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Tuesday Tales – 2012 Summer Reading

Posted on July 17, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

The summer months are a beautiful thing for children. It is a time where they are typically more free to select books that they want to read. Rather than being focused on literature that a teacher like I used to select, they can pick items that hit their unique interests.

JSL is not reading on his own just yet, so we have spent a lot of time reading together. He still likes to pick out an occasional picture book, but the Magic Tree House books have become a new favorite. He loves learning where Jack and Annie are going to head next. I love that he helps me read the books, guess outcomes, and retell the story and details when finished reading. Here’s a little fun video that I captured the other night when JSL helped me read his favorite part.

The educational value in the series is huge, while telling a great story with two believable characters. Since JSL ended preschool about a month ago, we have read 24 of the books. We started reading about half a book a day. Then, he begged me to finish off the books. In about 45 minutes before bed, we can go off on an adventure in the Magic Tree House to places near and far, and often very long ago.

Last summer, NHL was busy reading the A to Z Mystery series. They helped him to get rid of the chapter book phobia. This year, he is catching up on some of the last Magic Tree House books. As a gift for the end of third grade, I also bought him the book on the left. Looks funny doesn’t it?

Thanks to his love for all things Muppets, and a very unique writing style from Kirk Scroggs, he quickly read Tales of a Sixth-Grade Muppet. Listening to him laugh made me add this to my list of must reads. I will be ordering the second book and soon to be released third book shortly. I hope that NHL will also do a video review of the book for me shortly.

In addition to this, TechyDad and NHL are reading a book together. The boys had never read any of the Harry Potter series. (I read them all years ago.) TechyDad has seen all of the movies, and NHL has seen the first two films. Now, the two of them are almost half way done with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

We have told NHL that to continue on with the movies, he must first read the books. TechyDad and I feel that the level of darkness rises up a lot from the second to third movie.

What are you and your family reading this summer? What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

Disclosure: One Amazon affiliate link is included and should you purchase the book mentioned I will receive a small percentage from the sale. As always, all opinions are my own.

Categories:
books jsl nhl photos summer TechyDad Tuesday Tales video

Parenting Worries

Posted on July 16, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As a parent, we often have to pretend not to be worried in front of our children. You know what I mean. Like when the doctor tells you they hear something that is not quite right with your child’s heart. You can not stand there and crumble into pieces. You have to be brave, find out facts, and wait patiently to figure things out. Then, you can also have your child distract you with a major reaction to a vaccine that they had the same day. Yes, that is the way it goes. You move from one worry to another and just keep swimming until you get more answers.

I often joke that this summer is filled with a lot of doctor visits. The first major one was when I had to take JSL to see the cardiologist. I was rather quiet about this leading up to the appointment. Was I worried and scared? Yes, but I also know that many children and adults have innocent murmurs that doctors detect. When we went, I explained to JSL what they would be doing. The EKG was rather traumatic to him. He was not scared of the test itself, the location and window next to him got him very upset. He did fantastic when it was time for the chest x-rays. You would have thought that JSL had done this before.

Then it was time to sit in the exam room to see the doctor. He was fantastic and listened to why we were there. Next, he listened to JSL’s heart and lungs. Seconds later, he told us that we had nothing to worry about. The murmur was innocent, had nothing to do with his heart valves, and no further testing is needed.

Of course, this visit really seemed to take a lot out on JSL. That afternoon he had a dentist appointment. Much to my surprise everything was a struggle. X-rays caused him to gag. He was beyond upset with the water spray during his cleaning and more. Thank goodness our pediatric dentist office is amazing and understood it had been a long day for everyone. After a quick stop at the craft store and the bakery, we made our way home. Just as I was about to pull into the driveway, I looked back and saw my little parrot sleeping.

That day is over, but my parental worries still there for other items on our plate. I hide them well from the boys, but sometimes I think they can read me too well.

How do you mask times when you are stressed and worried so your children do not pick up on them if it involves them?

Categories:
doctor health awareness jsl photos summer vent

Hello from the Cockatoo

Posted on July 15, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Growing up, we had a lot of pets. There were times that we had hermit crabs, fish, hamsters, and birds. There were actually lots of birds. At one point, we had two parakeets, four cockatiels, and two cockatoos. Pretty Boy was the original pet that I really remember. He was a baby cockatiel that we got shortly after my little brother was born.

