I hope that I can make this children’s book roundup a regular Kellybean feature…we’ll see how it goes.
Madeline’s Christmas by Ludwig Bemelmans
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
It’s way past Christmas, but my daughter still requests that we read Madeline’s Christmas. I’ve read it so much to her, that she can almost recite this book back to me…and she’s only 2! I don’t think she likes it at all. 🙂
Priscilla and the Great Santa Search by Nathaniel Hobbie
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
My daughter received this book as a Christmas gift from some friends of ours.The first time I read it to her, she didn’t seem too interested. But the next night she requested that I add “Silla” to the bedtime story rotation. I think that it being a Christmas book, helped pique her interest. Also, too, my daughter is showing signs of being a girly-girl and Priscilla and her friend, Bettina are as girly as you can get!
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
“…and the smallest one was Madeline.” This is the first story of the fiery red-head at Miss Clavel’s. My daughter loves this book, and is starting to recite this story as well. The illustrations are so simple, it’s great! We heart Madeline!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
How could children not love this book? The title sounds silly enough, kids go nuts! My daughter just loves this book and seems genuinely concerned when the letters have fallen from the coconut tree.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
My daughter just adores this book! She really gets into telling the pigeon, “No!”
Though, quite enjoyable, this does not make a good choice for the bed time story rotation.
From time to time we hear this “racket” coming from our neighbor’s house. It sounded like he was playing the drums, not so well however.
But, now we think we know what he is doing…
a must have
To preface, Mads is currently under the weather – started last Saturday morning with vomiting, fever and now a cough, sore throat, runny nose – the cold from hell. In the process of all this, her beloved boppy got dirty. Now, the boppy has got some interesting washing instructions: delicate cycle, cold water, okay, okay…tumble dry on delicate cycle…with tennis balls. It didn’t specify how many tennis balls, unfortch. Luckily, I managed to find 3 clean tennis balls (i.e. Lucie hadn’t gotten to them yet) to throw in the dryer with the boppy.
With all the noise the dryer is making, we’ve concluded that he’s drying tennis balls in his dryer. He doesn’t seem cool enough to be a drummer. 😉
makes enough for a small army
photo courtesy of Cookie
While it’s not the most substantive parenting magazine out there – Cookie is hip, stylish and offers great recipes from time to time. My favorite section of the magazine is the Smart Cookie – Food feature of the magazine. You start with one main ingredient (in this case, ground turkey) and depending on what’s in your freezer or pantry, you have the choice of 3 wonderfully delicious meals! (It’s kinda like those choose your own adventure books! Remember those?)
So with our abundance of potatoes (both from the store and the farm), I decided that Turkey Goulash it would be! (Though it has potatoes, I served it over buttered orzo. It would be great with brown rice, too!) And it was wonderful! The recipe didn’t tell us readers that it would yield a jillion servings – so you can guess what we’ll be eating the rest of the week!
Simply amazing!
Obama's inauguration audience
image courtesy of The Huffington Post
And the inaugural speech, courtesy of MSNBC:
Did anyone catch his reference to 1 Corinthians? (My college friends, should know this one! Wink, wink.)
What a morning it’s been!
Sadly, when asked the question, where were you when Obama took the oath of office? I have the very unglamorous answer of: in my car, driving to work on Page Mill Road (while blotting away tears – hey, it’s an emotional day!), only to have the car get schizo on me so that I missed most of the inaugural (what strange looking word, now that I type it) speech.
But honestly, I’m feeling very hopeful for the next 4 years – are you?
I like the way the Brits refer to rewards cards better.
But, you know what I’m talking about, those pieces of plastic that start to accumulate either in your wallet, or in my case, on my key chain. I just realized that I’ve got more “club cards” than I do keys!
Sloat Garden Center – for all your gardening needs (indoor and out)
PetSmart Perks – only signed up to get $10 knocked off a pricey grooming brush that I now LOVE!
YogaSource – should probably remove this as I haven’t been in over a year – the studio is small and has absolutely no ventilation so any yoga class ends up being a crazy hot yoga class. I can’t imagine what their Bikram class would be like.
Borders – only when I can’t make it to Books, Inc.
San Francisco Public Library – doesn’t really count as a rewards program, but it is convenient
Petco P.A.L.S. – we don’t really shop here anymore, but you never know
Elephant Pharmacy – of course, they closed the only location that was convenient for me shortly after I signed up