Reading with the Kids: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

One of our summer's biggest delights are the stories, tales, and written words read by both myself and my kids.  They aren't li'l ones anymore, so we all read independently, but even each of us reading our own separate worded worlds while all of us are in the same room feels like we're sharing our books together.

More than once there has been one kid reading from a printed book on one end of the sofa, while I'm on the other, reading an ebook on my phone, while the other kidlet sits on the floor right next to us and reads an ebook, checked out from the library on the laptop.

And occasionally, two or three of us might share a special story.  Recently, I started reading Anne of Green Gables aloud to my sweet girl and with each word spoken, I wander down memory lane, revisiting when those words were my first time reading them as a girl myself.  She loves sharing the story so much that her prized yard sale find this summer is her very own copy of the old book that she picked up for fifty cents.  Now, I read aloud as she follows along, gingerly turning the pages of her newest treasure.

And even better, a book that again allows me to wander through my memories and that I'm then able to pass on to another generation.  The imaginative tale of  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl has been just that tale.  My boy was first introduced to Dahl reading Matilda with his class a few years ago and laughed himself sick.  And my girl has been experiencing his worlds with James and the Giant Peach before Charlie arrived on our doorstep.  

Dozens of books, thousands of pages, and millions of words have yanked the three of us into dozens of different writers' imagined worlds.  And we are smiling because of it.

What are you reading this summer?  If you have kids, what books, pages or screens, are they sticking their noses in?

This post was inspired by the classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. To celebrate, Penguin Young Readers Group, in partnership with Dylan’s Candy Bar, the world-famous candy emporium, and First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides books for children from low-income families, is launching a year-long international celebration.

Head over to From Left to Write to learn how you and your child can have a chance to win the Golden Ticket Sweepstakes where the grand prize is a magical trip to New York City plus much more! For every entry submitted, Penguin Young Readers Group will make a donation to First Book. Then, join From Left to Write on July 24 as we discuss Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As a book club member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

From Left to Write: Summer Fun

With three weeks left on the countdown clock 'til the school's last bell rings, the buzz coming off the kids is palpable.  Ready or not, summer is coming.

And while I am more than excited to ditch the 5:40 am alarm clock, I would rather be ready and have some activities planned out, or at the very least, thought out.

There are the inexpensive to free activities that will be the staples to fill our days:

~ Trips to the coast to build sandcastles & take adventure walks along the
    beach
~ Summer library reading programs to keep li'l & big brains from getting
    jellified
~ Tending to our growing edible garden in the backyard
~ Riding bikes through the neighborhood
~ Playing with neighborhood friends
~ Mornings at the park (mornings, because uber hot days & I are not on
    the friendliest of terms)
~ Painting with the kids (looking forward to framing some new pieces)
~ Learning how to play the guitar

And then there are those activities that cost some dough, but are totally worth it:

~ Taekwondo (Big Bro began taking classes over a year ago and four
    months in, Li'l Sis jumped in too)
~ Swimming lessons
~ Local day camp
~ A couple of local museums we want to visit
~ The Zoo
~ Jelly Belly Factory tour
~ Mrs. Grossman's sticker factory tour
~ Exploratorium

That should keep us pretty busy!  What are you up to this summer?  Any exciting plans?  Any fun destinations you're looking forward to visiting?

This post was inspired by Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, a novel that exposes the gothic underbelly of an American dynasty, and an outsider's hunger to belong.  Join From Left to Write on May 20th, as we discuss Bittersweet.  As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

Affiliate links used.

From Left to Write: Sparkle Words Shine in Ruby

"Use your Sparkle Words!"

Flashing back to my son's first grade classroom, I easily hear his teacher rallying her students to include descriptive adjectives into their writing.  As they were six years old, those words often consisted of a favorite color from an eight pack box of Crayolas;  or the words a lot, very, many, great, or cool.  As simplistic as those words are, even several years later, I still think of those or any descriptions as Sparkle Words.

