Vacation Books

Typically, before we go on vacation I find a book about our place of travel for the children to read. Before our trip to Washington I took it a step further and found something to read for myself!  Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos takes place in Seattle, Washington.  It was such a great book and I highly recommend it!  I couldn't find a book for children specific to the National Parks in Washington nor Seattle, but Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer Holmes at least takes place in the state of Washington.

I think reading fiction about your destination helps to get a sense of place about where it is you are visiting and it's super fun to recognize things that have been mentioned in the book.  I think I'm going to make it a practice to always find a book for me about our vacation destination and continue to do so for the children.  In order to find the books, I did a google search and I thought I'd share some of the resources I found...

For children:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/27699.Children_s_Books_by_State_ages_9_12_
http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/states.html
http://wrappedinfoil.com/
http://www.epicreads.com/blog/the-united-states-of-ya/


For adults:
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-famous-book-set-in-every-state-2013-10
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/50-50-a-book-for-every-state

Assateague National Seashore- Airstream Adventure #3

We just got back from a quick trip to Assateague Island National Seashore.  We had a truly lovely time for the first 24 hours and then the flies showed up and pretty much drove us into the camper.  They were like a cartoon in that you could literally see black swarms following you around.  There might have even been a time when Bryce came into the Airstream and said the words, "I might be about to have a meltdown."  Ha!  We will focus on the first 24 hours because after that I was scared to leave the Airstream...

We had a perfect and beautiful campsite for our two nights there.  I mean, look at our view!  There was even a little path leading to a small beach area.

We saw the wild ponies up and down the beach and a few in our campsite area.  We would be swimming in the ocean and look over to find that the horses were swimming with us!

 Of course, we had to read the classic story about Assateague Island, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry.

Canning

I have a new love and it (of course) involves food.  A week ago, Gretchen and I took a canning class from Marisa McClellan, the author of the lovely book and blog, Food in Jars.  During the class Marisa gave basic instruction for canning whole tomatoes, but more importantly for me was her ability to make canning not so intimidating.  I've wanted to try my hand at canning for some time but there is this little fear of mine called killing someone with botulism that has been a deterrent to trying it.  

This past week Gretchen and I set aside an entire day to can diced tomatoes.  We started off with an amazingly large amount of tomatoes but between the two of us we were able to get a fairly streamlined system for coring, blanching and chopping.

Our canning of the tomatoes went so well that we decided to go ahead and can peaches.  We used Marisa's recipe from the book for boozy peaches .  Our only setback here was that the peaches would not peel!  That was a bit frustrating but we persevered and the result was definitely worth it!

I've found that canning is immensely satisfying and I really can't stop myself from gazing at the beautiful jars on the shelf!  In fact, I've already canned marinara sauce and am plotting on trying a jam next!

Embroidery

Last Easter Grace's basket was filled with sewing notions. Since then she and her Grandma have worked on a few projects including learning to cross stitch and sewing on buttons. Last week when it was too hot to play outside she and I decided to do a bit of embroidery.

For reference Grace is using the book, Girls' Best Book of Knitting, Sewing and Embroidery by Virginie Desmoulins. I can't say enough good things about this adorable book! It has great instructions and very appealing projects!

Grace began by drawing a dragonfly using a "mark b gone" pen whose ink disappears when it gets wet.

After she drew her dragonfly she picked out the colors she wanted to use and got to work. We had a few times where her thread got tangled or we had to undo stitches but all in all it went really well! Also, she didn't finish it in one sitting. She would put it down and come back to it when she felt like it.

Her dragonfly turned out absolutely adorable! She helped her Grandma make a pillow out of it that is so sweet and perfect. I believe that Grace had planned on using the pillow for her American Girl, but I have taken possession of it for now. I think it looks fabulous on our window seat in the kitchen!

P.S. When Harris saw what we were up to he immediately wanted to join us. He did and he is still working on his project. I'll share as soon as he's done- I was surprised at how well he took to it!

Writing Basket

I got the idea to do a writing basket several months ago when I saw one on this blog (which has fantastic content). I've been meaning to put one together for the children but didn't get around to it until yesterday. Man, I wish I had done it sooner! I put the basket out yesterday and the children sat for almost 2 hours "working" on their writing. They did write some more today and I hope that it will not be a one time thing but a regular part of their day.

