Book Reviews

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows Book Review: I have mixed emotions about recommending this book. I didn't exactly love it or hate it! I did find the book interesting but I didn't realize it was about the German occupation in the Channel Islands. My two biggest issues with the book...The book is all letters being written back and forth from friends. I would of like a little bit of narration in between all the letters plus it would of made the book flow a little bit easier in the beginning. Also, something else bugged me about this book but I'm not going to get into with this post. It's a nice historical novel but it's okay in my opinion. I would give it three stars out of five.

3 Willows-The Sisterhood Grows by Ann Brashares

I swore off this writer after finishing The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book number four. I wasn't happy with the last book in the series. So, when I came across this book...I had my doubts. Sometimes, it's best to end a series not keep it going but I was wrong. I LOVED IT!!!!!! I want more stories about these three friends. The author has redeemed herself. This book is good for girls 14 and up. The traveling pants series is good for grown woman looking back into their own teen years. I wouldn't recommend them for actual teens.

Flip-Flop Girl by Katherine Paterson

I accidently, deleted the picture of the book. ARGHH, I hate Blogger.com and this is one of the reason I don't like to blog much anymore.

I love Katherine Paterson books...I mean...I love them all.

It's a quick short read but it still delievers a powerful message at the end of the book.

It's about friendship, death, no judging, and owning up to mistakes.

This book is good for anyone 8 years old and up!

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I'm hoping to make it to book group but it's always starts so freak'n late at night. If I don't make it than I will come back and write up a review. This book is a classic and it's message is so powerful. I would read it over a hundred times and never get tried from reading it.

 

New Adventures

Landon started another new adventure....BASEBALL!

My little guy is the newest member to the Yankee's baseball team.

Landon had his first pratice yesterday, it was so cold and windy outside. I felt really bad, he didn't have a jacket to wear but it wasn't too long before he had all of the boys of his team warming up.

As soon as we made it to the field, I introduced myself to the couch. I told him that his was Landon's first time ever playing baseball. I was super nervous, all the kids had super fancy gloves and equipment. Landon had on his Gold Rush 5k t-shirt, sweat pants, and nike's running shoes. Can we say this boy is a runner not normally a baseball player. Poor, Landon had his cheap baseball glove. I can't believe my eyes on how much parents must spend on fancy equipment. I felt a little on the cheap side but we will be trying to upgrade his equipment next week.

The wind was whipping around like crazy...I tried to take the kids to play at the park but it was too cold outside. One day it's nice outside and the next day it's gone all crazy cold, again. Landon looked really outside on the field. The kids were busy throwing and catching the ball back and forth to each other.

Well, Landon's practice came to an end. His coach came up to me and asked if he heard me right when I told him that Landon had never played before? I told him that was correct and this was his first time playing. Well, it turns out that Mr. Landon is a natural. His couch told me that Landon plays really good.

I feel super blessed to have a son that is good at anything he tries. He never gives up on himself except for the occasional "I have to be prefect meltdown" and he truly believes in himself. Right now, in karate Landon has his yellow belt. In less than six months he has earned two belts. His teacher is super hard and he makes the kids earn their belts. A lot of sports just give the kids medals for being there but Landon's teacher really makes them earn them.

One last thing, they like to practices on Sunday, which we will not be attended; too bad! Also, the new night that has schedule for practices is Monday night at 8:00 pm. Who in there right mind schedules practices on a school night that late at night. I'm not sure if Landon will be attending Monday nights because he has Karate from 5:30-6:30pm.

So, Bentonville Youth Baseball is already on my bad list but hopefully, it will be worth it in the end.

Valentine's Day Party

Mrs. Whited 2nd Grade Class Party

The great adventures of being Mrs. Whited Home Room Mom for Landon's 2nd grade class. I had the pleasured of planning and coordinating all three parties by myself. Yes, just me. The majority of the parents in Landon's class didn't want to be involved makes you wonder how involved they're in their own children's life. Mrs. Whited told the lack of involvement was not normal. So, I had no input from anyone which can be nice because it was up to me to come up with all the ideas and plans. Once again, I sent out a nice email asking for donations. I only heard back from two parents. No big surprise...I just decided to eat the cost of the party. I don't want the kids to be disappointed.