Clearly, those lettered images grow as kidlets' vocabularies increase.  And by the time words are whipped into published story, hopefully those stitched together letters and phrases paint pictures for readers to see into the writer's world.

Cynthia Bond transports her reader, creating magic with her Sparkle Words, in her debut novel, Ruby.  The imagery her words paint firmly embeds a reader into time, place, sight, sound, and smell.

My eyes sucked in the opening of Bond's tale, telling of a mad woman, but it was only the second paragraph that grabbed and pasted me stuck like a winged creature on a permanent fly paper pit stop.  Bond uses her version of Sparkle Words to tell us of Ruby Bell.

Eyes read those words, just as I was taught at three, moving from left to right across the page.  But, once was not enough.  And I still did not have enough, even reading it five, six, seven times.  Due to its subject matter, the book is not one my kidlets are ready for, but I knew those words in the second paragraph - the ones that would not let me go - are the perfect sample of where I hope they learn to grow their own versions of Sparkle Words, so I read it to them.  And even still, it was not enough.

It took me at least a day before I was able to move beyond just the second grouping of sentences.  And the very last set of words from that second grouping held so tightly to my breath, I fell asleep several nights watching them parade across my closed eyelids.

Fortunately, Bond continued to share her rich and layered imagery for my eyes to greedily suck in the hundreds more paragraphs in her tale.

I hope your world is adorned with Sparkle Words - words you hear, words you read, words you write, words you speak.

This post was inspired by the novel, Ruby, by Cynthia Bond, a gripping story about overcoming our past and embracing love in a racially charged rural 1950s Texas.  Join From Left to Write on May 8th, as we discuss Ruby.  As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

She Came, She Wrote, She Won!

My sweet girl was itching to write for NaNoWriMo again this year with their Young Writers Program, after trying it for the first time last year.  Even when her Mama didn't write along with her (yes, I bailed...but, I worked diligently on my cheer leading skills!), she kept whipping her words into shape.

Last year, she worked with a special purple mechanical pencil and her Hello Kitty notebook, marking her words down by hand.  This year, she put the computer keyboarding skills she's learning in school to use and typed her NaNo.  As touch typing is a new skill still being honed, it was a little slower going.  But, she is one determined kidlet and didn't let a challenge stop her.

Today, she passed her word count goal and verified on the site, making her a WINNER!!!

We are so proud she kicks her goals' backside and is already talking about jumping back into NaNo next year!

Wanted: Missing Muse

My muse up and disappeared.  I thought she was simply escaping on a rather marvelous vacation.  I was, in fact, quite envious.  But now, I'm beginning to worry she developed a terminal illness and expired...and I'm trembling with fright at that disastrous prospect. 

 

November 1st is rapidly approaching, aka NaNoWriMo launch day, making that missing muse even more of a problem than it has been through the last year.

 

The previous two years, I click clacked my way across my keyboard for NaNoWriMo and last year, my wee girl got her NaNo on for the first time, jumping on board with great gusto.  She loved it so much, she wants to write again this year...and she wants the other half of her Mother-Daughter Team click clacking while she puts a special purple pencil to her Hello Kitty notebook.  With said muse missing, in distress, or chained face down in a river somewhere, I'm madly sending out search parties for her in hopes of joining my li'l girl for NaNo and thousands of words of my own.

 

The clock is counting down and at this point, I would happily accept a wayward muse or even a drunken, wandering muse who hiccups with greater enthusiasm than the hoped for whispering inspirations.

 

Send help.  I'm going to need it.

From Left to Write: Afterwards

Tall black rubber rain boots, navy chino shorts, topped with a nearly too small Pokémon t-shirt.

Utilizing her new skill, she pulls her hair back into a low ponytail, heading for the screen door.

Metal on metal sounds as she slides the worn screen door open, calling out, “I’m coming, Dad!  Wait for me!”

Rain boots making her tiny feet look and sound bigger than they are race across the deck as her ponytail dances on her shoulders, absolutely tickled with delight to help her Dad with yard work.

