Saturday, August 28, 2010

Free Books!

Please excuse the picture.  No matter how many times I try to rotate this picture in different programs, everytime I upload it, it flips back.  Does anyone know how to rotate a picture once it is in your post in blogger?  LAME!  It would help if I had an ounce of  innate computer sense! 
Anyway, I wanted to show this because this is how many free books we got today.  The certificates are $5 gift certificates to Deseret Book.  We went to the KSL sponsored Book Festival at the University of Utah this morning.  I went because they were supposed to have some local authors there and because my kids had done the KSL reading program this summer.  I was a little leary, I thought it would probably turn out to be a waste of time, but I really try to focus on reading with my family and I am willing to do just about anything that might encourage me kids to read, so we tried it.  Boy did we luck out.  I had hoped they might be giving each child one free book, but this was unbelievable.  When we got home my daughter said, "that was so fun mom, thanks for taking us."  I'm not sure where that amazing politeness came, but I am all about free, especially when it scores points with my kids.  The really amazing thing was that it was hardly crowded at all.  I think they are supposed to be making this an annual thing.  If they do, we will definitely be going again.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Winnie Finn, Worm FarmerWinnie Finn, Worm Farmer by Carol Brendler


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My 3 year old daughter has recently fallen in love with worms. We have had several rainstorms lately and she is fascinated by the worms that appear once the rain stops. When I saw the book "Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer" on the new arrivals shelf at the library, I took it home. It proved to be a good choice. The illustrations are wonderful. The fictional story contains multiple true life facts about worms and it is the story of a girl who uses her brains and know-how to accomplish something that all the adults she runs into say isn't possible. This is a perfect story for kids!




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Monday, August 23, 2010

Another New Back to School Tradition

I found this idea on a blog I was reading the other day and thought it sounded perfect for our Family Home Evening tonight, which also happened to be the first day of school.  Here is the link for the origninal post.  During the day I made these cookies:
They are regular old sugar cookies cut out in hand shapes.  I found the cookie cutter at Spoons and Spice today, and it cost less than $1.  Then you put a Hershey's Kiss in the middle of the palm while the cookie is hot.  We read the book "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn and talked about how no matter what happens at school our kids need to remember that we, their mom and dad, love them and we also talked about how their Heavenly Father loves them too.  Then we got to eat the cookies.  I was surprised at how much my kids liked the sugar cookies plain with the addition of the Hershey's Kiss.  They were all about making these cookies a yearly tradition.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

A New Tradition: Back to School Shopping

Lately I have been trying to find ways to spend time with my kids individually.  I remember as a kid, loving any time I had alone with one of my parents.  Now that I am a parent, I realize how difficult that time is to carve out with each child.  A friend of mine mentioned that one thing she does is try to take each child out all by his or herself and do some school shopping and have lunch.  I thought that sounded like a great tradition.  I decided I would try it.  I don't buy a lot of school clothes before school starts because it is still usually so hot that my kids are still wearing summer stuff, but I do try to make sure that they get to pick out one thing to wear new for the first day of school and we always buy one new pair of shoes.  I took my son first since his school starts first.  We went last Saturday, so my husband could stay home with the girls.  We decided to go to breakfast and drive to the outlets in Park City.  We had a great time.  My son hates to shop, but was excited to pick out his things.  He is very to the point when it comes to choosing things.  He does not waste time and I actually had to convince him to look at a couple of stores before he made his final decision.  We had a great time and were able to spend some time on the drive talking, which is much more difficult to do with the younger girls around.

