Book Reviews - The Hunger Games & Catching Fire

The latest book club selection was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which is a face-paced and gripping tale about about a teenage girl forced into a deadly reality-based competition (The Hunger Games) run for entertainment by the government in the future.  The super short version of my review is:  I loved it.  I found the tale so compelling that I did not want to put down the first novel, and then I ran out and bought the sequel, Catching Fire, and finished it quickly as well. The third and final book in the series, Mockingjay, will be coming out in late summer, and it's definitely on my list.  These books would be outstanding beach reads, if you are into fantasy or futuristic novels. 

I must admit that I was initially negatively biased towards this book because it's found in the "young adult section", but I thought I'd read it anyway since some of the other ladies in the book club were screening it for their older children.  I'm glad I did!  I was completely sucked into the plot, and yet there are some serious issues threaded throughout as well, including pitting entertainment over humanity. For me, this was one of the books where you don't even notice the words anymore because you are so completely embedded in the images and characters of the story.

If you're interest is piqued, maybe take a read though the plot synopsis or professional reviews on bn.com:
 http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Hunger-Games/Suzanne-Collins/e/9780439023481/?itm=1&USRI=the+hunger+games#TABS.

Non-Wacky Wednesday

Caroline's outfit selection for non-wacky Wednesday:

It's really too bad you can't tell the shirt is polka-dot and that the socks are really brown and rainbow striped.  The sweater is beaded next to the velvet trim.  These are all of Caroline's favorite pieces of clothing-- all together.

Also, Ben says, "Hello!"  Actually, I made that up.  Mostly, he's just says, "Nooooooooo!"

Guest Writer - Abby

Last Friday, Scott and I visited Abby's classroom for a "Revision Museum" event held by Abby's class.  Each of the students had written a story about one of their "small moments", and then had spent time revising the story. All the drafts of the story were at the classroom museum for review.  Abby's teacher had taught the class about "lively lead-ins" to grab the readers' attention, dialogue to make the reader feel they were there, and "extraordinary endings" to leave the reader wanting for more.  I was blown away by the kids' writing!  These are first graders, after all.  The class even got to type their stories on the computer for their final revision. 

I clearly remember a few things from my first grade, for example, putting little cardboard alphabet letters in order and reading books like "Spot" and "Jane".  While I'm sure the curriculum was more challenging by the end of the year, I definitely do not recall revising stories using a computer.  I do remember a fun unit on dinosaurs, though.

Take it away Abby!  (Note that I updated the spelling from phonetic to standard, to make the reading a bit easier)

Book Fair in the Library
By Abigail Oswald

Dedication Page: I dedicate this book to my mommy!


Story Text:  I wondered how many BOOKS I was going to get!! The books I got were The Ballet Fairy and the Tasty Tale of Chew and Swallow. My mom was there because she wanted to know what other books I liked. (---- Abby's Lively Lead)

Illustration in Book - Thought Bubble says "Books!  Books!"

 They were Tia and the Tulip Fairy that book came with a feather pen. It was a double-sided book. The other side had Dani and the Daisy!

 My sister Caroline liked Skippy Jon Jones Lost in Spice. My brother Ben liked the book Star Wars Space Ships.


My mom said "there are so many books in this library how can you pick just two Abby"? I did not answer....but in my heart I thought lots of books mom, lots of books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(----Abby's dialogue and extraordinary ending)

Hello????

Happy Earth Day and that's it??  Nothing all week?  I know...I know... 

This week, all possible children's activities, volunteer activities, and school events converged.  It was a fun week, but little time was left for writing.  This week's highlights:

1) Spring Sing - Caroline's preschool held its annual evening Spring Sing performance on Thursday night.  Each preschool class sang and/or danced two numbers.  The performances are pretty adorable, with the expected flashes of little girl bloomers, overly loud singing (or inaudibly quiet singing), waves to the audience, etc.  Scott and I always get a chuckle when the music teacher's deep bass voice (Mrs. Groch) is louder than the kids' voices.  Caroline's class performed a little square dance number and also sang "Yankee Doodle" and "Grand Old Flag" quite well without accompaniment.  We also enjoyed one unexpected surprise -- Caroline got to perform an additional dance number with another preschool class since one of the children in that class was sick. As Caroline's teacher put it, "She can handle anything!"  Caroline was absolutely beaming with pride since she got the call! (Note that Caroline suggested her new hairstyle herself --Cute!)