I think how often it is used will depend on where the basket is located. I usually put most of the art supplies in the attic playroom, but I've put this basket downstairs in a central location. They can grab supplies and sit at the kitchen island, take the basket to the garden or sit in the foyer!

Harris really surprised me! When I showed him the composition book that was for him his eyes lit up and he said, "This basket is for me too!?!". I explained to him that he could draw and dictate his story to me. He immediately went to work!

Library Bag

I have finally gotten around to doing something that has been on my to-do list for a long time. The children and I put together a library bag! We are trying to take more advantage of our local library because I'm trying to ween myself away from my amazon addiction. I'm really just joking. Sort of.

I was inspired by Brooke over at Inchmark and the cute bags she made. I used a bag that we had left over from a previous craft project. I wish I had thought it through a little more because we tend to get a lot of books when we go. This afternoon we broke in our new bag on a trip to the library and we could have used a bit bigger of a bag. Or maybe we should stop getting so many books.

Grace drew library scenes on transfer paper (I think that's what it is called, I threw away the package). I scanned in her drawings, printed it and then ironed it on the bag. I even went so far as to embroider a title on the bag. I haven't done embroidery in years. Of course don't look to closely at the stitches, but I'm thrilled at how it turned out.

In the bag I'm going to keep a notebook with titles of books I want to read with/to the children, a pouch with library cards and money to pay the inevitable fees, our summer reading lists and The Read Aloud Handbook.

P.S. Be sure to stop by tomorrow because I'm going to do my first giveaway in honor of an exciting blogging milestone!

Movies, books and a website

My friend Candace passed this website on to me, and I think it is worth checking out.  Grace is really sensitive to movies (and books) and we have to really be on top of what she watches.  I like that this website gives a general idea about the age range appropriateness for movies, books and games. I also like to be aware of why a movie is rated how it is.  Of course, I realize that what our children are allowed to watch and read is ultimately up to us as parents but it doesn't hurt to have more information at our fingertips.

I also want to pass along this post that has many links to great booklists for the summer.  I do love a good list.

Twilight

I have to admit that I have read all of the Twilight series. Kathleen gave me the first book when I was in Atlanta and I had read them all within a week and a half. I found them strangely engrossing and fascinating. I simply couldn't put them down! Really, even when I knew I should be doing something else, I was reading. I found myself sneaking off to try to fit in a few minutes reading time. Admittedly, I am a reader who gets really sucked in - just ask Bryce.  

My friend, Sonja, hosted a gathering of some of our bookclub members (we are reading all four books!!) over the weekend to watch the newly-released movie. Cathy brought Bloody Marys (so clever!) and we had a great time. Somehow I forgot to cancel the movie in my Netflix queue and it arrived in the mail today. I guess I will have to watch it again and maybe even convince Bryce, who is probably really tired of hearing the name Edward, to watch it with me.  Have you read any good books lately?

P.S. The first book was my favorite.  If you do read even just the first book, you must let me know what you think and you must read the author's online version written from Edward's point of view. Read it only after you read the first one!

Health Tracks

I took Grace and Harris to the doctor today so that Grace could get her ankle checked again and both children could get their flu shot. I vacillate every year about whether to get the flu shot or not but their doctor really encouraged it this year.

We had to take Grace back to the radiologist to get another x-ray. In a move that could quite possibly win me mother of the year, I did not take Grace to get her ankle checked until a week after she injured it. I really thought she was being a bit dramatic but finally I called the doctor only to discover that I really should have brought her in earlier. Apparently, children don't usually sprain their ankle because of elasticity in the muscles at such an early age. Who knew? Probably loads of people besides me! Anyway, the doctor thought perhaps she had a slight fracture. One trip to the radiologist proved that everything looked fine. However, because the area is still tender and because it is on a growth plate we had to do another just to be sure. Hopefully, everything will be fine and I can rest easy that I have not permanently damaged Grace by not rushing her to the doctor!

While I was at the doctors office, our lovely pediatrician, who is pregnant, realized that I was the one who had come in with a health history book. She explained that she had been trying to figure out who she saw with it and asked if she could copy down the name and author. The book is called Health Tracks: a child's health history by Jennifer Cofield and Toni Wanebo. The book has different "chapters" to fill out about your child's health. I take mine with me to every doctor's appointment and it has come in handy on several occasions. Personally, I wouldn't want to be without something like this. It covers every aspect of a child's health history in one place.