An audible gasp escapes my lips, caught in one of those rare moments when life simultaneously stands still and flashes forward.

She’s a decade older, a sixteen year old girl a few feet from me, embracing life, even the simple moments.

I couldn’t tear my eyes from the little girl in front of me or from the teenager I’ll one day meet.

She’s burned into my heart now.

Looking forward to when the two girls will become one, but for now, I’ll hold on to the li’l girl and her small hands that still look for encouragement and guidance a while longer.

 

 

This post was inspired by the novel Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. After witnessing her children's school set ablaze, Grace attempts to find the arsonist as her teenage daughter lies in a coma in Lupton's suspense thriller. Join From Left to Write on April 11 as we discuss Afterwards. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

YWP NaNoWriMo { She's a Winner! }

November 1st began with squeals of delight from my sweet young girl as she found her Hello Kitty notebook and new pencils waiting for her to begin her very first NaNoWriMo through the Young Writer's Program.

 

For the first week, she couldn't wait to write everyday.  On school days, she got busy on her homework just to be free to put her pencil to paper and whittle her story, A Girl Who Lived on an Island Alone.  On the weekends, she often wrote before I even got up.

 

The second week held just as much excitement as the first.  By the third week?  She hit a speed bump and lost some interest.  I wavered between encouraging her to keep at it and not wanting to take away any of her joy in writing.  In early elementary school years, personally, I think it is more important to keep kidlets excited about telling stories than it is to drill in a daily writing habit.

 

And with the end of November rapidly approaching, she began writing again.  A secret smile plays on my lips when I see her smile as she writes her tales.

 

Today is November 30th and my sweet li'l girl entered her story to verify and validate and...

WIN!!!!

 

 

She won her very first NaNoWriMo and I sincerely hope there are more writing experiences we can share still to come.  And every time she grabs her special NaNo Hello Kitty notebook throughout this coming year, I'll be wearing my secret smile.

 



YWP NaNoWriMo

There once was a wee girl who whittled words across the pages of any notebook she could lay her hands on.  When her mother click clacked across a keyboard, she ran for her own pages to wind words around whatever story that whittled itself through her imagination.

 

As her mother began thinking about what story she would write come this year's NaNoWriMo, this wee girl madly wrote her own adventure.  And her mother entertained the idea that flickered in front of her as she watched her daughter write her tale.

 

Could this wee girl join her mother for NaNoWriMo this year?

Yes!  She can and that's exactly what this wee girl, my wee girl, is going to do on Thursday!

 

She is using the Young Writer's Program (YWP) from NaNoWriMo.  And while she's not doing this with her class or anyone in her school, she's going to write her words while I write mine.

 

While working in her YWP workbook for elementary school age kidlets, she turned to me with such excitement in her eyes.  "Can I do NaNoWriMo next year too?" She gushed with pure excitement bubbling over.  And of course, I told her, "Yes! You can do NaNoWriMo every year for the rest of your life, if you want."  Two beats of silence and my wee girl with golden pig tails bounced up and down, "I can??!! Yahoooooooooooo!!!!"

 

So. Unbelievably. Awesome. 

 

We're still picking a word count goal for her.  The last story she wrote, taking a little over an hour or so to write, almost met the high end word count for her age.  So we're going to pick something a little higher in order for it to be something to write towards over the month.  But obviously don't want to make it so high, it's unachievable.  An achievable challenge is the goal.

Thursday, November 1st - the first day of NaNo, my wee girl will wake up to a fresh new notebook with a special pink mechanical pencil tied off in a bow waiting for her words to fill the pages.

 

Tick. Tock.  It's almost here!

WW & #iPPP time...Bubble Style

The next time you hear a kidlet grumbling about being told to go wash their hands for the bagillionth time, tell them about all the fun they can have with the bubbles they make...just like my husband did during one of those get-hands-clean moments.

He rationalizes that it's a science lesson for the kids about surface tension.  I say he just likes to play.  But, either way, it's still pretty cool to make a bubble bigger than your head!