My 3 year old, Paige immediately started begging for her turn.  So Tuesday afternoon I got a babysitter and headed out with Paige.  I had taken a survey this spring that earned me a $20 gift certificate to the Grand America, so I took her downtown for one of their "teaparties".  She was thrilled.  We had a great time and kept taking about how we were just like "Fancy Nancy".  I was a bit of a nervous wreck as we sat drinking our fancy hot chocolate in china cups and saucers, but amazingly, she didn't spill a drop and nothing got broken.  She didn't love the finger sandwiches, but the tiny french pastries and strawberries with real whipped cream, were a huge hit.  The best part was, including the cost for a tip and parking, I paid less than $10.  After, we went to the mall to do our shopping. Paige takes her shopping seriously, she knows what she likes and it tends to be the loudest, and fanciest thing she can find.  Already, I find we butt heads frequently when it comes to fashion.  We had quite the stand-off from the outset because she was insistent that she needed the new swimming cover-up that she found.  Let me just say, trying to explain seasons to a 3 year old is not easy.  After multiple attempts and several hours of searching to find shoes that we both agreed on that they had in the right size, we gave up and headed to Target for the inevitable glitter sparkle shoes that I knew would satisfy Paige, but I could count on only setting me back $12.99.  Now when you come to my house and it is covered in silver glitter you will know why and realize that the compromise was hard won!
Overall, I am excited to start our new school shopping tradition.  I had a great time with both kids and am excited to continue next year (although next year I will make sure that Paige's shopping comes after a long nap, not during her normal nap time).

Thursday, August 19, 2010

PoppletonPoppleton by Cynthia Rylant


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The series of "Poppleton" books has made my daughter's summer. My three year old loves the idea of "chapter books", but is not quite ready to move onto listening to books without pictures. The humor that Cynthia Rylant uses is perfect for a 3 or 4 year old, but not so obnoxious that an adult can't get through the book. There are a bunch of Poppleton books, so we could check out a stack from the library, but they are short enough that you can read several before bedtime. I have been reading them out loud to my daughter, because she can't read yet, but they are also the perfect book for a beginning reader too.




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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Pope JoanPope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was fascinating! I always know when a book is well-written because I speed through it in a few days. That was exactly the case with this one. I couldn't put it down. The story is of a girl who loves to learn, but learning is not permitted for women in the middle ages. Joan finally gets around the problem by disguising herself as a man. Amazingly, she becomes incredibly successful, unfortunately, that means that if anyone ever discovers her secret she will be killed. The genre is historical fiction and I particularly loved the fact that the auther added and afterward discussing what parts of the story are historical and what parts are fiction.



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Friday, August 13, 2010

Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light


AMAZING! This story has amazed me from the first time I saw it in the local news. What an incredible family!
North and SouthNorth and South by Elizabeth Gaskell


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book started out pretty slow, but in the end I really liked it. If you like Pride and Prejudice, you will probably like this one. It is a little long and wordy, but a great read.



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Monday, August 9, 2010

Cinnamon Biscuits

Our church block ends at 12:30 each Sunday.  By the time we get home and get the meal fixed it is usually about 1:30, so by the time dinner time rolls around we're not super hungry, but we need something.  I found a new recipe this week as I was searching some new recipe blogs that I wanted to try for cinnamon rasin biscuits (you can find the original blog here).  These were the perfect Sunday night snack.  I have always like biscuits, but became particularly partial to good biscuits after living in the South.  I have never really tried making them from scratch, but this recipe suggests using your food processor and boy did that make it quick and easy.  These were so yummy and the perfect thing if you need a cinnamon roll fix but don't want to go to all that time and effort.  Here's the recipe, followed by the few changes I made.

3 cups all-purpose flour


1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup raisins

1 cup milk

melted butter

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 - 2 tablespoons 1/2 & 1/2



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first 6 ingredients in a food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Add cold butter cut into 6 equal parts. Add to dry ingredients in food processor. Pulse several times until mixture is crumbly. Transfer to large bowl. Add milk and raisins and stir until moistened. Knead dough on lightly floured surface 4 or 5 times. Pat dough to 1 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Placed on greased cookie sheet. Brush biscuits with melted butter. Bake for 14 - 16 minutes until lightly browned. Drizzle with glaze made of powdered sugar and 1/2 & 1/2.

Yield 15 - 2" biscuits

I didn't add the rasins because I was out of them and I have a son who hates rasins.  I didn't have half and half, so I just used milk which worked out fine and I added a teaspoon of vanilla to my glaze.  These turned out awesome.  Next time I might try adding some mini-chocolate chips because my kids would love them even more.  They are amazing warm, out of the oven, but the leftovers were still good this morning.