Lee was home this past weekend. Last night, he lit a fire in the backyard and we sat outside together for awhile–getting eaten by mosquitoes!

He went inside earlier than James and I did. When we went in James was complaining about something.

I came in to see what was going on and said, “What in the world?”

Lee was on the couch watching Otello a Verdi Opera at the Met on PBS.

“Come sit with me.” he said. So I did. And I smiled at him.

He kept exclaiming about how well they sang. And how they were singing but it looked like they were talking and acting.

We didn’t watch the whole opera–it was very long! But I sat next to him and smiled the whole time.

I often wonder, how I can be married to a man for 15 years and still find out something new about him.

He said he listens to opera in the semi sometimes. That just makes me grin.

I enjoyed our opera date last night. I’m glad he was home to experience it with him.

When I mentioned that I was scheduling posts for my blog absence, some said that they hoped I’d update when baby arrives.

OF COURSE !

I will update and post a photo or two when I’m able to do so. I won’t just leave you completely clueless.

I’m glad you’re excited with me! Thank you.

We received the opportunity to review Homeschool Sunday School Lessons by Christianity Cove.

We reviewed Tween A Rock And A Hard Place and Bullying and the Bible.

Tween a Rock and a Hard Place retails for $29.00 and is a 165 page resource.

Tween a Rock and A Hard Place offers lessons on 12 of the most uncomfortable topics facing kids today.

The lessons are for ages 9-12 year olds. The author feels this is one of the best ages to reach children–while they are still teachable.

Some of the topics this resource covers are as follows:

Dating
Clothing Styles
Drinking
Drugs
Abstinence
Gossiping
Forgiveness

Lessons are broken down into activities, lessons, discussions, and small group activity.

Pros:

*The lessons are based on the Bible.

*Good ideas for discussion are included.

*The resource includes sheets with quizzes or discussion topics that can be printed for the student.

*The lessons help adults discuss sensitive topics more easily.

Cons:

*The activities and discussions seem to be MUCH more suited to a group situation. I can see a lot of this working better and having more of an impact in Sunday School class than at home with one child.

*I still prefer physical copies of materials we use in school instead of pdfs.

Bullying and The Bible is a 48 page pdf download containing 6 lessons. It retails for $27.00. We reviewed the version for 10-16 year olds.

For a limited time, the author is offering both sets of Bullying and the Bible for students ages 5-9 and for students ages10-16 for $39.00.

Bullying and the Bible offers 6 weeks of lessons based on characters from familiar Bible stories.

Joseph, Moses, David, as well as a few others.

The resource talks about human nature hasn’t changed since Bible times–there were bullies then and there are bullies now.

The lessons are set up to have an attention getter, introductory material, Scripture reading, discussion question, and closing in prayer with an included prayer focus.

The lessons offer questions to get the student to think about the feelings of others and their own feelings. Then questions to help the student consider ways to fix the problem.

These lessons should allow students to–

From the resource:

• recognize many of the emotions and behaviors that lead up to bullying, giving them a chance to nip things in the bud;
• recognize bullying tendencies, both in others and in themselves
• use Biblical guidelines and the latest advice from professionals in handling bullying situations

Pros:

*The material is laid out well with easy to read attention grabbers for the teacher. Even if we know how to plan for and present a lesson, it’s nice to have things highlighted or bullet pointed. I don’t mind having important things pointed out to me at all.

*The lessons show children that the Bible is relevant for today. It has the answers even if it’s an “old” book.

*I also like that the lessons are framed in a different way. You may have read or told these stories multiple times, but looking at them again with the thought of bullying is a great way to revisit the Bible.

*The lessons don’t have to be taught in order.

*There is no materials list–just a discussion based lesson.

Cons:

*One small one, I just feel that the discussion questions would work a LOT better in a group. Of course James and I discussed points but having other students stories and input would probably make a lot more sense to a “discussion session”.

*I still prefer actual books to pdf downloads–but that’s just me.

*We finished school last week–mostly. James still has some reading to work on during the summer. Just some light books and Bible reading.

*I’m washing baby laundry–almost done with that. Then I have to tackle the car seat, baby swing, and those things.

*James has swimming lessons this week and next week.

*I’m still working on getting meals in the freezer. I’m almost to my goal.