Little Things Make Me Smile: Glue Stick Edition

I was all ready to blame good ol' Murphy....

I rarely wear makeup...just a handful of times a year.

And for some unknown reason (probably that Energizer Bunny I was channeling all day today), I actually put a li'l on this morning.  Including waterproof mascara.

So, guess what product I'm without right about now??

I had some eye makeup remover...somewhere...but, it's gone missing.

I was all for blaming Mr.Murphy when I reached for what I thought was a tinted lip balm...and found a glue stick.

Yes.  A glue stick.  Elmer's.

There's only one person in this house who uses glue sticks.

And it's a good thing I already put her to bed.

Mr. Murphy is officially off the hook.

Which is kind of a good thing.  'Cause when Mr. Murphy causes hijinx, I'm usually pretty darn grumpy.

But, a wee girl, curious about Mama's stuff...just makes me smile.

It's the little things, really.

Isn't it?

What's making you smile?

Back to School 2012

One of our Back to School shots always includes the backpacks.

Today is the First Day of School for us.  I've got one kidlet so excited she's bouncing out of her skin (though, she's almost always bouncing, so...) and the other has decided it's going to be a good year (I'll take that!).

Watching her excitement build and his thought process, while he decided if it is indeed going to be a good year got me looking forward to the school year starting up again too.  Here's eight reasons why:

1) Watching them achieve their goals; seeing them so excited as they reach each new milestone; watching their eyes light up when they 'get' something for the first time.

2) Welcoming back Mondays.  For years I thought Mondays were the day to dread, now I look forward to them.  Believe it or not, Mondays are my most productive day.

3) Simple things.  Using a restroom without somebody asking me to referee, solve a problem, or if they can watch Looney Tunes.

4) Being able to play my music uncensored and not worrying if the explicit version of a favorite song is the next one cued up.

5) Kicking this beyond annoying writing block I've been tripping over to the curb.

6) Coffee with a friend.  Yes.

7) Volunteering in the classroom and seeing the kids grow as a whole.

8) The first day of school is the grand kickoff to the fall and holiday season and my favorite time of year, autumn. (Semantics technicality note: I realize fall and autumn encompass the same time span. However, for me, fall is the season linked to the dates on the calendar; while autumn is tied to leaves changing colors, pumpkins, turkeys, and crisp air breathed in while the sun shines through a clear blue sky.)

And what's the one thing I'm not looking forward to the most?

The 5:40 am alarm clock.  I have to set two, just to make sure I'm up in time.  And even then, it's sometimes a gamble!

Revisiting the beach!

I love where we live!  Country, city, farmland, hills, and the ocean are all nearby.  And the mountains are pretty darn close too.

The weekend before last, we headed out to the coast for a Family Day that was quite smile worthy.

The Northern California coastline is gorgeous!  While I've never been to any kind of tropical beach, I've been to both the East & West coasts and of all the locales I've visited, I just love the northern half of this state's coastline.  I start relaxing before we're even out of the car as the terrain and the air changes.

This is a no swimming beach, too many rip tides.

But, that didn't stop our fun!

There was chilling and playing in the sand to do.

And digging.  Lots o' digging.

And sand flying (she had more sand than hair on the top of her head by the end of the day!).

One dug a very narrow, uniform hole longer than the arm's length, while the other made some sand angels.

Hubs adventure walked with our boy, several times, seeing what the ocean had washed up.  And in between adventure walks, Hubby grabbed some smooth stones to create stacked sculptures, reminiscent of our dating days when one of our ocean visits treated us to a woman creating these all over the beach.

And me?  I hung out, clicked away with my cameras, looked at the kids' sand creations & holes, picnicked with the fam, got a wee bit obsessed looking at this weathered & worn log, tracing the lines with my eyes, and simply relaxed.

This was the best family beach visit ever.  The kidlets are old enough now that we weren't spending the whole time chasing them or conversely, forced to cop a squat when our arms tired of carrying a baby.  We've always loved our visits to the coast, but now, I think we'll love them even more!