Before Spring Sing In Caroline's Classroom

2) Gal and Pal Dance - On Friday night, Scott and Abby attended the Gal and Pal Dance organized by our Girl Scout Service Unit.  Although it's safe to say that Abby enjoys the event more than Scott (he just loves to dance), it is a fun night out for fathers and daughters.  Abby reported that she had a super time, expect that the bingo game took way too long since it was four corners.  Scott's dance highlight was that he got to play bingo with the morning news anchor for ABC, Matt O'Donnell. 

Abby and Her Date Before the Dance (azaleas from our front yard)

3) A Whole, Whole Lot of Ben - Ben has fully realized the joy of being naked and/or prancing around in his diaper. Frankly, I am beginning to wonder if it is really worth the trouble of dressing him in the morning. Today he was running around the house singing "Diaper Power" in a long-sleeved shirt, diaper, and yellow rain boots. No, I'm not making that up. Later, it was just the shirt and the boots, no diaper. To quote Ben, "Not good". 


4) Norristown Zoo - Caroline, Ben, and I went to the Norristown Zoo for a short visit on Friday afternoon since it was so beautiful outside.  This zoo is small and walkable in less than an hour.  It features a couple of great kids' playgrounds and a cool prairie dog exhibit.  The rest of the zoo, I have to admit, makes me feel a little uncomfortable.  The animal enclosures are kind of small and the zoo is a bit run-down.  The parts that have been refurbished are nice, but there is still a long way to go.  My level of uncomfortableness was increased by at least tenfold during this visit since there were black vultures sitting and circling all over the zoo.  At one point I looked up and there were over 40 sitting in the trees.  Forty!!!???  I kept looking around expecting something big to be dead, like one of the buffalo, but we never could figure out what was drawing all the vultures.  Very unsettling.  It was like that Hitchcock The Birds movie.  The Zoo Staff kindly inquired if we'd like to become members on the way out.  Umm....maybe next time.

Seven Black Vultures Sitting in the Bald Eagle Exhibit

5) Receipts - I naively agreed to tabulate Acme receipts for Caroline's preschool this year as a fundraiser activity. Acme Markets donates 1% of the receipt total to schools or non-profit groups. About $200,000 worth of receipts later, my job is now finished. Thank goodness. If I could think of a word stronger than TEDIOUS, I'd use it. The school will be using the proceeds to refurbish the playground.

Good Grief

 6) Final Tidbit -- The lacrosse season continues to plug along, and I think I've had about 30 games at this point (usually in groups of 2).  I had my on-field rating (part 1 of 2) yesterday, which went well.  I mentioned earlier that I'm going for my district rating in June, which will enable me to officiate college D3 games.  So far so good!

Happy Earth Day!

I officially wish you a Happy Earth Day on behalf of all "tree-hugging" Environmental Scientists everywhere! 

Since the media has all the climate change-related nagging covered for the day, I would instead suggest that you go outside and take a walk today.  Actually take a few minutes to watch the birds, look at all the pretty shades of pale green on the trees, or smell the flowers and appreciate just how beautiful spring can be.  Even more importantly, take the kids with you!!

It's Wacky Wednesday!

What does this mean in our house?  Absolutely nothing!

Today is Wacky Wednesday at Caroline's preschool, which means she's supposed to dress 'wackily' -- crazy hair, mismatched clothes, mismatched socks.  General mayhem.

I took Caroline upstairs to help her pick out an appropriately wacky outfit for the festivities.  My first selection was rainbow striped pants paired with a white shirt with rainbow polka-dot hearts and a wide-striped sweater.  Then I realized it.  That's Caroline's favorite outfit.  For real. 

Every day is wacky wednesday for her.  One time her preschool teacher even commented to me one time how she loves what a "free spirit" Caroline is and how wonderful it is that I let her "express herself" through her dress.  (I think this might have been the day she paired brown striped knee-highs with her red velvet Christmas dress.)  I'm assuming this self expression good thing right now because it's a little embarrassing when we go out in public.  I guess I should worry if Caroline switches to Goth, right?? 

So, for Wacky Wednesday we ended up with mismatched socks, rainbow striped pants, a polka-dot shirt, and a sweater with rainbow cuffing.  This still looked too much like "regular" Caroline apparel, so we put 7 ponytails in her hair.  We tried putting a bathing suit top over the polka-dot shirt, but this offended Caroline's fashion sensibilities.  "No, Mom, we can't wear something like that."  

