Birthday and Books

Cousin love!

We celebrated Grandma’s birthday this weekend and this is the ONLY picture I have.  Ahh!  I get so caught up in what I’m doing that I forget to take pictures. 

These two were super cute together and played so well.  They even “helped” blow out the, will not be named, amount of candles on Grandma’s cake. 

Corbin and I started our first chapter book together, The Tale of Despereaux.  It’s a Newbery awarding winning book (this award is given to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children”) and was listed as one of the Top 100 Chapter Books of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal.

So you would think that I, the librarian, would have read this book by now, but I hadn’t.  I knew the title and heard of the book, but never ventured into the pages.

But on Friday, Corbin and I began our journey.  I was surprised by how dark this book is, so be warned.  It has death, violence, and adventure.  But, I think one great thing about books verses movies is that you use your imagination to conjure the images and for me, they are always less frightening and dark then what a movie would show me.

Corbin has been much more engaged and interested in the book then I thought.  In fact, he got up this morning, grabbed the book, and said “Let’s read!  I want to find out what happens to Despereaux.”  Can I tell you how happy that made my book loving heart

I found it a tad hard to get into, but once I got into the book, I’ve liked it.  It’s not my favorite and again it’s much darker then I imagined, but overall it’s provided some great conversation.  The one really great benefit of this book are the short chapters.  Each chapter is only 3-4 pages, so it makes this book ideal for a first chapter read aloud to younger kiddos.

Happy Monday!

Deep Thoughts

You may think, as I did, that this is just a blue colored picture with some stray dots…interesting.

Well, Corbin the artist informed me that those blue dots are love being showered down.  Umm, precious!

So, what at first glance seems a simple picture colored in blue, is really a deep insightful examination of what love looks like and that it is all around us.  Love covers us like rain. 

That is the deep thought for the day from Corbin, the 3 year old.

Must Make–Salted Caramel Cheesecake

We had an event to go to last night and I took a new recipe.  I found it on pinterest (surprise!) and as anything new, although it sounded good I was unsure how it would actually turn out.

Well, I made these:

Although I forgot to take a picture they actually looked just like this and they tasted AMAZING.  I mean really AAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAZING!!

It’s not often where I take a first bite of something and then proceed to close my eyes and just savor that bite for a minute.  Every bite was just as delicious and as savored as the first. 

The sweet homemade caramel topping with the rich smooth cream cheese combined with the cut of the sea salt….ahhhh, I need another! 

This is a MUST-make recipe that is sure to be a hit for anyone.  These are going on the top of my dessert list.

Here’s the link for the recipe:

http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/04/cheesecake-cupcakes/

Enjoy!

Valentine Treats

Since Corbin and I are enjoying our third snow day, I thought today was the day to be productive.  Enough laying in bed, playing games, building with blocks…it’s time to get busy!

With making Valentine treats for his little buddies at Ms. Erika’s.  So of course I turned to my trusty little Pinterest board and gave Corbin three choices.  Out of those he picked these (http://www.iheartnaptime.net/bag-kisses-valentine/):

because he is now a fan of chocolate.

So, we made a quick run to Target, got our Hershey's Kisses and began the process.

I did like that learning opportunities were built into this experience.  Corbin had to count ten Kisses into each bag.  We talked about different ways to make tens and how we could group them.  But let’s be real, by the third bag he was a little over it.  However, I said he had to stick with it.  So, with the help of some music Corbin powered through the difficult task

As he was doing that I printed off the labels, wrote his name, and cut them out.  (I too powered through this difficult job!)

Then instead of stapling the tags to the bags, we got Valentine stickers and adhered the tag with those. 

Here’s our final result.

They were easy and kid friendly to put together.  What did we do before Pinterest?

Random Tidbits

**Last week I hosted a literacy café for my 4th graders.  This was a way to introduce my students to three specific genres (science fiction, mystery, and realistic fiction) as well as engage them in books they may not have looked at otherwise.

One of my main goals as an elementary librarian is to develop and inspire a love for reading.  This activity certainly peeked some interest! 

Before they even came into the library I told them they had reservations for the literacy café and they had no clue what I was talking about.  Some of the expressions were priceless.

After explaining the concept the kids chose a table and previewed a variety of books, from the three specific genres, recording  books that they felt they would be interested in checking out.  They had an opportunity to share out to a partner and the class different books they liked and why they thought it might be a good check out.

During this time I also served some chocolate chip cookie as dessert to sweeten their main meal of books.

It was a fun morning with my 4th graders! 

 

**Corbin had a birthday party to attend and he created his own birthday card.  I love this age because he had a specific idea in mind and a “design” concept he wanted to carry out.  So cute to watch!

**We finally had a our first snow day of the year!  Unfortunately, I’m still recovering from the stomach bug and Corbin has a cold.

All this being said, on this our first snow day I also had another first.  Corbin CHOSE to lay on the couch during his quiet time.  In fact, he even brought out his pillow and blanket.  He told me he would not be closing his eyes and that he just wanted to lay on the couch.  No problem, I assured him.  Well 10 minutes later here’s what I find…

Precious!

**Finally, what’s a snow day without cuddling up in bed.

Stay warm and enjoy your snow day (if you got one)!  Let’s hope for another one tomorrow!