Nursery Funnies

During singing/reading time we were reading a book about monsters who have noses, ears, belly-buttons and other various (nursery appropriate) body parts. The kiddos would point to the corresponding body part on their own body (one of the kids favorite games). We ran into a little trouble, however, when the monsters had tails...

General looks of confusion were had by all the under-three crowd for a few seconds followed by one little voice, which piped up:

"I don't have a TAIL. I have a BUMMY!"

*insert raucous laughter from nursery leaders here.

Well said my little friend, well said.

Reading: week two

Week two of volunteer reading has come and gone. Things I learned this week: Kids LOVE scary books! Well really "suspenseful" is probably a better word. But they love all things monsters, witches and pirates. I've promised more monster books in the future, per their request. So if you notice an abundance of monster books in these reviews, you know why.



There Are Monsters Everywhere by Mercer Mayer
A little boy gets fed up with being pushed around by the monsters in his house. They are everywhere: his bed, the bathroom and of course the basement. He decides, with his parents permission, to take a karate class in hopes that it will help him stand up to the monsters he sees everywhere. Will it work?

Rating: 3 stars; The kids really enjoyed this one and I really like Mercer Mayer's illustrations.



I Got Two Dogs by John Lithgow illustrated by Robert Neubecker
This book is a tribute to the author's two dogs, Fanny and Blue who seem to get up to all kinds of mischief. But he loves them still

Rating: 2.5 stars; The illustrations were kind of fun. They often provided a different (or additional) story than the text (ex. Text says "dogs like to chase squirrels", pictures show them chasing the mailman). The text wasn't super engaging for the age group I was reading to, but it was ok.



You Can Do Anything, Daddy! by Michael Rex
A sweet story about a young boy who wonders to what lengths his Dad would go in order to save him from a variety of dangers (including robot gorilla pirates from Mars!). A sweet book about love given and returned between parent and child even in hypothetical situations.

Rating: 3 stars; The illustrations were really fun. The kids loved the whole pirate theme. Has a nice twist at the end.



The Witch with a Twitch by Layn Marlow illustrated by Joelle Dreidemy
Willa the Witch is a bit of a scaredy cat which results in all kinds of trouble for her real cat Kitch. Will Willa be able to confront her fears in order to come to Kitch's aid when he needs her most? A nice story about confronting your fears for important things.

Rating: 2.75 stars; I found myself liking this book more the more times I read it. Plus, I loved the illustrations.

Family moments cost less at WalMart....

What do you think of the new WalMart commercials?

(haven't seen them yet? check them out here)

Personally, they drive me absolutely crazy! At first I was like "yeah yeah, whatever, WalMart commercial." But then I really started listening to them....disturbing.

The catch phrase is "Family moments cost less at Walmart." As someone who has been studying families for the last few years I'm here to state unequivocally that the "cost" of having family moments doesn't have anything to do with WalMart or the video game consoles they are selling. Family moments are "purchased" by being a consistent, loving, and involved parent. Buying a wii is not going to result in your teenage son all of a sudden wanting to spend time with the family when his friends are waiting outside honking the car horn.

Maybe this is just one more thing my education has ruined for me.

What do you think about the new WalMart commercials?

Reading: week one

Today was my first day doing volunteer reading. It was a bit different than expected. Instead of reading to a small group of 2 or 3 they have me reading to entire classrooms of about 10-15 kids. Although not what expected, it is still way fun. Without further adieu here's a review of this weeks books. The first two were this week's favorites.


A Very Hairy Scary Book by Rick Walton and David Clark
a story about a little girl who stays too late at a friend's house. She decides to walk home on her own and try to sneak into her house because she's worried her dad will be mad. However, the walk home ends up being more of an adventure than she planned on as her imagination brings the street to life. The illustrations are wonderful and I loved the ending. The kids loved it!


Roar of a Snore by Marsha Diane Arnold illustrated by Pierre Pratt
Jack Huffle is having trouble sleeping, because of a loud snore. He goes on a search to find the source of the snore and is very surprised when he discovers it. Great illustrations and composition. Another big hit with all the different age groups!


Olivia by Ian Falconer
A fun story about a pig full of energy and spunk. Olivia sometimes wears herself and others out. The red, white, and black illustrations are a unique addition. While its an award winning book I personally liked it, but didn't love it and the kids were only moderately engaged.


Superdog by Caralyn and Mark Buehner
This is a great book about a little dog who works hard to become a superhero (really a super helper). He makes himself an invaluable part of the neighborhood, even to the neighborhood tom cat who teases him about his size. Great topic, great illustrations, but too many words for the age group I'm reading to. It would be better for one on one reading.


Farm Flu by Teresa Bateman and Nadine Bernard Westcott
A farmer boy finds himself alone on the farm when the animals start to get sick. So he does what his Mom would do if he was sick. Great little story about being sick, but wasn't as big of a hit as I was expecting.


Curious George Visits the Library by Margret and H. A. Rey
Curious George is always a classic. In this classic George goes to the library for story hour and discovers all the treasures of a library. But of course he manages to get into a little trouble in the process!

Children's books

So I'm going to start volunteering at a local day care. Basically I'll spend an hour per week reading to the kids (ages 2-5). I'm really looking forward to it.

BUT...

Volunteers are supposed to bring in books to read. This is both exciting and intimidating. Exciting part is getting to read all kinds of children's books (I've decided to write reviews of the books I pick and read each week). Intimidating part is picking out good books. I would LOVE some suggestions for good books!

What were your favorite books growing up?

Favorite authors?

and for those of you with kids...

What are some of your kids favorite books?

Adventures in photo editing: vignette

One of the latest things I've learned to do in photo editing is adding a vignette. Essentially this just allows you to darken the edges of your photo adding a sort of spot light effect. Check out a great tutorial here for how to do this in gimp. The results can be more drastic or subtle (I usually ere on the side of subtle) depending on your taste, but the tutorial suggests leaning towards subtle for the more natural feel in editing. Either way I really like the effect.

Before:


After:


Before:


After:

Fun in the name of fondue

We got an invitation to a Halloween fondue party, costumes optional, but encouraged. Twenty-four hours before party time my hubby (aka creative genius) comes up with a costume idea.

We (meaning Nathan) used a little of this,



and a whole lot of this,



to create this,



Which we then wore like this,



which clearly made us................



The cutest peanut butter and jelly sandwich you've ever seen:)

Happy Halloween!