Tag: reading

Read All About It: March

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in Books for Toddlers, family, family fun, Home, Uncategorized

March has been a very bitter month for us, when it comes to weather.

This means that we spent a lot of time indoors curled up with a good book and we went back to the library this month due to the height of flu season.

Here were our choices for the March bookbag.

MarchBookBag1.JPG

“If You Give a Moose a Muffin” by Laura Numeroff 

IMG_5364

Just like the famous “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” this story talks about what happens when you give a moose a muffin. As you can image the fun that ensues as the book escaltes from a simple muffin to a sweater and to a puppet show.

“What Pet Should I Get” by Dr. Seuss

IMG_5363

Recently this new Dr. Seuss book was discovered years after the author’s death. Just like all of his other books it spent a lot of time on the bestsellers list. What I really like about the book is that there is section in the back from the publisher about the importance of going to shelters to pick out your new pet instead of going to a pet store like the book states. (Please excuse the blurry photo. We were too excited.)

“Easter Surprise” by Catherine Stock

IMG_5366

This book is a sweet story that gets kids in the mood for Easter. The story is about two siblings who goes on a trip to a lake house during Easter. The beautiful watercolors enhance the story and give it a really sweet feeling. This is just one of many Stock’s holiday books.

“Oh No, Little Dragon” by Jim Averbeck

IMG_5365

This is a sweet story about a little dragon who loses his spark and is afraid that his Mommy won’t love him anymore and he tries so hard to get his spark back by making himself warm. It is only when he learns that his mommy will always love him no matter what that brings the spark back. Sweet story with cute and fun illustrations.

“Elephants Cannot Dance” by Mo Williams 

IMG_5361

If you couldn’t already tell by the picture this was our favorite book. Lily has always been a fan of the Elephant and Piggy books and she really liked this one. It tells the story of Elephant who has no confidence about dancing. However, he learns to accept himself as he is and celebrate his own unique qualities.

MarchBookBag2

For me, I haven’t done much reading this month. Between work, the blog and deciding to make Lily’s Easter dress I have had a full plate.

But, I have enjoyed reading these two books that came with my subscription to Calm Box that was a Valentine’s Day gift from the hubby.

Each book is full of either inspiration or tips on how to lead a less stressful life.

The beautiful illustrations and quick relaxation tips make for a nice read right before bed to help you remember what is important in life.

What has been on your book list this month? Leave your comments below.

 

Seuss-tastic Time

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in Books for Toddlers, family, family fun, Home, preschoolers, Toddler, Uncategorized

img_5343

A couple of evenings ago we had the opportunity to attend a special Dr. Seuss evening that was sponsored by our school district’s early reading program.

The event was really planned out well and Lily had the chance to hear three different Dr. Seuss books.

img_5340

After the books the kids had an opportunity to play some different Seuss themed games while the parents listened to a talk about how to incorporate reading into everyday life.

They even had a gift bag give away that included a copy of the book “Raising a Rock Star Reader.”

I never win anything, but I won the raffle. I was excited.

Then after a reading of “Cat in the Hat” we took a few photos and played some games before we received a wonderful giftbag full of several books including “Fox in Socks” and a couple other books as well as erasers, a pencil, pencil sharpener, stickers and bookmarks.

We had such a wonderful evening and we were so thankful for the district for putting on this wonderful event.

img_5341

How did you celebrate Dr. Seuss day? Leave your comments below.

 

 

Read, White and Blue

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in Books for Toddlers, family, family fun, Home, preschoolers, Toddler, Uncategorized
read-across-america-day1
Photo courtesy of Batton Rouge Moms

This week the country celebrates “Read Across America” in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

It serves as a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the tradition of reading not just by yourself, but reading to your children as well.

So, in honor of the celebration I wanted to share both Lily’s top three books and my top three books. (Lily decided on the number three because she is just three years old.)

Lily’s top three books of all times

interrupting-chicken

“Interrupting Chicken” by David Ezra Stein

This book always elicits giggles in our house.

The story is about a little chicken that is enjoying story time right before bed when she keeps on interrupting her father as he tries, and fails, again and again to read stories when the little chicken keeps on interrupting.

Can Papa finish one story before he is interrupted? Found out in the book.

winnie-the-pooh

“The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh” by A.A. Milne

Every child that has grown up has visited his or her friends in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore and the whole gang’s tale of Heffalumps, Busy Backsons and becoming completely surrounded by water are one of our favorite stories to hear time and time again.

