Butterfly Summer

This morning, we watched a hummingbird fly around on the patio while we ate breakfast.
It was pretty amazing.

Quincy has a pop up book that she got for her first birthday from Mark and Melinda called "Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer" that she loves. The caterpillar eats all spring, and emerges as a butterfly when summer arrives. We are definitely having a "butterfly summer" here!

I had no idea that oregano, marigolds, and sunflowers attract butterflies, but we have quite the butterfly garden out back because of them.

I spy 3 butterflies in this picture. Q identified the buckeye on the left.

A Black swallowtail. These infest Bella Vista every year. So pretty!

Summer Reads

I think I have officially converted. To the Kindle! I'm so spoiled. Picking up "real" books seems like a chore, and turning pages? For suckas!

Anyway, I'd recommend all three of these to anyone. Loved them all. Some themes I found in all three of them are the beautiful power of words and escape of literacy, overcoming adversity and making the best of bad situations, grit, gumption, grudges, and gratitude, mother/daughter relationships, abandonment, and loving what you have. Be sure to read The Glass Castle (also by Jeannette Walls), too.

I cried, cheered, and laughed out loud from behind a book a lot this summer.

What should I read next?

Meet Kit

Reese and I finished Meet Kit and Reese has been working hard to add a page to her Good News Journal every day. Last week, I gave her the little 6 inch Kit doll (thanks to Borders 90% clearance, I picked up a few of the dolls for $4 or $5 each to go with the books). Reese has been begging for an American Girl doll since Christmas. The mini doll seems to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. She took Kit to her room and set her up in the attic, because that's where Kit ended up in the book, and took this picture of her. Too cute.

Reese has had a lot of questions about the Great Depression since reading the book. She keeps asking what caused it. We looked as some photos and talked about them. The girls saw the pictures of people out on the street with all of their belongings and said, "that's like Joplin!"

Then the real flood of questions came. "did a tornado cause the Depression?" "If we have a tornado in Bella Vista, will dad lose his job?" "if dad ever loses his job, will we turn our home in to a boarding house, like Kit did?" "Is Joplin in a Depression?"

We placated the plethora of queries by reminding the girls that we have food storage, and savings, and a garden and chickens, so we are prepared to for an emergency or if Aaron were to lose his job.


I think they finally understand. Maybe. The photos from the Depression do look so much like the Joplin tornado wreckage that we saw a few weeks ago, with the overall run down sadness and the people living in tents, etc, that I don't blame them for being confused. I'm pretty sure they still think a tornado was involved with the Depression somehow, but we're working on that.

Tomorrow, we're borrowing the Meet Kit movie from a friend. The girls are so excited!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Reese and I started reading Meet Kit an American Girl together.



Kit Kitteridge and her best friend Ruthie love to read the newspaper and write stories about the "news" happening in thier own lives. The Great Depression is affecting everyone in the country, and Kit is tired of only seeing bad news on the paper, so she and Ruthie set out to write a newspaper of their own that is filled with good news.


One of the things I want to encourage Reese to do is keep a journal. After reading about Kit, we decided it would be fun for Reese to make a "good news" record of her own. I copied and stapled together a booklet of kinder-lined paper so she can have a page for each day of summer. Each page has the date, a "headline", a sentence or two about something she did that day, and a picture. I hope this will help keep her creative writing skills sharp during the break from school. At the end of summer, she will have a nice keepsake to help her remember her 2011 summer adventures.

Chick Chat

I've decided to put together a little Book Group. I have no idea who is coming to my house tonight, but late night + sleeping kids + good friends + semi-spontaneous parties at the Willy House usually equals a decent time.
Have you read this book?
It's a good one. There is talk of a movie. How exciting would that be? I can only hope that the movie won't be the worst thing ever made, like some other (Twilight) books to movie projects have turned out. It should be mentioned that I threw a flip flop at my tv (Jimmy Kimmel) tonight, hoping it would make Kristen Stewart stop talking like she's about to sneeze. That said, I'll probably still pack along to the midnight showing of Eclipse with the gal pals, because 1) I heart movie candy, and 2) you just can't beat the people watching at a Twilight movie release. SO, yeah I'll be there, wearing my "Team Aaron" t-shirt. (jenny, add that to the list of shirts you need to make for me...if the Girl Scout Cookie shirt makes us millions, let's take the profits and buy a house on balboa island.)

Ok, anyway, Book Club. There's already a Marriage and Family themed "Book Group", so I'm trying to think of a witty little name for my book group, so announcements for the two don't get mixed up. Any suggestions?

And since I am hosting, there must be food. (otherwise, what's the point, really?)
I made a batch of "Mockingjay Cookies" tonight.

