The Angel Forever

Tuesday Tales – Fall Holiday Books

Posted on October 19, 2010 7:38 pm by TheAngelForever

It is no secret that we have a lot of books in our house. The truth is that we hardly buy the boys toys. A lot of the time, TechyDad and I buy NHL and JSL books for a holiday gift. This includes Halloween and Thanksgiving in the Fall.

On my frist outing while both boys were in school, I actually purchased a few books for the boys. Shhh….don’t tell them, but these are the new ones they will get on Halloween in lieu of candy and "stuff" that do not need.

Of course, when the Scholastic Book order form came home with JSL, I was also tempted and bought two other books for the Fall. These are the two books that the boys have already received.

I ordered these because I love books that are parodies of sorts to well known songs. The familiar sing-song repetiton with new words is great for kids of all ages (and adults too). JSL just started speech therapy and loves to sing. I am hoping that these will encourage him to work on articulation with a fun twist. We have several of the "There was an Old Lady…" books. We have a Halloween one, a winter one, and now the fall themed one. I love the drawings and how well you can sing along to the original favorite tune. NHL and JSL have read both of these books several times. I have also heard NHL going around the house spontaneously singing the songs. OK, OK….I admit it, I was also caught doing the same thing.

I love being able to capture the holidays using new and exciting books with my children. Do you use books when celebrating the holidays with your children? If you do, please share any titles that you love, especially if they are for the autumn season. My friend, Debra (A Frugal Friend), recently wrote a post with her Favorite Fall Children’s Books. Please be sure to look at her fabulous list, and check out all of the suggestions in her comments as well. I have already gotten a few of them for my boys to read.

So what have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Tuesday Tales and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

Disclosure: All of the books pictured were purchased with my own hard earned moolah.

Categories:
books holidays Tuesday Tales

Fun autumn day at the amusement park

Posted on October 18, 2010 10:31 am by TheAngelForever

The temperature here has shifted drastically in recent weeks. Frost and more will soon be in our future. Thanks to this, we have been trying to get outside and enjoy the nice weather as much as possible. Sunday, we decided to head to The Great Escape to utilize our season passes at least on more time. We had not been there since June 19th. That was the day that NHL was hurt on a ride. In case you are wondering, no Six Flags has NOT called back about the incident. I have e-mailed, called, and sent Tweets numerous times. Leaves me very confused and upset as a Season Pass holder of this park.

*sigh*

Needless to say, NHL would not go back on the ride where he was injured (can not say I really blame him ). There were not a lot of characters out during the day. The park is clearly running on low staff during the fall season. Still we did see at least one familiar face:

We had a fantastic time going on a lot of rides with almost no wait. Note the special pink DisneySMMoms jacket that I am wearing to keep warm. There were a lot of smiles and memories made. Here are just a few of them:

With any luck we may be able to head up there one more time this season. If not, we can look at all of the photos from the trips we have had this year. Season passes for next year, still up for debate.

Categories:
DisneySMMoms fun jsl looking back nhl photos weekend

29.5 pounds of apple picking fun

Posted on October 16, 2010 9:24 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

We were not sure if we would be able to get apple picking this year. The season started early and was close to a lot of the Jewish holidays. Then we had rain and other items crop up. Today the weather was chilly, but the rain held off. At 2:30, we called the apple orchard and found out they still have apples to pick. We jumped into the car and went there as quickly as possible.

We had a mission. With only an hour until they closed, we had to pick fast. We did not disappoint, picking 29.5 pounds of apples in less than an hour. It was so much fun watching both of you race around to get apples to add to our bags. When we spotted the pick your own pumpkin patch, both of you were quite upset that we were not able to get one here. The pumpkins were moldy, squishy and did not look like they would make it to Halloween.

With tears in some eyes, we promised to get one from another location soon. So we went back to apple picking and, before we knew it, we had a bag and a half done and it was time to go.

On the way back, we stopped at another location to get a pumpkin. For $5 we got a really nice one that we will carve one day soon.

Now, our picking seasons are over. Hopefully, we will get to go strawberry picking in June and make more family memories together.

Love,

Mommy

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If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.

Categories:
Dear Kid Saturday food glorious food jl jsl nhl photos weekend yummy

Multi-tasking while I read

Posted on October 15, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Yes, you read that right. I like to multi-task while I am reading. Time is tight here and being able to do all of the items that I want to do, along with what I have to do is tough. In January, I wrote about my new found love of reading books on CD while knitting. During the summer months, I must admit, I was not keeping up with this as much. I put the knitting needles down some and was reading actual books.

Now the weather has shifted and I am trying to work on a blanket for the boys. After the boys are in bed and my writing is done, I have been working on my big knitting project and reading books.

I just finished reading The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. In just about a week, any chance I had, I read this 15 CD long book. (Loved it – more on that coming soon). Thanks to my little MP3 player, I was able to take it to listen while waiting for JSL at school, while knitting, cleaning and anything else. Today, I started listening to The Help by Kathryn Stockett and also have The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Since it has been a while since I last asked, I would love some more book suggestions (I’m good on the kiddie literature books).

What are some books that you would recommend that I put on my list to read while multitasking. I am open to all genres and if you have listened to them on CD and liked them even better (the reader is key in a lot of these audio books).

Also be sure to enter my CardsDirect $50 gift card giveaway.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #121

Categories:
Aloha Friday books knitting me moments

Making time

Posted on October 14, 2010 10:59 am by TheAngelForever

There seems to be a lack of time recently. Each day starts off with a list of items that needs to be done, but something always comes up. Case in point. Yesterday, I took JSL to nursery school. He was not feeling the best, but was not SICK, if you know what I mean. Just like big brother, when JSL is fighting off a cold his asthma kicks in. This makes him clingy, tired, and off. To make a long story short, I managed to leave the school (literally pulling him off my leg), get around the block, and suddenly I saw a familiar number on my cell phone ID. It was the nursery school director. She had a hysterical JSL in her office.

*sigh*

I went into the school and knew that my son was not really sick. He is fighting off a cold just like half of the kids in his class. His nose was running and he was coughing from non-stop tears. When I arrived, he perked up immediately. The first thought in my head was that this was a mistake. We were letting a three year old think that if he cries and has a fit, I will automoatically appear. I took his temperature and it was 97 (he has a very low normal temperature). After many more tears about leaving, I finally took JSL home. I set him up on the couch to rest, but he did not sleep. He wanted me next to him. So there I sat snuggled up with my little guy. While he watched cartoons, I finished listening to The 19th Wife on my MP3 player. Those articles for Kids Fun Plaza NENY will have to wait for another day. My little guy needed me. As we were walking to school to pick up NHL yesterday, this was JSL.

He fell asleep with a Doodle Pro in his hands while I was walking and talking with another mother. Yes, he was one tired little puppy.

Although there may not be enough time in the day to get my writing done ahead of schedule, have a spotless house, exercise (need to work on that one), and do research on Gifted Education, at least I know I am here and ready to help my boys if/when they need me. Everything will get done, but a time out for snuggles and hugs may be required first.