I am sure everyone has either wanted to play Pooh Sticks with Winnie-the-Pooh or gone bouncing with Tigger at least once in their childhood.

creepy-carrots

“Creepy Carrots!” by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown

This is one of Lily’s favorites from way back when she was little.

The story is about a bunny that cuts through this field on his way to and from school where he plucks a few carrots from the garden to eat.

Everything seems to be going fun until he starts to think the carrots are following him.

The book is more cute then creepy and reminds me of a cheesy monster movie.

It is also a Caldacot award winning book, so you know it must be good.

Tara’s top book picks

pride-and-prejudice
Photo courtesy of Pinterest

“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen

This is my all time favorite book. I love the regency time period and Lizzy Bennet is one of my all time favorite literary heroes. She bucks the system when she won’t marry the creeptastic Mr. Collins (can you blame her?) and is holding out for love.

Mr. Darcy is also such a dreamy character (even though he is a jerk throughout half of the book) that has Austen fan girls swooning for days.

The story really talks about the dangers of pride and of course the prejudice that people pass each day.

shes-come-undone

“She’s Come Undone” by Wally Lamb

When I first read this novel many years ago, I had to keep on checking the front cover to double check the gender of the author.

Lamb did a wonderful job being the voice of a girl that grows into a woman and has to face many challenges during this transition.

Dolores Price spends her time feeding her soul with junk food until she turns into a young adult where she goes through a rebirth that helps to transition her life.

Really great story that deals with difficult themes.

memoirs-of-a-geisha

“Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden

What stood out to me the most was how well Golden did at transporting the reader to another place and time. Somewhere that most readers would never have experienced and make it seem like a place they know so well.

The story follows a group of girls as they train to become geishas before and during World War II.

Becoming and being a geisha was an art form that was much more than “entertaining” a gentleman, and Golden really goes into depth on explaining this.

The film version of the novel was a really good adaptation that stayed pretty faithful to the book.

What are your favorite books to read with your little one or on your own? Leave your comments below.

Visiting the Big Guy

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in christmas, family fun, Toddler, Uncategorized

Where we live we are very lucky because we have an active community that does a lot for children in the area.

One such place that always hosts great events is the Uniontown Public Library. Not only is it a wonderful place that offers a wide selection of books for adults and children, they also hold story times, a summer reading program and, what we experienced most recently, a special Christmas party.

This past Saturday we had a chance to attend the party for the first time and I have to say Lily had a wonderful time.

The festivities kicked off with a short play, “The Life and Time of Santa Claus” presented by Stage Right, an acting school for kids in Greensburg.

The play told the story about how Santa Claus became the person that we all know and love today.

The kids did a wonderful job and really entertained the kids.

img_4876
Lily did a good job sitting with the other kids. However, she did get a little nervous and wanted to come back and sit with us.

After their performance, the cast sat on the floor and invited the kids to come up and meet them. Lily was so excited that she got to give a high-five to Mrs. Claus.

Then the kids were invited to do a holiday themed craft.

Each child received a picture of Santa’s sleigh on a snowy wonderland and they were given stickers to use to decorate the picture.

If there are stickers involved, we are there. Lily absolutely loves stickers and she really enjoyed doing the craft.

LilySticker.jpeg
If there are stickers, we are there.

While we were completing our picture the announcement was made that Santa was there and he was ready to meet with the children.

I was really proud of Lily she did a great job meeting him and telling him what she wanted for Christmas (a Paw Patrol playset) and wasn’t really nervous. I think introducing her to a lot of characters at Disney really helped.

LilyandSanta.JPG
We enjoyed meeting Santa. We also received a candy cane and got to pick out a book. We we over the moon about both.

And the perfect ending to any event is cake.

Lily informed me that her favorite snack is cake and she loved having her piece before we headed out to do more Christmas shopping.

We can’t thank the Uniontown Public Library enough for putting on such a wonderful event. (I was also told that the Greek Catholic Union, which I have a life insurance policy through, paid for the performance from Stage Right. So thank you to them.)

Do you participate in any special holiday events in your community? Leave your comments below.

Two Unlikely Best Friends

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in Books for Toddlers, family fun, Toddler, Uncategorized

 

13731718_1082369121842129_8437218686349478398_n
Photo courtesy of Mo Williams

We read a lot of children’s books.