Fortunately, Ben still lets me pick out his outfits since he can't reach his shirt drawer. Of course all outfits I select are paired with his yellow rain boots.  Abby is usually more conventionally dressed, but still there are a few days I want to give her a big "I picked out my own outfit" sticker for school.  Yesterday:  royal blue knee-highs, navy blue skirt with daisy flowers, and a teal bohemian style top.  Yikes.  I mentioned to Abby she might want to re-think the outfit.  "But Mom, they're all blue!"  So, I slapped on a sticker on her and put her on the bus.    

Highlights from the Big Apple

Yesterday we drove up to New York City to visit Uncle Brian and wander through the Museum of Natural History and Central Park.  Although I'm still shocked by this, I made it from our house to the parking garage in uptown Manhattan in only 2 hours and 15 minutes.  That must be some kind of record, right?  And, no, I wasn't even driving super fast!  We just didn't hit any (any!) traffic on the NJ Turnpike through the Lincoln Tunnel or even on 10th Avenue.  It was a transportation miracle! 

(This miracle was unfortunately not duplicated on drive from Manhattan to Uncle Brian's place in Queens...)

The Museum of Natural History is one of my favorite places, particularly the Halls of Mammals.  The full-size diorama displays were a huge hit with all 3 kids, as were the dinosaur fossils.  Ben walked by the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Apatosaurus displays quite a few times.  Abby's favorite part of the museum was surprisingly not the space exhibit or the animals, but the Asian peoples exhibits.  She did have a chuckle when she learned Dad would weigh more than 4000 lbs. on the sun, though. 

Caroline also liked all the animal displays, but stated that her absolute favorite part of the museum was "getting to buy my own hot dog".  Mid-way through our tour we stepped outside to grab lunch from the hot dog vendors.  Caroline inhaled her first dog and asked for a second.  So, I handed her the $2 and said that she could go ahead and buy one all by herself.  She acted like she had won the lottery (photo of her dancing in line below).  So, the rare and priceless treasures in Museum hall were no match for the independent hot dog purchase! 

Central Park is always fun and we always stumble upon things we have never seen before.  This time, Abby and Caroline took in a street dancing performance with lots of handstands, breakdancing, and gymnastics.  When the performers passed the hat after the performance to collect some money, Abby donated some of her very own money.  I was a little worried about how much she might have given them, but later learned that she gave them "two whole dimes!"

Amazingly the kids still had energy, so we all played in the 72nd St. Playground (very cool with a play pyamid and rope tower) and also rambled through the "Ramble" area of the park, which is a paved woodland hiking trail.  I can't believe such a natural treasure exists in the middle of New York City!  It was a very beautiful hike since all the cherry trees and tulips and other spring flowers were in full bloom.

We wrapped the evening up with a quick visit to Queens and our favorite Astoria Bakery.  Mmmm....  Quite a fun day!

Mad Scientist

The super short version of this story is that we are now out of white vinegar.

Fortunately, the empty vinegar bottle is due to a legitimate science experiment from preschool and not from Ben pulling the bottle out of the lazy susan in the corner cabinent and shattering it on the tile like he did last year.  While the smell was overpowering, it's true that vinegar really does make an excellent household cleaner.

This is "V" week at Caroline's preschool, so the class made their own volcanoes.  Caroline proudly carried her volcano into the car yesterday after school and told me three things.  To quote her, "1) Volcanoes are made of rock.  2) They have magma inside.  3) Hot lava flows out of the volcano."  I was fairly impressed since it's usually pretty tough to get her to tell me much about her day except maybe what was for snack.

Her mini-volcano is made of molded clay and painted brown, green, and red.  There's a little plastic dixie cup at the top where the lava comes out.  To get the volcano to erupt you mix baking soda and vinegar.  (It's not a splashy eruption -- more of a fizzing over the sides -- but enough to excite the preschool crowd.)  For extra drama you can add a few drops of red food dye to the mixture to make it look like lava.  (I thought this was an excellent use for that expired red beet-based food dye that has been sitting in my kitchen cupbard.)   

I don't have any pictures of the actual eruptions since I was too busy keeping Ben from dipping his hands into the "hot lava".  It was hilarious to watch Caroline add the ingredients over and over and over again.  She insisted upon having the baking soda in a bowl with a spoon and having the vinegar in a small glass so that she could fully simulate classroom conditions.  By the 10th or so mixture she was laughing a little manically -- a mad scientist in action.  And then, we ran out of vinegar.   