Where do you like to go as a family?  Where do you relax?

Love the Ocean, Dig the Beach recycled and revisited for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop!  Hope you're having fun this summer...we are! :>

The Purple Orb

Once upon a time, in the Land of Tallers and Smallers, a young girl followed her mother into Whole Foods. She was given free reign and hopped her way through the produce department. Her long golden hair bounced off her back as she lept from sunny oranges to cherry red apples to prickly pineapples to green zucchinis to crimson red bell peppers.

As she danced about her favorite colors of the rainbow, her eyes set upon a deep purple orb. Small hands stretched out to grasp a mysterious vegetable, whispering her name.  She raised it high, calling out, "Please, Mama? It's purrrrr-ple! Please?!" Smiling her mother replied, "Yes, Princess." Into their basket went the gorgeous ball grown from the ground.

Returning to their castle, carrots, red onion, and the beautiful purple orb find themselves sliced and grated into a large bowl, where they meet up with two tablespoons of sugar.

While the vegetables soften under the sweet, the Taller places olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and chopped green onion or shallot upon the counter for the Smaller Princess to make the dressing.

After a couple hours of the clock pass, the Smaller pours on the dressing as the Taller gives the Purple Cabbage Salad a thorough mix.

The Tallers and the Smallers - including one Princess - of this castle devour this crisp delight all year round.  And what left overs the Tallers can keep the Smallers from gobbling up, are even more delicious the next day, and the day after that.

The End.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Side note:  The Queen of this castle made this once before without sugar and while there was plenty of taste, it is far far crunchier.  The sugar softens the cabbage as it 'cooks' it and the King insists the sugar is necessary.  So, in this Land it all depends on who is slicing and grating when the vegetables first meet.  Thankfully, they can meet in the middle and keep the sugar to hopefully, a non-obscene amount - a li'l less than two tablespoons for a large batch when she makes it, a li'l more when he makes it.

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Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago, I was living in the same home I'm click clacking across the keyboard from today.

Ten years ago, this home was occupied by only my husband and two cats.

Ten years ago, sleep was only ever disturbed by one noisy and one bed stealing cat.

Ten years ago, scrapbooking was leisurely and liberally enjoyed.

Ten years ago, a craft room, guest room and office occupied the other bedrooms.

Ten years ago, I happily began converting said craft room into a nursery.

Ten years ago, I had zero appetite and world numbing nausea.

Ten years ago, I didn't know fresh grated ginger steeped into a tea helps calm nausea.

Ten years ago, pregnant with our first child, excitement seeped through the stomach churning.

Ten years ago, our home was happy and quiet; but in ten years how a family, noises filled with laughter and animation, can grow.

Writing along with Mama Kat today, using her second prompt: Start with the phrase "Ten years ago on this day, I was…".

I have no idea what I was doing on this particular day ten years ago, but I remember how our world was beginning to change while in my first trimester with our first child!

We said Good-bye, We say Hello!

Did you have fun ringing in 2012 last night?  We were mellow, at home, kidlets asleep at their usual time, but there was a fun, fresh energy buzzing about that made me welcome in the New Year!

Before the kids went to sleep though, we had one last 2011 task.  I printed out a li'l something I found at Pinterest:

Source: thirtyhandmadedays.com via Karen on Pinterest

Mique has great things to share at her site, 30 Handmade Days - go check it out, she's oh so Worth the Click!

I knew my girl would be all over this and she didn't disappoint.  And while I thought my older boy wouldn't be too thrilled, he jumped right in and filled it out!  Way to make this Mom happy!

I may be a tad late to the this tradition train, but I still think it's going to be pretty cool to have them fill something like this out every year and watch them grow.

I'll be back tomorrow with my One Little Word for 2012 to share.  In the meantime, tell me what you did to welcome the New Year in last night, or even today!

Happy New Year!!!

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Infusing some December Daily into my days with Her Lost Tooth

Turning on her light, she barely stirred more than a deep breath inhaled.  Other than her hair streaming out, I could see nothing beyond her two colorful quilts, made with love by a grandmother and an auntie, covering her small body.