Lily has liked most of them, but none have quite hit a home run like the Elephant and Piggie series from Mo Williams.

The series contains 25 books that cover a variety of subjects that children can relate to including being invited to a party, jealousy when there is a new friend, naptime and more.

Elephant, AKA Gerald, takes life seriously and seems to always have a plan. He becomes easily rattled, but has his best friend there to help him see the bright side of life.

Piggie is always ready for adventure and loves surprising her best friend Gerald. She is very sensitive to his needs and often times helps him achieves his goals.

 

10391470_997326290346413_7901021098141479889_n
Photo courtesy of Mo Williams
The books are easy to read and only a few words are on each page and are shown inside of a speech bubble.

The stories always feature some sort of issue that the two friends must overcome and teaches kids good problem solving skills.

But, the biggest reason why we like them is because the books are funny and super sweet. Every time we read one, Lily is laughing out loud and can’t wait to read the next one.

A lot of libraries seem to have a pretty good collection of the books because a few have been awarded a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award for being a most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English.

If you do a search on YouTube, there are different animated tellings of the books and there is also a musical that is currently touring.

 

 

554348_284886308257085_172993651_n
Photo courtesy of Mo Williams
Have you read any of the Elephant and Piggie books? If so, what is your favorite?

 

Crazy Weekend for the Mousekatot Family

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in Books for Toddlers, Disney, Family Vacation, home organization, Pittsburgh, Toddler, Toddler Travel, Uncategorized

It has been a long and crazy weekend for the Mousekatot family, that is why you haven’t seen much here.

Having a nice long weekend, with both Friday and Monday off from work, lead to a four day weekend full of fun and also some unfortunate stuff too.

Friday

On Friday we were able to spend a wonderful evening with family at our annual Cousin Reunion.

We were able to visit with cousins from all over the country and our kiddos were able to spend time together, too.

There was a lot of laughing, playing and eating of Slovak foods.

13664343_780585510087_1776550014_n
Third and first generation cousins.

 

Saturday

Saturdays are always super important to the three of us so we always try and do something fun and exciting. We refer to it as “Adventure Saturday.”

This past Saturday we decided to check out this huge book sale that a chain of used bookstores was having.

It was awesome! There were audio books, paperbacks, records, DVDs, CDs and anything you could think of.

The best part was nothing was over $2.

13652794_780585639827_1113847729_n
The huge turnout at the book sale.

There were a lot of different books and we were able to get a bunch of books for our Mousekatot, a few DVDs including seasons one and three (couldn’t find season two) of “Arrested Development” and some other books for us.

We also went to Gander Mountain to check out and see what they had for sale. We lucked out because we found Columbia sandals for $21 that were originally $61! We are now ready to tackle Walt Disney World this year with super comfortable shoes. Once we get back I will do a review and let you know how thy worked out.

13672230_780585629847_2069604812_n
Lily loved riding in the car at Gander Mountain. (Excuse the blurriness. My iPhone is struggling.)

Since both Kev and I are vegetarians (I try to eat vegan when I can) one of our favorite places to eat is called Mad Mex.

13672056_780585649807_1503406282_n
Coloring our cat picture.

 

Mad Mex is part of a local restaurant chain that has a lot of Tex-Mex food options for both omnivores and veggies. All of their options can be made vegetarian with either all veggies or swap in tofu. They also offer vegan cheese and sour cream to make the meal completely vegan.

91wBhxi-RcL._SX522_
Tofu taco with vegan sour cream.

I concluded our wonderful Saturday by starting to read one of the books that I picked up at the book sale. I am only a few chapters in and it seems like it is going to be a pretty good book.

13872519_780585659787_2072814017_n

 

Sunday

Sunday was a nice lazy day that included swimming at our in-laws, eating pizza and getting ready to take on the new week.

Monday

This is the day our hot water heater rusted and the bottom fell out and water was all over. We tried to get a hot water heater from a big box store and they miscommunicated and we wouldn’t be able to get it installed that day. Luckily, we found someone that could that day and it ended up working out. I am so thankful for having hot water.

So that was pretty much how the weekend shook out. Despite the hot water heater and also the fact that it looks like my iPhone is losing battery power like crazy, I had a great weekend.

 

Do you did anything exciting this weekend? Leave your comments below.