Pookster and Bubs Review and Giveaway!

I was lucky enough to review these two lovely books for children by Rhonda Funk.  Pookster and the Unloose Tooth and Pookster and the Practically Perfect Pickle, teach valuable lessons on using kind words and patience.

I love that they are written by a christian mother and the audio book is handy in the car.  My girls laughed while I read the book, but they could also pick out the important lesson the story told.  The illustration are delightful and the each book ends with a Bible verse.

This book series is a creative way to teach your children about the fruits of the Spirit.  To learn more about this new series check out their website here.

Two lucky followers can win one of The Adventures of Pookster and Bubs!   Just leave a comment below and a way for me to contact you.  You can win extra entries by liking Sippy Cup Central and Pookster And Bubs on Facebook. The giveaway ends on the 12th....good-luck!

Little One Books Giveaway- Hot Air Balloons

We love "Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride" from Little One Books. Today we are working on a lapbook to go along with the story. We will be posting pictures and crafts from our hot air balloon adventure tomorrow.


Little One Books if kindly offering one of my trusty readers a $25 gift certificate to their online store.

The owners of Little One Books, Barney and Joan, have personally selected and reviewed each and every item they carry. The Little One Books site is organized by age, and each product is matched to what they believe is the youngest appropriate age.

In addition to selling quality products, they strive to entertain and inform their customers through their blog and feature articles, and provide “over the top” customer service.

This Little One Book giveaway is open until Friday, January 7th. They request that you “like” Little One Books on Facebook, and sign up for their newsletter. So check out their lovely website and decide which product you would like to win. To enter just leave a comment telling me what book you would be interested.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see our hot air balloon lapbook!

Olivia Goes To Venice- SINKS!

We are big fans of the five previous Olivia books by Ian Falconer. We read them over and over again, but Falconer's new book, Olivia Goes to Venice, is one that sinks into the Grand Canal.

The part in question reads,"As they went through the airport, Olivia was searched for weapons. She was very pleased." The illustration is of two security pigs wanding Olivia with her parents looking from behind.

My girls are well-traveled children. We use to live on the West coast, while the rest of the family lived back East. When we would go through security check points I would remind them that we didn't always have to take our shoes off and it's not OK to have your rights taken away (but that's another topic all together).

I really wanted to like this book. The illustrations were lovely, we laughed when they ate a ton of gelato, and we enjoyed the trip through Venice. There is just something about the wording and illustrations on the third page that bothers me enough not to keep it in our library. The child pig, Olivia, being wanded for weapons is not cute or funny in my world!

Christmas Cards

Children's Museum Fun

What a day we had a the Columbia kid's museum! The girls loved climbing through this 3-story tall kid, from his brain, down his spine, into his heart, and through his stomach. There was also a fun farm exhibit where they could milk a cow, pick peaches, and gather eggs. Jem showed an early sign of having a crush on firefighters at the fire truck exhibit, too....she didn't want to leave. Before we left I browsed through the museum's gift shop, but didn't buy anything. I did find some of the same educational items at the CSN online stores. You can find just about anything from cool toys, baby items, and even green  LED lighting.

CSN has given me the opportunity to review three neat educational items that we plan to use for school this Fall. So please stay tuned.

Living Learning Books- Butterflies

Our caterpillars have arrived in the mail and have already started making their chrysalis. This is the third year that we have ordered monarch butterflies from Insect Lore and it never gets old for my two girls. In about 3 weeks the butterflies will be named and released into grammy's garden.

I am so excited to be using our new science curriculum called Living Learning Books,  created by veteran homeschool mom, Sandi Strenkowski. In level one science we will be learning about animals, human body, and plants. The best part about Living Learning Books new format is that you are now provided with weekly lesson plans and an easy downloadable format for both vertebrates, invertebrates, and the human body (coming soon). I love that these lessons can be used for multiple ages and you can add as much to a subject as you would like or keep it simple with just the basics. Each lesson has coloring and activity pages, crafts, cooking, and suggested reading.

Our Butterfly Lesson: 
Read-                                     Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons
                                              Waiting for Wings by Lous Ehlert
                                              The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
                                              The Butterfly House by Eve Bunting

Projects-                                Antennae headband
                                              Baggie Butterfly Garden
                                              coloring pages
                     
 Cooking-                              Butterfly Apples
                                              Caterpillar Cookies                          
                                              

I think this is a good start to the week ahead...plus as an added bonus their is a free sample unit to download on Sandi's site here!

Monday Fun- Baking and Pipe Cleaner Animals

Make this for breakfast, I promise you'll love it!

Aunt Eileen's Baked Oatmeal

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil or applesauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup any fruit you want (we added strawberries)

Mix all together, place in baking pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I baked this in my new Le Creuset rectangle baking pans that I ordered from CSN web site. The product came in 10 days and was simple to order. The Le Creuset baker is of top quality, heats evenly, and came in this lovely blue. You can really order almost anything from CSN and they even have free shipping on some items, like the one I ordered. The only downfall is that many items have hefty shipping costs. To conclude my review on CSN....yes, I would for sure order a product again, if it had free shipping.

We are also having a good time this morning making pipe cleaner animals.

I glued eye onto buttons that I purchased from Oriental Trading Company and the girls went to town twisting legs and tails for their animals. Enjoy your Monday!

CSN upcoming review

I am sitting here browsing through the 200 stores that CSN has online. You can find pretty much anything...my only difficulty is trying to figure out where I should start! There are toys for babies, and big kids, kitchen wares, furniture, and even TV stands in all sizes.

I did decide on a great item to review from CSN and I think you'll like it too, along with the recipe that goes with it!
So please stay tuned for this fun review.

*Full Disclosure: CSN Stores contacted me with this promotional opportunity. I am being compensated for my review concerning my personal experience with CSN Stores.