“I wonder if the Tooth Fairy came?” I mused.

Fast as a cork released, she popped up from her cherry red framed twin bed.  Taking no more than a second to steady herself, she ran down the hall to the blanket folded into a pillow left on the table next to the front door.  The tradition began with her big brother and his first lost tooth.  It was only logical to leave the pillow near the door to make the exchange easy for the welcomed Tooth Fairy.

Not my first rodeo, I had my camera already in hand, turned on, ready to capture her expression as she saw the lump in the blanket pillow.  Already smiling, she rapidly progressed to squealing with delight as she pulled out a present from the fairy who had taken her first lost tooth and left behind a small toy.  In the low light she saw the small Lemon Meringue figure from the Strawberry Shortcake bunch, a tiny comb, itty bitty hair clip, and a long hot pink hair extension.

I might have held a piece of technology in my hand, meant to capture moments in a flash, but the best moment captured was her pure joy burning a place in my heart.  The pictures will record the gap in her mouth, the jammies she wore, her hair pulled back, but my heart will hold her bubbling delight in its treasures.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

I've already shared my excitement for the creative bonanza that is Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, but the other creative infusion I get at this time of year is from Ali Edwards' December Daily album.

I've always wanted to create one, in real time, throughout the month of December.  Without a photo printer at home, I've never been able to make the project function for me (same reason I've struggled with Project Life, but I'm toying with some ideas for next year and will get back to you on that! :>).

But, no more excuses!  Whether I jump in and get a December Daily album put together or not, I'm not going to let 2011's December memories fall into the blurred oblivion of one Christmas season fading into the next.  To ensure that, I've been writing a single story (or journaling it, if you're coming from a scrapbooking perspective) to etch the day into our family's preserved memories.

And I thought I'd share today's with you!

How do you preserve your memories?

 

 

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Pumpkins, Guts, & Gloves

Pulp oozes around our hands, slipping, sliding through fingers.  Wearing the pumpkins’ guts proudly, like a new fashion statement, we reach inside for more.  Seeds go in one bowl, innards in another.

Checking out what's next at the pumpkin patch, hand in hand...melt my heart.

At the pumpkin patch, we surveyed our options.  It wasn’t long before I noticed the enormous orange ball in the green wagon.  One down, three to go.

“This one’s perfect!” Our boy is waving us down.  As my husband pulls up with the four wheeling wagon, he inspects the find.  “Nope, looks like there’s a hole in the bottom kiddo.  You’ve got to look all around it.  We don’t want a rotten one, right?”

Two kids, bubbling with giggles run for another possibility.  On their way, they get distracted by a black cow.  Giggles give way to whispers before they call us over to show us what they think are baby cows sleeping under a piece of siding lying across the ground.  When the baby critters awaken, emerging to chow on a small broken pumpkin, it’s easy to see that they’re cute baby piglets.

And we’re all smiling as the kids run off to climb the hay bale pyramid, drive the old tractors, and try to feed the ponies some hay.

“Come on kids, let’s pick our pumpkins!”

“This one?”  She lifts a little pumpkin high in the air.

“That’s too small to carve.”

She picks out three more tiny pumpkins that nestle perfectly in her sweet little hands as we continue to tell her they’re too small to get seeds from.

I remembered the one she had brought home from school.  “Actually, go ahead and get a small one.  You can carve the one from your field trip and paint the little one you get today, okay?”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!”

Adding a pumpkin with a smooth front, perfect for a cool carving, for me and one without any holes for our boy and we lugged the heavy wagon to the front to pay.

A few dozen more camera clicks and we climb into the truck to head home, thinking about all the seeds we’ll have to roast, after we wear our fashionable pumpkin gut gloves.

I'm linking up with JDaniel4's Mom's Halloween Traditions.  We finished carving our pumpkins last night and I'll be sharing those pics on Wednesday.  In the meantime, you can see some of past years' pumpkin carvings here and here!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I Heart Faces: Her Sweet { Hands }

It's all about Hands this week at I Heart Faces!