Morning Conversation with Ben

Each morning I wake up to a shower of love and kisses -- but not from whom you'd expect.  With uncannily consistent timing, Ben wanders into my room every morning between 6:45 and 6:53am.  Scott is already out of bed getting ready, so Ben climbs under the covers with me and loves me.  Sometimes he'll use my arm as a pillow and drift right off back to sleep for a few more minutes, but more often he gently pats my face or kisses me or whispers that he loves me into my ear.  Not to brag, but I must say it is an absolutely outstanding way to start the day.  Warm toddler love is delightful.

And fleeting.  Little boys don't stay sleepy and still for long.  Soon after the lovin', it's time to use the covers for rocket ships or monster protection, or alternately, it's time to jump on the bed  Isn't that what you want to do within 5 minutes of waking up in the morning?  Oh to have that kind of energy again!

This morning, though, Ben was feeling chatty.  A few execerpts:

Ben:  "Mom, why do you wear that ring?"
Mom:  "I wear it because I'm married to Daddy.  It's my wedding ring."
Ben: "I'm married to you too, Mommy.  I'm going to the grocery store and buy a ring too.  A LOT of rings."

Mom:  "Ben, how are you tootsies [feet] right now? I ask because they are currently kicking me in the ribcage."
Ben: "Oh, they're just fine.  They're just hanging out."

On a completely unrelated note, does anyone know how to get rid of the smell of garlic?  A certain beloved grandparent used a garlic jar for storing polished rocks and even after a long 24-hour soapy soak the rocks still reek of garlic.  Ideas??  They're potent!  Will the smell just dissipate after a while??  The rocks are quite a hit in every other way, though.  Not to worry :-)

Guest Photographer - Caroline

I let Caroline use my camera to take some pictures on Friday.  It was a beautiful spring day and I had the camera out myself to try to catch some photos of Caroline and Ben playing in the backyard, hopefully without their knowing I was taking their pictures.  Well, not too much luck for me, but instead I thought it would be fun to see the backyard from Caroline's perspective.  We tried this last summer too, and this ended up with all photos of shoes:  her shoes, Scott's shoes, Abby's shoes, my shoes, her shoe stepping on a leaf, her shoe stepping on the sidewalk, her shoe stepping on my shoe, etc. etc.  This time, though, much better -- the photos are level and interesting! 

I should also note that I initially tried to post this blog without the tree photo (below), and I showed Caroline the draft posting so she could see her pictures on the computer.  Her first comment, "Mom, what about the tree picture?  Can you add that too?"  I can't believe that she remembered all her photos from Friday!  So, I added the trees too.

Self Portrait

Ben Exploring (Centered and Great Composition, Right!)

The Trees (required!)

The Backyard

Her Shadow (this one is my favorite)

The Photographer at Rest (I took this one)

Due Tomorrow? Like, Tomorrow Tomorrow??

You know those chaotic families in cartoons -- the ones where the kid tells the mom at bedtime that they have a project due the very next day? And then the next frame is the mom looking kind of exasperated and/or crazy?  I always thought that we had it together enough here that something like that would never happen to us.  HA!  Proven wrong yet again! 

Abby's very first school project, a cultural tradition oral project, was assigned to her before spring break with the date clearly marked on the front sheet.  However, I never put the date on the calendar.  Big mistake!!  I knew the deadline was approaching, but in my head I thought that the project was due on April 12th (this coming monday).  I was so sure of this date that I even told Abby that we had to finish everything up by bedtime on Saturday since we're going up to Grandma and Grandad's on Sunday. 

Long story short, the actual due date for the project was today, April 9th, which I found out last night at 8:30pm when Abby started crying right at bedtime because she hadn't finished her project.  Fortunately, Abby and I had already worked through the written part of the project (filling out a matrix of family traditions), but she hadn't gotten the oral presentation together.  So, that's what we did last night at 8:30-9pm and again this morning before school.  Luckily, this is only a first grade project so the "presentation" is very, very short and Abby is ready.  But, lesson learned!!  USE THE CALENDAR!

To be honest, I'm sure that I blew it on the date because the family schedule has been extra crazy from lacrosse.  I only umpire 3 times a week, for a total of about 9 hours.  Apparently, those are the key 9 hours that I use to hold down the fort.  The umpiring season is going pretty well so far, but has been rather extreme from the weather perspective.  I have had games that were freezing (40°F and torrential downpour) and boiling (90°F on turf).  Last night (before the whole presentation fiasco), I finally got to enjoy a pleasant 70 degree and breezy night game under the lights.  Makes all the lacrosse meetings worth it!      

