Friday, April 22, 2011

Friday, April 15, 2011

What's in my Kindle

I've never participated in Show Us Your Life over on Kelly's Korner, but I love to read, so I thought this is a great day to jump in.

I got a Kindle for Christmas and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It's amazingly light and clear - it looks just like a page of a book. And it's perfect for reading in sunlight - I can't wait to take it to the beach!!

What I've recently read:The Help by Kathryn Stockett - pretty much my favorite novel of all time right now. I love this book so much and I can't wait for the movie. It's a southern novel with a lot of humor and some soul searching, change the world characters. Highly recommend!

Little Bee by Chris Cleave - I read this for my new book club. It was a tough read. It's not light and humorous (like me). It's very deep and dark and hard to read. Now that I'm through it, I'm glad I read it. But I'm not really recommending it. It's about a Nigerian refugee who has very bad things happen to her, and to the family she runs to after being released from a detention center. Nothing happy about this book.

Black Heels to Wagon Wheels by Ree Drummond - I'm a fan of the Pioneer Woman's blog and cookbook, and this is a hot love story between she and her husband. It's a sweet read and I love good memoir.


All I Can Handle - I'm No Mother Teresa by Kim Stagliano - Kim is a friend of mine. I have worked with her husband off and on for a decade. He's a mentor of mine - I adore these people. Mark and Kim have 3 girls on the autism spectrum and this is her memoir detailing their life through several job losses, moves, financial problems and learning how to care for their girls. Kim is a Warrior Mom and a powerful voice in the autism community. This is obviously a great book for families affected by autism, but also for everyone! With 1 in 50 kids being diagnosed on the spectrum, odds are we are affected or know someone affected. Highly recommend!

What I'm Reading Now:
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman - such as sweet southern novel. I'm only 60% done, but I'm in love with this book. I'm reading it for book club, and it was a nice switch from Little Bee! I love every character.

What's Coming Next:


Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - Got to get this read before the movie comes out!


The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred - more southern humor!

Happy Reading Y'all!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Donut Races

Preston has quite possibly the *coolest* 3rd grade teacher on the planet. I wish I could be in her class! Preston loves her so much - she really caters to kid's learning needs and she makes it super F-U-N!

All year they've been working on math skills. Preston is quite the multiplication wiz, and he's getting better on the division. They take timed tests every day. There are kids in his class that can do 100 math problems in a minute.

One fun tool she uses is the donut race. 4 contestants go up to the chalkboard and race at multiplication facts.
There is a donut shape with the numbers 1-12 randomly placed in the donut. The teacher calls out the middle number (in green), and contestants race to get the product of the middle number by the numbers in the donut (in black) and write them on the outside of the donut (shown in red). When you finish the race, you knell down. Whoever finishes first and correctly wins. Then...and this is critical or you don't get the winning point...you tell your competitors "good game". Winners get a donut, losers get a donut hole.

These kids are super fast and decided to challenge the parents. So TV Joe decided to participate, and I went to take pictures...since my mad math skillz are nillz. Naturally I got suckered into racing and made a F-O-O-L of myself since they wouldn't let me use my calculator. The 12's get me every time!!

Here are a few pics from the fun. The kids had eye black on and were singing "We're Gonna Protect this House" when we walked in. Little gangstas. It was a tight race, but the parents won in the end. But, since we live in the land of skinny people, none of the parents would eat their donuts (um, except TV Joe who NEVAH passes on a donut) - the kids all got donuts. It was so fun, and the kids learned if you don't know your mad math skillz, well, you can always go into sales...


Coolest teacher ever!

Little Gangsta

Preston racing his dad and our neighbor racing his daughter

Parents Rule!


Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Where my posts at?

Oh man, I'm one lazy blogger. I'm so sorry to the 2 people who read this. What a slacker baby I've become. I've got to get with it so you won't miss a minute of my all-so-interesting life. haha

So the decision has to be made - do I try to catch up? Or do I just start from here. I mean, we've had:

Basketball

Bergen Craziness

Open House and Living Wax Museum featuring Preston as Thomas Edison
dig that grey hair!!

and more Bergen craziness

Start of Baseball


kid pitch ain't for sissys


Busy 1st quarter. Lots going on. I'll try to not be a stranger. I have to remember, this is my scrapbook (since I'm not a crafty gal). Gotta get these memories down!