I love holding my kidlets' sweet hands. My girl's are getting so big so fast. She now alternates between grabbing my finger and my whole hand.

My whole hand?! When did she get big enough to do that?!

Isn't it amazing that holding another person's hand can make your heart both grow and melt at the same time?

I think so.

She got her Color On!

When I picked my girl up from school on Thursday, her teacher was holding a little surprise for us.  They were about to start the Special Student of the Week and needed us to complete her It's All About Me Tee poster over the weekend.

As we walked to the car, I explained to my girl what she would need to do this weekend and her eyes began to dance.  She was having visions of crayons, stickers, and glitter, oh my!

And after spending two days coloring with her Crayolas, my Prismacolor colored pencils, assisting me glittering the title up with Stickles, getting to use a Sharpie for the first time to write her full name (which as any protective Mama does, I erased it for the photo), and stickering to her little heart's delight, she was literally tickled pink!

When I was asking her the questions that needed answering for the sleeves & pockets, I got a chuckle at a few of her answers...like one of her favorite subjects is homework (may she remember that when she's in high school!) and one of her favorite places to go is Whole Foods...it really is.

I also loved the contrast between the two things she likes to do at home:  play race car on the computer (Need for Speed...just the driving part), as well as arts & crafts.  And her favorite songs?  Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star and Firework by Katy Perry.

It was such a joy to watch her work this weekend.  She really did most of it herself, but I was with her, helping her where she needed it.  When we went looking for something to use to depict the race car, she hugged me and said, "Yup, we're the Mother Daughter Team!"  Melt my heart....

What did you do over the weekend?  I hope there was some fun and laughter mixed in there!

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Disclosure:  We purchased Need for Speed years ago & have driven and crashed just about every car the game provides.  And now that our girl can reach the force feedback pedals & steering wheel at the same time, she's having a blast driving her pink car around the racing routes.  And her Uncle purchased the Teenage Dream cd for her birthday, though she's only allowed to listen to Firework at this age.  The links are affiliate links.

21 Lightning Bolts

It's been raining the ol' proverbial cats and dogs for the last couple days here.  Yesterday, those heavy rain clouds, were ever so thoughtful and put a cork in it for the kindergartners' recesses...yes, both of them.

Though, even with a chance to run off excess energy, a rainy day effects a class of twenty-one five year olds in ways I had not experienced before.

I'm fortunate that I'm able volunteer in my girl's classroom this year, one morning a week.  So, when I was with the class yesterday morning, I witnessed those twenty-one lightning bolts that electrify the air on a rainy day.

One or two kidlets at home, might cozy up for indoor activities when the rain pours down.  Mugs of hot tea or cocoa, might be found, cupped in our hands.  We might be relishing the imaginative adventures that can be had indoors at home, while the dark, monstrous clouds in the sky, unleash their insides and drum on the roof above.

All of that gives me a peaceful, warm and fuzzy vibe.

In a classroom?  On a rainy day?  Full of twenty-one electrified li'l ones?

Li'l ones that buzz this way ---------------------------------->

<------------------------------- and li'l ones that buzz that way.

Li'l ones who sing, and go a Shufflin', who belly up on top of the table and fly, who are under the table and just as soon as you get one back in their seat, the next one is zooming this way and that way again.

A classroom that is typically well behaved, full of singing and sweet faced kidlets see the dark rain clouds out the window and CLAP!, those innocent li'l angels are suddenly the lightning that charges a whole room.

Can you just imagine that energy harnessed?! :>

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I knew the LMFAO song, Party Rock Anthem...knew it, as to say I had heard it before.  But, when the kidlets in the classroom were singing it & doing 'the dance', the Shufflin', I looked up the lyrics.  It's definitely a fun party song for dancing, but thankfully, the kidlets who know the song are only singing the chorus.....'cause a couple of the verses, I'd rather my girl didn't learn! ;>