!) But I LOVE the way they match the playroom walls, and the kids love the "softness" of it compared to the old ones!

See the Velcro closings? Now I can take them apart to wash when needed. . .

Simple, and finally done!

Airplanes, Part 2

I guess I am a glutton for punishment. . .or I just love making my kiddos happy!
We went to the airshow again. . .although this time it was along with all those other airshow attenders who didn't want to pay the carload price but wanted to share the side of the road with us! And I might have to add, this wasn't a bad view!
Opa found the "exact same place" as they had last year (according to E--he knew exactly when to tell Opa to stop the van! How do kids remember these things?), we pulled out the lawn chairs and snacks, and enjoyed the sunshine waiting for some of the acts to appear.

Last year E had a toy military airplane to play with. Since then it lost a few wheels. . .and it magically got "lost." Hubby went out the night before--after his long day at the show--to find new airplanes for the kiddos. That is a tough job during the week of an airshow I guess, and he came home with the last one in the store. So. . .I looked through my collection of "My Little Ponies" saved up to give Princess A as gifts and found one with wings. . .that is close enough to a flying aircraft, right? It turned out these little surprises were just perfect for both of them and kept them busy as we watched!
At first this was all we saw. . .far in the distance (right overhead of my hubby, though). See those specks above the treeline, below the mountain line? Those are the Harvard Mk IVs I believe.

We brought along binoculars to check them all out a little better. It was neat when the Skyhawks (parachuters) came out--you could see their faces and hand signals/directions!

In between the sky acts. . .way too much fun! Apparently E had the "Golden Eagle" who got away, and Princess A was just following in the fun with "Star-fly-er".

A little closer. . .

But then came the Snowbirds. . .and those were right on top of us! We could even see the pilots. . . of course I don't have any pictures of that. . .I'm not that great of a picture-taker! And they were loud! There was one point when we were so busy watching what the bunch in front of us were doing that we didn't even notice the two zooming in from behind us until they were right on top of us. . .and LOUD!

E and A's favourite "heart" trick. . .

E and A had names for all the tricks. . .a mountain, a cross-over, a maple leaf. . .

All done until next year. . .

Airplanes

On Friday we went out to the Abbotsford Airshow. We have been hearing all the noises of the air crafts and planes throughout the week, but now we were able to take a closer look at it all.

We spent most of our time at the "Static Displays," taking breaks in between to watch some of the performances in the sky. E loved it all--he was a little hesitant at first because everything was SO big compared to his toys, the pictures he had seen and what he remembered about seeing them in the sky last year. But soon enough he was running off to see all that there was to see. Princess A, on the other hand, spent most of her time in my arms. She liked seeing it all, but she wanted it all via the comfort of mom's arms!
We got some "ear protection" for the kids because it was loud for them. . .and man, did we collect loot! Everyone who saw the kids wanted to give them stickers, pencils, tattoos, etc. There were also lots of people around to explain what the planes and air crafts were used for and what their jobs were.

I got a few photos of some of the sky acts. . .however, this is the best I could do when my picture-taking was limited by a preschool child draped around me!

E and A were most impressed with the times that they made loop-de-loops and hearts in the sky. Here is the three of us in one of the air crafts--taking a break in the cool shade from the sun!

Here is us outside that same aircraft. . .see how teeny we are in comparison?

And here is a "fuller" picture of the same aircraft. Its amazing how these things can fly in the sky and all the things they can do!

E is being a pilot. He decided he didn't want to fly anywhere today because he had to learn a little bit before he could take off. {smile}

In a much smaller plane!

Here, I think, is the Lancaster and Eagle in the runway preparing to park for the afternoon. This is as close as I could get to them. My ears were ringing from the noise of it all!

The snowbirds lined up and getting ready to take off. . .

We had fun. . . my hubby was a little jealous because he couldn't get time off of work. However, he gets to be there the rest of the weekend as an emergency worker. He won't get to see all the stuff we did, but he'll have a great seat on the runway for the sky acts. (He may also be putting out a few grass fires as part of the war tank/bomber demonstrations).

Menu Plan Monday

Hi again. . .

Like I said before, its summer. Things are lazy and busy, all jumbled up into one. So blogging is also that way. . .more on the lazy side for me lately!

So this will be easier, because I can just tell you what I had some of the days!

Monday- pizza, salad

Tuesday-baked potato soup (w/ baked potato toppings), buns

Wednesday-Hamburger Helper salad or cut up veggies and dip

Thursday- Chicken Enchiladas, guacamole and chips

Friday- leftovers

Saturday- hamburgers and toppings

Sunday- pancakes and sausages

Last week I didn't post. Oops! Some of my meals included French Toast Casserole, CP Cheese and Bacon Chicken (w/ potatoes and corn on the cob), and Crock Pot Thai Chicken (w/ rice and salad). The two crock pot meals were done because of the weather and the convenience. . .and I was gonna have company on both those days. . .but didn't. Then came the challenge to make a left-overs meal out of each of them as there was double what our family would eat. Here is what we did:

CP Thai Chicken: we changed this recipe into wraps. Cut up the meat in strips, added some onions and peppers and carrot strips, made some tortillas, and there was supper. My kids seemed to like eating it that way better!

