This New Year has been extremely busy and since mid-December my little family has been battling nasty sick bugs left, right and centre. Now that the worst seems behind us, I am filled with a sense of renewal and looking forward to all that 2013 has in store! I am working on a completely new format for the blog and ask that you all remain patient with me as I tweak and reorganize things! Continue reading
Throughout this Christmas season, as many of you know, our family has been exploring the Christmas traditions of other cultures. We began by explaining and celebrating St. Nicholas Day on December 6th and have continued to explore other traditions and folk tales from other cultures. Continue reading
I am SUPER thrilled to be joining back up with Renee at the Mother Daughter Book Reviews blog to bring you this awesome opportunity to check out what many MANY other bloggers have to share about their love for children’s literature! It’s also a fun way to share your own children’s book reviews and other great posts about children’s literacy! Continue reading
As our children grow and begin to understand and find joy in the value of traditions, Hubby and I have been trying to re-invent the wheel at bit this Christmas. Call it a year for “experimentation” – this year we’re trying a few different traditions to help us identify what our family’s traditions will become. I’ve read a bit online, visited a few blogs and chatted with many of my friends to find out what’s “out there” and over the next few weeks, I hope to try a few new traditions to see which ones fit our family. Continue reading
Yesterday Niagara finally joined the rest of Canada as we experienced our first snowfall of the season. Mr. B’s eyes were full of wonder as this is the first snowfall he’s ever really “experienced” since he was just a few months old last winter. Of course, being in one of Canada’s “hot spots”, none of it stuck and all we have is green grass covered in crunchy leaves again, but that first snowfall is all it takes to put people in the right frame of mind to face winter and get into the Christmas spirit!
Miss J is learning words left, right and center, but still insists that she “can’t read the story” on her own. Sometimes, to encourage her to participate in the storytelling, we scrap the text and just tell the story by “reading the pictures”. This can be a TON of fun – interpreting the images can lead to wild and crazy adventures (and can also give you a break from reading the same old text over and over again too!).
Some stories are actually wordless. This week’s children’s book is one of our family’s “winter favourites”. It’s about a little boy and his snowman and th
e adventures the go on as they explore each other’s worlds. In the award winning story The Snowman, author Raymond Briggs takes his readers on a wonderful adventure using more than 175 gently coloured images that are neatly arranged to illustrate this awesome little winter adventure that starts in the yard and home of the little boy and continues on a grand adventure. It’s a beautiful story and, as promised, one that can be extended in any number of fun ways to increase the learning for your little ones!
Extended Learning for Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman
Get Active: Build a snowman!
Dig Deeper: Mark Cassino’s The Story of Snow answers your snow-related questions!
Be Creative: Visit Lisa @ 5 Orange Potatoes and make your own Ivory Soap Snow!
Read More: Read the poem “The Snowman” by Shel Silverstein.
Watch: The Snowman on DVD or on Blu-Ray – story set to beautiful music!
Please share your favourite “Snowman Activies” in the comments below or on our Facebook Page and I’ll add them! If we pool our ideas together – favourite poems, stories, crafts, games, activities, we’ll have a TON of fantastic ideas to draw from when the “snowman” mood strikes this winter!
Ho! Ho! Ho! The Christmas season is upon us and the first step to getting things set-up in the House of Mac is always the BOOKS! I love switching up the kids’ Seasonal Home Library – it’s a chance to bring certain book choices to their attention and take a break from other stories that have been “read to death” in previous days. Continue reading
I love to make things and create. I love to make things cozy and then sit back with the perfect cup of tea and enjoy it for the few moments before my adorable children wreck the place again. I am thankful for my little family and all of its chaos, most days it is a good kind of crazy. Life continues to get busy and it is always a balancing act to discern what things you need to make space for in your life and what things may need a break.
While starting Mudpies and Melodies with Shaunna has been a great creative outlet, I have decided to return to my little ‘ol blog. This will still allow me to share my creative exploits but will also enable me to post more sporadically when the mood hits. I am looking forward to less screen time and more time to create things, play with my crazy family and drink tea. Please feel free to stop by and say hello at Under the Pine Tree if you would like.
I find the very best part about blogging is when something you’ve written touches someone else – often in life, you don’t get to see the results of your influence, but every once and awhile, someone takes the time to tell you how they’ve been touched and how they’ve been able to touch others. Continue reading
A single moment captured…
a glimpse into our sometimes peaceful, but often delightfully crazy & blessed lives.
My friend Kristy and I have had good intentions for several weeks since Kim posted about her Felted Sweater Wreath – except we wanted “real fake” flowers instead of the felted sweater – FINALLY we managed to assemble our wreaths the other day – so mine is finally hanging on my door and will come down December 1st to be replaced by my Christmas one.
The neat thing about this wreath is that we only tucked the flowers in and didn’t glue them – I fully intend on buying some spring flowers and replacing the fall ones when the time comes! Even the “M” can be moved as it is just being held by heavy duty twist ties!
I’m taking you all back a few years with me tonight. This story is one from my own childhood. It’s not a typical feature for Read To Me Mondays; it’s a more thoughtful story than some of the other, somewhat “lighter” titles on the bookshelf. However, it definitely has a wonderful message and is well worth sharing with you all! Continue reading
