Kindness From Her Kitchen

Happy Tuesday; today I'm still on a natural high from our book launch.

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Today's Special Delivery

Today I'm grateful for my husband's thoughtfulness at snapping this shot of the moment when our mail carrier, Angela, arrived with Birdie & Mipps.

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Celebrating Birdie & Mipps

Today I'm excited because my sister is visiting; look at the memory gift she had made for me, to celebrate this week's release of our niche picture book about the importance of names and respectful use of nicknames.

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When you're quiet

Happy new year; today I'm reflecting on compassion and connection.

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No More Next Times

Today I'm thinking about the words next time.

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An Emotional Awakening

Today I'm feeling grateful even as the grief continues.

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Taking My Best Shot

Today, on our last day of Spring Break 2022,

I'm thinking about this shot and the adage about pain.

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My Empty {Pool} Chair

Today I'm thinking about gratitude, gumption and grief work.

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Carried By Love

Today I'm reflecting on the messy and unpredictable grief journey.

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When The Cardinal Chirps

I took this picture a year ago today as I was closing down 2020;

what a difference a year makes. 2022, here we come.

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Going To Gratitude

We saw this sign hanging on a door during

our recent visit to the Ronald McDonald House.

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Your Mipps-Sized Mark

Still ascending. That's what your boss told me, during our many conversations about you, Mark. He said that you were definitely still ascending. I like that, so I put it on the last photo you sent to us, of a paradise you saw in Maine on your last trip, just two days before you'd head to your heavenly paradise. Oh, how you loved to travel!

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PPBF: When A Dragon Moves In Again

It's Friday, Friday, a PPBF-Friday and guess who's back?

I predict you'll be on fire for today's pick.

Title: When a Dragon Moves In Again

Author: Jodi Moore

Illustrator: Howard McWilliam

Publisher: Flashlight Press

Date: September 1, 2015

Suitable for: Kindergarten through 2nd

Fiction

Themes: imagination, new baby, sibling jealousy

Brief synopsis: This sequel to When A Dragon Moves In finds our little tyke and his family nesting as they await the arrival of their baby. Will there be room enough for Dragon in this family of five?

Opening page: If you help your dad build a castle, a dragon might move in.

Resources: 

*Visit the author's inspiring page {here}.

*Compare and contrast the author's two Dragon books.

*Make an origami dragon head using these You Tube instructions.

*Click {here} for some dragon coloring sheets and printables.

*Activity idea: Infuse movement into your read aloud by encouraging kids to do a jumping jack, mountain climber, squat thrust, burpee, or the dance move of their choice every time they hear the word dragon. 

Why I like this book: This hilarious text takes an honest and authentic look at the sibling jealousy that can ensue when a new baby joins the family. From bowling with baby bottles to flying for the newborn like a superhero, the dragon-boy dynamic duo does its best to get the attention {connection} that a middle child craves when an infant sibling arrives.

Expect the boy blaming his antics on his dragon to spark a discussion about real versus pretend, about honesty and dishonesty and beg the age-old question:

Is it ever okay to lie? 

And then prepare to be wrapped in a blanket of warmth by the very real snuggle scene; the author's powerful words paired with the illustrator's brilliant visuals will reach down into the depths of your emotional reserves to endear you to this heartwarming treasure. 

Check out this book; it'll be the perfect addition to your collection

 and a really fun gift for that mommy-to-be in your circle.

For today's other PPBF titles, visit Susanna Hill's blog {here}.

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Give Me A Break!

I can't be the only mom - or dad - out there who's really really eager for break to be over and for school to start again! I actually thought that my boys' squabbles might get physical last night. Yikes.

No, really, they love each other!

Hallmark Channel, take me away!

Enter this clever book, based on one mom's creative {wit's end} idea 

to help mediate her ten-year-old twins one summer break.

Click graphic for purchasing info

Set up like a real journal, this treasure had me in stitches from cover to cover. Actually, I had to laugh to keep from crying because its authenticity made it so hilariously poignant.

Journey with these siblings through the pages of their summer right after fourth grade. It starts with them as quite argumentative and combative, but it morphs into a super account of a sibling summer side-by-side. The doodles and drawings add a splash of fun and flair that actually had me wishing I had a classroom of my own in which I could teach perspective with this as my next read-aloud.

For kicks, here's a picture of me with my siblings in the summer of 1976. 

Notice that we three older kids are each just a year apart. With children so close together in age, my parents firmly believed that working side-by-side would keep those sibling squabbles at bay, so I really connected with this mom's unity assignment that her kids journal their summer days away. 

{Sometimes I think I'd have rather been journaling than milking cows!}

Of course, I'd springboard a writing idea of my own

to teach point-of-view or empathy or something like that.

So, check out this engaging book (and its two sequels),

grab a KitKat candy bar, and repeat after me:

Give me a break!

Happy second semester.

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