Eventually, we got Pretty Boy a very skittish girlfriend name Baby. They had no interest in each other, but lived nicely in the same cage. Ninja and Teddy were two parakeets that were for my brother and I to take care of. They replaced the hamsters once that phase was over. Then, I really wanted a cockatiel of my own. I went and picked out Cinnamon. She was a beautiful cinnamon purl cockatiel who was super sweet. When a bird flew down to someone who worked with my mother, Wild Thing was adopted by us since we could not find his owners. They liked each other a lot. We had many eggs from them, but no babies ever hatched.

When I was in middle school, we finally decided to get a larger bird. Although my father always wanted an African Gray, we decided on a sweet little cockatoo who had giant Whiskers by her beak. Whiskers was our baby and loved to be out, play with us, talk, and go outside to see the neighbors. A year or so later, while I was in Florida with my cousin visiting family, my parents purchased another cockatoo. Moose was a gentle giant and quickly became my baby.

I have written about Moose and how he saved my oldest son’s life almost eight years ago when he passed away in my arms. These days, Nana and Papa only have one bird left in their house. Whiskers is now 21 years old. The boys have fun making him dance, sing, and talk. The other day I wanted to test out the video on my phone and Whiskers was the perfect subject.

Next time I hope to capture Whiskers dancing along with JSL since she loves to do that. What pets did you have as a child? Do you have similar pets with your children?

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Making Sand Art Cards

Posted on July 14, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

The two of you adore making crafts. With a smaller house, it is sometimes hard to get into more elaborate items in our space. Last summer, we spent a lot of time at Michaels for their passport art program. One of our favorites was the sand art (Tibetan sand paintings) for China. This year, the library had a sign up for a Sand Card Art activity run by the Scotia-Glenville Traveling Children’s Museum.

When we walked into the room, everything was set up. This is what you both found on the table that we sat at:

Each of the tables around the room were set up the same way. There were items to trace, pencils, scissors, cardboard for glue, glue, q-tips to use with the glue, and cards to design. Then, in the front of the room, there was a table that had a table cloth strategically set up on it.

One of the librarians introduced the nice woman from the museum who explained the steps in making the sand art. She also showed everyone some card examples. Once she was done, it was time to get to creating. Both of you wanted to make a dinosaur, so you began with that.

After the dinosaur, you both created some other items and it was fun to watch. NHL, you wanted to make the scar that is on Harry Potter along with his name. JSL you did more modern art and mixed sand color technique.

One other thing that I noticed was the table where the sand had been sitting at the start. The sand colors on the table cloth were just fascinating to look at themselves.

Although it was hard to keep up with both of you at the same time, it really was a lot of fun. I can not wait to head to more events over the rest of the summer with you. Oh and perhaps we will get some supplies to try sand art for the holidays.

Love,

P.S. A huge thank you to the libraries in the area for hosting such amazing programs for the kids over the summer. Your patience and smiles are greatly appreciated.

Categories:
arts and crafts Dear Kid Saturday fun jsl local event messy nhl photos summer

Keeping Cool During the Summer

Posted on July 13, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

The weather around the country and beyond has been strange over the last year. Crazy storms, flooding rains last spring/summer, warmer than usual winter, and now unbelievable heat and fires in many regions. It has been very warm here, but for the most part it has not been too humid (YET). With fans and AC units, we can keep the house where we are much more comfortable than being outside.

When the temperatures are so warm, I wish we had a pool. We have a little kiddie pool I can toss it in the backyard for the kids to cool off for a bit.

The reality is that the kids are getting too big for this and the adults in the family can not really use it for more than dipping feet in. I miss my Nana and Papa’s pool where the entire family could splash, play, and laugh together more. It was also a place where we could learn to swim and practice.

Since we have no family pools to go to now, we have to look for alternatives. Thank goodness parks in the area have put a lot of spray grounds in. We have tried a few of them and definitely have a favorite now. Just the other day, TechyDad came home from work and went to cool off for about an hour before dinner with the boys. Here they are in “water jail” while enjoying the time there.

So my question to you this week is inspired by the photo above:

Do your kids like going to a spray ground or do they prefer pools? If you have any other suggestions on staying cool with the kids outside, I would love to hear them.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.