 

Well, I emailed Landon's teacher the morning of the party. She never replied back to me which I thought was strange but I figure she must be very busy. Leah and I managed to get to the school about 45 minutes early to set up for the party. As soon as we walked into Landon's class room we discovered why Mrs. Whited didn't email back...she had a family emergency and is out of town. The sub was really nice but she was left with no written instructions. The students ended up having indoor recess which meant I wasn't able to set up for the party. So, Leah and I headed down to Logan's Class party. We managed to stay for the first 15 minutes but we had to leave to go back upstairs to Landon's class to finish setting up for the party.

 

The Sub didn't know what was going on with the party. Mrs Whited wanted me to have the kids make V-day cards. She told me that she had all the supplies but I really didn't want to do a craft. So, I just decided to hold that piece of information from the Sub. I figured probably had no clue where the teacher had the supplies. When Mrs. Whited comes back in town, if she still wants the kids to make cards than she can do it then with the kids. This was the plan....a book, a special surprised, dancing and games, another surprised.

 

Read Aloud

"One Zillion Valentine's" by Frank Modell

 

The first surprised came after reading this book. The book is about two boys that make a ton of Valentine's Day cards which they pass out but they have too many left over. So, the boys decided to sell them. They take the money and buy a box of chocolates to share with out. After, I finished reading the book...I told the kids I had a surprised for them from the book. I pulled a HUGE heart shape box of chocolates! You should of seen the looks on the kids faces...Priceless!

I gave each student one piece of chocolate and a napkin. I made all the students wait to eat their chocolates at the same time. I didn't want some students to try get another piece. I told the kids if they got something that they didn't like to just spit it out in their napkin and throw it in the trash can. Only one kid forgot to wait but that's okay. The kids loved it. Chocolate on Valentine's day is always a must.

It wouldn't be a party without some dancing and games.

1. Licorice Eating Contest-I placed one piece of red licorice on each desk. I had the students sit down at their desk with their hands behind their back. The student who finished eating his licorice first without using their hands would win bragging rights plus a prize. I did give every student a pencil that finished their licorice.

2. Stop and Go by Gregg and Steve which is the best kids band ever invented. I seriously, love all of their albums. This song is like the freeze dance except it's stop and go instead of saying freeze. (The whole class loved this activity except my son, who just stood their the whole time)

3. The Limbo by Gregg and Steve cd called Shake, Rattle, and Rock. We managed to do two rounds of Limbo. The kids loved it. Landon wasn't happy when I told him we were moving onto another game.

4. Pass the box with a special surprised! I picked up heart shape straws at walmart for this activity. I wrapped up the straws in a box and wrapped it about six times with tissues paper. I had the students sit in a big circle. This game works a lot like hot potatoe. I started up the music and whoever was holding the box when the music stop got to wrap one layer of tissue party. The last person to unwrap the box got to open up the surprised.

Now the fun party, the girl open up the box and showed the kids in the class the straws. I asked the kids what they thought the straws were used for? The kids said all kinds of answers but none of them were right. The only parent that comes and helps me with the class parties told the kids that they were getting water to drink with their straws. You should of seen the look of disappointment on the kids faces. Well, I finally spoke up and told the kids that the straws were for ROOT BEER FLOATS. The kids seriously freaked out. All of the kids, were jumping up down, hugging each other, screaming. The class went WILD. The poor Sub was trying so hard to get the kids to calm down. I'm sure the whole upstairs floor heard my class screaming. You would of thought the kids had won the lottery.

So, the final surprised was root beer floats and the kids loved it.

5. Postman

The last thing the kids did was pass out their V-Day Cards. After the kids were done passing out their cards they were able to eat their rootbeer floats and open up their cards.

Wow, that was one long and crazy party. We even managed to finish up on time! The hour went by sooooooooooo fast! Several of the kids came up to me told me that the party was the best ever party. One boy told me that his old school they never had parties like this and he loved it. Another kid told me that I'm a very good teacher. Oh, I was sooooooooo happy! My last and final party was a huge success.

I'm really glad that I decided to step up take on his position. It hasn't been easy due to lack of parents involvement but I don't regret it. The only thing that I do regret is not making sure my camera was working. I forgot to put in the memory stick. I was so bummed that I wasn't able to take pictures of the party. The looks on the kids faces were priceless when they found out about the last surprised.

The party was educational and fun. I didn't do the normal boring games or activities. I decided to step out of the box and come up with a really fun party.