*Lee is in Florida and hopefully heading home by the end of the week. He’ll be home a few days then out for a bit and he’s staying home at the end of June until baby arrives.

*I’m feeling pretty good–just not enjoying walking up stairs! For being this far along, I really can’t complain.

*I’m scheduling blog posts so that this blog won’t be silent while I have  a baby and get adjusted. I may pop in now and then or I may not–it’s hard to say! Hopefully you’ll be patient with me.

*Anyone want to humor me and leave a comment? I feel like I’ve lost my audience lately–crickets chirping on my posts….

Many years ago, I found a group on the eBay forums. We became a group of friends. As a matter of fact, I call them my eBay friends…we have another name for ourselves, but that’s how I describe us.

They were supportive to me during everything we went through. We’ve been there for each other through many other tough times and happy times too.

4 years ago, one of us got a book deal!

We’ve been waiting FOREVER to hold this book in our hands and it’s so exciting to finally see it.

During the past 4 years, she shared with us bits and pieces of the process and we even got a sneak peek at the monsters. Getting a book published is a long hard job and she’s worked so hard.We’ve been anticipating this book release for so long and I’m excited to review this book after all the waiting!

My friend Tara Lazar’s debut picture book is finally here.

James said, “Mom, I remember you telling me about this when I was a little kid!”

He sat down and read it right away. He says “It’s a cute book for kids”

Tara Lazar’s book is a beautifully illustrated hardcover book with a dust jacket. It’s perfect as a gift for the young book lovers in your life.

When my review copy came, I had to sit down and read it too.

It’s funny!

Zack is a little boy in need of a monster to keep his little sister Gracie out of his bedroom. He goes to the Monstore but somehow purchases a defective monster. Unfortunately, The Monstore doesn’t offer returns or exchanges….OOPS!

Now what is he going to do?

Without giving away the ending, I’ll just let you know that he ends up with more than one monster.

As I read this book, I thought back to the hundreds of books I read to pre-school classes. The Monstore would be PERFECT as a read aloud to little ones.

There are funny lines and silly sentences that would be delightful to read in funny voices to your little ones.

Despite the title, this is not a scary story.

P.S. Since this isn’t just ANY author, but my friend, will you do me a favor and pin this review to Pinterest? Thanks a bunch!

About the book:

At the back of Frankensweet’s Candy Shoppe, under the last box of sour gumballs, there’s a trapdoor.

Knock five times fast, hand over the bag of squirmy worms, and you can crawl inside The Monstore.

About the Author and Illustrator:

Tara Lazar wished there was a Monstore when she was a kid so she could’ve spooked her pesky little brother. Her mischievous imagination led her to write picture books, and she founded PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month). She lives in New Jersey with her husband and her two daughters. Visit TaraLazar.com for stories, giveaways, and contests for kids of all ages (like Tara!).

James Burks started drawing as a little kid and hasn’t stopped since. Along the way he’s written and illustrated some books of his own, including Gabby and Gator, Beep and Bah, and Bird and Squirrel on the Run. James lives in southern California with his two little monsters.

How cool! A Victorian kitchen discovered

A recipe for strawberry skillet cobbler.…mmm!

This technically shouldn’t be called a salad! Snickers apple salad–the camp we go to serves this and it’s quite tasty!

James went to a Sunday School picnic last week–they played this shaving cream game–funny!

This was going around Facebook awhile ago–did you see it? Cute! Trust fall fail

About the Book:

Who will you trust when dark waters rise?

Eagle’s Talon is an architectural marvel—shining residential units afloat in a protected cove of the gorgeous Rondeau River. The project is nearly complete, partially occupied, and ready to make investors rich when a sinkhole gives way. Then torrential rains and a flood leave a ragged collection of builders, investors, and residents stranded in one floating building, cut off from the rest of the world.

They’re bitterly divided over what to do next.

Architect Vance Nolan insists they should sit tight and wait for rescue. Developer Tony Dean wants to strike out into the darkness. And single mom Danielle Clement, desperate to protect her young son, Simeon, struggles to hold their motley band together.

Power failure, a pall of unnatural daytime darkness, explosions in the distance, then a murder ratchet tensions to a boiling point. But Danielle’s young son, Simeon, has spotted something strange underwater—beautiful, shifting lights in the dark water below.