CP Cheese and Bacon Chicken: This one I used to make pizza. Again, cut up the chicken into strips, topped a pizza shell with some BBQ sauce (not too much as the leftovers also has some sauce) added peppers and more bacon, topped it all on the pizza crust, added cheese, and there you go. 20 minutes later we had a delish supper.

For more mpm ideas, visit http://www.orgjunkie.com/

Summer Reading Review Continued

If you missed my first post about the summer reading club I am doing with my kiddos (and are interested in reading it), go to this post.
Otherwise, here is a continuation of my {humble} reviews a few of the books we've read together.

Week of July 19-25

The Turn-Around, Upside Down Alphabet Book by Lisa Campbell Ernst.

See the little sticker on the book? This one is recommended by the library to develop early reading and literacy skills.

In my humble opinion, I'd have to agree!
This book is great. I remember taking it out last summer with my son, and he found it again this year and loved it! Each letter is big and bold in the middle of the page, set against a contrasting-like background. Then you have to turn the book to view the "picture each letter creates at each angle. The denellian writing tells you what you should be able to see. This year it was neat to see E show Princess A what the picture was supposed to be and even read some of the words. It was also neat to see if they came up with another picture than the ideas given in the book. Later on E even made a picture out of the letters in his name. . .not quite following the way the book uses letters to make pictures, but it sparked something of interest for him, so I'm grateful for this book. Princess A tried to join in, but her pictures are usually just blobs of colour at this point. My only negative for this book is that because most children's books are not written using denallian writing, some of the letters caused him some trouble in reading (ie: the letter k).

The Princess Party by Joy Allen

If you have a princess in your house, you can't NOT take this book out! It's a little rhyming story about a group of girls having a princess party. It's very cute in that you see each girl dressed as a different kind of princess--from ballerinas to cowgirls. . .and you see their "real" clothes under their dress-up attire. The photos also show a little brother in the background (hee-hee!) of many of these scenes. Another creative bit to the pictures is that when the rhymes refer to "castles" or real princess-type words, the girls are shown jumping on a trampoline or playing something in the backyard--again, spurring the imaginative minds of little kids.

My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall.

You might be familiar with other books by Michael Hall, but this one was just GREAT! Again, rhyming verses about animals, all created using various sizes and colours of hearts. This book can definitely be a good one to have around Valentine's day, along with a google search on making animals out of hearts. Many "teacher pages" have printables on how to make dogs or penguins (two I've used) using different sizes of hearts for a Valentine craft or Centre activity.

Week of July 26-August 1

Whose Garden Is It? by Mary Ann Hoberman; Illustrated by Jane Dyer

I chose this book for my kiddos because we had been weeding the garden and "tending" to its growth(its amazing how you can get a little bit of watering done to your garden during a water/sprinkling-ban when you give a kid the nozzle!) But this book went far beyond any gardening information. It showed ALL the parts of a garden and environmental factors that work together to make a garden grow. So when the question "Whose Garden Is IT?" is posed, it becomes clear that this is not an easy-answered question. Very thought provoking. Perhaps a little beyond my kiddos in terms of the thinking process, but still quite enjoyable. It would definitely be a good book to read along with any plant, garden, or spring unit in school.

The Animals Watched: An Alphabet Book
I LOVED this books too!This was great because we recently bought some passes to the zoo, and as small as our {local} zoo is, many of the animals in this book are at the zoo. Aside from an illustration of that particular animal, the minds eye was at work. The book told the story of Noah from the perspective of each of the alphabetical animals. I thought that was very creative. The other thing I liked about this book was that it didn't pick common animals. B wasn't for bear. (Yes, Z was for zebra, but come on, what other animals that started with Z could have walked two by two into the Ark?) Capybaras and Kiwis were featured. Then, at the back of the book, there were a few pages giving a brief paragraph of information about each of the animals (where the lived, what they ate, etc). In a household of Zaboomafoo-watchers, this book was definitely a hit!

Week of August 2

Yah. . .lost the photos on my camera, so. . .from memory, here goes. . .

Elevator Magic by ?

This book was good in terms of teaching some basic math skills. It did some addition and subtractions of what floor the elevator had to go to. (ie: 7-2=5. . .they had to be on the fifth floor if they were to go down two floors). But the "magic" part of this book was kinda dumb--in my humble opinion. The kid lands up on a floor and there is a farm taking over the bank. . or something along that line. There is nothing in the book that builds up to these weird occurrences on each floor and nothing that ties it all together except that it has been a fun and weird day type of ending. I could've done without this one. . .

Sea Creatures by?

Again. . .not sure who wrote it or published it. . .but it was an information book. The kind your kid takes home from the school library and you dread reading it with them because it goes on forever! This one was good in that it just had a few paragraphs on each page. We read a few each day, and it was bearable for me, and very interesting for E.

I know there was one really good book this week, but can't think of it at this point. Need the photo to jog my memory!!! I promise that next week I won't delete photos and I'll have a few more reviews for ya!