I only one more event to plan for the school year. Teacher appreciation week...any ideas?

Happy New Years

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Years Eve!!!!

On a short note...we decided to celebrate early.

We did several things to kick off the celebration...a combination of chores and goals!

1. Decided it would be fun to run ten miles into the new year. I really wish now we would of done 11 miles for 2011 but we didn't think about it at the time.

2. We took down all of the Christmas Decorations and carried the tree down the ravine which is a tradition. The boys had fun carrying it with dad plus they checked out the cove that's down there by the lake.

3. Logan had to get his reading assignment. In less than, a week he went from not being able to read a single word to reading very simple sentences.

4. I decluttered my wardrobe and decided to get rid of a lot of old clothes.

5. Leroy and the boys had some bonding time shooting his pellet gun.

6. I didn't spend any money this week but leroy had a couple of slip ups.

7. All the kids ate their dinner and we meet another goal leading up to New Years. We sat down as a family and ate together.

8. We also read scriptures at the dinner table as a family for the whole week as well.

9. So, we meet several goals.

10. Time to celebrate. Leroy took the kids to the border and bought fireworks to celebrate reaching our accomplishments.

11. So, we celebrated early...I can't wait to meet our new goals for the year.

12. Also, I'm working hard on my new weight loss plan. I'm hoping to drop five pounds by the end of Jan.

Marshmallow Sciene

What do with the kids when it's too cold to go outside to play... a pratical sciene experiemnt. I told a good friend that we would not be joining them to Jump zone today becuase I told my hubby I wouldn't not spend any money this week. It really sucks to pass up a good opportunity to spend it with friends and even harder to tell someone you can't do something becuase you don't have money. Life stinks sometimes. I really fighting the urge not to run to the store for every little thing. So, I came across this idea at ABC-123 blog and here's the link to the blog, if you want to do the same thing.

The kids loved this idea...We decided to be smart and use the marshmallows that I have in the cabinet left over from Xmas and some old Halloween Peeps. The boys were so excited...what boy wouldn't be excited about playing with a candle of course with proper supervision. We discussed all the different aspects of how a flame works, why does the marshmallow burn faster when it's closer to the flame, we talked about how the marshmallow changes when it's heated up. I could go on but I don't want to bore you with all the details...you get my point.

I came to the conclusion that you don't need money to have fun and it sucks having to tell a friend "no" becuase you don't have the money. I'm really working hard on fighting the urge not to run to the store everytime I want something for the kids. Plus, being my kids teacher is very rewarding and fun!

Logan's Reading Tree

I never thought this day would come...Landon was reading before he started Kindergarten so I was hoping for the same thing for Logan but that didn't happened. His teacher told me not to worry but I wouldn't lie it concerned. Since Logan started school in the fall...I would pull out my Phonics Pathways book which is the same book that I used wtih Landon. He flat out refused to do it. So, on Monday...I decided to give it another try. Sure enough...he was sounds out simple short vowel words.

I love how this book is set up. The directions are very clear and simple to follow. The student learns how to read by using strictly phonics not sight words. Logan's class has been working on sight words which are great but it's not really reading it's just memorizing words. It really gives a child a false sense of reading. As soon as a child comes across a word that he doesn't know it freaks them out. I think both methods have their merits but I love this program.

To keep Logan's attention and help him see his progress. I came up with this great idea. We made a tree on his bedroom door. For every words, he can sound out and read he gets a leaf to put on his door. He only has about ten minute attention span. This is really helping. Logan is reading one page in the morning and one page right before bed. After reading each word, he writes down the word on a leaf...but I decided to change this up. I have him write up to six words and I do the rest. It was a little bit to much of reading and writing in one session.

I'm so proud of him. Reading is hard work but Logan's reading confidence is getting better each day. It wouldn't be long and he will be reading by himself.

4 years ago

Leah was finally evicted...after weeks of false labor. I finally gave up trying to go into labor on my own. It only took the doctor breaking my water for Leah to make her grand entrance. I think I was in labor for a total of four hours. Let me just preface...I wasn't overdue. My boys only weighed about 7 lbs each. I have know idea where she came from...the german side of my husband's family. Is the only thing I can think of...because it's four years later and she's still a big girl!

Birthday

9 lbs 4 oz

4 years old

38 pounds

On a side note...I just finished making Leah's birthday cake. The look on her face explains it all.