It's a BAG!

Our bus stop is at a fairly busy intersection in the morning. Ben, a typical 2-year old, has 100% energy in the morning, only 50% balance, and 0% sense of self preservation.  So, the trip to the bus stop usually entails me chasing Ben down the sidewalk ensuring that he does not walk into the street and/or off the sidewalk into the street.  A super relaxing start to the day!  (By the way, it's amazing just how many drivers are on their cell phones in the morning driving on residential roads and are completely oblivious to the flashing lights of a bus. Scary!)

Well, after about 3 days I was tired of that routine, so I thought I would distract Ben and/or Caroline by having them take the newspaper up from the sidewalk of our neighbor to located at the corner of the bus stop up to her doorstep.  I figured the neighbor (who we had not yet met) wouldn't mind, and it would occupy the kids for a minute while at the bus stop and they would be safely away from the street.

In what is still an amazing turn of events to me, it turns out that our neighbor had just started chemotherapy when we moved to the neighborhood, and she she came out one day to tell us that she was so grateful that she didn't have to trek all the way out to the street to get her paper in the cold winter weather. Our neighbor looked so tired that day, that I thought it would be nice to take our bus stop self preservation project one step further and leave our neighbor some little surprises on her doorstep from time to time (paper valentines or little flowers or something cheerful) to let her know we were thinking about her.  Over the past few months, we've had a lot of fun with this arrangement -- little notes from us sometimes, little notes for us sometimes. 

Today, the tables were turned on us.  Our neighbor left the kids each a bag with a some cookies and a little bunny palm pet.  You can imagine how exciting this was for the kids.  (It was like Christmas morning exciting.)  Ben cracked me up, though, instead of showing the gifts to his bus stop buddies, he screamed out, "I GOT A BAG!!!"  The old joke about the box being better than the gift still holds true!

My only worry (why would I worry when something nice happens?? I think that's the 'mom' programming kicking in...) is that the kids will now expect something nice as a reward when they do something nice for someone else.  I just want them to learn to be kind for the sake of kindness.  It's a hard lesson to teach. 

Cat Rat Sat Mat Bat Pat

Today, offically, I started teaching Caroline to read.  We've been working on letter sounds for a while ("pre-reading"), and I think that she has the sounds down (usually), so now it's time for the next step.  Real words. 

I used the Hooked on Phonics program with Abby, so I'm going to try this approach with Caroline too. She's a very different style of learner than Abby, at least based on how she learned her letter sounds. So, I plan to give the phonics approach a try for a month or two, and then see where we are.  I want this to be a fun process for her and something for us to do together.  I remember it was frustrating for Abby at times, but she was very enthusiastic about the process overall.  Caroline seems similarly enthusiastic. 

Lesson 1 - the AT family.  So far, so good.  However, I have to admit that I had forgotten how much patience this process requires, both from me and also from the student.

Wish us luck!! 

Happy Easter!

We had a fabulous Easter Sunday here, and I hope you did too.  It was a beautiful family day with beautiful weather, and I heard a beautiful message today too.  Have you ever heard the folktale, The Tale of the Three Trees?  I don't know how had I missed this before, but it is really a wonderful tale with incredible implications on one's life and faith and purpose.  I found a link to the story online, if you want to read it (it's short -- and worth it!): http://www.jasondunn.com/archive/faith/page11.htm

Our day in pictures:

Reaching High for an Egg

Just Before the Bath

Book Review: Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

I believe the female readers out there will really enjoy reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  This book was very well liked by me, my book club, and my Mom, who just finished it up based on my very enthusiastic phone recommendation.

This book, written as a series of letters, is a charming and poignant story of Juliet, a writer searching for her next book subject just after the end of WWII.  Juliet receives a letter by a man living on Guernsey, an English channel island, who ends up with one of her books and requests some additional information about the book's author. 

Their correspondence continues and expands as the Guernsey residents, some of whom started a book club (a.k.a., the Literary and Potato Peel Society), share some of their experiences with German occupation of  their island during the war.  The islanders' experiences are at times heartwarming tales of strength and sometimes heartbreaking stories of loss. The vivid characters in this book come further to life when Juliet visits the island to meet the people she has come to love in person. I immensely enjoyed this book, and I have to admit that I even felt a little sad when I reached the end since I had grown quite attached to the quirky Guernsey residents too.