In this watery world where everyone’s secrets will eventually come to light, salvation may mean more than just getting out alive.

Another stunning exploration of the human spirit and supernatural possibilities from best-selling author Erin Healy.

My thoughts: 

I reviewed another book by this author in the past and enjoyed it. This one took a little getting into it. At first, I felt like I couldn’t figure out what was going on. A large portion of the book is about the first day of the story…..lots and lots of details about one day….This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I just remember thinking, “What? This is still the 1st day?!”

As I read on, I did get more involved in the story and wanted  to know what happened and how it was going to end.

I’d say this book is a little suspense, a little story, a little supernatural, a little “dark”.

About the Author:

Erin Healy is the best-selling co-author of “Burn” and “Kiss” (with Ted Dekker) and an award-winning editor for numerous best-selling authors. She has received wide acclaim for her novels “Never Let You Go”, “The Baker’s Wife”, “House of Mercy”, and “Afloat”. She and her family live in Colorado. Erin can be contacted through her website ErinHealy.com or through Facebook at erinhealybooks.

Erin Healy is celebrating the release of her latest novel Afloat (Thomas Nelson) with an iPad Mini giveaway.

One winner will receive:

• An iPad Mini 
  
• iTunes gift card
• Afloat by Erin Healy 
  

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 15th. Winner will be announced on Erin’s blog on June 17th. Save the date and click HERE to see if YOU won the iPad Mini!

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; ENTER today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Visit Erin’s blog on the 17th!

We were given the opportunity to review Math Mammoth’s BlueSeries.

This series is worktexts–it explains as well as problems for the student to work on–it’s like a textbook workbook in one.
The Blue Series concentrates on a few topics so you can use it to supplement other math programs. The Blue series is not designed to be a complete curriculum.

You can use it to shore up areas where you student is weak or needs some review. Another benefit of this series is that you could choose one book to use to see if you like Math Mammoth or not–they are quite affordable.

We received the following worktexts from the Blue Series: (as a pdf download)

Metric Measuring $4.50

Geometry 1 $7.00

Fractions 1  $4.50

Fractions 2 $5.00

Prices for the worktexts in the Blue Series range from $2.00 to $7.00. Read through this page to see what topics are covered in the Blue Series.

How we used it:

We used it as a supplement to help James review some concepts and to learn more about the metric system. He had asked me before when we were going to learn about metric things so I was happy to use this product on a review with him.

I printed out pages that I thought would be challenging enough for him–some of them looked to easy. He just filled them in and I checked them. A pretty easy–normal–process.

My thoughts:

I still prefer printed copies of school items. For some reason it’s just so much easier for me to use them and look through things in my hands than it is on the computer.

I didn’t mind being able to print the pages that I wanted him to work on. I think though that I’d have been happier to have the entire worktext printed and bound somewhere–but that adds to the cost…

I do like that the grade levels aren’t marked on the book. That way if a child is “behind” or needing to catch up they don’t also feel as if they are doing “baby work”–good choice on the part of the author!

If you’d like more information, check out the following pages:

Information for parents.

FAQ’s about Math Mammoth.

Not sure which books to purchase? Try a placement test.

Try free samples

What are your summer fun plans?

James and I usually make a list of things we want to do over the summer. We haven’t taken time to do that yet. I’m pretty sure our summer will be busy with a new baby and there won’t be as many fun activities happening. But that’s ok!

He will be going to camp, taking swimming lessons, and going on a youth group retreat. I’m sure he’ll get to do a few other fun things here and there.

I want to plan a picnic soon. I like to do that at least once a summer.

What’s your favorite picnic menu? I need some ideas!

The other belly photos I’ve shared were taken while I was standing up. A comment or two said, “You don’t look big.”

Well, I’m farther along now and I decided to take one sitting down–let me tell you folks–THIS is a belly!

I can’t sit with my knees together anymore! Every time I sit down in public, I can hear my mother’s voice, “Ladies sit with their knees together.” Not this lady right now!

I just hit the, “Ok time for this baby to come” stage. I hit it at about the same time with James.

Overall, I’m still healthy and still doing good–just tired and don’t get much done most days–gaining too much weight–my hands fall asleep–my hips hurt.

Sound about right for 35 1/2 weeks, huh? !