Recipe found, here.
I free handed the bird using some scissors and a piece of junk mail to make a stencil, then dusted with powdered sugar.
Kasey's bringing "Nightlock berry chocolate cake". Yum.

Make you want to start a rebellion?

Junie B Good, Please!

It might be time for mean meg to go to bed. She's only fun to have around for a day or two....not even that long if you have to live here.

This weekend, Reese and I read her first chapter book together.

I've heard that Junie B. is the new Ramona Quimby (which is the first chapter book that I can remember reading) and it came highly recommended, so we decided to give it a shot. I was amazed at how intently Reese listened to a book with few pictures. She got pretty caught up in the story.
...but maybe that's because she was taking copious notes. I gotta say, that June B. is kind of a brat. A funny brat for adults, but not real cute when my 5 year old mimics everything she hears.

Aaron thought the story was great (aside from the "s word" and the "h word" which we omitted because our kid can't read yet, so we can do that sort of thing still) because Junie B hates (oops! I mean "really doesn't like") riding the bus, which Reese is (of course) dying to do. I'm not really a fan either, since one of my childhood bus drivers was arrested years later for child molestation (no, not me) so needless to say, we aren't big fans of the school bus thing.
Maybe someday...but not yet.
Not with our first born.
We've screwed up enough on her already, maybe we'll wait and let our Quincy B be the guinea pig for the bus thing...and then they can ride it together. Of course, that is to say that Quincy is ever going to grow, and at this point, I'm quite ok with her staying my tiny Q forever and ever and always being my little buddy. I'm working on a magic spell to keep her this way. So far, she hasn't grown much lately, so maybe it's working a little. Reese has already told me that "being 5 is the best" and that she's not going to grow ever again. I hope she's right.

Anyway, the story was cute...but I'll kick myself for not previewing the plot first if Reese follows suit and hides in a storage closet after her first day of kindergarten. She's already asking for another "words book", any suggestions?

Fun Fall Stuff

It's amazing what a little craft paint can do!
I packed up our Halloween decor and was sort of bummed that we don't have a lot of Autumn stuff that can be left out for the entire season.

I bought several of these frames at Carl and Barb's estate sale for $1 or less a piece.
Then I scored several MORE at a garage sale today at 3/$1 (now we're talkin').

A little Spice Orange and Mustard Yellow Craft paint, and ta-da!
I know it's never great quality when I take a photo of a photo, but you get the idea.
For the mats I just painted right over the old photo mats with brown craft paint.

I have a few photos from every trip to the pumpkin patch since Reese was born.
Now we can "fall" through the years ever time we walk down the hallway (where they will be hung tomorrow)
After the season I'm thinking I'll hang red, green, and white frames in their place. I have several on my over crowded book shelves, and have been thinking about organizing those shelves for awhile.

For months, I've been lusting after these cloth bound Penguin Classic books ever since I first saw them on Erica's Bloggity Blog.
But even on Amazon.com they are still $13.60 a piece. Sad, right? They would be just what I need to fill the two ginormous bookshelves that make up the majority of the Northern wall in my living room. Plus, I totally did NOT read the Classics in High School. I read 17 magazine and books about U2 in High School. I had decided I would buy them one at a time every few months and slowly build up a collection over several years.

Imagine my joy when I found THESE babies at a garage sale today.
Yes, they are old and crusty. (1970's, just like everything else in my home) and crusty (they came from the house with the cheap frames...all previously owned by a lady with blue hair and a naughty puppy named, Gypsy)

...but they're totally read-able, and I like crusty stuff.

Did I mention that I got all 12 of them for $5 TOTAL?
Yeah! Less than 50 cents a book.
And then she gave me a Christmas tree.

So I can now add the following to our little home library:
(1)
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Call of the Wild
Madame Curie
(2)
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Tom Sawyer
The Good Earth
Robin Hood
(3)
Captain Horatio Hornblower
Jane Eyre
My Friend Flicka
Alone
(4)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Great Cases of Sherlock Holmes
Abe Lincoln Grows Up
Lost Horizon
(5)
Robinson Crusoe
The Story of Helen Keller
The Jungle Books
The Great Impersonation

(6)
Little Women
Tales of Poe
Mutiny on the Bounty
Messer Marco Polo
(7)
Kidnapped
Pride and Prejudice
Wind Sand and Stars
Green Mansions
(8)
Huckelberry Finn
The Sea Around Us
Alice in Wonderland
The Prisoner of Zenda
(9)
Wuthering Heights
Typhoon
The Last of the Mohicans
The Yearling
(10)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Rabbit Hill
Beau Geste
(11)
Bob, Son of Battle
Oliver Twist
Modern American Poetry
Cry, the Beloved Country
(12)
Two Years Before the Mast
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
Microbe Hunters
The Friendly Persuasion

Should I even admit that I have not even heard of more than half of these books? But, I do love to read, when I can find time. I will also admit that I have actually read two...ok, ONE and a HALF of these books. One measly book. So where should I start? And, what will be a total waste of time? Maybe I'll start a Megalicious Book Report segment here on the blog.

Joy.

Have a good weekend!

Pete's A Pizza

This is a great little book by William Steig. Pete's a Pizza is about a boy (Pete) who is bummed out because it is raining and he can't go outside and play ball with 'the guys'.

Pete's dad "makes" Pete into a pizza by rolling him into dough, tossing him in the air like a pizza, adding "toppings" that tickle Pete's tummy, and putting Pete into the "oven". Reese went through a phase about a year ago where she insisted on being "made into a pizza" as part of her bedtime routine.
We read this book the other day for the first time in a few months, and today I found Reese making Quincy into a pizza on the sofa. They had some of my measuring spoons, a wire whisk, and a few other items from the kitchen (thankfully, no pizza slicer!) and Quincy giggled with delight and requested, "again tickle mine tummy a pizza, Reese" with every step as Reese cooked up a storm. I love when they use their imaginations to entertain each other.
This week we're also reading, Pizza for Breakfast by Maryann Kovalski.
Frank and Zelda run a pizza hut in the city. Everything is perfect, but they eventually grow tired of what they have in their simple, repetitive live style, and start to whine and complain....and want more and more out of life.
One day, they are granted magic wishes and their wildest dreams start to come true! Pretty soon, their little lives are so busy that they forget how much they loved their older, more simple life...and how much they love each other.
I love the lessons in this book, and my kids love the crazy pictures of the busy restaurant. In the end Frank and Zelda decide the best way to deal with their monotonous life is to just change up the restaurant and serve pizza for breakfast. It is a hit and they are happy with what they have.

So sticking with the theme and the rainy weather, we are having one of our favorite (and super easy) dinners. Pizza Rolls!

I got this recipe a few years ago from my friend, Darcie, and it has been a household favorite ever since. Thanks Darcie!

Pizza Rolls:
1 Loaf Rhodes frozen bread dough (defrost in frig)
1/2 block lowfat cream cheese
italian seasonings
1 cup mozzerella
diced bell pepper
pepperoni
diced olives, onions, mushroms-optional
pizza sauce (we used the ragu pizza quick sauce. It's like 97 cents a jar, and excellent stuff!
roll out the dough into a large rectangle
soften cream cheese and season with italian seasonings and garlic salt (because it is a mandatory ingredient in our home)
spread onto dough
top with peppers, pepperoni, other toppings and mozzerella
Roll the dough up into a long tube
slice like you would cinnamon rolls (about 1 inch thick)

place on greased cookie sheet and let rise 15-20 minutes (the longer the better)
bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until rolls are puffy and golden brown on the outside.

top with spoon fulls of warmed (meaning nuked, because that's how I roll) pizza sauce.

Gotta have some Hidden Valley Ranch on hand to dip these bad boys in. YUM!

We make these at least once a month, and never get sick of them. Reese requests them once in awhile and can eat two of them...which is a huge accomplishment for a child who eats nothing in large amounts. Sorry that there are no pictures of the finished product. I took these the last time we made them and got distracted halfway through! We'd finished eating before I remembered that I was going to post the recipe. Oh well. It's pretty simple to figure out...and my pictures of food are never great anyway!

Happy Pizza Week!

"A is For Alice, Who Ate An Alligator..."

Got me a laminater last week. I had no idea how much fun I would have with it. Every mothers should have one of these...and anyone who is as OCD as I am should definitely own one of these. I'll be laminating FHE lessons, playdough activity sheets, chore charts, flashcards, and pretty much everything we own all week. It's my new favorite toy.

For Christmas, Reese's preschool teachers gave her the book, "One Mitten", by Katherine O'Connel.
I got a little carried away with the mitten theme and made 52 little mittens out of cardstock, and wrote the letters of the alphabet in upper and lower case on them. Here they are waiting to be laminated. Cute, right?
Now the girls can play a "Mitten Match" version of the memory game. I set up a little clothesline in the living room using yarn strung between two chairs, and after Reese gets a match she got to pin the pair up on the clothesline. I think that next time I will only put out 8-10 pairs to choose from, because it took too long for her patience to work through all 26 alphabet pairs and I wonder if she will remember the letters better if she works with less at a time.
I also went ahead and made a few extra "e's", an extra "m", and a "d" so they can use the little mittens to spell out Reese, Quincy, Mom, Dad, and Baby. I think we'll be using these flashcards a lot in the next year. If I remember, I'll add picks of the clothesline when I upload more pictures.